Our Lucky Week...

Kailani, over at an Island Life emailed a couple of days ago to congratulate us on our 1st place finish in her Halloween Costume Contest! Thanks so much to all of you who took time to stop over and vote for "Madame Peacock".

Then, just this morning, I got another email from Kailani, telling me that we had won one of her give-aways, so we'll be receiving a copy of a new children's book called "I Love You More" shortly. I can't wait to read it with Norah!

What a lucky week! If I were a gambling woman, it might be time to buy a lotto ticket...but I think we'll just be thankful, and quit while we're ahead.

Fun at Grammy & Grandpa's

Norah always has fun when she visits Grammy & Grandpa (or "Mimi & Peepaw", as she's recently taken to calling them). Almost every time we go to visit I wish I would have brought my camera because it seems like she always manages to get into something funny.

Any trip to Grammy & Grandpa's has to include at least one ride on the horsey....





Trying on whatever new headgear she can muster (This one was a random hat box she found in Grammy's sewing room) ...












and driving the car (she had just been pulled over for a repeat speeding offense at the time of this picture, hence the solemn look on her face).













High-security procedures were implemented to detain her after she failed to comply with a standard driver's license check. As you may be able to tell by the look on her face, she was very upset about the whole ordeal.

Norah for President!

Ok, so I'm not really campaigning for Norah's future presidency...but she is entered into an Island Life's annual costume contest, and voting starts today. Make sure you vote for Robinson County Post, not Robison Family Ramblings--I know they look a lot alike, but we still maintain the "N" in the middle of our last name. If you've got a couple extra seconds, please click over and give Norah your vote in the best kids's costume category...that is, if you like 21 month old peacocks...if not, you can vote for one of the other kids--I wont know the difference :)

UPDATE: The contest poll buttons aren't working (a lot of people have been having trouble with cookies), so just scroll down leave a comment voting for Robinson County Post for best kid's costume on the Halloween Contest post at an Island Life. Only one vote per person, so we can use every one we can get! Thanks, guys!

Lovin' Fall Weather

We have had absolutely gorgeous weather here for the past week. The temperatures have been in the low-mid 70's during the day (cooler at night) and best of all, no humidity!! This means two things--1) everyone's hair is looking better than it has in ages, and 2) being outside is very pleasant!

Norah and I met our friends Braden & Kambrie for a spontaneous picnic / play date at the park yesterday. It was a beautiful day, and we had a ball.




Up until yesterday, Norah's favorite has always been the slide, and this park had 2--I big one with lots of curves, and a smaller, straight slide. Norah had fun on both, but her new love, was most definitely the swings. I don't remember how long we actually spent on that swing, but I'm confident it stayed warm for quite a while after she vacated it, because she was parked there for a good, long time.

Leaving the park was harder than I anticipated. Norah just wasn't ready to go, but it was nap time, and there was no way were gonna skip it, beautiful day or not. (Norah + no nap= Super cranky, miserable evening in Robinson County) She cried almost the whole way home, asking for the swings and slides alternately, but we did eventually lie down for a nap. (and yes, I said "we")



Today, we tried story time at the public library again. I could kick myself for not bringing the camera (alas, it was at home charging, in preparation for more Halloween photo ops tonight). All the kids were dressed as their favorite book characters, and there were some costumes that made my little peacock look like the work of an unimaginative amateur. (Norah didn't wear peacock to the library...it is a little cumbersome, so we settled for a pair of kitty cat ears that she left on all of 5 seconds before seemingly deciding she was "too cool") My favorite costume was a child who dressed as one of the monsters from "Where the Wild Things Are". It was a homemade costume (my favorite kind) and it was covered in multi-colored strips of felt--every color imaginable. It didn't look too difficult to make, but the visual impact was awesome. She needed no explanation--her costume was so dead-on, you couldn't help but recognize it immediately. It definitely got me thinking about future years...children's books are a great place to go for costume inspiration! (I've already got a great one in mind for Norah & Baby Brother in a couple more years)

Norah and I also picked up some new library books, including one of my childhood favorites, "The Story of Ping", and one called "Noisy Nora" (I thought she'd get a kick out of a story with her name in it)...but I'm going to have to censure that one, I'm afraid, because it's written in poem form, with a chorus (which is repeated over and over) that always ends in, "Nora, why do you have to be so dumb?" and I'm pretty sure we don't need that kind of negative talk at 21 months. I am loving our library routine, especially having a fresh stack of books each time we go...but Norah has a little trouble understanding that once we take them back, the old books are gone...she keeps asking for the "Kittens" book we had last time. At least I guess I'll know of a few good books I could get her for Christmas!

Cause You Know I Love to Vacuum!

I stumbled upon a contest this morning with a prize anyone could appreciate--a pink Dyson vacuum cleaner (Pink, in honor of breast cancer awareness month)! Yes, I already have a Dyson (though it's not pink) and I LOVE it, but Christmas is coming, and I can think of several people I could share the love with if I win! Feel free to click the link on my side bar or just click here if you'd like to enter.

Presenting.... Madame Peacock!

With 2 of our 3 Halloween season events under our belts, and the word pretty well out around town what Norah's "top secret" costume concoction was, I've decided it's ok to give her costume it's blogger debut.

This year's costume of choice was a peacock. It was Norah-inspired, born from her love of her favorite animal on her Little People's Noah's ark. (She's been saying the word "peacock" since she was about 14 months old, and she still hasn't lost interest in them)

Naturally, I couldn't find any peacock patterns, but that didn't stop Gramps and I from putting our heads together for another "original" masterpiece. The pillbox hat was our greatest challenge, but I think it was worth the extra effort...Norah even kept it on for most of the party.




Front view

















Tail Feathers rear-view

















This little peacock can really move!

















Scoping out the playground

















The party was a joint birthday celebration for our friends, Braden & Kambrie. It was a Halloween themed party (hence the costumes), and their mom, Jamie, really outdid herself with great craft projects for the kids. Norah's favorite, hands-down was this little spider. She hand-selected each multi-colored leg, and stuck them into the potato. (I helped glue on the googly eyes) She even took him to bed with her! I don't know what we're going to do when he starts to sprout...Norah is very attached to him, even 3 days after the party. She shows him to anyone who visits the house. Maybe next year she'll go as "Spider Girl"...

One Movie We WONT Be Seeing This Holiday Season

I received an email from a good friend this morning, dismissing a new movie that, prior to this morning, I was eagerly anticipating. The movie is called "The Golden Compass" and has all the visual lures of "The Chronicles of Narnia", so I was waiting for it's release with baited breath. It stars Nicole Kidman, and looks to be extremely well made with excellent cinematography, special effects, and musical score, so naturally it will be receiving lots of press. I have seen the previews and they impacted me to the point of leaning over to whisper to the person at my right--"Oh, that looks great! I can't wait to see it!"

So, why are the Robinson's now boycotting this intriguing, new movie? It is based on a trilogy of books ("His Dark Materials") written by a self-proclaimed atheist, who calls his books an "attack on religion". The author also claims that it is his intent that children will see the movie and want to read the books, which will, he hopes kill their religious beliefs. In the final book of the trilogy, "The Amber Spyglass", a girl and boy child, depicting Adam and Eve work together to "kill a senile God so that everyone may do as they please".

As many of you know, Jason and I loved they Harry Potter series, which might be, to some Christians as offensive, as the trilogy I've mentioned above. However, I see several stark differences. For one, J.K. Rowling is not an atheist, and has never made any claims that she had any sinister agenda to squelch the religious beliefs of young children. And secondly, her books maintain several strong Christian themes and symbolisms which are consistant throughout the entire series.

At any rate, for those who, like myself, enjoy a good, epic movie taken from the rich landscape of a children's book series, you might want to do a little reading before you make your decision to pay to see (or especially to take your children to see) "The Golden Compass" this holiday season.

For the full story on the movie, book series, and author, click here.