Sinterklaas 2011

Sinterklaas!  The beloved old gent from Spain!  The taking away of bad children by Sinter Klaas' trusted friend "Black Pete"!  Or, Dutch Christmas, as the kids would say.  This is definitely one day out of the year that the kids really look forward to!  Since living in Washington, we haven't had the banging on the door with the bag of goodies being thrown inside (this must only happen in Utah).  But the kids still enjoy it.  I think they enjoy doing the 'surprises' (gifts creatively disguised)!  Now that they are older, maybe we should work on the poems to go along with the gifts!



Steve - his gift was hidden in this magazine which was glued shut!



Doug - gift was frozen inside this duct-taped jug of water.

 

Tommy - delicious sandwich with a Subway gift card inside.

 

Tyler - Tyler abhors feet! Tyler also steals everybody else's socks!  Tyler was given a package of socks that were inside this paper mache' foot!

Ryan - Ryan loves to have other people do scavenger hunts on Sinterklaas.  This year, Ryan got to do a scavenger hunt himself!  This is what he ended up with.



Wendy was given a tub of frozen cookie dough!  Placed inside were some girlie hair accessories!

Monique - inside this foil package was no-bake cookies.  Inside the no-bake cookies was a plaque that reads "You made me laugh so hard tears ran down my legs!"

Once again, it was a great evening!  Another evening of memories that we will all enjoy for years to come.

Hawaii 2009

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Snowbird 2011

We made out annual trek to Snowbird in May this year.  We usually go the first week of October, but that was getting in the way of fall athletics at school (soccer for Wendy and water polo for Tommy).  All of us were looking forward to going in May, thinking that we could avoid snow, as it usually snows while we are there.  As luck would have it, it snowed while we were there!  More so than it does when we are there in October!

This was the first trip to Snowbird that we had the entire family there.  All SEVEN of us!  With extras!  Tommy brought his friend, Bryce and Steve brought Kelsi down for a couple of days.  Wendy was only there for the first part of the trip - she flew back so she wouldn't miss too much in school.  (I think she was more concerned about Sammy (dog) being at somebody else's house while were gone). 

This was one of the best trips we have had!  And it was also relaxing!

We were able to get some family photos taken - thanks to Wendy and her assistant, Kelsi.  Wendy staged the photos and Kelsi took the pics.  

The whole family in the snow!

The kids.

This is one of my favorite pictures that Wendy took at Temple Square.

Mormon Prom 2011

May - the season of Mormon Prom!  That time of year when Monique is trying to wrap up her classes for the semester.  That time of year when Wendy thinks she needs a new dress - to be sewn by Monqiue!

Once again, all tasks were completed.  The final for Monique's class was submitted on time.  The dress for Wendy's dance was completed on time.  I'm sure that Wendy was saying many prayers for the dress to be done!

As Wendy's date, as well as her BFF (Camille) both had food allergies, Wendy and Spencer (aka Pensha) decided to cook dinner for about 10 people!  They were able to come up with a menu that did not include dairy or gluten!  Dinner was a big hit!

Camille, Kelsey, Wendy

Pensha & Wendy - the chefs!

Catching up............

As it has been a while since we have last posted something, I'm sure many of you have been wondering what has been happening in the Robinson-Sticht World!  Here is an idea of what we have been up to........

Doug's work

Monique's work

Along with work, we have been doing the following..................

H-O-M-E-W-O-R-K

 ALL of us have been consumed with this horrible necessity!  Some of us have spent considerably more time with this horrible necessity than others.  

Along with the above mentioned, kids have been involved in:

Ryan - band, jazz band, drama, basketball, scouts, texting, growing and hanging out with friends.

Tommy - water polo, swimming, snowboarding, scouts, texting, hanging out with friends.

Wendy - soccer, sleeping, hanging out with friends, traumatizing teen age boys that show an interest in her!

Tyler - working, buying a car, trying to figure out life.

Steve - adjusting to post-mission life, adventures with Jon, and now adventures with Kelsi and friends.

Yes, we are busy, busy, busy.  Just as many of you are.  We have four different Spring Breaks in our family.  It makes it extremely difficult to try planning a family excursion. 

Sinterklaas 2010..................

Sunday, Dec. 5th, was once again Sinterklaas!  We don't go all out like a lot of people do in The Netherlands, but we still manage to have a good time.  It's nice that the kids all look forward to celebrating Sinterklaas.  I think there was only one person that needed help with ideas of what to get for the person they had.  The kids were talking about how when they were younger, they were scared of the knock on the door.  Of course, it would be startling to hear a loud knock on the door, only to have it fly open with a hand throwing a bag of who knows what and candy inside.  They commented that when they were a little bit older, they would try to peek out of a window to see who it was that was helping them to celebrate!

To recap our festivities.....

Tommy's gift was disguised as himself as a water polo player!  Inside was a 24 pack of Mountain Dew!  He really wanted his own case of soda!

This was for Ryan.  Inside the bed was an alarm clock, something he had been asking for.

Wendy had a delicious treat!  What the above pictures don't show is how old the lunch meat really was or how bad the sandwich smelled!  Inside was a gift card to Subway!

This was a chair that Wendy created for Tyler.  Inside was a pillow and blanket, along with a bottle of Febreeze!  Following are pictures of Tyler enjoying his Febreeze.

Tyler gave me a diaper which contained something completely wrapped in electrical tape.  Inside the tape was yet another diaper which had a dirty sock inside.  Inside the dirty sock was a gift card!

Ryan had Monique (again) this year.  He loves to do scavenger hunts.  Monique despises scavenger hunts!  She was a great sport and went along with it!  She got hair mousse!

My parents were here visiting this year.  They weren't quite sure what to expect, but I think they had an enjoyable time.  We had dad go fishing for his gift card in this frozen pool of blue Kool-Aid filled with Swedish Fish!

We took it easy on Mom.  I think we had hers double wrapped inside.  She got Precious Moments figurines.

It was a fun night, except we did miss the Gevulde Speculaas!  Maybe next year!

Snow Day..............

Winter arrived in our area the week of Thanksgiving!  It started on Sunday evening.  We received a phone call from the school district that school would start two hours later on Monday due to the snowy weather.  Would you be surprised to know that the kids were really not disappointed over this?  Monday was my day off of work, but Monique went to work, but after a few hours was advised to get home, as roads in our area were quite bad.  About this time, I got an update from the school district that our jr. high would get out of school an hour early!  Again, not much disappointment! 

Tuesday, I went to work - slowly!  School was cancelled - another disappointment!  Monique brought paperwork home from work on Monday, so she worked from home on Tuesday.  While doing work, and later while working on school work, this was what was taking place in the back yard..............

Not exactly dressed for winter, but whatever works, I guess!  Sammy had a great time playing in the back yard with Wendy.  Maybe it should snow more often!

Fall Sports and Birthdays..............

So, this has obviously been a busy fall at the Robinson-Sticht house.  It seems as if we are constantly on the go.  All of us!  Not only did September bring the beginning of a new school year, it also brought the beginning of another soccer season for Wendy.  We also got our first experience with water polo for Tommy.  Wendy was on the JV team this year at the high school.  One must remember (or be informed, if one was not aware already) that Wendy is doing running start this year.  (Running start is explained here:  Running_Start ).  With her schedule at the community college and coordinating with the soccer team, she would have been EXTREMELY busy on the varsity team.  Ryan cannot be left out.  Although he has not participated in any sports at school (mostly due to his broken arm from last winter), he has managed to keep busy with band.  He has band practice on Wednesday afternoons, and is now involved with jazz band, as well - this practice is on Tuesday and/or Thursday afternoons.    



Wendy - soccer.



Wendy did not push this girl down!

Tommy - water polo.

Wendy's birthday was towards the end of October.  It turned in to a weekend long event, as she had a football game to attend, hang out with friends, and various other activities.  She did find time to squeeze in some family time - especially for cake...........

Wendy's 17th Birthday!



Tommy's 15th Birthday was the middle of November........

Happy Birthday Wendy and Tommy!



Soccer (?)...........................

Wendy's Car Care..................

Another monumental experience for Wendy has occured. Monday, while running around with Mom and Dad Stigter, we went to take Wendy home (she didn't want to run errands with us). When we arrived at the house, we noticed that the back tire on the car that she drives (notice that I did not call it her car) had a low tire. We had Wendy follow us to the gas station so I could show her how to put air in her tire. This was not as simple as one would think, as the first gas station had something jammed in the machine, so we couldn't purchase air (and what a ridiculous concept this is - purchasing air). We then went to the gas station across the street - they have free air there! We (Opa and I) showed Wendy how to put air in her tires. We checked and filled all four tires. Dad asked if we should check the air pressure in the spare, to which I said, naw, it won't be necessary. We did tell Wendy to watch her tire to see if it goes low again, as we might need to get it repaired. Wendy went on her way, and we continued on ours.

Last night as we drove up to the house, I noticed that the tire was low again. Actually, it was flat. I went to get the keys to the car so I could change the tire, but Monique went to get Wendy so she could change the tire - why didn't I think of that?! I started to loosen the lug nugts and Monique kept telling me to let Wendy do it. I mentioned that I was just loosening them, to which she replied with, "Are you going to be there on the side of the road if she happens to get a flat tire?" I backed up and let Wendy take over. It was quite the show. Wendy learning how to change a tire with four other people gathered around - one being the photographer.

Here is proof that Wendy was changing the tire........

And here is Wendy's pit crew - minus the photographer...

Good job Wendy! Maybe one of these days you can teach the boys how to change a tire, too!

Did I mention that when the spare was on, it was low on air, too?! I think I'll follow Dad's suggestions a little closer next time. But at least I knew that I could get free air!

A Most Favorite Time of the Year..............

It's a most favorite time of the year! No, it's not Christmas. It's not the 4th of July. It's not even anybody's birthday! It's - Back to School Time!!!! I look forward to this all summer long. Some might think it's kind of rude for me to be so eager for the kids to go back to school. Don't get me wrong, as I think it's great that kids have time to decompress for a couple of months (and decompress they do). It's a great opportunity for them to catch up on sleep, to travel, to spend time with family that they don't see very often, and to spend time with friends that one would think they would get tired of seeing! The adventures of summer break are memories for them to treasure for years. But, summer break is also a time that parents are sleep deprived, totally confused as to where each child is and when and a time when it's best to give up on structure and welcome complete chaos. Heck, this past summer, I think I may have fixed dinner a total of three times! I found it easiest not to worry about dinner. This way I wasn't irritated by fixing a meal when there wasn't anybody at home to eat it!

So, this past Thursday began what we like to call order and structure at our house (like the two even exist at our house, but it's nice to pretend). Kids went back to school!


Ryan is in 7th grade this year. His first year at Junior High. It hasn't changed the fact that he needed to have his school supplies all together days before school started. It hasn't changed the fact that he mentally needed to plot out where his classes are and how to most efficiently get to each class so he's not late. It hasn't helped that we told him that now that he's in Jr. High, a lot of those things from elementary school really don't matter anymore - such horrible parents we are. His main elective this year is band - remember that trombone that he signed up to play? Yep, he gets to carry it back and forth to school (our school district doesn't provide buses unless you live a mile or more away from the school). Fortunately, he's able to store said trombone at school. I wonder how often we will see, or hear, the trombone at home.


Tommy is big man on campus this year. He's a mighty 9th grader. He and Ryan are at the same school this year. I'm still not sure which of the two to feel sorry for. As a freshman, Tommy is able to play some high school sports. He has chosen to play water polo. And I must say, that we are blessed, as practices are after school and not in the wee early morning hours. Tommy also starts Seminary this year. That is in the wee morning hours - 5:45 AM in the wee early morning hours. Fortunately for Monique, Wendy will drive Tommy to seminary on her way to seminary which doesn't start until 6:00 Am in the wee early morning hours.


Wendy is our 11th grader this year. She is taking one class at the high school - American Sign Language. She will then fulfill the rest of her high school requirements while taking classes at the community college - here it's called 'Running Start'. If everything plays out as planned, she will graduate high school with her associates degree. Of course, figuring out her schedule has not been very easy, as there is this sign language class to work around, plus the fact that she is playing soccer again, and needs to schedule classes around practices and games - oh my!


Yes - Tyler did graduate this past spring. But since he was ready and on his way to work, Monique couldn't resist the urge to take his picture as well. I actually think that the overly excited look on his face is due to the fact that he is going to work instead of going to school like the other kids. He said he didn't even feel like he was missing out on the whole going back to school thing.


And of course, 1st day of school pictures would not be complete without a picture of Sammy. From what I was told, Sammy was rather sad that the kids were going back to school. He doesn't like his people to leave - maybe because then he's left home with just the cats. I really don't think they terrorize him too much while we are gone.

I'm sure big things are in store this school year. Our days will be filled with many stories and adventures and many times will we be hearing the words, "Homework is stupid - it's an infringement on my personal time". Should we keep a tally?

Kids - have a great year! Open your minds and absorb all the wisdom that you can. Be respectful, be kind, have fun. Remember who you are and wear clean underwear!