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!