Happy 4th Birthday, Kate!

We celebrated Kate's birthday last weekend with a birthday breakfast and pajama party on Saturday morning.

...So cliche but I am going to say it.... how did she get so old??? I mean seriously, I think we brought her home from the hospital to our little apartment on Mud Island yesterday. Will we be saying the same thing when she turns 18? Probably. Oh, annoying us.

Scout came out dressed-up as "Crazy Orange Guy" to the delight (and horror?!?) of the kiddos. He led them in a pumpkin hunt and pumpkin-themed games. I had nothing to do with this and gasped with the rest of the room to see the orange blur running in...

I was glad to see ol' Young Life Scout come back out! Well, er... I could have done without the UT bell-bottom pants.

While the birthday girl wasn't looking, stealth baby made off with one of her gifts.

"Thank ya. Don't mind if I do!"

Robinson Fun!

The whole Robinson crew usually tries to get together one weekend in October to catch-up and celebrate all the (many!) Fall birthdays. We had our get-together at the Robinsons' new house in Sparta, TN, a couple weeks ago and it was so fun for Kate because it actually *was* her birthday. She usually lucks out with that timing! It was a really fun weekend and so nice to see everyone and have all those little cousins running around after each other!

C.C. spent all weekend climbing in and out of the same wicker chair and loving every minute of it.

They must be scheming about who gets the first piece. I just had to throw this one in here to show-off Colin with his "rally hat" on... love that boy!

Lauren with baby Garrett

On Kate's birthday Scout presented her with her very own Puffin from The Bread Basket in Chattanooga. This is some serious fatherly love if Scout gave Kate the last Puffin. He doesn't joke around with those things.

Yippee!

We did the Race For The Cure on Saturday morning. So fun! None of us came home with first place stats (unless you count Scout winning the Stroller Division because we were the only people running with one... we are pretty sure in hindsight that they weren't allowed) but I think we all deserve medals for getting to the FA-REEZING start line in time with 7 kids in tow! (Caylin, I am counting you as a "kid" to make it sound even more heroic!) Lauren, count us in for next year!

We had to start showering the girls with treats halfway through the race... I always travel with a stroller full of dum-dums and biter biscuits!

C.C. particularly loved the bananas at the finish line. 2? 3? We lost count.

Meme sporting her pink at the finish with Garrett in tow.

October

The month of October has been full of travel and lots of fun (at least for the 3 girls in our crew.) We started out by spending a *wonderful* and relaxing weekend in East Tennesee with the Cudz, Ogles and Hayeses at a couple beautiful cabins along the Clinch River. The main event of the weekend was the UT-Auburn game in Knoxville, and although the Vols lost, it was a great day of tailgating and friends. Being in the mountains and in Knoxville on game day was fun for me, but a soul recharge for Scout. I definitely saw him coming back to life that weekend from all his recent studying and the lingering post-traumatic stress (little smile) of residency.... sweet. Sweet sweet sweet. Thank you, MeMe and PaPa and the Neals for keeping our little ones so we could enjoy the weekend and thank you, Julie, for making the game happen for us!

We were all standing around Scout like he was the elderly patriarch of the group.
We thought we were hilarious.
We see now that we are not. =)



From Knoxville, Scout went back to Memphis to hide-away for the week and study-study-study after work for the Pediatric Boards. He took them a week later, is so glad to have them in the rearview. (Until the next ones!) We missed him on our trip for sure, but it's always best to get the little darlings out of the house whenever focus is in order!


The girls and I headed up to Ashland for a few days to visit Momsie and Bandaddy, Kate and I went to Cincinnati for a day, and we finished up in Princeton visiting Granny for a few days before heading home. It was a really great trip on all fronts. I did not take any pictures other than these that I took on my phone of our (quick!) Cincy trip. We pulled up to Naomi's house to find a sweet early birthday party for Kate. It was precious and the girls had such fun running around and playing like always! Thank you, Watsons and Janine, for a great day!

Fall Fun

...Just some randoms of end of summer fun with the Linams at the museum and a trip to the Memphis Botanical Gardens.

Carter and Samuel...

The princess and the lion... miss you, Drew!