30th Birthday Weekend

I had a GREAT birthday weekend! It was so much fun! Friday nite, Justin and Mandy came from 'Kato and my dad came, boat in tow, from Cherokee. They all ended up getting there kind of late, but they were determined to help me celebrate my birthday! Cake, cards and gifts were all brought and I wasn't expecting any of it, but it was really nice of everyone.

Saturday morning we got up and headed to Big Creek Lake down by Polk City and spent a good chunk of the day soaking up the sun, swimming, snacking, drinking, letting the dogs play and listening to music.

My dad bought a pontoon last spring and sadly, we hadn't had the chance to go out on it until last Saturday. It's really BIG and it great to hold all of us. I can't wait to have some more fun on the lake in the near future.

When we got home about in the afternoon, we all decided to take a nap (or try to). We took showers, had supper and then headed out to the golf course for our second annual night golf outing. Last year was the first time Justin and Mandy had done it and this year we broke my dad in. I honestly think he was traumatized! You can head over to the Hunecke Blog for more pictures and details about night golf.

Are you sitting down? Anybody that knows us knows that we are not Iowa State fans. However, my dad thought it would be "fun" to take the kids over to Iowa State Fan Fest on Sunday afternoon because they had inflatables and stuff.

I was against it, but Aaron said they had an equipment sale going on to, so since we had nothing better to we had lunch in Ames and went to Fan Fest. It honestly wasn't too bad. And, we actually bought some stuff at the sale. Aaron got a pair of Nike coaching shoes for $20! We also both got a ISU women's basketball t-shirt (we do enjoy their games) and some plain red running/wind pants.

Oh...and Brody was whipping around a football that they were giving away and he threw it, I looked up and it was at Fred Hoiberg's feet. So, I got to see him up close and personal!

Some pictures from the lake:

My 30th Birthday Balloons on the Boat

Jenna's smiling, but she was clinging on for dear life.

Brody wasn't having it. He kept pointing at me wanting to get out.

Much happier! He loved to pretend to drive and steer the boat.

Justin...chillin'.

Our family

The way I see it...

Big Birthday...and School Starting

Well, I hit a big milestone in my life last week. I had a zero birthday! Yep, the big 3-0. It’s weird because everybody kept asking me if I felt any different. How does one day make you feel completely different?

Needless to say, I still feel the same. Actually, when you say “thirty” out loud, it sounds very adult-like. I know I have two kids and all, but saying my age just makes me sound more grown-up I guess.

I know people always say that you’re only as old as you feel or age is just a number. I think they’re right. In my mind, I still only feel like I’m 22 or 23, so I think that’s a good thing.

Having my birthday also made me think about school. School NEVER EVER used to start before my birthday and now it does. That’s so wrong to me. Why does school start mid-August? It seems like no matter how early school starts, it still gets done about the same time every year (last year’s horrible winter aside).

Why does every school get to pick what day their start school? What if the state just said, this is the day everybody starts school and what you do with the rest of your school calendar is up to you.

Another negative for me, the Iowa State Fair. School should not start while the State Fair is still going on. It just shouldn’t. To me, the fair is about fun and vacation, but if you start school, it’s just not the same. My husband said he had a few students missing from his classes because they had to show at the fair.

My dad, a high school principal, completely disagrees with me on this subject. He thinks kids are ready to come back in August, but don’t want to be there in May. I guess he may have a point. However, I just feel like school in mid-August is robbing kids of their summer, but that’s just the way I see it.

5 Question Friday

1. Do you have any nicknames and if so how did it come about?
Variations of Jamie - Jame (I get that ALOT) or James. My dad used to call me Ace during sports, but that's about it.

2. What is your birth order amongst your siblings?
Oldest. The "responsible one" as I'm known to my brother and sister.

3. In a movie of your life, who would play your significant other?
I know he's not an actor, but Brett Favre. Aaron asked if he WAS Brett at a bar in Wisconsin. Actually, they do sort of look alike minus the age difference. If I get to look forward to the Silver Fox...that's a good thing! :)

4. What is currently your favorite song?
I always have a lot of songs I like at one time...ok, just a few..."Undo It" by Carrie Underwood, "Free" by the Zac Brown Band, "Pretty Good at Drinkin' Beer" by Billy Currington.

5. Are you saving your money for anything right now? Big or small purchase?
Hmmmm...I can't think of anything really big right now or anything specific that is small.

This seemed appropriate...

Happy Birthday to me! Wow! I'm 30 today. That's 3-0. How can that be? I feel like I was just 17 or 22 or something doesn't start with the number 3. Time flies by and it seems it's only getting faster.


I thought of this song last nite by Tim McGraw entitled, "My Next 30 Years," and it just seemed appropriate since it's a reflection on his first 30 years.


I think I’ll take a moment, celebrate my age
The ending of an era and the turning of a page
Now it’s time to focus in on where I go from here
Lord have mercy on my next thirty years


Hey my next thirty years I’m gonna have some fun
Try to forget about all the crazy things I’ve done
Maybe now I’ve conquered all my adolescent fears
And I’ll do it better in my next thirty years


My next thirty years I’m gonna settle all the scores
Cry a little less, laugh a little more
Find a world of happiness without the hate and fear
Figure out just what I’m doing here

In my next thirty years

Oh my next thirty years, I’m gonna watch my weight
Eat a few more salads and not stay up so late
Drink a little lemonade and not so many beers
Maybe I’ll remember my next thirty years


My next thirty years will be the best years of my life
Raise a little family and hang out with my wife (er...husband) :)
Spend precious moments with the ones that I hold dear
Make up for lost time here,
In my next thirty years

Robison Family Reunion

We had our first annual Robison Family Reunion in Swea City last weekend. We all got to talking at Grandma Beadle's funeral that we should really get together. Somehow...someway...we made it happen! We didn't have everybody there, but we had a good turnout and it was fun to catch up. I think we decided we're making this an annual event, which is definitely a good thing!


Cousins...don't we look thrilled?!


Brooke and me...we grew up side by side and went through a lot together! I hate that we live so far away and don't see each other more.


Three rugrats at the pool - Brody, Jenna and Brooke's son - Camden. Jenna LOVES Camden. Those two get along really well and have a ton of fun together.


My mom and Mark


Brooke's look-a-like daughter, Maeci. Aren't those the biggest blue eyes you've ever seen?!


The whole crew in the park shelter prior to lunch.

All-Star Series

As I said before, Aaron was selected to coach in the Senior All-Stars Series in Cedar Rapids for the Small Schools East team. He left early Thursday morning. It was four games in four days for every team (there were four total).

The girls and I (thanks to my wonderful mother-in-law) got to go down minus Jenna and Brody. It was nice to have a little break and get to relax. We got to stay at the Mariott in CR, which was really nice. In the time not spent at baseball games, we went school shopping for the girls and went swimming.

They kept the boys and coaches pretty busy too! Playing games, all-state meetings, poker tournament, cosmic bowling and the olympics were all on the agenda. Aaron had to stay up later than he was used to! Needless to say, I was thankful the Kasea and Ken were there because I would have been spending a lot of time by myself.


Thursday and Friday the teams played at Kernels Stadium and Saturday and Sunday at Kirkwood Community College.


It was really fun to watch really GREAT baseball. Those guys made everything look so easy. The defensive plays they made were amazing! The only tough thing about it was the small schools played the large schools (Class 4A) and the pitching was so dominating by the 4A squad. You just don't see that kind of pitching in 1A and 2A. For example, the kid that pitched against us on Sunday got drafted by the Phillies! Kind of crazy.

Tetherball BABY!

I had to make a trip to Iowa Falls to get the paper and the entire crew decided to make a road trip out of it. It kind of sucks because you drive 50 minutes one way to get the paper and the actually pick-up is like three minutes.

Anyway, we decided to have lunch and then go find a playground for the kiddos to play at. We were driving down Main Street and saw Pizza Ranch. I LOVE Pizza Ranch, but hardly ever get to eat there, so we stopped and chowed down.



A job well done by the girls. They ate the heck out of that buffet! :)

So, we drove around looking for a playground and found one by an elementary school. They had tetherball there, which I've never played before that I can remember. Anywho, Aaron challenged me to a game and me being ultra-competitive couldn't say no! From there, it escalated into many games.


Have you all ever played this game? Geez, I felt like I had no hand eye coordination! The string was making the ball go whacky and I felt really dumb swinging and missing the ball.

Aaron THINKS he went undefeated and was the tetherball champion, but I beat him...once! A blemish on his perfect record!

Hickory Grove Park

Thursday nite, Aaron was gone, so the girls and I decided to go the the Farmer's Market in Colo to get some sweet corn and for the awesome soft serve ice cream that they offer.

Afterwards, we headed just down the road to Hickory Grove Park, which is a really nice place to take the kids. It has trails, playground equipment and best of all a lake and beach area.

Although Jenna and Brody haven't been exposed to water too much in their lives, they are fast becoming little fish! They have no fear - especially Brody. They probably would have stayed there all night, but supper time had passed, so I figured we'd better get home.


Brody and Jenna with Ken and Kasea


Always has to get dirty, doesn't he? :)


My pretty girl dancing in the water.

This is a collage I made of some of the pictures Kasea, Ken and I took. I think I got them a little addicted to taking pictures!

A Boy and His Glove

While the girls were here we headed up to the softball field for a little infield and hitting. Brody loved putting on my glove and Ken and I each snapped a bunch of pictures. I thought a collage would be super cute!

The thing with Brody is...we really don't know if he's going to be right or left-handed yet! He's definitely going to hit left-handed and it looks like he's leaning toward throwing that way too (YAY!). But, as soon as I write this he will randomly start throwing with his right-hand for a few days.

We don't really want to buy him a glove yet until it looks like a sure thing, but he loves wearing gloves, so maybe we'll buy one of each!

Arts and Crafts time

As I said in a previous post, Kasea and McKenzie came down and stayed with us for 8 days! It was great, because I just don't get to see them enough. Kasea navigated her way through the cities and got everybody here safe and sound.

We did a ton of stuff while they were here, but I'll just post some of the highlights. One of the things Kasea liked was the artwork we had done for the kids' rooms. She wanted me to make her something and I told her SHE could make something. So, over to Hobby Lobby we headed to figure out something for her room. The girls loved Hobby Lobby because they had never been there before (can you believe that?!).


All of us working diligently on our projects.


The kids got up from their nap, so they wanted to fingerpaint.



The before and afters! We were pretty happy about the results:

Ken made a thing for Jeri to keep her make-up in. She free-handed everything and I was impressed!

The way I see it...

The teenager and the cell phone

I had a revelation this week! I cannot be a mother to a teenage daughter! I know you’re probably thinking it’s too late for that, but I was thinking I’d just keep Jenna four forever. I know, I know, it’s not a possibility, but I had quite the experience this last week and now am wishing she would stay that young.

My two cousins from Wisconsin came down and spent eight days with us. We all had a great time and they got to experience life with two kids under the age of five, which I think was good for them. I, on the other hand, got to experience life with a pre-teen (12) and teen (16).

I just have one small (ok, probably not so small) beef with the 16 year old. Put the cell phone down!!! Non-stop. The texting and checking facebook was non-stop. She never went anywhere without her phone. Texting at the the lunch or supper table! I know if it would have been me back-in-the-day checking my phone at the table my dad would have freaked out over that. He doesn’t even like it when you wear a hat at the table because he thinks that is disrepectful.

I know I could have said something, but I’m not her mother and I didn’t want to be viewed as such. I just dealt with it, even though internally I was going nuts! It took all my energy not to yell, “The world will not end if you don’t have your phone for a whole 20 minutes. Trust me!”

Remember a few months ago I said I was obsessed with my phone? I’m not. That was complete and utter bologna. My cousin is obsessed. I am not.

Saturday night we were in Cedar Rapids to watch my husband coach and we decided to go swimming at the hotel pool. Well, the 12 year old and I decided to go swimming. My cousin said she didn’t want to get all wet. I think that was code for, “Jamie, if I go swimming then I won’t be able to have my phone with me. If I don’t have my phone with me then I won’t be able to check it every two seconds.”

So, she didn’t swim. She sat on the side of the hot tub with her legs in and her phone in hand. I just shook my head. That was day six and by then, although it made me crazy, I was getting used to it.

Even though I’m sort of joking about this in my column, I’m actually sort of serious when I say that I think this is a problem the younger generation has. I think the constant need to be “in touch” is a little scary, but that’s just the way I see it.

Swimming Lessons

Jenna has been taking private swimming lessons the past three weeks and has been really enjoying it. We haven't really taken our kids to the pool that much, but Jenna hasn't had much fear when it comes to water.

A friend of ours is a lifeguard and with our crazy schedule, she was willing to work with us on the times, so we took advantage of the 1-on-1 lessons.

Here are some photos of Jenna in action!

5 Question Friday

1. Are you a neat sleeper or a messy sleeper?
Well, I would say I'm pretty neat, but my husband would say otherwise! I drive him crazy by always getting the covers and sheet all messed up and tangled.
2. Fill in the blank. I wish I was more ________________.
Patient. Patient when I'm driving behind some slow person. Patient when I'm waiting for my computer to download something. Patient with my kids. Ok, you get the idea...
3. What is something that you wish you had been warned about?
Private Colleges. I wish I would have just sucked it up and went to a community college, played ball for two years, had almost everything paid for and THEN went onto a 4-year. Aaron and I will probably be paying off our student loan debt until we're 87 years old!
4. What was the best thing you ever found at a garage sale/flea market?
I would have to say a couch we found last year to throw down in the basement. $20! Love a good garage sale!
5. If you could have any meal brought to you right now, what would it be?
Easy. Homemade Noodles with mashed potatoes.

Lack of posts this week...

I have had not one single post this week on the blog. You may be wondering why (or maybe not), but it's because we have been blessed with two visitors this week! Yep, two of my cousins drove all the from Wisconsin to hang out with us for the WEEK! We have been having so much fun and keeping busy that I haven't had time to post anything. I assure you, when I do get around to posting about this week, I'll probably have to break it down to about 37 posts! :)

We (me and the cousins) are heading to Cedar Rapids today to watch Aaron coach in the Senior All-Star Series, which runs through Sunday. I'm so grateful and thankful to my mother-in-law Linda who volunteered to come and stay with the kids, so I could go to Cedar Rapids! It should be a great weekend!