As-of Now You Are Under Attack

Brian came home from work and found a note from Ashlynn on the doorstep. The following video is what ensued upon his arrival...


001 from Kate Rober on Vimeo.

Last Day of School 2013

Today is the last day that all three of my chicks are safe and sound at their elementary school together. Next year Ashlynn will be entering the No-Man's-Land that is Middle School.

As you can see from the pictures, it was a little bit of a rough morning. Ash was moody. She was barking at everyone. As we were taking these pictures she said, "I don't feel like smiling." Lovely.

Briggs couldn't find his toothbrush, which is really odd ( I can't comprehend how one loses a toothbrush) and gross at the same time, because this is the conversation that followed.

"Did you or anyone take it out of the bathroom?"
"No".
 "Did you have it yesterday?"
"No" ...
"You haven't brushed your teeth in a long time, have you?"

And then he just hung his head in shame... oh boy.

So as I'm sitting in my quiet house for the last time for a few months, these are the thoughts that are running through my mind:

• I always want to majorly purge my house of junk this time of year. I want to throw it all away!!!
• I've got bleach soaking in the bathroom because it smells like a public urinal in there...
• I won a little family competition we have going on with license plates. I found triple 8 on a plate, so I get to request something from the kids. My request was that they learn how to strip and wash their own bedding this summer. Should they have learned this by now, I don't know. Whatever...
• I've got the kids end of the year surprises all ready and waiting for the kids today. I made scrapbooks out of all of the notes I put in their lunches this year. I even included some instagram pictures of each of them through out the year in the books. I also made another summer playlist, just like last year. And I have a pile of new books to give them that will be our summer out-loud reading.  I kind of like these traditions we've started.
• I'm grateful that I don't have to make school lunches anymore for a while. I hate that job.
• I'm thinking about how much time I'm taking on this post, and that the number of minutes to myself is dwindling, so I better make them count. 
• I love summer! (But I also like a little peace and quiet...)

Random Monday shots

 During Briggs's games, he always comes running over to us in between innings just to check in and give me a kiss on the cheek.

 These two got a few minutes at the park while we were waiting for Briggs to finish up cubs. This shot is entitled, "Mommy! Can you take my picture?" Always.

Whenever these two find a few spare minutes, they can be found drawing and doodling. I signed them up for a cartooning class this summer and they are pretty excited.

Elk Grove has tons of great parks, which apparently catch on fire easily. We came across this park the day after it burned down. Can you see how the slide melted?

May at Warp Speed

This time of year seems to move at warp speed for our family. The kids last day of school is May 30th, which means Glorious Summer is on the horizon. Our time has been filled up with end of the year field trips and parties. Between dance, Activity Days (Ashlynn), baseball, cub scouts (Briggs), piano lessons (Ty), and the never ending line up of playdates, our schedule has become a bit of a brain teaser puzzle.

You know that brain teaser about the fox and the chicken and the corn that you have to get across the river in a boat, but you have to make sure that the fox doesn't eat the chicken and that the chicken doesn't eat the corn, so you have to separate and supervise and take what seems like superfluous trips back and forth across the river? That's how I feel lately. I'm just trying to get all of my cargo safely across the river, and still enjoy the ride.

 Last night, our baseball coach made a mistake on our schedule, which means I went to four different parks before I found the right one that our team was playing at. It was a bit of "Let's tour all the parks of Southern Elk Grove!". We would pull up to a park and see a bunch of little boys in red shirts. I'd drop Briggs off and send him running to the dug out only to notice that he was slowing down because they weren't his team. Elk Grove is known for it's surplus of great parks, so having nothing to go off of, we just kept going to park after park until we finally found the right one...45 minutes late (of course nobody was answering their cell phones to help straighten up the mess).

The only thing that saves me is that most of the kids are old enough to be left home alone for a bit so I don't have to drag EVERYONE EVERYWHERE!

But this month alone Ive been to the State Capitol, Coloma State park, Fog Willow Farms, and end of year swim party next week, worked at the school book fair for a couple of days, helped out with a farmers market at school, helped Ashlynn audition and get the part of Lady MacBeth in her school musical, taught a relief Society lesson and spoke in Sacrament meeting, attended umpteen dozen baseball games and practices and dance rehearsals, collected dozens of costumes from 40 kids for ashlynn's performance group, helped with Mormon helping hands days... really this is just the tip of the ice berg.

This time of year I love preparing for summer. I'm in the process of getting scrapbooks together like I did last year of all of the lunch notes I wrote to the kids. This year I included a smattering of instagram photos, as well. I'm making another summer playlist, as well. And there's always our Summer To-Do list, which I love. I always want to get their treasure boxes of school memories organized and accessible because they always bring home tons of projects that they have worked on throughout the year. And then there's the occasional OCD urges that come out of the blue, "Let's deep clean the grout in the kitchen!" "Let's make a quilt!".

I just have to remember that I enjoy all of this stuff, and I have to remember to constantly check my calendar, otherwise a chicken or a fox is going to get left behind!

Career Day

The kids had career day at school and were told to dress like future careers. The line-up:

Briggs - Engineer
Ty- Artist (he had the idea to paint the shirt the night before)
Ashlynn - Dancer

Can't wait to see what they want to be next year!

Disneyland 2013

 Are you ready for a ton of Disneyland pictures? We spent a couple of days in sunny Southern California with Grandpa this last week. Cars land was new to us, so there are a lot of pictures of Radiator springs, which, by the way, was awesome. They did a really good job (with the exception of the tire ride, it was kinda lame).

 Ash and I wanted to get frosties here, but it was closed.

 Brian getting ready for the Radiator springs racer ride. This ride was soo much fun! You drive around the town a little, then race another car through the mountains. We went straight to the fast pass line when we got into the park, had our tickets 5 minutes after the park opened, then rode the ride an hour later after waiting about 10 minutes. I hate lines.

 Ty trying out the "rock climbing" course.

 We ran into the Brundages while at the park! The kids got to ride Toy Story Mania with their friends.

 We only managed to talk Ashlynn into riding on California Screamin'. She said it wasn't bad for being her first upside down ride. But... her glasses did fall off and into her lap during the ride. Whoops!

 We sat down in the evening and watched the parade. Sometimes we just needed to sit. I kept trying to snap pictures of the kids to show how excited they were about the show, but my camera kept reacting too slow, or my picture taking skills were too slow. One of those two...

 Each of the kids had "goals" while visiting the park. They wanted to try rides that they had previously been too scared or too short to ride. Indiana Jones was that ride for Ty. And he was so excited when first thing Friday morning, there was a zero minute wait for the ride! He was so worried he wouldn't be tall enough that he stuffed his shoes with padding that morning to guarantee a ride! He liked the ride, but the anticipation was too much for him and he mostly rode with his ears plugged. Baby steps.

 Space Mountain was Briggs's goal ride. We knew they would all have fun on it, so we bribed Ty with an extra day of video games to ride. And they all loved it! In fact they said it was their favorite ride in the park!

 This was the picture from the first ride of the day. Ty insists he wasn't scared, he just didn't know his picture was being taken. So the next time he rode, he posed. Goofy kid. And yes, I look a little silly too. Oh well. It's Disneyland!

 As we were riding the Alice in Wonderland ride, I noticed that Ashlynn had taken her Mad Hatter hat off. I suggested that if she put it on, maybe it would grant us special powers and we would be able to ride on a special track or something. Just as she put it on the ride broke down! The kids started panicking and I started laughing. We ended up climbing out of our car and walking off of the ride. I thought it was so cool but the kids didn't. I don't get it! I made sure to snap pictures of walking in the ride. Wish I had taken video.

 Mickey's house

 Father son twins

 Ashlynn's 5th grade teacher was there, so we snapped a picture. Who gets the chance to see your teacher at Disneyland?!

 All of the brave people went on Matterhorn while Ty and I rode the carousel. And took selfies.

 Ty's souvenir pillow pet. How many stuffed animals does this kid need?

 The whole time we were at the park, we kept bringing up memories of Grandma Caroline, and how much she liked Disneyland.

Briggs's teacher loves Tigger, so we made sure and snapped a picture for her benefit.

We had a great time with Grandpa at the park. (but my feet were done after 2 days...wimp.)

The Rober's Are Getting a Pet?

 The other evening the kids Shanghaied us. They had us sit on the couch while the three of them stood in front of us with a board filled with lists. The first words our of their mouths were, "We are proposing that we get a hamster."

Brian and I were silent.

 They then proceeded with their presentations, which consisted of a list of necessary supplies, cost and Owner Household rankings telling us that Hamster owners are number 8 on the list.

Who does this?!

 All of this was done completely on their own and a total surprise to us.  At the end of the presentations they raised their right hands and took an oath in unison (see the above picture). The gist of it was that they pledged to care for the hamster and feed the hamster and pay $5.00 of their own money towards the purchase of said hamster. "We Promise!" they chimed in together.

 It's kind of hard to say no to that. So we told them we'd think about it. They were smart to ask for a hamster and not go straight for the dog (because the answer would have been "No"). So on Saturday, we took them to PetCo to pick out supplies, all in preparation for the purchase of a hamster in a week.

Baby It's Cold Outside!

 It's been a little cold outside lately. The fireplace has been on non-stop and I've had to slip away as often as I can to thaw out in a hot bath. It's a good thing we only live in Northern California! The other night Ashlynn was even cold. This never happens. She curled up in front of the fireplace with a book and a down blanket and promptly fell asleep. Jealous!

And we've been doing a little bit of growing around here. Just to put some scale to this picture, Ty and Briggs have grown 1.25" in 9 months and Ashlynn has grown 1.25" in 7 months.

And she's taller than Briggs.

There were cartwheels over that one.

And our budget for jeans has had to stretch a little bit!

Happy for healthy tall(er) kids!

Irish

The cashier at Michael's today told us our total was "Farty-two dollars". I guess she's Irish. And I guess my kids think that's Really Funny. They couldn't make it out of the sotre without giggling. I guess it's time for some sensitivity training...

I'm pretty sure they were thinking of this skit.

New Years Eve

 We met up with Annessa and the kids on New Years Eve in downtown San Jose at the Tech Museum. The kids favorite part was the MythBusters exhibit.

 Ty submitted a myth.

 Natalee testing out the swing held up by phone books

 I wish I had these little stations around my house, for when the mood strikes to create!

 Ty checking out the blue prints

 Briggs nails the "table cloth and dishes" exhibit. All the (plastic) dishes were left standing!

 He's fast!

 the boys playing with magnetic color changing toys.

 Ty, writing his name in binary code. He was so fast, I couldn't keep up with him.

 A tsunami survival pod. It reminded me of the Jaredite boats.

 a mini rover you could drive from a control room.

 Briggs driving the jet pack. you had to move the chair around so that a red light lined up with a target on the ceiling. Briggs got all 3 in the 60 second time allotment.

 the chair was a little big for Ty.

 Ty trying to focus the power of light onto a solar panel.

 Love Big Bang Theory

 My little Hobbitses!

The cousins enjoying their ipod.