Children's thinking

Ty got a little tiny push cart for Christmas. It's about the right size for a one year old to push a few blocks or stuffed animals in. Ash and Briggs thought they would modify it for their own play. Ashlynn was sitting in the little cart while Briggs was loudly pushing her around and around the house. I thought this wasn't such a good idea so I gently told them, "Let's not do that. That cart is not meant to carry a 6 year old." Without even communicating Ashlynn got up and Briggs walked around and sat in the cart, the two of them preparing to continue their play with roles reversed. I had to then state the obvious that the cart was not meant to push 4 year olds, either. I love how their minds work!

Dancing Diva

I just thought I'd share a little clip from Our weekend at Brian's Parents. Ash, Briggs and Cousing Caleb went swimming and put on a little show for the camera. This is a good representation of Ashlynn's real personality, complete with the "Rock on!" hand sign at the end.

Ashlynn Gets Married

This is the stuff blogs are made of. I don't even know where to start.

Basically Ashlynn and her best friends little brother, Harry decided to get married. This decision was made in order for Maggie and Ashlynn to be "related" and so their kids could be cousins. They kept talking about this marriage that was going to take place until one night all of the parents went out to dinner and left the kids with the sitter. When we came back, there were pictures to document the incident.

You need to understand that when Harry and Ashlynn do anything, they don't do it halfway. It really would be a scary thing if they got married.

There were not just the obvious costumes (complete with top hat and sword) but Briggs walked Ashlynn down the aisle, They exchanged rings that came from genuine ring boxes and they finished it off with a bang by sealing the deal with a kiss. And not just any kiss. We are talking bear-hug-on-the-lips-kiss.

When I asked Ashlynn if she knew that she was not supposed to kiss boys until she was older, she just looked at me with total honesty and answered, "No."

After a few days, Harry and Ashlynn's play got a little carried away and we had to tell them to stop. Harry got down right mad when we took his wife home that night. Much to his dismay, his mom told him he wasn't allowed to sit with his wife at church until he was 18. Ashlynn asked the Primary secretary if she could hold her baby because her and Harry had gotten married.

I don't have pictures in my posession of the nuptuals, but if you click on Harry's familys' blog link you MUST view the pictures.

http://www.brundagefive.blogspot.com/

Mad Scientist

Ashlynn declared yesterday that she thought Ty was going to be a mad scientist when he grows up. I think that is very appropriate.

Blast from the Past

To kick start my blogging career again, I thought I would post a picture of Brian with his sister, Lisa, showing off their "super" new underwear.

Enjoy!

So here's the gang on Splash mountain. Front to back there is Ashlynn, Brian, Briggs, Chelsea, (Brookes sister) and Joe. The kids really impressed us this time around and Disneyland by going on alot of the big rides. They went on all of the mountain rides - Splash, Thunder and Space (minus the Materhorn), Star tours, haunted mansion, soarin', tower of terror and grizzley run.
We had to buy this picture because of the look on Briggs's face. I like to think what was goin through his mind. Incidentally, they both really like Splash mountain.

Halloween

Here's the most recent:

Had a great time at Disneyland with the Brundages. Needless to say, 8 kids and 5 adults and 3 days at the big D left me with no voice which eventually turned into a case of bronchitis. This picture only has 6 of the 8 kids in it.

Halloween was fun. Briggs celebrated with a different costume for every event: Buzz lightyear for church trunk or treat, superman for preschool and a knight for Halloween night. We had some friends join us for trick or treating in our neighborhood. Ashlynn wore her tap dance costume and dubbed herself a polka-dot princess (she was quite annoyed whenever someone couldn't guess what she was!) Ty appropriately donned a devil costume.

Ty has prompted us to arm the house at a whole new level of child proofing. We have al sorts of gadgets at the house. Every time the babysitter comes over, I have to introduce her to a new locking device. The garbage disposal in the island sink is now unplugged because he climbed on the counter and turned it on. Momma reached right down and unplugged it. We will probably have to keep it like that until he registers for the draft. Oh well!

I think that's it for now.

I'm still here

Just a quick note that, yes, we are still here. Life has been a little busy to blog. I will add our trip to disneyland and halloween as soon as I get over this cold.

Family update

Just a photo update of family events.

As the kids get older, I love to see how they can entertain themselves better. This was a rainy day, and the two of them decided they wanted to go swimming. So they got their suits on, got snacks for themselves, and went "swimming" in Briggs's Nemo quilt. Kept them happy.

Ashlynn and the Green Ladybugs in action with their coach.

Lame! I can't figure out how to rotate the picture! Anyway. Brian and the kids at the pumpkin patch with Ty trying to escape (as usual.)

Confessions of an 18 month old

Hello.

My name is Ty Rober.

I'm 18 months old.

And I'm a climber.

At first I just started out with little things, like bathroom counters, computer desks and kitchen tables. But one day it all escalated into hard core stuff - changing tables, bunk beds, kitchen counters. I knew I'd hit rock bottom when I tried to crawl out of my crib and nearly fell on my head. Luckily my mom caught me just in time. But now I have a tent over my bed that my mom and dad zip up over me when I go to sleep so that I have no choice but to stay in my crib. During the day, though, I have free reign of the house. I like to explore alot. Mostly into my sister's makeup and into the bathroom. Here is a picture my parents took of me this weekend. I was just trying to do what everybody else does. Even though I was fully clothed, with my diaper on, and sitting completely in the toilet, they don't seem to want me to keep doing this. I even had toilet paper (about half the roll) to get the job finished. I tried to tell them this by saying, "I wiiee. I wiiee." and cleaning my diaper area.

I really can't wait for the day when I get my first x-ray.

End of Conversation

Just a quick anecdote from Briggs. We are trying to get him to stop sucking his thumb and have tried every tactic in the book - but to no avail. The kid just likes his thumb. So tonight we are giving him the lecture/pep-talk when he interrupt us and says, "OK, OK. End of conversation!"
Excuse me, little 4-year-old!

Winnie the Pooh!

It's fun to see that as the kids grow up, each of them has gone through a faze where they are really into a certain cartoon character - they talk about it constantly, want to always watch it and see it everywhere. Ashlynn was into the Wiggles, Briggs was into Dora, and now Ty has latched onto Winnie the Pooh. We are really excited to go to Disneyland next week and have him ride the Winnie the Pooh ride.

Road Show

Our stake just did a video Road Show. Brian helped out a lot with it, so I thought I would post some pictures of the day we filmed at the beach. We were filming Nephi trying to get his family to build a boat.

"Give"
- the Little Stream

Odds and Ends

I'm trying to keep up, so I'm just going to post some of the little things that have been going on in the mind of the Robers. They are totally disconnected (the thoughts not our minds).

We went hiking with the kids so we had some time to just talk with the kids. Ashlynn asked if her Papa's job was the National Photographer. We told her no, then explained to her what he did. Brian explained it best when he said,"You know when you look at magazines? Papa is the one who makes sure the reds are red and the blues are blue."
Ashlynn got it, but then Briggs chimed in with ,"Yeh. And once I colored something orange and it wasn't supposed to be orange."

Briggs continues to work on not sucking his thumb at night. He had 3 great nights and was rewarded with a trip to the dollar store after each successful night. However, this morning he came into our room with a wrinkled thumb and a happy, satisfied look on his face.

Ty, as I write is systematically destroying the office and trying to pull the chair out from beneath Briggs because we wont let him have markers. This is why I don't update the blog as much as I used to. Needless to say, Ty will be dressed as a devil this Halloween.

Briggs got a hot wheels cereal box for his birthday. On the back was a contest that if you collect 3 matching trading cards you could win a Ford car. The kids casually asked about this in passing, then forgot about it. Later, I pointed out to them that the box had a coupon for a free Hot Wheels car from Target. I asked them if they wanted to go and get the free car that day. I was met with unexpected zeal from the kids. Then it dawned on me - "You do know that the car is only 2 inches long, right?"
"Oh. Nevermind. I don't want to go" said Ashlynn.

Ashlynn is playing soccer again this year. We will post some pictures soon.

Marriage Proposal

My little sweetheart , Briggs, just announced that when he grows up he wants to marry me. As common as that is for little boys to say, it still tickles me to death! I told him I was already married to Daddy. He said he wished I had waited and not married Daddy. How sweet!
His little friend Harry asked him on the way home how constuction guys tear down walls when they are remodeling homes. Briggs said he thinks they must use their "might".

Spelling Test

One of the reasons I love being a mom:
Ashlynn brings home her first grade spelling test. The first word on the test is, "a-s-s"!

Motherly Moments

After watching Lisa's post, I thought this would be appropriate. This heralds from our friends Vanessa and Jacob. They have 3 boys and a daughter Katie....

katie is kind of cranky, it's her nap time and i usually have to walk her around to make her fall asleep during church. it's not working. so i just kind of give up and just walk around so she doesnt scream in everyones ears. she's happy, and i'm being amused by the 3 year old that got up by the front pulpit and was saying "you can't catch me!" to the very embarrassed mom. he sees that the bishop spotted him and ran up further inbetween the rows of chairs, then he realizes he's cornered and gives up, every one chuckles, so do i. poor mom is embarrassd but it made church a little exciting...i go back to my seat as the final verse is being sung, and gather my stuff up and the kids take off, jake looks at me and says "i've got to tell you something" okay...what?...too many people around i guess, so he ushers me down the hall a little as we pass a few people smiling at us. nothing abnormal. then jake divulges the story "well you know how on the forth of july when we bought those fireworks?" yeah? " well you know how they had lots of different kinds of fireworks?" yeah? "well APPARENTLY, a tampon looks a lot like one of those little poppers you find in those packages of fireworks" ohno... "yeah i turned around and apparently ryan while looking in your purse to see if you brought any snacks or toys for church, came across your pocket in the purse that contained a tampon, and it was too late by the time i saw him he was very frustrated that the "popper firework" wasnt working when he pulled the string." ohno...."did anyone see?" "OH YEAH. there were a few families that were turning purple as they were trying not to make a scene from laughing hysterically, there were even some with tears in thier eyes!" that my friends is what happens when you leave your boys for half an hour with your husband at church.

Ty's new haircut

Ty just got a haircut and it was a little shorter than expected. Tell us what you think. Yay or Nay.

It's alive!

At last! The blog is alive. Sorry I have not posted anything in a while. These past few weeks have been rather strenuous and hectic.Raising 3 children is not as easy as some may suspect, despite having someone as supportive and helpful as Brian for a husband. I have been so exhausted at the end of the day that the thought of getting on the computer just seemed like another chore.Here is a quick update on what has been happening.

Our addition upstairs is almost finished. We extended the floor of our loft to cover the two-storied entry in order to enlarge the loft and add some closets for some bank computers.

Ashlynn is enjoying her second year of playing soccer, although her competitiveness is really shining through. Whenever the other team scores a goal and she doesn't, she gets more and more frustrated. I think it must be hard to deal with such competitive feelings when you are only six. I wouldn't know. I've never been competitive in sports.

I am also learning alot about Ashlynn's class, having the opportunity to volunteer once a week.

Briggs turned 4 on Sep. 21 and celebrated with a big bash a Chuck E. Cheese. He was so excited, but much preferred playing games as to being interrupted by the Big Cheese himself wanting to sing him happy birthday.

Ty has earned a new nickname, "El Diablo" as his devious actions have only incresed as time goes on. His daddy just gave him a haircut, which was a wee bit too short- the kid looks like "Private Rober".

Ode to Amanda

Brian and I are so lucky to have the wonderful family that we do, but I want to take this opportunity to tell everyone how AWSOME my sister Amanda is. I honestly don't know what I would do without her.

For those of you who don't know, Amanda, my younger sister, lives here locally and has been a livesaver in so many ways. She watches our kids all the time and refuses to accept payment, she helps us with our garden year-round, and she is always available to provide sisterly advice whenever I need it.

Some examples of how Amanda rocks:

She has the knack for showing up right at that time of the evening before Brian gets home and I am about to lose it. She'll take the kids out for a walk, or play with them in the garden so that I can get dinner ready or just put my feet up.

She takes our kids to Farmers Market EVERY SINGLE THURSDAY EVENING. For those who don't know, it is a massive street fair where the kids and their "Aunty Mae Mae" have fun traditions they enjoy. This is a huge deal, and she had been doing this for almost 2 years strait now. She loves it, the kids love it, and Brian and I love it. Can you say, "Win, win, win situation"?

She is always taking the kids to her house so that Brian and I can get big projects done at the house when necessary. Like today. Brian and I are getting ready for a trip and need to get the house ready, so Mae has all 3 kids. Am I spoiled or what.

Mae has spent so much time with our kids and knows them so well, Brian and I cosider her our third parent. I can't tell you how many times we consult her for parenting advice when we have a problem - and she doesn't even have kids of her own!

Needless to say, I have so much gratitude and love in my heart for Amanda. I am so much closer to her now than I have ever been, and it is all because she has truly shown me how gratitude and service can change a persons's heart.

New Vocab List

I have added an element to the blog as a way, mostly for me, to keep track of Ashlynn and her crazy vocabulary that she spits out. She copies everything she hears, but she knows how to use the words properly. If you click on the word, it is linked to wikipedia for the definition.

I've also included a picture of Briggs and his friends, Harry and Delaney, on their first day of school.

First day of school

Ashlynn started 1st grade last Tuesday, and Briggs started a new preschool today. They were both excited to start and had great days.

Oh, yeah, and here is what I deal with in their absence (aka Ty).

Ashlynn's birthday

Ashlynn had a little birthday party here at the house. Here is a picture of me bringing in the cake while we sang to her. Notice the precarious situation of the cake. Yes, it was air born but somehow landed right-side-up on the table. All of the little girls squealed and claimed I almost burned the house down. Why is it that 6-year old girls exaggerate so much?

Ashlynn's brains

I had to post something new and get Miss South Carolina off the top of our blog. Sorry, Gorgeous.
Ashlynn is on her 4th day of 1st grade, and just yesterday she blew me away with her brains - and sass. She explained that Mrs.O taught her that bat's will come down and catch a rock if you throw it up in the air. I took them to Farmers Market last night and she tried it. She was dissappointed when a bat didn't swoop out of the sky. I told her that maybe the bat didn't see it. She just looked at me incredulously and sassed,"Hello! Echolocation!"

Miss America

All I can say is, Oh Dear!

Scary Ty

"I want to destroy your house!"

Tenny the Tornado

This about sums up Ty. By the way, has anyone ever cleaned up baby powder that has been sprinkled all over a family room? (I use the term "sprinkle" lightly"

The Nut Tree with Nana

On Thursday with my mom, we took Grandma Faye (my mom's mom) and went to the Nut Tree in Vacaville. They had really cute little rides for the kids, sail boats you could push around in a fountain, and even a lilliputian victorian house that you could rent out for tea parties. I want one!

Daddy's a "So forth"

Tonight for family home evening, we were practicing our Articles of Faith with the kids (for those who don't know, we all have 1-9 memorized, including 3 year old Briggs. He is a bit of a whiz when it comes to memorizing things.) After we had practiced #6, which ends, ". . . apostles, prophets, pastors, teachers, evangelists and so forth," they asked what an evangelist was. I told them it was a patriarch, which is someone who gives blessings. Briggs said, "Oh. And what does 'so forth' mean?" After giving him a brief definition Ashlynn matter-of-factly stated, "Daddy's a 'so forth' because once he poured oil on my head and gave me a blessing." And Briggs said, quite supportively, "Yeh. And I'm a 'so forth' because during Primary I go back and forth between the drinking fountain and the Primary Room."
Out of the mouths of babes.

Discovery Park with Nana

My mom and I took the kids to Six Flags Discovery Park (formerly known as Marine World) last week (Monday). We were very lucky it wasn't too hot. Ty just loved all of the sites and sounds. I love the bottom picture of them with their superman capes on at the dolphin show.

Why Brian became a banker

I'm starting to figure this out, so I'm rearranging things. This is the same video, just in a different place.

Ashlynn's wit

This week, the kids and I are at my parents while Brian is experiencing his first Girls Camp for church. He is the High Counselor over the Young Women, so he is there as a chaperone of sorts.
Yesterday, my mom and I took the kids to Marine World (I will post pictures later). At the end of the day Ashlynn demonstrated her mastery of the English language and her ability to use a simile.
I was carrying Briggs on my back when he dropped a toy of his in the parking lot. The round toy started rolling down the steeply inclined parking lot and showed no signs of stopping any time soon. I dropped Briggs from my back and went running after it. When I returned (with the toy!) I found that Briggs had fallen on his bottom and was quite upset. Ashlynn, only commenting on the situation, not making fun, shouted, "Briggs - she dropped you like a toy she didn't want!"
Briggs was not too pleased with this comment, but my mom and I got a good laugh out of it.

Vacation Pictures

I thought I would add some vaction pictures.

New blog

Mark, you seem quite intent on starting this up, so with my vast amount of free time, I thought I would do so for our family. I have labeled our site"SLO Rober". If Brian wants to change it - go for it.
I have other family members who have blogs and I enjoy them alot. They really keep us connected. And by the way, Mark, I have already forgotten the "stink it up" story of Ashlynn's. So if you could kindly post it for me to keep for our posterity, I would appreciate it.
My one revelation I will share for the family is that of my role as a mother. Brian and I always compare and discuss our jobs and roles in our family - Brian's as the bread winner out of the house and mine as the homemaker and nurturer. There are some times when I think I have the easier job, and their are time when I think Brian's job is easier. I have come to the realization that the hard part about my job is the fact that I am constantly putting out fires, figuratively speaking. When I am at home, I have days where I can take naps and just play. But throughout the course of the day, there are spurts of pure frustration. Ty throws dirt from the house plants all over, just as I notice that he has decorated the wall with orange marker, as I hear him playing in the toilet that, no doubt wasn't flushed, while Briggs is upstairs screaming bloody murder because he has decided to help himself to a bath and turned on the water as hot as it can be and is scalding his feet, while Ashlynn is chastising me with some sassy retort like ,"Mom! how long does it take to make my lunch!" These are the times when I think Brian has it SOOO easy.
But I love being a mom.