Yo-da Best

Briggs made this card for me 

Just Because. He said he saw it on Pinterest and thought it was "adorable". 

Love him. 

Daddy! I want a golden ticket now!

What's a sure fire way to annoy your big sister? 

Imitate her using a Veruca Salt voice.

Well played, Briggs. (To his credit, she was kind of throwing a Veruca-esque tantrum.)

State Capitol Field Trip

 I never posted pictures of our State Capitol field trip. Have I mentioned I've been on a lot of field trips this spring? This was with Briggs's class again.

 My cute little group of boys.

 Drawing the state seal

 View out of the capitol looking at the golden bridge.

Sand Lot boys

These little fourth grade boys are the cutest. They are classmates, friends and baseball enthusiasts. And last night they were rivals. The Angels played the Red Sox, one of the most anticipated games of the season for these little Sand Lotters! The Red Sox ended up winning 8-6, but Briggs got a good hit and RBI off of his friend who was pitching. Yesterday at school their teacher took a poll "Who thinks Kaleb's team is going to win, and who thinks Briggs's team is going to win?" It was a fun night with good memories. makes me grateful for good friends.

Briggs has had a good season this year. His skills have improved. He can hit a kid pitched ball, he can field a little better and has made some really great plays this year. His coach even awarded him with the game ball after one game. Way to go Briggs!

Harry Potter and Spring Storms

Yesterday I finished reading these books with the boys - Ty, the Prisoner of Azkaban and Briggs, the Deathly Hallows. They were both so excited to hear the endings of the stories, both begging for turns to read with me. Ty only had one chapter to finish. As soon as we finished he insisted on watching the movie (because I'm a purist like that and make my kids finish the book before watching the movie). We actually all sat down together and watched it. We don't usually watch movies like that on a school afternoon, but yesterday was a busy overcast day and it felt good to sit and watch a little HP. The cozy, snowy scenes of Hogwarts always make me crave the same kind of weather.

 After dinner, it was Briggs's turn to finish his book. As we curled up to read, a storm gathered outside. So as we completed Harry's journey with him, the windows were being lashed by rain and the sky was filled with lightening. It was the perfect spring storm that is unusual for these parts, but made the reading even more cozy. This is my second time reading the series out-loud, and so far, each time I finish that 7th book, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, I still get emotional. It's such a beautifully written story, with a great overall message. (I might have shed a few tears, but I disguised them as "Hagrid's" tears...) Seconds after reading the last sentence, the storm caused the lights to flicker, ever so slightly, and I told Briggs that it was caused by the magic of the book. He knew it wasn't real, but it's still magical to pretend with your child.

We've been working on these two books with the boys for the last 6 months. I'm going to miss reading them. I guess that means it's time to start looking forward to our summer reading books!

Fourth Grade trip to Coloma

I got to go with Briggs to Coloma and visit the state park where gold was fist discovered in California. It was a little warm but there was lots of shade.
The kids favorite part was panning for gold. Every single kid was convinced he was going to strike it rich. Briggs included. I have never seen so many 9 and 10 year old so focused and quiet on one thing for so long before.

Gold Panning. It might rival mine craft for entertainment value.

In other news, I was really proud of Briggs because he chose a certain kid in the class to be his partner for the field trip because he said that he was afraid no body else was going to chose him and he didn't want him to feel bad. The kid he chose has some special needs but Briggs is so patient and helpful. He doesn't talk down to him but he's always helping him out. At one point in the gift shop today, the kid got a little confused and walked right past everyone in line and went straight to the counter. After I saw him do this I told him he need to go to the back of the line. He looked at me a little confused. So Briggs stepped right in and very patiently said, "it's just like the cafeteria. You have to get in the line," and he cleared things right up.

He's a great kid.

My Jam

What Briggs claimed was his jam...
Justin Timberlake "Suit and Tie"


What Ty claimed was his jam...
The Muppets "Forget You"


What Ashlynn claimed was her jam...
Actually...Ashlynn calls everything with a beat "My Jam!"
Madagascar "Circus Afro"

Angels Win!

So these little Angels won their game tonight! And they happened to be playing the number one ranked team! So now they are tied for first!

I knew, back when we were perusing "Most Awesome Baby Names of 2003" and we decided on the name Briggs, he would be destined for great things (tongue in cheek).

On the drive home, Justin Timberlakes song "Suit and Tie" came on and Briggs crooned from the backseat, "Ah yeah! This is my jam!"

Then we proceeded to have a little dance party in the car.

Not a bad ending to the day when your family pet dies.

RIP Rosie...

And GO ANGELS!

Bilbo

Briggs thinks Josh Groban looks like Bilbo Baggins.

More Briggs

 Briggs and I are reading Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows together. So while I read to him, he takes crazy selfies.

 He recently participated in the pinewood derby. He likes a simple sleek design. Red, with very little embellishments. When he turned it in the scout master asked him what the name of his car was. Briggs looked at Brian as if to say, "Are you kidding me?! I don't care!" With almost no thought he said, "Red". Someone suggested "Red Racer". Briggs agreed to that with very little thought. done. NEXT!

 Around Valentines day, I found this little love note from Briggs to Ty.
"Dear Tennyson,
You are AWESOME!!! (sometimes) I like to go on the trampoline with you. Playing Minecraft with you is fun, too. when we wrestle it is EPIC!!! (also sometimes) You are nice.
Love, Briggs
P.S. Good luck in the Minecraft match today!
B.T.W...
Abe Lincoln Wife! She's a congress Lady!
3D square version of you
2D version of you"

These boys love each other.

p.s. Minecraft is a video game where you build world out of digital lego-like blocks. Its' the most recent obsession with these boys.

Briggs Gets His Cake

 Last night Briggs noticed that there was one piece of chocolate cake left. When he asked if he could have some cake, he was bowled over by my answer. "Sure. Just get a fork and eat it off the platter."

"REALLY?!" Boy, did I make that kids day!

Ty tried to get in on the action, but I told him, no, Briggs got to eat it by himself.

Boy, did I doubly make his day! This middle child ends up sharing a lot of things with his somewhat more verbal brother and sister.

Just look at the happiness on his sweet little face. He savored every last morsel of that cake.

Poverty vs. Puberty

Tonight at dinner, Briggs asked what Poverty meant.
With his little hands waving in a matter of fact way, Ty said, "You know, it's when something changes."

The rest of us looked confused until Briggs said, "No! That's Puberty!"

We would have never connected those dots.

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!

The Sweetness of Briggs

I love how my children are always bursting with news when they come home from school. Briggs is the best with this. Bursting! The door is hardly open before he has started filling me in on his day.

The other day he jumped in the car and said, "Mom. I have 3 things to tell you. 1. I got to go to the treat box twice today! 2. I won a district writing contest! and 3. I love you!" So sweet. You can tell he had that little speech all planned out for me.

I noticed that Ty was rather quiet in the back seat. This is unusual for him. So I prompted him to tell me how his day was. "It was alright," he mumbled. "But in the morning, I had a few tears because I missed you." So sad.

After Ty said this, Briggs reached down and pulled out a ring pop from his backpack, one of his prizes from his double visit to the treat box today. "Here, Ty. You can have this. Since you had a rough day."

 Watching the Dodger game with Dad.

 Hanging out at the park. In this picture he is wearing Giants colors because of a deal he made with his friend. They have a friendly Dodger/Giant's rivalry, so they promised to wear each others team colors as a symbol of solidarity!

He just makes my heart melt. (how did those legs get so long all of the sudden?!)

What's a Uterus?

Ashlynn: OW! My funny bone!

Briggs: Your funny bone is in your foot?

Ashlynn: Yes. And did you know that your funny bone is connected to your humorous?

Ty: What's a Uterus?

Pinewood Derby!

Second Place! Briggs was really excited about his first pinewood derby. Brian made sure to let him make all the decisions and do most of the work, only helping out when a parent needed to. Briggs likes things simple. No fancy shape, just flat, rounded and blue (with his basketball number, 23, on the side.

 A sampling of the cars.

They raced the top 3 cars on all three tracks to make sure one didn't give an advantage. The cars placed 1st, 2nd, and 3rd consistently in all three races. 

Wands and Words

The kids have been on a roll with their funny little anecdotes.

Briggs came home and very solemnly told me that his teacher might be gone for a little while because her mother is in the hospital and probably going to "kick the bucket". I'm pretty sure I choked on what I was eating at the moment, then I collected myself and asked him if that is the way his teacher explained it. No, that was just him paraphrasing. I then had to explain to him what a euphemism was. Luckily his teacher adores Briggs, so even if he had asked her if her mother had kicked the bucket, she probably would have laughed.

After school, Ty yelled to me from the toilet, "Mommy! Today was a rip off! We didn't get to go to the computer lab!"  It was obviously very important to him and needed to be shared RIGHT NOW!

Later after dinner while he was picking out jelly beans he says, "I like the color hot pink. There. I said it. I like pink!" Of course, this was said as if he was saying, "You got a problem with it!?" all the while bobbing his head and rolling his eyes.

Last Saturday we took the kids to the governor's mansion in Sacramento. At the beginning of the tour, the guide was telling us about the original owner who built the mansion. He was explaining that the man, through hard work, had amassed a large amount of wealth. Therefore he wanted to build a house that would show off his new social status. To which Ty replied under his breath, but so everyone on the tour could hear, "That would be bragging." Out of the mouths of babes.

As for Ashlynn, move over Ollivander! There's a new wand maker in town! We are going to Gehrig's Harry Potter themed birthday party on Saturday, and the Rober household is all in a dither with preparations. Briggs created a new spell for the occasion and Ashlynn decided to create wands for the whole family.

Jobs around the house

The kids have been doing a good job helping around the house. We are trying to give them chores that they can learn to do properly and be successful at. Ashlynn has been learning to cook. As of now she can make a pancake dinner by herself and here she is learning how to make spaghetti. She's getting pretty good at it.

Ty's job is to clean up the toys in the backyard. As you can tell from his graffiti, he doesn't like this job. In fact, he hates it and thinks it's stupid! That kid cracks me up. He gets so fired up and mad and he doesn't even care that we were obviously going to see his sentiments written in the very sidewalk chalk he was supposed to be cleaning up. This message was more than likely intended for Brian and I to see. His way of giving us the giant middle finger, if you will (even though he doesn't know what that is).

One of Briggs's chores is to vacuum, which he takes very seriously. Which is more than can be said about eating, because, as is very obvious from this picture, he doesn't take that very seriously. (He gets so mad when I call him skinny! I just tell him I wish people called me skinny!)

Briggs's Baptism

We had a wonderful gathering for Briggs's baptism. Most of the family was able to come. Amanda even came with her fiance (now husband) Kevin. We had a lot of friends from San Luis come all the way up here to spend the day. It was a really special day. Above is the picture that Grandma Keep drew for Briggs.

From November 2, 2011

Ty was not wanting to take pictures that day.



The week after, Briggs started Cub Scouts! So fun! He has been really excited about this.He has already completed his Bobcat section and is actively working on his Wolf. I'm pretty much clueless about Cub Scouts, but I'm slowly getting it down!