storytelling at sundown

we had to drop by and say goodnight.

we couldnt resist. aloha.

thrifting karma

we went thrifting/photographing/playing yesterday and i had my eye out for three things: vintage pyrex (duh), china that fit our style/stage of life, and vintage sheets to use for sewing household things for the new apartment.

megan walton, we walked into your very favorite wahiawa salvation army and has it ever let us down? no it has not. first thing i saw was a set of four of these:




dinner plates, salad plates, saucers, one tea cup (which will be decoration or for my morning herbal tea) and a sugar bowl. ahhhhh! i love the colors. i hope you can see their loveliness with my sophisticated photobooth images! :) and how much did i get the whole set for- $20 total. i think that's less than one plate of china at a department store and i am equally pleased.... maybe more pleased because it was such a find! good thing there are four people in our family... if we feel crazy and add to that number
i could always go here if i felt like i just had to have more (kids)- haha!

oh, and no vintage pyrex was to be found- but that's the joy of thrifting... maybe next time. i saw some contenders, but it's bad thrifting karma to take something you dont love when someone else might love it more.

and we did find a cool vintage sheet:
which i will be THOROUGHLY washing before i make anything with it... and it is HUGE so expect to see many things come from this little beauty.

so fun.

and now ambrose is saying, "MORE PICTURES!! lots and snots of PITCHERS!!!!!!" so here ya go:

everyday vintage part two

remember when i was like, "blah, blah, blah my mother-in-law has a lot of cool vintage stuff in her house that i get to use"? it was a while ago. i know. anyway, i never delivered on my promise to showcase more of her treasures. is it really mine to share? well, no. but it's just so dang cool! i cant count the number of times i have heard people talk about the charm of vintage pyrex. some people have searching out every piece they can find at rummage sales and thrift stores as a life-long ambition. i'm kinda exaggerating, but kinda not. people are pretty gaga over this stuff and she has a bunch. today i was starting dinner and i was like, "thomas, i LOVE your mom's vintage pyrex!!!! i just love love using it!!!" and he was like, "cool."

men dont really get it. but can i get an "amen!" from the ladies??

and then there's this little treasure that ambrose and so many of his friends have enjoyed jamming and that me and my mother-in-law have enjoyed unjamming. we have noticed though that it is near impossible to permanently jam and therefore is a quality-stand-the-test-of-time toy. obviously, since thomas and his siblings played with this and now ambrose gets to as well and it works just as well as it did back then.

and our last lane through vintage country takes us to the bookcase in my in-laws room that we sleep in- here's a sampling of one choice shelf:

ahhhhh! how cool is that?? this is like my favorite thing ever. i brought my sister ashley in here when she was visitng since she is a book nerd too and we just freaked out over all the cool classics. all from either when linda was young or from her fathers collection. i mean come on:


they just dont make 'em like they used to. although they do try. maybe our kids kids will be drooling over first editions of harry potter from our bookshelves, but i just doubt it for some reason. prove me wrong kids.

and sorry for the grainy, blurry images. poor lighting + iPhone camera = you pretending these images are vintage.... and then they are cool. :)

sick day

wouldnt staying home all day

and doing stay at home things


be way more fun if there werent aches, pains, a runny nose, and a sore throat involved?

my poor kids. i'm crabby when i'm sick.

here's to a healthier tomorrow for us all.

first things first

it's a sweet time of life with so much mysterious possibility around the corner. i know i say it's a sweet time of life a lot on this here blog but it's true.

ambrose is turning into a little child who learns, understands, and remembers things i tell him like today as we were having a little outing just the two of us to the grocery store:

ambrose: mama, what the trees doing?
me: hmmmmm.... (what are the trees doing????) well, they're dancing in the wind and the leaves are painting the sky....

and then i just laughed to myself because he nods and accepts my earthy answers as fact.

later tonight he was being extra precious to stall his bedtime by telling me to lay down with him and tell him "cousin stories" so i took him on an imaginary journey in the sky from his cousins in texas, to kansas city, to utah, las vegas and then ending in california. he giggled and put a chubby arm tight around my neck and said, "mama, the tress...dance in the wind.... and the leaves (i could almost hear his brain working overtime to remember it all) paint the sky!"

oh man, he had me in the palm of his pudgy hand and he knew it.

ambrose: mama, stephanie (yes he likes to call us by our first names), ambrose go temple with mama, daddy and asher!
me: yep. that's what we did tonight.
ambrose: sing temple song!

so, i sing "i love to see the temple." it's of course a solo since he only knows a word here and there and even though i dont think of myself as much of a singer i never feel embarrassed to sing out loud and proud to my babies. as i'm singing he hugs me real tight and kisses my cheek and i cry a little, because i feel lucky to have so many moments like these with him all day long and i know it wont last forever.

he wont always ask to hold my hand in the grocery store or hug me close and ask for me to sing to him, but he does now and i love it.

i have a lot to do lately, but all i find myself wanting to do is play with ambrose, and cuddle asher, and sing to my babies, and hold them close. i feel grateful for the chance to teach soon, but even more grateful to be ambrose's and asher's mom.

press play and then read on!

hey thomas!

well, it's been five years today. and we got married pretty young. i was shockingly young, whew, good thing it worked out ;)


you gave me these beautiful babies:


you make cool stuff like this:

this:

and stuff like these:



my clothes seem kinda cute when you display them in this manner. i should think about this as i'm throwing on the same old thing everyday. ;)

you're workin hard for your family and sometimes it's too stressful, annoying and maybe even dangerous, but you do it anyway and you make it seem easy.

you always support me in my wild schemes to plan this, and sew that, and you dont get too mad when i buy yard after yard of fabric (or at least you dont let on if you do, so thank you, cuz it's a disease i dont want to find a cure for).

you have great taste in music and movies and that counts for a lot!

you're obviously an impressive drummer. i'm impressed:





you are so smart and have so many facts stored away in that NPR listening brain of yours.

and you are a spiritual leader in our family. i respect your gospel knowledge and hope to be like you someday!

but most of all you're just you. my best friend and someone that i quickly fell in love with because it was just obvious. i am glad we didnt drag it out. i am glad we knew and were spared the high drama that comes with a lot of relationships. i am glad we started our life together with a lot of optimism. a lot has happened in five years and i am glad.

thanks for all you do for our family. i look forward to you coming home to us everyday like most people look forward to the weekend because once you're here everything is more fun and we all love you so so much!

glad i get to have you forever. i love you!

vi ses senare!

i ordered these:


and now i'm embarking on the task of organizing a semester around them, four short papers, one long one, a group project, maybe a workshop, discussions, circling up and sharing, pop quizzing no doubt...etc. and the author list in the text is to die for: from flannery o'connor to wordsworth to truman capote, shakespeare, langston hughes, john updike, mark twain, kurt vonnegut, elie wiesel, emily dickinson, edgar allan poe, maya angelou, robert frost, and many others that get my mouth watering. it's gonna be hard to choose.

and last night i made an itemized colossal list of all the things i need... well, want to make for our new place and thomas is such a champ. he listened to them all with an appropriate amount of interest and at the end said a heartfelt, "good luck!" as he designed this cool new bloggy header (thanks t-rob!).

anyway, i never take much time out of my life to blog. it's usually a second here, 10 minutes there, whatever is fluttering through my fleeting mind, but it's time to get writing, organizing, syllabi-ing, quilting, sewing, constructing, painting, mod podging, hammering, crafting and as always there will be many many adventures along the way.

until we meet again :)

on being a 25-year-old with two kids who lives with her in-laws

my in-laws flew to kona for the day. i invited some friends over instead of going out to the beach this morning. we spent the morning running around the house playing, coloring, stickering, eating healthy and unhealthy items, talking craftiness, nursing babies, and reassuring each other that we were all indeed good moms despite our occasional frustrations. :)

my in-laws are so generous with us and in opening their home to us so i knew they would be glad for me, but i had to chuckle to myself, after everyone left and i was sweeping the floor, vacuuming the carpet, wiping the counters and basically trying to leave the house better than we found it.... why did it feel like i was a teenager cleaning up after a kegger before my parents got home?

i guess that's just the nature of living in someone else's home- no matter how generous and understanding they are.

the apartment permits are on their last approval process though (we hope) and things will start to get moving around here soon. i am excited to see the whole process and come up with decorating ideas and excited for my in-laws to get to have their home to themselves again since we do take up so much space and make so much noise, but until then they continue to be generous and we all make it work out.

my wild thing meets the wild things

this morning i had ambrose go get some books to read while i nursed asher and he chose one of his absolute favorites- where the wild things are by maurice sendak. i love it too. so, when we were all done with our reading/nursing session i said, "hey ambrose, do you wanna see max and the wild things on the computer?" he gasped and RAN to the computer.

we were both excited. i played him this:

he sat right in front of the screen with his eyes wide and his mouth hanging open. he looked at me twice quickly to exclaim, "max!" and "what max doing mama?!" and then it was straight back to the screen.

when it was over he said, "oh no mommy- more max!"

i loved seeing him get jazzed about some of his favorite characters coming alive. i loved hearing one of my favorite arcade fire songs on the preview too.

i am so glad there are finally some great movies being made. this one is coming up real soon- cant wait!

does he look like his brother?

photo within the photo: ambrose carl robertson on his blessing day in his ducky pjs in his blue car seat

pictured here: asher henry robertson on his blessing day in his ducky pjs he inherited from his brother in his blue car seat he also inherited from his brother

i think they look alike, but what do i know?

but mostly it works out for us

on tuesdays and thursday at na kamalei. we have been attending this hawaiian culture/language preschool since ambrose was barely 18 months old and he has come so so far! everyone is so loving and kind and they make our whole family feel welcome each week.

they've been emphasizing hawaiian protocol a lot more this session and so we have been working hard to learn our pule or prayer (listen to how spiritual the culture is.... this is not a mormon preschool and is state funded):

E ke Akua
Aloha mai ia makou
Mahalo no keia la
A kokua mai ia makou
Keia ko makou leo pule
Ma ka inoua o Iesu
Amene

which means:
O thou art God
Have mercy upon us
Thank you for this day
And help each of us today
This is our voices of prayer
In the name of Jesus
Amen

the kids chant that and a couple others each time. if you want to see what a big dork looks like, check me out each time, trying my best to remember all the words and timing! :) but i love that ambrose is experiencing this twice a week since this is where he was born and therefore a part of who he is. we love hawaii and na kamalei!









for some reason his site ended up being all boys this session and so that has been kind of fun. he loves his preschool friends and songs and snacks and toys!

my husband has magical powers

he straightened out the little circle on campus..... all on a stormy day even..... then he put it back in time for classes to start and all that. i was impressed.

i pulled up to the preschool gate and it was locked....

i dont think we had a field trip that i didnt know about... i called the main offices and got the answering machine and so i thought, "hmmmm.... whatever." and we went out for a day of fun at waiamea valley! ambrose has been there before when he was a baby and i would do supervisions with him in tow and we would hike the trail with our clients. that was nice, but it was way more fun today! just me and my boys hiking around, listening for birdie songs, pointing out the flowers and trees and chasing the occasional sprinklings of warm rain. we stopped to get dry under a little hut on the trail and even got to make a fish out of leaves with "auntieeeeeeeee" as she lead us in a rousing round of "slippery fish"- that song is so fun.
they should mysteriously cancel preschool more often!