Robertson Family Goals for the School Year of 2018-2019

Ambrose:
Academic goal- Do way better on my comprehension in language arts by reading the questions and then reading the article. Take notes on the important parts as I read.
Friendship goal- To make at least three new friends in the first quarter.
Brave goal- Participate in more student council responsibilities.

Asher:
Academic goal- To all MEs in Math by completing daily IXLs.
Friendship goal- Sit by a new person once a week at lunch.
Brave goal- Run for student council.

Jonah:

Academic goal- Learn how to read picture books.
Friendship goal- Be a nice friend to kids who need friends.
Brave goal- Be good even if other kids are being naughty.

Harper:

Academic goal- To learn all my letters.
Friendship goal- Have a new friend over to play.
Brave goal- To go to preschool with a smile everyday.

Healthy Happy 33!

Here are 33 things I want to do/experience in my 33rd year of life: (some I have done already, but want to make time for again this year!)

1. Kaena Point

2. Goat Island

3. Peacock Flats

4. Ehukai Pillboxes

5. Lanikai Pillboxes

6. Lulumahu Waterfalls

7. Manawili Falls (Nakoa Trail)

8. Pearl Harbor

9. Halona Blowhole

10. Aiea Loop Trail

11. Ualaka'a Trail and waterfall

12. Sandy Beach

13. Eat at Mahina & Sun's at Surfjack hotel

14. SUP

15. Hang-out with Sea Turtles

16. Plant bougainvillea

17. Go to weekly hula with friends

18. Falls of Clyde

19. Set-up early at Waimea

20. Kahuku Zipline

21. Waikiki Trolley tour

22. Kapolei Commons recline theaters

23. Oahu Atlantis Submarine Adventure

24. Kahe Point Beach Park (aka Electric Beach)

25. Beetbox Cafe

26. Nuuanu Pali Lookout

27. Meditation class- North Shore

28. Hawaii State Art Museum

29. Magic Island Beach all day

30. Yokohama Bay

31. Peace Cafe

32. Waimano Falls and Pools

33. Get the Tried and True Part Two Recipe Book done and out to everyone

Tried and True Part Two!

Aloha,

Some of you were a part of the "Tried and True Recipe Book" Thomas and I put together 9 years ago. I want to make a new collection of "favorites"! I don't know if I will have it all formatted for printing/emailing by Christmas, but I would love for this to be the Christmas gift we give each other. I used the last copy like crazy for many years- still do actually -but I think we need something fresh! 

If you're new to this welcome! I had this crazy idea to compile recipes from people I love several years ago and as a result many of us suddenly had a whole book full of family favorites to whip up real quick for potlucks, quick weeknight meals, or just for fun. 

I really want to re-claim dinner for my family in 2017 so here we go!

If you need a reminder (it has been nine years after-all!) here are the general guidelines:

1. Categories: 

-salad/side dish

-main course

-dessert

(This of course can include crock-pot meals, freezer meals...whatever!)

2. These need to be tried and true family favorites! They do not need to be healthy, but they must be your go-to BESTS. Some of my favorites from the last book had very simple ingredients, but occasionally I would head to the grocery store with book-in-hand ready to make a more complicated dish and that was super fun too because I knew it was a favorite of someone I loved and so it was worth the effort! 

The other cool thing about this book is the contributors are all different ages, cultures, backgrounds, and we even got a couple guys submitting recipes too so the dishes are awesome stuff all around! Like what's your best mochi recipe or pizza dough, or your kid's favorite simple dinner everyone devours, or what salad do you toss together for lunch whenever you get the chance? What's your grandma's cultural family fave that just makes you happy to eat? We want it all!

3. Please submit at least one recipe from each category if you can, but if you have two or three we just HAVE to try then by all means yes please send them too. The last book had a good variety. Some people sent in many recipes that have become our go-to family favorites. Every time I take a dish to a gathering or make something for company... it has come from the old book. I love it.

4. Send your recipes in an email (attachments and pdfs are hard to edit or time consuming), but please don't format it crazy with weird fonts or all in CAPS or something. It makes for a lot of work when I go to compile everything if we all have a different look. I will be using Times New Roman 12 font single spaced. The title of the recipe I will put in bold so you can do all that too if you want to save me some time. If we all do these basic things the formatting stage will be so quick and easy!

Re-cap: 

12 font 

Times New Roman

single spaced

bold title (no underline or italics)

no CAPS

5. I love little anecdotes about the recipe to include in the book- just keep them brief please so it is affordable to print! :) I am 99 percent more likely to use a printed recipe book. E-books are good too, but it's so much easier to cook when you don't have to keep refreshing your phone screen!

OK- LMK if you have any questions! THE DEADLINE is December 12 so think it over for a couple of days then just send it to me at stephaniexrobertson@gmail.com. 

If this is totally not your thing- you're weird- but ok! ;) heh heh but trust me you want this. It's your new best friend. Promise!

Tried and True Part Two! Woo hoo! 

PS- Pass this along to anyone I may have missed who you want recipes from and I will make sure they are all in one neat book. Go team!

I found this on a crumbled up piece of paper on the floor.

It's Halloween 2015,
we trick-or-treat from home to home and my costume feels like foam.
People are so dumb,
I think that guy is chewing gum!
People gave us lots of candy,
that guy's dressed like Handy Manny.
Every person's dressed like something,
except for people who aren't coming.
I am Ambrose,
the awesome guy,
and also the handsome guy.

Football players and knights,
even mosquitos that give you bites.
Every costume's interesting,
even if you're a king!

-Ambrose Carl Robertson
October 2015

Hi Blog.

Hi Blog-

Does anyone blog anymore? Not even me. ME! I used to blog everyday like it was my job and now not at all. It's too bad too because my kid's lives were really well documented during that time and I had a space to organize my thoughts and obsessions.

Maybe I should again.

Instagram is so much easier.

But I still like you blog.

Yes, I am talking to you blog. Even though your name is blog- I like ya.

Until next time,

Stephanie

The Whole Dang Family at 11 Months Ok.

Jonah is 11-months old, but this isn't all about him.

(Hint: It's always all about him. He is the tiny king of our family and he knows it and we all follow him around with stupid grins on our faces giving into his demanding chubby little finger pointing us anywhere he whimsically wants to go for a second before nonsensically changing his mind. And we laugh about it together in the same conspiratorial way suggesting that we're really in charge, but we just aren't quite sure. But we don't really care.)

Here's the ceremonious monthly photo portraying the fact that the babe does what he wants right now and at that moment the ceremonious monthly photo was NOT what he wanted.

Family stats:

Thomas works, works, works and is good at it. He is also very good at helping me. I won't make an itemized list, because it might make me look bad. :) He is GOOD. Sometimes I wonder if he has enough fun in his life because he is always busy making sure we are provided for and looked after, but he doesn't complain.

I am busy with the usual. Morning means: feed people, boss them around, make lunches, try and read some scriptures, ah! we can't forget family prayer again, don't forget your lunch!, Asher! Run along the side of the road so you don't get hit!, fine Ambrose- you can walk to your class by yourself- ah thanks for the hug buddy...and all that. I take care of what I can during the day while chasing around a baby, I get the big boys after school and it's a race to the finish line with homework/swim lessons/speech, then there's dinner (ugh- why is dinner such a puzzle for me- I am not new at this...), and then bedtime and I LOVE bedtime but not just because it signals the end of a crazy day- bedtime means:

I read a chapter of Harry Potter aloud. Ambrose particularly is captivated and I am too. We are into it people. Totally into it. It is fun.

Then we do prayers. Then we play 10 questions. Usually it's mom and dad asking scripture questions, family facts, silly questions, science or math facts... whatever.

Last night it was ridiculous and every answer was: "jammie jeans"... a phrase Asher used for a while to mean PJ pants. We thought we were hilarious. I believe one question was, "What goes on a sandwich with peanut butter?" Answer: "Jam-mie jeans!" hahahaha

Sorry you had to be there.

Sometimes the boys ask the questions.

Always we end with hugs.

Sometimes we also end with parents losing patience with little boys finding excuses to stay up later.

So that's us right now. The boys are doing well in school and swim lessons. The little one is bossing everyone around. And everyone is happy October is here!

This month we have the fall break play, Jonah's first birthday, ward trunk-or-treat, and Halloween. Oh yeah, and we are starting construction on our house. Fun times ahead!

Jazzy Batman

This picture was randomly waiting for me on the computer today.

It made me want to run over to the school and pick him up and take him out to ice cream and make a bronze sculpture of his face and buy him a pony and write a short story about his sassy ways.

Asher Henry is a delight.

Jonah at 10 months!

Life is completely flying by me right now and sometimes I feel like I have zero control except for to throw my hands up and submit fully to the care, discipling, and feeding of these three boys. That must sound awful, particularly to anyone who doesn't have children of their own, but it's what I signed up for so I am ok with it. It's just an adjustment.

So much energy, so much time, and so much worry goes into these little boys.

And above all - I hope so much love too.

I love them so much. It wouldn't be worth all the unshowered days, effort, and personal sacrifice if I didn't also completely love the heck out of these boys.

Someday I will have a clean house, more time for my looks and hobbies, and a lower level of activity and noise in my house, but I only have this time now to hold soft little hands, and smooth sweaty wisps of hair, and those cheeks. Cheeks for days people. That is payment enough.

I am doing my best to enjoy it.

Jonah's 10 months stats:
-Pulls to standing and takes steps holding on to things
-Still prefers dragging and scooting and army crawling to the few half-crawls he has actually done
-Is nearly weaned due to multiple painful nursing mama infections- this is a sad point for me- but we still nurse once each night and I cherish that time- I will probably end that this week
-Gets into EVERYTHING and is never content to sit still unless daddy is taking him for a walk in the stroller
-Says, "bu-buh-byyy" as he waves bye-bye
-Will imitate a "WooWoo" when you say woof-woof around dogs
-Loves to eat all foods so far

O H A N A

Thomas took these over the last several months. You can tell which child is a more willing participant when the camera comes out! I love them all.

Jonah at 9 months!

 9 months already!?

 Here's what the big 9-month-old can do:

GET INTO EVERYTHING! And he is never satisfied. If I hold him he wants DOWN so he can get into the dirtiest corner of our house with things he can choke on and he wants to put it all in his mouth at the same time if possible so he can turn around to whine for me to hold him so he can turn around and grunt/leap for the floor to start the process all over again. It is hilarious, but mostly exhausting. :)

He doesn't seem interested in crawling at all since he is very speedy at dragging his chubby legs behind him to get into whatever he wants. I am sure it will happen any day though.

Did I mention he puts EVERYTHING in his mouth? All babies go through that, but this one seems desperate to do so. Frantic even.

He waves now and says, "buh-buh-buh" for bye-bye. It's adorable.

He is a good sleeper, but has started being up for the day earlier. BOO.

He lets out a squeal of worry when his brothers come near. Especially Asher. He has been hugged too tightly for too long too many times. :) He loves to watch them play though and seems eager to grow-up already and join them.

Here's some highlights from the last month with our baby boy:

School starts this Monday and the boys are actually really excited to meet their new teachers, see old teachers and friends, and have all that recess time and the fun that comes along with school. I am excited to get my long days back with Jonah. We have had a good summer, but I learned just how well we all do with the routine of school. Once I recognized our issues and limitations the summer went better so it was a good one overall. Good lessons learned for me and them! I will blog more about the big boys next. Gotta run!