What I Did On My Summer Vacation ,Part 1

We went to the beach. I kept meaning to all summer and for one reason or another could never make it. When we finally did we had such a good time I resolved to make sure we go more often next year.


We jumped over the waves.


We ran from them.


Then when we got brave enough we stood in them and felt the sand wash out from under our toes.


We dug and made ramps in the sand.


And when we got tired we took a nap (with real waves lulling us to sleep instead of the sound machine at home).


We couldn't leave without collecting a bucket full of shells...

...and even catching a sand crab or two.

Yeah, we are gonna do this lots more next year.

Blessings that Bite

(I got the hint, Mom)

I realize it has been a while since I've posted but I have a very strong feeling that I need to document the following for future reference:

Last Monday Kendall received her first ever official homework assignment. That night in her prayer she said, "...and thank you that I can finally have some homework..."

I have a feeling that will come back to bite her one day.

"I pincess, Mom."

Dress up is fun for all.

He begged and I surrendered this battle. I think the saving grace is that he used the pom-pom as a weapon.

I Pledge

I pledge allegiance to my blog

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of the Roberts Buttons of Blogspot.

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And to the web for which it posts

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One family, under God, preserving
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with photos and journaling for all.

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As you as my witness, I will start posting again.

Five? Who's Five?

Yep. Believe it or not, K-dog is five. Five years of her brightening our rooms with her sunshine smile. A few things about my favorite five year old:

• She is very fashionable and needs to know, "why does it ALWAYS have to match?"

• She loves to do her hair and her favorite is rocking the side ponytail.

• Favorite thing to eat is "yellow cheese cut up" (that means grated). Just plain in a bowl is best.

• And it's kind of funny because she has got a really good whine to go with that cheese!

• She is very concerned about learning "how to be a mom" and already knows she wants to have three kids when she gets there.

• She can tease her little brother like no one can.

• She loves to help in the kitchen and already can make waffles and brown the meat (not together of course).

• Kendall is moved by music and loves to dance accordingly.

• When she's tired, get out of her way.

• But when she's happy you can't help but be happy right along with her. She has the most contagious laughter I know.

(Here would be the part where I insert all the fun pictures I took at her "underwater" party. You know, the one of her smiling huge under the blue tulle and fish hanging from the ceiling. I'd show you how we played pin the leg on the octopus and had mermaid jumping relay races. Next I'd show you a picture of her blowing out the candles on her mermaid cake. There would be one of her and all of her friends holding up five fingers. Yeah, this would be that part...if I didn't somehow delete all those pictures! I'm completely heartbroken over it. Thank you to Aunt Kimmy who happened to take some pictures of the food on her cell phone!)

The kids' menu was octopus hotdogs, sea-shell pasta, goldfish crackers, and a fruit salad.

The mermaild cake that was big enough to feed an army.

Boi-cee

"I'm going to Boise, Idaho!!" I have found even more reason to love that line from the movie Singles Ward. In fact my mom, Austen, Morgan, Kendall, Beck and myself were all shouting that very thing just a few weeks ago. Then 17 hours, 900 miles, 3 tubes of Pringles, 1 pack of Oreos, limited amounts of liquid (stops were kept at a minimum), countless episodes of Little Einsteins, a word search book, 2 cookie-sheets turned into magnetic lap trays, 1 75lb tortoise, throw in some Jack Johnson and John Mayer (oh yeah, and a $75 speeding ticket) and we were there!

It was such a great visit. The Makaafi's were gracious enough to host us and truly gave us our own home away from home. We spent all of our time hanging out with the three families there--Makaafi's, Schultz's, and Messina's. It was perfect. Making up for months being apart but reconnecting like they were never away. We had fun cheering (and freezing) at baseball games, singing into spring at school performances, finding a truck-load of eggs at Easter, figuring out the best system for separating the nine sets of state-quarters, training a new puppy, squirming at the reptile shows, painting fingernails, doing heart-braids, making cookies, completing homework, making pictures for Aunty Beth's closet, riding scooters, jumping double-dutch (Gramma included!) and like I said, just hanging out. Doing the same kind of stuff we would be if we lived close again.

Beck did really great with people's names. Some of my favorite interpretations are Anela="Wuh-Wuh", Fo'ou="Ho", Chip="Twip", Aunt Tracy="Aunty Beff" (I don't know what he would call her if he saw them standing next to each other).

Gosh, I miss these girls!

F.R.O.Z.E. at the baseball games.Beck loved to wear Jack's "fingers."I have to say, Easter Sunday was beautiful and we were outside enjoying it!Beck, to no surprise, enjoyed his Easter candy.I just think this is the funniest thing!! I like to imagine what brought the owners of this Mexican restaurant to post these at the ordering counter.

The one scary moment was at the very last day. We were enjoying our last night with the Makaafi's. Beck was having fun with a flashlight and accidentally dropped it on his big toe. "Momma? (sob, sniffle, sob)" "Yes Beck?" "Toe hurt. (more sniffles and sobs)" was what I heard for the next hour as he sought comfort on my lap. After some pain medication he fell asleep. But not very well. The plan for the ride home was the same plan as the way up - get a couple good hours sleep then leave at three in the morning. Between Beck's wincing all night and my coughing (I was fighting a cold) neither myself nor my mom (lying in the next room) were getting any "good hours sleep." My mom poked her head in around 12:30 am to bring me some water. It was then we discussed our lack of sleep and decided to pack it up and just go for it. There was no reason not to get any sleep there when we could be getting no sleep on the road, at least making progress towards something. Once the decision was made we were scared and emotional. However, I hope to always remember the peace and comfort I felt as Fo'ou offered a prayer. In the car Beck was able to settle down and fall asleep. I was able to drive for a couple hours, then my mom. And we did it. The drive went by surprisingly fast. I couldn't have asked for Austen to be more helpful and my kids to be more pleasant. Our prayers were answered and we made it home.

Thumbalina

It all started here, at 3 1/2 months, she officially became a thumb sucker.This is a few days later, we knew it wasn't going away for a long time.Soon after discovering her thumb, she also always had to have something soft and warm, something cuddly to keep her cozy. In the beginning any blanket, burp cloth, even dishrag would do. But at nine months Daddy used the one blanket and she would have nothing to do with anything else, it had to be "Sodee."

Soon the three were inseparable -- Kendall, thumb, and Sodee (later to be known a "Cozy"). While one thumb was being suckled the other had Cozy between it and the attached pointer finger, rubbing the softness of Cozy's material. Feeling the fibers between her fingernails while the rest of the world and it's worries melted away. One time she even told Gramma, when Cozy was left at home and Gramma was desperately trying to find something to suffice, "It needs to be as soft as Cozy. Cozy is a sixty-six and it needs to be that soft." She ended up settling for a faux-suede-like button-up shirt of Grandmas. It was close enough.We had made a few comments here and there about it being time to separate the trio but never really enforced anything. The latest attempt was bribery. She could pick out anything at Target (that could get me to do almost anything) and it seemed to motivate her for a bit. Until...Dun.dun.duuuuun...we lost Cozy! Oh, we had lost cozy before but it always turned up with a good thorough search. We even left it in Idaho! And had it overnighted home. Not this time. Where could it be?? For two days the search team, well, searched. We hadn't gone anywhere, it had to be at home! And for two nights, no Cozy and no thumb. The thumb just wasn't as good if Cozy wasn't there with it. Then, finally, on the third day EUREKA! We found Cozy! Wedged between the side of her bed and the wall and the comforter. Cozy had returned! But the funny thing is the thumb didn't!! Who knew all we had to do was lose the blanket? The trio is now a duo. And I have a feeling the duo is here to stay for a very long time.

One month shy of turning 5 she went from this...to this... she totally made me hold up my end of the deal. Anything in Target...

So Much To Do, So Little Time

Why hasn't the Roberts Buttons blog been updated for so long? We have been very busy with some very important tasks...

...creating underwater bedroom dioramas...

...perfecting the heart-braid...

...untangling ourselves from our Twister knots...

...creating life size chalk pictures of ourselves...

...cleaning bowls with our tongues...

...reading with our sunglasses on (trust me, it's hard and takes a very long time to do).

Lewis Robinson

They say when people are with each other long enough they can start to look like one another. The same can happen with people and their pets. Do you think it can happen if you watch a movie enough times?