another fourth of july, 

another Robbins

meet Cade Timothy at nine days old

and

another Robbins' burger competition

(i think this makes the 4th annual)

 There was a lot of grilling to get the burgers ready "on time".

careful preparation

and the finished products.

 all plated,

and 

ready 

to serve.

The five competitors

our tasting and scoring sheet

(if you look closely you can read each burger's name)

thoughtful consideration went in to rating 

and commenting on each masterpiece.

and the winner is...

 (mama Robbins always reads the results)

Elizabeth and Debbie's 

"Kick Tim in the Patty Melt"

It was delicious!

The mess afterwards....

letting it all digest...

before the Dessert competition

(fyi these are the winners of the burger competition)

tallying up some more scores.

(patriotic style)

and this time the winner is... the cousins' (Cassidy & Reagan) 

chocolaty, ice cream, fudge cake with oreo crumbs.

Now for the pyrotechnics.

watching eyes,

 fire-loving uncles,

sparklers,

abby's first time

and a good night!

hello.

today was book character day at  school

can you guess who she is?

down to the blue dress, white apron, and red ribbon at the end of her braids.

okay, i'll tell you...

Laura Ingalls (Wilder)

she's been reading the books with daddy for almost a year

it just seemed fitting.

Happy 

Halloween

from our strong cowboy,  our little strawberry and  our homemade Elsa!

summer

confession: I honestly wasn't sure what to expect out of this summer.

 I spent most of the school year feeling overwhelmed with life and caring for the kids and house and never got to the point where I really felt settled into a groove - thanks to illness, surgery, sick kids, ER visits, sick kids, tragedy, sick kids...did I mention that our kids were crazy sick this year?

so I was wondering how this summer would feel - all three kids home.  would it be overwhelming?  would we all be sick, again? would there be enough to do?  would I feel like we had too much travel or too little travel? would I spend the whole summer breaking up fights?

as we are now embarking on our third week of summer, I find most of my fears laid aside and am relishing the laziness of each day!  We are all enjoying sleeping in and eating slow breakfasts in our pajamas, nowhere to race off to (except the pool or beach or necessary store run), catching up with family and friends we don't get to see as often during the school year.  and really, being all together is great.

And yes, there are the daily, hourly, sometimes minutely sibling fights to break up or the baby to peel off of biting someone and there have been enormous loads of laundry to do (9 in 24 hours, thanks Matty for taking that on) and often stressful traveling situations that involve high pitched shrieking (not my own).

but I'm happy at the end of the day that we can spend this time together and make these memories...

visiting Great Grandma 

 driving go carts for Father's Day

 playing a lot of Crazy 8s while waiting for food at restaurants

pool time with Grammy

(and Hannah swimming on her own, hurray)

running in cold waves with friends

 just being together

 getting really, really dirty

eating amidst the Redwood trees

singing a lot of "Let it Go"

cousin sleepover at our house

 perfecting the art of roasting a marsmellow

and teaching it to others

enjoying the fruits of our labor

 as it turns out, 

having these three little people all to myself and not having to share them with school

is pretty fun

most of the time. :)

four

Today marks four years as a mom of this boy.

And I am so proud (and humbled).

As a girl who grew up in a family of girls and is, well, quite girly, bringing up a boy has been is a stretching, often frustrating, creatively demanding, mind-blowing experience.

I often look at him and say "Where did you get that idea?"

I have come to love crashing monster trucks into each other, building tall towers just to knock them down, incorporating super heroes in to every aspect of life, contemplating what bad guys eat (namely, no fruit or food their mommy makes just trees and snot, according to Peter), and examining the wonder of a dead bug.

a car we recently built together

This little guy is equal parts strong and sensitive.

Sometimes his tears and need for mommy surprise me.

He did not want to turn four.  

In fact, he was crying a couple of nights ago about it and this morning he declared he was just "almost four".

But he's come around.

Of course blowing out candles,  

opening gigantic presents and a huge frozen yogurt treat with daddy didn't hurt. 

I can't wait to see what challenges and joys this next year brings.

I think they'll be good for both of us.

And he still gives the best neck squeeze hugs around...

six

Today marks six years of mommyhood for me

and

6 years of Hannah Joy in our family!

She celebrated at school with a rowdy round of "Feliz Cumpleaños" and handed out Confetti Squares (Rice Krispy treats with Cap'n Crunch & Fruit Loops) to all her classmates.

At home, she designed her own birthday crown 

(in Kindergarten, or at least her class, the teachers no longer make sparkly crowns for you).  

And we used the leftover Fruit Loops to design some fun necklaces.

Fancy accessories are a must for this birthday girl.

She still loves pink and purple but has now expanded her wardrobe to anything that has a good spin to it.

The best quote was 

"Mommy, we need to make a list of all the numbers I've been."

6 candles were actually rather hard to squeeze onto her Rice Krispy Treat.

 

Matt's singing "Happy Birthday", thus the contorted face.

 She loves being the big sister and picking up Abigail, who is definitely not as light as she used to be.

And don't worry, being six hasn't changed her love of crazy face making.

She finished off her day with our birthday tradition of a treat out with Daddy.

Tomorrow we celebrate this little guy.

My two birthday kids,

seriously so sweet!