Packing for Hilton Head Island

Well, I have the next 3 days to get us all packed and off to the East Coast. This is not an easy task for me. I have always had a hard time just getting everything together and out the door. It will literally take all I have to get this done in time. Its not just simply throwing clothes in a suit case.

*I have to have everything prepared for Jacksons baptism

*still working on getting Logans passport

* getting the cars oil change and maintenance taken care of

*hair cuts for 3 of us

*some shopping for things that we need to take

*packing for a 5mth old- not possible to bring all the gadgets but you have to figure out what you can not survive without for 6 weeks.

*cameras, DVD players, all electronics

*entertainment for the car (driving across country)

*separate bags for our short stay in Orlando

*then start thinking about clothes for us all

*add in Tom has invited a family over for Family Home Evening tonight and would also like the ice cream machine for treats tonight.

So I had better get off of the computer and start this process. I am vowing to not take as much. We literally wear bathing suits and not much else. I will really limit the kids on "toys" that they will bring.

The fun part is doing that with 4 kids here. Make that 5, Jordan has a friend here.

Blogging will be at a much slower pace while being gone. I will try and do an update every once in a while. Just know we are having an incredibly fun summer and all getting very tan at the beach! We will be back in Austin Aug. 10th.

Elder Bednars Visit

We came back to Austin a little early so we could attend Elder Bednars fireside. At first, we just thought, we are out of town so we wont attend but then Tom got a call and was asked to give the opening prayer so we adjusted our plans a little. Jordan decided that she wanted to come so there went my sitter. I brought Logan along and Jackson stayed home with Larson. We had reserved front row seats so that was nice that we did not have to get there so early. The building was at maximum capacity.

What a great opportunity to hear the words of Sis. Bednar and Elder Bednar. He just took questions right out of the audience for a question/answer session. He asked that no one write down any of the words that he was saying but to write words down that were impressions that we were personally getting from the spirit as he spoke. He also joked many times about ,Please do not blog this, it will be read out of context and it will just sound weird! Nothing this man said, sounded weird, he has such a candid way with his words that are very simplistic and also very funny.

Talking about funny- we would never take a real picture of this, so you have to envision this one. Up on the stand sits Tom Roberts, Sis. bednar, and Elder Bednar- an apostle of the Lord. Tom says he would have liked a picture of that one to send back to our old ward in Cincinnati.

Boys, Bubbles, Bathtub

I had no objections to Larsons request for a bubble bath. You can only imagine how dirty we all were from the weekend. You just have to "de- sea world " everyone. Jackson quickly wanted to jump in too!
Very quickly, the boys started to get wild, Imagine that??

At this point the entire family was in the bathroom, laughing at the bubble boys having a bubble fight. Could not take pictures because too many body parts were showing but there were bubbles all over the bathroom and I was laughing so hard that I didn't even stop them. It was straight to the shower after this one.

Sea World Weekend

This weekend had been planned by the kids for many months. We went to Sea World and got a hotel so we could go to Sea World non stop without coming back to Austin. (who's idea was that??)
Logan taking his normal position in the stroller. It took him a while to get use to this stroller because it was the double stroller and not his normal cushiony pumpkin seat. He had lots more room in this one and did not like the feeling at first.

Everyones a good sport and rides some "Larson rides"

Love the water rides when it is 100 out!

This is the last photo of a very long weekend. Jackson had blisters all on his feet and we were all a little tired.

OK, never had gone to Sea World in the middle of summer. Quite a different experience. We made the very most of it and really enjoyed our time together as a family but: it was very crowded and very hot! It didn't stop us, we did everything that we wanted to.

Thank goodness for the double stroller, we had to carry the 3 boys out of the park. Jordan was the last man standing or should I say, girl!

Logan 5 months old

Could he be any sweeter???
Logan at 5 months
15lbs 4 oz.
*smiles all the time
*loves when the big kids are around
still gets frustrated when rolling over but can do it
*eats allot of rice cereal
*trying to hold him off a couple of more weeks on veggies
*splashes and kicks most of the water out of the bath tub
*laughs and smiles when in the swimming pool

*starting to get some blonde hair
AND
Finally for 5 nights in a row.....
sleeping through the night!!!!!!!!!!

Look what I have found!

WHAT ABOUT ME????

I have never seen a kid more afraid of being left out of something, especially when he is included in almost everything and he is only 4. It doesn't matter what is said, if Larson thinks an "activity" is about to occur he starts to panic and says "What about me??" over and over again.

On Saturday, I got Jackson dressed in a tie and suit if you can believe it and took him out to take pictures for his baptism announcement. A few moments later Larson comes running out and this is what he has on. He found a button down shirt that was yellow plaid and had it on inside out with his orange tie kind of hooked on. These both complimented his blue plaid shorts. Then the posing began. I promise that I do not ask for these poses, he does his own modeling shoots!

DO You Really Need AC in TEXAS?

Kind of hot in the Roberts home right now but we do have air in the kids bedrooms so that is our retreat when you cant stand it anymore. I noticed 4 days ago that downstairs was pretty warm. Of course, I just thought that Tom was turning up the AC to save some money (sorry Tom!!!) He had not touched it. It still took me another day to realize it was not working. We are on day 4 and the temps are not cool outside. Boy, you really appreciate having that luxury and it is something that you just take for granted that it will be there. OF course, it could not be a simple $30 fix. We basically got a new unit. OUCH!!!! Good news, it should be working today.

Saying Goodbye to Katie

Today Katie flies back to Florida. We were so glad that she was able to come and spend time here with us. Thank you Sean and Caroline. Now the girls know what it is like to be a movie star and have the paparazzi following you around. Sean she is still a Miami Hurricane but she needed some burnt orange on while she was here.

This is a fun age for the girls to be at. They loved doing things that were more "grown up" but I would hear them in Jordans room just cracking up laughing about silly things.
Katie put Jordan in the "Will it fit?" compartment at the airport to see if Jordan could be her carry on.
The good news is that we will be at their house in two weeks!

I love looking back at some old photos so I have included some. This was 3 years ago in Celebration. Katie lives in Celebration, Florida which is actually on Disney property. Going to Disney is just another fun day for her. She will be at Magic Kingdom tomorrow with her family. Jordan does not understand why we do not live there!

We will be celebrating 4th of July with them this year in Celebration.

I am guessing that this was 2 summers ago on Hilton Head. Caroline correct me if I am wrong. This is a good one. Magic Kingdom with 4 kids less than today!

I think that Jackson was 2 here so Jordan was 5 and Kate 4.

Hike Gone Bad

First of all, this hike was not forced on them. This was one of the activities that Jordan had on her list.It was hot but we had on our bathing suits to cool off in the creek and swimming hole.

Right when we got there we realized the creek bed was completely dried up. Oh no, Jordan did not like that. Well, lets just hike to the swimming hole and see.

Tom and I saw the first snake but the kids did not so lets keep going.

We get to the swimming hole and as you can see the water was stagnant. Not for swimming! Usually, there is fresh cool water running over rocks that you can slide in on. Not Today! Jordan was really ready to get out of there. We told them that we would go to the pool. Katie and Jordan walked ahead but not for long when we heard Jordan yelling, they saw a snake and she was mad at me! So I have the girls running in one direction and the boys running to see the snake. He was pretty big and very fast. Seeing the snake made the hike for the boys and Jordan says she is never going again. They all walked out of the woods saying, "Red on black, friend of Jack, black on yellow,kill the fellow. Want to guess what kind of snake the girls saw?

Look Who's Eating Cereal

I knew that with Logan weighing over 15lbs that we had better start the cereal. So we got out his new high chair and started the feeding. I would have not expected anything less than not being able to get it in his mouth fast enough! My Roberts boys like to eat! He also likes to drink water from a regular cup. I am not sure that is normal at his age.

There is no turning back now!

Our Day with Shamoo

Jordan had to be a really good sport and include Jackson in with her and Katie for the day. You see some would say I am crazy to go to Sea World with 5 kids by myself in 100 degree weather, I call it my sanity. If I just stayed at home with all the kids then I would be crazy. However, with 5 of them and 1 of me, Jackson had to be included in the big kid stuff while I stayed back with the little ones. Jordan would have much prefered it be just her and Katie but she was good with him.

Larson loved the wave pool. This was his first time he can remember being in one of those. He dove through every wave! There were a couple comments from standbyers about how old he was and how much fun he was having. Even Logan loved it. The kids would pop out of the water and he would just crack up. I only have 2 hands or else I would have loved some pictures of him when the waves would crash on him. He just laughed so hard. Jordan thought he was sooooo cute!

It was HOT, it was NOT CROWDED, it was a LONG DAY but FUN!

I managed all the kids pretty well. They all got to ride their rides, see some shows, and spend some time at the water park, Lost Lagoon. Logan was able to cool off there. It was a long walk back to the car but we did it and I even came home with the same amount of kids that I left with. All 5 were sleeping for the drive home!

Pool Fun

The weather has been triple digits almost everyday this June. The pool has been a great way to cool off.

The girls were being so silly waiting for the buckets of water to dump on them.

We just stayed for a couple of hours and played around. Larson insists that I am in the water with him in the deep end. I actually enjoy the time that we have spent playing in the pool even though it does mess up the hair!!!

Fathers Day

Larson made this banner for Daddy all by himself!
We love our Daddy!
What great timing for Tom to be done studying and around the kids more!
We could not ask for a more patient and hard working Father.
Fathers Day consisted of a pancake breakfast (and of course many more things on our Daddy's plate--eggs, fruit, etc.)
We all went to church together and the kids had made cards and coupon books there for him.
Tom needed some new running sunglasses and he has a new office at work so we got him some nice frames to put his diplomas in and take to work.
Tom got some time to relax, reading his book and falling asleep. He also got to watch some golf. These events happen so rarely in our lives now that hopefully he enjoyed himself. Unfortunately Tom helped make dinner as we were so busy with the kids but I did make homemade ice cream for our very cool soft serve ice cream machine. It swirls out the ice cream and even adds sprinkles just like a restaurant!

The Little Brothers

Larson & Logan are the two that are around each other the most. The big kids were in school all day. So it was mommy and the little ones. Larson is working on how long he can hold the baby for. We started off with about 5 seconds when he was born so now we are up to about 3 minutes! I always have to time him so he knows if he broke his record.

The Oasis at Lake Travis

Jordan wanted to take Katie to the Oasis to see the sunset. This is a very cool restaurant on the side of a cliff overlooking Lake Travis. They call this place Austins welcome to the world. It is a pretty amazing scene. I didn't even have to coax them into this photo. They were drawn to the monkeys and fit in quite well. We got chips, salsa and frozen Strawberry drinks and enjoyed the sunset. I think that Jordan really liked that it was just the girls (not even Logan). The funny thing about the first two pictures: the girls were inside talking about what other kinds of life existed on other planets. They came up with many different scenarios and then we walked out and there was this UFO. It was weird that they had just been talking about other planets.

Boating on Lake Austin

Today Uncle Chris took the family out on Lake Austin

Tubing was a big hit with everyone even though they each chose their own risk level. Jordan likes it fast but not too fast, curvy but not too curvy. Katie really wanted to be in the danger zone, so we had to get her on with Jackson that is very use to that. Larson likes it slow and keeps yelling at Uncle Chris to go slower. I think he would actually just like sitting on the tube and not really be pulled by it!

Jumping in the cove!

Soaking up some sun and having fun.

Logans first day on the boat. His 4 pictures pretty much sum it up:

1) How can this possibly be fun? I feel like a snowman in this life vest and it is 100 degrees out here!

2)Babies can sleep anywhere: the motion and noise of the motor helps!

3)Completely content just laying with the wind through his hair.

4) GET ME OUT OF THIS LIFE VEST AND OFF OF THIS BOAT!

Larsons confidence has soared this week since braving swimming on his own in the deep end of the pool. Now he is jumping off of the boat by himself and swimming around in the lake.

Jackson serious.

Jackson not so serious.

Jackson being thrown overboard.

Jackson thinking about his nap that he soon took on the boat.


LETS GO SURFING!

Katie was really eager to try this out. She wanted to do it by herself and after a couple of tries, got Mr. Roberts to help. She didn't get all the way up but had fun trying.

Last season Jordan retired from wake boarding after a bad fall. So this is how we will get her back out their. Surfing does not require your feet to be attached to a board so she is much more comfortable with that. She was almost up. Next Time!

Tom has also retired from wakeboarding after ripping a muscle so he is going to perfect this surfing. He did great until he threw the rope on board and then......

WIPEOUT!!!!!!!

Everyone took a couple of those

Roberts boys having fun! Uncle Chris you better get in the gym, you are looking small. Just teasing! Thanks so much for taking us out and spending time with our family!