Happy 40th birthday Scott!

We had a fun party for Scott's birthday. Mom made it special with 40 candles floating in the pool that Scott blew out with a gigantic straw (AKA pool net pole). So fun he was breathless!

THE CHRISTmas letter

Merry CHRISTmas from the Grubb family! We hope that all our friends and family are having a fabulous time celebrating these holy-days.
So many new things going on with the Grubbs! New home, new "school", new church, new soccer teams, new friends...
We have had an eventful couple years and for much of the time I did not blog because life was too chaotic. We have settled into a new home in an old city - we're back in Brea, where I grew up. It is fun to be back - close to family and old friends and still not too far from friends we made over our past 10 years in Cypress.
We have learned many life lessons in the past few years and we have made it through many challenges with our sanity and our family in tact. That is a huge blessing.
So this year, we moved from temporary (1year) housing in Cerritos, to temporary (3mos) housing in Brea with my dad to our newest spot, a nice little 3-bedroom apartment. Along with that move, we have changed soccer venues - from our Cypress home field to our new Brea home fields. All 4 kids play soccer for AC Brea which I played for growing up. Super fun to be back at the same field where my parents watched me play!
With the unknowns of where we would be living, we did not join our homeschool group that we've been with for the past 4 years, so it has been a season of homeschooling very much on our own and being intentional about meeting up with friends. I have had the opportunity to use the Bible as our primary text for English grammar, which I had always dreamed of doing. I didn't know how to make it happen until now. We've also been memorizing large chunks of scripture, which led to looking at Bible translations, which led to me taking up a little study of Biblical greek! And honestly, without the English program we've used the past few years, it would have been "all greek to me". But it's been a great time of study.
The move also prompted us to settle into a new church home. We were invited by friends to a church only a couple blocks from our new home and though it is challenging to jump into a new church, it runs with the theme of starting over in almost every part of our lives.
Some things, though, are still the same...
we're still last... last to arrive (everywhere), last-minute planners (we move with no where to go), last-minute vacationers (we took a trip to mammoth lakes and yosemite in july/august), last to leave (if you invite us over, we'll stay and help you clean up), and last to go to sleep (the whole family is still staying up late - even after a brief time of going to sleep and waking with the sun while we lived intense.) (:

We still are trusting the Lord and enjoying His unique and perfect plan for our lives. We can't wait to see what's next, but for now, we are settled after a long period of unsettledness. We hope that you will experience the same joy - of knowing the Savior and trusting Him with every part of your life!

Merry CHRISTmas!
Love, the Grubb six

Merry CHRISTmas!

It is finally here! The day we celebrate the birth if our Savior! We did not miss a single evening of advent this year and our kids were most excited to light the Christ candle today as the culmination of a month of preparation and waiting.

Last night's Christmas Eve service "photo booth". 

Christmas tree!

We got our tree last night. It's a little big for our tiny place... We wanted to take advantage of the high ceilings but didn't take into account the premium on floor space. (: whoops!

Everyone competed to get their ornaments highest. 

Even Scott. 

It's a merry christmas season at the Grubb house!

Tis the season

The ABCs of Christmas...

A. Advent readings every night. Advent calendar every morning. 

B. Baking baking baking 

C. Creating cards, counting down the days, carols learned, christmas choir at church

D. Decorating!

Inside and out...

Thanksgiving hike

Resting after a short hike to the redwood grove at carbon canyon park. Who knew there were coastal redwoods in so cal?

Broken

During Saturday's game, Jo took a hard fall and broke his arm. ):

It was so mangled, the ref, the coach/his dad, even the ER doc didn't want to look at it. But Jo was calm and said it didn't hurt.

Our new team came together and surrounded us. They had Jo splinted and iced and slinged and gave me directions to the hospital. I was so blessed by these parents! And their sons even scored another goal to secure our win as soon as Jo was off the field. 

After the initial medical issues were resolved, there were the lingering character issues that had the potential to discourage us. Practicing being content in all circumstances - like when you're not allowed to play soccer for 6 weeks. Practicing loving your enemies - like choosing to not be upset at the opposing player who contributed to your injury. Practicing patience and graciousness - like when your insurance gives you extra hoops to jump through and someone accidentally tells you your kid needs surgery (that your insurance wont cover) several days after the accident. 

Praise the Lord for His ever present hand on our lives!

Fire station visit

Yesterday we visited our new (to us) local fire station.

Of course we baked cookies to bring first. 

We brought the table (top) home!

It's currently sitting on sawhorses, but it's here and we're using it!

Legs and benches to come!

It's a jungle out there

Sy set up this shot himself and called me over to take it. (:

Shopping at IKEA on a Sunday afternoon is as crazy as Costco. Lesson learned. 

Storage fun

This is our old storage unit. It was FULL! We're moving out. Yes, on the 31st because that's how they bill here - have to be out by the end of the month. We will spend today and tomorrow switching units. From this 12x25x15high to a 9x12x10 high. Hope it works!

Building a dining table

J and I are creating a new dining table to fit our current location and with benches to provide for maximum and flexible seating. (:

Just when my dad thought we were out, we're talking over his garage with a project. 

I was shocked at how many clamps we needed! At first we borrowed from the neighbor, but soon Scott ran to the store to buy us a LOT more. 

Between the many layers of polyurethane

Our newest and more permanent location

Our new apartment was built on hole 8 of this golf course. Google maps does not yet reflect that there are buildings. But here we are. (The blue dot in the middle of the pic). Surrounded by the greens. I love the mature trees. God has truly blessed us.

Playing at grandpa's church

Many Saturdays, while Scott and I have a couple hours to chat and regroup (from all our current adventures), the kids will go to my dads church to "help" him unlock the doors in preparation for the evening services. And this is how we find them when we come to pick them up.

Learning to knit

I decided the kids should learn to knit to have one more thing to do quietly to keep their hands busy whilst I read to then for hours on end each evening. Our dear friend was willing to take them on as students for the afternoon. We learned to cast on and knit or garter stitch. And we've been invited back to learn to pearl and bind off in a couple weeks.

LA County Fair 2013

We made our annual visit to the fair. Explored farther than we'd ever gone and missed the pig races in trade. Nobody was too upset. (:

We just finished reading wizard of oz last month, so this was fun to see in their book area. There were several books we read this year highlighted. Around the world in 80 days, journey to the center of the earth, and,of course, the little house books:

This word search was a fun find. Just yesterday, I took pics of grandpa and Sy working their word search books at our "kitchen table". Grandpa bought one for each child and they've enjoyed them tons. 

Swimming at grandpa's

A favorite perk of our current location:

Swimming everyday after our school work is done. (Then being really tired for soccer practice!)

Lego store

In need of a part from the RideMakers store at downtown Disney, we made a day of it. Here we are playing at YGE Lego store. They have bins of Legos to build cars. Then you can race your creations on their track.

 

After playing, we stopped by Rain Forest Cafefor lunch. 

Knott's Berry Farm

with the grandparents and the baldwins. Super fun day!

The last hurrah before grandpa and grandma go back to Georgia.

More Mammoth

Historical sites 

Hiking

Natural hot springs

Fish hatchery on Hot Creek

Ever-changing geology

relaxing

Yosemite

One day we drove over to Yosemite. It was amazing!

Viewing half dome. 

Hiking Vernal Falls

Running with grandma in the tall grasses. 

Eating lunch on the river in the valley beneath El Capitan. 

Exploring HUGE rocks