costco fun - getting things that aren't on my list!

we went to costco today. we were there just to buy diapers as i was down to 2. but, as usual i got more than just what was on my list! we bought 1 box of diapers AND a new slide for sy.

here he is on his new slide...

he was pushing this around the house on the carpet. he'd stop randomly, walk around to the back of the box, climb on and slide down. then move on to the next spot. what fun!

veteran's day

grandpa came over and brought shawnie. we had a little lesson about the history of the day. she said, "this is like school". i told her that although she had the day off, my kids did not - i always school on the holidays!

but the lesson was only a few minutes at the table. then we baked treats, did veteran's day puzzles, and visited their great-grandpa's grave. he served in wwII and at our local cemetary the boy scouts mark every veteran's grave with an american flag for the day. it was amazing to see the sea of flags, to know that all those men had served, and to appreciate the freedoms that their service affords us.

soccer visitors!

grandma & grandpa made the trek from arizona once more to watch a final soccer match. they came in and just blessed our family for the weekend. it was really special.

then on saturday, some friends of ours and theirs came down to spend time! (and watch the game). it has been a few years since i've seen virginia, who discipled/mentored me while i was in college. she was a blessing in my life when i was being crazy. but she also impacted my diet by introducing me to a variety of salads and toppings. i told the kids they have her to thank for some of their favorite salad toppings like raisins and corn (among many others!)

her husband is a truck driver who i've been waiting (a few years) to ask questions about trucking. those burning questions within me about the scales and truck stops have now been answered! (really) thanks, don.

hiking adventure in the angeles national forest

we set out in the car for a new mountain to climb. we are always going somewhere new to hike - as if the first time we went to a huge mountain or forest area, we saw it all and have to find a new location the next time. in any case, we're having fun doing it.

so on the 2nd we hiked in the angeles national forest.

as it goes with our family, these trips are spur of the moment and i don't always ask my husband where we're going. so we got in the car with the kids and a diaper, wipes, a pack of graham crackers and 6 apples. we took off up the freeway about 10am and arrived in the forest about 2 hours later. we realized half way up that we needed a pass to park in said national forest so we stopped to purchase one at the ranger station. i was shocked that they did not have a credit card machine in their little hut! it was less shocking that we had no cash. i asked if we could park on private property without the pass and the ranger said yes, but indicated we may be shot by an unhappy propertyowner. sounded like an adventure to me! (but really i was thinking that i knew of a camp where we could probably park).

both scott & i have been to angeles crest christian camp many times, but neither of us in the last 10 years. it would be an adventure just finding it, but when we did we parked, took our graham crackers and hiked for a couple hours.

we showed the kids the facilities, climbed out into the wilderness a ways, identified animal droppings, all the fun stuff.

we returned to the car, had the apples for "snack" and played in the tree house. a quick drive down the mountain, a stop at subway (where they accept plastic) for lunch/dinner (at 4pm) and we were on our way home! the kids were amazingly well behaved for being starved! we all enjoyed our time together being in the less-touched parts of God's creation.

i'm pollinating and the red boots

kiki got ky all dressed up the other day in this outfit. she ran outside and said, "look mommy!" as she ran to various parts of our garden and paused for a moment before moving to the next spot. when i asked what she was doing, kiki said "she's a butterfly", and ky said, "i'm pollinating!" they're so fun!

another memory, as another child uses a "hand-me-down".
these boots originally came on paddington bear that my husband received from england when he was a little boy. ky was the first to remove them from the stuffed animal to wear them & now it's sy's turn.

4-5-6 and panther

cute photo - (the boys think ky is 4 now.)

this is the neighborhood cat, "panther". he's been around for about 5 months and allows my kids to pick him up by his tail (jojo & kiki) and drag him by his tail (ky & sy) and sometimes be nice to him too. it's been fun to have a pet i'm not really responsible for. :)

beach day

one perk of homeschooling - going to the beach on a perfect beach day when everyone else is in school!

we went to belmont shore with 2 other families and saw nobody but an occasional jogger all day. we had our own personal life guard for a portion of the day! the kids enjoyed building sandcastles, playing in the water (which was pleasantly warm), and searching for shells and other treasures. we, of course, talked briefly about the inter-tidal zone where our kids love to play and much marine life lives. it was a wonderful day!

at the end of the day, we brought home a new "pet" - a hermit crab in a bucket of sea water with sand at the bottom. we knew he wouldn't last, but it was a fun science project for a bit.

side note: the crab died late the next day and was fed to our hamster by my husband! (fortunately the hamster is still alive, unlike our fish he fed a cheerio to!)

off-roading at the park

here's the kiddos at the park driving "the bronco".

here's the one of the same kids a few years ago.

today's park trip was supposed to be for skateboarding, but the "big people" at the park were too intimidating. so we did some experiments on what objects go down the twisty slide fastest and which fly off the farthest. after many objects many times, we came up with hypotheses about new objects and tried them out. the kids had fun and learned some new words. and in case you're wondering, the largest and most round pinecones fly the farthest off the slide.

pumpkin party

we were invited to a pumpkin party by a boy from our soccer team. the kids were really excited - they had no idea what would be there, but anything with the word party must be very exciting! they enjoyed playing with friends, carving pumpkins, and eating... there were pumpkin chocolate chip scones, pumpkin cookies, and pumpkin muffins with pumpkin frosting that even looked like pumpkins with a little pretzel on top as a stem! (in addition to all the other yummy food you were probably supposed to eat before dessert)

jojo carved his pumpkin then played. then took the pumpkin back to the carving table, then played. then back to carving... we kept warning him that too many holes would not work out so well. and he finally listened. he had the original smiley face and about 10 other holes. but he didn't destroy the face, so mom didn't freak out. (yes, i'm one of those moms who want the art project done my way so i can tell what it is - i have to really fight myself to even let them just color their own way! something i'm working through. :)

anyhow. good time had by all. we spent a good 3 hours there. it was a huge yard, all fenced in and child-proofed, with tons for the kids to do - the bounce house was a hit, but so was their wood pile. jojo cleaned it all up and made it neat and tidy - it had been knocked over by a coyote or something. kiki too found the wood fun to climb, trees to explore, a birdhouse to peer at, and much more. even sy challenged himself to balance on an old utility pole.

and ky made hay angels and threw lots of hay into the air so that by the time we left her hair was filled with hay! we brushed her out on the front yard when we came home. it was pretty funny.

and that was the pumpkin party!

my floors got waxed today!

with a roll of wax paper! sy found the extra roll stash and took the whole thing out before i found him. my eyes got big. i was almost upset. then i thought - i better grab my camera! (after all, when the other boys were this age, i missed the photo op with 2 dozen eggs on the dining room carpet! and this was way less stressful than eggs!) so i think sy was in shock when i left him for a moment, having said nothing, and came back and tried to get a smile.

does this promote the behavior?

here you see him sitting in the drawer amidst juice boxes, pasta, and foil rolls!

the big kids were pleased that i didn't get upset and jojo was about to try to roll the paper back up when i just tore it off and said to go play. he ran through the kitchen & toy room, out the back door and around the house to the dining room window.

fortunately, about that time his sheet broke and kiki picked it up. he got almost as far when ky got her sheet. they ran about for over 30 minutes. after what was a pretty crazy day, it was definitely worth the 99cents i paid for the wax paper!

galaxy game

we were so blessed to go see the LA Galaxy play (soccer) the other night! They won! The kids had a good time watching the "daddies" play... and climbing on other spectators - who all encourage their behavior by saying "they're so cute!" atleast we're not bothering anyone. :) i enjoyed watching the game. at various points i had each kid individually on my lap and it was good to spend time with them and chat a little about the game & life.

here's a fun photo - sy was really into the game. in fact at one point i said to scott, "he's the only one watching and understanding".

"girls be with girls" - Vote yes on Prop. 8!

alas, this is not about prop 8!

atleast 3 times a day ky says to me, "c'mon mommy! girls be with girls!" she usually wants me to run somewhere with her. she loves to do things with just mommy because after all, "boys be with boys and girls be with girls"! besides running together she loves me to take photos of us together when i turn the screen around on my camera so we can see ourselves. here's a couple...

and there are many, many more!

parties and presents

last weekend we got to see all the family! the grandparents brought ali & em friday night. then kim & nathan joined us between soccer games for a birthday party for the cousins & uncle nathan. after that we returned to the soccer field for kiki's game and grandpa joe & cousin shawnie came too! in addition to all the family, my friend jen came to both games AND wore the right color jersey at each game to support the boys! it was fun to have so many people there.

beyond the presents at the party, grandma & grandpa just returned from europe and brought some fun presents for everyone! hooray! here's ky & sy with theirs.

grandpa tuesdays

game time! it was crazy hot outside, so we skipped the park and had a game day. the kids all picked their favorite games and/or puzzles. grandpa had fun. the kids had fun.

at the end of our time, i was making lunch so i asked my dad to show the kids where he grew up (on our U.S. map on the table). well the boys chimed in that he grew up in kansas city and they pointed to it on the map and reminded me that i'd used that question last week when i was making lunch. so i prompted my dad for a story using the map and i found out that he used to work in the mail car on the train. like in our thomas the tank engine books where there's a mail hook for the pick up and a bag thrown out with the delivery! my dad was the guy in the moving train grabbing the mail from the hook. (so i was more impressed than the kids - he's always got something new to tell them that i've never heard!) he did a good job using the map talking about the train trips and sorting the mail while sitting in the train car. lunch was slow in coming - i was too busy listening & interrupting with my questions. :)

hiking in north orange county?

i grew up here. i hiked elsewhere.
where could you possibly hike here? this morning we were going to venture to the mountains or maybe malibu, and at the very least south county to find a little piece of nature to hike around in. but surprisingly, we found a little hike with a lack of city (for the most part) only a little ways away. we headed to clark regional park. it's not completely amazing, but we hiked a little 1.5 mile trail around the perimeter of the park. according to my husband, the scent of pine we found was just what he was looking forward to. we saw many squirrels and a bunny and some geckos. we hiked on dirt, not pavement and the kids found some steeper parts challenging. at the end there was an interpretive center with dinosaur bones! - but it was closed. so we'll have to go back, and we're happy about that.

sy's haircut & about the house

sy has decided to be a dog. at home, at the park, at sam's club! (he can crawl as fast as i can push the cart! and my neighbor can vouch for that.)

before
sy got his first major haircut! he's been trimmed a few times - you know that grubb kid hair!

who is that?!?

ky & sy - so cute!

soccer

soccer season is well underway now. both boys have had fun. jojo plays defense & kiki plays forward. i think my husband is trying to engineer a team, but we're missing 7 players! if i wanted more kids, i should have mentioned the futbol team idea sooner! ha ha. anyhow, here are some photos to enjoy!

kiki with his best soccer pal (on the end) - they are like peas in a pod - and they have a TON of fun together. we're so blessed.

she calls him "coach" when we're on the field.

this is sy's "uniform" - wears it to every game where he kicks any unused ball all over the place for the 3 or so hours we're there.