Griffin 5y4mo

Griffin has never been one to settle for where he is supposed to be age-wise.  He finally gets the title of being in kindergarten and so has his own JiJi account now.  At one of our recent family meetings, Bryce was offered the opportunity to begin guitar lessons and Griffin shot his arm up and said he wanted to join in as well.  He is also the one asking to play the most often on the ping pong table and curiously enough, he is playing ping pong right handed despite our attempts to remind him that he is left handed.

I am strumming, I am strumming, yes I am.

My foam finger is now my jawa gun:  "Siimmeeyah"

Did anyone say badminton?

Maybe I got up a little too early...but I can always take a nap.

Garrett 9y3mo

Garrett has now started fourth grade, which sounds like he is really gotten old.  Where has the time gone?  Well, he is still our son and he is still a high achiever.  This year he gets to enter the Essentials afternoon program at Classical Conversations which includes writing, spelling, and vocabulary.  He has also taken on the challenge of being one of the older boys on his soccer team this year and he gets to play with a lot of his friends.

First Day of school picture...the background was Star Wars, of course.

One of my favorite things still is to do big figure Star Wars battles with my brothers and Dad.

This is when we take over the kitchen, dining room, and living room.

School Starts

August means school has started for us.  Although some could argue that we never stop, we did slow down some this summer and now are revving it back up.  Classical Conversations has started with orientation and week one behind us at the new location.  We had our meeting with our Educational Specialist, Mr. B, and went over our map of the year.  Griffin finally got his own JiJi account so he can do the math logic games (except they had no available kindergarten level logins, so he was promoted to the first grade level).  According to record, we currently have Garrett in fourth grade, Bryce in second grade, and Griffin in kindergarten.

The Thomas puzzle says it all:  Back to School.

Luke is helping me do my math book.

Mom had dreamed of a new school room...looks like she may have her wish in our new backyard.

Who knew we would get school help from our kittens...distracted?  Nope.  Right...

Leia is helping to inspire my artwork.

Bryce and Griff got their own Veritas history program this year instead of having to look over their big brother's shoulder.  They are going over the history of the ancient world...today's lesson is the ziggurat called the Tower of Babel. The two of them make it very interactive.

Birthday Present!

Last year it was a basketball hoop for the front yard.  This year, the boys had enjoyed playing ping pong at Great Grandpa's in Idaho and so were requesting to have one in the backyard when we had our remodel completed which happened to correlate with their group birthday party.  Thanks to everyone who gave them money toward their group gift.

We are still working on having a rally between us...

We will learn how to play ping pong and then we will dominate next year at family camp...

Loving our matching shirts.

Star Wars Nuts Birthday Party

The boys chose to celebrate their birthdays together this year at the Modesto Nuts (California League, Class A for the Colorado Rockies).  They chose Star Wars Night with fireworks and kids run the bases as the events on the night for their birthday party.  The package included the opportunity for each of the boys to throw out a ceremonial first pitch.  Because it was Star Wars Night, we all dressed up as well:  Garrett as Obi Wan Kenobi, Griffin as a Jawa, Bryce as a 501st Clone Trooper, Brett as a Jedi Master, and Joy as Princess Leia.

For his first pitch, Garrett shook off his Jedi robe, took out his glove and fired a fastball to the catcher.  Bryce also took to the top of the mound at 60 feet and 6 inches and launced his pitch in the air to the catcher.  Griffin decided to go in front of the mound at the foot of the dirt and arched a one-hopper to the catcher right over the plate (pretty good for a 5 year old).

Later, there was a costume contest down on the field with the fans voting on the best costume.  It helps to have 50 of your friends in the stands to help the voting, and our boys finished 1-2-3 in the voting among the 14 competitors.  Griffin took home the foam finger and the top spot with his Jawa costume that Brett had worn when he was Griffin's age with the enhancement provided by Bryce who found little eye lights that finished the job.

All in all a great night with friends and a surprising victory by the Nuts who won their fourth in a row (season best winning streak).

Hanging with the Star Wars characters featured that night.  We are all surrounding Darth Vader.

Our birthday cake to enjoy with our friends.

YES, we got to throw out the first pitch, and here are our balls to prove it.

Look what I won for my Jawa costume...

Dad awarded the Jedi Award to Eric who scored 20 out of 22 questions correct on the Birthday Trivia Quiz.

Grammy feeds sugar to Griffin just to be sure he lasts until the Kids Run the Bases later tonight.

Ping pong paddles...but we don't have a table to play on...yet!

Some of the boys of the party:  Matthew, William, Sunnie, Ben, Jeremiah, Jack.

Is Princess Leia upgrading to a Jedi Master?

The three amigos--our children in costume.

Joined by Al the Almond, Wally Walnut, and Princess Pistachio.

Some of the kids who stayed to run the bases after the game.

Fireworks to Star Wars songs.

Summer Home Group

Over the summer, we led a small group which covered the Courageous movie and some small group topic discussions based on it.  After the series ended, we celebrated with some ice cream in our new backyard with our summer Bible study folks and members of our last years' study as well.  In the picture:  Lily, Sung, Dai, Terri, Brad, Brett, Joy, Eddie, Megan, Joel, Geri, Brandon, Max, Scott, Jill (back row).  Bryce, Garrett, Griffin, Nathan, Keagan, Genesis, Hayden, Lauryn (front row).  It was fun to see everyone bring their kids over to intermingle.

Backyard Remodel

Our backyard remodel finished this month and we were able to begin to enjoy all of Joel's hard work and finally move our table and chairs out for good (no more moving them back and forth).  We are very pleased with all of it and have had many dinners outside now.  The next task is to grow some lawn in a drought and help our trees recover.

The goal of making the backyard more a game area as well was enhanced by moving the dartboard out and the boys getting a ping pong table for their combined birthday party.

Our Japanese Maple tree had a shock when some of its roots got cut in the remodel, but it is starting to show some slow recovery.

Dinner outside, anyone?

A's Games with Friends

We finally got around to going to the O.Co Coliseum to see the Oakland Athletics do battle in the tight American League Western Division.  First we had a gathering with Rex and Alli and their six kids for a pregame BBQ (that was briefly interrupted by the rain--thank goodness for our "sun" shield protector).  We witnessed Jason Hammels' best start as an Athletic against the Tampa Bay Rays which resulted in a win for the A's.  Thanks to Mathletics and the A's Science Program, we went to this game for free (free parking too!)

Our next trip to the Coliseum was two weeks later for a key matchup against the Los Angeles Angels during which Sonny Gray pitched the A's to a victory and Coco Crisp homered to leadoff for the A's.  We met Steve and Kacie and their three boys for this game and enjoyed playing a draft style player selection game which Griffin won by selecting Coco Crisp and Sam Fuld as his two players.  Great to get the six boys together again!

We had some space to enjoy a pregame BBQ.

Come over and check out our spread...tasty!

Happy Birthday Ben!

We occupied two whole rows:  Sailor, Bryce, Griffin, Molly, Jack, Caleb (front row)
Reagan, Rex, Brett, Ben, Alli, Joy, Garrett (back row).

Fellow CC tutors and A's fans...of course.

Brotherly Love.

Hanging at the game with my buddy Jack.

Doing the Sean Doolittle closer pose as we cheer for a SAVE.

Beat LA crew:  Joy, Brett, Nicholas, Kacie, Steve (back row) and Garrett, Riley, Jonah, Bryce, and Griffin (front row).

We've grown a bit since last we saw each other...but we can have fun when it is 6 boys.

The Rickey Henderson big head beat Rollie Fingers and Dennis Eckersley.

Who painted our tongues?