Christmas with the Grants

What a wonderful Christmas Season! We enjoyed seeing family, lots of fun activities and of course, great food! My sweet Mom-in-Love handed down the Christmas dishes and the Christmas Eve dinner traditions to me this year and so we meet here at our home to celebrate. We had a wonderful time though we really missed the Utah, Washington,and Pennsylvania parts of our clan. Christmas morning was full of the usual surprises and included a special breakfast with Pop and Pat. We then headed down to Santee to join my (Robin) side of the family for Christmas dinner, more presents and fun games. We have recuperated and are now gearing up for New Years Eve Game Night.
Happy New Year to you all!

A Day in the Snow

The Latest Happenings at the Grant House

Sorry it's been quiet here on the blog. We have been busy shopping, wrapping, cooking and mailing. Not many photo ops either. As you can see by the few pictures posted, Kenny and Emily started Karate lessons and I'll bet you can even tell which one is enjoying it more. It is a great class and we are excited to see how much they will learn. There is also a picture of Emily working on her map of the Northeast for Geography. We are really enjoying (yes, me too) the Unit with Paddle to the Sea. Hope all of you are enjoying your Christmas preparations. It is easy to get caught up in our to do list and forget the spirit of Christmas. Treasure each memory you make. In the years to come, when you and your family look back, you will not remember the imperfect parts, only the love and fun. We are headed up to the snow today to spend some time throwing snowballs, making snowmen and more great memories! Have a blessed weekend!


Mapmaking

Making popcorn balls for Billy!

AND THE SEASON BEGINS!

Christmas season has offically arrived at our house. Our annual tree decorating dinner (always ham and scalloped potatoes) and trip down memory lane was enjoyed last night by our family (sans Billy, who was really missed!). Steve read the Christmas story from Luke and then Kenny read some too (good job Ken!). In preparing for this post, I came across some pictures of previous years and I couldn't believe how much the kids had grown. I will try to post a few in a future post. Time slips by so fast. Be careful not to blink! They seem to grow in that nano-second that your eyes are closed!

the fam

The Nutcracker Date

Emily and I had a wonderful evening attending Svetlana's Nutcracker performance. I can't believe how fast she is growing up. She looked so beautiful in her skirt and blouse and she borrowed my high heels too. Thank you Emily for such a nice evening!

Cousins

The girls planted these flowers in September at Cousin M's birthday party and now they grace our Thanksgiving Table. What a clever idea Gloria. We have so much to be thankful for this year!

Fixed Link and Turkeys

Hello all! I am sure everyone is getting ready for Turkey Day tomorrow. I will be making Grammy's Mashed Potatoes and Mimi's Broccoli Casserole to take to Pat's. Emily is making pumpkin pies to take to church tonight for her class to share. She is such the little baker. I have fixed the link to Aunt Karen's website. She has videos of Steve and his family when they were young, as well as current day photos & videos of the Scott Family. Be sure to check it out by clicking on her link that is listed on my sidebar under Family Blogs. This is such a fun way to share our day to day lives. The only cost is your time on the computer. I would love to see more in the family start their own blog. (Hint, Hint, Eddie).
Have a fantastic Thanksgiving!
Enjoy your turkey.
Much Love from Robin & Family

Homeschool Highlights #2

As our week continues, we took a field trip to Balboa Park to the Natural History Museum to see the Dead Sea Scroll exhibit. It was very interesting to learn about the land, how the climate in Israel is simular to ours, how they found the scrolls and then sold them several times before their real value was discovered. I expected the scrolls to be larger than they were. My favorites were the Ten Commandment scroll and the Copper scroll, which is like a treasure map. We were not allowed to photograph anything inside the exhibit, but here is a picture of us waiting to go inside and taking a soda break afterwards. Another fun day!

Homeschool Highlights

This was a busy week in our Homeschool! On Monday, Emily and I went to Riley's Apple Farm to see what life was like in the Colonies back in the 1700's. We have been studying American History and this was a perfect way to see "hands on" what life was like in that time.


We learned how to weave




how to press cider


how to make a candle



how to eat a carmel apple

how to churn butter










and we learned manners , quill pen writing and played a few games that would have been popular in that era. All of the employees were dressed in period costume and spoke with accents. We enjoyed a freshly baked Chicken Pop Pie afterwards. What a trip back in time!

Warrior Kenny

Tonight we attended the award banquet for Kenny and his football team. As his proud parents looked on, he received the 2007 Life in the Spirit Award. This was awarded to Kenny by the coaches for his intense devotion to his team and for the compassion & encouragement he has shown to his teammates this year. We received many compliments on Kenny's year from the coaches and he also received the 2007 Football Season Determination Award. It was a great season of football!

Kenny with Coach Roth


We are so proud of you Ken!

Family Highlights

We survived the California Wildfires...this pic is from the beach where we were camping. It was a very erie feeling to see the smoke move out over the ocean.

The kiddos had fun carving pumpkins and making pumpkin seeds.

We had a wonderful time at the park in Glendale with Pop and the gang. We filled the park with cute kids and yummy food! And to think, Pop, you started this all!

Homeschool Highlights

Here are the highlights from the last couple of weeks.

Wish I could post words under each picture, but I have yet to learn that Bloggy Skill. So here is the run down on the above picutres..... Emily and Steve went on a field trip to JPL (Jet Propulsion Laboratory) in Pasadena, Emily and her friends in our Friday Cooking Class, two of my favorite rocket scientists with their creation, the scientists making their rocket, Em studying, Ken reading history, Ken playing football and Pop cheering Ken on at his game. Loads of fun....lots to do.

Family Beach Fun

What a week! After lots of fun homeschool activities (more on that in another post) we loaded up the trailer and set off to South Carlsbad Beach for a weekend of camping. We really enjoyed our time....lots of reading, game playing, napping, swimming, walking and just hanging out together. The beach is always my favorite spot!

#50 Rocks!

Kenny's Thursday Football Game

How Old is old?

Well, does it make you old to own a nifty new pair of reading glasses? My parents both wore them. Old people in the movies wear them. Commercials always show the grandmas & grandpas with them down around the end of their nose. My OLD FRIEND wears them and she is old. But then two of my kids wear them and they are not old. So, now that I am the proud (really?) owner of a new pair, I wonder if that makes me old or not? Perhaps just the fact that I can consider jumping to the old side, makes me old enough. Perhaps I had too much time on my hands today or maybe thinking about being old is just part of getting older. Or maybe I just couldn't think of anything else to blog today.. .......

The Party's Over

What a fun Sunday we had. After church we went to our friends for a BBQ where Emily and her friends put on a short performance of Anne of Green Gables. She played the part of Rachel Lynn and did an awesome job! We enjoyed good fellowship, food, the play and a few rounds of a game called Taboo. After we returned home, our great actress then sprained her foot riding the scooter down our hilly street! Xrays, boot and crutches only took a three hour trip at the Urgent Care. It turned out to be only sprained though they will check for hairline fractures with the radiologist tomorrow. So for now.....the party's over. We'll see what the week brings.

Tea Parties and Victory!

Today was a busy day. Lots to do and not enough time to get finished. Our football game was in Redlands, so long drive. We won....8-0! It was a close game all the way through and we had a few bad calls by the ref, but God gave us the victory! Ken played a great defense. He is doing really well in his position and really enjoys the game. Tomorrow is housework in the morning and cooking class for Em/football for Ken. Another busy day! As you can see, I have posted pictures but I could not get them to the locations that I wanted so I will have to work on that skill. There is a picture of Kenny with Grams at the Linfield Game and one of Uncle Eddie at another game (notice that Ken is as tall as his Uncle now!). The picture of Emily is from the tea party we attended this week. We had so much fun being ladies! Not that we aren't always ladies but we don't usually wear glitter and flowers!