All the Little Grubbs

Foster’s Five

Foster February 20, 2009 Comments: 3

“It’s hard to believe!” That’s what most people say around a child’s birthday. And it’s true, it really is hard to believe my firstborn son is 5 years old. We had a low key homemade birthday this year. It turned out to be a good idea since Chris and I both had a stomach virus the few days before his birthday and then Theodore, Katie and Foster were sick by the time Saturday rolled around. Foster was just getting sick but he was a little out of it all day. I know he enjoyed decorating the cake and all the presents he received. He’s such a special kid. I never realized what a gentle and sweet spirit someone could have until I met Foster Owen Grubb. Of course, I am the mommy and so I am very biased but your mom is supposed to be your #1 fan right?

One of Foster’s best gifts came from Papaw. It is a REAL gun, and Papaw made him a case (with a lock) to display it in. Chris can’t wait to get him out in the woods and let him shoot. It’s so funny because when I was younger I was really into the ANTI-gun stuff. I always swore I would never have guns in my house or around my kids. Boy how things change. God blessed me with a husband who is a hunter and is from a family of hunters so that I could see the other side of the coin. It’s not the guns that can hurt kids but the carelessness of the adults in their lives. Foster has already gone on 2 dove hunts with Chris and went on his first deer hunt this winter. And SAFETY ranks first priority. Foster also received a tackle box and some lures so he’s ready for fishing, too.

I struggled for the 2 weeks before his birthday. I think I cried every night when I tucked him in. I tried to explain to him that Mommy has seen him grow and change so much. From the time he was in my womb, to starting to crawl and walk, to talking and running, and now as he learns so much every day. It’s hard to believe he’s just a short time from reading and he can ride a bicycle without training wheels. He can count to 100 and write his name. And he’s growing spiritually, sometimes all I need is to hear him pray and I feel so much closer to God. I wasn’t crying and having a hard time because he is growing so fast but because I feel so blessed. Blessed that he made it to 5 without major illnesses or broken bones! Blessed that he is happy and healthy and smart! Blessed that he asks a million questions a day and would rather you read him a book than anything else. I am just so blessed by getting to know this person and I thank God for him. The depth of God’s love I felt, of course, before I had a son but after I have had my firstborn son for these 5 years and then to think what I would do to protect him, it sheds a whole new light on what God sacrificed for me.
He sent HIS firstborn SON to die for me and my wretched, selfish ways.
Thank you God for my sweet, little boy and for the hope that is in you through your Son Jesus Christ!

Sunshine

homeschooling, memories February 11, 2009 Leave a comment

Foster and Katie got to watch a tractor tilling up the ground in our neighbor’s garden and then Foster went back with a bucket and collected some mud and some huge worms. He kept the mud moist all day and wanted to “hide them so the birds won’t get them” every time he had to come inside. Although I think they were much more in danger from the stick he kept poking at them to get them to squirm!

Katie really loves our new swingset. She still doesn’t like to swing very fast or high but she’s getting braver.

We have been enjoying the past few days of sunshine! Theodore is really having fun outside now that he’s walking. He loves to climb in his big brother’s power wheels and just sit there. I guess it makes him feel like a big boy.

Inside view

homeschooling February 3, 2009 Leave a comment

This was Theodore’s view of the snow. He actually went out in the snow a couple of weeks ago but this time it was right before nap so we just watched Foster and Katie out the window. He was OK with it at the time but most of the time he wants to be doing EVERYTHING they are doing. It makes our school time difficult because as we work at the table he wants to be up and into everything. Hopefully, by the time our school year kicks off next fall he will be able to stay a little more occupied with coloring and puzzles. Right now he still wants to throw the puzzle pieces, chew on crayons and markers and digest the play-doh. But Foster and Katie are still learning in spite of his interruptions. We played an alphabet game today and Katie can identify almost all her letters and actually knew the sounds some of them made. She is enjoying her first time taking a Monday Fun class too. She is in Pre-school Math and seems really excited about it. Foster is taking Interactive Story Time this semester and I think he’s enjoying his class also. I try to ask him what story they read or what they did in their class and he just says “I don’t know” or “I don’t remember”! I told Chris last night that I can’t imagine sending him off for 7 or 8 hours everyday and all him coming home and saying is “I don’t know” or “I don’t remember” or “Johnny hit Billy on the playground…” I need more involvement in my children’s lives at this point than just the pitiful leftovers of the day. As it is right now, I get to be excited with them and for them all day for their accomplishments and I get to share in their disappointments.

Snow Days

memories February 3, 2009 Leave a comment

I took this picture from inside because it was almost time for Theodore’s nap. Foster and Katie didn’t stay out long, they might have if they had been dressed in a few more layers of clothes. Katie doesn’t even have a pair of gloves because they are so rarely needed most winters. Oh well, maybe I could find some on clearance and she could have them just in case we get some more snow. They had fun knocking all the snow off their swingset and I was just daydreaming about summer when we can really start to enjoy swinging and sliding. It is fun to see the kids enjoying the snow, I remember getting all wet and frozen when I was little and the best part was coming in and warming up. We had the best hill in front of my house when I was little. In my yard and on the road, it was very steep so we didn’t need much snow to get one of those plastic saucers going pretty fast. It was a lot of fun living in a neighborhood because even if school was out we had friends near enough we could just walk to their house or they could walk to ours.

Snow

Katie, memories, Theodore January 20, 2009 Leave a comment

“Mommy, it’s SNOWING!!” When we were headed out the door to a friend’s house for a playdate this morning it started snowing. And for some reason the kid’s excitement about snow is contagious. I love snow. The problem I have though is I really dislike the cold of winter, and here in Tennessee it only spits snow or maybe we get an inch every few years. It isn’t really like the snow the kids have in their imaginations because on just about every kid show or movie when it snows, it REALLY snows. The kids or animals on those movies get to build snowmen and make snow angels. But somehow even a few minutes out in the frozen, white wonderland is enough for Foster, Katie and Theodore, they don’t compare what they don’t have, they enjoy what they do have. A nice lesson for today.

Walking and the budget haircut

homeschooling, Theodore, Toddlers January 15, 2009 1 Comment

Look at that smile! Grammy and I held him down for a short haircut but he forgave us and was off playing happily a little while later. He looks all grown up with all that shaggy blond hair gone. Especially now that he finally started walking! 16 1/2 months is a long time to wait when you have such a chunky guy to lug around. He is doing so well, he’ll be running with the big kids by summer. I can’t wait to watch him and all the summer adventures this year. There is something so wonderful about this stage, between starting to walk and before being able to talk, it can be a frustrating time but it’s amazing to watch how much he can get accomplished with no “words” just grunts, gestures, and whines. Katie and Foster are really enjoying him walking but it’s funny because even though he’s been doing it for a couple of weeks now, they wake up each day and the first time they see him walk that day they’ll exclaim excitedly “Theodore’s walking!” or “Look, Mommy, Theodore just walked all the way across the room!” As siblings they really have genuine joy for each other’s accomplishments, even if they squabble through the day, if someone accomplishes something new they each will cheer and encourage each other. Katie loves to encourage and build up her brothers. I hear her in the background “Good job Foster!” even if it’s nothing new or exciting for him, she acknowledges that he is doing something worthwhile. The kids and I have been down at mom’s this week helping her recover from surgery and I have been reading the best book I checked out from mom’s library. The name of it is 100 Top Picks for Homeschool Curriculum by Cathy Duffy. It has been extremely helpful to me as I am trying to sort out what I will teach Foster for his Kindergarten year. Now I just have to come up with a budget and hopefully have the curriculum bought and organized by June or July. Since baby #4 is due July 25 I would really like to have all that planned out so that in August we can just start along with our lesson plans. This, of course, is just the plan because I am a planner and organizer and I enjoy that. However, I can hear all the chuckles out there from those of you who have had new babies and siblings close in age and tried to just survive and keep your house running and keep everyone alive from day to day, believe me I know we will have many days when that will be the case, but having a plan and a schedule make me feel as if I am still in some sort of control over the chaos! If you want to check out Cathy Duffy’s website it is www.CathyDuffyReviews.com It seems to be an abundant source of homeschool information.

…and baby makes 4…

memories, Parker December 31, 2008 Comments: 3

Oh by the way, in case you didn’t know, we are expecting baby #4. I didn’t have a picture to go with this post, but Chris and I are going to a New Year’s Eve party tonight so maybe someone will take a good one of me and I can put it on and look all cute like you do when you are less than 7 monthes pregnant! I am due in July. I am very excited about having another summer baby. And in the middle of summer will be even better because all you have to put on the little guy (or gal) for the first couple of months is a onesie! Yeah! And nursing is so much easier without trying to maneuver under a sweater and jacket and blanket….LOL Plus the winter months are hard on me emotionally and I don’t need to have the post-partum stuff hit right when we can’t go to the park or bask in the sunshine. Anyway, there is only one baby in there so they told me when I was about 8 weeks. Things are moving right along, I have “morning sickness” more with this one than with the others. And it’s not really “morning” but more of an all day kind of yucky with a lot of fatigue thrown in. BUT I will be 11 weeks on Saturday and can see the light at the end of the tunnel (= If I am blessed for it to be over in the first trimester, I know some women are sick their whole pregnancy, but I do not want to join that club thank you very much! Anyway, lots of rambling, my mom has the kids for a couple of days and so I just get to sit here and type for as long as I want. What a nice break, I’m sure glad God made grandparents. So I guess I’ll go for now. Just wanted to say “WAHOO” I’m a mommy of 4! I always dreamed of having a big family and God has blessed us.

Christmas Morning

holiday December 29, 2008 Comments: 2

Here is the gang on Christmas morning. At our house, Santa doesn’t wrap the gifts from him he just lays them out so its the first thing you see when you wake up. He also fills your stocking and lays it under the tree. We had done that part and then taken a little break to wait on Grammy and Grandad to arrive so we could have a big country breakfast and then open the rest of the gifts. I was trying to think what my kids favorite gifts were but they were too excited about everything. A couple of things that stood out was a book from my Aunt Eileen, Foster stopped me and said “Mommy, I want to keep that book forever, I don’t want us to sell that one ok?” He is used to us having yard sales and me just “weeding out” in general. We can’t keep everything or we would be in chaos but apparently he wanted to make sure that I knew this book needed to stay around! So, kudos to Aunt Eileen for picking out a great book for our collection, that is her specialty after all. (= Another highlight was Katie and her Tinkerbell pj’s and robe she got from Grandad, she loves Tinkerbell things but I really think it was because it was from Grandad…One thing that I was excited about this year is we got more board games, puzzles, arts and crafts and play-doh than ever before. Also, NO video games or gameboys or nintendos or blah blah blah….I was relieved about that! And we only received a few things that take batteries so all in all it was exciting for the kids and not too painful for the parents! We had several traditions that we enjoyed this year but one we will add next year is a cake and singing “Happy Birthday” to Jesus. Our kids know what Christmas is really about but I would love to help them feel the joy of an actual birthday celebration for Baby Jesus.

My husband

daddy December 29, 2008 Leave a comment

As I am ending an old year and about to start a new, one thing I decided is my blog entries will be different. I am not really sure how right now but I know I love to change things so for now this is one thing that will take some changes. This entry for example is not about the kids at all but about my wonderful, amazing husband. In the picture, you can see Chris is wearing a shirt that says “Bruce Pearl is my homeboy” which he won in a dirty Santa game a couple of weeks ago. That shirt is one glimpse of Chris, he has an amazing sense of humor, he really tries to find the humor and joy in life and I know that cultivating that part of himself has not been easy at times. As we grow up, we are heavily influenced and bogged down by this world and the material and earthly concerns that come with adulthood, but Chris has tried to hold onto the joy that comes only from a relationship with Jesus. In fact, in Sunday school this morning he was teaching about new beginnings and the new year and one thing that really stuck out was although as followers of Christ we may have trouble and heartache ultimately we need to show others that we’ve “got this thing whooped” – and then we have to really live that way. I always count my blessings at the end of an old year and I try to write a list of all the things that will probably happen this year. I don’t want to be so tied up or busy that I miss out on the important things. When thinking of my husband and some of the attacks he has been under recently, I can’t understand why other people can’t see what I see in him. He is first of all a BELIEVER, and I mean he won’t apologize to anybody for who Jesus is and what He has done for him, even at work on a construction site. He lives his life in a way that our kids can say “My daddy is a good person who loves God” He works hard to provide for us financially. 40 or more hours plus school one night a week and then National Guard duty one weekend a month. And he doesn’t have a desk job, it’s an out-in-the-freezing-cold and rain kind of job. He sacrifices his own comforts for us. He wrestles and reads to the kids. He cooks for us and pays the bills. He encourages me when I am having stay-at-home mom blues. He’s eternally patient when I rearrange the furniture for the fifteenth time. Or when he is having to dig his clean work clothes out of a pile of unfolded clean laundry. He makes us laugh and he defends us at all costs. He has served in Iraq and many other countries. He is honest and forthright and punctual and giving. I don’t know how ANYONE could insult, criticize or belittle my husband but unfortunately we live in a fallen world. We live where people would rather hold you to their standards and judge you, rather than trust you to make your own decisions with God’s guidance. I am a little fired up about this right now as you can probably tell! But it felt good to get it out so…if you enjoyed it stay tuned. But if it annoyed you, just look at the pictures and move on! LOL

Another cute picture

Theodore, Toddlers December 22, 2008 Leave a comment

I couldn’t resist posting this picture of Theodore. It really shows his personality, he was crawling upstairs at Aunt Diane’s house and he knew he wasn’t supposed to be since we had taken him down about 10 times already. But wherever there is climbing and an adventure – Theodore will be there! Chris and I always talk about what a sweet, fun baby he is and we can’t imagine our family without him. I can’t wait to see his reaction on Christmas morning!