Funny Things About Moving to Sunny CA...

Well, I've been thinking a lot lately about God's will in my life, and why He chose to move our family to CA. Of course, when one is thinking about such things at 5AM, while nursing a baby, or 6AM, while working out on the elliptical machine, or 9PM, when the synapses have long since ceased to fire, you think of pretty funny stuff. So, here's my list of:

Top Ten Funny Things About Living in CA

(10) After attending church for a few weeks with a newborn, you begin to develop 'stroller envy.' Everyone out here seems to push a Peg Perego or Maclaren. It made my Graco seem small and insignificant.

(9) Mileage has absolutely no significance when figuring out how long it will take to get someplace. It is some kind of crazy math where you divide the time of day by the highway you're on and then adding one hour, or something like that. I've never been very good at math.

(8) Speaking of highways....Do NOT say, "Take Interstate 210 to get here," or you will get lots of funny 'you haven't lived here for long'-type looks. You must say, "Take THE 210 to THE 2 to THE whatever..." It's not a highway if it hasn't a THE before it.

(7) You begin fantasizing about how else you can eat avocados...in salad, tuna, grilled cheese sandwiches, on crackers, with chips, tacos, enchiladas, etc., etc. They are really YUMMY and so cheap here.

(6) You long for the days of low-cost gas in CT. I've seen it as high as $3.66 right now.

(5) You understand that the flip-flop is not merely a convenient way to get from the beach to the car. It is a fashion statement. They devote whole isles to them at Target. You can get them with rhinestones, leather, feathers, colors. You name it!

(4) You realize that it might be necessary to sell a child or two in order to put a down payment on a house. Then, the remaining children will have to work full time to pay the mortgage payments.

(3) You get used to putting the heat on in the morning and the AC in the afternoon.

(2) There really is a "Let's do lunch" mentality out here. It's just another way of saying, "I like you," without any commitment to future contact.

and the NUMBER ONE Funny Thing About Living in CA:

(1) All those stars we watch in movies and TV live here. Like, they really live right here. Of course we haven't actually seen any of them yet. I don't think many of them are Christian homeschooling, stay-at-home moms. They're not really the type to be in my circle of friends. But one of these days I may actually see one of them... IN PERSON!


No, really. I thought I would hate it here. I really did. But I am finding that I actually 'like' Southern California. Despite the traffic and the smog and the fact that right outside my door there are a few million people...most of them driving on THE 5 as we speak. Go figure. And, hey, if you're ever in town, let's do lunch.

So blessed!

Behold, children are a heritage from the Lord, the fruit of the womb a reward. Psalm 127:3


A rare sight...a picture with me in it!! This picture was from our trip to Sea World. Kurt loves his Peanut Shell sling and so do I. It makes Sunday mornings possible for me, as I walk around Grace Community Church's monstrous campus, depositing children upstairs and down, going to Sunday school on the 3rd floor and visiting the nursing lounge! I highly recommend this sling for anyone expecting out there (Kim!!)

I put Kurt in the church nursery for the first time this past Sunday. Of course, I dropped him off 15 minutes into the second hour, and retrieved him 1 hour later, but I actually left him there! It was the first time I left him with someone other than family. I had to choke back tears as I walked away...it certainly doesn't get easier the more children you have! Kurt has also officially outgrown some of his adorable little outfits. He's growing like a weed. How dare he!

We are Daddy-less right now, as Gustav is in NYC, living the New York lifestyle for a few days. He received a "meet-the-composer" grant for a piece of music he wrote for a small vocal group there. So he gets to go and speak about his music and answer any questions the audience members have. I am a tad envious of him, getting to be on the East Coast again! But, as you all know, it costs a lot of money to fly when you are a family of seven!

I am going batty putting our curriculum together for next year. It gets more difficult as the children get older. Can you all believe that Gabriel will be a 4-year-old preschooler next year! YIKES! I am trying to take the children's interests and desires into consideration more than I have in the past. Nicholas is dying to do a geography course, and the girls want to learn how to cook. I am going to try and incorporate those things into next year's schedule.

OK, this was a boring post, but I wanted to give you all an update. I was only interrupted about 12 times while typing this! I told Gretchen that I don't remember what the Latin verb 'to ask' is, scolded the dog for barking while the baby is sleeping (like he cares), bought 2 books that Gabriel "wrote" with the pretend money I always have in my pocket, listened to Lillian persuade me to let her pass her German lesson with an '89,' even though I require a '90,' tore pieces of paper out of the large pad, and answered 'I don't know yet' 2 or 3 times to Nicholas' repeated question, "What's for lunch?" Ha!

Stay tuned for "All About Gabriel!" in the next day or two, as well as some more interesting writing from me. If only I could type and nurse the baby at 5AM...that's when I think of all kinds of interesting things to blog about. Unfortunately, they are long since forgotten when I get to the computer a few hours later!

All About NICHOLAS!!

Hey everybody! My name is Nicholas and I'm 10 years old. Here are some facts about me to help you get to know me.


Favorite meal: Minestrone soup (Miss Casie's recipe!)

Least Favorite meal: Scallop chowder

Favorite hobby: wrestling with Dad

Favorite movie: Night at the Museum

Favorite book: Eragon by Christopher Paolini

Least favorite book: Robinson Crusoe by DeFoe

Favorite thing to do in CA: Disneyland

Favorite thing about moving to CA: The beach

Least favorite thing about CA: earthquakes

Something I miss a lot in CT: a plethora of friends (Editor's note: he actually wrote that word! We are sitting here laughing about "Would you say I have a plethora of pinatas? Yes, I would say you have a plethora. Do you know what is a plethora?" Hee-Hee!! For those of you who are scratching your heads, it's a quote from The Three Amigos)

Favorite subject in school: science, especially science projects

Least favorite subject: math

I'm most afraid of: Black Widow spiders

Gustav's CD is finally available!!!!!

Bad picture, I know. I couldn't figure out how to improve it. But the good new is: it's here, it's here, it's finally HERE!! From Darkness Into Light is now available at Amazon!!! Here's the link (hopefully!)

From Darkness Into Light

I am so proud of Gustav! This is good stuff! Kudos to Casie and Cynthia, also, for playing so very, very well!

DOUBLE DIGITS!!

Happy Birthday, Nicholas!

On Monday, our eldest offspring hit double digits! What an amazing thing! There are days I don't feel old enough to even have children, never mind FIVE children, never mind one child that is TEN!! It's great to be deluded.

We spent a very, very enjoyable day at Sea World in San Diego. Nicholas got to direct us to all the things he wanted to see. The dolphin show was particularly fun and Nicholas chose to sit in the "soak zone" during the Shamu 'Believe' show...while the rest of us sat safe and dry in row 17! His big disappointment...he didn't actually get soaked! Mom and Dad got him a new computer which will actually play all of the mystery games he's fallen in love with. He's loving some of the Sherlock Holmes stories adapted into computer games. He also recently spent some of his birthday money from Nana and Grampa and bought some Sherlock Holmes stories to read.

One of the ridiculously exciting perks of turning ten in our house is the right to stay up later than everyone else. So, Nicholas beamed from ear to ear last night as he stayed up with Mom and Dad (and Kurt!) until 9:45PM! Of course, there was wailing and gnashing of teeth in the younger female offspring....MUCH wailing, and copious quantities of gnashing! Ah, the tortured life of the middle child...ask me how I know!

What a blessing it is to see Nicholas maturing into a thoughtful young man. How nice it is to see some of the rashness and recklessness replaced by thoughtfulness and self-control. He still has his moments, but that seed of manhood is beginning to be visible if you look long and hard enough...and are patient enough.

What a blessing Nicholas is in our lives. We praise God for him every day! Happy birthday, buddy! Welcome to the double digits!

All About LILLIAN!

Hi! I'm Lillian. I am 6 years old. Here's a little bit about me.

Favorite meal: Strawberry bread

Least favorite meal: TUNA!

Favorite hobby: Collecting rocks

Favorite movie: Henry V (the one with Kenneth Branagh)

Favorite book: Elmer and the Dragon

Least favorite book: The Adventures of Peter Cottontail

Favorite thing to do in CA: Disneyland

Favorite thing about moving to CA: the weather (Editor's Note: Did I mention it is 75 and sunny??)

Least favorite thing about CA: there are so many people

Something I miss lots in CT: My friends

I'm most afraid of: Loud, scary sounds

Favorite subject in school: History read-alouds (current fave: Bud, Not Buddy)

Least favorite subject in school: practicing my violin (EN: Sorry Cynthia!!)

How I like to spend my free time: in my outside playhouse

Favorite thing to do as a family: playing board games like Clue, Gobblet, Life

All About GRETCHEN!

I'm Gretchen. I'm 8 years old. Here are some things about me:

Favorite meal: Chicken noodle soup

Least favorite meal: Salmon

Favorite hobby: Collecting coins from different countries

Favorite movie: The Great Escape

Favorite book: Eragon & Eldest by Christopher Paolini

Least favorite book: The Neverending Story (editor's note: This really was the never ending story. We borrowed it from the library and it was missing the last couple of pages!)

Favorite thing to do in CA: Play with my new friends

Favorite thing about moving to CA: the weather

Least favorite thing about CA: It never snows

What I miss about CT: having space

What I'm most afraid of: all kinds of snakes

Favorite subject in school: History read-alouds

Least favorite subject in school: writing

Favorite thing to do as a family: go to the beach

How I spend my free time: reading

My favorite thing to do outside: climb trees