Happy 90th Grandma!

The girls and I went down to Arroyo Grande last weekend for my Grandma's 90th birthday. It was such a special treat to be able to spend time with both my Grandma and Grandpa. Can you believe that my Grandpa is 95? They both look amazing!


We took a little trip to Pismo Beach and looked around at the tide pools to see what sea creatures we could see. Oh...YES I did cut my hair...and...I'm getting used to the look:)



The girls with GG Pa


We went to the Olive Garden for Grandma's birthday.
Grandma, Jamie, and Ashley


We went to The Barn which is right near Avila Beach. It was a lot of fun! We got to feed the animals and we were even able to see some babies.

These baby goats were so cute! We stayed by them for a long time because they were so fun to watch. My girls wanted to ask someone if they could hold them.

Me and the girls :)

It is always hard to say good bye...and there were tears. :( I love them so much!

....but there was also laughing:):)

More Veggie Tales and More

For those of you that have been ANXIOUSLY awaiting the most recent pictures of our garden ;);)...here they are. Can you believe this? Pretty good for 2 people who really have no idea what they are doing :):) Actually, we have prayed a lot over this garden, because we KNOW that any good that comes out of it is ONLY the Lord!




Here is the bell pepper plant. It has one pepper on it...but that is the same pepper that was on it when I bought it...and it doesn't look like there are any more on it.....yet:)


Here are the sunflower plants. They are HUGE!


These are the ones that I am REALLY excited about! The Roma Tomatoes. I can't wait until they start appearing. We eat a lot of tomatoes so that will be fun.

OK...I'm done:) More veggie tales to come........

The boys little league season came to a close with an award night at Straw Hat Pizza. At Awana, the kids have special nights such as crazy hat night, animal night, etc. When I told Joshua that we were going to Straw Hat for awards, he asked me, "We need to get a straw hat and wear it Mom!" Obviously we are not a Straw Hat Pizza family :):) We prefer Me n Ed's Pizza...thank you very much;)

Caleb receiving his award from Coach Kirk with Coach Juan (who happens to be our backyard neighbor) in the background

Abby, Coach Kirk and Joshua

Last Sunday I took my camera to church, so I was able to get a few pictures of the kids in their Sunday School classes (Sorry Allie:) Love ya!)
Miss Lita's class with Eli, Joel, Anna, and Nessya

Alice and Allie with Annabelle, Joshua, Molly, Hannah, Abby, and Caleb

This past Monday we celebrated Baby Joseph Shapiro's birth with a baby shower.

Abby with Baby Joey

Kathie Ormsby gave an amazing and very sweet devotion that she included both Ellianna and Nessya in.

The girls received books from Kathie...one about Joseph and one about David.

AND THEN...both girls recited Psalm 100. They did a SUPER job!

"I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against You."

"Your Word is a Lamp unto my feet and a Light unto my path."

Piling up the activities

I really need to write on this blog more instead of piling up the activities until, like today, there is just too much to write about. I'll leave the other activities and pictures for another day. The main reason for the pile up is that my computer is down (where I usually download all of my pics) so I finally had to just download them onto the lap top since I didn't have any memory space left on the camera :( Well, these activities are totally out of order...but I really don't like having to move them around...so we will just have to live with out of order events:):)

We celebrated my sister Lindsay on Friday with a birthday lunch. All the kids made Auntie a birthday picture/card and we had a special lunch.

I

Mom, Lindsay, & me

Kristina made Auntie a special birthday picture.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY AUNTIE LINDSAY!!! We hope you had a special day!

One day, not even sure when, when Charley took the other kids out somewhere, I was left home with Anna. Because I had quite a few half used frosting tubs in my fridge, I decided that we needed to make cupcakes to use up all the extra frosting. Anna helped me make the cupcakes and then we, of course, had to document this special Mommy and Anna time. Anna asked to take a picture of me...actually she wanted to take a picture of every step of putting the cupcakes in the oven...along with a silly face picture...but I will spare you those pictures and just put one on here:)

A very proud-of-herself Anna, holding our cupcakes.

Good Job Anna! Those cupcakes were yummy!

For Memorial Day, we went to the A's game as a family. We had a really fun time. I told Charley that I think that was the most relaxing and non-stressful game that I have been to (as a family). It was just really nice. Thankfully they won and we got to leave the Coliseum to the Celebration song. Let's GO OAKLAND!!!

JOSEPH DAVID SHAPIRO - 8lbs. 21 in.
Another exciting thing that happened on May 21st, was that Joseph David Shapiro was born to Noad and Sharyn Shapiro. We watched Elli and Nessya while Noad and Sharyn went to the hospital and little Joey came REALLY quick. Only about 2 1/2 hours after they got to the hospital. PTL! He is SUCH a cutie. All my kids have enjoyed holding him.

Joshua holding baby Joey.


Elli, Sharyn, and Baby Joseph

Congratulations Noad, Sharyn, Ellianna, and Nessya! You have been given a GIFT!

Softball, Stickers, Sparks, Jelly Bellys, & Friends

It's been a very busy couple of weeks. Lots going on. Kristina started Fremont girls softball so we all went out to opening day to see her play her first game. Her team is called the Heartbreakers. They are a very young team and most of them have never played before...so...as the coach said at the beginning...this is a learning year.

Because she is the tallest, her coach has given her the opportunity to try out catching and pitching. Actually, she has done quite a bit of catching. Go Heartbreakers!!

We went to Mrs. Grossmans sticker Factory for a field trip the other day. It was a lot of fun. We got a lot of fun stickers and we learned how that stickers are made. After the tour, the kids were given a bunch of stickers and a postcard that they were able to decorate

My mom came with us, which was a big help, since we brought Anna with us:):) Thanks Mom! Hope you enjoyed the field trip!

Sparks awards was last week too. The boys didn't finish their books this year, but they were close. We'll have to try and finish them over the summer. We are so thankful that our kids are learning to hide God's Word in their hearts.

Joshua receiving his Sparks award.

Caleb receiving his Sparks award.

In the home schooling group that I am in, it is our duty to plan a few field trips. For mine, I decided that we should go to the Jelly Belly factory in Fairfield. It was a lot of fun! Very interesting how they make those yummy candies! And...can you believe it...my kids, excluding Joshua, do not like jelly bellys!! I just cannot understand how that can be!;);)

Abby standing with a jelly belly mosaic of the Reagans.


The kids in front of Mr. Jelly Belly

After the Jelly Belly Factory, we went to visit our friends the Jarvis', who only live a couple of minutes away from the factory. We had a lot of fun with them eating lunch, playing, and catching up. Thanks Jarvis' for a fun afternoon!!

Wow! Look at all those kids...and Anna wasn't even there!

Kelly and I with baby Joy.

More Veggie Tales

Well here are the latest pictures of the garden. The green in the back is the corn, then the tomatoes, then the cucumbers and then the sunflowers in the front. Unfortunately, it looks like something is enjoying eating the sunflowers and the cucumbers :( Grrrrr! We might have to do something about that.


Can you see it?? My little Albatross pepper? Don't ask me what an Albatross pepper is...it just came with the group of 3 pepper plants that I got from Costco...but, it's GROWING!! Yeah!!



Here is the other side of the garden. Doing good! Cannot wait to be able to pick my first vegetable.

More updates to come...Kristina's opening day of softball, field trip to Mrs. Grossmans Sticker Factory, Sparks awards, etc. Stay tuned.........

Gardening and Fishing

Guess what!? We planted a garden. I am SOOOO excited about this since I've been waiting a whole year to be able to do this. I wanted to last year...but it just didn't happen. We planted corn, green, red and albatross peppers, roma tomatoes, early girl tomatoes, cucumbers, strawberries, and sunflowers. I seed planted a cherry tomato but I'm not sure if that one is going to take. I might have to go and buy a little plant instead. The corn is doing amazing and the pepper plants, which I bought at Costco, are already growing little peppers. So fun to watch!

I told the kids that we need to pray for our garden that the Lord would cause the veggies to grow. More updates...or as Mr. Greenhouse says...more veggie tales to come:):)


The other day we took all the kids to Quarry Lakes in Fremont to fish. Everybody had their own fishing pole...even Anna. We bought her a Dora the Explorer one. And you know what? She did a GREAT job casting! Pretty good for a 4 1/2 year old! We didn't catch anything, but we had a fun day (although it got really hot).
Here is Abby messing around with the bait :)


I haven't put a picture of Buster on here since we first got him about 3-4 months ago. He is getting so big! He is such a good/friendly puppy and loves us and people in general. He is such a house dog that I don't think I have ever seen him panting like he did this day. We took him fishing with us.

The kids hard at work...or should that be..working on patience:)

Kristina...the master caster. Since Charley doesn't have a fishing license, he couldn't help the kids cast their lines...so Kristina came to the rescue many a time that day.

Anna with her Dora fishing pole

Fisherman Caleb

Friends from Germany and Anna-isms

Today we had our German friends, Friedrich and Svenja Troeps along with their two boys Josias and Bennett spend the day with us. It was a busy day! It was great fun just catching up and letting the kiddos play with each other. We talked/played for awhile, had lunch, then walked to the chapel to show them around. We are definitely going to have a good sleep tonight!


And then, of course, the activity that my children are always asking to do as we pass by it on the way to Costco....we went to Chuck E Cheese! Joyful delight would be a good way to describe the reaction from the Epps kids. (especially after I had just told them the other day that we only go to Chuck E Cheese for graduation and Halloween:)
So glad that we were able to spend time with you today Troeps! We'll miss you!


A few Anna-isms for your reading enjoyment:
Anna was looking at a picture of a little girl with long curly hair....which she described as "crumbly and shapey" :):):)
Anna was frustrated with one of her brothers the other day, so she comes into the office and asks me as only my 4 year old daughter can, "Mom, can you deal with him?"