my superheros

my boys love superheros - really love them. i wonder sometimes how they actually discovered this world of superheros but then i am reminded of all the marketing there is everywhere you turn. so even if they don't watch the movies they still get bombarded with the images on cereal, shoes, shirts, drink boxes... i won't get into what i think about all marketing to kids. i always thought before i was a mom that i wouldn't want my kids to wear all those silly character shirts. then i had three boys who beg and plead to wear their spiderman shirt day after day after day. thankfully i have the "it needs to be washed" excuse every few days. so give my boys a batman anything and they are happy. these pajamas say everything about our stage of life right now. notice ezekiel in these pictures too because then you realize all the wrestling in our house doesn't always start with the older two. love my little superheros!

the dairy

in november we made a trip to the koops dairy in chino. they are friends of my parents and gave us a full tour. this was a special treat for the boys because they loved the tractors and cows, but also because they have dairy roots. my great grandparents had a dairy in paramount (before it was all city) and ryan's grandparents had a dairy in redlands. we even have the walking stick grandpa vangrouw used to get the cows in line...
what fun to see the farm! thanks ellen and darrel for a great day!

super heroes and a chicken

all that candy made us a little crazy! neighborhood toddlers!
1 batman costume and 2 boys who wanted to be batman. thankfully a friend let us borrow another batman costume and saved the day. then we had our good old chicken costume; all the boys have worn this costume and ezekiel debuted a new version: super chicken.
we hung out with our neighborhood friends and enjoyed the neighborhood harvest fair hosted by a group of neighborhood congregations. of course we came home with more candy than we needed. its funny as i was putting all the candy in one bowl - that smell of plastic wrappers, chocolate, and sugar reminded me of all the halloweens where i sorted through my candy as a kid. all the sugar in my house makes me cringe as a mom but i do understand the delight that goes through a child's eyes as they survey the loot.

mom's night & batman's harvest parade

mom's night at preschool was pj night - what a fun date with malachi. we listened to a story, played games and had a bedtime cookie.






malachi's preschool harvest parade was today - such cute kids!! this also means the sugar fest has started - i dread all the candy coming into the house...

R & R

just us for 6 days! what an amazing treat to be together to rest, have uninterrupted conversation, fun adventures, rest, good food, sun and reflection. we celebrated 10 years of marriage and 10 years of Bellflower. love my husband and love Bellflower.








this is just funny - wedding and sunbathers don't mix well

end of summer...

summer is done. but who would have guessed it this week when it reached 111 degrees in bellflower in septemeber - crazy. i realized after our trip to mi and chicago that the last year has been very full. but i look back and think - we did it. some bruises along the way but we made it and learned and grew as a family. we had a great summer even though we only went to the beach 1 time. i had high hopes... i also had high hopes of visiting many people while we were in mi, and we didn't. i thought for sure our house addition would be close to finished by now, but it isn't. i even thought we might be starting a charter school this fall but we are still working on that one too. a dear friend told me the other day, "give yourself a break rachel." so i am (or trying to remember that she said this and i should embrace it) i loved my summer with the boys! if we missed you this summer, please know we love you... here are a lot of pictures to record the end of summer.


ezekiel loves dogs - my sister's dog toby got lots of attention...




yes sue is about to eat ryan's head!



chicago lego store - the boys heaven

ryan and his dad baptized our neice brinsley - what a honey