Merry Christmas, Y'all

“Lemme e’splain. No, there is too much, let me sum up…”

JANUARY
-We ring in the new year with Steven’s family in Chicago; ice on the way back forces a stopover in Missouri
-Jenny is called as Primary Chorister (translation—music teacher for the children’s organization at church)

FEBRUARY
-Our first pet, a hamster (aptly named “Hammy”), manages to escape twice in the first week
-Steven and Jenny plan a big date for Valentine’s Day! The kids begin puking within 20 minutes of our intended departure! (sigh)

MARCH
-We enjoy a fun-filled month of visiting the zoo/beach/Space Center and pickin’ strawberries at Froberg Farms
-Stevie starts reading books to us (four years old, for cryin’ out loud!)

APRIL
-Disaster is narrowly averted when David pulls a 6-drawer dresser on top of himself. Luckily, Jenny was there, and he survived with little more than a scary bruise under his left eye
-Flash flooding during a spring torrent forces us to park on high ground and hoof it back home with the little boys in tow (~3 miles, though we were spared one of those by benevolent motorists we met as we sought temporary refuge at the local Dairy Queen)

MAY
-Steven turns 36
-Jenny makes Steven the ugliest birthday cake known to man, but quickly realizes that Steven was more interested in the cake’s personality anyway

JUNE
-R.I.P. Hammy
-Our long-awaited replacement digital piano arrives
-David and Stevie polish Guitar Hero renditions of Livin’ on a Prayer, Beat It, Eye of the Tiger, and Crazy Train (so begins their apprenticeship with the dark side…)

JULY
-Stevie starts swimming lessons
-We find out we’re FINALLY pregnant again with Baby #3!!! Due date: March 27th, 2010

AUGUST
-We travel to Arizona for the wedding of Steven’s sister in Mesa, spending time with much-missed family and paying visits to Flagstaff, Slide Rock State Park, and the Grand Canyon along the way (even managing to catch the last elevator down at Carlsbad Caverns on the return trip)
-Steven is called as Deacon’s Quorum Advisor at church (which means he teaches Sunday school to the 12-13 year old boys)
-David turns 3 with a vengeance
-Jenny turns 32 in the ER after a nasty gallbladder attack

SEPTEMBER
-Stevie and David start their preschool co-ops (sort of like Joy School; moms rotate teaching). We all love it, and Stevie and David are doing exceptionally well
-Stevie starts T-ball, where he shows off his crazy fast running skills
-We buy a new house! (In your face, IKE)
-Stevie turns 5, and we throw the boys a joint Rock-n-Roll/Spiderman birthday party

OCTOBER
-Jenny is called as choir director at church, and begins planning the annual Choir Christmas Sacrament Program
-After a high-definition ultrasound, we find out that Baby Grundberg #3 looks healthy, and that we’re having……(drum roll)…… ANOTHER BOY! (It’s going to be a madhouse!!!) Jenny chooses Jacob as his first name, but indulges Steven in the selection of a middle name (current frontrunners: Hoyt and Maher-shalal-hash-baz)

NOVEMBER
-David conquers potty-training. The Grundbergs are diaper-free for 4 whole months!
-We finally close on our new house and move in with the help of some great guys at church (It’s beautiful, and we love, absolutely love it!!!)

DECEMBER
-We currently find ourselves Christmas-decorating, singing carols, and thinking of how much we miss you all. Remember, our new house has a guest bedroom with YOUR NAME ON IT! We hope you have a wonderful Christmas and that your New Year is full of love, laughter, blessings and lottery scratch-off winnings!!!

With Much Love,
Steven, Jenny, Stevie & David
(and Baby Jacob, too!)

Christmas Day...

was a success. Can you believe that my children slept until 9 o'clock? I think that was probably the best Christmas present ever.

Santa gave the boys two fabulous yellow motorcross-esque bikes! Both of them needed a bigger bike as they had outgrown their old ones, and they were quite pleased.


Afterwards, we took turn opening presents. The kids got a surplus of crazy presents, including Gator Golf, a batman playcastle, and orange plastic cones (don't ask). I got some nice hairbrushes from David, two fancy umbrellas from Stevie and a VITAMIX from Steven (love it!)


I've endeavored for at least a month to keep Steven's Christmas gift a secret this year. It was a huge success, and I am officially titled "Sneakiest Wife Ever," but in a good way. His gift? A new digital drumset.



After presents, we tooled around a bit playing with gifts and relaxing in our pajamas.

My dad and brother Joey came over later that afternoon to exchange gifts and eat Christmas dinner. I had big plans this year of doing the dinner in "courses," just like they do at restuarants. It didn't work out quite as planned--timing is just about the hardest part of cooking!! At any rate, I've pledged that I will never again have a 4 course dinner until I have help--meaning servants--doing most of the work. Which also means probably never.



At any rate, dinner was lovely. After Dad and Joey went home, we watched the church video, Joy to the World with the boys. It's a lovely account of the true meaning of Christmas and the Savior's birth.

So Christmas is gone and past for another 363 days. It was stressful this year, so hopefully next year Steven and I can come up with some solutions to make it more stress-free and more importantly, more Christ-centered.

Christmas Eve: Long, Exasperating Post

Christmas Eve was very perplexing. But it all turned out good in the end—thanks to my wonderful little family.

Lately several things I’ve tried to plan end up blowing up in my face, and tonight was no exception. I had initially thrown around the idea with a friend to get together for Christmas Eve to hang out and play games---just a fun, casual night. She had to double check everything with the hubby just in case. I waited awhile and didn’t hear from her, but didn’t think too much of it.

After awhile, I talked with my dad on the phone, and ended up deciding to go with him to see the Dickinson Festival of Lights and go to IHOP afterwards. As SOON as I got off the phone with him, I notice that there was a message on my phone---my friend, saying that everything was “go” for tonight—which she had left on my phone 2 HOURS EARLIER.

So now I'd managed to double-schedule our day. For some reason, this made me have just a teeny mental breakdown that I tried to hide from the kids so they wouldn't notice Mommy had gone bananas (just chalk it up to hormones+Christmas pressure+being an emotional basket case in general). I ended up cancelling with my friend (whom I love dearly and really wanted to spend time with), and press forward—planning on spending time with my family that evening.

Well, as time went on, it got WINDIER and WINDIER outside. I mean, CRAZY-PSYCHO-TORNADO windy. Morning had been pleasant as punch, but as soon as it comes time for us to go to the festival of lights, a stinkin’ windstorm starts tearing League City apart. Of course.

The temperature drops and drops, and by the time my dad gets here it’s a whopping 42 degrees, with the wind chill making it feel subzero. After struggling with politeness for a moment or so, my dad admits that he’d really rather not spend the evening freezing his rear off in a park somewhere, and seeing as how he sort of has the Christmas Eve blues anyway, he decides to just go home.

So THAT was the sucky part of the day. Now on to the next part.

After much persuasion from my hubby and a bit more freaking out on my part, we decide to just stick to the dern plan and go to the festival of lights. Even though we were bundled up enough to face an Illinois blizzard, we were completely FREEZING! But the kids loved it, and oohed and ahhed in all the right places, exclaiming at the lights displays and running up and down the paths. David finally broke down and stuttered, “I’m c-c-c-cold, I want to g-g-go home.” Stevie, on the way out, said, “We had such a wonderful time here!” Both comments were strangely endearing.



Once home, it was time to open our one Christmas Eve gift. Everyone got new Christmas pajamas (except for me, who had received some pajamas as an early Christmas gift—instead I got to open some silver earrings!)

After putting on our new pajamas, we all headed to the kitchen to make “snowman soup” for the kiddos and drink some delicious Stephen’s peanut butter hot cocoa for mom and dad.


Next, we made some cookies for Santa, and called Grandpa Ron on the phone to wish him a Merry Christmas Eve.

Afterwards, I watched “Mickey’s Christmas Carol” with the kids. By this time, they were very sleepy, but not too sleepy to check online on the Official NORAD Santa Tracker to check on Santa’s progress. After seeing that Santa was ALREADY in DETROIT, Stevie hurried everyone off to bed.

Though nothing went as planned, and I admit that I’m glad this day is over, I’ll also say that I’m glad it ended so sweetly with my fellers all around me. I love my precious little monsters. And my precious big monster. All is well. More later on the big day (YAY CHRISTMAS!)

Bedtime with Santa

We had a new Christmas activity at church last Friday and it was just awesome. It was called "Bedtime with Santa," and all the kiddos showed up in their jammies.

First off, members of the activities committe and the bishopric read some Christmas stories to get everyone in the mood.



Next, they had a little table where the kids could write a letter to Santa and decorate it. My kids weren't interested at first--until they realized that they would be able to actually HAND the letter to Santa--that got them scribbling!

Then we all hearded into the Primary room to sing some Christmasy Carols while we waited for Santa to arrive. David's favorite was "Santa Claus is Coming to Town." (Of course, he sang the Jackson Five version).


And then, of course, Steven and Ben Hewett had to start singing some of their OWN versions--one which included a few horrible Robert Goulet impersonations and climaxed with a falsetto soprano version of "O Holy Night."
FINALLY it was time to meet Santa! Stevie and David were a bit beside themselves with excitement. Both sat on his lap and reiterated what they wanted for Christmas (we had already written Christmas letters the week before).



And then Steven got it into his head to sit on Ole St. Nick's lap--he looks like he's drinking with an old army buddy or something.

Not to be outdone, I got in a picture with some of the girls. I thought we were going to do a little "Santa Baby"-type shot, but apparently I was alone in this thought. Which explains why I'm the only one with the "grr" action goin' on.


Regardless, a super fun time was had by all. I really hope they make this activity a tradition--we just loved it!

"The Polar Express" Party

I have a cute friend in the ward who came up with a great idea. She invited all the little kiddies from the ward over to have a "Polar Express" party. The kids came in their jammies, and we watched the movie "The Polar Express." Stevie and David absolutely loved it.

Here's a picture of the kiddos after they were given their "ticket" to the Polar Express.
During the part in the movie where the children are served hot chocolate on the train, our hostess (Amie) brings out hot chocolate for all the kids to enjoy. She also passed out little jingle bells for the kids to shake when it was time to "jingle their bells if they believed in Santa." It was so adorable and creative!


After the movie, we had a delicious lunch and I totally the kids pigged out.


I just loved this idea. Granted, most of the smaller kids only took in about 1/3 of the movie (other people's toys are just too darn interesting), but even so, my boys really remembered the experience. They talked about it all day. Adn I have to admit that I loved getting a chance to talk to all the awesome moms that were there. Such a fun way to start off our Christmas-filled week.

I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day...

Tonight I rushed out to run two errands before the bewitching hour (translation--about 9:00pm, which is the time that I turn into a zombie nowadays). I zoomed over to Office Depot about 7 minutes before they closed, made copies like a madwoman and then zoomed over to Target to get a few more things. As I was headed for the checkout, I looked at the time and congratulated myself on the general speediness of my shopping.

As I got up to the register, I started looking for my bankcard. It was nowhere to be found. I realized with a sinking feeling that I had no way to pay for my purchases. I started madly flipping through my wallet, and exclaimed, "Wait! I have cash. What's the total?" It was $24.42. I had exactly 23 dollars in my wallet.

I began to hem and haw and asked the cashier if she'd suspend my order for a few minutes while I looked in my car. Did I mention that I was hugely embarrassed, as there were quite a few people in line behind me and I was just sure they were all internally shouting obscenities at me?

But the girl behind me--college aged maybe, give or take a few years--said to me, "Here, I have 2 dollars." I immediately started to protest, but she just said, "It's no big deal, the same thing happened to me last week. That way you won't have to go all the way out to your car."

I almost kissed her. Maybe it was just a little thing, but it just made me so darn grateful and happy. People are just plain good inside, and it seems like I find new proof every day.

Christmas Is Getting Away from Me

...or so it would seem.

Last year I was all over Christmas. Besides going to every single Christmas activity available in the Bay Area, we made cookies, gingerbread houses, hung Christmas lights, made ornaments with the boys, played Secret Santa, read a Christmas book every night, etc., etc....

This year I feel like the move has gotten in the way a bit. We've been so worried about putting our house together that we haven't set aside a lot of time to feel, oh, I don't know,...Christmasy.

So we made a start on Monday night. For FHE, we retold the Nativity story using our Nativity figures, and we wrote down one thing that we were going to give Baby Jesus for Christmas (trying to get the boys to understand THAT concept was a bit like pulling teeth. David wanted to get Him a racecar).

Next, we sat down and wrote letters to Santa Claus, complete with envelope and stamp and a trip to the post office. (This last activity was mostly just a sneaky way to find out what the boys couldn't live without present-wise).

But today I'm back to feeling bogged down by everything that needs doing, and I don't want to feel this way. But at the same time, I want to get all the gifts delivered, cards and pictures sent---I want everyone to have that yearly feeling of being "remembered" by the Grundbergs.

You know what I really want to do? Go Christmas caroling--straight out of the hymn book. Followed by some nice and hot wassail to drink. And I want to watch Mickey's Christmas Carol. And wear Christmas pajamas.

And I want my heart to catch in my throat while pondering how His gift ended up making us all aware of that spark of goodness that's inside every human being---the one that makes us just want to Love and Give---even if we don't always remember the reason why.

Our Christmas Holiday

On Christmas Eve, some folks in our ward had a party at the church, and it was really fun. One of the guys DEEP-FRIED A TURKEY, PEOPLE! We had a hilarious White-Elephant Gift exchange, in which the Grundbergs miraculously scored by getting a brand new Apples-to-Apples game. Sweeeeet. The kids also had a little gift exchange and all in all, it was uber fun. Afterwards, we stopped by Adam and Jessica's for a little family time, and then went home to face the seemingly unsurmountable task of getting our so-excited-they're-hyperventilating children in bed.

Santa's Little Helpers next had to put together the big Christmas present (a trampoline!! Thank you, Walmart!), and let me tell you, they DEFINITELY underestimated the time and difficulty of this project. And to add insult to injury, the little trike (Santa's gift to David) took at least 45 minutes to assemble. Come on, people! You're overestimating my intelligence.

The children slept mercifully late on Christmas morning (10am! What????) But boy, did they love it. They rode their Wiggle Car and Trike in circle around the house for about 10 minutes before we could get on with the unwrapping.

Stevie was crazy excited about each present. David was much too interested in whatever toy he just unwrapped to be bothered to unwrap ANOTHER present.
But the pièce de résistance was definitely the trampoline. The kids literally squealed in delight and climbed on the thing at break-neck speed. (and don't worry, that helmet isn't a substitute for the enclosure. Santa Elves were just too lazy to put it up the night before).

Then it was on to the kitchen for Steven and me to get started on Christmas dinner. And once again, no ingredients were accidentaly added or subtracted, nothing burned, and everything was relatively delicious. Joey (who'd driven down from Arlington), Dad, Adam and Jessica all came over and we enjoyed a wonderful Christmas dinner.

Grandpa outdid himself this year with the most amazing gift to each family. A Wii!! We were absolutely floored, and spent a good chunk of the evening boxing crazily one with another. (though I personally preferred tennis). I tried to post a video of Stevie's all-intensive fully body boxing, but Blogger isn't complying. So go HERE to see it.

After the fun and hub-bub of family was gone, we took a page out of Sarah's book and pulled out the Christmas candy, snuggled together on the couch and watched "Joy to the World." It's definitely my new favorite way to end Christmas day.

Christmas Activities

Well, taking the advice of Amber, the boys and I decided it was time to do some baking and make Christmas Cookies.

It was quite the endeavor.

The boys helped with making the cookie dough (boy, were they excited about the handmixer), cutting out the cookies, decorating, and generally trying to make as big a mess as humanly possible. (The flour was also a great favorite. It was mostly used to adorn my kitchen floor).

It was really fun to mix all the food coloring and make little creations together. Stevie was a MAJOR fan of the sprinkles. In fact, most of his cookies were comprised of a bit of icing with 100% sprinkels coverage. (Notice the flour crusties in his hair).
David was much more interested in eating the cookies than decorating them. In fact, he thought it was a good idea to take one bite out of each cookie and then start on a new one. Here is some of his handywork. It took me an hour and a half to clean everything up afterwards. But it was worth it. The boys were crazily excited the entire time. Afterwards, however, all three of us were so sugar-shocked that I'm pretty sure we're all diabetic now.

The boys and I have also enjoyed unwrapping the Christmas book every night and reading it before bed. I hope it will take some of the edge off of the whole presents hysteria on Christmas Day. It's really sweet to have them both in my lap, and to see them so engrossed. This is one Christmas Activity that I think we'll turn into tradition. (Seen here reading "Angel Pig and the Hidden Christmas" by Jan Waldron--a really great book)!