First Day of School

David's first day of kindergarten!


And Stevie's (or I guess I should say Steven's) first day of First Grade!


Are these guys gonna rule the school, or what?


Jake seemed a little downtrodden by the whole affair (actually he just wasn't used to being awake this early)


First stop was dropping Stevie off at his brand new school room. He had several friends from last year sitting at his table.


His teacher seems really nice. She has fabulous credentials, and she's even certified in animal handling in the classroom, and so she can check things out from the "Living Library." They even have a class turtle named "Fred."



Afterwards, David was very anxious to get to his classroom. He had the excellent luck of getting the same teacher Stevie had last year, so he was familiar with her and the room, etc. He also had a little friend in his class that he had met at the gym (it all made me feel a little better).


We shuffled around him for a few minutes--taking pictures, hugging him and whispering encouraging things into his ear. But it soon became apparent that the puzzle at his desk was much more exciting we were.


Sure, it choked me up a bit. I mean, come ON! Didn't he need me just a little bit? But then again, thank goodness he felt so comfortable and happy that he didn't even notice when we said goodbye and snuck out of the room. But I lingered by the door with tear-filled eyes for a moment or two--and wouldn't you know his teacher caught me and gave me a pitiful look. That's when I finally scooted myself out the door.

So now it's just me and Jake. He seems happy about having constant attention all day long, so that's good. And I'm getting used to a more or less quiet house during the day.

One last (fuzzy) shot of them as they got on the bus (Stevie was NOT happy about this)

David is 5!

Craziest of all crazies, my little tiny David is now five years old. I think the following pictures (taken on his birthday) describe him best...






The big item on his birthday list? A Nerf watergun---you know, the kind that could take out a city street if necessary. It's actually called "The Hydrocanon" and he can barely hoist it on his tiny little shoulders.

David opted for a Cookie Cake this year (and I was terribly grateful to him, because that meant a quick trip to the grocery store instead of an hour or two baking/decorating). He was incredibly pleased with it, as you can see here (look at that smug little face).


He was also incredibly interested in sucking the frosting off of the candles (in fact all of them were, Steven Sr. included. I don't get it).


Lil' Dave, how did you get so big? You are my snuggler...you have no bones about crawling up into my lap and demanding to get under the covers with me. You are the slowest eater I've ever seen in my life. Breakfast and dinner are usually just one big comedy show with various threats from mom and and dad thrown in. You are one wild child, son--always the life of the party, always the center of things. Your dad and I are pretty darn crazy about you (heck, your brothers are too)! Thank goodness for you, Little Sunshine, you make me smile all day long.

CURSE YOU, AIR-CONDITIONER!

So if you know anything about the Grundbergs, you probably know that we like cold weather. A lot. And that we hate hot weather with an indescribable loathing. Why do we live in Texas, you ask? Well, that's another conundrum all together.

Lately, with these 100 degree temperatures, our air-conditioner decides to stop working at 2pm every day. I've tried everything I can think of. We try keeping it at a higher temperature throughout the day. We've covered every single window. We shower the air-conditioner with water to try and cool it off. We turn off the air-conditioner for a couple of hours and then turn it back on. Nothing---it just stops working.

We had the air-conditioner guy come out a month ago to give it a once-over, and he told us it was in great shape. And he even did a little tune-up just in case. This is not an old air-conditioner. So what could possibly be the problem here?

All I know is that I can't stand this. It's hard to find a reason to stay gone from the house for 4 hours every day. But seeing as how it's 2:35, I guess it's time to head to Sonic for Happy Hour.

***We had the guy come look at it again today (Saturday) and fortunately he was able to find some major problems that weren't too terribly expensive to fix. Huzzah!

Creating Beautiful Spaces...

is not my strong suit.

I haven't been feeling well lately, and so I've been letting my wonderfully boisterous and OUTRAGEOUSLY messy children run rampant. The result? Living in an abode that constantly begs the question, "...What happened here?"

I thought I didn't care. But due to a certain social engagement, I found myself in the position of needing an absolutely clean house in order to save my tender pride.

After a day filled with mowing, weeding, sorting, dusting, vacuuming, etc, I had an epiphany. I really do love my house! It's lovely. But because it's so tall and skinny (narrow spaces stacked on top of one another), it only looks lovely when it's completely clutter-free. I felt such a strong motivation to keep in that way no matter the cost, just for the sake of my own personal inner-peace.

Regrettably, that was three days ago. I guess I'll have to wait for another social engagement for that personal inner-peace.

That's Entertainment

So far, this summer I’ve read:

1. Pride and Prejudice – Jane Austen
2. Sense and Sensibility –Jane Austen
3. Mansfield Park – Jane Austen
4. Jane Eyre – Charlotte Bronte
5. Wuthering Heights—Emily Bronte
6. The Lacuna --- Barbara Kingsolver
7. Her Fearful Symmetry—Audrey Niffenegger
8. We Were the Mulvaneys--- Joyce Carol Oates
9. The Historian---Elizabeth Koskov
10. Pudd’nhead Wilson ---Mark Twain
11. Tom Sawyer ---Mark Twain
12. The Living ---Anne Dillard
13. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo ---Stieg Larsson
14. Life of Pi --- Yann Martel

I’ve been doing a lot of re-reading. But I’m so often disappointed in new books I read. I like a good book with a great thought-process and a great story; one that leaves me feeling if not uplifted, at least emotionally full. And I think I like reading fiction more than non-fiction because I find more truth rummaging around in the minds of imperfect characters than when I'm just reading fact after fact.

So should I stick to re-reading or is there some jewel out there that’s been passing me by?

I feel the same way about TV. I’m not much of a movie-watcher, but Steven and I do love to crack up over a hilarious sitcom (less of a time commitment). And since we’ve gotten rid of cable and only watch Netflix, it’s hard to know what would be good. We’ve liked:

1.) 30 Rock
2.) Parks and Recreation
3.) Community
4.) The Office
5.) Scrubs
6.) Seinfeld
7.) Arrested Development
8.) (more recently) Modern Family
9.) Phineas and Ferb (I’m not kidding, that show is crazy hilarious)

But once again we’ve run out. We did enjoy LOST and the first season of Heroes, but after that nada. Maybe it’s just time for Steven and I to just crack up together at old re-runs.

Brief Update

I am currently way too exhausted to go in detail about anything interesting that's happening in our life right now. So I'll just give you a brief update:

1) Children will be in school in just 16 DAYS! I'll be at home with just 1 child for the first time in my life. And David will be a kindergartener. Sad and happy.

2) Everything in our house is falling apart. The air-conditioner, the garage door, the entertainment center. And the lawn looks like a jungle.

3) It's hot. So hot. I am seriously thinking of wrapping our entire house in reflective blankets.

That's all I can manage right now.

Interesting Things the Kids Do

STEVEN:
1. Steven has started calling everyone "Mayonnaise." For example, if I ask him to do something, he replies, "Sure thing, Mayonnaise!" It doesn't seem to be a negative epithet--just a random nickname for any and all people.
2. He is very in to "inventions" at the moment. He's constantly taking various household items (duct tape, cardboard, paperclips) and making very detailed and complicated inventions, such as the laser beam shown below (not unlike McGuyver).

3. He's also has taken to wearing thigh-high soccer socks everywhere he goes (as seen above). I'm not sure why, specifically, but I suspect superpowers are involved.

DAVID:
1. David's decided that every time he rounds a base during a t-ball, he must "slide in." If he misjudges the distance and doesn't reach the base by the end of his slide, he adds a few action somersaults in for effect.
2. He wore a woolen ski hat underneath his baseball cap yesterday to his t-ball game. (What is it with my kids and winter wear? It's 100 degrees outside)!
3. David told me a few days ago that he wouldn't be going to school, and instead wanted to stay home with me. BE STILL, MY BREAKING HEART!
4. He also told the following joke last night, "What do you call an abacovo (avocado) kissing a sock? A booty!" I tried to act stern, but my husband cracked up for a good ten minutes. I guess bathroom humor is officially here to stay.

JAKE:
1. Jacob will throw himself on the floor with extreme dramatics and literally fold himself in half, hiding his head. Think of a ballerina, gracefully collapsing on the floor, like this:

but with more screaming.
2. He's also learning to identify himself...sort of. He'll point at himself and say, "Duh, duh" and then point at you and say, "Duh-duh." We think there might be a slight vowel modification, but then again it could be wishful thinking. Cute, though.
3. Jake has also mastered the terms, "Uh-Oh," and "No!" He's really got that No thing down, and likes to demonstrate it (loudly) at public places, such as sacrament meeting and the checkout at the grocery store. AND, unfortunately, he's finally figured out how to climb on top of the dining room table. *sigh.

Thief!

I had a rotten head cold this morning, and so I let the boys have Pop Tarts and chocolate milk for breakfast. (I know, Mother-of-the-year). I even let them have the chocolate fudge flavor, so as you can imagine they were terribly excited about the utter decadence of it all.

As I was upstairs getting ready, I heard an angrily indignant yell coming from downstairs. I rushed down to see the problem, and found THIS little thief to be the culprit.


Stevie had nonchalantly set his pop tart down on the end table, being careful to push it way to the back so Jake couldn't reach it. Well apparently, Jake is getting smarter, because he quietly crept between the couch and the end table, snatched the pop tart, and began eating it as surreptitiously as possible.

Stevie turned expecting to find his delicious breakfast treat waiting for him, and instead found a chocolate-covered Jake. He was quite inconsolable, and refused a replacement pop tart of any kind.

And Jake was noticeably excitable for the rest of the morning.

Fishies

My boys have officially started swimming!

A few weeks ago, our friends visited us at the pool. They have a 3 year old, and after my guys saw him fearlessly jump off the diving board into the deep end, they were shamed into giving it a whirl. As you can see, they've got it down.


My friend is actually a swim instructor. When they got panicky, she would just say (in the calmest of voices), "Keep your head down!" and then PUSH there heads under the water. It was apparently exactly what they needed, because by the end of the day, they were both swimming fiends!



They actually worry me a little with their diving board antics. Stevie has taken to doing front flips off the diving board, which means that of course David wants to as well. There's just something very scary about my little 4 year old hurling himself head first into the water! He's even tried diving, and managed a magnificent belly flop in this picture.


So needless to say we're spending an alarming amount of time at the pool this summer. Jacob's not as huge of a fan as the rest of us, but he will submit to being dunked under the water and "swimming" to Daddy. We're all getting crazily tanned and we come home incredibly exhausted (also good). It's a great way to pass an 100 degree day.

A Few Random Photos

Stevie's Kindergarten field trip to the Galveston Grand Opera House.


His class after our picnic lunch at Schreiber Park.


Strange yard decoration in our neighborhood. They initially just had it out for Christmas?? but now it's there all year round. I'm all for Chrisitianity and America, but I find this a bit creepy. (This picture doesn't do it justice...it's really larger than life).


Outside Houston's Museum of Natural Science. We visited it for the first time on Tuesday with some friends.


While driving around last week, David said, "LOOK! MOM! AN ALLIGATOR CLOUD!"


Jacob absolutely loves my brother Joey. He runs up to hug him whenever we get together, no matter how longs its been.


Jacob ran out into the front yard yesterday in his diaper while Steven was chatting with one of his guitar student's parents. Those dern mosquitoes chewed him up and spit him out.