2011 Grundberg Family Highlights

Merry Christmas! It’s been another busy year, so we’d like to share with you these...

2011 Grundberg Family Highlights

JACOB
• Is 21 months old at present, and in the national 95th percentile for height
• Talks up a storm (we can even understand some of it)
• Enjoys telling primitive knock-knock jokes and dancing wildly to "Yo Gabba Gabba"
• Attends Nursery at church as of September (and promptly falls asleep upon arrival)
• Has mastered the art of the tantrum and power words like "no" and "mine" (whose use he especially prefers in awkward public settings)

DAVID
• Turned 5 in August
• Excelled at t-ball this year, particularly at fielding and theatrics; his technique was unmatched in the league for sliding into home, not to mention sliding into first, second, and third, somersaulting into home, rolling into first, and so on
• Learned to swim this summer, and quickly mastered the diving board and water slide at the deep end of the pool
• Started kindergarten in August with great enthusiasm; his teacher refers to him as her "Little Firecracker"
• Is doing a great job with learning to read and write; he is very excited about "sight words"

STEVIE
• Turned 7 in September; nowadays, he insists on being called Steven
• Played basketball in the winter and tried out karate in the fall with David
• Perfected his swim technique this summer, and mastered front flips off the diving board
• Began 1st grade, and was recently recruited into the Gifted and Talented program at school
• Loves Mario Kart on the Wii and the Diary of a Wimpy Kid books
• Works on "projects" with great fervor, including maps, charts, and books

JENNY
• Busily growing our FIRST baby girl, who will be joining our family in March; after so many Grundberg boys, who thought it could be done?
• Has served as Stake Music Chair in church since January; she’s organized musical performances for various events and directed a few choirs as well
• Loves working as Primary Music Leader in the church children’s organization (easily the best calling ever)
• Started teaching voice this year (three of her students advanced to Texas All-Region choir; one recently advanced to the Pre-Area choir as 1st chair)
• Enjoyed several singing engagements with local band Blue Star Jazz

STEVEN
• In his 4th year programming for American National Insurance Co. in Galveston; recently promoted to Senior Programmer/Analyst
• Earned an important insurance industry designation, and even scored a free trip to Montreal for the conferment proceedings
• Very busy as 1st counselor in the Young Men’s program at church, as well as Varsity Scout Coach; he’s enjoyed working with the youth, but finds the ban on corporal punishment limits his creativity
• Is forever practicing his musical instruments, mainly drums, string and electric bass, guitar, piano, trombone and anything else he can get his hands on; he continues to be a genius at anything musical
• Is easily the sanest person in the family

We are feeling very blessed lately, and we hope you’ve had an equally fun year. Come on down for a visit, give us a call, shoot us an email, or visit our seldomly updated blog! At any rate, we love you and miss you, and wish you a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

With Love,
Steven, Jenny,
Stevie, David, & Jacob

Christmas Eve & Day

The week of Christmas, all five of us had the unfortunate ill-luck to get pretty sick. There's nothing like preparing for the biggest holiday of the year when you feel like garbage. Fortunately, we were all able to get well enough to enjoy Christmas Eve.

We started out our Christmas Eve by opening our Christmas Eve presents (which by tradition are new pajamas to sleep in). The boys were very excited about their new Mario Cart pajamas and Jake loved his Thomas the Train jammies and slippers. We took a few pictures of them under the tree.







We had invited our friends the Cobbs to join us at the Dickinson Lights Display, but the weather turned out to be icy cold. So instead, they came over to enjoy some homemade hot chocolate (which turned out to be super chocolatey) with whipped cream & marshmallows and play a few games. We also made sure to track Santa's progress on the NORAD Santa Tracker. We just love the Cobbs, so we all had a blast.

Soon, however, it was time to put out cookies and milk for Santa. David had also made some Reindeer food at school, so we sprinkled that on the lawn as well. After much giddiness and confusion, we finally got the kiddos off to bed.

The next morning, the kids crept into our room one by one (except for Jake, of course. He screamed until we took him into our room). We were so surprised at how patient they all were! Finally, after mom and dad were FINALLY ready, we rushed down the stairs to open presents. The boys received such a surprise! A 3DS for both of them from Santa! Wow! He must have gotten a super sweet deal on those things! Jake received THE LOUDEST toy popping lawn-mower in existence (stupid Santa's elves).

It was Beyblade Dream Christmas. We are now owners of just about every kind of Beyblade equipment available.



We also threw in a few snuggly blankets for the boys (they love them).


Jake was very interested in unwrapping presents...at first. If he came to a tricky part, he would immediately hand it off to you, shouting, "Oh NOOOO!"


Jake also found the one cookies (with a bite taken out of it) that Santa left behind. He made short work of it.


After presents, we had a huge Christmas breakfast and Mom baked for Christmas dinner at Grandpa's. We had church service at 2pm, so we decided to snap a photo before the tree since we were all gussied up.


Christmas dinner at Grandpa's was lovely. We had a delicious dinner followed by yummy desserts, and then opened some wonderful presents. It's so nice to have family close by to celebrate with.

And now, readers, now I am off the hook for Christmas for at least 360-odd days. PHEW!

Stake Christmas Program

This year I manhandled the task of putting on the Stake Christmas Program. The first half was comprised of musical numbers from the various wards, and the last half was the Stake Choir, performing selections from Part I of Handel's Messiah. It was a bit stressful (I was SO grateful when it was over), but I think it turned out nicely. The program was as follows (just for my own personal record):


I was very worried about the Stake Choir--- if you've never sung it, the Messiah is extremely challenging music! But at the last minute, we had a professional opera singer from the Clear Lake 2nd ward join the soprano section. I think everyone was so relieved that we all sang better because of it! And as a special surprise, Sister Chan organized for a small youth orchestra group to perform with us on The Hallelujah Chorus. It sounded fantastic (and I have to add that MY father was the FIRST person to stand for the chorus. I felt pretty proud).

School Christmas Parties!

I'm kind of a bum and I didn't attend either of my children's school Halloween parties this year (and it was David's first one ever)! When they got home, both of them reprimanded me quite harshly. So I was going to risk it again by missing their school Christmas parties.

Once again, Stevie's was first. We didn't interact with him that much, but he was thrilled we were there. He came up and gave me a big, squooshy hug and then ran up and tackled his dad. He seemed to have fun at the party...making ornaments and cookies. Jacob was an absolute pill the entire time, of course.



We had to sneak away before pizza time to attend David's party. David seemed happy we were there, but a little confused about how to act. He was used to being self-sufficient in the classroom, but now Mom and Dad were there to rely on. He ended up goofing off with his friends, and then running over to me to ask me what he should do next. It was so, so sweet and cute.

Making crafty masks


Showing off said masks


Sitting with friends


Scarfing down a piece of cheese pizza


Jacob had had it with all the party nonsense and demanded time with daddy on the outside playground (to everyone's relief).

Christmas Feasts

The boys had yet another holiday feast at school, and Steve and I were able to attend with little Jake. (We both had rotten colds, but the boys wanted us to come so badly we didn't even think of skipping. We did skip the holiday style cafeteria food this time, though). First was Stevie's...

Stevie has recently decided that he loves the Texas Longhorns. I'm not sure where the association comes from (definitely not football---at least at our house). Here he is showing the "Longhorns" sign with his friend Brandon.


The boys are always very proud of showing off Jake at school. Jake is sometimes less enthusiastic.


And a couple of photos of his class, with his silly friend Kyle mugging in front.


Next up, David's holiday lunch. He had a great time joking around with his friend Caleb.


David was nice enough to let me snag a picture of his with his daddy and little brother.



My little sweet pea sitting with his class.


And now he's sticking a Smencil up his nose. (And I don't know who these little girls are, but aren't they great smilers?)

Festival of Lights

Do you want to know what's wonderful? What's wonderful is when your brother's family who you haven't seen in a year comes down for a visit. What's even more wonderful is when your dad decides to celebrate by treating the whole slew of us to tickets at Moody Gardens' Festival of Lights. It was such a fantastic night.

Here's a shot of us walking through the toy soldier brigade.


Just to give you an idea of how enormous the toy soldiers were...


You might be able to tell that I'm trying to replicate the ballerina's position behind me in this idiot picture. Unfortunately, my pregnancy sense of balance is so wonky that my dad had to stand behind me to keep me from falling into the bushes. (Notice the very prominent 'PLEASE STAY ON THE WALKWAY' sign behind me).


The light displays were magnificent.


Though this isn't the best picture of him (sorry, Andrew), my 13-year old nephew is at least ten feet tall now. He's also rocking a Barry Whitish bass voice. He was terrific all night with little Jake, pushing him around in a stroller that was at least two feet too short for him.


Here's the other 3 little rascals. It was so much fun seeing my boys have a spazztastically fun time with their 9-year old cousin Zack.


For some reason, Sponge-Bob was there...


Jake had a great time too, though he'd get maniacally angry if David tried to sit in his stroller.


Random sleigh silliness...


Here's my dad with his little grand-chiclets.


Here we are gathered around the ol'....Hmmm, I actually can't remember where we were. I really just included this picture so you could laugh at my enormous belly.


They had open marshmallow roasting pits, which not only roasted the marshmallows but gave the rest of us a nice, smoky aroma for the rest of the evening. They also (bravely) supplied the boys long, joust-like staffs to roast them on.



Pop even treated all 11 of us to dinner at the Moody Gardens Cafe. We were pretty chilly (and tired) by the end of the evening. But it was a terrific night!

Thanksgiving Feasts

Each year, the boys' school puts on a 'Thanksgiving Feast.' The parents are invited to come and eat a thanksgiving lunch with the kiddo. Steven took a few hours off of work so that we could attend together.

The problem is that Stevie and David have lunchtime an hour apart. But we went to both anyway. First up was Stevie. Here he is waiting in line with his buddy Bryson.


Poor Steven Sr. doesn't usually get a traditional Thanksgiving dinner---we didn't do it that way in my family growing up and since I'm the cook.... So he was understandably enthusiastic about getting his Turkey and cranberry sauce on...


We brought the umbrella stroller SPECIFICALLY to trap Jacob and keep him from escaping, but he cried so piteously that we let him escape. He did pretty well staying in his seat the whole time.


Next up was lunch with David. I didn't eat lunch the first time (with Stevie), so I brought a little something for David and I. I'm not sure why my face looks so entirely insincere in this picture---I really do love my little munchkin. And he sort of looks like he's trying to escape me....


Come to think of it, David doesn't look terribly enthused in this picture with Steven either. I promise he was glad we were there!!! (Wasn't he?)


Yesterday (Thanksgiving Day) was spent in the lovely home of Joey and Lee. Lee cooked some traditional things, like turkey breast, green bean casserole and stuffing. And my dad brought a rib roast (of course), while I brought the rolls, salad and potatoes. This is all, of course, is addition to an outrageous assortment of desserts made by Joey and me---all of which everyone was too stuffed to eat more than a bite of. Joey and Lee's home always looks so beautiful and the meal was delicious. All in all, a great (and filling!) Thanksgiving meal.




But now.....

IT'S TIME FOR CHRISTMAS!