First Food Pics

First food pictures crack me up. Here's Leah enjoying her first bite of food (sweet potatoes). She wasn't sure at first, but I finally got a smile of enjoyment.

First Day of Pre-School

Joshua started a pre-school program earlier this week. He goes Tuesdays and Thursdays, for three hours in the morning. He had a great time playing with trucks, doing crafts, and playing outside. His favorite part was meeting a new friend. Today, was his second day, and he was still very eager to go.

Makayla, on the other hand, is having a tough time with leaving her brother's side. The first day, she cried, and said, "I love Brother, he's my best friend". She would come up to me, and also say, "I miss Brother!" She is definitely attached at the hip to her brother. After dropping Joshua off on his first day, Makayla and I went to Starbucks and got "coffee" (hot chocolate) and banana bread to take her mind off of things. She also got some good mommy time as we colored and played with Legos. By the end, I think she liked not having Brother to take toys away from her.

He was very proud of the sunflower he painted.

First, she cried. Then, she figured out she could sit in Joshua's car seat and play with his puppy and school bus. Then, she gave the thumbs up after having "coffee" and banana bread!

Flagstaff

As mentioned in the birthday post, Andrew's parents visited last week, and we traveled to Flagstaff. We spent lots of time swimming, eating, celebrating, and train-watching. The weather was awesome, and the trip ended way too soon!

A giant wagon wheel in downtown Flag

Finally a family photo!

Learning to swim with Daddy and Gigi

A water duel with Papi and pool noodles.

Feeding the ducks at a nearby pond

These are their flattened pennies after laying them on the train tracks.

This is his happy place!

J's Birthday

Joshua turned four on September 7th...four...ahhhhh! He made it know to everyone that he got to celebrate two birthdays. I think he was on a power trip because of it. Grandpa and Gigi flew in to Albuquerque, and we then made our way over to Flagstaff to celebrate birthday #1. We opened the presents that they brought all the way from California, and then had a Dump Truck Dirt Cake complete with chocolate candy rocks and "squirmies" (gummy worms).

We ended up celebrating his birthday on Saturday, instead of Sunday, since church always takes up a big part of the day. We went to Krispy Kreme to start off the day because that's how we roll when it comes to any celebration. 

After naps, we celebrated his birthday with a Dusty Birthday Party. Dusty is from the movie Planes, and his only birthday request was for a Dusty cake. We played in the water, played some Planes Bingo, ate pizza and cake, and opened more presents.

On the morning of his birthday, we crammed some balloons against his door with streamers, so that when he opened the door, they would all fall down on him. He loved opening the door, and the surprise that came with it. We opened a few more gifts from Mom and Dad, and the birthday festivities wrapped up. 

Here are a few questions I asked him as he turned four:

What is your name: Joshua Grundstrom

How old are you: Four

What is your favorite thing to do: Play trucks and cars

What Do You Want To Be When You Grow Up: Truck driver and Race Car Driver

What Is Your Favorite Food: Quesadilla

Who Do You Like To Spend Time With: Daddy, Mommy, Sissy, Cayden, and Cody

What Are You Good At: Going Down Slides

What Makes You Laugh: Spilling Drinks (Mommy does NOT agree!!!)

Who Is Your Best Friend: Cayden, Cody, and Sissy

What Do You Like To Do With Your Family: Build Train Tracks with Daddy

What Do You Like To Learn About: Letters

Where Do You Like To Go: Costco, FireHouse Subs, and the Balloon Festival

What's Your Favorite Book: Dusty Look and Find and Read About Jesus

What Is Your Favorite Movie: Lightening McQueen and Dusty

Leah is 5 months!

Leah turned five-months-old yesterday...wowza! I'm starting to sound like a broken record, but she is seriously a dream baby. She's so happy, is a great sleeper, and she picks things up so quickly. Her big bro and sis adore her, and she lovingly adores them back. This trio of mine (as well as a studly hubby) sure make me feel like the luckiest girl in the world. Below is a shot of our five-month-old, as well as a collage of all three of the kids at five months. I definitely see a little of J and M rolled into Leah!

August Pic-a-Day

Below is the pic-a-day video from August. The background song is called, "Hello World," by Lady Antebellum. The first  few musical phrases of the song go as follows:

Traffic crawls, cell phone calls,

Talk radio screams at me.

Through my tinted window I see

A little girl, rust red minivan.

She's got chocolate on her face,

Got little hands, and she waves at me

Yeah, she smiles at me.

Hello world

How've you been?

Good to see you, my old friend.

Sometimes I feel as cold as steel,

Broken like I'm never gonna heal.

I see a light, a little hope,

In a little girl.

Hello World.

This song is just another sweet reminder at how our busy, technological lives can so easily steal our joy. I'm so thankful for my kids, and for the innocence and fun spirit that they constantly surround me with. I pray September brings us a lot of of "chocolate on our face" moments!

Here's the video: August Pic-a-Day