Conference Weekend

We went down to the Berg's home in Palestine for the October session of General Conference on October 2. The weather was beautiful and all of Anthony's siblings were there, including the newest cousin Grayson.
It wouldn't have been a Berg family gathering if we didn't do a photo session. I always love the pictures of Grandparents with all of the grandkids. There actually was a better one of the kids, but my favorites are the ones where the adults look normal and the kids look a little (or a lot) crazy.

Our little family.


These three played really well together for the weekend. With two 2-year olds in the mix, that is not always the case so it was so nice that they just had fun together. Yay!! Now they will get along forever and ever, right?


Again, there was a picture of these three with Grayson where they were all looking at the camera. This one seemed more fun to me. Maggie and Jack couldn't stop touching Grayson. If Jack stopped, Maggie started. Jack looks as if he'd pull that blanket right out from under the baby if anyone encouraged him.


We had some awesome Bulgolgi (Korean BBQ), made by...ME. Ha, yeah. Anthony cooked it, but it's all about the marinade and the meat slicing and I did that part. This picture looks like a familiar scene from all of the family gatherings I've been to in Palestine...aside from Serena's baby belly. :)


Another cute cousin pose. Not even sure these three look related, but they do share genes. Really.


My favorite part of the weekend: stealing the cute newborn baby as often as possible. Grayson is just so sweet. I don't know how well I paid attention to conference, but I sure was cozy snuggling this little boy.


Jack is crazy about Uncle Joe. He has a truck and he wrestles with him. What could be better?

Tour des Fleurs 2010

A few weeks ago there was this strange thing that blew through Dallas. I think it is called a "cold front" though having lived in a part of the country where cold fronts are actually life threatening, dropping to lows of 59 can hardly count. In any event, I got a little excited about the hint of cooler weather in the air. My Saturday run was scheduled to be 8 miles, but as I watched the forecast temperatures drop it grew to 9. Then, as I departed for my dry and sunny 59 degree run (after a long couple of months with humid 75-80 degree runs) I decided to make it a nice round 10. I could have gone further, I told myself. But there were things to do with the remains of the day. It felt so good to get beyond 5-6 miles.

Excited about this fabulous run, motivated by all of the runners I passed and waved to, maybe even a little deranged...I signed up for the Tour des Fleurs 20K just two weeks later. My friend Jessica and I had been thinking about it anyway. We did say we'd wait until the week of and check the weather, but she was out of town and I was high on running endorphins so I signed myself up. That of course meant she had to sign up, too being the good person she is.

Two weeks later and the 7:30 a.m. race started at 78 muggy degrees with not a cloud in the sky. By mile 5 I heard someone say it had risen to 83. Jessica was such a nice friend to come along for the painful ride. This was my first hot long run. I can do 80s for 3-4 miles, but 12.4 was different.

If you can believe it, this picture was taken at mile 11.

A few things learned:

1. Bring your own water to hot runs. Always. It's not a good feeling when your hands tingle and you notice they are not sweating anymore. I can't drink a lot at once when I run (who can?) so I didn't get enough fluids from the stations.
   
2. Bring a change of clothes for after. Cause, well, it's still hot outside when you're done and you are soaked with nasty sweat. Hard to enjoy the free massages while you are slimy.
3. Bring a towel too. Even with the change of clothes. You still need one badly. So. Much. Sweat.
   
4. Always bring a friend. :)

Jess and I post-race having some Eatzi's.

Despite the heat, it was tons of fun. The course around White Rock Lake and surrounding neighborhoods was beautiful as well. If I do it again though, I'll definitely wait and check the weather before signing up!

Back to School 2010

Pre-K has begun...and not soon enough in my girl's mind. Several of Addie's friends and cousins started Kindergarten this year, so she was very concerned about when she was going to school. She'll do Tuesday and Thursday again this year at the same place as last year. We live right next door to her Pre-K teacher and I'm already so impressed with her.

After the first day of school, I asked Addie if she would just stay home with me instead of going to school. She smiled and hugged me and explained that she had work to do. I promised I could teach her numbers and letters just as well as Mrs. Beth, but she still insisted. She was very sympathetic with me, patting me on the shoulder as she explained. Oh, I do love her.

On the other hand, this little man may never get to go to preschool.

He's so happy just quietly playing with his cars wherever I am. He snuggles me just about any time and loves to read books. Serena gave him a 12 inch Curious George stuffed animal for his birthday. We had a little 6 inch one already, so lately he's been reenacting the book Hug by Jez Alborough with the "Mommy" and the "Bobo" Curious Georges. Complete with crying and eye rubbing. The year is off to a great start and it is nice to have a little rhythm in our week again. Now if we could just get a tall order of fall weather...

Taking a Moment

I just cleaned out Addie's backpack from a trip to a friend's house yesterday. I had told her to quickly pick a few things she wanted to play with. Here's what she packed:

Plastic pink string of beads
Beauty and the Beast yellow high heels
Hot pink gypsy shawl
High School Musical pom poms

Sounds like a party to me. Oh the things that make me smile!

More Cousins!

Mike and Shaela came to visit us this week and we had so, so, so much fun! Addie and Jack had a great time with their cousins and the adults had some fun too. While Shaela and I were getting a mani-pedi, this super cute picture showed up on our phones. Mike and Anthony took the kids to Home Depot to make school bus pencil boxes. Oh the cuteness. We annoyed everyone at the salon with our pictures. Jack and Porter crack me up in this picture.

We went to the Dallas World Aquarium one afternoon, followed by dinner at Spaghetti Warehouse in the West End. Our group was too big for dinner in the train caboose so we ate in a big brass canopy bed with a mirror in the ceiling. The kids loved it!
Porter with a turtle. This kid is so stinking cute I just love him!
My pictures from the aquarium weren't great but I got a few to document we were there.

Porter, Katelyn, Jack, Adeline, and Matthew. We also rented a boat and a wave runner for an afternoon. Fun for the kids, fun for the parents.
I even got to chill and soak up a few rays. Each adult took a turn on the wave runner. We cruised around for a bit, then docked at The Harbor and went in to Gloria's for some yummy Tex-Mex/El Salvadorian food.

Jack went totally nuts over the wave runner. He had two turns. I thought he was going to jump off of the boat from excitement. The second ride had to be cut short because he kept pushing the "stop" button while Anthony was trying to accelerate. What can I say, he's a boy. Buttons are irresistible to little boys. Katie and Shaela riding the waves.

Cute boy, aaaagain.

Matthew tubing. He got the short end of the stick with the wave runner and had to ride with chicken Aunt Julie. I was too scared to let him drive, too scared to go too fast, etc. He was so sweet about it though. Good sport. He's five years older than Addie, but he still took the time to play with my kids.
We had a great time and feel like we took our own little mini-vacation! Tomorrow already sounds boring compared to the past few days. :)

Dallas Zoo

I neglected a post about our visit with Serena and Maggie the week before Addie's birthday party. We had a great time swimming, shopping, and trying to stay cool in our insane heat! One morning while they were here we went to the Dallas Zoo and had a great time.

No really, we did...I just loved this sad picture of Jack. Mean mommy. I'm actually the nice mom who would never put him up on the strange looking animal that moves up and down to creepy music, all the while you are surrounded by mirrors and lights. No, I sit on a bench with him like a good coddling, sheltering, over protective mother should. This was all Dad's doing. :)

Maggie and Addie loved the carousel.
The Dallas Zoo opened up a new Africa section this summer that was really pretty cool. The only thing I missed from the "old" side was the shade. Cooler weather would be much better for seeing the new section, but it is otherwise pretty neat.
Anthony took the day off and joined us. If it weren't for him, the kids probably wouldn't have seen this section cause Serena and I were getting pretty wimpy from the heat. What can I say...I'm just all about the Lemon Chill when I go to outdoor stuff in 100 degree weather! The new section has these really spacious non-cage cages for the animals so they look like they are in their natural habitat. You almost forget you are just a stone's throw from the Dallas ghetto. Almost.
Serena dropped five dollars on a head of lettuce for the kids to feed the giraffes. I think Anthony and Serena had a great time feeding the giraffes. The kids wouldn't touch him/her. Live and learn, right?
My favorite part of the zoo...when you think you can't stand the heat another minute you go to the Children's Zoo and the kids (and I) play in the water. Adults can at least stick feet in and with the Lemon Chill in hand it's very tolerable.
We had a great time. Nobody was even hospitalized for heat stroke or third degree burns on their skin. I'm looking forward to the zoo again in the FALL! :)

Fancy Adeline Soiree

Adeline turned FOUR today! Yesterday we celebrated with a much anticipated Fancy Nancy birthday party. She has been so excited about this party for weeks. The party has been talked about endlessly, dreamed about, explained to any unsuspecting adult who would listen, and even prayed about. The expression on her face in this picture tells me it was worth all the work though! Addie has only had family birthday parties until now because we seem to always move a week or two before her birthday and she hasn't had any friends to party with. This year was the big year.

Here she is, ready to greet her guests.
She greeted each girl with a pink feather boa of her own. Then the girls went straight to decorating their tiaras.
After tiaras were done, we did makeovers with pink lip gloss, pink eyeshadow, and glitter powder. I think the girls were gone five minutes before Anthony was frantically vacuuming the new couch to rid it of glitter. We may be seeing glitter for a while!
The makeup was a HIT!
I loved this picture of the girls gathering around and the pleased look on Catrina's face as she looked in the mirror.
After makeovers, we went to the accessorizing station. We had stick on earrings (which I hadn't seen since elementary school!), bracelets, and very cheap pendants that the girls all loved. I look like I'm having way too much fun. :)
After everyone was full-on fancy, we gathered in the living room to read Fancy Nancy. Addie's cousin Maggie was super fancy.
Here's birthday girl during "story time."
Then the girls sat down for their fancy lunch: butterfly and flower shaped sandwiches with frilly toothpicks, purple chips, carrots, dip, and purple applesauce. Fancy Nancy loves purple.

One thing the girls flipped over was the plastic goblets. They all loved them and shockingly the pink Crystal Light didn't go everywhere.
Singing to the birthday girl.

I got this idea off of the internet...such a hit and so easy. The girls loved them and I thought they looked pretty on the table.
At last she opened presents, which I wasn't sure about with a crowd.
She was as gracious as I could expect her to be though and I think they all enjoyed it.
Since Jack just had a birthday 6 weeks ago, he didn't understand why he couldn't open any...that was a bit of a problem.
I loved this picture of them admiring Barbie. Jack has been playing with Barbie off and on all day today. My brother played with my Barbies from time to time though and they turned out pretty normal so I figure it's okay. :)In the end, I think we had a very Happy Birthday!
I love my Adeline to pieces!