Random Picture Post

This kid is starting school next year and I am SO sad about that!

getting big...looks so different with no hair :)

love it

hilarious

Happy Valentine's Day

Please for the love of good, do not buy any more dolls or animals of any kind, for any reason for my children! PLEASE! This is absurd! And every single one of those dolls have names! EVERY.SINGLE.ONE.

Sweet Cranberry Orange Chicken

Sweet Cranberry Orange Chicken

I must say that I have to give my brother credit for coming up with the idea...

That being said...You have to try this fantastic, easy, one pan dish!

It's ingredients:
boneless skinless chicken breasts thawed
orange juice
cranberry juice and/or craisins
optional: minute rice

Place chicken in skillet and pour orange juice and cranberry juice over chicken.  Cook on medium/high heat until juices begin to carmelize, then add more juice, so not to burn.  Continue cooking chicken until cooked through adding small amounts of juice so there is always liquid in the pan.  If you want to make this with rice, add quite a bit of juice (enough to cover rice) and rice and cover with lid till rice is tender and chicken is done. 

easy, yummy, sweeet!!!

Monkey Bread

I made a yummy dinner tonight and then after the kids went to bed I made my mom's famous Monkey Bread. My-my-my it is ridiculously good! Life doesn't get better than monkey bread.....seriously.

3 cans Flaky Hungry Jack Biscuits
1/2 cup chopped nuts (pecans are best)
1 stick margarine
1cup brown sugar

1Tablespoon Cinnamon
1/2 cup sugar

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Spray BUNDT pan with Pam, spread nuts evenly in bottom of pan.  Mix sugar with cinnamon in small bowl (I use a baggie, easier).  Cut biscuits in quarters and roll in cinnamon mixture. Layer in pan over nuts. Melt margarine in microwave from one minute stir in brown sugar. Pour over biscuits. Bake for 35-45 minutes until golden brown. Invert on heat proof plate. Serves 6 (unless you're me, then it serves 1) :)

Jackson and Nonna's Snowman

My mom and dad came up this past weekend because she just couldn't handle the peer pressure from Jackson. We got a heavy snow and he wanted to make a snowman WITH NONNA.  I swear the kid would not make one unless it was with her. I don't know where he even got the idea, we've never made one with her before (that I remember anyway). But after he begged for 2 days for her to come up in the ice, she did.  I must say it was absolutely hilarious listening to him talk to her on the phone.  He was saying: "it's just snow, not ice, it's not ice till the snow melts, Nonnna" "you can make it, just try" "just try, you can, I know it" "there is no snow in our driveway" (Jeff shoveled it all off that's why).  It was priceless. I guess he really really wanted his Nonna...and what Jackson wants, Jackson gets :)

Can you see Creighton's snowball in mid air?

She threw that one and then ran because Nonna was throwing one right back at her :)

They had fun and Jackson got his snowman...and we used the coloring squirt bottles again and this time with purpose.  It was a great time for all!

The final product and 3 happy people :)

This is a pic I snagged of my mom and Charleigh. I have to give it to you Nonna...you look beautiful...I love you. Thank you for sacrificing and coming up in the freezing cold and ice.

Letter to Charleigh

Well sweet girl you are officially over a quarter of a year old! It's hard to believe! Time has not slowed down since you came into our family. You are such a delight, the perfect addition to our family. I tell everyone you are my "redemption baby" because you are SO good. Your personality is perfect. You are cuddly, giggly, smiley, and all together just relaxed.  That is until you are hungry...then you get those lungs working, but you are quieted as quickly as you cry.  It seems we always know what you need, or at least what calms you down. You have bonded so well to all of us, and since I am writing this letter, I'll say it, I feel we have the greatest bond :) But that is because I cannot put you down.  I LOVE holding and snuggling you...and I think you do too!  When I put you in the MOBY, you immediately crash.  I think it's because you are held tight, warm and get to hear my heartbeat.  Either way, we both love the MOBY. 

You are giggling and gurgling and cooing constantly and tonight for the first time you had an audible laugh! I LOVED it. It filled me with joy to hear your laughter.  I did everything to get you to do it again, and you did, but only once more.  I have a feeling we'll be hearing it more and more as the days pass.  You are quite smart and I am pretty sure if you could you'd be talking in phrases already.  I think you'll master your words first. I can't wait, just absolutely cannot wait, to hear the first "mama" come out of your sweet mouth, with that sweet voice.  If you can't tell I am just in love with you and adore you more than I ever thought I could.  Life has been fantastic these past three months and I am so glad that you are here to spend it with us!

You are working on rolling over from your stomach to your back...I bet it would help if you weren't on my chest all the time.  But I am sure you'll get there soon.  You've done it, but shhhh, don't tell anyone, I helped you a little :)  Your neck is getting stronger every day and so is your upper body strength! I think you'll be thrilled to pieces to be able to sit up. We've tried you in the Bumbo a few times and you just haven't mastered the neck strength to sit in there longer than about 1 minute.  But that's a start. :)

Your most favorite toy is this musical kaelidescope that your Grandma Debbie and Papa John got you for Christmas. You already know how to turn it on/off and you do all the time.  Your big brother and sister like to play with it with you too.  They change out the "cds" in it for you to have different music.  But beyond that and your bouncy seat which is appropriately dubbed the "pooper chair" for you, you really like it when people entertain you.  You love it when Jackson and Creighton are home and they certainly love you!  I have to constantly tell them to get out of your face, but it's only because they love you.  When no one is around I snuggle and nuzzle your face too :) (shhhh!)

You are sleeping through the night like a champ and have been for some time. This my child is a miracle.  I seriously didn't think it was possible because neither your sister nor your brother did it till after a year old! Whew, I think that is one reason I am able to enjoy your infancy more because I have some rest in me :)

Well, you are sleeping...you fall asleep almost every night in my arms and then I put you in your bassinet.  You are the cutest baby I've ever seen, and I don't mind it a bit that everyone tells me we look alike :) I am glad :)  God chose you to be with us, to be a Berg, and I think He knew exactly what He was doing, down to the very last detail!

Love you sweet baby,
Mommy

My (newest) Snow Angel

Our second snow storm of 2010. The kids were "helping" Jeff shovel the driveway.  Charlie hadn't been out in any snow yet, so she had her 2 minute (or less) debut!

Doesn't she look just as sweet as can be in her little snow jumper? (thanks Tyler)

And the last 5 seconds, I decided she should do the snow angel :) I don't think she cared one bit.

Probably just thought I was crazy for moving her around and letting little snowflakes fall on her sweet face.  We headed in very quickly :)

RUN...

This might seem strange outside my thoughts within my head, but I thought I'd give it a shot!

When I run my life it turns into RUIN ("I" in "run")

But when I let God run my life it turns to GROUND ("GOD" in "RUN")

I think of the "GROUND" as like being grounded in faith, in love, in security and protection, in HIM

With the "I" it is also stuck in the middle, stuck in the present and can't see past it. With "GOD" He is before it, in the middle of it, and in the end, and also in that order...just like HE is, the alpha and the omega, the beginning and the end, the same yesterday, today and tomorrow!

COOL, HUH?! :)

I am weird I know...but I had to share!

Open Adoption Movie on Lifetime

http://www.mylifetime.com/movies/mom-at-sixteen/video

I watched this movie about this girl named Jacey who had a baby named Charley (a boy). It was about how she eventually placed him for adoption with a sweet family who had infertility issues.  It was so cool because it highlighted open adoption. It was a great movie...very lifetime-ish, but good. 

Letter to Creighton

My dear Creighton
I love you so much it hurts. You remind me so much of what Nonna and Papaw told me I was like as a little girl.  You are wild and crazy and fearless.  You are everything.  Truly.  There is nothing you cannot do, be, become.  It's unreal the potential I see in you. You are a leader and have natural tendencies and characteristics within you so young.  I love what I see, but I am also scared to death for you.  You will change the world, I have no doubt. I just want (and pray) you will change it for the good :).  You just have this personality...the only way I can describe it is to look within myself.  You drive me crazy a lot of times for this reason...we are way too much alike and we butt heads constantly.  But the Lord made you beautiful and precious and cute as a button...and that works in your favor. 

You LOVE to dance and sing and lots of things girly.  Lately, since we brought baby sister home,  you have been an excellent little mommy to your babies. Your favorite dolls are Lucy, Emma, and Charleigh (the monkey). Of course you ADORE your little sister Charleigh too.  But when you aren't amusing her, feeding/holding her, you are with one or more of your babies.  You typically have one of your cute little (or big) purses with you and you carry the most random things at any given moment, but never are you with a bottle for your babies :).  You are tender and caring and loving to them and that is so exciting for me to see.  You can be such a tomboy and yet so naturally mothering all at the same time.

You are strong Creighton...both physically and mentally.  Your physical strength is impressive for how little you are.  Again, you remind me exactly of myself.  You are like a dynamite stick: small but with impressive power.  You love to rough house with all of us and truly you can hold your own.  But then, you play Princess, and Daddy protects you and you love it when he does that too! You know all your Daddy's buttons too and you have him wrapped so tightly around your little finger:)

You and your brother are becomming best friends and I love love love what I am watching there. It's awesome. I desired that for you from the second we knew you were coming.  You love each other immensely, even though you do fight a lot too.  I think it's because of your severe stubbornness ;)  Oh but he loves you.  Right now you want to marry him and you tell him this all the time.  He currently would like to marry Emma Kate Howze and this drives you bananas.  I just love it that you have a sweet friend, your brother :)

Mommy and Daddy are still trying to figure you out...and its hard, but we are trying.  You love having everything your way, right then, and nothing else will do. If we'd give in to you, you'd be happy, but we can't do that, because quite frankly my dear, we love you too much.  You will grow up to be a phenomenal woman I know this...it's the between times that scare me to death.  I feel I can say all this bluntly because, well, with you that is what it takes, and nobody knows better than I... 

Just so you know, no matter what you do, get yourself into (or out of), I will always love you, always be there for you, always hug you and kiss you and hold you tight.  You'll make it. Keep your head held high, and continually seek your Maker...He's your only road Rae.  Don't divert from Him.  I promise it's worth it.  And because I know you, you'll probably try to prove me wrong.  I'll see you on the other side...when you believe me and trust Him.

I adore you little girl. You drive me insane, but I love to hold you. I love brushing your hair. I love your funky sense of fashion (or lack there of...like me). I love that you are bold and strong. I love that you still need me to help you. I love that you love attention. I love that you love to sing and dance. I love that you desire and have a will. Ilove that you don't ever back down for any reason, although this  is also the reason at times I don't like you (even though I will always love you through them). 

Currently the things you love are: Hannah Montana, Troy and Gabriella (HSM), microphones, telephones, talking non-stop, babies, DOGS and CATS (gross), art, coloring, writing (which you call working), painting, and making big messes.  You would change clothes a hundred times a day if I'd let you and you knew how to get all your clothes on/off by yourself, but thankfully you haven't mastered that yet :) Oh yeah, and PINK!

I love you.
Mommy

Letter to Jackson

Jackson,
I love you buddy with all my heart. You steal away so many kisses and cuddles every day and I am pretty sure that is my favorite thing about you.  You have such a tender heart and you are genuinely sweet.  You are so awesome with both of your little sisters, but you are in love with Charleigh right now. Every single time you see her you kiss her and gently nuzzle your cheek to hers with your eyes shut. I love it. 

You are getting so much bigger and more mature at each moment it seems.  You can do just about everything yourself and you like to too.  It's nice, but there are lots of times I miss doing things for you.  You still like to be read to at night and we have our little singing routine right now.  You love schedules and organizing things and for everything to be in its place.  You have 3 stuffed animals that mean an awful lot to you at the moment. The funny thing is none of them are really that special, but to you they are.  It's awesome!  You have a brown monkey named Spice that you got from the dentist who is the smallest of the three. You take extra special care of him and put him between the other two each night as you tuck them in bed with you. Then there is Snowflake, which is a brown bear with a white shirt on. We got him as a free giveaway in a bag at an event that we went to as a family for a financial planning company.  Who knows why you attached yourself to him, but he's been with you the longest.  He is the biggest of them.  Then there is a blue sparkle bear named Sprinkle, even though his name used to be sparkle, you changed it accidently and it stuck. I can't remember exactly how you got him but he appeared from someone and you fell in love and he was quickly added to the pack.  You talk to these "guys" (as you call them) all the time and it's pretty funny.  You kiss them gently before bed as you tuck them in tightly next to you.  You are using your blankies from your infanthood to cover them and pad them underneath. You are so good to them...it delights my heart all the more because I know one day you will make a terrific daddy, just like the one you have!

You are doing incredible in your pre-preschool class this year. You've matured leaps and bounds as far as that is concerned.  You are very smart and have the memory of a genius. We're still working on mastering counting after 15 and we are working on getting all of your letters down, but you are doing so well with most all of it.  Next year you will be in school everyday for Prek and I am sad about that. I love having you at home with me :)

Your most favorite thing in the whole world to do is to be in front of a tv either watching a movie or playing the wii with your daddy, just like your daddy! I don't care for you to have so much screen time, but you love it and you really don't get very much unless daddy is home. It's your special time. It's funny and crazy how good you are at it already so young! Your daddy LOVES playing video games and it's very apparent you are JUST like him in more ways than anyone knew.

You are a pretty good eater, and of course, you love your sweets, especially ice cream! You really like hamburgers and french fries. You love spaghetti and lasagna too!  I love cooking for you because you usually say really sweet things like I am the best mom in the world or I am a great cook or something like that to make my day.  You still love fruit, but not too many vegetables, although you've been known to have seconds on chicken pot pie and such sometimes..so you are getting them in you occasionally. 

I love some of the words you are saying wrong...and it's just too cute to correct right now :
glubs : gloves
atend : pretend
aminals : animals
atendo : nintendo
biddeos : videos
 
There are so many cute phrases and other words too, but I just can't think of them all right now.

Anyway, I love you with all my heart and you are the world's greatest little boy. You delight my heart!
I love you,
Mommy

Room Assignments :)

One of the things I asked for the kids' Christmas was letters to go on their walls.  I love them!  Jeff's sister Jennifer is who I have to give credit to for their designs.

The girls' names are so long it was a little nuts figuring out how I'd put them both on one wall but I think it turned out nicely!  I was happy with them and was proud of myself for figuring out how to hang them with precision (wax paper and a sharpie :)) because each letter has 2 nails in it!

Christmas at The Berg's and The Little's

We had our extended family over to my mom's for Christmas this year (we celebrated early) and it was very fun. Our tradition is to have shrimp gumbo for our Christmas celebration dinner...and I LOVE IT! It's so fun and festive with green, white and red being the major colors :)

all the kids got to open presents and then everyone left except for immediate family

Charleigh slept through this Christmas completely if I remember correctly, but either way, I opened up all her presents (fun for me!!!) She was given several CUTE pairs of Robeez

Jackson was hilarious this Christmas. He was so excited about EVERYTHING.  Comments like "this is what I always wanted" and "awww you're the best, thanks!" and more even when he opened clothes and shoes...and in this picture 2 pieces of candy....such a sweet loving boy he is!

that smile says it all. the boy is his father's son and LOVES to play the Wii. I only let him play when Dad is home...keeps it special and then I don't have to deal with trying to figure it all out...:)

Creighton was way fun this year too. She liked passing out presents!

This was Jeff and I's present from my parents and Jeff's mom and stepdad.  He LOVES it. We never did get a picture of him with it...but that might be because he is always watching it :)

Nonna was very excited to see all the smiles :) Thanks Mom and Dad!

My brother and his wife were there and they had there two kittens Mr. Fox and Rooster.  The kids LOVE playing with them. I hate cats so my mom got Creighton a fake cat...honestly I don't even like that one...it scares me! It like moves and stuff...weird and creepy...but she likes it :)

We had Christmas at Jeff's dads on the 23rd and it was very fun. Debbie took our awesome pics and then we didn't get very many other ones from opening time! But I think it was my job and I slacked this year...sorry.  But we were very blessed here as well.

Jeff and Jackson got lots of Cowboy stuff, like a limited edition football, the old stadium seats, a oldschool helmet, and some clothing.

I purchased these for the kids. Jackson likes his, Creighton's is a kitty cat and she doesn't really like to keep it on more than about 3 seconds, but that is true of just about anything in her world.

Creighton got lots of PJs for Christmas...in her true fashion she had them all on at different times throughout the opening of everything...

Charleigh slept through this Christmas too! She was very blessed with fun fun toys and clothes! :)  I love my new TOMS (all black) that I got, plus some new perfume and fun gift cards...and of course a NEW CAMERA for the family :) YAY! We love it!

2010 Snowman

The snowman with a mo-hawk!

cute lil snow angel

completed mr. man and the kids (and dad too)

cutest lil man on the block (or in the world...)

Cheap and Easy Fun

If you are anything like me, you are craving activities for your little ones to do at home.  This is breaking records in mass quantities as they are playing outside (without me) without fighting and having fun...it's been 30 minutes almost :) LOVING IT!

I purchased 97 cent squirt bottles filled with water and food coloring :) Snow has never looked so....um...pretty? :)

Charleigh 10 weeks

Sweet Charleigh Tatum is 10 1/2 weeks old and we went for her well-baby visit today.  Doctor said she is perfect! She weighed 10 pounds 12 ounces and was 23 inches long.  She is coo-ing, grasping for things, following things with her eyes, social smiles all the time, raising her head up during tummy time, holding her head on her own for short amounts of time, and has me wrapped around her little finger! I love this kid more than I ever though it was possible.  She is the best baby in the whole world and my heart flutters every time I see her and even more every time she smiles at me.  It just doesn't get better than this!

Charleigh,

You've only been in our world for a short time, and yet, it seems like you've been here forever. You were destined to be with us, to be loved by us, and to love us in return.  We adore you. All of us, in our own way.  The way you light up when you see us, especially when you wake up in the morning, is priceless.  You are already sleeping through the night and that my dear precious girl, is a miracle for this momma in so many ways.  You love to snuggle up on my chest and you absolutely LOVE your Moby Wrap and you sleep like an angel baby in it a lot! I can't get enough of you. I miss you terribly when I am away from you for even short amounts of time.  This was the best Christmas ever, as we were informed you were ours forever just two days before we celebrate Jesus' birth.  It seemed as though God wanted to provide another miracle though the birth of a child this season. We couldn't be happier and any more blessed than to have you as a part of our family: our Christmas Miracle.  I think more than ever, I know a similar feeling to what might have been going through Mary's head when she stared at her sweet baby.  You are getting bigger and are more aware of the things around you every day.  You are still the most laid back and loving little thing there ever was.  I love you more than a thousand trips to the moon and back! You delight my heart....Love, Your Forever Mommy

Wild Crazy Man

Jackson had his first ever 'program' of any kind this year with this pre-school class for Christmas.  It was very short and very entertaining!

This is his little class--7 of them :) His best little friend is Colton in the red plaid.  Of course I think he's pretty fond of Olivia too (in black).

He can go from this sweet smile....

...to this crazy man in half a millisecond! This picture truly scares me for his future :)

Right back to this loving little sweet thing....

Right back to his fun-loving self...it's crazy that those pictures were all taken in a matter of less than ONE MINUTE!

I love this kid.  He's wild and all boy, yet so gentle and loving all wrapped in one!

Christmas at the Clover's

Fun at Jeff's Mom's! This was Christmas morning! :)

This pic of Creighton was actually Christmas eve.  They each opened 2. Slippers and a toy.

Me and my boy

One of my favorite things! A new Nelle and Lizzy Ring with ALL THREE KIDS' NAMES (I love it!)

One of Jackson's favorite presents was his Buzz Lightyear costume (with the cool light up glasses)

Charleigh slept through Christmas but Pop loved holding her (and so did Grammy)

Jeff is absent from the pics because he was taking them~sorry.  But not to worry he was very excited about all the movies (TONS!) he got to watch on his new big screen tv (from my parents and his too) :)