Christmas Collages

Well, 2009 brought the Berry Family another great year of Christmas fun and blessings! Below are some collages of our three Christmases. The top one is from the Berry Christmas with Chuck's family. We did a Christmas Eve brunch and then opened our presents from Grandma Cindy and Grandpa Jack. We finished up by opening up stockings. We had exchanged names and did stockings full of goodies for one another. This was new this year, but really, really fun and I think we will definitely do it again next year! Some highlights for the kids were: Brock - Wii Sports Resort (for he and Kenzie), TONS of football/baseball cards, Axe body spray, cash and a Wal Mart gift card. Kenzie - Wii Sports Resort, Make Your Own Book kit, Zebra robe and pillow, cash, and socks. They got more than that, but those were some of the highlights.

The middle collage is from my mom and dad's Christmas. We went there for supper on Christmas Eve and we had so much fun! We had made a deal with my parents that we would not exchange gifts this year, but would just enjoy watching the kids open their gifts. I have to tell you that I didn't miss the gifts at all...it was just so much fun being with my parents and seeing the kids get to open their surprises. Some highlights from this Christmas were: Brock - Power Wing Scooter, remote control helicopter, iTunes card and LOTs of clothes! Kenzie - Scooter, Madame Alexander doll, bracelet, Miley Cyrus CD and LOTS of clothes!!! these children were certainly lucky this year!

The final collage is from our Christmas at home. We have some special traditions at our house and this year was no exception. We started our celebration on Christmas Eve night when we made hot chocolate with marshmallows and watched Polar Express. The kids also opened their traditional Christmas Eve gift (new jammies) and put out milk and cookies for Santa. Finally, before bedtime, we read The Night Before Christmas before tucking the kids into bed. At 7:00 Christmas morning we got up to open presents. My parents always join us for this and it has become a tradition to have juice, coffee and breakfast casserole after opening gifts...I love this so much! The pictures of such excited faces show it all! The kids loved their gifts and were very appreciative of them as well. Some highlights were: Brock - DSI, hand-held movie camera, Wimpy Kid book, basketball shoes and clothes. Kenzie - DS, pink camera, toe socks, "beauty box" with girly "stuff", and clothes. I want to post more about Christmas, but this is a great summary of our very blessed Christmas. We had so much to be thankful and to celebrate and we were grateful for every moment spent together! Hope you all had a Merry Christmas as well!

Christmas Program

Kenzie has been going to church on Wednesdays with her friend Kimber. They asked her if she wanted to be in the Christmas program and she happily agreed! It was fun to watch her do this with such a good friend! Thanks Sandy and Kimber for asking Kenzie to do this...she really enjoyed it!

Here Comes Santa Claus!

Last weekend we had Steve and Dee over for supper. At one point during the evening the doorbell rang, and to everyone's surprise, Santa appeared! What an awesome surprise for the kids! Santa had gifts for every one of the Berrys and we were so thankful! Even though I am not in the pictures, Santa didn't forget me...I got an awesome Vanilla Cherry Cheesecake candle and it has burning every day since...LOVE it! We sure are some lucky people! Love you, Santa...thanks for remembering us this year...we think you are pretty special!

Gingerbread Fun

Kenzie had her friend Paige over to spend the night and they made this cute gingerbread house! They spent maybe 20 minutes total on this project, but they had a blast! This is something we haven't done before, but will definitely do again! It was great fun to watch them plan and giggle and munch on the candies as they created their gingerbread house! Love it!!! :0)

Happy Birthday Lex!

This pretty little cowgirl has a birthday today! This is another of our "adopted" children and she belongs to our best buddies, Steve and Dee! This little gal is smart, spunky, and super cute! Every time we see her, no matter where we are, I hear an excited squeal followed by, "Michelle!!!!!!!!!" She is always so excited to see me and give me a hug, and that melts my heart. We love this little darlin' and we hope she has an awesome birthday! We are looking forward to giving her our own birthday surprise tomorrow!! :0)

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Christmas Decorating

We recently did our annual tree decorating. I always have these ideas of wonderful family bonding when we do this. I made everyone hot chocolate, we put on music and we were ready to begin the bonding. Ummmm.....yeah. That lasted about five minutes and then real life invaded. Someone stepped on an ornament, the kids were arguing over who got to put what ornaments on and Chuck and I could NOT get the ribbon to look the way we wanted around the tree. Well, you gotta love real life! I wouldn't have it any other way! By the end of the whole ordeal, we were all laughing and singing and we really did have those memorable moments of family bonding that I was envisioning, but just not quite the way I was expecting. Here are some shots of our decorating day. Every year we all get ornaments from my mom and dad. They always buy them on their trip to Pigeon Forge and we all look forward to them. The kids are really going to have quite a collection when they leave the house! Anyway, the kids put up all the decorations and Chuck and I just sit back and point out the bare spots...I think they did a fantastic job. Enjoy! :0)

Brock's Christmas Ornament from Grandma and Grandpa Shobe 2009

Chuck's Ornament 2009

The final product...they really did a great job!!!

Happy Birthday, Mom!

I want to wish my mom a very Happy Birthday!!! I love my mom so much and she is really such an awesome role model for me. I think my mom is a beautiful person, both inside and out. She loves her grandchildren like you couldn't even imagine and she loves Chuck like he is her own son. I don't think everyone could say that about their husband's relationship with his mother in law! I love spending time with my mom, whether it be shopping, a family night out for dinner, going to church together, or hanging out at home. We can always find something to talk about and laugh over no matter what is going on and I can tell my mom anything and I know that she will support me and give the best advice possible. So, on this special day, I want to honor my mom and wish her the best day ever. Love you, Mom!!! (Oh, and I definitely need to take Mom out for a photo shoot because I did not have any pics of her alone that she would have allowed me to post on the blog!)

Thanksgiving ABC's

Well, my friend Chantal tagged me to do a Thanksgiving ABC. She talked about being thankful here, and I totally agree with her...with all of the sad things I have seen lately, I need to remind myself of the many, many things in my life that I should be thankful for! So....here goes....

A - Apple pie....gotta love it! My Grandma Brewer made the best though...sure wish I could have a piece of that pie!
B - Brock Berry, of course! What a great kid!
C -Chuck Berry, of course! Love that guy! ;0)
D - Days of summer...love spending them with kids and friends!
E - Every day that I get to live...I hope I never take it for granted!
F - Friends...how could I live without mine? I could survive, but my life wouldn't be nearly as full or happy without them!
G - Grandparents....who in the world loves you unconditionally like grandparents do? There is no love that is quite the same as that of a grandparent!
H - Hart's....our family is better because they are part of our lives! Love you, Harties!! ;0)
I - Ice cream for sure!!! My favorite is Maggie Moo's Better Batter!
J - Judy....she is SO special to all of us! And JJ...we love her! And Jen Wilson....we could really go on and on with the J's! :0)
K - Kids...I love the one's I get to work with....it is my honor to teach them every day!
L - Lifehouse! Love our new church and the way it has strengthened our relationship with our Lord!
M - McKenzie Kathryn, of course! That girl makes me smile every day!
N - Nikon! Love mine...and couldn't live without it!!!
O - Ohio State Buckeyes!!!!!! We LOVE our Buckeyes!
P - Parents... mine are the absolute best you could ever ask for!!!!
Q - Quiet time....love when I can wrap up in a blanket on Saturday mornings and watch Food Network and sip on my coffee! It doesn't happen often, but I sure do enjoy it when it does!
R - Radio...it makes me so happy to sing to the radio in the car (doesn't sound good, but brings me joy!).
S - Shopping!!!! Nothing better than a girl's day with my daughter or my mom shopping!
T - Tina...praying for her miracle and thankful to be part of her life!
U - Unconditional love...I am lucky to get this from so many people!
V - Van Wert Cougars! Love our Friday night football games and looking forward to some basketball games this year!
W - Watermelon Jolly Ranchers! Love 'em!
X - X-tra special ladies who volunteer in my classroom!
Y - You! If you are reading this...you are special to us!
Z - Zillions of other things and people that I am thankful for and didn't get on my list!!!

Whew! That took a while! Okay...I'll tag Amy and Carole! Good luck girls! :0)

Halloween 2009

This year for Halloween, we went digging in my mom and dad's attic. By now, you probably know how creative my dad is, and Halloween is his specialty. When I was younger, he always made my costumes and they were always fantastic and creative. Now, Halloween isn't really Brock's favorite holiday because he isn't crazy about scary stuff, but McKenzie....she is a whole different story! She went crazy going through my dad's box of costumes and she was really excited when she saw the headless bride costume. When she tried it on and it fit...she was all about wearing it. This costume was one my dad made for me when I was about her age and he had saved it all these years. Many of our friends and family have worn it too! Now Brock, he did NOT like the costume and didn't want much to do with it, but he did find a mask that he liked and he settled on that. This is the first Halloween that Kenzie went with a scary costume, but she liked it. We took them to the Fall Fright Festival at the fairgrounds, which we had never done before and they had lots of fun there. They both entered the contest and Kenzie was thrilled when she won first place in her category! She even got ten dollars! Later, we went trick or treating in Willshire with their cousins, which is a tradition for us and we were thankful for the dry skies. It was a fun Halloween and we were glad that both of the kids were healthy enough to enjoy it!

Marshmallow Mummies - YUMMY!!

I think we started making these cute little treats when Brock was in kindergarten, and the kids just absolutely love them! I think they are too stinkin' cute...and super easy to make! Kenzie is invited to her very first Halloween party at her friend's house, and she just had to make some marshmallow mummies for the occasion. So last night we all sat at the bar (minus Brock, since he was sick and germy) and made these mummies. They were sitting on the bar this morning waiting to go to Kimber's house and I couldn't resist taking their picture! Boy, I will take pictures of anything!

S.S. Goedde

Brock recently got to complete a really neat project for his enrichment class. In a unit they did they had to create a boat out of only cardboard and duct tape. Of course, he collaborated with my dad, since that is totally my dad's thing. They had a blast together, creating a "prototype" and doing practice runs in their pool and doing the final project. Brock gained a good deal of knowledge from this project, but I think the best thing he gained was quality time spent with Grandpa. I love that my dad is always willing to take time to help the kids with these types of projects...he loves it and they do too. So, of course, when they got to try out their creations, my dad was there to cheer Brock on. I gave Chuck photography duty for the day and I thought he did a great job. I couldn't believe it when I came home and he said, "I took 73 pictures!" Man, give that guy a camera and he goes wild! Must run in the family. :0)

Fall Fun!

With all of the responsibility that children have these days, I always get excited when I catch my kids being....KIDS!!! Sunday evening Kenzie came bursting through the door and told us we HAD to come outside! When got out there, she and Brock were raking leaves and jumping in them. I haven't heard them laugh so hard together in ages...it really made me smile. They took turns covering one another in leaves and they had fun just throwing them in the air! It was just pure joy for me to watch. Enjoy the pics of their special evening together!!! :0)

Happy Birthday, Chuck!

Just wanted to wish my hubby a Happy 35th Birthday! I love you so much!! You are not only an awesome husband, but a great dad too! You are truly one of the most giving and selfless people I know. You put your family above yourself on a regular basis and you go out of your way to do little things to make our lives happier and easier. You are my best friend and I know, without a doubt, that I can always count on you, no matter what I need. You deserve the best day ever! I hope you enjoy it and I can't wait for our "date night" on Saturday. Love you!!!!

Mom and Daughter Fun!

Kenzie has been asking and asking to do a Mom and Daughter day, but we have been so busy that we haven't been able to fit one in. She has also wanted to get our fall decorations out and decorate cookies together, but I have been too busy for that. Detect a theme here? I realized today that she is growing up so fast, and before I know it she won't want to do these things with me and I will regret not making time for her. There is nothing in this world that is more important to me than my kids, but sometimes I get so caught up in the hustle and bustle of everyday life that I forget what my most important priorities are. Well, today was not going to be another one of those days! I had to go to a training this morning and we got out early, so when I got home, I headed out to Wal Mart to get what we needed to make some cookies. When she came in off the bus, the cookies were in the oven and the frosting was mixed and ready to decorate. The excited little squeal that she let out when she walked in was exactly the reason that we needed to do this! It melted my heart to see how thrilled she was just to have the chance to do this with me. I worry sometimes about how I can give my kids everything they need, but I found out today that all they really need from me is my time and attention. I'm going to try to do a better job of giving it to them. I even let Kenzie use my camera to take a picture of me (that is a big deal, if you know me at all!). Enjoy pictures of our fun Mother / Daughter evening! :0)