Thanksgiving #2

Around 5:30 we crossed town to Mark's mom's house where we had another delicous dinner and great company.

Here's Turkey #2

And the sweet potatoe pie and my spinach salad (I sure got off easy this year with the cooking!)

And my niece Jessica, who is going to have a baby, like, any minute, with her husband Saeng.

John carving the turkey

And my littlest nephew, Charles, who after finding out Jessica had a baby in her stomach, walked around the kitchen poking his little tummy out as far as it could go, saying he had a baby too.

And Mark's sister, Karen with her kids.

Unfortunately, after a couple of cranberry martinis, I forgot to take any more pictures, so I have none of Liz, Nana, or Amanda. Bad photographer!

Thanksgiving #1 (The afternoon addition)

We had 2 dinners to go to this year. We started off at my sister's house around 1:30

The turkey:

Here's my mommy stirring the gravy.

One of the many shots of Alivia on too much Mountain Dew.

Madi eating her blackberry pie. (There were 4 delicious pies!)

Mason and my dad... looking thrilled as always!

Dave holding the yummy turkey he just carved.


Cheryl trying to help Kyla get a piece of lemon meringue. Kyla had never had meringue before. She said it "tasted like outside".

And Alyssa making a funny face at Kyla. She's still adorable, though!

And Mark and I...

Hope you all had a great Thanksgiving!

Holidays in Hand

In order to help me better prepare for my December Daily, I signed up for a free class at jessicasprague.com called "Holidays in Hand". I was surprised to see that the content ended today, but I am actually kind of relieved because when I am back at work next week I need to be careful not to overdo it! So, in this class, Jessica has prompts for the 1-31 of December for this year's celebration and to remember things from holidays past. These prompts came all spruced up by her awesome digital scrapbooking self. Our first job was to make some kind of a "holder" to display the prompts in our homes where we would see them every day. I completed mine yesterday. It is sitting on top of my microwave in the kitchen. I can't wait until December 1, so I can get to work!

Happy Monday

What a happy Monday...
I took my dog for 2 walks.
I had a doctor's appointment that was not too horrible.
I watched "Ellen".
I worked on my classroom memory books.
I did dishes and laundry.
I made a super easy dinner (chicken quesadillas, rice and beans).
I watched 2 hours of sitcoms on CBS.
I worked on my "Holidays in Hand" stuff.
I talked to my mommy on the phone.
I did not yell at my daughter.

And the sun shined down on all of it.

December Daily

Long ago in 2005, I made a scrapbook documenting the season of Advent.

This year, I have decided to take on a December Daily. I copied this idea from the famous and talented Ms. Ali Edwards. I actually even copied much of the backgrounds of my pages from looking at her blog. Today I finished the background... and it's coming out pretty cool. Thanks Ali!
Here are pictures of the cover and a peek at the pages. I hope to post more later... maybe when the pages are complete.

Oh! I am also taking a terrific class over at Jessica Sprague's website... Details from that coming soon.

Braces

Tomorrow the boy gets his braces off! It's been 4 years since we've seen his pearly whites without metal on top of them.... I can't wait!

Hang the Man

Each of my classes has a "personality" of its own, but this year my class us LOADED with personality. Now that they are more settled in, we are having a blast! One thing I do at the end of the day (if we are ready early) is play Hang Man. The first time I played it with this class, someone shouted out "We're playing Hang the Man. I know this game." And the name has stuck. One of my sweet students now likes to play 'Hang the Man' at home with her family, and she wrote this.
It says:
Mrs. Bergenske teaches us to write.
I love it.

Where the Wild Things Are (the movie)

Today Kyla and I went and saw the movie Where the Wild Things Are. It was pretty good and TOTALLY weird. I liked the actor who played Max. I also liked that James Gandolfini was cast as the main "wild thing". I am not sure how to explain the weird part. I guess since I hang out from 8-2ish with a pack of wild things, I just found the movie was trying to be a little too deep. Too insightful from an adult perspective, maybe. I don't see many kids really liking it. Have you seen it? What did you think?

Cracked

OK, I'll admit it. I cracked. I was feeling tired trying to play "just one more" game of Bejeweled Blitz.... and I ate a fun size bag of m&m's. I can't... just can't go back on sugar now. I am already up 4 punds from not exercising. I need to get off this blasted computer and go for a walk!

Goals for each day...

On this day I will not get irritated at drivers who stop when they have the right of way or drive 5 mph under the speed limit in the left lane.

On this day I will not use any sarcasm when talking to my students or my children. I will try not to use it on my husband either.

On this day I will breathe deeply and slow down and appreciate the beauty that God has surrounded me with.

On this day I will not eat any sweets, and I will savor my apple as if it were chocolate cake.

On this day I will take special care with my appearance. I will dress modestly. I will smile at people and greet them.

On this day I will listen carefully to what people say to me without thinking about what I am going to say next.

On this day I will kiss my husband and hug my kids and cuddle my puppy and stroke his soft, warm self, and feel grateful.

On this day I will not be filled with fear or anxiety for the future. I will pray and wait for guidance. I will trust that God's plan for me is more wonderful than what I could ever dream of for myself.

On this day I will make dinner with the appreciation that I am able to supply my family with 3 nutritious meals every day.

On this day I will remember that I am loved, I have been created in love. I am precious.

Halloween

Since this was our first Halloween in Lundbar Hills, I was a little nervous about not having enough candy. I had come up here trick or treating with my sister a couple of times, and had witnessed the hordes of children roaming the streets. Then, when we moved in, the previous owner warned us that we needed $100 of candy on hand to supply aforementioned hordes. I just couldn't find it in myself to spend that much money on candy, so I was seriously worried I was going to run out before the night was up. I had 3 huge bags of Hershey candy from Costco and about 6 other bags of random stuff like suckers, gummies, Lemonheads, and some cheaper Palmer chocolates. Our first trick or treater arrived at 4:30. Our last trick or treater rang at 9:45. In between it was sometimes a steady trickle of groups, sometimes up to 10 kids at a time, sometimes the doorbell rang every 30 seconds, sometimes only a loner every 10 minutes or so. Luckily, our supply held up. I don't know if this year would qualify as a "normal" year since it was semi-rainy and lots of kids have been or are sick from the flu/colds. All in all, it was a pretty fun night.