10 Year High School Reunion

We just had another great weekend.  Saturday we started out the day by going to Lowe's in Grand Forks to their Build & Grow Clinic.  The kids go to build Monster Trucks!  They're pretty neat.

After Lowe's, we dropped off a bunch of stuff at a thrift store.  It sure feels good to have all that stuff out of my house!  It's nice to be able to give away the clothes that are too small for the kids and/or the excess of clothes and other household stuff that we don't need.  We stopped and got a few essentials from Walmart and then headed to Binford.  We went thru Thompson, so we were able to see the path where the tornado went West of town.  It's crazy how just the path had mangled trees and flattened buildings, but not even 1/4 mile away, things were just fine.

Saturday afternoon was my class's 10 year high school reunion.  There were a total of 25 of us that graduated and a few others that didn't.  I just realized I had been counting 13 of us that were there, but it was actually 15.  Not too bad of a turn-out for the 10 year!  We met up at the park in Binford, the kids played, we grilled some burgers and hot dogs, and visited.  It was fun to see everyone and kind of funny to see some of the guys as dads.

After the reunion, we headed to my mom's in Jamestown.  We enjoyed visiting for a little while before heading to bed.  Sunday morning we went to church and then celebrated the girls' birthdays with my mom & step-dad, my uncle, and my Grandpa.  It's hard to believe that they are going to be 7 & 5 years old already!

Sunday afternoon, we went to Kathryn.  My Grandma has been battling cancer for the last couple years and just finished up a round of radiation treatment.  Her church in town hosted a benefit for her.  I enjoyed seeing my dad's side of the family.  The last time I seen most of them was for Grandma's 80th birthday which was about 5 years ago.  Hailey was only about 15 months old at the time, so they were able to meet Lexi and Jacob for the first time.

When we were heading home from Kathryn, we were able to watch a rainbow for most of the trip to Fargo.  As we got closer to Fargo, it got brighter and brighter.  There was even a faint 2nd rainbow, too!  Once we got to the North side of town, it pretty much disappered.  This was the only picture we got on my camera and it was just before it disappered.  You can just barely see it right about in the middle of the picture.

When we got home, we were greeted by 5 little 1-inch long frogs by our front step.  They were pretty cute!  Hailey caught one this afternoon while playing outside.

Isn't he cute?!

Here's a few more pictures of some of mom's flowers and my red geraniums.  :)

Mini-Vaca #2

This past weekend, our family headed to Omaha.  We enjoyed getting to see some good friends and visiting a little.  The kids did so well in the van on the way there and back...it's so nice that they travel well!  I think we actually make record time for us by getting to Omaha in 8 hours!  It was so funny listening to the kids be in awe of all the lights of the city.  It was like they were seeing it for the first time even though we lived there for 4 1/2 years.  One of the funniest moments was when we were heading to "our" church Sunday morning.  As we waited at the light after exiting off Dodge, the kids seen the church on the left.  Hailey said she remembered that's what the church looked like, Lexi said she didn't remember it, and Jacob goes, "I remember it!"  Aaron & I had a good laugh about that one being he was 10 months old when we moved back to ND.  :)
It was so good to be back at Trinity that morning!  We still feel like that's our church even though we love and feel totally at home in our church here in Mayville.  It was fun to see all the changes they've been making in the nursery and other Sunday School rooms--new paint, murals on the walls, electronic check-in stations, new registration desk.  The most exciting part was seeing our friend Kurt & Emily leading worship for the elementary school kids!  They looked right at home leading and I'm so happy they have found a spot to serve.  Lexi was quite excited after class to tell me that she knew and sang along with one of the songs.  It was one that we had learned in Sunday School.  "I Am Free"
The main reason for us heading to Omaha was to help Kent & Colleen celebrate their 25th Wedding Anniversary and Vow Renewal.  We consider Kent & Colleen our parents as they were a huge help to us when we lived there.  They loved on us just like we were their kids and our children their grandchildren...how awesome is that?!  K & C have been participating in Rendevous for many years now and they decided to have their vow renewal Rendevous style.  It was really neat seeing the whole set up of everyone that was there.  We had perfect weather for being outside most of the day.

The Wedding Party

The girls with Leenie and the dresses she made for them.

Jacob wearing Papa's hat.

The kids with Leenie & Papa and their pop-guns!

The kids with Tiffany & Leenie.  The kids loved helping Tiffany and playing with her.  Jacob helped wash dishes and all the kids helped find sticks for her to build a fire.

The weekend was great, but was too short!  We would have loved to have seen more of our friends, but just couldn't fit it all in.  Next time, we'll need to make it a longer stay.

After getting home, my plan was to get my house back in order after being neglected for the last few weeks.  This summer has been crazy and the weekdays end up being used to get ready for the next trip that weekend.  My plans for cleaning got side-tracked by Lexi having a high fever and Jacob having a super runny nose and fever.  Thankfully, Lexi's only lasted 1 day and Jacob was much better the next day.  I think the reason being is they decided to share their symptoms with me.  I came down with Jacob's leaky nose and Lexi's fever!  Today is going well so far and I actually feel like I have some energy to do some of the chores around the house.  I'm looking at this cold as God's way of saying that we needed to slow down a little and rest.  It'll be good to get rested up and healthy again so we can be ready to go for the next 3 weeks.  After that, I think things will slow down as we don't have any big travel plans.

God's Provision in Unusual Ways

This last week was kind of crazy.  We had planned a mini-vacation to Rapid City to visit some friends and family.  I took the week leading up to it to get things ready...namely laundry!  We were set to leave Thursday late afternoon once Hailey was done with school and drive part of the way and stay with Justin & Annette.  Earlier that morning, the school had a Cookies for Caregivers event for parents, grandparents, and other caregivers.  I had found a parking spot right by the grocery store and closer to the school, but didn't feel like taking a bunch of time to try to parallel park, so I went a little further and found a much easier place to park.  During this event, we were able to participate in Team Time (basically announcements and a fun exercise), reading time, have cookies, and help our child(ren) pick out their new book they get monthly thru the Reading Is Fundamental (RIF) program at school.  After leaving, I walked to my van and found a completely flat tire on the rear passenger side!  This is where we see God's provision.  Had I parked in the spot closer to the school, I wouldn't have seen the flat tire because I would have approached the van from the driver's side, whereas the other spot I approached from the passenger side.  Thankfully, I was able to get a little air in the tire and drive the 5 blocks to get it fixed so we could still leave that afternoon for SD!  It ended up being a cut in the middle of the tire.

My completely flat tire!

Hailey eating her cookie and reading me a story.

We have a new addition!

So it's been over a month since I last posted...where did the time go?  Is it really May?  :)  We are currently in "end of the school year" mode at out house.  I can tell Hailey is ready for school to be done, especially now with our new lttle addition!  He's currently laying on my lap sleeping.  This is Turbo, our new puppy!  We are all loving having him in our family and he seems to be loving being with us, too.

We are also getting geared up for our crazy summer.  We have many trips to take and also to get Lexi ready for Kindergarten.  Not sure what Jacob and I will do with Lexi & Hailey both in school, but I'm sure we'll adjust and enjoy ourselves.  Lexi's really excited about going to school and keeps thinking that she'll be starting tomorrow.  Kind of hard to explain that she won't be starting until this Fall, so I usually just tell her it'll be when Hailey's in 2nd grade.  Then comes the, "Are you in 2nd grade yet, Hailey?"  :)  This picture is Lexi after she got her school immunizations.  I told her if she did really well with them, she'd get a special treat.  She got 3 shots and didn't cry until the last one and it was mostly because of the medicine stinging (I think it was the polio vaccination).  I was so proud of her!

Jacob keeps us going, keeps us laughing and smiling.  He's truly a silly boy.  He likes to tell jokes, that only make sense to the kids which makes them funny for us, too.  This week, Aaron and I have been working on painting his room.  Jacob got to help a little bit with the primer, the blue Aaron and I have been doing when the kids are sleeping.  It takes a lot longer to do a room when you have 3 kids and a puppy wanting your attention! :)  I'll post some pictures of the completed project after we get everything back up and Jacob's stuff back in the room.

Here's a few more pictures from the last couple weeks!  First one is of the kids from when we did the Lowe's build & grow workshop.  They build planter boxes which were super cute!

The tulips are blooming!

Hailey during her school's spring program.

Lexi & Hailey at the Park

Jacob coming thru the tunnel on the playground.

Where has the time gone?

Yesterday, while everyone else was celebrating April Fool's Day, we were celebrating a different day for our family...Jacob's 3rd Birthday!  I cannot believe he's 3 years old already...where did the time go?  He has been such a blessing for our family and it's going to be a lot of fun seeing the kind of man he'll grow to be.  Thought I'd share a couple pictures of him from when he was born and then from yesterday when we went out for dinner.  Happy Birthday, Little Man!

In the NICU - 3 days old

Hailey seeing him for the first time!

Ready to take him home after 3 weeks in the NICU!

Jacob - 3 years old!

I've been a slacker on publishing my 365 photos.  To "catch up" on them, here's the link:  http://365project.org/angieberg/365

Great Weekend and Blessings from God

This past weekend, our little family visited Grandma and Grandpa and the rest of the Froehlich's.  We had a great weekend!  Friday was spent traveling and we had an "exciting" event on the way there, but I'll expand on that in a minute.  Saturday we went into town for a kids' petting zoo, pony rides, and a horse parade!  The girls enjoyed riding the ponies and Jacob enjoyed watching them. After that, we went to the petting zoo.  The kids enjoyed petting the animals.  I think the best part of that was watching Jacob try to catch and pet the ducks, geese, and chickens!  After the parade, Aaron and the girls stopped in at Gene and Vickie's place.  Hailey was able to see some more animals at their place: llamas, horses, goats, sheep, puppies, and 35 bunnies!  Lexi was a little scared of the big Newfoundland, Cash, that licked her face when they first got there, so she stayed in the house.  Jacob had fallen asleep in the van, so he and I went back to Gma & Gpa's so he could get a good nap before the whole family came over for dinner.  We all ate very well and had a good visit.  I'm so glad we were able to see everyone!  We ended the night with a pretty crazy game of Hand & Foot.

We headed for home Sunday morning, but had a planned stop at IKEA in the Cities.  That is such a fun store!  Definitely cannot plan on making a real quick stop there, unless you know exactly what you want and where it is...and if you don't look at anything else!  This was only the 2nd time I've been there and it was Aaron and kids' first time.  The kids loved the children's rooms and toys area.  We originally went in only planning on getting a new toddler high chair for Jacob and ended up walking out with that and some new toys/activities for the kids.  My friend Jekka and her daughter Aria met us there for lunch.  It was so nice to see her again and meet sweet little Aria.  She is a doll!

So, back to Friday.  The title for this post is exactly what the whole weekend was.  Our van has been a total blessing from God ever since we got it a couple years ago.  There have been some problems with it, but what vehicle doesn't?!  The latest thing has been a pesky little battery light that has come on the last couple road trips.  It had come on when we went to my parents' place in January, but had the alternator and battery tested and they were fine.  The battery light hadn't come on since then...until Friday night.  We were just North of the Cities when it came on again.  The last time it came on, we had shut the van off and let it sit for a bit and the light went off and everything was fine again.  So, we did that.  It worked and we continued on our way.  We got to the South side of the Cities (Lakeville) and the light came on again.  It was time to stop and let the kids out for a minute before continuing on our way.  Came back out to the van and the light was off and everything was fine.  We were just a couple miles North of Faribault when the light came on again.  I didn't feel like stopping again, so we just continued driving.  We were only about 30 minutes from Gpa & Gma's so I thought we'd be able to make it.  A couple miles outside of Faribault, the van  didn't sound quite right, the radio was cutting in and out, and the clock was flickering.  I started to pull off to the side of the road so I could shut the van off and let it sit for little bit.  Just before doing that, it rev-ed up for a second, which scared me.  We pulled off, shut it off and then when I tried to start it up again, it just clicked, but wouldn't start.  Oh, no.  Tried again.  Still nothing.  Tried a few more times while Aaron called Gpa.  They started to get ready to come get us.  I decided to try one more time.  It first just clicked and then started up again!  Praise God!!  Now, let's see if we can get there.  We were able to get to Gpa & Gma's just in time.  As we were pulling into the garage, it did the little rev up thing again.  Thankfully, we were able to get the van in to Gene's mechanic and found out we needed a new alternator.  Here's where God's blessings come in to play again.  Blessing #1: We were able to get a used alternator for $30 (new is around $200)!  Blessing #2:  The mechanic was able to work on it Saturday afternoon and get it done!  Blessing #3:  He only charged us $76 for labor, so total cost to fix our van was $106!!!!  We were able to get our van fixed for A LOT less there than it would have been back at home.  Praise God for getting us to our destination and orchestrating the whole repair!

Here's some pictures from Saturday!

Here's a few of Jacob trying to pet the ducks, goose, and chickens:

Crazy Couple Weeks

Wow.  These last couple weeks have been kind of crazy!  I've already written about my abscessed tooth.  Well, that pain-in-the-tooth (sorry, couldn't resist) bugged me for about a week.  On the 15th, I had an appointment with the oral surgeon to get 7 molars out.  Two of those were my bottom wisdom teeth.  Thankfully, the top wisdom teeth haven't formed and shouldn't. Yay!  The first few days were rough.  I slept off and on for the first few days.  The kids enjoyed their multiple sleep-overs at Grandpa & Grandma Berg's during this time.  In fact, I think they got a little too used to it, because Jacob kept asking to go back for a sleep-over the first couple nights they were to be back home.  He just didn't quite understand that I was feeling better now and that they'd be staying home instead of going back to Grandma's after dinner.  We've all adjusted better now.  The goal now, is for my mouth to heal 100% and then we'll finish up the dental work in the near future.


I've just started a "Household Helps" chart with the kids!  The kids are really liking it, well, mostly Hailey, but Lexi and Jacob have been doing well with it, too.  One of the things I put on it was "get dressed" in the daily helps section.  I came to a realization yesterday with that help, it also means that I have to get dressed everyday!  That's going to be a stretch for me, because I like to just stay in my pjs most days.  This will be a good way to get used to getting going every morning and being more productive throughout the day.  Another help that's going to keep me in check is "homework".  We've done well remembering to have Hailey do her reading or any other school work she has to bring home, but it's working on the alphabet and numbers with Lexi and Jacob that I've been slacking.  Yesterday was the start of working on the alphabet with Lexi and some other kind of work/craft with Jacob.  I'm still working on when to work that in to our day, but for now, we'll just do it when we have the concentration for it.  Yesterday and today look like it's going to be after naps, but ideally, I'd like to try to get it done in the mornings.  We'll try that tomorrow.


I'll update my 365 Project photos at a later time.  I'm participating in a challenge where our photo of the day corresponds with the letter of the alphabet that we're on.  It started yesterday with "A," today was "B," and so forth.  I think it'll be fun and challenging at the same time.  I'm going to try to not just have a picture of something that starts with the letter, but hope to find the actually letter created by nature, signs, buildings, etc.  It'll make me keep my eyes open to seeing beyond the surface sometimes, which isn't a bad thing to do at all times, either...