Christmas #3 - Bergen Christmas

We celebrated Christmas with Justin's family the day after Christmas.

Annual Bergen Family Picture
(It was so cold!!)

Warming up by the fire

"Presents? AGAIN?! YAY!!"

Puzzles!

Playing with Uncle Ryan while Mommy and Daddy make coffee

It just isn't Christmas without amazing coffee!

John and Braxton playing with their matching balls.

"The little trash man" John made sure the living room floor stayed nice and tidy.

"We have no idea who finished all the peppernuts!" ;-)

Congratulations!!!

Last week my best friend in the whole world became the future Mrs. Jonathan Folger! :-)

I am so happy for you, SheriLynne!! You've walked beside me during some of the hardest times of my life. It's hard to tell in this picture, but in the background, behind the gorgeous ocean and beach, are houses in the depressed areas of Mazatlan, Mexico. In some ways this picture reminds me of our friendship. We go through the hard times, we go through the happy times. There have been times I've wanted to kill you. There have been times you've wanted to kill me (probably many ;-)). Through thick and thin, you're my best friend and somehow, no matter what we walk through...we always come out smiling! :-)

You were such a blessing in my wedding!! I am honored and thrilled to be included in your special day!

Congratulations, SheriLynne and Jonathan! I can't wait for August 6, 2010!

Special Day for Braxton

Last Saturday, Braxton had a very special opportunity to meet his great great Grandpa (Sexton). We know this is something not many people get to do, so we were sure to take lots of pictures.

Grandpa Sexton loved meeting his first great-great grandson. I've never seen him so excited! We were all surprised at how alert Grandpa was and how well he interacted and communicated with everyone. What a blessing!

5 generations

We decided to get another shot of Braxton with 3 of his grandpas from the Bergen side.

After our visit, Braxton went to play at Justin's family's while Justin and I enjoyed dinner out. John wanted Braxton to try on his silly glasses. I think they make Braxton look like Simon from the Chipmunks.

In case there was ever any doubt...

...Braxton has my eyes. :-) Gotta love those "bright baby blue eyes" genes from the Paine side!

Raspberry kisses! Poor Braxton. lol!
These were taken the day after Thanksgiving as we relished one of the last warm days of the year.

Braxton's 6 month pictures!

Here are the promised pictures from Braxton's 6-month photo shoot! I have been so impressed with Stephanie at JCPenneys Portrait (out west). She gets the job done fast (i think we were in and out in less than 30 minutes) and does an incredible job! Of course...she has an adorable, very cooperative little model to work with. :-)

This is quite possibly my favorite pose of all time!

We got one 8x10 of this pose

This is the pose we got the package

Big boy! He did so good sitting up!

Bathtime pictures!

So much fun! I can't wait for the 9-month pictures!

Busy week!

My goodness this has been a crazy busy week!

Here's just a little bit of what we've done in the last week:
-Relax (ha! that doesn't really count...but I like to think it does :-))
-Decorate the house for Christmas
-Host a shower for a mommy-to-be
-Take my Premier jewelry to a craft fair (epic fail)
-Host a Premier jewelry party for my good friend, Kayla (epic win!)
-Justin has been working and working and working on a project for LSI
-We went on a fantastic date to Warren Old Town and saw the Blind Side. It was incredible!!
-Working on our Christmas family letter which may turn out to be either an Easter or possibly even Independence Day family letter. Don't hold your breath waiting for it!
-Help my family decorate the house for Christmas (its my job to do the banister. Every year it about makes me lose it....but once again, it looks beautiful!)
-Right hip went out. Yay for messed up sciatic nerves!
-Went to chiropractor for above mentioned sciatic nerve.
-Took Braxton to get his 6-month pictures done. Adorable!!

Pictures forthcoming! :-) Now its off to do laundry and clean my messy house!

Nursing Mama + Caffeine = Hyper baby!

I can't watch this video without laughing. Two weeks ago I went to coffee with some of my favorite CYT ladies, Erin and Kate. I was going to just settle contently with my gingerbread latte, but then they brought around their tray of holiday coffee samples. I couldn't resist, so I savored the Carmel Brulee Mocha followed closely by my personal favorite the Peppermint Mocha. Yummy yum yum! Yes. That totals to 1 latte and 2 mochas. I was wired for a good hour. And this video is evidence of what Braxton was like 8 hours later. :-)

The madness known as "Black Friday"

I saw something interesting on facebook the day after thanksgiving. Someone's status read, "why is it, that just hours after sitting around the table contemplating our thankfulness for the things God has given us, we find ourselves standing in line ready to fight the crowds for those items we 'can't live without.'" (my personal insert: if you're up at 3:00 am and willing to risk being trampled by the other manic shoppers, you obviously can't live without it!). Interesting observation...we partook in the insanity anyway.

My original plan was to sit out this Black Friday. I figured Braxton was a good excuse, right? It was a good plan...but I got sucked into the madness.

It all began when we started looking at the sales flyers. $9 boots?! $2 movies?! $7 collage frames? Come on! Who can resist that?
Then we started making lists...and checking them twice. This is where I really started to get sucked in.

and our ever frugal Justin compared price to see which ones were the best. Oh goodness...I could already feel the adrenaline rush. Could I resist the temptation?

Obviously not because here I am at 4:30am all bundled up with my baby ready to embrace the shopping frenzy all in the name of cute $10 boots. Which were only $4 because my sis-in-law gave me a gift card. Braxton was wide awake at 3:30am anyway so I figured "why not?" and piled in with my family. Justin went out separately with his family because he wanted to be at the mall at 3:30. I wasn't quite brave enough to do the mall with a baby, but I did do Burlington Coat Factory, Walmart and Target.

All bundled up in his baby bjorn and ready to go. Braxton loved being around all the people!! And I think they all loved him.

So much fun! Every year I say it's my last black friday, but who knows?! I'll probably be the lady toting her 4 kids around in a couple of years; but if it's all in the name of cute $4 boots who can say "no?" (and yes...i did get my boots and they are incredible! :-))

I didn't get a good picture of our spoils of war so I shall list them off (and btw, these are just the things we got for ourselves. If you think we're listing all the Christmas gifts we got you are kidding yourself!)
-$4 boots!!!! (did I mention these already? I can't remember...)
-Awesome collage frame
-GPS (fantastic!)
-Shop vacuum for the garage.
-Christmas tree (we finally caved and bought a fake one)
-Justin got almost all his Christmas shopping done! Woot! All I have to do now is wrap them and all he has to do is act surprised!

Overall it was a success and we were both happy with our excursion! Best of all we didn't run into any rude people. After all...who can be rude to a lady holding the cutest baby in the whole world?

In Everything Give Thanks

This year I am thankful for:

Cute pictures. :-)...

Aunts that Braxton likes... (sorry Lisa...hard truth)

Blond hair Bergen babies...
(This is Braxton and Colby, Craig and Esther's youngest)

Sweet smiles and chubby cheeks...

Little cousins who are growing up too quickly...
(this is Abby, Craig and Esther's youngest daughter)

Cool Uncles for my cool baby...

Lots of fun firsts...
(this is Braxton's first thanksgiving meal: a real sweet potato!)

My incredible family...

My sweet friend, Rachel, who I have spent the last 17 Thanksgivings with...

My precious baby...

That Braxton has a cousin that is only 3 weeks older than him...

Babies that prefer fingers to pacifiers...

Babies that are constantly entertained by...

The crazy Aunt...And I guess I can be thankful for my sister who is finally as into theater as I am (told you it was fun)...

Two boys that I love dearly...
(And after about 5 minutes of holding them both, I was very thankful I don't have twins!)

Nieces that I can be crazy with

These are just a few of the many things I have been thankful for. I am so in love with life. It's not always easy, it's not always pretty...but it's life. And I couldn't be happier.

Thank you, Lord for moments, good and hard; the people, those that bless and those that try; and for the provisions, abundant and those that have made us trust You more. You never fail and you certainly know how to give Your children good and perfect gifts.