St. Patrick's Day

Well, I guess I had better post pictures from the last holiday before the next one happens. :) We are leaving this morning to drive to Arizona.  It's a long drive, so we won't be there until tonight, but at least it's only 1 day and the kids are good travelers. We will be in Arizona until Tuesday morning, then we are heading back here to Utah. Probably no posts after this one until we get back... Here was our St. Patrick's Day. Green pancakes and scrambled eggs made by Paul, YUM. Green juice drinks for the boys (kiwi, green apple, broccoli, blue green algae, and more green things).

Then later we opened the card for the kids from my dad. They loved it. And of course, decorated each other with shamrock stickers.

That night I made one of my dad's recipes for corned beef, cabbage, rutabaga, carrot, onion, potato and parsnip stew. It turned out well, although my original idea to use the crock pot didn't work.   Everyone ate it and liked it.

bodies

The boys were playing with the pieces to Connect 4 after they were bored of playing the real game. Matix made "a tiny Matix" and Hawken so of course Hawken followed suit and said "and also ME!"  Matix was very detailed and made sure to make all his boy parts... the only parts, mind you, that are 3-dimensional.  Thankfully you can't see too much from the picture. :)

Hawken added some features I never would have thought of either... a back (the middle line in the torso) and a penis (the red piece off to the left)... Cute?

the horse

Paul went to see the horse with the kids and I one day.  They were so excited to call the horse over to the fence, which worked only with kissing noises.

What a sweet horse. She is so calm.  And of course, we brought some carrots.

Lullaby only pointed and talked about the horse. Kina was so funny, she was whimpering and whining and trying to get into the corral.

popcorn

One evening after baths, Grandpa Berg made some Mother Goose popcorn. He colored it green, Hawken's favorite. He could hardly wait to try it.

He was so excited, he even wanted to show me what it looked like in his mouth, lovely.

Thanks Grandpa for the yummy treats!

the park

We had our first glimpse of nice weather and Great Grandma Berg took us to the park.  There were three different playing areas and the kids all had so much fun running around and sliding and racing their cars and swinging and just being outside again. They like playing out in the snow, but only for so long. I guess it's a good thing we are moving to another warm location. I just love the look of the mountains in the background. They make every park so picturesque.

Grandma helped Lulli on the slides. She did this about 50 times, each time announcing "MORE" very matter-of-factly at the bottom.

The boys raced their cars and themselves down every slide.

They had a NEOS game, like they had at some of the parks in Georgia. This one was a little more kid friendly and they had fun running around hitting all the lights and dancing to the music.

There was a large sand area too which is where we ended. They played there for a while before Hawken said he was getting cols and tired and was ready to go home. He isn't used to all the cool fresh air. Poor thing.

Also, Lullaby got a check-up from her own private doctor, Paul. He took off her splint and manipulated her leg and ankle and foot in different ways and tried several different things and thought we should see what she did if she stood up.  After carrying her around all day, and being thoroughly worn out, I thought it was a great idea. Well, she stood up, didn't cry and walked (although stiffly) to some toys. We are going to keep the splint off and just monitor her very closely. No running, jumping, wrestling her brothers or the dog, but no splint either. What a wonderful blessing after a tiring day. Her leg isn't broken, yay!

broken leg?

Lullaby may be the second of the Bergie babies to have broken her leg. She fell off a kitchen stool today and then was limping and crying. I took her to the ER and Grandma Berg watched the boys (and Mason).  Poor Grandpa Berg sat in the waiting room for all 3 hours (thanks Grandpa!) while Lullaby got her x-rays done and all the waiting and waiting and waiting. The x-rays were clear, but the doctor was concerned about her limping, so he made her a splint to wear for 5 days, then we will be going back to get more x-rays to see if there is some calcification, which would indicate that there was a small hairline fracture, that they just couldn't see this time.  Great. Also, the doctor doesn't want her walking around at all in the splint. That's why I don't even have a picture yet. She was on my hip literally ALL day.  I feel less guilty and frustrated about this than I did when Hawken broke his leg. Probably because when he broke his leg I was yelling at him to go to time out. This time it wasn't my fault in the least. Other than the fact that I let her sit on the stool, which I now know, she is obviously not ready for yet.  Poor thing. She had a hard time falling asleep at nap and bedtime but I'm sure having a splint keeping your leg straight isn't very comfortable. Paul was working, so he missed all the fun. Grandma missed her meeting because we didn't get out of there quickly at all, thanks Grandma - and sorry!  The doctor said we could take off the splint for bath time and that's when we can test to see how she is doing each day. If she stops crying and the limp is getting better, then it's probably just a sprain or bone bruise. That's what Paul think it is. In which case, in 5 days, we don't have to go back. Our plans are still to go to Arizona for the Ryan's wedding on Easter, and to visit with Paul's parents and sister for a couple days... Hopefully Lulli will be egg hunting minus a cast!

perfect toy

Legos are the new "it" toy and all three kiddies are obsessed. Lullaby likes to put hats or hair on each of the Lego guys. She has particular ones that are her favorites and she stays with this activity almost as long as the boys do... Impressive.

Hawken loves his picture taken in any situation and poses with the weirdest faces imaginable. Here he was using the Lego guy as an excuse to get his picture taken.

Matix loves to create ships and boats and other vehicles. He adds missiles and roll bars and all kinds of things important for protecting the other Lego guys... Everything he builds is always symmetrical too.  Very creative play, and I love it.

bear hunting

The imagination the boys have is wild. They are always coming up with new ideas and I love watching them.  Hawken scripts everything and will tell everyone what to say/do. Matix is good at following him, as long as he came up with the initial idea.

Matix found some of Paul's snowboarding goggles, and was trying them on. Hawken tried some on too and said he was bear hunting.

Then they marched around the playroom looking for bears, screaming, and giggling.  Finally they found their bear, and locked her in jail, poor Kina.

broken paci

Lulli's paci "broke", just like the boys' pacifiers did (watch the boys here)... She reacted very similarly to how they did, although after throwing hers away, she dug it out of the trash a few times, just to check. She took a nap holding them the first couple days, even though they didn't work.

After about a week, she was fine and I threw them away for good.  It's nice to see that beautiful smile more now.  Lulli isn't quite back to the amazing sleeper that she was with the pacifiers, and it takes her a lot longer to fall asleep, but she does it and I am proud of her. Sweet thing.  Watch her reaction.

visitors!

Our Arizona friends, the Lopes family, came up to visit. It was SO good to see them and catch up a bit. Their daughter Vivi is just a few months older than Lullaby and it was so fun to watch our kids all play together. Lullaby even warmed up to Melissa and snuggled with her a bit.

The Lopes' are good people and we miss them like crazy again... Houston could be a fun place for us all to move to... Just an idea. :)