Once again, it has been too long since my last post. Liesel had her last day of school today . It was an awards ceremony and now she is free for the summer!!! (post to follow on that later) So I have been just trying to get her through that. The last few weeks have been exciting.

Liesel went to a Father/Daughter dance we had at our church. Liesel wanted to go pick out a new dress so we went to get her one and the one requirement she had was that it had to "twirl!!!" Every dress she tried on in that dressing room, she tested the "Twirl Factor!!!" One awesome memory that I enjoyed that night was how excited Liesel was to dress up for her Daddy. She wanted to surprise him and not let him see her until it was time to go. I absolutely love my Daddy and know how important a father/daughter relationship is to a little girl. In the book Captivating by John and Stasi Elderedge, it explains how little girls want to know they are lovely. They want their father's attention and love. Watching Liesel prepare, in a sense, to see her prince for the dance touched my heart that night. She waited downstairs for him to come down and told me to tell her when he was there as she was hiding in the guest room. She walked out as soon as he came down stairs and there was a twinkle in her eye. "Daddy, am I lovely????" She did not really say that, but I could see it in her eyes. I was very blessed to have a Daddy who made me feel lovely and now I get to sit on the other end and watch my husband show that special kind of love to his daughter. He told her she was beautiful. She twirled for him and I held back tears as I took many pictures.

Liesel, or should I call her "Miss Priss" enjoys posing for the camera as you can see!

 Jensen is about to turn 8 months old on June 4th. Wow, I cannot believe how fast he is growing up. Knowing that he is most likely my last (wink....) I have been trying to savor these baby moments that go by so fast in the first year because you are so overwhelmed. Even though I have made a concentrated effort to enjoy every moment, it still seems to be moving so fast. He is sitting up really well by himself and he is rolling everywhere. He does not like to be on his tummy, so there has been no attempt to crawl. I wonder if he will be like some babies and never crawl and use some other form of getting around before walking. When he is laying on his back, I look away and he has pushed himself with his feet halfway across the room. Guess I cannot leave him alone anymore!!! A month ago, I was changing out the clothes in his closet to the right season and size. I decided to put him somewhere where he could not get away from me. Looks like I may have to use this method more often. LOL!

Now for Caedmon.....Welcome Back to the "Funny Things Caedmon Berry Says" Show!!! One morning I was putting away clothes in Jensen's room and Caedmon came in to keep me company. As usual, he made up a game we could play right there. He kept asking me these questions and they did not make any sense. If I answered a question incorrectly, he told me that "That was UNcorrect!!!" Even after I told him it was supposed to be "incorrect", he did not change the way he said it. After the end of this game, he was quick to remind me that I got 4 wrong and only 1 right!!!! He also told me that I got "no bonus points" I did not even know I was trying to win bonus points! LOL!! Well, at least one of us was having fun :), At the awards ceremony at school, Craig had given Caedmon his phone to play angry birds on, which by the way he is obsessed with! Half way through the awards the battery on Craig's phone was almost out and Caedmon leaned over me to ask Craig this: "Daddy, did you bring the cord for your phone? It needs to be charged." I think Caedmon thinks that cord will "magically" re-charge the phone whether or not there is an outlet near by. LOL!
Liesel is now officially done with school so I am sure I will have posts more often to come of the fun we will be TRYING to have this summer!!! Please pray for me.....survival with all three kids at one time all summer!!! OH MY!!!

Kids are funny!

It has been too long since I have found the time to sit down and blog. Over the past few weeks, my 34th birthday happened on April 16th and we celebrated Easter. Those are two very exciting things but it also brought with it sadness. 3 years ago on April 16th (my birthday) a student at Virginia Tech University went on a shooting rampage and many students lost their lives that day. Then this year on April 16th, many tornadoes touched down in North Carolina and there was massive destruction all around us. It makes me start to wonder what is up with my birthday? LOL
We were very blessed to have no damage or tornado at our house in Fuquay Varina but we had two tornadoes right around us.....one in Holly Springs and one in downtown Raleigh only 15 minutes away on either side of us. I have to admit that I was not taking any of it seriously. We had plans that day to go have lunch at my favorite restaurant Carrabas. My parents were at the house and we were going to leave at 3:30 as soon as Jensen got up from his nap. My parents kept telling me that there were tornado warnings around and maybe we should reconsider going out. Tornadoes in North Carolina? Right!!!! I have lived in North Carolina since the 2nd grade and the only serious weather I remember was hurricanes. I am imagining a thunderstorm and maybe some small funnel clouds floating through the sky, never touching down. Jensen was up on the second floor in his room taking a nap. I do not even want to think what could of happened had I left them in there and a tornado came through. Mother of the Year Award!!! As soon as our power went out, I realized maybe I should wise up and stop making MY BIRTHDAY the most important thing to me at that time. You see, birthdays are a big deal to me and after 9 years of marriage, Craig has begun to realize that. I do not expect other people to make a big deal, but I expect it from my family. Anyways, back to that day. We did lose power for a few hours and had a thunderstorm but that was it. We would have driven right through Holly Springs to go to Carrabas in Apex. The Lord protected us from being on the road that day. I am grateful for His divine protection. One of my good friends who I see every day because our daughters have taken dance together for three years lives in Holly Springs. She told me how bad her neighborhood was hit and it all just has sunk in how blessed we are. My prayers continue to go out for people in NC and now even more devastation in Alabama and Mississippi because of tornadoes there.

So the title of this post was "kids are funny." I have been keeping a piece of paper going around near my computer and when I think of it, I write down funny things Caedmon says. I wish I had more of what Liesel says but she is at school for most of the day. I hope to keep track of her comments better once she gets out for summer break. Caedmon is so funny and I want to remember these comments for years to come.
1. One day he asked me for a snack and he said "bring something healthy!"  AHHH music to my ears!!! He does listen :)
2. We were playing a monkey game where you had to put a tree together so the monkeys can hang on branches. He said he did not know how to put the tree together because "I can only do it on Saturdays, not Sundays" It was a Monday...LOL!
3. One day he was running between our couches in the Living Room which he loves to do. I tell him to stop often and he does but before you know it he has so much energy, he is doing it again. This time I told him to stop and he said to me "but mom, I am just having so much fun!" Well then in that case....keep running....LOL I did not say that :)
4. One morning I was feeding Jensen while Caedmon was playing Wii Fit Plus. He kept coming to me asking me what his phone number was. Now, you must understand that I was on the second floor and he was on the first floor. I asked him why he needed his phone number and he told me that Wii was asking for it so I started to give it to him. He stopped me and said "one number at a time". So I gave him the first # and he came back up. I then told him the next 2 numbers and told him he could remember two. After four trips up and down he said "it won't let me enter in any more numbers." Now I know I must sound like a strange mom for allowing my son to walk up and down the steps so many times without helping him but ...you know!!!! Once I got down stairs he was not entering his phone number but his waist size and how many steps he took that day. LOL!!! Well the waist size was off but his steps a day may have been a 7 digit number...LOL!
5. We live in a neighborhood right behind Applebees, Kohls, Chick-fil-a and Dunkin Donuts/Baskin Robbins. So needless to say I can get in trouble. Applebees however is at the bottom of my chain list so we have only eaten there as a family maybe 3 times in a year. One afternoon we were sitting at the light next to Applebees and Liesel and Caedmon were asking me why we do not go there much anymore. Liesel said we had not been there in over a year (slight exageration she gets from her momma) and Caedmon said that "We have not been there ALL DAY!!!!!" I love how kids are when it comes to time!
I look forward to many more Caedmon and Liesel sayings :)

Here is the Easter picture of the kids this year:

What is it about Mondays?

I know that it is not Monday.....but this week I thought a lot about why I do not like Mondays. Every Sunday night, I get this feeling of dread come over me. That is because I do not like Mondays!! The weekend is such a fun time for me. The phrase: "I live to get to the weekend" is too familiar to me. I love the freedom you have when the weekend comes. I get excited about the adventures we may experience. I love family time and when it is the weekend my husband is home and we are a team again. He is there to help me with my kids.....which I really need :)

The funny thing about all this is deep down I am really not a spontaneous, adventurous person. I love to be busy and doing new things but I also am an extreme planner. That is why Craig and I compliment each other so well, yet also butt heads too often. He does not plan and is more than willing to get up and go at a moment's notice. I love that about him and maybe that is why I love the weekend so much. I have to admit it though, it is very hard for me when we go do something that I did not plan ahead of time. The reason I like to plan so much is because I want to make sure we enjoy every possible minute of our life. As Craig always says, it is very hard for me to just relax. After having children, I am willing to sit and rest much more than I ever have in my whole life. I enjoy that quiet that is so hard to find! Yet, I still want to feel as if I am accomplishing something. I think to myself as I sit and relax: "What could I be doing right now?"

When we go on vacation, the first day we are there, I want to spend as much time as it takes talking about all we want to do and when we are going to do it. I would dislike having to leave a vacation with a list of things I wanted to do and see incomplete. Craig and I have yet to go on a cruise and we hope to take one soon. Everytime we talk about it, I list all the awesome things we can do and he wants to do them to. However, he tells me how he wants to just sit and relax on a chair by the pool as well. Maybe I will just have to find another person like me who will play with me while Craig is napping by the pool. LOL!!!!

This Monday was a good one. I made plans with a good friend to take our kids to the park. Both of our middle children are boys and close in age. They play really well together. We have older daughters in school and we both have babies. So, to say the least, we have a lot in common :) When we got to the park at 9ish, the playground was a little damp from rain over the weekend. I brought an old towel with me to dry the slides but Caedmon got ahead of me because I guess.....like mother, like son....he could not wait!! Next time I saw him, his whole backside of his pants was WET!!! The funny thing, he did not even complain about it. He played the rest of the time wet and had a blast. By the time we got to the car, he was ready to get out of his wet pants. Since I knew we were going straight home, I let him take off his pants and ride home in the car in a t-shirt and underwear. This Monday was so fun and nothing to dread. It was so funny to me as we drove away that my son was riding in the car without pants. I just had a great time with a great friend.  The thing I learned this week is that it is possible to make a Monday feel like a Friday, Saturday or Sunday. It is all about your attitude.
Good thing I did not get pulled by a cop. How would I explain the boy in the backseat with no pants? LOL!!!

Do you ever have times as a parent where you wish there was a built-in video camera to capture your memories? I do!!! One morning I was sitting at the computer holding my sweet Jensen and I could not stop singing Ariel's song from The Little Mermaid "Part of that world" Liesel has the Disney princess soundtrack and she listens to all the songs from the movies in our car a lot. So, no wonder the song was etched in my brain. All of a sudden, I noticed Jensen was observing me intently. He started to sing along if that makes sense. He was making noises and trying to engage with me. Once I noticed it, I became more exaggerated in my singing and of course it made him laugh. I did not know all the words and probably looked very silly, but it is a memory I will remember forever. That was a moment in my life where I wish I had somehow had a built-in camera that recorded one of those sweet moments of parenting.

Lesson Well Learned!

This week started out with Craig and I scrambling around to get a science project done for Liesel. Both Craig and I are notorious for procrastinating. When you have kids though, it really is not fair to punish them for your bad habits you created over your whole life. Liesel had been reminding us that her project was due ever since the assignment came home in her folder. The assignment was "Trash To Treasure" and the task was to take any items that were considered trash and turn them into treasure. I guess you could have figured that out on your own from the title. LOL!!!!  It was due Wednesday and I got on google over the weekend and spent at least an hour looking at all these cool ideas to do and got so sidetracked loving all the creative ideas. I came away with NO decisions made!!!! I was going to go to Craig with all these great ideas that were basically rabbit trails but I decided to leave it up to him b/c he is good with stuff like this. Lesson # 1 learned this week: Keep it Simple Heidi! It is a first grade project.
Craig's grandfather apparently made pinwheels out of aluminum cans but Liesel and I tweaked the idea to make them look like flowers. Craig used a razor blade to cut off the top of the can and Liesel helped him cut strips with scissors. He spray painted them white and Liesel painted them.We used an old fabric softener container for the flower pot stuffed with plastic and shredded paper grocery bags. Craig attached the flowers to twigs with pipe cleaners. Here is the final project:

This picture was taken today after we picked it up from the education expo at her school. The flowers were more spaced out nevertheless it only became mangled a little bit.

I love the creativity in her painting. The project was a great success. Yeah!

Later in the week I sat down to play a game with Caedmon. Caedmon has traits of my personality in which he loves to sit and play games. I love games as well! Sometimes I get so wrapped up in to-do items around the house that I forget to stop and enjoy my kids. I have focused since the new year on scheduling out my day so that every day certain goals are accomplished. One thing I am proud of is that I am remembering that the schedule is not set in stone. It is simply a guide to help stay on task. I have scheduled times during Jensen's naps to do preschool work with Caedmon and play games with him. One day this week I had been working on something for a half an hour and it was time to get in the shower. After the shower I was going to have my precious Caedmon time. Well, Caedmon had a better idea. Instead of watching the show I wanted to put on for him so I could shower, he wanted to play a game then. I actually told him "After the shower buddy." I stopped for a second to look at his sweet but sad face and realized that this was a time that my schedule needed to be thrown out the window! My son needed me then and who cares if I am still stinky at noon when Jensen gets up from his nap.
Caedmon chose Hi Ho Cherry-O to play. If you have ever played that game you would agree with me that it is all about the luck of the spin. Can I take 3 cherries off my tree to put in my bucket or am I going to have to dump out my whole bucket and put them back on the tree? I get very frustrated when I get to one or two cherries on my tree and on that last spin I get the dreaded bucket!!!! LOL!! I have to start all over..... :(  If you know me at all.... I am slightly competitive. If Craig reads this post, he will probably comment that "slightly" is not a strong enough word. I have been known to ruin many fun games by getting mad at losing. Recent examples come to mind of my beloved Carolina tarheels losing last week instead of getting to the final four. Craig leaves me alone when I watch the games b/c he does not like to be around me. I tell him "You knew what you were getting when you married me." HeHe!!!!  Another recent time we were playing monopoly with our good friends Scooter and Jeni and nothing was going my way or Craig's way. Well Craig began mortgaging his property to pay them but I refused and actually left the table. I think I said "I will not sell my property" a few too many times. I am over it now. It was traumatic!! LOL!!! Scooter and Jeni have forgiven me but they bring it up when we play other games now to remind me how stupid I acted and to make fun of me.
Wow, I have really digressed. The point of all this was to tell you that when we were playing Hi Ho Cherry-O nothing was going Caedmon's way and he never got that upset. He takes after his dad on that one. :) He had the best attitude and would dump out his bucket many times and put those cherries back on the tree. I ended up winning the first two games. By this point he was getting a little frustrated but SO mild in comparison to well......me! I told him he would eventually win and we could keep playing until he did if he wanted to do that. He agreed and kept saying, "I will win soon Mommy!" After I won for, yes the THIRD time, he said "next game" and reminded me of the time we played Toy Story Yahtzee together and he won 3 straight games. In conclusion I learned two very valuable things from my four year old son that day. Lesson # 2 learned this week: my relationship with my children is much more important than housework. He will only be little for so long. Lesson # 3 learned this week: "I will win a game soon!" is a great motto to have when playing games.  Having a good attitude makes it much more fun!

Now I cannot say that my ultra competitive nature is going to subside from this one game with Caedmon. However, my sweet Caedmon's face of determination will be in the back of my mind when I am tempted to throw cards at someone when I am losing. LOL!!!!

Last but not least. Our third child Jensen achieved a new milestone this week. He is sitting by himself now. He still falls at times, but we are making progress.

I hope to learn a few more lessons in this great adventure called parenting :)

Last lesson learned this week: It is okay to do things out of your comfort zone if it benefits your family. You may in the process become proud of yourself.
Let me explain. I have been trying to cut costs anywhere I can in our family budget this year and also eat healthier. I had read on one of my friends blogs a while back about buying chicken breasts with the bone in and cutting it yourself and how much money you can save by doing it yourself. Well, crazy as this is, and I am sure others can relate, I hate the feel of raw chicken. IT freaks me out! I saw that Kroger was having split chicken breasts on sale for 99 cents a pound. My mom said she would help me. So Friday we worked together. I spent $11.50 and got 9 HUGE breasts, 15 tenderlions and then I boiled what was left of the breast/bone and pulled enough meat off of them to make two chicken pot pies with the meat. Thank you mom for your help! I am very proud of myself.
FYI: My friend Christa who gave me the great idea has a great blog. You should check it out. http://feedingfourfood.blogspot.com/

I am getting caught up!

Well, I am finally starting to blog again! I am known for starting things and not finishing them. LOL!! I really want to finish this idea I had b/c I want to blog for many reasons. One of my friends a few weeks ago asked me why I only did one blog entry and then stopped. I laughed b/c that is what I do....not that it is a good excuse...I know!!! I am back on track and hope to blog at least once a week. I hope I can stay accountable.
Anyways, the last time I blogged, I was waiting for my sweet Jensen to be born. That was a long time ago. He was born October 4th. He is almost 6 months old and I feel now that I am starting to finally get into a good rhythm and now have time to do stuff like this again. It has been a true blessing adding a third child to our family. There is way too much to write about the last 6 months, so I will just talk about the past few weeks.

The second week in March was Liesel's spring break. We went to Myrtle Beach, SC for a nice family vacation. We stayed at a resort with an indoor water park. Jensen got in a bathing suit for the first time and looked so cute. I just love how babies just go with the flow. I guess since they really do not have a choice. LOL!

We took him down to the indoor water park and put him in a baby float and he just chilled the whole time as we went around the lazy river. His expression never changed. Like I said, one minute he is just hanging in a hotel room and then he is in a pool for the first time. The whole idea makes me laugh...I do not know why :)

Liesel and Caedmon loved all the slides. Since, the ocean was way too cold to swim in, the kids really took advantage of the indoor waterpark. They must have gone down the slides close to 50 times in 3 days.

 

It was a nice, much needed family vacation. I love making memories that we will remember forever!

On March 16th, Craig turned the big 40! I am so grateful to have such a wonderful husband. I have enjoyed picking on him this whole month since my birthday is not until next month and even then I will only be 34. So, for now he is 7 years older than me. HeHe!!!!

That morning, Liesel was chosen by her first grade teacher to receive the chapel award at Wake Christian. Each week, each teacher picks 1 or 2 students from their class that has shown Godly character. We received a call from the school that Monday to be at chapel that Wednesday to see Liesel receive the award. We were told to keep it a surprise from Liesel. That was difficult to do b/c I wanted her to look nice and usually I do not make a big deal about getting dressed in a skirt or dress. She said she saw us walk by her room on the way to chapel, so she knew she was getting the award. Hey, we tried! It touches my heart to watch her be rewarded for her actions. Words cannot describe how it feels to see your child succeed.

Jensen was very proud of his big sister!

Caedmon is such a fun son to have. Since we have chosen not to send him to preschool yet, I get to spend some great quality time with him every day. He keeps me on my toes and amazes me. He has a great imagination and makes me laugh. He loves to play Wii. We have Wii fit plus that Mommy uses almost every day to get her post-baby body back in shape. He actually enjoys doing the exercises along with me and by himself sometimes. He talks about them and will often say to me "Mommy, can you do this exercise?" Then he will show me one from the game or one he made up. I wish everyone could see him do this b/c it is so funny. What four year old likes to exercise this much? Maybe he will grow up to be a personal trainer. LOL! Here are some pictures of what he calls his triangle pose. He says you have to open your mouth sometimes while you do the yoga poses.

I made my favorite muffins this week. I absolutely love to bake. I do not enjoy cooking as much. I wanted to share one of my favorite baking websites. It is called joyofbaking.com   I made buttermilk, blueberry muffins. I love blueberry muffins. They are probably my favorite type of muffins. The buttermilk gives them such great flavor. I stumbled on this recipe b/c I had some buttermilk left over in the fridge that I did not want to waste so I googled "muffins with buttermilk" and I stumbled on to this website. I made a batch and ate 3 in one day. Sad I know!!! YUM!!! The kids love them too. The muffins only lasted 3 days. If you like blueberries, you must try this recipe.

One funny thing to end with. I joined the softball team at our church. Softball was my sport in high school. I was pretty good and received all conference honors one year. We have now played 3 games and I have barely been able to walk after the last two. LOL!! I ran too hard to first base after a hit and strained a muscle in my thigh area. I have been walking around the house moaning like an old woman. Craig asked me if I stretched and I said no. I could not understand what was happening. I feel like I am in pretty good shape. I do Wii!! LOL! He turned to me and said "you are not 18 anymore!" "Yes I know Dear" I said...."thanks for reminding me. My body has informed me twice now!" LOL!!!
Well, off to enjoy another week of my life!

The waiting game begins....

Hi everyone,

I decided that it was finally time for me as a mom to start a family blog so friends and family can keep up with what is going on in The Berry Family.
So, you are now reading my first official blog!!! YAY!  Aren't you excited?
As you can see from the title, I am 37 weeks pregnant today with our third child and our second boy. I am praying that he comes soon because I cannot wait to meet him. Now, the waiting game begins!!! I promise to hopefully keep up with this blog as soon as the baby is born but if I do not, there is always one of my best friends...FACEBOOK!!!
We still have not officially decided on a name for this baby. For some reason, Craig and I have had a very difficult time agreeing on a name. I have one that I am leaning towards....so we will see if it is what we end up with.
Kids say the funniest things and I want to end this blog with one from Caedmon and Liesel. Caedmon a few weeks ago said something that made me smile and I am sure I already posted it on facebook, but I need to put it on here, to make sure I remember it for years to come. One night, both Caedmon and Liesel were watching their baby brother move in my belly. Since my belly button is poked out, he pointed to it and said..."Look, that is his finger trying to touch me."  So funny!
Just this afternoon, Liesel was able to get out of school early today and she was telling me about two girls in her class that we really good friends and how they already knew each other before school started. She told me that they have been friends since they were babies. After talking about it for a few more minutes, she said, "They have even known each other since the day they were born. Their moms were both at the hospital at the same time hugging while both girls were born at the very same time!! It is true mom...Kelly told me" I laughed at this statement because she said it so dramatically and even acted out the moms hugging while giving birth. I cannot imagine this actually happening, but I guess you never know. My children teach me something every day and today Liesel taught me to use my imagination and be more trusting of what my friends are saying. In her mind, if Kelly said it, it is true. Children have no reason to doubt people.
Have a great day and kep smiling :)