Still having fun at grandma & grandpa's!

We thought we really must line up the 7 of '07 for the end of the year photo shoot!

Post Christmas photo 2007

We celebrated our Berge Christmas a week after Christmas this year. It is more fun each time we gather. The older children play so nicely together and the little new babies are a treasure. The ones in between are..... in between! There is constant action...

Once again I told my loving sons that we would pose for ANOTHER family picture. Someday they will be quite pleased we did so! (They remember the days I took a few rolls of film just to get one decent Christmas card photo.... not their best childhood memories. ha ha. )

Global warming?

Perhaps this robin has been listening to Al Gore and decided since global warming is "happening" he would just stay in Minnesota for the winter. I took this picture this morning of Mr. Robin (and his friends) in our front yard. I'm not so sure he should trust Al.

We have lots of wonderful views of winter beauty. In fact, I sure hope there is snow in heaven. (Perhaps we could have snow and 70 degrees simultaneously? Hey, it's Heaven, you know!)

We get lots of frost on the trees and today was some snow on top of the frost as well. The sky is still white and wintery today - it is really even more spectacular when the sky is clear blue and the tree branches are white. Like a feathery, lacey wonderland.

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas to our family and friends! May God richly bless you this Christmas day!

Berge Bed and Breakfast

Last evening our friend Kari stopped by to drop off a sweet little Christmas gift of tea for me - she purchased it during her 3 months in the state of Washington as a traveling nurse. Kari was driving back to Minneapolis from Washington - a long ride all alone! It was getting late, the roads were a little slick and we convinced her that she should stay overnight with us and continue home this morning. She agreed and had a good night's rest (after some fun chatting together) and now is off to get home in time for Christmas eve. Merry Christmas Kari, we're so glad you stayed overnight!

Checking out his brother

Isn't this sweet? Preston is aware of his baby brother and can say "Sean" when prompted. Usually he is busy playing but I did get this cute photo of Preston taking a closer look. I'm sure they will provide lots of fun and action in the future!

I thought this was cute - his hat slipping off to show his nice hair.

A few more pictures

Here is a picture of Brooklyn, Preston and Sean Patrick. Brooklyn is so thrilled to hold and look at her new baby brother. She just keeps saying "oh, isn't he cute?" Yes, he is.

Well, Sean is ready to open his eyes and look around! He was getting his diaper changed when he began this awake phase. I just had to grab my camera because we didn't know how long it would be. It was actually a nice amount of time that he was awake.

After a long day at work, outside in the cold air framing the house he is building, Daniel came home to his loving children. So relaxing.

Brooklyn is truly remarkable in her tenderness and interest in her new baby brother. She is very careful holding and moving him gently.

Looking around at his new world

This afternoon Sean Patrick had a nice period of being awake and looking around. I was so happy to see his eyes open and watch how cute he was just looking around and listening to the sounds around him. You could just tell it was all so new to him! Brooklyn was a wonderful helper today and so tender with Sean Patrick. Preston was happy to have mommy home. Mommy was tired from lack of sleep so Brooklyn and I volunteered to take care of the baby while Preston AND Mommy took a nap. And Daddy was anxious to get back to work since the weather was reasonably warm for outside work.

Oh, sweet baby!

Ah, here is Sean Patrick, home in Fergus Falls - 2 days old! We were so thrilled to go over to Daniel & Meghan's and meet our 7th grandchild. It is special each and every time! Isn't he sweet? In this picture he strongly resembles baby Preston, but in real life he seems so much more like Daniel as a baby.

If you click on this picture to enlarge it, you will see his beautiful brown hair with its blond highlights.

It was easy to get a picture of big sister Brooklyn, tenderly holding her new baby brother. It was NOT easy to get Preston in the picture. He was way too busy playing with his Daddy and his grandpa!

And here is the Berge family of 5.

One more close-up of Sean Patrick. Precious.

New Grandson!

Looks like the Berge boys can make a basketball team now....... Timothy, Luke, Josiah, Preston and SEAN PATRICK, born to Daniel & Meghan last evening at 11:35 p.m., Monday, December 17th. He was 8 pounds 1 1/2 oz. and 21 inches long. He has lots of hair and Daniel said he is talkative! I even heard him on the phone making his sweet baby sounds!

Good job Meghan! That didn't take too long. She got to the hospital about 8 p.m. and Sean was born before midnight.

God is good.

Soon time for a new grandbaby!

Meghan and Daniel are at the hospital in Fargo. She is in labor. Wally and I have Brooklyn and Preston.

If I get any update, I'll post over on Meghan's blog at www.bergeblogspot.blogspot.com

All dressed up..

Isn't this the sweetest? Brooklyn enjoyed being dressed up for her Sunday School Christmas program. It is soo different from having little boys, I'll tell you that! (At least the three boys that we raised!)

Now we're talking boys! Here is Grandpa Berge hoisting little Preston high up in the air! Again, Grandpa, again!

A tender moment between siblings. Notice Brooklyn's pretty fingernails. Her Grandma Rae, who knows all about raising girls, polished Brooklyn (and Julia's) fingernails tonight.

Following the Christmas program, Meghan and Daniel invited Wally & me, Norman & Martha, Meghan's mom & dad, sister and grandparents over for some delicious soup and hearty breads. It was a lovely thing to do, especially considering that Meghan is only 4 days from her due date for baby #3!! Maybe Meghan was thinking if she has company that will hasten the start of labor?? At any rate, thank you, Meghan, for a nice evening!

Away in a Manger...

Today at Bethel the Sunday school children put on their annual Christmas program. It's always so special to hear the children sing the traditional Christmas carols. Here is sweet little Brooklyn and the other preschoolers singing "Away in the Manger." (Next to Brooklyn, to your left, is her friend Nevaeh.)

Finding a new home...

Last July Wally and I, along with my brother John and Laurie, drove to the top of a fantastic mountain plateau in Montana. We were in Wally's 4 wheel drive pick-up truck. On the mountain Laurie saw these great weathered roots of downed trees and, being a very creative artist with an eye for the unusual, said "oh, I'd love one of those!" but since her travel was via airplane didn't think she could really get one back to New Jersey. Never fear, Wally to the rescue! He replied "pick out the one you want and if you don't mind waiting until Thanksgiving, we'll drive it out to you then since we are coming to NJ for Thanksgiving. So she made her choice and the men lifted it up into the pick-up bed. It finally made it's way to New Jersey as promised after spending a nice summer in Fergus Falls.

The wood arrives on a snowy New Jersey day (the snow was gone 2 days later.)

Laurie is thrilled to see her amazing piece of nature.

John, Laurie and Wally unload the heavy stump. I wisely chose to take pictures. :)

Laurie had a place all prepared for the coveted stump of wood so here it is in its new resting place in beautiful northern New Jersey.

ENJOY!

Mom's birthday party - 90!!

We had a fabulous birthday party for my mom at a lovely restaurant in Bedminster, New Jersey. We had a private room for 30 of us. I ordered some cute candy bars with mom's picture on them as a little surprise for everyone. She loved them.
Here my twin nieces look at grandma's candles. (Yes, that lady in the pink jacket is my 90 year old mom! )
Laurie (my brother's girlfriend) was kind enough to be the photographer for our group picture. It includes family and special guests.

This is my mom, my siblings and their spouses. My sister Marlane is in the red jacket, her husband Brian is behind her. My "baby" brother Jeffrey is directly behind my mom with his wife Ann. Next to Jeffrey is Wally and next to Wally is Debbie, my brother Cordell's wife. Next to Debbie is my oldest brother, John. (I assume you can figure out who my mom is and who I am. )
This picture is called "sisters" - there are 4 groups of sisters in this picture. The girls in front at Jeffrey's twin daughters. The girls next to me are Marlane's daughters.

This is the "head" table - my mom with her close friends, Lee & Sara, along with Lee's son Bobby and my sister Marlane and her husband Brian.

These are the children who willingly helped read trivia facts about life in 1917 for their grandma /great grandma. Front row, left to right, Courtney (great grand-daughter), Stephanie, Jackie, Alison (grand-daughters). Back row, left to right, Kyle & Justin (great-grand-sons) and Ben (grand-son.) Too bad we couldn't have added Timothy, Luke, Hannah, Josiah, Brooklyn and Preston and Michael Yingling to the list of great-grandchildren in this picture! (and the rest of her grandchildren as well - Jill, Robyn, Stacey, John, Adam & Daniel)

Left to right: Ben, Debbie, Ann-Margret, Laurie and John.

Sara, John, Jackie, Alison, Stephanie & Jeffrey

Justin, Robyn, Courtney, Jill, Brian and Kyle (in front)

We had a wonderful party, lovely food and a fun program. I composed a pretty funny song about my mom sung to the tune of Jingle Bells. Everyone sang the chorus with gusto... think "90 years, 90 years, 90 years ago" instead of Jingle Bells and you get the gist of it. We also had a trivia contest about mom/grandma/great-grandma/sister and only one person got them all correct - Marlane, the person who remembers every detail. Way to go, sis.

Seventeen in the city.......

Imagine going into New York City on the Saturday following Thanksgiving with 16 other people - and enjoying the entire experience! That's what we did and there were no lost children, no crabby adults and no cold hands or feet! We took the train into the city from New Jersey - starting out from three different stations and happily all being on the same train at the same time (as we had hoped) and arriving together into Penn Station. First stop was a subway ride to the famous Museum of Natural History. Here is the group shot at the start of the day.

I caught up with Courtney, Jackie and Alison near the dinosaur exhibits. I had once taken Courtney's mom and Jackie's dad to this museum when they were about 10 years old (and I was single and didn't think twice about going into Manhattan.)

John had one request - authentic New York style pizza. It was as good as I remember!

Debbie, Ben and Justin enjoyed it too.

The ice skating rink at Rockefeller center was packed with people. We had considered ice skating but the line was very long so no one went skating from our group. The tree was up but not going to be lit for a few more days. Too bad!

John may have wanted pizza but Courtney wanted only one thing too - a visit to the American Girl store. It was crowded with tons of little girls and their mommies - oh wow, it's a good thing I only had sons. Oh wait, I have grand-daughters now. Yippee! (yes, I did buy something there.)

The girls posed for pictures by the mounted police - who were posing for pictures as well. (Though I think they were on duty and just looking relaxed.)

Wally and I once had a very romantic date at The Rainbow Room in the NBC building. (It was a very fine restaurant but is no longer operating.) We had to have John take this picture of us.

I have to explain this picture. I took it to show those stars, which are all over the side of Saks Fifth Avenue building. (There are more then just in this picture.) Aren't they amazing? Then every once in a while music would play and the various stars would go on and off to the music. (The crowd of people are all facing the ice skating rink at Rockefeller center. )

The day ended with an elevator ride up to the top of the Empire State building where it was cold and clear. The sight was amazing. (John had a terrific picture on his blog at http://www.jsberge.blogspot.com/ ) It was a wonderful day, thanks especially to Ann-Margret and Jeffrey for being our "tour guides."

Farm Day

A trip home to New Jersey is just not complete without a day at my brother's farm. He is so great about hitching up Sam and Barney (the draft horses) and taking us all on wagon rides. Here you can see my brother John along with Debbie & Ben and John & Sara.

I thought Sam and Barney were handsome enough to have their own picture!

Wally got the opportunity to ride Maverick, Laurie's beautiful horse. We are really getting bitten by the "horse" bug lately....