Christmas Tree Decorating with Nonny

An annual Christmas event for the girls is decorating the little trees my mom bought them for their bedrooms. Grandma comes for the weekend in early December each year and helps them get all the ornaments on. I get the fun job of taking them both down. :)

Church Childrens Christmas Concert

Shelby recently participated in our church's Christmas concert as part of the children's choir. They practiced for several weeks on Sunday afternoon. I think she had a good time and you can clearly see she enjoys performing! Thankfully, she is past the picking her nose or lifting up the front of her dress stage. However, she did have a hard time holding still and almost fell off the step a couple of times. She had an itchy leg and had to cough a few times. I sat close to the front and was able to get some good video of them singing. They sang three songs. The third song the kids sang along with the adult choir. The second song was her favorite and before it starts you can see her lean over and tell the girl next to her that it is. There are 2 video clips. The first one has songs 1 & 2 and the second one has song 3. This morning the girls and I watched the videos on the computer. While watching she says, "I look hideous". Not sure where that came from. I must say she looked pretty cute in her Christmas plaid jumper. Shelby is in the first row, 2nd from the right. You decide for yourself! Enjoy. The clips can be kind of long but worth the time. :)



Thank you to my friend Kimberly for the advice on getting these videos loaded. I spent way too much time struggling with it through the blog.

Music Concert

Last night was Shelby's school music concert for K-2nd grades. They had it at the Jr. High her school feeds in to. Can't imagine what it was like when they had it at Oakdale! We were smashed in that place nice and cozy! The principal welcomed everyone and said with the number of guests that turned out, next year they might have to move it to Redbird Arena. Someone in the crowd yelled, "How about right now"! Must say I had to agree. Redbird Arena is just across the street from the school. We could have easily relocated and then maybe I would have had a chance to see my kid while she sang! Wouldn't ya know she would be standing in the front row down on the floor. No chance we could see her without standing up. Glad I took her picture at home before we went because I couldn't get one of her there. Of course, whenever big sis gets her picture taken, the little one want hers done too.

Update on Crash

Morgan had an X Ray on her collarbone today. Unfortunately it did not show much along the lines of healing. Honestly I was not surprised as she has fallen several times since the break. She will go back in 6 weeks for another check. The doctor said to try and keep her from being too active and from bumping it. Who is he kidding? Maybe he'd like to try that out for himself! I am thankful for her high tolerance of pain because she rarely complains about it hurting.

Kindergarten Conference

Yesterday Nate and I had our first Parent/Teacher conference for Shelby. Mrs. Ghrist had a lot of kind and positive things to say about her. She said her polite behavior and helpful attitude towards others was appreciated. She is doing well in reading and math. They divide all the K students into groups for both of these classes. She has been placed in the highest level for both. It's good to have a conference because you don't always get a lot out of her at the end of the day. Everyday I ask her how school was and usually the answer is "good". Everyday I ask her what she did at school and usually the answer is "what we do every day". It is always fun to look at the papers she brings home to see what she is learning. Her art drawings are interesting and well done. Today I was pleased to see this on the paper. Mrs. Ghrist said yesterday at this point they are encouraging them to sound out words for themselves rather then tell them how to spell them.

For anyone who doesn't understand Kindergarten writing, she is thankful for God's blood and she said I wrote this.

ER Trip #3!

Well, it was getting to be about that time. Maybe a month early to continue the every 6 month pace, but possibly still a record with 3 trips to the ER in 1 year! But seriously folks, when will it end? On Tuesday night, Morgan made a trip downstairs after being put to bed. She was looking for her bunny and had to give one final hug and kiss. She came to me at the sink first and then headed over to daddy who was on the phone in the recliner. She climbed up into the chair and sat on the arm. While waiting, she lost her balance and went over backwards. Somewhere between the corner of the fireplace, the TV trays and the hardwood floor she broke her collarbone. This all took place around 9:15. We didn't immediately take her to the ER. We thought since she was up and walking around and doing some normal things, maybe she was just bruised. I sat in the recliner with her and she eventually fell asleep. Around 11pm she woke up after I tried to lay her down across my lap in the chair. She screamed and jumped out of that chair and did a dance like a crazy person in pain! Around 12:15am Wednesday morning after she said her bones felt like they were wiggling around inside her we decided I would take her in. We got in a room around 12:30. We waited 10-15 minutes for a nurse to see her and somewhere around 1:45 the Dr. showed up. She was the only one working and got busy with stitches on another patient. Morgan did very well waiting, just sitting on my lap or on top of the bed since she couldn't lay down. The Dr. ordered X-Rays and Miss Squirms stood amazingly still for those. The X-Rays showed she broke her right collarbone in the middle. Let me tell you, this has been the worst injury so far. I'll take the hole in the head and the staples or any other bone that can have a cast to assist healing. This is going to be a long 6-8 week road to healing. For now she has been sleeping upright in the recliner and I am on the couch. She wakes up at least once for more pain killer and makes a lot of noises while sleeping. She will see the Orthopedic doctor again in 3 weeks for more X-Rays to check the progress. I'm afraid that X-Ray will show a more severe break rather than healing just from what I have seen the last few days! So if you think of us, pray for her healing and my sanity. The harness they put on her doesn't assist with the healing, it is just made to help her stay comfortable. Too bad it doesn't work that way. Just is more irritating and makes her itch. Jenn helped out by picking Shelby up from school on Wednesday so I could take Morgan to the Orthopedic Dr. They went to Jewel and they bought Morgan the balloon and a stuffed monkey. Thanks Jenn for all your help! Here are some photos. Morgan's giving the thumbs down for this injury and trying to get comfortable in her temporary bed.

Trick or Treat Time

Trick or treating this year was a little chilly so that put a damper on the fun and the costumes. It also seemed like there was not a lot of people handing out candy. Nonny Mary was here for a visit so she got to join in on the headaches and fun. Shelby was Aerial, the Little Mermaid and Morgan was a Pink Fairy.












Shelby's church friend and school classmate Kaitlyn was the Little Mermaid as well. She lives down the street aways and usually catches up with us to trick or treat.












We headed to Jenn and Seth's when we finished up the neighborhood. Jenn was our babysitter when I worked. Seth had to try on Aerial's wig and Morgan crawled in their coffee table. The girls sing a revised version of Trick or Treat we created special for Seth:
Trick or Treat
The Cubs smell like my feet
Give me something good to eat!









Next we went to our friends Ray and Karen. We enjoyed yummy chili and muffins. And goldfish. Karen always has a full jar of goldfish on her counter. We always have fun at the Berta house. Here is Ray posing with the girls before heading out to our last stop.










Ray and Karen joined us at our mutual friends' house the Comadenas. Mark and Pam have a really nice fire pit in their backyard so we wrapped up the night sitting around the fire reading by flashlight, singing, watching the World Series and making smores. The smoke from the fire made some of my photos blurry. Mark had to take a turn wearing the red wig too as the girls were surprised to see he didn't have much hair under his ball cap.









The girls hated to go home and thankfully it was daylight savings to give us an extra hour before Sunday church. We finished up the night opening their annual Halloween books and new DVD's.









Sorry for those of you who get email updates on my blog. You may have received this 3 times or more as I have tried to fix some things.

Pumpkin Carving

My computer is up and running again so I have some catching up to do.

Daddy and the girls carved the biggest pumpkin we picked out of the patch. Our carving completed the job a naughty squirrel started. The squirrels around here eat pumpkins like crazy. Last year we watched one demolish a small pumpkin so fast I was sure it might explode. And the big pig was unwilling to share as it would chase off other squirrels that came by looking for a snack. The squirrel had started to eat away a large area, thus the reason for the size of the features on our Jack-O-Lantern. It was a big pumpkin so it turned out ok. We enjoyed roasting and eating the seeds. As you can see from one of the pictures Shelby wasn't so sure about the slime on her hands after digging in. I added the scarecrow and ghost candle to the decorations hoping to keep the squirrels away. It seemed to work.

Pumpkin Patch

The last couple of years I have been taking the girls to a pumpkin patch back in my hometown. So when we were there to meet Micah, we all took a trip to the patch. Usually when we go it is just with Nonny & Papa so this year it was extra fun with uncles, aunts and cousins too. We all rode the wagon out to the patch to pick our pumpkins. The temps were a little chilly but the sun was shining so it turned out to be an OK day.

They have a little patch separate from the big one with small pumpkins the school kids pick when they come on class trips. That is what they are all looking at over the side of the wagon.

As you can see, Micah is the only one of the kids not wearing a hat or coat. He is still adjusting to layering. He's not a big fan. Hopefully he will quickly learn before his first winter in northwestern Wisconsin!

I'm not sure how many times the girls fell down in the patch but it's a given to happen at least once. After a lot of searching, they each found the perfect pumpkin.

The picture of the two girls together was from last year. I was hoping I could see how much they have grown but I'm not sure how accurate it is.

Meeting Micah

My oldest brother Jeremy and his wife Sarah recently were blessed with adding Micah Mihretu to their family. In early September, their adoption was finalized and they made the long trip to Ethiopia to bring him home. Mihretu is his Ethiopian name which they kept as his middle name and chose Micah for a new first name. A few weeks ago the girls and I traveled back home to my parents so we could meet him. Micah is shy at first but once he gets comfortable he smiles and giggles a lot and has fun. He has big brown eyes and dimples and lots of curls in his dark hair. Micah will turn 5 in November. We will see him again to celebrate Thanksgiving and his birthday with Noah and Caleb (Shelby and Morgan's other cousins). Welcome to the family Micah!