Long Over Due Update

Mom with her PT at Parkview

Jake and I bringing in the new year together

My 3 amazing kids

Really over due update! Ok, so I have been really bad at this blog thing lately!!! So much has happened since my last post that I don't even know where to begin.

1. My mom went back into the hospital late November which resulted in a surgery to amputate her right leg after a long(year) battle to save it. She was in the hospital until January 14 working hard at getting strong so she would qualify for an artificial leg...which she may have by the end of the week!!!

2. Brittany's school found out on the Friday before Christmas break that the doors were being closed down. Needless to say our Christmas break was a little stressful trying to figure out a school option for her. Praise the Lord a family stepped up and decided to start a school up and they have diligently been working to keep things going and helping to navigate what we need to do to keep Brittany in her current school.

3. Brittany has had some difficult ups and downs with her health and behaviors due to medication and we are still working through those.

4. The boys are busy with school, church, friends, sports and being really good and trying to deal with all the life issues thrown at them this last year.

All in all, it has been a crazy few months. I will try my best to keep this blog going more frequently......yes I know you have heard it before; but a wise person told me that maybe blogging would be a good outlet for me. So we will see.

Update Time

Wow!! It has been a while since I have been on here! Sorry!! Wish I was better at updating this. it has been a crazy year....started with lots of traveling while my mom was in the hospital in FL, contiuned with the craziness of the baseball season, summer fun, taking care of mom, birthdays, trips, football and entering the life of middle school.

Brad is loving middle school. He is doing awesome in his classes, made the basketball team, and is becoming quite the young man. He had a dramatic PAL football season with breaking his foot the week before the first game. He was able to make it back in time for play offs but was bummed to miss most of the season.

Jake is doing great in fourth grade and is trying out alot of new things. He was the quarterback on the PAL football team, has a solo in the church Christmas play/musical, took a comedy improv class, is a student council class representative and looks forward to playing Y basketball and continuing with his comedy improv class.

Brittany is doing well at school as well. She is growing so quickly and is understanding more and more each day. She has been fighting some health issues but we are working on getting her healthy again. She is a beautiful young girl.

Shannon is back on day shift now which makes our schedule a little more chaotic but will be better for his health. He is dealing with 2 bulging discs right now with some cortizone injections and chiropractic care.

Me, well busy as usual with the 3 kids, my mom and work. Thougtht I would add a few pics we took this fall.

Easter with Nana

Got to spend a little time with Papa too!

Who knew they could be so creative!

Arrivin at the beach

Mom was so happy to see us!!

Well, it has been quite a year of traveling on my part to help care for my mother in Florida. We have had many ups and downs to say the least. I was really fortunate to be able to take the boys down for a visit over Easter weekend and suprise my mom. We had so much fun visiting with her and lifting her spirits. We were also able to enjoy a day at the beach. What a blessing it was to have quality time with just the boys and watch them enjoy doing something so out of the ordinary for them. They really enjoyed it too!!

Sledding!!

Well, the kids finally convinced me to go sledding with them today. Sledding is not high on my list of things I want to do but Brittany and the boys were really wanting to go today. It turned out to be the perfect day for sledding...sun shining, no wind and lots of snow. We headed to Shoaff Park and it turned out to be a fun afternoon. We were all surprised at how much Brittany enjoyed the sledding. She could hardly wait to go down each and everytime whether it be with someone or alone. She even managed to walk up the hill each time when she was done. I am so glad we decided to go today!!!

Christmas Break Sleep Over

The boys had a fun time of inviting some friends over during Christmas Break. The biggest sleep over to date...6 boys total!! Call it temporary insanity but I thought it would be fun! Well, it was fun to watch them all play, talk, laugh and make memories. Brittany was smart though; she left and went for her first "alone" sleep over at grandma and grandpa B's house. The boys had fun playing snow football, human snow bowling, riding bikes to the track at Blackhawk, dart wars, indoor football, WII games, bowling, walking to Georgetown donuts for breakfast and much much more.

Adult Berry Christmas

After the fun times with all of the kids it was time to have fellowship time with all of the adults of the family. It is such fun to get to eat, share, snack, and talk with those that we do not get to see often during the year. This year was a nice and relaxed time with family and alot of fun was had too. The "boys" had fun building quite the castle that was shared by all after dark.

Christmas with the cousins

Well what a Christmas we all had at Grandma's. All the cousins had a blast seeing each other, playing, and exchanging gifts. It is so amazing to see so many little ones in our family and to know there are more on the way already for next year. It is so fun to watch them all...coming from a family where I was the only child and only grandchild it is always amazing for me to sit back and watch all the love there is with all of these wonderful kids.

News Time

Well Brad and Jake got the opportunity to go to a local news station to get a private tour thanks to my good friend Kelly Greene(the weather girl). The boys lucked out and got not 1 but 2 tours thanks to a football game running over the first time causing the news to be cancelled. Lets just say they did not mind since they were able to take Kelly out to dinner and schedule a 2nd trip to the station. They were able to meet several of the newscasters, play with the weather green screen, check out the control room and watch how things are done and watch a live newscast. They were filled with lots of questions and everyone was kind enough to answer them. It was a fun trip for not just them but me as well. Thanks Kelly!!!

Fall Time Fun!!

The kids have enjoyed some time outside raking leaves and playing in them too. We don't really have many leaves in our yard but we were able to find some piles on our way to the park.

Boys will be Boys!!

Brad and Jake both had friends over the other day and could hardly wait to get outside to play mud football. Unknown to me this was planned out ahead of time and the boys had packed old clothes and shoes for the occassion. Afterwords I was doing laundry and sending them all upstairs for showers. There was no way I could send them home looking like that!!

Fall Fun

It was such a nice day so I thought it was time to get some fall pictures of the kids.

Brittany's Room

Well, Brittany finally has a girls room!! I would like to say it is done but not quite yet. Still need to hang her mirror I got at IKEA and need to put her Precious Moment Figurines up on her shelf but it is almost there. When we finished the painting and put up her big girl bed and led her upstairs she was sooooo excited. Then I finally got the flowers on the walls and she was equally excited. It is nice to say she finally has her own girl room!

Johnny Appleseed Fun

We were able to take some family time and stop by the Johnny Appleseed Festival this year. The boys always enjoy learning about the soldiers and guns from the wars. They also took time to make candles this year and Britt had fun with some games and the maze. We of course enjoyed the yummy food including carmel apples.