Hannah-Banana

Hannah Catherine Berges - born January 21st, 1993 @ 11:31am - 6 weeks early and weighing in at 5lbs. 13oz. and 18" long.

This is my little sister. At the time she was born I had turned 14 years old 3 months prior... and I was in heaven having a baby sister to bring home and "mommy".

Now she stands about 5'11"/6'0". She kicks a@! at basketball and volleyball and has a spirit that I can only dream to have when I grow up...

I love you Hannah Banana... thank you for our time in Downtown Seattle. Oh, by the way, UW just called and they're wondering when you're going to sign a contract.

Note:

Against my better judgment, I let Katie pick out the most recent purchase for her wardrobe. If you look carefully at the last two family pictures on our blog you will see that she's wearing a "beautiful", glittery, light blue CINDERELLA turtle neck.

Gross.

Yes, I wash her clothes. Sometimes. But its hard when she wears it from the moment she jumps out of bed to the moment she crawls back in... and no, I don't fight the battle of choosing Katie's daily wardrobe.

Until it wreaks. Really bad.

The Schei Family

Erik A., Krista E., Daryle A., Kyle M., Catherine L.M., Benjamin B., Catherine (Katie) E. and William W. ...

Last name: Schei

This is the wonderful family that I married into eight years ago and I love each of them very much. Not only have they put up with my idiosyncrasies, they've even WELCOMED me and all my idiosyncrasies! My brother in law, Erik, is great and one of the most gentle people I've ever been around. When the rubber meets the road he'd choose right relationship over anything else in his world... he deeply cares and I love that I know that. I know that he adores me and I him... it makes for such a unique relationship and some wonderful memories, for sure.

My father and mother in law, Daryle and Kathy, live on Bainbridge Island. They can be seen sippin' a short drip of Starbucks coffee while crossing the ferry for their weekly visit to our home in Everett, WA. Their hearts are to create experiences with their grandchildren that are timeless. Daryle and William will spend hours laughing over the physics of things (hitting, falling, bouncing, etc.) while Kathy and Katie spend time creating things such as silk nighties, and well, creating style - hair brushes and hair pins, lovely fabrics and fantastic patterns. Although the aforementioned activities suggest differently, Daryle and Kathy have been intentional about creating moments that are not "gender biased" or shallow in any way. The latest creations: homemade bread, Rice Krispie treats, Thanksgiving place mats and pine cone bird feeders... these moments will be burned in the kids' memories forever. Oh... don't fret for Ben. He's not far behind -- Grandpa's already talked to him about who knows what and taught him how to do who knows what! :)

Thank you to all of you for taking time out and spending the last four days here with Kyle, myself and the kids... we are grateful to you and are anxiously awaiting the wonderful week of Christmas...

And I won't forget the Pumpkin Pie. Again.

Black Friday.

I've never been one to shop on Black Friday. It makes me feel nauseous to be quite honest with you because it seems to me that for the majority it goes something like this:

Thanksgiving Day we are feasting and giving thanks; we are serving those in need and finding ourselves grateful for the abundance that we have; we are teaching our children the art of family and manners at the table and how to not "want" for things.

All the while, unbeknownst to us, the "spirit of Black Friday" is laughing and looking down from upstairs where stashed in your underwear drawer is a tall stack. It will be spent tomorrow morning at the drop of a hat. And from Thanksgiving on, Spirit Black Friday will walk beside you pointing out all the ways to bring someone happiness through material things. Your child wants this and your child loves that. We pride ourselves on the joy we see in their faces as they open their gifts - we fan our egos and create for our children and ourselves a disgustingly materialistic version of Christmas. I'll be the first to say that its tempting.

I have pictured below the gifts we have purchased for our kids this year. Last year we started the tradition of giving each child three presents... we explained to them that Santa Claus brings them each three gifts to symbolize the gold, frankincense and myrrh baby Jesus received from the wise men following his birth. I have included these simply because I'm wanting, for one, to hold myself accountable to all reading this post -- Katie is receiving a sticker book, a wagon (shared with Will & Ben), and a Swedish-style vintage dollhouse (purchased from a consignment store); William is receiving a sticker book, a wagon (shared with Katie and Ben), and a Bozo Bop Bag; Ben is receiving the wagon and possibly a couple balls to chew on - yes, just about the same price as we may have spent on our late dogs, Tucker and Annie. Please close your mouth and think for a moment why I would purchase something for him at 8 months old when I could just as easily wrap up a puzzle piece and he would find joy for hours gnawing on it until his gums bleed!








Ok, so you're thinking that maybe I'm a little arrogant and full of myself. I would argue 'no'. That's not the case. I WOULD say though that I have thought long and hard about what I want our kids to take away from their experiences. Kyle and I expend a lot of energy trying to create a clear course of action as we approach Christ's birth... His life... His death and His resurrection.

Not only do I not want to create in our kids an overexcited chaotic behavior surrounding the holidays where they feel its all about them and the gifts under the tree... I don't want to pick up after all those toys! Not only on Christmas morning but for the remainder of this year and all of the next... until we reach another Christmas season.

Here's to you and finding out what's best for your family...

Cheers.

Happy Thanksgiving!!

Yesterday began the Thanksgiving festivities as the kids and I (more me than the kids) decided that we needed to go purchase something fun for the days ahead... and what better purchase than a couple of Nerf guns! I had in mind that I would buy one for each of the kids to keep them expending energy while the adults prepared for the feasting festivities. While explaining this to the kids, they both exclaimed with a look that made me feel as though they were probably thinking I couldn't have come up with as good an idea were I given the chance and offered the idea that not only should we buy a little gun for each of them but we needed to buy a BIG gun for Uncle Erik so that he could annihilate things too... so we did. Uncle Erik's comes complete with a laser shooter intended for increasing accuracy... late into the evening Uncle Erik, Kyle and Grandpa Schei sipped scotch and shot darts across the dining room. No joke. It was nothing short of wonderful... and Thanksgiving Day hadn't even arrived yet!

The day arrived and my wonderful husband let me sleep in... aaahhhh... heavenly.

Heaven.

I awoke to a living room full of folks in pajamas sipping coffee and shooting Nerf guns... watching the television as the country prepped for the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade, football games and local news highlights on the charities happening all around the Seattle area. Grandma and the kids took a walk to the park to gather leaves of all shapes and sizes -- they came home and began creating individual place mats for each family member. Following nap time, the three kids and I braved the brisk weather and went to the park while the others took their turn at napping.

It wasn't long before the table was filled with turkey, mashed potatoes and gravy, dressing, yams, sauteed green beans with bleu cheese, bread and corn. We sipped wine and laughed together...

The dinner was a delight as the kids began to ask everyone around the table what they were thankful for. We were thankful for things like family and friends... for the wonderful life that we get to be a part of... for NOT being a turkey - and the such. We were thankful for Benjamin as this was his first Thanksgiving with our family and for the absolute joy that he is -- in fact, he was squealing most of the mealtime! Of course, that was probably because I wasn't giving him food fast enough and he was LOVING everything that came his way -- he devoured the dressing and yams; the corn and mashed potatoes... and by the looks of the plates following dinner, we all did.

Now the kids are asleep and I'm letting my dinner and dessert settle -- I may raid the refrigerator at 2am. Please don't tell anyone.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! God bless you.

The "moment" came just yesterday...

From Rainy Day Out

That desire to be "done" having kids started waning yesterday... I haven't prayed about it. I haven't thought much more about it than the cold sweat I felt when I realized that it wasn't such a "crazy idea". My hope was that that moment would not come around again after having Benjamin.

Do not begin to assume anything and before shouting out any advice my way (right now its a little too raw for me to consider another's perspective), know that this is simply a thought. My assumption is that we will be a wonderful family o' five... but wow, my heart loves the process so much.

I doubt it'll ever completely go away...

Our Rainy Day

From Rainy Day Out

From Rainy Day Out

From Rainy Day Out

From Rainy Day Out

From Rainy Day Out

Gloy-ee-howee-loo-LA!

Cheap cheap cheap...

I've been open to feeding my third child, Benjamin, whatever's on the family menu that night -- of course, I stay away from the big 'no no's such as nuts and honey -- but even cow's milk has been an ingredient in a number of dinners as of late and I have felt little to none concern about it... don't know if its clearly something that I don't need to worry about with him or if its simply that I've gotten more and more laid back as the time has progressed from first child to third child. Its the CHEAPEST way to feed him...

I take his dinner portion of corn and pasta and chicken, etc. and throw it into the food mill! I pour it out into a little bowl and he gobbles it down... okay, he devours it! Its cheap and easy and its whatever I've got on hand. Yesterday he had chicken nuggets and carrots mashed together and he WREAKED of big people food with flavors of garlic and salt when I went in to retrieve him out of his crib for his 12am feeding; consequently, I've decided not to give him that combination again for a long time.

I've also taken to buying up 10s of cans of vegetables when they go on sale (20/$10) and grind those in the food mill as well...

Just a thought for those of you trying to pinch some pennies.

4 going on...

I've had many conversations lately revolving around Katie's maturity... even the shots I take of her remind me that she's growing up rather quick.

And her wit! She gets me laughing...

William's Memory Verse - Jeremiah 1:8

Benjamin's Physics Lesson

What the...

Moments have come when a word flies out of either of my toddlers' mouths and I have to make a decision - do I make it an "issue" and say something or do I make it a "non-issue" and let it fly in hopes that the word wasn't much fun to say in the first place...

Just now was an AWESOME moment. Katie was flinging the word "bird-ch" around trying to be silly when it turned into the not so nice word. I let it go for about 30 seconds and couldn't hold myself back any longer when I explained to her with enough alarm that I think it sank in... the non-word that she was saying was actually a bad word and we are not allowed to say it.

Not more than 10 seconds later William was standing atop the rocking chair (totally not allowed!) when he was waving his arms around and saying in a silly voice "is fook a bad word?! We can say 'fook' though Katie! ... 'fook! fook!' which quickly turned into the bad version as well! Again I acted in astonishment and couldn't believe that they had just so happened upon these two non-words of their's within a matter of seconds!

Following our brief but matter-of-fact conversation about both of those words I walked out of their room into the bathroom and Katie yelled after me,

"We can say 'shirt' though, right?! Because its a piece of clothing! Shirt! Shirt! Shirt!"... as she and William chanted every version you can think of whilst playing dress up in their room.

You've got to be joking.

Just more Deck the Halls...

The kids and my garland... yep, I love it. Love everything about Christmas... did I mention we're putting our Christmas lights up on the house next week?

Good stuff.

Deck the halls...

Katie has been walking around the house aimlessly singing songs like,

(to the tune of "The more we get together")

"I'm glad I'm not a turkey, a turkey, a turkey... I'm glad I'm not a turkey on Thanksgiving Day.
We'll stuff you and cook you and eat you for dinner... I'm glad I'm not a turkey on Thanksgiving Day."

... and to be quite honest with you, I'm not even in the Thanksgiving mood yet. Its still a few weeks away!

On the contrary, this afternoon I was beyond excited - and ready - to buy my pre-lit garland at Costco, come home, put the kids down for naps and begin unraveling it and hanging it... I still have the tedious task ahead of me of spreading each and every twig from the crammed state that it was in for efficient packaging but that can wait... for today I'm simply enjoying the festiveness of the lights as I walk in the door.