Our weekend...

Our weekend has been fantastic... William being 'somewhat cooperative' as I worked on lighting; the kids' new Halloween Costumes ($22/costume -- spendy for us BUT will be used as dress up for years); our BBQ with the Kalous' on Saturday... nothing better than dessert and a cosmo, a lot of kids entertaining themselves and 'twinsies'.

A Day with Six Kids.

What a wonderful afternoon it has been.

My dear friend, Rachel, and her husband were off for an evening away to celebrate their anniversary; consequently, I got to host their three beautiful girls for the afternoon before shuttling them off to their Aunt's house for the night... if I could walk around with a voice recorder, I'd copy it, package it and sell it to YOU because this post will only give you a taste of the joy these six FANTASTIC children brought me throughout the last several hours...

First of all enjoy some shots of these hooligans - you know me, I love shots.





This evening as I was driving the Kalous girls to their Aunt's home, Ava exclaimed, "YOUR van is fast!" "How many is your van, Krista?" She leaned to the right and called up to the front of the van, "Our's isn't very fast cause its 10. How many is your's?!"

"Uh... this van is 8," as I looked in my rearview mirror and caught Ava's very calculated face looking back at me. She leaned back and looked out her window as though she had just figured it out...

"Yep. That's why its so fast, Krista... yours is faster because its 8. Ours is 10 and its not this fast."

(Note for the reader: Rachel drives a '99 Honda Odyssey and I drive an '01 Honda Odyssey - the ONLY difference between our vans is the exterior color)

I chuckled to myself as I thought about her mental picture of how 'old' her van is and how 'young' our van is and how that equates to human aging. The best part was yet to come though...

I turned on 530 AM radio real quick as I passed a roadside sign alarming drivers of highway closures. Ava spoke up immediately and said, 'hey! Krista?! What is this?' (referring to the AM radio's scratchy, barely audible vocals)

"This tells me where the highway is closed and where the construction is happening..."

Again, Ava took a deep breath and shrugged her shoulders as though the information shouldn't be so shocking. "Our van doesn't have this kind of radio... its older and it doesn't have this. My Mom can't find out where the construction workers are working when she's driving." I laughed to the point of tears... to myself, of course, because her heart was set on this reality that she had discovered and I couldn't tell her differently. It was too fantastic and I didn't want to blow it.

The rest of the car trip included dinosaur sounds, pig 'oinking' and I taught them how to squeal like a pig. You're welcome, Rachel.

Other great moments during the day included:

Ava: "Krista, I was born from a green egg, right?"

Harper: "I love you too." (I hadn't even said I loved her! So sweet.)

The girls loved the Spanish version of the song, "Reflection", from the movie Mulan.

There was a LOT of pirates and princesses played at our house today...

They painted rocks found in the back yard... they picked blackberries (images above)... took naps and quiet times - which I walked in on and found a barely alive patient (Ava) being helped by a nurse (Katie) as William stood around assisting. I guess the scarf over Ava's face and the 'Little People' plastic road sign sticking out of her mouth was healing because before long they were out of quiet time and running around again jumping, squealing, talking over each other and dancing...

Oh, here's some more shots:





What a good day.

Day of the Goats

Upon opening my front door today I witnessed 'pellet-poop' and my concerns went through the roof. My fleeting desire to consider other rental properties was not so fleeting anymore... I wanted OUT. Enough with little yard spiders... enough with the 'new construction' extremely LARGE, HAIRY brown spiders... enough with wasps' nests and spider webs... enough with weeds galore due to the wild flowers growing behind the property... ENOUGH ENOUGH ENOUGH!

But nothing could have prepared me for what was hiding just around the corner of the house.

As I descended my front steps four little goats walked around to greet me... FOUR REALLY CUTE BABY GOATS! I live on a street with your average cookie-cutter newly built homes, yards the size of a postage stamp and minivans to boot. We Moms will PAY for petting zoos! Nobody told me I would be entertaining my children with a petting zoo in the privacy of my own yard FOR FREE. No little van with a trailer hooked up to it screaming 'BRINGING THE ZOO TO YOU' on the side, no 4-H people herding them towards the children, no signs that say 'PLEASE WASH HANDS AS YOU EXIT'. Nope... on this day I was being blessed by the Lord God Almighty with something that I couldn't have paid for had I wanted to. These goats were ours until somebody noticed them gone... so I admit, I ran inside (naively leaving the door open), grabbed my camera and shuttled a goat out of my entryway. I scrambled to get some shots as the kids giggled and screamed...



He's PEEING on my doorstep. The nerve.





Even the builders thought they were undeniably adorable to hang out with.





I can hear William now, 'You. Don't. Poop. On. Someone's. Driveway.'





'FREE' is a relative term...

Dreamy.

The most recent Berges Beach Family Reunion took place just this past week. We arrived in Salem, Oregon in waves. Kyle, the kids, my sister-in-law and I had arrived, eaten dinner downstairs at the restaurant and jumped quickly into our swimsuits... we were swimming in the indoor pool when everyone else began to arrive...

Uncle David, Aunt Lesley and baby Emma... Uncle Geoff (who was quickly greeted by his eager wife, Jennifer, who hadn't seen him in days)... Aunt Hannah and Grandpa and Grandma Berges peaked their faces through the window of the door leading out to the pool area. We hopped out of the pool, dripping wet and excitedly opened the door. The kids screamed and began frantically trying to explain ten things at once as everyone filed in... 'I swam on the lifesaver all by myself!' 'We ate dinner and then put on our swimsuits!' 'Auntie Jen rode here with us in our van!' 'Is Baby Emma coming swimming now?!' 'WE HAVE ONE MORE SLEEP UNTIL THE BEACH!' 'Hi Grandpa, Hi Grandma!'... and on and on. Everyone's eyes were as big as saucers while the kids rambled about this and that asking questions so hurriedly there was no time for an answer. Soon they all waved goodbye as they took off to fill their bellies with dinner. Kyle and I kept swimming with the kids in hopes of wearing them out just enough to sleep hard and get us one step closer to a pleasant final leg of our trip the following morning. Salem to Lincoln City, Oregon.

****

We arrived at the beautiful Oregon Coast Sunday afternoon, August 9th. We're always so anxious to see the beach house that we leave the cars packed up until we've investigated every crook and cranny of every room. We discuss the sleeping situation and hurriedly begin unpacking each family's items into their spaces... I often unpack EVERYTHING right off the bat so that I feel at home and under control as we begin what will be a week of sandy clothes, wonderful late night conversation, laughter, crab feasts, shopping and playing. Not to mention THIS YEAR would be the celebration of my Dad's 60th Birthday... and we had big plans.

Sunday and Monday were spent getting prepared for my Dad's celebration. We attached poster board onto each of 60 paint stir sticks. On each of those pieces of poster board we had written memories, characteristics that remind us of Dad, love notes, thank you notes, pictures that represented something... at 4pm the next day they were left on the beach for my Dad to retrieve on his late afternoon walk. He walked onto the beach with my Mom and noticed the first sign. As he looked up the beach ahead of him he saw an endless trail of signs and he began to walk...

All the while up at the beach house we were frantically decorating the outdoor patio, getting the BBQ meal prepared, dressing up into casual/dress attire and we made it out onto the patio just in time to sing 'Happy Birthday' to Dad as he and Mom walked down the road to the beach house. In his arms he held 60 signs that I'm sure will be saved for years to come. He was smiling from ear to ear as were the rest of us... the celebration had only just begun.












It was a week full of moments that were fun, thought-provoking, painful, restorative, joyful, tearful, momentous, unifying, passionate, selfless, encouraging, edifying, irritating, messy, sandy and wet, exhausting and above all, memorable.

Thank you everyone for this past week. Thank you Mom and Dad for continuing to prioritize this time with all of us... we love you and can't wait for next year!