Family

"What can you do to promote world peace?  

Go home and love your family."

Mother Teresa

This year I pray for lots of world peace.

Brothers

Sometimes Being A Brother Is Even Better Than Being A Superhero.

                                                                

              

A Face With Many Sides

On any given day I clean a face like this ten times.  It amazes me how a face can get so messy with so many different things.  I could feed a starving child with the remnants from my child's face alone! My love for my children should never come into question, because even through this mess, I see a face with smoochable cheeks.

But, for real, that face is gross!

First Annual Halloween Party

We had our first annual Halloween party this year.  Halloween is my favorite holiday to celebrate with the kids. I rallied the help of friends and family and got to planning! Here's a couple shots from our fun night!

Justin and Dixie drove all the way from Austin to party with us!

It's always fun to see work friends outside of work!

One of the entertainment stops was the Beanboozled jelly beans.  Two jelly beans that look the same and until you eat them you don't know if you're eating say, canned dog food or chocolate pudding!  Ew!!  The bucket in the middle was for the disgusting jelly beans that couldn't be eaten and had to be spit out.  

 

No Bergman party is complete without lots and lots of food!

 

Thanks to Groupon we even had a lovely bouncy house. 

This picture doesn't show our craft room very well.  But, we covered the room in plastic--straight Dexter style, for those who watched the show--and had the kids paint pumpkins.  It was great because at the end of the night I rolled up all the paint, dirty brushes, and mess and tossed it all away.  Easiest clean up ever.  Who'da thought you could get party tips from a show about a serial killer??

 And, if you've watched Dexter then you should recognize Alex's costume.

I have the happiest memory as a kid of going to a Halloween party where they had a 'feel box.'  A covered box you stick your hand into and touch things like intestines (cold spaghetti noodles) or Jello-molded brains, hearts, and ears. 

Alex brought over his hungry snakes and the kids got to get up close and personal while they ate rats.  

Sometimes the circle of life is quite scary.  The kids loved it!

 

The crowd around the hungry snakes!

A group of little girls took notice of Dixie's craft skills and she immediately found herself with new friends.  Who knew all the things you could make from pipe cleaners?!

Another of the game stations was popping candy-filled balloons with darts.  These balloons took a long time to stuff and pin and a very short time to pop and enjoy.

With a lot of help we turned the upstairs into a haunted house.  There was a wickedly-dressed witch (G-Jo) that led the kids through.  The kids were led into a bathroom to find Alex laying lifeless in the bathtub covered in his snakes and then into a bedroom where a very tall Terrance slowly rose up to greet them.  They had to bravely walk past a strobe light bloody curtain with scary creatures popping out into a dark room with a glow-stick man walking towards them.  I heard a couple of the kids say "lame" but quite a few more went through to be scared over and over.  

S-C-A-R-Y!

In between kids coming through our glow man, Cameron, showed us his best Dougie skills. 

Harrison went dressed as his favorite video game, Minecraft.

Cannon, very appropriately dressed, as the Hulk.

Gavin as Iron Patriot.

The Halloween party committee (me and mom) have already started our planning for next year!

A Date With Batman

Gavin was home sick with strep throat last week.  His fever kept him from going to school, but with antibiotics on board he felt much better.  With Harrison at school and Cannon at preschool it left rare alone time with Gavin.  We decided to have a "date" and go to breakfast at Cracker Barrel. Being in a family with three kids, alone time with no  battle for attention, is rare.  To know Gavin means you know how much he loves attention. And, oh yeah, he decided last minute to dress up as Batman.

Batman thought ordering a Root Beer in the bottle was extra cool.  

We kept having to 'cheers' our glasses together. 

When I asked Gavin to smile, he very seriously told me--in the best Bruce Wayne voice he could-- "Batman doesn't smile.  His parents are dead and he must avenge their death."  

It's unfortunate that it took being sick to have this one-on-one time.  We really had a good time together.  Without other brothers to interrupt, Gavin had my undivided attention.  And, not to hate on those momma's to just one out there, but it was so easy.  Easy to keep up with him, easy to maneuver in and out of the car, easy to make decisions.  Like, manineedtodothismoreofteneasy.

I decided I need to not wait for an illness to have these easy dates with my boys.  A date with a healthy child would probably be even more fun!  Oh! The places we could go! That is my mission--more alone time with each one of my boys.  A year from now I hope to see a stamp on this post saying "DONE.  MISSION ACCOMPLISHED"



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Gavin Bieber

At the ripe ol' age of five Gavin is already very aware of clothing, hair, and styles of the people around him.  He's particular about how he looks and what he wears.  I remember at his age already wanting my clothes and hair to look a certain way, so I get it.  I have no problem letting Gavin be Gavin.

He decided some months ago he wanted his hair to look like Justin Bieber...circa 2009.  This took some dedication to grow because he got a nice summer buzz in June.   But, persisted he did, and finally it was long enough to shape into the Biebster.  I watched a couple You Tube videos on how to achieve the modern 'bowl' haircut and felt confident enough to get to styling.

Before.

Before.

Move over, Justin, there's a new heart throb in town and he goes by the name of Geedge.

Not a bad job, right??  I was kinda proud of myself!

As for Harrison, he wanted his tried and true buzz.  "Mom, I want it short enough that I can take a super fast shower and I don't have to brush it in the morning before school."  I have no problem letting Harrison be Harrison either. 

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Differences

The difference between Harrison and Gavin is stark.  I'm not sure there could be more opposite.  It makes parenting that much more challenging.  What encourages one disables the other and what is easy for one seems impossible for the other. As for Cannon, his young personality is still presenting itself, but, so far, he definitely is filling the name of Cannon quite well.  It really gives teeth to the idea that we're born with our personality. 

When kicked off electronics this is what Harrison does in his free time.....

 And what Gavin does in his free time.


Over the years I've often thought about what Father Charlie said in church one day--how the family we are born into is one of the things we don't choose in life, it's chosen for us.  And instead of begrudging our family for what it is or isn't, we should ask ourselves why it is God put us where he did.  What purpose do we serve to the people that make up our family?  As my boys grow older and their differences more vast, I can see where it might be easy for them to drift apart. My prayer for them is that their brotherly and family bond makes them see they are greater than the sum of their parts.  Meaning, if they have each other's back, tackling the setbacks together, they will go so much further....

Because, after all, the ties that bind them are stronger than their differences could divide.

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Has Anyone Seen My Lost Mojo?

Help!  I have completely lost my writing mojo!  This blog has missed out on some monumental life events, crazy funny kid stories, and even just some random thoughts.  

I keep looking for the inspiration.  It has to be around here somewhere.  I have lots of half-written posts just waiting for a final word to wrap it up and I Just.Can't.Do.It.

Hang in there with me blog of mine.  I will be back.  I am determined not to leave you in bloggy abyss.