Thanksgiving #2

Around 5:30 we crossed town to Mark's mom's house where we had another delicous dinner and great company.

Here's Turkey #2

And the sweet potatoe pie and my spinach salad (I sure got off easy this year with the cooking!)

And my niece Jessica, who is going to have a baby, like, any minute, with her husband Saeng.

John carving the turkey

And my littlest nephew, Charles, who after finding out Jessica had a baby in her stomach, walked around the kitchen poking his little tummy out as far as it could go, saying he had a baby too.

And Mark's sister, Karen with her kids.

Unfortunately, after a couple of cranberry martinis, I forgot to take any more pictures, so I have none of Liz, Nana, or Amanda. Bad photographer!

Thanksgiving #1 (The afternoon addition)

We had 2 dinners to go to this year. We started off at my sister's house around 1:30

The turkey:

Here's my mommy stirring the gravy.

One of the many shots of Alivia on too much Mountain Dew.

Madi eating her blackberry pie. (There were 4 delicious pies!)

Mason and my dad... looking thrilled as always!

Dave holding the yummy turkey he just carved.


Cheryl trying to help Kyla get a piece of lemon meringue. Kyla had never had meringue before. She said it "tasted like outside".

And Alyssa making a funny face at Kyla. She's still adorable, though!

And Mark and I...

Hope you all had a great Thanksgiving!

Holidays in Hand

In order to help me better prepare for my December Daily, I signed up for a free class at jessicasprague.com called "Holidays in Hand". I was surprised to see that the content ended today, but I am actually kind of relieved because when I am back at work next week I need to be careful not to overdo it! So, in this class, Jessica has prompts for the 1-31 of December for this year's celebration and to remember things from holidays past. These prompts came all spruced up by her awesome digital scrapbooking self. Our first job was to make some kind of a "holder" to display the prompts in our homes where we would see them every day. I completed mine yesterday. It is sitting on top of my microwave in the kitchen. I can't wait until December 1, so I can get to work!

Happy Monday

What a happy Monday...
I took my dog for 2 walks.
I had a doctor's appointment that was not too horrible.
I watched "Ellen".
I worked on my classroom memory books.
I did dishes and laundry.
I made a super easy dinner (chicken quesadillas, rice and beans).
I watched 2 hours of sitcoms on CBS.
I worked on my "Holidays in Hand" stuff.
I talked to my mommy on the phone.
I did not yell at my daughter.

And the sun shined down on all of it.

December Daily

Long ago in 2005, I made a scrapbook documenting the season of Advent.

This year, I have decided to take on a December Daily. I copied this idea from the famous and talented Ms. Ali Edwards. I actually even copied much of the backgrounds of my pages from looking at her blog. Today I finished the background... and it's coming out pretty cool. Thanks Ali!
Here are pictures of the cover and a peek at the pages. I hope to post more later... maybe when the pages are complete.

Oh! I am also taking a terrific class over at Jessica Sprague's website... Details from that coming soon.

Braces

Tomorrow the boy gets his braces off! It's been 4 years since we've seen his pearly whites without metal on top of them.... I can't wait!

Hang the Man

Each of my classes has a "personality" of its own, but this year my class us LOADED with personality. Now that they are more settled in, we are having a blast! One thing I do at the end of the day (if we are ready early) is play Hang Man. The first time I played it with this class, someone shouted out "We're playing Hang the Man. I know this game." And the name has stuck. One of my sweet students now likes to play 'Hang the Man' at home with her family, and she wrote this.
It says:
Mrs. Bergenske teaches us to write.
I love it.