Insight Bowl 2010

Adam won tickets to the Insight Bowl through Intel. He and I had a great time at the game. Missouri & Iowa were playing and Iowa ended up taking the game in the last few minutes of the game. This was Adam's first bowl game and I think he enjoyed all of the festivities!! We had great seats right on the 50 yard line!! The bands were a highlight for me of course!! We were able to see skydivers bring in the game ball & fireworks :) We stayed for the first half and then finished watching in the warm comfort of our living room!!

Arizona Cardinals Kids Camp

Adam was able to attend a football camp on Wednesday inside the Arizona Cardinals practice facilities. He had a great time participating, but I think his dad had an even better time watching his son!! Adam was able to catch a ball tossed to him by Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie #29. He even signed Adam's ball and lunch box :) Adam was excited to have his picture taken with Big Red as well :)

Adam's favorite activity was hitting the tackle dummies.

Dad was very impressed with how well Adam did on this exercise. He said that Adam was very fast and thorough :) When Adam came home and told us about his day he showed us his 2010 Cardinals team picture and how he wrote on the back. He wrote Seshlday (Special day) Football Camp Dec. 28th 7 yrs old!!

Christmas 2010

Smiles All Around
Christmas morning was an early one even for our early risers!! We were all nestled in our beds until we heard a big bang coming from down stairs. Our creature stirring was none other than Alex!! He had fun looking at the tree and just had to touch :)
Santa brought letters to Adam, Addison & Alex this year to express his gratitude and thoughts on them giving up their presents from Mom & Dad to provide for children less fortunate than them. Earlier this month we took the kids to a store for Family Home Evening & gave them $25.00 in ones for them to buy presents for children their own ages. The toys went to the Children's Abuse Shelter of Phoenix. Addison had a fun time picking out the gifts, but when it came to paying for them and giving them away tears flowed and she truly had a heavy heart. I think it made her feel very good to know that Santa was aware of her and that Heavenly Father was proud of her. Adam and Alex were excited for their letters as well. Adam was happy to be given the title of a "Good Young Man". Alex was excited to see that Santa knew he liked pirates. He even took a picture of himself dressed as a Pirate Santa (peg leg & all) and put the picture in his letter!!

Amelia's First Christmas
Our littlest angel enjoyed her first Christmas. She wasn't completely sure what was going on, but she knew she liked it! She had fun opening presents with Daddy & figuring out it was okay to tear the paper and have it make noise :)

All of our little ones enjoyed their gifts. Adam worked for a few hours and built his Lego Star Wars figures. The rest of his day was spent playing with his Legos and new train. Alex has enjoyed playing with Veggie Pirate Ship. He loves it so much that he brought it to Christmas dinner. Alex also got a Sit & Spin which he has enjoyed. He sat an rocked back and forth while watching a movie last night. Addison received a new doll as well as barbies and a lot of clothes and purses.
As our Christmas season is coming to a close we are very grateful for our wonderful family and friends. I have truly enjoyed each Christmas card and family letter. The pictures have been wonderful. May you each enjoy the rest of this holiday season and have a fantastic New Year. Thank you for your love and continued prayers and happy thoughts! Love, Jennie

Christmas Eve

Christmas Eve was full of fun family...we enjoyed Sombrero Dip, Green Chili Enchiladas, Homemade Salsa & Empanalitas. We set our a few luminarias outside after dinner. The kids had a great time following Santa's route on the internet (Lil Adam even called Grandma, Grandpa & his cousin Jacob in D.C. to see if they had seen Santa yet!) and making him a plate of cookies & cocoa. The kids enjoyed their own cups of cocoa with marshmallows and then we read the story of the first Christmas.

Garden Christmas Lights

Our family has created a fun tradition here in Arizona during the Christmas holiday. Dinner at a fun pizza joint called Organ Stop and then going to the Mesa Temple to enjoy the lights & the Nativity. We went on Thursday night and it was nice to listen to the kids and how they wanted to see Mary & Joseph. Adam knew that beneath the star he would find the Baby Jesus. Amelia enjoyed the lights and music.

Happy Thoughts

Zoo Lights
Saturday night we took the kids to Zoo Lights. We have always enjoyed the lights in the shapes of animals and bugs!! We had to wait in line to get in which ended up being the only pictures that we took all night. We enjoyed seeing the dancing trees and Jengo the talking giraffe. Jengo talked to Alex and Addison and he even knew their names :)

Tulips in December
I went out to meet the bus last week and there was a 1-800-Flowers box propped up against the wall. I was overwhelmed and then I opened the box and tears started streaming down my face. I was excited to see my favorite flowers lying in the box just waiting for me to take them out and admire them. I have enjoyed watching them this past week and am very grateful for the happy thoughts I have had every time they have caught my eye. Thanks Mom, for thinking of me!

Our Christmas Elves
A family has chosen us for the 12 Days of Christmas. What a joy this has brought to our family. We have had a fun time putting the stocking on the door each day and checking to see what our Christmas Elf left us each morning. This has truly been a highlight of the holidays for us this year. Thank you Christmas Elves!!

35 Years & The Best is Yet to Come!

My parents are celebrating their 35th wedding anniversary today. Growing up I can always remember my parents loving one another. I can remember while I was in high school...my parents flirted in the kitchen and enjoyed showing affection towards one another. I was weirded out then, but am very grateful now for the example of true love and companionship. Looking back that affection brought comfort to me, knowing that they loved one another. I know how lucky I am to have had such a great example of true love and devotion. No matter what they were having to conquer at the time (school, work, raising 5 kids, house burning down, etc.) my parents have battled together. Now that I am a parent and raising my own children and trying to be my best, I recognize what an extraordinary task that was and is.
I am grateful for loving parents and their example, they are truly a strength for me on my hardest days. I hope that in 35 years I can say that my sons/daughter served honorable missions, all of my children have graduated from college and gone on to further their educations, been married in the House of the Lord & are raising their own families in righteousness. I am smart enough to know that without my parents efforts not only to themselves, but our family I would not be who and where I am today and I am grateful.

Congratulations Mom & Dad!

From here until Eternity!

Gingerbread Fun...

Over the past few weeks we have been enjoying a few Christmas projects!
We started with decorating our very own Gingerbread Men/Women.
After we decorated our little people we enjoyed taking a bite!

Last night the kids decorated our gingerbread house. Alex was in charge of the gingerbread men, Addison took care of the tree and Adam worked on the majority of the house. Addison helped out once her trees were done. The house is great and is now being displayed on our bookcase high above little fingers :)

Look at Me Grow

Amelia is 11 months today!! She is standing alone now and starting to take steps. She is very leery, but she really wants to keep up with her siblings. She is starting to find her voice which unfortunately is a loud screech. We are hoping that in the end she finds a quieter one :) Amelia is very happy & full of life. Every time she hears music she dances. We have attached a video so that you can enjoy her dancing as much as we do :)

Church Christmas Party

We kicked off the Christmas season with a party at church! The theme was Christmas Movies. Families were paired to tables that were decorated and centered around a movie. We sat at the table of It's a Wonderful Life. We enjoyed a wonderful meal and entertainment. Clips of each of the movies were shown and carols were sung. At the end of the night the children were visited by Santa. Alex didn't make it to the end of the evening (he fell asleep), but he enjoyed dressing up as Santa at home!! Later that week Alex saw Santa at the mall & his hospital. Santa was in a firetruck which Alex LOVED!!!

Thanksgiving 2010

We were very excited to have Uncle Jared, Grandma Greg & Nanee visit for Thanksgiving.

A full & happy bunch of Berniger's!! Nanee & Uncle Jared took Addison & Adam to Tangled in 3-D. Addison came home singing and announcing that she wanted long hair like the movie!!

Amelia loved her first Thanksgiving meal! She started with her own plate and then moved onto the leftovers sitting next to her!!

Grandma's & Grandpa's Visit

Grandma & Grandpa slipped into town late November 10th. When the kids woke up the next morning they were so excited to have Grandpa & Grandma visiting. We had such a wonderful time during our visit. Grandma & Grandpa took the kids to see Mega Mind. Addison & Adam were instant fans!! The Zoo was a fun day, were were able to visit the koala bears that had just arrived here in Phoenix.
Adam joined the chess club at school and since Grandpa was visiting Adam got to play chess with his Grandpa. He loved that and is still talking about the game!
Most of all we just enjoyed having Grandpa & Grandma around to play/visit with.

Sunday Best

I promised a picture of Amelia's new smile! If you click on the picture above you get a great view of her new teeth :) Amelia is continuing to make get strides each day. She is crawling throughout the house and is standing up and cruising around the family room along the furniture. She loves playing outside with the kids and feeding herself. She has had enough baby food...she is ready to do it herself :) She truly is a joy and makes us smile everyday!

Halloween Fun!

Lunch Time Fun
The kids and I enjoyed making and eating yummy caramel apples. As you can see Addison's has pink Nerds, Alex's was M&Ms and Adam's had Reese Pieces.

Mummy & Friends Dinner
Tonight we dined on Mummies (Angus dogs & roll dough) with witches, ghosts, pumpkins & bats (potatoes). The kids had a fun time using cookie cutters on potatoes. They really had to use their muscles:) For our last course we enjoyed a worm infested grave yard with ghosts (pudding, crushed Oreos & meringue) .

Halloween Surprises!
We enjoyed a few good surprises today!! Alex has really enjoyed getting into costumes this week! I have been surprised by this because he hates being in clothes :) He doesn't tend to stay in the outfits very long, but he takes advantage of every moment. Yesterday we were watching the Gator play football and he dug out the costume to wear. After church today he wanted to be a gator again and he added his Dad's tie. He had it on backwards, but I switched and tighten it for the photo. Dad surprised the kids tonight and took them Trick or Treating to a few houses. Adam has a friend at Intel that lives close to us and he took the kids to his home as well as a few neighbors. Our finale surprise of the evening came right at bed time. We sent the kids upstairs to get in their pj's and brush their teeth. We heard crying upstairs and realized in was Adam. He came down stairs and his mouth was bleeding! He was loosing a tooth, but he was very adamant that he wanted to wait for it to fall out while eating rather than having Dad help pull it out. After he calmed down a little bit though and let Dad take a look his tooth came out. He was very excited that he lost his tooth on Halloween and has a good photo to commemorate the occasion:)

Our Festive Yard
We always enjoy decorating our yard for the holidays. The kids pumpkins were AWESOME! I love Lil Adam's masterpiece. The disco ball and fog machine are always a big hit. We kept our lights on until 8:30 tonight, I stopped the moment an adult woman with her teens had her own bag for treats!! I always enjoy seeing the neighborhood little ones dressed up though, so much fun for me :)

Bedtime Treats
After the kids came home we enjoyed one piece of candy along with dry ice and root beer (diet of course) ! Each of the kids enjoyed playing with the dry ice, that has become a fun tradition for our little ones. Adam has been learning about liquids, gases & solids in science so Dad explained that the dry ice going from a solid to a gas is called a phase change.
Happy Halloween!!!!

Trunk or Treat

We had a great time at our church's Trunk or Treat. Our family felt the "Force" this evening!! Dad was Han Solo, Mommy was Yoda, Lil Adam was Darth Vader, Addison was Princess Leia, Alex was a young Jedi & Amelia was Princess Padme. Adam made it to every trunk on the lot, Addison drank a gallon of yummy homemade root beer & filled her candy bag! Alex didn't quite make it around to all of the cars, but he had a great time playing & helping Amelia & Mommy pass out candy.
Our family brought our disco ball and fog machine to decorate our trunk. We hung up our black sheets and created a fun atmosphere. After the candy ran out we enjoyed a little dancing :) What a fun activity!!!

Fall Festival at School

Tonight we went to the boy's school Fall Festival. For the record Addison had one as well, but Adam was a lot more excited and I don't think Addison knew the difference! Addison dressed up as Princess Tiana, Alex was a Lion. Adam was testing out Darth Vader (with the mask) because tomorrow at the Trunk or Treat he will be going without it. When Adam was 6 months old I made a honey pot to go along with my Pooh costume that I used to wear for our school festivals when I taught. Since Amelia is my last little one I thought it would be fun to dust off the Pooh Costume and enjoy my honey one last time!!

We enjoyed the Cake Walk, but as much as we played (5 times) none of us ever won...

The boys are next to their pumpkins in the first photo, but these are the pictures of the pumpkin walk all a glow!

Games were enjoyed by all the kids. The kids won vampire teeth fishing & candy at the other games. Ms. B's little girl was excited to meet Winne the Pooh. We took a picture with one another and then Alex & Addison joined in :) Ms. B's little girl wasn't the only one to be excited by my costume. I was really surprised how excited the kids were when the saw me. I had older students giving my high fives and well as hugs, and the little kids would just stare in awe. What a great time it was to be Pooh again :) All in all we had a great time and are now gearing up for the Trunk or Treat tomorrow night. May The Force Be With Us!!!

A Week of Partying!

Addison started our week of parties off on Tuesday! Her class performed wonderful songs (I attached a video), played games & enjoyed yummy snacks. Addison is pictured with her friend Amy. Addison truly enjoys school and was very excited that her Daddy got to play with her at the party!

Thursday was Alex's class party/field trip! Ms. B had all of the students meet at a park so that the kids could dress up! Alex is very into pirates right now so I dug out Captain Hook. He was over the moon excited. When we arrived we were met by Peter Pan aka Ms. B :)

Alex had a great time playing on the playground, decorating his cookie and his pumpkin. When we returned home Alex continued to play pirates off and on all day getting into the outfit over and over again!!

Dad went to Adam's class party today to finish up the week of fun! Adam created a mummy cup to hold his goodies! The class started a conga line and Dad said that by the end the whole class was cracking up and participating in the fun!

What's That Smell....

As the first pumpkin of the year was being cut into tonight Adam remarked..."That smells like poop!" We quickly corrected him so that the other little ones wouldn't go along with the comment and the carving continued!! Addison loved pulling the guts from the pumpkin and playing with the seeds in the bowl. Adam on the other hand wasn't excited about cleaning his pumpkin out at all. We told him that it was a must if his pumpkin was going to be seen at school tomorrow so he toughed it out!

Mommy helped Alex with his pumpkin and Daddy helped Addison with hers. Addison loved getting to design her pumpkins teeth so that it looks like the pumpkin lost teeth too! She also enjoyed getting to be the person to poke the pieces out once they had been carved.
This was a big day for Adam! As his Dad put it "I am a quarter out of a job tonight!" Lil Adam is so excited to have his pumpkin on display tomorrow night at school. He was able to design, paint and carve his pumpkin completely on his own! He was very proud of himself :)

All in all the kids had a great time!! We will be excited to see Adam's glowing in the Pumpkin Parade tomorrow night. Sunday night his pumpkin will return to our front porch to join Addison's and Alex's pumpkins for a very hauntingly lit door way :)

Oh Happy Day!

I woke up to a rowdy crowd yesterday!! The kids were so excited to have balloons and to bring me breakfast in bed! Waffles were on the menu with hear sprinkles :) What a great way to start the day. Between running from appointments with Addison and Alex I enjoyed a fennel and chicken soup for lunch. Adam and the kids surprised me and we went out for dinner at My Big Fat Greek Restaurant. We we arrived back home we enjoyed cake and opened cards.
I had a wonderful day and am still enjoying my flowers sitting above the television :) Thank you for all of the kind wishes and birthday cards :)
P.S. I don't know if you can tell, but Alex got to the cake and did his own decorating!!!

Who is Knocking at My Door!!!!

Might just be the Berniger's!! Tonight for Family Home Evening we Booed a few families in our neighborhood. For those of you that don't know what that is...we make a plate of treats (pumpkin cookies, mini cupcakes & a plastic pumpkin full of Halloween foam stickers) and drop them off at the door, ring the bell and run :) Dad has always been our get away man and tonight Amelia was our siren (not a happy participant)!! Mommy, Adam, Addison & Alex would all hop from the van run to the door and take turns ringing the doorbell.
On one of the home we drove past the front door as the Dad of the family was picking up the treats off the front steps. All at once the kids started screaming in unison "THEY GOT IT!". It was so fun to let them have that experience. We have done this activity for the past few years, but this year they really had a blast. Adam would sneak up to the houses like and mouse and Alex and Addison would run to be first...So much fun to watch them growing up :)

Fall Break

Each October our Arizona kids get a week of Fall Break to enjoy some nice weather!! Don't worry they take it from their summer vacation time :) This break we had a lot of fun activities. We spent time at the zoo, saw a movie, played and ate lunch at our favorite golden arches as well as decorate our yard with straw and scarecrows. As you can see above the zoo was a big hit!!

Each of the kids were able to create their own faces for their pumpkins this year. After they drew what they wanted or explained what they wanted to their big brother and had him draw it for them. Daddy helped Alex and Addison put their faces on their pumpkins. Adam is growing up so much that he created his pumpkin all by himself. After their pumpkins had their own faces the kids painted them. We put them outside on the straw, but Addison's pumpkin (the one in the middle) started cooking and sinking in on the top due to the fall weather here in Arizona. We have brought them inside and will carve them on Thursday night! Lil Adam is very excited about the opportunity he will have to show off his pumpkin. His school is having a Fall Festival and they are allowing the students to bring their pumpkins to school so that they can create a pumpkin walk. We will be sure to take pictures :)

9 Months on Wednesday!!!

Amelia will be 9 months on Wednesday and to celebrate she is dancing, pulling herself up & crawling! She and her big brother Adam have a very special relationship. Adam enjoys playing with her a lot and has even started getting her from her crib and bringing her down stairs. He is becoming such a strong young man, but he has always been a wonderful big brother!!

Conference weekend was full of firsts for Amelia as well. She enjoyed her waffles and ice cream as well as helping to make cinnamon rolls with her mom. Feeding herself has become a very enjoyable and messy thing for Amelia :) The bottom left had picture is at Sweet Tomatoes where she is enjoying her mac & cheese.

Yesterday after the kids set off for school Amelia was playing in the living room. I heard her getting upset and it sounded like she was stuck in the corner and couldn't turn around. When I headed to the corner I noticed she wasn't stuck there, but inside the end table!!! She worked herself out of the whole all by herself though. Mommy was very proud of her and as you can see from her smile she was pretty pleased with herself as well :)
Below is a little video of Amelia enjoying her Jump-a-roo. Amelia had a lot of first in her 8th month...I am excited to see what is next for her. She broke her first tooth, but it hasn't moved out enough for a picture yet, so we will be sending those photos out next!!

Fun at School

Alex's teacher Ms. B is wonderful!! She takes the time to post pictures on the school web site a lot. The pictures above were taken the first month of school. As you can see Alex enjoys all of the hands on experiences he has there.

A race car driver brought a few of his cars and trophies for the kids to enjoy. As you can see Alex is entranced with the trophies. He was just staring at the details of each one.

The local Policeman, Firemen & Waste Management crews came to visit their preschool class as well. Alex had didn't want to leave school on this particular day. I was told that getting him on the bus was quite a challenge!! Alex is progressing so well. He is communicating a lot more and is able to have more good days than bad. We are very grateful for Ms. B and her Teacher Assistance and we look forward to the rest of the fun they will have this year! If you are interested in his classroom website just ask!!