Catch up time!!

Christmas in NC was as wonderful as ever! Starting it off with wreath fun w/ the girls to finish up the week with dinner with Mike & Kim 12/26. I love all the Holiday with family & friends. Amazing how as you get older the gift exchanging is not near as exciting as just 'getting together'!! We made it 6 days before Cooper got the Flu. Sadly Morgan & Emily had spent the night before he woke up with a fever. So poor Morgan got it a couple days later. Spencer & I got on medicine just to prevent. Poor Coop struggled through all the holiday events, but did it like a champ! Oh, Kadi & Ian got engaged the weekend before Christmas!! That is exciting for all of us. They plan to get married 5/4 at our house and she wants me to plan it :)) fun, but distant might hurt some :)) After Christmas, we had Cooper's 6th birthday party at Masterpiece Makers with 11 friends to paint Dinosaurs... Then invited more to the house after for cake & ice cream!! Good times! Brooks spent the night, so that made the day. Todd came back to CO on 27th and me & boys flew back out on 29th. Sad leaving NC for 6 weeks this time!! But we have Disney fun in Jan. so we'll get to see some of our NC family. Guess we'll FaceTime with the rest! But after Daytona we'll be home for a while & will make up for lost time :) Boys did great on the flight both slept about 2 hrs of the 3.5 hour flight. We landed 10:05pm (which felt like 12:05 NC time). Yesterday was Cooper's birthday and he got to pick our day... So after a lazy morning (Coop favorite thing to do) we headed to Toys R Us to spend some birthday $$ then to lunch... Home to play, then out to Diner for dinner. Back to school for us today (12/31) that is what is nice about Homeschool, we pick our Holidays and make up for others when we need to!! Happy New Year's Eve!! Went out for pizza & ice cream, then here at the house with all my boys just like I want to be tonight & through 2012!!
Special prayers for my dear friend Amanda who's father is battling lung cancer in hospital and is not doing well. I feel for her & family. Amanda has gone through so much in her health, I hate to see this happen to her daddy! Prayers of strength & peace for her.

Emotional Day

After a emotional morning call withTodd it continued with wrapping, finishing up shopping... Thanks again to my wonderful mom for playing with the boys so I could run around. Pretty much done, now to wrap, clean & cook :)) ah, the Holidays!! Trying to remind the boys it's about CHRIST.
We met Ian, Kadi & Tessa at chick-Gil-a and the 7:45 hair cuts for boys. Afterward, we tried our luck at Tanglewood lights... Still a line, just not as long!! Kadi went with us, boys had a great time. We even Face timed with Todd. On the way home Cooper started asking me when we had to leave (NC) and I said a week and a few days. He said, 'we aren't here long enough' I said you wanted to go back to have your birthday in CO... He said I always have my birthday here. He was quite the rest of the way home. Then at home I saw the tears. Bless his heart, he was trying not to cry so I could see him. I pried out of him that he is sad... Lord please don't let us mess these great boys up. I am scared to death this situation is going to confuse them. I wonder if we should pack it all up and go there to stay, so not to confuse them with going back & forth. I am going to continue to pray and hope we figure it out. I can't have them upset, I can't take it!!

Still sad.....

Friday morning, Kadi called to check on the boys after hearing the news of a school massacre in CT. After the call, I went on CNN to see the most horrible details. 20 kindergarten students (6&7yrs old) gunned down by a 20 year old psychopath!!! He killed his mother, drove to an elementary school and killed 20 kids & 6 adults. My heart just feels numb. 10 days before Christmas... I just can't understand. I can only pray and I honestly am not sure what to pray. I thank God for my kids and pray for their continued safety. I pray for the families involved. The town, the school... The last couple days have made us more aware of the Hero's inside that school that may have prevented more deaths. God bless those teachers, employees & staff. I am just having a hard time getting it off my mind, as I am sure everyone is. We are home in NC and thrilled to be here... I just can't shake the sadness. God is waking us up to something. I just hope we can listen.

Santa Train in Georgetown

Sunday 12/9/12 we woke up to snow!! The boys were excited even though it wasn't a huge amount. high today of 19 degrees!!! We drove to Historic Georgetown, super cute little town. All the houses were tiny and different colors. The streets were barely wide enough for one car, and yesterday they were covered with snow! We had reserved tickets to ride the Santa Train and sprung for the First Class train. Santa, Mrs. Clause, elves & helpers were all aboard. We got drinks & cookies. Santa came and sat with us and took pictures. He also gave the boys a silver bell... Really cute!! Mrs. Claus listened to their bell and told Cooper is bell came off Prancer (steady and strong) and Spencer bell came off Comet (really fast). It was a good day!! Mom goes home today (Monday), it was great having her here for 5 days. Todd leaves for NC today too, to test in CLT. Then boys & I head back on Saturday for a couple weeks to celebrate Christmas!!

My Gym

Trial run today at My Gym in CO... Cooper played like a champ and ready for the next class. Spencer (feeling a bit under the weather) not so cooperative!! Free play he loves, instruction not a fan. He'll catch on!! But after talks with Todd, I DEFINITELY would love to open one of these in Arcadia... We need this!!! All the babies & kids!!! Yep! Looking into it ASAP!!

Nana Surprise!!

12/5 While doing school with Cooper the door bell rang!! The boys of course ran to the door, Cooper saying 'I know who it is, I know who it is'. It was Daddy & NANA!!! What a great surprise!! Todd booked her a flight out here and Cooper knew about it. It is a one way flight, so we may keep her!
She got to join us for the Denver Zoo lights last night! It was SO beautiful, no pictures can do it justice! Great night with perfect weather! Blessed!!

Checking out Denver

Today we decided to head out and check some of this State! First we headed to Dinosaur Ridge, really cool place. Construction workers found these amazing fossils while constructing a highway. We took a bus tour and got to touch real fossils still in the sand rock. Climb in fossil foot prints, etc!! We left there and headed to Nature Science/Dinosaur Museum of Morrison, CO. Small, but fun!! No one was there, so Cooper got to chisel on a real fossil. Super cool!! From there we headed to Red Rocks! WOW... What an amazing place! Unbelievable place, breath taking!! I took so many pictures that don't do it justice. We drove, then we hiked. Cooper wanted to stay and hike for miles. We had to pull him off the trails. Now he wants to hike everyday! Spencer hiked like a champ, hung with us like he was just as big. Cool day!! Finished off with dinner with Ceil & LeRoy.

New kitty!

Todd finally caved and gave us the OK to get a kitty for the CO house. It probably had more to do with the two mice we have caught in the house, than him wanting another animal. Either way, Snickers is here. We had to stick with our candy/sweets theme (Oreo & Resse) We adopted him from a CO Animal Shelter, we've never done that before... All our animals have found us!! As much of a dog person as I am, that is just not an option out here. With us going back and forth. We are thankful we have Cathy & Stacy helping with our NC animals.

Miami, Holidays & Travel

11/25/12
After a relaxing weekend in Miami, we headed home for Thanksgiving. We enjoyed lunch at Dorothy's & dinner with MeeMaw. The boys and I made Pecan balls & yummy acorns! Friday we headed back to Denver. All 4 of us got to fly together (after switching some seats around). I hated to leave NC on Friday, but having him at the house with us Sat & Sunday in CO is nice too. We restocked groceries & bought some Christmas decor for the house. Spencer got some tools, aDino Christmas dude and Elfie found us in CO! Today Cooper & I planted a cactus garden!! Fingers crossed it will live :)

Shew...

11/15/12
Day started at 5:30am, heading to Outpatient Center for Spencer surgery. We arrived and started filling out paperwork. We heard Spencer sneeze and both looked, saw nothing but said keep sneezing buddy. I looked back at Todd about 5 mins later only to see a sea shell hanging from my sweater on my shoulder. Yeah!!! No surgery, we waited to talk to Dr, but he said go home, he is fine!! He got a stuffed dog & a hospital ID bracelet that says, "You do no put sea shells in your nose" shhhh! He has told several today that is what it says. Got home in time for carpet cleaners, then off to hair cut, home to get Spencer to head to airport to fly with Clint & Lorra to Miami. Todd and Cooper just landed with Harvick. So all Berrier's are in Miami... Shew... Ready to crash!
P.S. Daddy gave the boys their new mule a.k.a Christmas present