Another view

Here is the view outside our bedroom window - I just love seeing all the branches of the trees so well-defined. Amazing.

In like a lion...

As expected, the snow arrived last evening in our area. We awoke to seven inches of fresh snow with more expected later today and into tomorrow. The radio announcers remarked that perhaps the phrase should be changed to "in like a polar bear" - though, happily, it is not bitterly cold. Just thought some of you snowbirds might enjoy seeing what you are missing. It's beautiful!

Reality check

Oh yes, I need to balance my love of snow storms with the reality of what it takes out of dear hubby... of course, the work of the snowblower does help! I should be sure to have a cup of hot chocolate awaiting... (fortunately it is not too cold outside!)

Oh the weather outside is frightful but the...

...fire is so delightful!

I just love a good storm!

And add a cup of tea or coffee and a good book... or a sudoku puzzle... a loving hubby...

Just some reasons why I love Minnesota!

Belated Birthday Chef John

Wally and I went to Eagan this weekend to celebrate John's 30th birthday - which was 6 weeks ago! It took that long for us to coordinate our schedules. We enjoyed a good time together. We spent Saturday touring some nice homes on the Parade of Homes and settled in that evening for take-out chinese food and a funny movie. Here is one of our birthday gifts for John - a chef hat! He is a good cook, by the way. Very gourmet - and for those of you with fussy eaters, take heart! This boy wouldn't eat anything with butter on it for years, never ate cheese...and didn't eat pizza until high school. Thank you John and Sara for a nice weekend together.

Valentine Honey

Happy Valentine's Day! Here is one of my 5 little Valentine Honey's - little Preston is now 8 months old. My other little honey's are Preston's sister Brooklyn, who is 4 and then Timothy (3 3/4), Luke (1 3/4) and Hannah (3/4)...

And did I mention there is going to be another little Valentine Honey? Adam and Andrea are expecting a baby in August. Now isn't that just lovely news?

Hugs to all my Valentine's!

Ready, Set, Go Bears!!!

Here we are ready for the SuperBowl.... Wally built a riser for another couch so we could all watch together! With great homemade soup, tasty bread and warm fellowship we will root on the BEARS. Afterall, they are representing our division.

MINUS 20??? !!

Okay, - 9 seemed worthy of a picture until this morning..... here is the outdoor temperature on our thermometer.... -20.6

That is WITHOUT the windchill factor. Who needs a windchill factor with air temperature like this??

Baby, it's cold outside!!

Yup, here we are in chilly Minnesota today - started out MINUS 9.5 here on our digital thermometer. But we are a hardy bunch and just like Preston, we smile through it!!

The Birthday Girl

Can you remember when you were four? Doesn't this face capture everything about how special a birthday is to a child?

Happy Birthday Brooklyn!

Christmas reflections

I thought I would post a few favorites from Christmas 2006. Along with photos of the grandchildren is a special photo of our three daughter-in-law's modeling their new scarves and hats and stationery from Grandma Crater (my mom). We finished off Christmas day with a cozy fondue with John and Sara while the others went to Fargo/Moorhead to visit their other families.

Happy New Year!

Welcome to 2007! I just thought you might enjoy seeing how big this fella is getting - here he is, almost 7 months old, sitting up and trying to put everything he can get his hands on into his mouth. We're just not sure what he thought he was doing with his arms outstretched... was that Preston's version of "so big"? We're just not too sure...

Friends add spice to our lives

Here we are with our dear friends Willy & JoAnn, Paul & JoAnn and Carl & Diane. Wally and I were happy to host our group meal last evening. Though the atmosphere was festive, the candles lit and the food tasty, the best was the time spent with friends.

Merry Christmas blessings.....

I know we often read the "He was the reason for the Season" referring to Jesus... but the other day I read the phrase "WE were the reason for the season" and I thought that really summed it up well. We were the reason that Jesus came down to earth as a baby... simply because it was necessary for Him to die in our place for our sin. If there had been some other way for God and man to become reconciled, Jesus may not have needed to be born as a baby to eventually die on a cross... and conquer death when he came alive again. But He did - Christmas and the birth of the baby points to Easter and the whole story! We all just want to wish you a blessed and merry Christmas as you celebrate what God did for us at the manger - and at the cross!

Angels and Shepherds....

In order to reinforce the events of the night of the birth of Jesus, our adult children and our grandchildren orchestrated, narrated and acted out the account from the book of Luke. Mary and Joseph came to the humble stable and placed the baby in the manger. Fortunately, there was a warm fire nearby! The angel surprised the shepherds when she announced the birth of the baby! The shepherds and their little lamb came to the stable to see where the baby lay. This will surely be a family tradition......

Relaxing with Daddy

Isn't this a cute photo? Preston is relaxing with Daddy tonight. I just love the way Preston looks at the camera and cooperates with a nice smile. How long will that last???

Christmas baking with Grandma

This morning I had the fun of having Brooklyn for a few hours. Just Brooklyn and Grandma! We did lots of baking - we put candy kisses on pretzels and melted them (three minutes in a 250 oven) and then put a red and a green m & m on top. After they cool, they are really tasty!!

Another really fun project is to take a sugar cone and invert it on a plate and cover it with green frosting (canned frosting with green food coloring added) and then add candies for decorations. We had so much fun we had to take a picture of us together with our trees. We put the camera on a tripod and took our picture! This time next week everyone will be here to enjoy our baking (we made spritz too with lots of decorations (!) and then Meghan came and made krumkake for the first time.) I love to bake!

Christmas dinner at the Berge's

Every Sunday evening during the school year a group of 16 gather in our living room for an evening of fellowship, sharing and a Bible study. Oh yes, did I mention coffee and goodies as well? That is definitely a prerequisite! Last evening the group (minus one couple) enjoyed a Christmas dinner together in our home. Everyone brought part of the meal so it was quite easy for me! I got to do my favorite part and that is setting the tables (we had to have two tables). Here we are sitting together at the dining room table enjoying our coffee. Merry Christmas to all of you!

Preschool Christmas Program

Monday evening was the Preschool Christmas Program for Brooklyn. Lots of little precious children; lots of parents and grandparents there to see their little ones all dressed up and singing! And lots of cameras!! As you can tell from these photos, Brooklyn thought sitting down worked just as well as standing. We're sorry we won't also be in Wisconsin to see Timothy in his program!

Six months!

On Sunday little Preston was six months old. He is just the cutest thing and is fascinated by the lights on the camera so he looks right at it as if he knows he is supposed to do so. He has also taken quite nicely to the addition of baby food in his diet! More, more! Happy 1/2 birthday, Preston.