I have been waiting for this to say "0 days" and today it is finally "40 weeks and 0 days" of the pregnancy of Sara and John!! Yippee! This baby, when it finally chooses to be born, will be our 8th grandchild and it feels as exciting as the first one. We can hardly wait for the call!

Now you might be wondering about why the baby will be named Bison. Well, John has a sort of quirky sense of humor and first (months ago) he wrote the baby's name as "Ham" - yes, a nice Biblical name. But the point was to say it with "Berge" - you know, Ham Berge. (Hamburger - get it?) So during the pregnancy the baby's name changed and reflected many kinds of "burgers" - like Cheese Berge, Buffalo Berge/burger, etc. Hence, the present name at 40 weeks - Bison Berge. Okay, little Bison, Grandma & Grandpa really want to see you! Hurry up! (No, I don't really think they will call the baby Bison...)

Baby?

Yes, this is a baby, but not John & Sara's baby - not yet!! This precious little fellow, Isaiah William, was born on Monday to my dear friends Christine and Dan. I had the fun of being their wedding coordinator exactly two years ago! So now their son shares their anniversary. How special is that? Little Isaiah was due the day after Sara & John's baby but he came a week prior to his due date. I am still anxiously awaiting the phone call to let us know it's time for Sara and John!!

Christine and Isaiah. She is going to be a great mom! (And Dan is definitely going to be a great Daddy too - he was busy folding little baby clothes when I stopped by. How cool is that?)

Raising their voices in song

Brooklyn attended a wonderful Vacation Bible School at a local church. As you can see there were many children up front for the closing program. They sure do a great job with this VBS!

Here is Brooklyn in the white shirt standing next to her friend Nevaeh (in the red) singing.

Sean Patrick didn't seem to be too impressed but he was pretty good being held by momma.

Preston was pretty good through most of the program, mostly sitting with "bumpa". He chatters up a storm, talking and telling us everything he wants. He's very verbal and most of the time we can understand what he is saying too. He seems too young to be talking to us like this!

North to the future...

The state motto of Alaska is "North to the Future" - and in our immediate future (late July) is a trip to the "Last Frontier" - which is the state nickname.

We will be taking a cruise north and then an extended land tour.

We are traveling with 4 other couples; some of us are from town here so we had a planning meal together to discuss our travel hopes and dreams!

Hopefully we will figure out all the details... what to pack, what NOT to pack..., just what is "smart casual" anyway? (The dress code on the ship for meals is either "formal" or "smart casual"...) ... ah... north to the future!

Waiting for the call...

I'm waiting for the call that will tell me that Sara is in labor. We are a week away from due date... but you never know! Every time the phone rings now, I jump!

Time for them to go...

Perhaps we should have been more diligent and trimmed these bushes when we planted them ... maybe 20 years ago? At any rate, we obviously did NOT trim them and they have grown up to become HUGE ... and, though they afforded nice privacy, we also deemed them a bit of a hazard as they totally blocked the view of the road from the driveway. So, dear hubby went to work with the chainsaw and this is the result... (this view is from standing in our driveway looking towards the road..)


There's a house across the street! who knew?

And this was the view the neighbors had of our home....

and now this is what they see!

Aren't those stumps pretty? Perhaps I should spray paint them a nice color.... or perhaps string some christmas lights on them? (just joking, they will be coming out too...)

And now when you turn into our driveway you see the flowers along the driveway and our little fenced-in garden. (and, oh yes, the old water heater that just got replaced this week...)

Daddy's boy

This is just one of my favorite pictures of Daniel & little Preston.

Here we were in our Old Navy shirts following the town parade. We just need to add John, Sara and baby ... their little "firecracker" is due pretty soon(11 days) ! Everytime the telephone rings I think "Oh, this could be THE call...."

A little front lawn picnic

Since we had some family in town, we took time for a little cook-out. The weather was lovely and the bugs have not taken over yet, so we gathered outside to eat and visit. The children were happy playing at the little sandbox and played so well together. It was fun to watch them.

We bought a new picnic table so we can eat outside often.

I just love this little sandbox and umbrella. It is designed for one side of the sandbox to hold water but it is much smarter to just do all sand (or all water, if you want.) When I first did water and sand, it was really a happy mess.

Sons, do you recognize some of these playmobile toys?

Don't you love Hannah's beads?

What have we learned here?

I think we learned that it is really not advisable to entertain the idea of taking a picture of 7 grandchildren at the end of a long day of playing. Can you tell they are just a wee bit tired?

I couldn't decide which picture to post so I thought I'd post all of them. Each one shows just a slightly different moment...

Enough said. Enjoy.

Fun at a small town parade

I thought this was just so cute - Meghan sitting in the street capturing a picture of the kids waiting for the parade to start! Maybe we'll see the picture on her blog?

Smile!

The children are ready with plastic bags to hold their candy, hopefully!

Yeah! Firetrucks start the parade! Who doesn't like a big firetruck?

Preston and Grandpa watch the horses too! Here they come!


And there they go!

We are so proud of our high school marching band! Don't they look sharp in those white uniforms! (Imagine keeping them clean??)

Josiah was comfortable watching from his own spot.

The two babies are getting closer in size. Imagine this time next year?

Mommies with 4 of the 7...

Now we have 5 grandchildren in the picture. They sure were having fun.

A very happy little face

On Saturday we celebrated Preston's 2nd birthday (which was a few days prior) and here he is while we sing to him. Isn't it cute precious to see how he is smiling at being the center of attention? I love it.

Seven and holding...

Here are some current pictures of the seven (so far...) grandchildren, from oldest to youngest..

starting with Brooklyn, age 5

Timothy, age 5

Luke, age 3

Hannah, age 2

Preston, age 2

Josiah, 9 1/2 months

Sean Patrick, almost 6 months..

And we're waiting for number 8 .... 2 weeks left!

Birthdays galore

There are quite a stretch of birthday's in my family so I thought I'd post some of the wonderful birthday people. Here are my twin nieces Stephanie & Jacqueline standing and my great niece Courtney sitting down. Stephanie & Jacqueline turned 9 May 28 and Courtney will be 8 on June 20. Happy Birthday girls!

My sister-in-law, Ann-Margret, celebrated her birthday this past week. Here she is with my brother Jeffrey. They are the parents to Stephanie & Jacqueline.

Kyle, in the white sweatshirt, is one of my great nephews. They are both great, those nephews!Kyle just turned 14 on Thursday. Happy Birthday, Kyle

Ben, who is the birthday boy TODAY, is in the red sweatshirt. In the blue sweatshirt is his buddy and my other great nephew Justin, who has to wait until July for his birthday! They are both turning 17 this year and Ben will get his license next week! Watch out New Jersey drivers..