One whole week of snow...every day

Sledding at the volcano park. Pretty great sled hill, Liam loved it Anders went down once and said no more, thank you. Elleory has been sledding outside so much that we have had to put our foot down and make her come home to eat, and participate with us in pre-Christmas fun stuff. She has a lot of friends in the neighborhood who are out sledding and sliding with her.
Anders is our little worker bee, He LOVES to scoop the snow, I think he has shoveled the sidewalk in front of the house as many times as Brian has. As long as snow isn't falling on him from the sky, he is happy to be outside. He however HATES his snow suit, and wants to be cold. ("NO pants! I want to be cold.") He insists on having his "kiki" so his mouth stays warm.
Kid logic...

We had a great big wind storm one night that blew all of the snow off the roofs, and made these awesome drifts in the back yard. Then it snowed on top of them again, and again, and again...

Liam LOVES snow. He loves his snow suit, and his coat, he LOVES his boots. He loves everything about this weather. He loves to lay in it, to play in it, to eat it...

Christmas Day 2008. Yet another 6 inches if snow. Beautiful white Christmas!

Bring it on Garden Gnome!

Anders, Mommy, and Daddy had an epic snow ball fight while building snowmen in the front yard.

How could this angel be so naughty???

Liam has 364 and 1/2 days to make up for this morning. So far, for next year, Santa is bringing him coal. We've already received the phone call.

Please pray for him...

Merry Christmas

(I'm posting this for journaling reasons... Most of you will receive a copy of this in the mail. Enjoy again.)

So I've started our Christmas Letter a few times today... The first said "Merry Christmas! To our Family and Friends" Then the scream comes from downstairs.
"MOM!!! Liam's done..."
So I clean up that mess, and go back to start again. "Hello to our dear ones"... to yet another,
"MOM!! Liam's doing this…"
So needless to say after cleaning up the junk drawer from off of the floor, and wrestling away a pack of gum (chewed, with wrappers on), picking up and re-folding the laundry, unclogging the toilet, putting the decorations BACK on the Christmas tree, all the while trying to let you all know we are alive and well, isn't going to happen this year. I give up. Liam needs way more attention than one ten year old and a video can give him.

We are indeed alive and well. Elleory is a bit frazzled from being Mama’s helper but I’m sure she will survive, and a pedicure bribe won’t hurt. Liam might survive until he's two...his college fund won't. It will go straight to all of the damage he does to our home. Anders is at times a very mellow three year old, who loves to color and sit and do piecezzles (puzzles). He usually add commentary to the Liam episodes like
"Liam, leave the tree alone, or Mama's gonna take Christmas away!" Which has NEVER actually come out of my month, but I totally laugh at it. Or my personal favorite,
"Liam, Mama's gonna spank you in the butt!"
So as you can see things just go at our house, expectations, dreams of peace, and harmony...yep they go... right out the window! I'd love to write the traditional letter, telling you all about the year, but this is a way better picture.
Please take time to catch up with us at our blog, (which I update during Liam's nap time.) www.icebergstockholm.blogspot.com you’ll get a big picture of the year, and how things are (really) going, a little window into each family member’s life.
We love each of you, and wish you Joy, and Peace and Harmony in your home.

Merry Christmas!
Love, the Bergholms

A little bit about Brian...

Because I never seem to mention him. One year for Valentines day he asked me to write him a letter, which I'm proud to report, I did. I'm doing it again this year as part of his Christmas present. So bare with the mush, this is more for him than for you. (Two things first, I'm bound, just by opening my proverbial mouth, to say something to embarrass him and secondly, I'll probably tell a gross lie. Because, in my lack of understanding his job, calling, etc, I will get something wrong.) That being said...

I love Brian! And I wish I had more to talk about concerning him. Honestly it not because he's never home, because he is, he just rarely does anything stupid enough to write about. He NEVER runs around the house with his undies on his head. He doesn't really have any free time to read books, so therefore can't expound about them. He still hasn't read and is not interested in Twilight. He is tired enough most of the time to only make it half way through any given movie.

He can however tell you what is happening in the markets, why the price of gas, corn, gold, is raising, falling, stable, who is doing well in which division, playing which sport. What the price of Microsoft stock is at this very moment, who is giving a talk on Sunday in church, and what the weather is going to be like in ten minutes. He is also a pretty good judge of how long it will take him to drive home from work, and from what I hear from the guys at church, he plays basketball well and is always very polite on the court. He very rarely drinks anything but water, and he looks great in Jeans. ( Just thought you'd like to know.) He is also a really particular photographer, so he runs the camera most of the time. We don't have many pictures of him, because I'm NOT a very discerning photographer, (or housekeeper) so most of my pictures of him get deleted, because I took a picture of him standing in front of all of the junk on the counter etc...

Brian is a good man, a great father, a fantastic worker, and a true asset to our lives. He is in his third year working for Microsoft. I still have no idea just what exactly he does, but I'm pretty sure he does it pretty well. He is working as the second counselor to our Bishop at church which is a very big responsibility. He enjoys that work, and I think if he had the choice and the means, he would do only volunteer work. I admire this about him. (Being a full time volunteer, I just want a job that pays me...LOL)

I'm really blessed to have Brian in my life. I'm fairly certain the kids feel the same way. We are pretty lucky. I love you, Baby!

The Art of Racing in the Rain

I actually took the time this week to sit down and read a book. Our Christmas stuff is done, packages sent (that is a blog for another time.), kids presents wrapped, stocking stuffer's bought, Christmas Eve and Christmas dinners' planned (but not shopped for.) neighborhood gifts done, the list could go on and on, but I'm done gloating.... So I sat down to read a book.

This is a book that my friend Tommy told me about several months ago, and that has been on my wait list at the library for MONTHS, I finally got sick of waiting, and borrowed Tommy's copy, only for the copy I'd ordered to show up at the library. (I was a little afraid to open the book as the cover picture looks just like Harley, and I still get a little teary about him.) I could not put this book down. It was amazing. I cried all the way through the first chapter, I cried in the middle, I cried all the way through the last chapter, and at places between. I cheered on the protagonist out-loud on a couple of occasions. In short, I love this book.

I don't want to spoil it, if you decide to read it. The story is basically this... the struggles of a family as told from the perspective of the family dog. A highly human dog who is obsessed with opposable thumbs, and saying the right things, at the right time. It is told on the eve of his death, as a remembrance of the things he has learned about being a man, because he is certain that he will come back to earth as a man, after his life as a dog. It is a beautiful story, and make you wonder just how much the family dog understands. Interlaced into the story are life lessons he has learned from his owner, Denny who is a semiprofessional race car driver. The most true of all is the adage, "the car goes where your eyes go." Which is so true of life. Your life goes where your eyes go...gives you a lot to think about, huh?

For those of you who need to know before hand... there is swearing, and I'm fairly certain that someone takes the Lord's name at some point.

The name of the book is The Art of Racing in the Rain by Garth Stein. Hope you read it... it would be fun to discuss it with someone.

Plunk and Plug

We go each year to the great after Christmas sales and generally score some pretty cool stuff for way cheap. Last year we picked up a new Pre-lit Christmas tree for 17 bucks... We figured that A.) it was pre-lit...not a whole lot of work, and B.) If the boys destroy it, it was only 17 bucks.

This purchase has revolutionized how Brian and I look at Christmas!! PRE-LIT... who knew?!? Everything should come this way. We have decided that 'Plunk and Plug' is our new Christmas decoration motto. I'm even all for not putting up lights on the house next year. I'm sure we'll be able to find something that we can just take out of the box, and 'plunk and plug'. Instant Christmas, no fuss.

This leads me to wonder...Are we getting old before our time, or are we falling into the lazy trap. OR... are we just realizing that we have WAY better things to do with the little time we have before Christmas? I'd like to think it's the last suggestion. Our little men are really enjoying our new Christmas tree. Especially the turning it on turning it off part. Brian is really enjoying the 'only took about 30 minutes to get the whole thing going' part. ( Three pieces, Three plugs...ABC, Plunk and Plug...) Elleory is loving that we have a big tree this year. I'm just happy that the boys are not pulling it over...yet.

What I realized as I was decorating the house and setting out our Nativity collections this year is how happy I was with just that. It was easy, and so exciting for the kids, and quite possibly the most calm part of the night. The boys are getting a lot of use out of the little people nativity that my friend Becca sent last year. Liam carries around Baby 'SHESUS' pretty much all the time, and Anders re-arranges it every couple of minutes, and adds new characters. The little ponies, and the cast of Madagascar have been to the stable. ("Holler at your boys"). I'm happy about this because to me that is the real reason we should celebrate Christmas. It's not about the Tree, the lights, the gifts... it's about Baby Jesus, and helping our children to see the importance of that very special event in their lives.

I'm pretty sure that Jesus would approve of our new philosophy of 'plunk and plug', he might even add "take a deep breath, relax, and enjoy your kids" too.

News!!

I was driving home this morning from the gym, and heard that New Moon the new Twilight movie will have a different director!! Yea! That's it...

At The Park With Daddy

I think everyone should have a video like this in their collection. I warn the boys every time we go to the park not to walk in front of the swings....

Possibly I need to talk to Brian as well.

Captain Underpants and El Nacho Libre

This was our post-Thanksgiving dinner entertainment this year. Anders got big-boy undies, and wanted to open the package to show "Tolten" (Our neighbors' son Colton, in the red undies). The boys actually decided to put the "hats" on themselves. All of the adults in the house were laughing/crying...it was a riot. I thought I'd share these with the entire world, and not wait for their wedding days. (By the way... I do have one picture of Elleory with the pants on her head also, but we will try to save her dignity, as she is a bit older...)

Liam, Anders, and Colton

Anders looking his most savvy AND intelligent.

Captain Underpants

El Nacho Libre

We of course egged this whole thing on by taking pictures. But why not?!? Save the memory for posterity, so when our grandchildren are wondering WHY their parents are so very weird, I can pull out the pictures and say "That's why!"

We finally helped him figure out the real use for undies. Cute butt!

Anders calls these the "Whyking-Queen diaper".

I'm thankful for a good laugh with friends this year.