How to Jump into a Leaf Pile by all 3 Bergers

At my parents house 2 weekends ago we had a beautiful day and were able to rake some leaves (thanks Mom) and jump into them.  All 3 Berger kids got to run and jump multiple times.  It was such a blast!

 

Chase takes off down the sidewalk!

 

Face plant into the leaves!

Owen's turn!

And he's down!

Out takes . . .

 

And finally HATTIE!  Her progression is a little slower. ;)

Here she comes!

A little help from Daddy down the step

running toward the leaves

falling down!

And boom!

Sweet Hattie Girl

Hattie turned 16 months on the 20th of October and she has changed so much since turning 1!  She is a mover and a shaker. She does not sit still for anything (unless she wants to sit on your lap and "read" a book).  Reading a book involved her opening it and turning 2-3 pages and getting up to move on to something else.  She is getting better, though.  We can sometimes get through one short board book.

Hattie walks/runs around the house playing with everything, touching everything, taking everything out.  She is so funny to watch.  Today she found a small strip of paper on the ground.  She stood right up and walked it right to the garbage in our bathroom.  I didn't even know she knew there was a garbage there. 

She's at such a great stage that if you ask her to do something she does it!  She's so proud and happy to know what you are talking about that she does it right away.  She now points to her back when she has gone poop.  Hopefully we can get her potty trained sooner than later!  She does NOT Like her diaper changed, however.  I think this is mostly with me.  She screams and tries to get away.

Jeff said last night she reached for the boys' Rainbow Loom stuff.  She looked at Jeff and he said no.  So she grabbed the remote (which she also isn't supposed to have) and took off running with it.

Hattie is very good about looking at you for approval or for shared enjoyment. She loves to see your facial expression and loves to imitate them.  She can make a pretty funny concerned/angry face, as well as surprised, mad, happy, etc.

She's excellent at imitating voice changes, too.  She knows that when something is dropped you gasp.  She pretty much walks around the house gasping all day because she is always dropping something.  It's not a little gasp either, it's a big ol gasp.  She must know that when someone is sad or upset, I hold them and say, "ooohhh" because she will pick up her babies, hug them and go "oooohhh" in a very concerned Motherly type of voice.

Hattie signs "all done, I hear, airplane, bird, more, eat, milk, open" smacks her lips for drink or eat.  She says "more", sometimes "owie" and can moo and just started to say open as of 2 days ago.  Last night I sat down and read "Brown Bear Brown Bear" with her and she was imitating the animal sounds!  So exciting.

She understands most everything you say to her.  Pretty amazing if you ask me.  Her vocabulary is amazing.

Hattie wants to do what the big boys do.  She wants to play with their toys, wrestle them and hide like them. 

Her favorites:
blankey
guacamole and treats
shoes
Brown Bear Brown Bear
Music/Dancing
Mommy
stuffed animals (she holds them in the crook of her arm so tightly)
Being chased, playing peek a boo, being tickled
saying the Super Man Prayer at dinner

Bedtime has become smooth!  When I or Jeff puts her down she bites her blankey and talks to herself and then goes right to sleep.  It's so great.  There was a time at the beginning of the school year when she would "wake up" after being put in her crib and scream until you went back in to get her.

Fair Hills The End

As we drive home from Fair Hills I thought I wanted to capture my feelings and emotions before I get home and don’t have time to do so.  We had such a great experience that I cried when we were leaving starting Friday night.  I cried because of the great time and memories we have created, because our children had such a great time with each other, their cousins and their new “Fairhills friends”.  They really got the chance to be free as children, riding their bikes wherever, playing outside all day, swimming, laughing and playing kitty and horsey.  What more could 6 year olds ask for?  I got teary because I realized this moment in our life will never be the same.  They will never be 6 and 1 at Fair Hills again.  This short time, precious time, will never be again.  It was so sweet and precious.  Little Hattie grew so much in one short week.  Wanting to walk everywehere, pulling the flowers off, seeing her favorite orange swing and giggling until she got to go in, climbing stairs and being known as the “stair climber” by a few.  She will never be this little again, next year she will be walking and running all over by hereself.  What a precious time with Hattie, little HootenHattie. 

Strangely I also “miss” my children.  Because they had so much freedom and their cousins and friends to play with I didn’t see them or play with them as much as I normally do.  Of course I was always around supervising but typically had Hattie to walk or hold.  I guess that comes with kids growing up, though.  I am excited to get back into a normal routine where I tuck in the boys, read books and sing and cuddle.  We had very late nights (9:30 or 10:00 bedtimes) whereas at home it’s 8:00-8:30 bedtimes.  Hattie was even up until 9:30 most nights!  She was such a trooper too.  She didn’t get really grumpy or sad.  She may have needed to be held but that’s about it.  Here are pictures taken our final morning!

The bridge we walked over daily to get to meals.

On the way to the dining hall

Owen and Chase before breakfast on Saturday.  They loved to play outside around the dining hall.

Here Chase and Owen show me around their "secret spots". They just loved having the freedom to explore.

Our cabin

Chase on his bike, actually Sophie's bike!

Owen running to catch up

Nana and Papa and the Littles

These pictures just melt my heart.  Look at those sweet smiles and hugs!

All the cousins together!

Sweet baby

Me and my babes, all looking.  Too bad I don't look decent. :)

The view on our deck

looking out over lake Pelican at the mansion

Diner times were a little crazy with 4 children and 2 babies.  Hattie did well for the most part but there were several meals she didn’t want to sit and didn’t want to eat.  She rotated between the high chair and booster seat and ate about a dozen bananas, literally.  She liked strawberries, French toast (a lot!), steak, chicken, lasagna, butter, cantaloupe.  Chase and Owen ate very little despite being so active.  They sure loved the desserts we had after every meal though! J  The rest of us gained about 10 lbs a piece.  We had the most amazining meals.  Breakfasts were anything you wanted, lunch was a choice of soup or salad and 3-4 main meal options (meat balls, lasagna, hot sandwiches, hot beef sandwhich, chicken sandwich) and dinner was the same but with fish, steak, meats of all sorts.  We made a big mess at our table too and had the most wonderful waitress named Justina from Lithuania.  She was so soft spoken and sweet and as Jeff put it, very literal.  How many strawberries and French toasts would you like? 
 

We watched no TV and had no couches to sit on.  In fact I’m not sure I really sat except at meals.  We had a wonderful beach area that had hydro bikes, paddle boards, paddle boats, kyacks and toys for the kids.  There were several docks.
 

The last day the boys had a carnival with face paiiting, a bouncy house, games, and lot of candy.  They really liked the children’s directors, Claire and Natalie.  That night we had a dance (which the kids LOVED!) they got to invade the costumes behind stage, had a disco ball and light ball.  Hattie also had a blast.  She practically ran around the dance floor, pointing at the lights and laughing and smiling.  It was so much fun to see her have so much fun.  She swung her arm while dancing.  Chase and Owen danced with their friends and laughed and played bongos, etc. They had a blast dressing up in the costumes and laughed so much.   After this there was a slide show. Kids sat in the front of course. We were well represented in the show since we did every activity there was!  After this there was a staff concert, which we only stayed a bit for. Then it was off to bed at 9:45.  Wow!  Jeff and I and the boys were so tired.  We would put them in their room, close the door with light on and they wouldn’t come out until the next morning around 7:30 or 8.  They were pooped.