The Beast

Have I told you about the Beast lately?  The Beast turned 2 right before Christmas.  He chose to celebrate his birthday by throwing, not 1, not 2, but 5 screaming, writhing on the floor, fits all before 8:30 in the morning.  Oh and did I mention he woke up at 6:30 am? Well he did, and I don't know how it works at your house but here 6:30 is freaking early.

It was a rough day but I think it was a pretty fitting way to usher in the Terrible Two's, which he actually started about 8 months ago.  We had a treat when our good friends the Carr's brought over birthday and Christmas on the Beast's actual birthday.

After Christmas when all the Bergys were still in town we had another celebration at Gramma's house.

What isn't pictured above?  The pink and purple grocery cart/stroller that Aunt Sue got him and the set of tools that Aunt Teri stuck in it to make it seem more manly.  HE LOVES THEM, the cart and the tools.  He uses the drill as a gun and today I caught him trying to climb into the cart so Princess could push him around.

Thank you everyone for helping us celebrate his 2nd birthday.  I guess this is one of the benefits of having your birthday around Christmas, chances are he'll always be surrounded by family and lots of them!

I would be remiss if I didn't give a shout out to Aunt Amy and Uncle Matt for their awesome wrapping job (Pictured above).  Want to know the secret to a perfect wrapping job?  Target bag and tons of tape.  

And because I am now a Instagram addict (thanks to my new Iphone, YOU ROCK DAVE! follow me, mrsbergy, you know you want too) here are some more photos I took of the celebrations.  Instagram style....

Beast I love you, more than you'll probably ever know.  You drive me crazy and then you melt my heart with those big blue/green eyes.  Anytime I want to get something done you're at my feet screaming Momma and pushing on me until I give in and pick you up.  Then you grab me by the cheeks, plant a big kiss on my lips, lay your head on my shoulder, and remind me that dishes can wait but you will not be 2 forever.  

You love Princess, you tolerate Cy, and you adore Daddy.  You and I, we're buddies, amigos.  I couldn't imagine sending the older kids to school and not having you to hang around with.  We go for walks, do laundry, make treats, learn our ABC's with Elmo, and travel to imaginary places with The Cat in the Hat. 

I love you Bubba's!  Here's to another year of chair climbing, door unlocking, stove playing, knife throwing, face slapping, kiss giving, water splashing, milk drinking, cheeto eating, and technology stealing.

Happy Birthday Beast!  

Cy turns 7: Part 1

Cy's birthday ended up being WAY more hectic than I thought it would be.  Not only was it his birthday, but he also had a soccer game AND it was the first day of General Conference (LOVE GC.  It seriously fills my soul and helps me charter the course of my life through the next 6 months until we have it again).  I thought everything would move along pretty smoothly.  I was prepped and prepared for everything, or so I thought....

On Wednesday, Dave had 2 surprise root canals that were started.  They told him he needed to come back on Saturday to finish the job.  His first appointment was scheduled during the soccer game which I was seriously stressing about.  We have to park pretty far away from where the games are held and I was trying to figure out how to pack 3 chairs, an umbrella, an umbrella stand, a diaper bag, 4 water bottles and 3 kids across 2 parking lots and 4 soccer fields BY MYSELF when Dave called to tell me that his appointment had been moved to first thing in the morning.  HALLELUJAH!  The appointment was going to take place during the first session of GC, but I figured that wouldn't be a problem.  I had been very proactive and made Conference Packets for Cy and Princess.  I had printed up pages of Conference Bingo, bought M&M's and Skittles for bingo markers, and bought prizes for the winners.

I imagined a serene enjoyable experience watching conference.  I envisioned Cy and Princess happily playing Bingo and coloring pages out of their packets, the Beast quietly stacking his blocks and playing with his toys while I sat on the couch, folding laundry, absorbing the good Word of God.

I was wrong.

Perhaps, I was being a bit naive.  Perhaps, starting out the day with sugar laden donuts (Cy's breakfast of choice) wasn't the best idea I've ever had. 

You can read what the Beast did during the first session of Conference here.  Cy and Princess weren't much better.  They had spent the half an hour prior to Conference starting, coloring in their coloring books so that by the time Conference actually started they were stir crazy and hyper.  Oh, SO hyper.  The sugar from the donuts had kicked in ten-fold by then.  Add onto that the excitement of Cy's birthday and these two were LITERALLY bouncing off the couch and the walls. 

I solved this problem by breaking out the Conference Packets and the Conference Bingo.  I told the kids they could eat their candy markers once they had won a round of Bingo AND they also got to pick a candy treat out of a grab bag when they won.   What?  You're supposed to fight sugar with sugar, right?!?!  Nothing like the hair of the dog that bit ya...if ya know what I mean.  Conference Bingo was a SUCCESS (except for the parts when the Beast would kick their boards, displacing all of their markers, and take off with the bag full of their candy markers "laughing all the way, ha ha ha!").

In an effort to keep the Beast occupied I gave him his own bag of candy to munch on, but that wasn't good enough.  Oh no.  The Beast had to have whatever the other two had and he had to have it NOW!

After each winning a game of Bingo and picking their prizes the kids wanted to start coloring their Conference Packets.  Cy got right to work and was left alone to color in peace.  Princess was not so lucky.  You see, she had picked a Ring Pop out of the grab bag as her Bingo prize.  The Beast wanted a Ring Pop REALLY bad.  I wouldn't give him one.  I didn't think he needed anymore sugar than what he already had.  When he realized that I wasn't going to budge the Beast followed Princess around screaming at her like a banshee and tormenting her mercilessly.  He kept stealing her crayons, ripping her papers out of her hands, pulling her hair and trying to snatch the Ring Pop right out of her mouth.  She tried to seek safety at the kitchen table to no avail.

She finally finished the Ring Pop and being the "generous" sister that she is, she gave the Beast the plastic part of the Ring Pop.  The Beast was thrilled!  He popped that plastic in his mouth, stopped, ripped it out, looked at it, noticed the candy was gone, gave Princess the dirtiest look an almost 2 year old can muster (he's actually pretty good at the dirty looks.  My sister-in-law Teri recently told Dave, "I'm not too comfortable with the looks that the Beast is giving me."  Ya, he can be pretty intimidating.), threw the plastic part on the floor and then proceeded to scream and cry for the last 20 minutes of Conference. 

So much for absorbing the good Word of God. 

To be continued......



Coming up next in the Cy turns 7 Series:

Lunch, Alarms, and a Present...Oh My!

Cy turns 7: An Intro

This sweet boy turned 7 today.

I have like 30 pictures to post and stories to tell, but Blogger isn't cooperating.

I am exhausted.  It was a long, fun, busy, hard day.  Dave went and had his root canals finished today and then had an alarm call from one of his clubs. We attempted to watch the first session of Saturday General Conference.  ATTEMPTED being the key word.  If it had just been Princess, Cy, and I, it would've been a breeze.  But the Beast, OH the Beast.  He ran around tormenting everyone.  He kept stealing the kids coloring sheets and candy from their Conference Bingo boards.  He would jump on the kids and kick them.  He pulled my hair, screamed at me, started the dishwasher, opened the oven, pushed over the trash can, got on the kitchen table, and ran around smearing chocolate all over the walls.  Ya, I REALLY felt the Spirit during Conference. 

Hopefully I'll be able to get Cy's birthday post up tomorrow.

Goodnight, I'm off to work.  Sweet dreams!

Princess turns 5

My Princess turned 5.  FIVE.  She starts kindergarten next week.

Sigh....

I remember the day she was born, I went into labor at 5:30ish in the morning and she was born a little after 8 am.  We drove to the hospital which was 20 minutes away.  They took me back and gave me my epidural.  I was at 5 cm when I went in.  The doctor came in and broke my water to help speed things along. 10 minutes later the Princess was born.  The nurses couldn't find my doctor so a resident came in to deliver her.  Everything happened too fast and they were still trying to prepare for the birth when out she came.  (Gross but funny tidbit about the birth.)  She traveled down the birth canal with such force and speed, that when she came out all sorts of birthing juices came flying out with her.  Dave was down at that end watching the action and was subsequently covered in birthing juice.

The birthing shirt, as we now call it.  When I went into labor with the Beast Dave made sure to change into this shirt before we left for the hospital.  Don't worry, we washed it after Princess.  We're not superstitious or anything.......

For her 5th birthday, I let Princess call the shots.  She got to choose the day's menu and then we invited her best friend and family, and her surrogate grandma (Sister Carr) over to celebrate.  (We started a tradition last year of only having big parties every other year.  Saves on money and time, and helps to make the parties more special.  So on odd number years we just have a small get together or take the kid out to a movie or something.)

She requested banana-applesauce-chocolate chip pancakes for breakfast. 

McDonald's for lunch.

She asked for a chocolate cake a week ago and like the good mom that I am, I went out and bought everything that I needed to make her the yummiest chocolate cake ever!  The morning of her birthday she informed me that she had changed her mind and that she wanted a strawberry cake with strawberry frosting.  Hmph.  So off we went to Wal-Mart and like the good mom that I am I bought everything needed to make her the yummiest strawberry cake ever with homemade strawberry cream cheese frosting.  Then she helped me frost it.

I bought this to write Happy Birthday Carma because she wanted her cake to say Happy Birthday.  Word to the wise, don't buy this.  IT SUCKED.  At first it wouldn't come out, then it came out like freaking gang busters.  It was impossible to write with.  This was the only thing that Wal-Mart had, and I will NEVER buy it again.

How the cake turned out with that lame ass frosting can.  I was not a happy camper.  As you can tell I had to redo Carma's name twice.  Good thing she could care less and thought it was an awesome cake. 

We had pizza for dinner, then a rousing game of chase the dog with the party blowers!  G-dog didn't like the party blowers which made the game that much more fun!

There's Tay trying to sneak a peek at the presents while everyone was occupied with G-dog.  Sneaky, sneaky!

Princess, T & T, and Cy

Princess with her birthday loot.

Britany containing the Beast (she's got mad Beast Whispering Skills) and half of Dave.  He was NOT happy with me after I took this picture.  Apparently, having the flash go off that close to your eyes is slightly uncomfortable....who knew?!?

With her AWESOME birthday cake. 

It actually tasted pretty good and I didn't even cry and hide out in the bathroom when the writing got all messed up.  A HUGE improvement from her Dora cake disaster I made her when she turned 2 or 3?  Yikes, I can't remember!  It was such a traumatic experience I've blocked it from my memory!

One happy birthday girl who is going to need some serious waxing when she gets older.  Seriously, look at those eyebrows!  Poor girl, she got her hairiness from Dave and I.  She was cursed from both sides.

5 fun facts about Princess:

1.  She loves to do make-up with me on Sunday mornings and puts on eyeshadow all by herself.  Sure sometimes she goes to church looking like a streetwalker, but hey...whatever works.

2.  Her best friend is Tana.  She begs EVERYDAY to play with T.  Seriously, not an exaggeration.  She loves that girl.

3.  She comes into our room every morning around 6:30 and asks to play with my Ipod.  I always let her so I can get at least 1 more hour of sleep.  She usually lays down on the couch and turns on Netflix.  Bless you Apple Ipod, and Netflix.  You've made my life so much easier.

4.  She needs constant approval.  All day long I hear, "Are you proud of me mommy?"  "Did I do a good job?"  "I listen, don't I mommy?"  Now, you would think that I don't praise her enough, but I swear I do.  I think it's a middle child thing and that eventually she will grow out of it.  Don't tell me otherwise.

5.  She STILL loves to 'nuggle and cuddle with Dave and I.  I have also taught her the joys of having your arms, back, and legs tickled, so she will request it often, much to Dave's dismay.  I'm more than willing to oblige because she will return the favor and she usually does a pretty good job!

Love you baby girl!