Merry Christmas from the Bergles!

Today has been the easiest Christmas that I can remember. It’s probably because we weren’t really celebrating today, but we did have three of the kids home and took it easy, and that was nice. Speaking of nice, the 50-degree weather was perfect for a run and an hour of reading on the sun porch!

I reached my running goal for the year today, and I finished one more book. That makes 22, and my goal was 24. I’ve started 23, and we shall see what happens.

I should have taken time to sew on my alpaca quilt, but instead I worked on making Jeff and me matching T-shirts. He got a Sasquatch shirt for Christmas, but it was the wrong size. He really liked the shirt, so he found his size and was going to exchange it. I talked him into getting the shirt in his size, and I made the wrong-size shirt my size! We are going to wear our matching shirts on Saturday. Aren’t we exciting?! LOL

We did have our Potwin Christmas on Saturday, that is always so fun. We even got to see Santa this year! I hope everyone had a restful day, and I hope those in my neck of the woods got outside.

Here’s to a happy New Year and more matching outfits!

Grandma Rosie brought us presents on Saturday!

Santa was just hanging out in Potwin, so we snagged a pic after our horse drawn carriage ride!

The before shirt

A few pins and an hour later

A shirt that fits! 

Wrestling, Junior Year Edition!

This weekend I got to watch Daryl wrestle at the JV Leavenworth tournament. Last year, he won 1 match, lost 3 and had to forfeit his final match. This year, he finished with 4 wins and 1 loss. He placed second in his bracket. The improvement was incredible, especially considering this is only his third year in the sport.

I love his determination. He isn’t discouraged at all about wrestling JV and continues to challenge the varsity wrestler in his weight class each week. I truly admire his drive to earn a varsity spot and the way he treats every JV match as a learning opportunity rather than a setback.

I also managed to get some good reading time in while waiting for Daryl’s matches. Wrestling Saturdays are good days. 😊 I have three books left to finish this month to meet my yearly goal, and I’m planning to really lean into reading over Christmas break.

Deck The Halls!

 It may be December 14th but that is technically the first half of the month! When Alex got home tonight he and Joseph helped me put up the tree and the stockings. This month is going quickly but so far it is treating us well. Aaron and Joseph both had school concerts last week and Alex has his on Tuesday. 

Next week is the last week of school and then the kids will be out till January. During that time we will watch some Christmas movies, go to the beach and go see some holiday lights. You know, December stuff ;-) 

November Goal Check

The first week of December has already flown by. I really need to get the tree and decorations out. This week was packed with work stuff, and Daryl just started wrestling. It feels like this whole month is going to be busy. I also just finished ordering our holiday cards, so they’ll probably show up late, oh well!

I’ve got to keep my goals in mind. Still struggling to get up and run in the mornings, but whatever… let’s do this. Finish the year strong!

Read 24 Books 21/24

Finished two books in November!  

Broken Country, by Clare Leslie Hall was another Library recommendation and I really enjoyed it. There were enough surprises and twists throughout the book to keep me turning pages. This would be a good one to take on a vacation. 

The Women by Kristin Hannah was recommended to me by another passenger waiting at the airport months ago. I was reading The Nightingale by the same author and a woman sitting across from me let me know that is not even her best book. I very much enjoyed The Nightingale, so I was intrigued! She told me that she liked The Women even better. While this book was excellent and I am open to reading more of Hannah's books I think you like the one you read first. LOL I did enjoy that this book was from an era that I don't read about a lot. Set during The Vietnam war it is a story of all the Woman who served in that war as Nurses and how coming home affected them as well as the male soldiers.

Run 650 Miles 610/650

I ran 61 miles this month. And let me tell you, that last ten miles was a STRUGGLE. It got cold, I don't like cold. Now I'm even a little doubtful I will get 40 in December to end this year! UGH!! 

Money Goals

Fund 3-6 month ER Fund- Done April 2025! Yay for selling my house! 

Pay off Car - Done April 2025! Yay for selling my house! 

UFOs (unfinished objects) that need Finished 

T-Shirt Quilt (have the shirts)

Alpaca Quilt I got all of the lantern rows sewed on my Girl weekend this month. I am currently cutting out Alpaca pieces! 

Placemats - Done April 2025 

Alex and Daryl Photo Books 2021-2023 Just missing 2023 at this point. 

We worked really hard on our Thanksgiving puzzle this week. 

At Alex's Dec. Infusion he got to meet the therapy dog. In two years this was a first! 

Finished it on Thursday! Go Team! 

HBD Jeff, Happy Turkey Day and HBD to me!

 Last week had a lot of days to celebrate and we did just that. Tuesday was Jeff's birthday and he celebrated by spending eight hours in the car picking up Lucas from school. LOL he celebrated my birthday the same way yesterday taking Lucas back. We do what we have to do for our kids. 

On Wednesday, we had a birthday date at Merchants in Lawrence and it was excellent. We enjoyed our evening to ourselves before the holiday officially started. We hosted my family for Thanksgiving but we did it on Friday. That was so nice because I had a whole day to stay in sweatpants and clean.

On Friday, my mom and my brother's family came for Thanksgiving and we finally got to meet Christopher. He was born a couple of months ago and he is adorable! It was also great to catch up with the other kids, I can't believe how big they are getting! 

I'm so glad the snow held off till today and everyone was able to get back home. I guess decorating for Christmas will be on the to do list for this week! 

I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday! 

Alex meets Christopher

Our birthday cocktails!

The kids table!

We did see Zootopia two on Friday night. It might be better than the first movie! Jeff and I celebrated hosting a family holiday with another cocktail!

Aaron made me pancakes and I got breakfast in bed for my birthday. I thought that was super nice!

Ravens Won!

 Middle School soccer season is a short one. Alex didn't let me know he was playing until the week before practice started. They started in October and the city championship was tonight. For the first time ever the Robinson Ravens won the city trophy. Not only did they finish first they had a perfect 7-0 season.

Alex played varsity defense and had a lot of good plays and a few that made us shake our heads. He played with confidence and had the support of his team. This was a fun group of  boys to watch and I am so proud of all of them! 

Thanks Ravens, that was a fun ride! 8th grade is going fast, slow down a bit!