November 2016

A few pictures from our November...

Eric, Eli, Phil and the boys, and my dad went camping at Caddo Lake at the beginning of the month.  They canoed a lot, on the hunt for alligators!

My sweet boy...

Still canoeing.

Eli made this for Eric.  I love it.  :)

Another camping picture- sorry it's out of order!  

Eli snuck these into my purse when I wasn't looking so I would find them at work the next day.  He knows they are my favorite.  :)

My dad started a tradition of building and decorating a giant wooden Christmas tree with the boys each year.  Here they are with the 2016 version.  

And lit up at night.  :) 

We went to a "Friendsgiving" at our friends the Wilkes' house.  It was a blast!

Eli played with Andy all night.

We had Eli's friend Lauren stay with us for a day over Thanksgiving break and so enjoyed our time together.  Here they are at the movies.  Eli's face makes me laugh.  :)

We went to the Christmas tree farm after Thanksgiving to cut down our tree, as per tradition.

Obligatory hay ride photo!

I love these three!!

We picked a good one.

The other obligatory photo- on the porch at the tree farm.

They boys are OBSESSED with football lately- they watch it, play it, talk about it non-stop.  It's super cute.

I was cleaning in Eli's room the other day and noticed an unexpected guest in the manger scene.  :)

Eli's 3rd grade class picture.

And the best third grader of the whole bunch:

And that's it for November!  Love to you all!

October 2016

Brace yourself for picture overload- October was a FULL month!  :)

A childhood friend of our family's got married on October 1.  Heather came into town for it, and we enjoyed dinner with a group of friends.  I love each of these girls so much!

Eli's school hosted a 5k run, and Eric and Eli did it together.

Eli ran the entire time and got second place for his age group!

The original Bergstroms at the wedding.  :)

A rare photo of just Eric and me.  The wedding was beautiful, and it was great to see some friends we hadn't seen in a long time.

We went to the drive-in movies one night and had a blast as always.  Here is Eli all snuggled up in the back of the car, waiting for "Pete's Dragon" to start.

Anxiously waiting...

 Playing hockey in the driveway.

We went to the Texas State Fair a couple weeks ago and took CJ with us.  We had a blast, as always.

They rode so many rides!  After Disney World this summer, CJ and Eli were old pros at the scary rides.  :)

Obligatory shot in front of the ferris wheel.

Corn dogs!  The BEST fair food.  CJ looks sad, but I promise he had a blast.  :)

Big Tex!

They had this fun "Ninja Warrior" course set up for kids.  Both boys loved it and did it over and over again.

This is not a good picture, but I still love it.  Wolfing down funnel cakes at the end of our night, by the light of the rides- love it!

Our whole family went camping, as usual in the fall.  We had a blast!  Three boys in the woods:

Lots of hiking.  This is the best shot I could get with Hank in it- he won't stay still in pictures!

The guys played football for a long time.

The kids swam, too!  The weather here has been so warm this fall.

Dock jumping.

Feeding the ducks.  Or, in Hank's case, trying to figure out how to feed ON the ducks.  :)

My sweet boy.

My favorite thing in the whole world to do is walk around the Daingerfield Lake at sunrise.  I logged a lot of miles this trip, and I couldn't have been happier.  This is my favorite spot in the entire world to be!

Fishing was done, but not many fish were caught!

A rare shot of Hank at rest.  

We played whiffle-ball and kickball in the field.

Family photo.

If you happen to still be reading (sorry this is so long!)...  We ended our month with a trip to Chicago.  I was there for a few days for a work thing, and Eric and Eli met me after my meeting on Friday ended at lunchtime so we could spend the weekend together.  We PACKED our time full of activities, and we loved Chicago!  

Our first deep dish Chicago pizza!  Eli kept saying, "This is so FILLING!"  :)

The "bean."  

Whatever the reason for this thing, it's super cool to look at/walk under, etc.

The trees were so beautiful there.  Our fall has been so WARM here in Texas that the trees are still green.  It was such a treat to see classic fall foliage in Chicago.

We went up to "The Ledge" at the top of Willis Tower (formerly Sears Tower).  It was such a strange/scary experience to stand on glass 110 stories above the ground!

Yikes!

Super yikes!

We walked all over the city, and at every turn there was such a beautiful view.  

This is outside the Aquarium, right on Lake Michigan.

We explored Soldier Field, where the Bears play.

We went to the Navy Pier and rode the ferris wheel and had Chicago-style hot dogs.

At the top of the ferris wheel.

Playing the boat-driving game.

We went to Lincoln Park Zoo, and they had a bunch of "fall fest" activities for kids, including this corn maze.  They kept going through it as fast as they could to "beat their time."  :)

The Zoo!

Even though we're not Cubs or Indians fans, per se, we couldn't be in Chicago while the World Series was going on and NOT experience at least a taste of Cubs mania!  We went to Wrigley Field right before the game was starting on Saturday night, and it was INSANE.  The energy was amazing- it was really fun to be in the middle of it!  Once the game started, we took a train back to our hotel and watched the game while sitting in bed eating tacos and guacamole- THAT'S how I like to watch baseball games!  :)

The end! (Finally!)  October was so full and busy that I feel like the holidays just snuck up on me!  I'm so excited for all that is to come.  Love to you all!