Late October, November and Early December 2011

Alot to update from the past couple of months:

Jake and Henry enjoyed Halloween and dressing up as knights :) And they looked extra cute at Thanksgiving in their matching tractor sweaters :) Jake had a great soccer season and scored his FIRST GOAL EVER! He was proud! The photo above is of him running through the "tunnel" at the end of the game :)

They got their flu shots on Nov 16th and neither one of them cried! Henry had to go to the doctor in October because he had alot of wheezing. They prescribed him another medicine for his nebulizer to take in addition to his albuterol and that seemed to make him better. He had alot of wax in his ears and the doctor irrigated his ears. Alot of wax was removed but still not enough for her to see his eardrums 100%. Poor buddy! Every time we go to the doc now he asked "what are they gonna do to my ears?".....

Jake got sick with a bad cough for 2 weeks and ended up with an ear infection around 11/28...he got amoxycillin and also had to use the nebulizer for a week. He is better, but did lose weight from his 65 pound norm, down to 62.5~

Jake has been doing great in school and is READING! He read me his first short story "Tig is it" and I was so proud. His teacher is using the same reading program that was used when I was in Kind....the same workbooks and everything! It is so neat! I love it! Also, Jake has not been getting in trouble at all and that makes me very proud. He loves his teacher, Mrs. Monahan, and says that Owen (Lane) is his best buddy.

Henry is wearing a size 9 shoe now and Jake is in a size 1!!!!

Henry enjoys spending his days with me while Jake is in school. He loves watching "Little Bear", "Backyardigans", and "Max and Ruby" - he likes to play air hockey in Jake's room, swing, go on the monkey bars, drive his truck, and looks forward to climbing on the dirt hill in our yard with Jake.

Henry really likes clothes, especially pajamas. He has one pair that is a one-piece that zips up and he calls it his "tiny jacket" :)

Fall info

Jake & his buddy Wesley on their class field trip to the farm~

Henry's final 2 year molar popped through a couple of weeks ago and he is talking talking talking :) He does not say his s's so he has cute words like mute nacks (fruit snacks) and he loves to play with play-do and the game Hungry Hippo.

Today the boys got a balloon as their daily treat on their Halloween countdown calendar. Immediately both boys wanted to send it to Poppy. Henry said "I send balloon to Poppy up in Heaven" and he went to the door and yelled "Poppy! You ready?...He said ok!"...and so we went out and they let the balloon go. Jake said "it has left the Earth" - I video'd it :)

Jake has been sick this week with croupy cough and a fever of 102.2...has missed 2 days of school and another one tomorrow. He has started learning the sounds of letters and read his first word yesterday......SAD :)

We have had alot of rain this Fall so Jake has only had 1 soccer game so far. His team color is red and he enjoys it - he likes his coach alot and even took her some pumpkins to practice one day, an idea he developed on his own :)

We took this family photo in the pumpkin patch~

peanut picker & math

henry picked peanuts with steve today, briefly, before the rain (henry's 1st time)...when i picked him up and asked him about the peanuts, he said "they not good for me...but they good for daddy" :) after talking to steve, i found out that this was henry's way of explaning "i don't like to eat green peanuts but daddy sure does" - hee hee - so cute :)

jake got a 100% E+ grade on his 2nd math test for kindergarten :)

student of the week

9/19-9/23

Jake was chosen as "Student of the Week" for his Kindergarten class this week. It has been fun gathering his show 'n tell items and he wants to take cupcakes one day. They are on letter G so tomorrow he is taking gourds for the class and an apple gourd for the teacher :)

9/21
i am peeling potatoes. jake just bopped henry because henry flushed the potty prematurely before jake was done....henry handled the issue by screaming "your in time out, jake! 1..2..5...go to your room.!" i am back to peeling potatoes.


9/25
So, our newest "pet" is a cricket from the farm, who is missing one of his rear legs. Jake brought it home and asked what they ate. We looked it up and found out they eat about anything, including bread and grapes...I was skeptical. So Jake goes into the kitchen and drops all kinds of stuff in the cage....and good golly if that cricket didn't start to eat the bread immediately! Oh, the fun we have at the Berryman house :)

dong it

9/20

henry and i just finished mopping at the farm...henry took the mop and said he needed to "dong it and chop it" in the water...ha! thank goodness he was there to dong it!

hen and jake the snake

Henry's new enjoyment is play-dough :)

And Jake was "Student of the Week" at school this week - he loved it! He took cupcakes one day, lots of show & tell items, and enjoyed all of the attention:)

A story about Jake

Jake's Children's Church teacher, Jeannie Rowland, shared this story with me today via Facebook:


You know how much I love him in Children's Church - so smart with a dry wit on top of that. I asked everyone if they thought they possibly could walk on water. They all shook their heads except for Jake. He said, "Yes, you can walk on water because ice IS water and you can walk on ice." I told him he was absolutely right. (Just wanted you to know that I did ad a disclaimer. If they wanted to use their faith and practice walking on water, they should only use mud puddles and kiddy pools. Maybe I should have left out mud puddles.)

Also just wanted to add that Henry calls a computer a "paloone" and got a free balloon at the grocery store today and promptly sent it to Poppy in Heaven when we got home, at his request (I did not prompt him)-

a few more things

One more tidbit:

Henry also has his 19th tooth coming in, one of his top 2 year molars (on his left)- He also told me "I bit a booger" today and has begged me to tickle him alot today :)

Jake loves Kind. and had his first test on the letter C - got a S+ - he is now on the letter O - he has the same letter books that me and Steve used when we were little - pretty neat!

earthquake and hurricane

so, somehow we managed to have an earthquake and a hurricane in the same week!

henry and i were playing in his room on mon, 8/22 when his room started shaking violently. i thought a helicopter was landing on our house but was also very confused - henry didn't seem to notice - i tried to call steve but our cell phones didn't work - a minute later my aunt nan sent me a text "we had an earthquake - we are ok" - then got another one from my mom that she had an earthquake in williamsburg while in a shoe store - turns out that mineral, virginia was the epicenter for a 5.6 magnitude earthquake - first one i have ever felt - very odd feeling!

then 5 days later, hurricane irene hit the outer banks, nc....we lost power for 2 full days and people in our area are STILL waiting for electricity - it damaged our corn maze and pumpkin crop but overall, we faired ok

jake's song and kindergarten

jake made up a song about a year ago...i just saw an old facebook post with his lyrics and wanted to save them:

the big, bad wolf (bing, bing)
fell out 'til morn (bing, bing)
wagonride with a cherry pie

also, we just purchased a brand, new mini van and the boys LOVE it - jake likes to move his car seat around and sit in the middle sometimes and in the back other days. they both enjoy the dvd player that is installed in the ceiling - it even has built in video games :) they fight over who gets to push the button to open the auto sliding doors on the van - and we have vowed not to eat in it or drink colored drinks in it for a looong time! we also purchased my dad's old truck and the boys like having poppy's truck to ride in - i like it too :) it still has dad's jethro tull cd in the cd player - will always leave it in....

jake also started his 1st day of KINDERGARTEN 2 days ago - his teacher is mrs. monahan and he got his first grade today, an E+ (see right) and this is our first year with homework every night :) he has 7 people in his class and likes it so far :) see photo above :) he chose a dragon/knight bookbag and lunch box theme this year :)

what's new

Henry knows most of his colors now and says his ABC's well. He doesn't like me to sing along and tells me to stop singing so he can sing solo. He also knows Twinkle Twinkle Little Star pretty well, too :)

Also, when we went to the beach again with Sassy, Bizza, and Becca, Henry had a change of heart and decided he actually DOES LIKE the ocean, sand, and the beach in general :) While there at the beach cottage, we got to swim in the inside pool alot and Henry discovered that he can "wim" all by himself with his lifejacket on. He wanted to do it all by himself and didn't want us to help him - he likes to swim to the ladder and climb up and down :) While in the pool, Jake demonstrated his ability to go underwater (he hold his nose)- He also enjoyed trying to "body surf" for the first time while at the beach and found out he likes rice while at dinner one night :) The cottage also had a foos-ball table which Jake really enjoyed and Henry called it "gutter ball" and called the cottage "Becca Boo's Beach House" -

When Jake went to the beach last week with Grandma, Pa, Missy, and Bryan, they played putt-putt and Jake got 2 HOLES IN ONE! Goooooo Jake! Also, the boys both started wearing their very first pairs of flip flops ever (Jake didn't like them up until this summer) - and Henry is different from Jake in that he LOVES to wear hats and sunglasses. Jake just started wearing this recently :)

Little Mr. Peanut AND Busch Gardens Rides for Henry

At this year's 2011 PPP Festival in Surry (Pork, Peanut, and Pine) Jake was honored with the title of Little Mr. Peanut. This title is given to a little boy ages 5-7 who lives in Surry and his part of a farming family. Jake was asked to hold the title this year, and it was alot of fun. His photo and bio were in 2 different papers, which was his favorite thing of all. He felt famous :) He got crowned on the big stage at the festival and got to ride in a convertible in the festival parade :) He got alot of attention from spectators who waved, took his photo, oooed and aaaed. One lady even asked if I would take a photo with her and Jake - she was a fan - sooooo cute! Little Miss Peanut was a sweet little girl named Amanda Barlow who was 7 :)

Jake went to the dentist this week and has 2 cavities! So we go to a pediatric dentist next week and we shall see what those visits hold for us.....cringe :( On a more cheerful note, he has learned how to play Tic Tac Toe and really enjoys it. He weighs 63 pounds now.

Henry has been talking alot and today, counted to 22 (but did skip 14, 19, and 21) - pretty good though, I thought :) We went to Busch Gardens last week and Henry got to ride several rides for the 1st time, such as the swings, airplanes, and his favorite, the bumper cars (cumper cars, as he called them)- He had soooo much fun! We watched a Pirate 3D movie that scared him to death. Had to take off the 3D glasses but that still didn't help him too much when the big spider came on the screen or the scary bats looked like they were flying at us. He especially didn't like it when the water shot at us from the back of the seats...Henry doesn't like getting squirted with water or getting dirty...he is different from Jake in that regards :)

a first for mommy

Yesterday, I got to take Jake to a movie - the first time I have gotten to go with him :) He has been to several before with his grandparents (Poppy and Sassy took him to his first movie) - But he was so cute and so excited and I loved looking over at him and watching his cute, little face. He enjoyed the popcorn (we bought waaay too much) and the soda and also played video games afterward. My Mom went too and the 3 of us sat in a photo booth and took pictures. Jake was too short so I tried to lift him higher and that made him mad. So he is not even in the last photo of the series because he had left the booth - lol. Oh, the movie we saw was Cars 2 :)

Henry tells us now when he poops and asks us to "change me" - he has started to pretend to talk on the telephone and today called JC and his conversation went like this..."Hi JC how are you good yeh...Love you byeeeeeeee" - it was so cute! At bedtime we likes me to sing what he coined "Poppy's song", which is a song my Mom use to sing to me when I was little. It goes "By a baby bumpkin, Poppy's going hunting, to get a little rabbit skin to wrap our baby Henry in" - I remember when I sang it to Jake when he was little, he got sad and cried. But Henry likes it, because it is about Poppy. And we try to talk about Poppy alot every day :)

Jake weighed 63 pounds today. And Henry is starting to drink a little plain milk out of a cup AND he decided today that he actually likes ketchup after all :)

July 4th

Jake and Henry had a good 4th of July. We watched our county's fireworks last night and went out on our boat, too :) We also did our own small fireworks in our yard, which Jake really enjoyed. Henry, on the other hand, did not like the loud noises that they made. He got very scared and wanted me to hold him and take him back inside. Today, we were going to go watch fireworks on the river from our boat, but bad storms are passing through. So we are waiting for them to pass so we can light more of our own fireworks out in the yard :)

Henry asked today if we could get a ladder and go see Poppy. He knows that Poppy is in Heaven and know that Heaven is up in the sky. I wish we could go see him, Henry! At Poppy's Shack, we found tadpoles in an old pot Dad had that he used to keep goldfish in. We caught 9 and brought them home to raise into frogs - then we will take them back to the Shack to release them :)

The boys were also excited because we have had 2 rabbits in our yard recently, which is a new thing for us. They took carrots out and left them in the yard for them :) We will go check and see if they ate them, soon :)

1st tropy

Jake's TBall All-Star team won 2nd place in their tournament and Jake received his very first TROPHY! He has wanted a trophy for a loooong time. In fact, he kept one of Steve's old baseball trophies in his room, and found one of my old science fair trophies. But now he has his very own and he loves it :)

June Stuff

Henry is talking lots and lots. When he says thank you, he says "bink you" - he got a ride on toy for his birthday that he calls his airplane and he loves to scoot around on that outside. In fact, he loves being outside in general, to swing, play in the sand-table, or ride on the lawnmower while Steve cuts grass. The other day the trailer was at the house from the farm and Henry drug his play tractor up on the trailer and left it there for many days - it was very cute :) He also likes to help me water our plants and flowers and the child sure can EAT - he has a big appetite! He loves "mute nacks" from Grandma (fruit snacks)-

Jake got asked to be on the All Star Tball team and we have had 3 games so far. Jake is the 2nd string, so to say, but he got a great hit today and got to second base before the inning was called. We are working with him on running fast to 1st base because he tends to slow down as approaches the base - we told him to just plow through the people if he feared they were in his way :)

We also went to the beach at Nags Head for 2 days, with my Mom, and the boys enjoyed it. Although Henry was NOT fond of the waves, water, or sand, and preferred to sit on the towell or

in the chair :) Jake built sandcastles and dug for sandfiddler crabs. Cousin Luke came with us one day and spent the night with us in the hotel. We also ate dinner with him, Kristen, and Baby Anna at the Black Pelican restaurant :)

Kids can say the cutest things!

This morning, Henry woke up, sat up in bed, and said "I want chip dip - have some downstairs?" - How cute is that? I guess he was hungry for some chips and dip :) In the middle of the night, we said "patchie-boo" which is our nickname for our cat Patch. He must have been dreaming of him. And then when Steve jokingly asked Henry "How is your hair?" (because it is always wild in the morning when he wakes up), Henry replied with "pretty" :)

Jake has been practicing catching "pop flies" with Steve to get ready for Tball All Star practice (he got chosen for the All Star team and got Best Infielder) for the regular season. He was catching them in his glove really well today!

odds and ends

Jake likes to play McDonalds Drive Thru and the other day he ordered a pretend salad. I asked him what type of dressing and he said "Chinese" :)

Henry calls fruit snacks Moot Nacks~

Henry's 2nd 2 year molar is coming in on his bottom right~

Jake's size 7 pants are getting tight on him! He is 60 pounds now~

Poppy and Heaven

On May 18th, 2011 at 10:19 AM, our beloved Poppy was taken to heaven by the angels of the Lord. It was a sudden, unexpected death that has left us all in sorrow and shock. We love him so very much and our hearts are broken. We know that we will see him again in Heaven, but that is such a long time from now. Poppy was not just our father and grandfather, but also our dear friend. We are going to miss him more than words can express. Our hearts will have a void that will never be completely filled. We love you Poppy! Thank you for all of the memories you left with us, and everything you did for us when we still had you on Earth. You are the greatest man that we have ever known -

April Updates

Jake started playing TBall this Spring and he loves it! I can see he has alot of interest in it and he is pretty good for just learning to play! He catches ground balls with ease and is what his coach calls a "power hitter" on the team :) He looks so cute in his Tball uniform! On the field during games, he does alot of twirling around and skipping :) Very cute!

For his 5th birthday party, he invited all of his classmates and buddies and wanted a hunting themed party! The cake was super neat, with a deer, hunter, and tree stand on it :)

Henry is growing so fast and know his colors orange and green very well! He also counts to 12 (skips around a little) and loves to ride with his Daddy on the tractor :)

The boys enjoyed picking the first red berry of the our 12th strawberry season at our farm (College Run Farms) :)

Easter and Croup

Jake and Henry went to see the Easter bunny again this year. We got a great photo with him and Henry loved the bunny and waved at him and willingly sat on his lap. The boys also rode the train and they each sat in their own seat. Henry loved the train (Jake had done it before many times) but this was Henry's first time. He talked about all day! Poppy, Sassy, Becca, and Bizza went with us and we all ate at the Olive Garden for lunch, too!

The week prior, Henry got very sick with Croup. He had to have an oral steroid and do saline breathing treatments. He is much better now. Jake has been well but seems to have grown a few inches and thinned out in his body. He now only weighs 58 instead of the 60 lbs that he was weighing this Winter.

Jake also started TBall and REALLY likes it. I see a bigger interest from him in baseball than in soccer. He is a really good hitter and catches ground balls very well. His first game was supposed to be today but got cancelled due to rain/mud.

Jake has been doing well at school, with his behavior and with his work. He now knows how to write through letter W and is anxious to read and write :) He had a bika-a-thon at school this week and got to ride his bike and wear his helmet. He raised $45 for St. Jude's Cancer Research!

Henry is talking ALOT and says new things every day. He can count to thirteen (but usually skips a few) and loves Caillou and riding on the tractor with Daddy! I entered him into a kids photo contest and he was one of the top popular picks, but he did not win. His hair continues to curl in the back but we did trim his bangs out of eyes one time already~

St. Patrick's Day

Today is St. Patrick's Day and the boys looked SOOOO cute in their coordinated outfits and festive green shirts :) I always feel so happy and content when they match and look nice - makes my heart smile :)

We took a trip to Target today because Jake has been saving up his money and wanted to buy a Wii game. They didn't have the African Safari Hunt game that he really wanted (which I don't want him to have anyway because they shoot elephants) but he did find a fun Scooby-Doo game that he has played all day. (Henry calls Scooby-Doo "Ba-Doo) :) Then we had a pizza party with Poppy, Sassy, Becca, and Brooks. And earlier today we also took a ride on the Gator. Jake drives but I work the gas - it was a nice day and the weather is getting warmer. Tomorrow is supposed to be upper 70s!

Jake started TBall practice last week and seems to really enjoy it! He has learned to catch a ground ball pretty good and stay in the "stance' when he is in the outfield. He got to play 1st baseman and got his first "out" at practice!

my left bone

Jake and Henry do alot of wrestling, fussing, and playing together. Just now, they were playing monster trucks on the floor and Henry kept climbing over Jake, on top of him. Jake said "You broke my left bone, Henry" - it was pretty cute :)

Henry says alot of cute phrases like "I did it", "I hold it", "I get out", etc - he is definitely talking more and more each day and expressing his desires and needs. He loves to drink water and calls it "wahdee" :) And pretty much calls any other drink in a cup with a straw, tea.

At Jake's school, for good behavior, they get a star on the daily behavior chart. Jake has been doing a good job of getting stars. He received one heart for doing a random act of kindness one day. And he has received one sad face for a day that he turned his friend's lunch box upside down.

At home, Jake has expressed interest in doing chores to make a little money so he can go to the store, Staples, and buy a wii game. The first week, Jake did well doing each day's chore but then he got sick and pretty much stopped. :) The boys both were sick last week with the 12 hour stomach throwup bug. Poor guys! It was sad but thankfully they got better fairly quickly. Jake did have to miss one day from school because of his fever. Henry's fever got up to 102.2.

Jake and Henry both seem like they are starting to get slim and tall. Jake's "thunder thigh" legs as we used to call them are becoming more like little bird legs! Henry, too, is slimming out and looking tall and skinny. I want my chunky, fat rolled babies back!

Crafts and New Phrases

Tuesdays and Thursdays are non preschool days for Jake. So most of the time we spend those days at home during the Winter when the farm is closed. Today, while at home, we made homemade bouncy balls from a kit that Jake received at Xmas. I was skeptical about how they would turn out but they actually work and are very attractive :)

Henry has been bottle free for a week now. It has been a hard transition for him. We cut him off cold turkey after he was sick last week. He wont drink milk now at all so we are working on creative beverage containers that he will drink milk from. His new phrase is "Ta Da" when he finds something or wants to show us something. He also does a good rooster and dinosaur impersonation.

The boys had a nice Valentine's Day and wore coordinating Valentine Monster shirts. Above is the card we sent out to family this year :)

ski trips and other stuff

We went on our annual ski trip with my mother and family to Wintergreen. We had a nice time and Jake got to go tubing and skiiing this year. Jake went on the kiddie ski lift 2 times with me, without falling :)

At school, Jake just finished letter "p" - he can write the Upper case letters through P, with a little prompting on L, M, & P. Lower case are coming along and we will continue to practice. The teacher said he is doing well his letters and knows his opposites well. He has been doing well at school and not getting into trouble (getting stars instead of circles w/ frowny face) and so he gets his reward of a Redbox movie and a slushie :)

Henry is talking alot and said "sippy cup" today. He was sick yesterday and threw up 5 times (Jake had flu last week and missed 2 days of school) - But Henry is much better and we did not let him have milk while he was sick. And because he was without a bottle for 12 hours, we went ahead and decided to take him off the bottle now. He keeps asking for it "milk....milk....milk" but he has gone a complete day now. I feel sad for him because I know how much he loved it and how much of a comfort it was to him. It makes me cry just thinking about it. Poor buddy - but hopefully he will be ok moving on without his "milk" - sniff sniff ;(

Henry is also wearing some 3T pants now :)

New Year - New Firsts

It is now 2011 - Jake and Henry continue to amaze us, and amuse us, with the things they do each day. Jake is on letter N at school and got a good report this week from this teachers on his progress. He has quite the imagination and likes to play all sorts of scenarios from hunting, to farming, to monster trucks, to scooby doo. He especially tells the best Hunting "stories" using things he has heard Steve talk about. He and Henry played "mountain lion" the other day and Henry made me laugh so hard because he pretended like he was using a grunt call and made grunt noises - even a 20 month old is picking up on hunting techniques!

Jake is wearing a size 7 clothes and 13 shoe - he is growing and is about 60lbs now! Probably 45 inches....he was good at school this week and got to get his reward: a slurpee and a redbox movie rental :) Jake has started to like to watch more grownup tv but thankfully still watches cartoons too. I don't want him to growup too fast so I encourage cartoons over the hunting or speed channels. He is also really into MARIO BROTHERS, his new wii game. He is very good! Very smart when it comes to the choices he has to make and he has a great memory! We play together and it is fun!

Henry has started singing songs. He knows various parts and will chime in when he can. It is precious. He knows the "meow-meow" part in "Kitty Cat's Picnic" (which he calls Patch) and parts of "Up on the HouseTop" which he calls "caws" (for Santa Claus)- He continues to love to play with Jake, wear our clothes and shoes around the house, and drink lots of "milk" (bottles)- He is a rough and tumble, like Jake, so keeps a bruise on him at all times. He has had several cases of hives and we are not sure of the cause. But none the past 3 weeks. Jake has managed to stay healthy all Winter other than a few sniffles - fingers crossed for the next few months!