river rats.

After a couple of rough weeks health-wise (hence the lack of recent blog posts), the Kriegers are doing much better. Before the stomach bug that got all 4 of us, acid reflux, a week long clogged milk duct, and nursing strikes, we had a long weekend at the bay with my parents.

This year Caleb had even more fun swimming in the water and playing in the sand. Berkley Grace even enjoyed the beach, being only a month old. With the waves as white noise and a nice breeze to keep her cool, she took several naps under the umbrella.

The weekend consisted of swimming, getting some sun, making puzzles, watching the Olympics, eating popsicles, going on boat rides, fishing, etc. Here are some pics to show all the fun we had!

namesake

Berkley Grace's namesake is my Grandaddy, Floyd Burk Lowder, who went by Burk. I have so many memories of this man - too many to list here. Even as I sit here to write about why I wanted to name my daughter after him, I know this post will not even come close to giving a clear picture of who he was and the qualities that he possessed.


he was strong. he was brave. he was proud. he was generous. he was kind. he was impatient. he didn't take flack from people. he was funny. he was successful. he loved to fish. he was protective. he loved to garden. he couldn't stand cats and called any and all of them 'wampus'. he had a short temper when it came to technology and automated messages. he always put his family first. he never owned a credit card and paid for everything with cash. he loved being on the water. he didn't know a stranger. he was a hard worker. he loved his family. he loved the Lord.

He also loved his grandchildren and spoiled us rotten. I remember he always would slip a 20-dollar bill in my hand before leaving to go home. He came and supported me and my brothers at our sporting events whenever he could. We never questioned nor doubted his love for us. Looking back I think my brothers and I looked up to him more than we knew.

I miss being called "Sugar". I miss the prank gifts we would give him each year at Christmas. I miss listening to his stories of growing up and of the 'good ol days'. I miss the never ending supply of butterscotch candies and peanuts on his coffee table. I miss the summer days at Sunken Meadows.


Even though it's not as customary to name a girl after her great-grandfather, I hope Berkley Grace will appreciate where her name comes from as she grows up. I hope she comes to know what a great man my Grandaddy was and the impact he had not only on my life, but also everyone else in our family. 

We then decided to make her name a double name with Grace because of the grace that has forever changed my life, Steve's life, and Lord willing our children's lives. We want Berkley Grace to be reminded of God's amazing grace that He bestows on her every single day. We want her to understand and believe with her whole heart that it is by His grace that she has been saved - not by anything she has done or will do.

Berkley Grace, your name is more than just a name to us. We cannot wait to be able to tell even more stories about your amazing great-grandfather and to share all the more with you about God's abounding love and saving grace.

Berry, Lowder, and now Krieger

Before Berkley Grace was born, my mom gave me two dresses that I hope will continue to stay in our family for generations to come.

The first one she gave me was the dress my grandmother put her in for her coming home outfit. Not only is it absolutely beautiful, but I just love thinking that I have the dress that my grandmother picked out for my mom to wear home. I never met my grandmother - she passed away before I was born - so having something of hers is really special to me. When I put the dress on Berkley Grace it was surreal thinking about my grandmother dressing my mom in this special dress and knowing she probably looked at my mom with as much love as I did with Berkley Grace when I dressed her in it.

 

Berkley Grace - a couple weeks old

The second dress my mom gave me was the dress that I came home in from the hospital. I asked my mom why she didn't put me in the dress she came home in and she said that she didn't know her mom had kept her dress until years after I was born.  Even though it would've been really neat if my mom, me, and Berkley Grace were all put in the same dress as newborns, I still love that I have both dresses and am able to give them to Berkley Grace some day for her to use with her daughter.

 Me - coming home from the hospital

Berkley Grace - at home from the Birth Center

happy birthday steve

Today is my husband's 27th birthday. Here he is in Zanzibar when he was growing out a mustache and still wore a headband in his hair. If you're wondering, he's doing a hand motion that was popular in Tanzania amongst the men - it means 'cool'.


I thought I would write down just a few things about him that I'm appreciating today for who he is:

- a man who is confident
- a man who lives for the Lord
- a man who compliments his wife 109239847 times a day
- a man who does not want to live a 'normal' life
- a man who loves to spend time with his son
- a man who excels at his job
- a man who likes to read, shoot guns, write poetry, do anything outdoors, play music, play sports
- a man who loves his family more than anything else in this world

Happy Birthday Steve! And thanks Peggy for laboring and bearing Steve into this world!
(Now that I'm a mom myself I feel like the mom should definitely get as much (if not more) celebration on their children's birthday, being they did all the work that day - amen?!)

why we need a great dane.

I've been trying to talk Steve into getting not only a dog, but a big dog ever since we got back from Tanzania. I grew up with dogs and having 2 of them in Tanzania made me remember just how much I love having a dog of my own. To this day though, we are still a dog-less family, so obviously my arguments for getting a dog haven't been too persuasive.

Well I attempted to remedy that yesterday. We dog-sat a friend's Great Dane for several hours and let me just mention that Caleb was in heaven (and perhaps so was I). So in order to better my argument for needing a dog, I took full advantage of this short test run we had as dog owners to try to win Steve over.

Some examples of my persuasive arguments that I used throughout the day:

When I saw Caleb giving his cracker to the dog - "See Steve, a dog will teach Caleb how to share."

Or when we were all on the front porch hanging out and the dog growled at the mailman who instantly got scared and backed away - "See, people are scared of big dogs. No one would ever think about robbing us if they saw this huge beast in our house."

Watching Caleb laugh at the dog, pet the dog, mimic the dog's panting, follow the dog everywhere she went - "See, every little boy needs a faithful pup to grow up with. They'll become best buds."

Going for a walk down the block with Caleb chasing after the dog - "See, going for walks are so much more fun with a dog!"

In the backyard doing some work on the garden while Caleb and the dog played with sticks - "See, having a dog would entertain Caleb and enable us to get things done around the house a lot quicker!"

Lastly, when we were just hanging out in the family room - "See Steve, a 100lb dog can actually fit in our house just fine"

Don't you agree??

halloween fun

The two main objectives for Halloween yesterday were to keep Caleb in his costume as long as possible and to get as many pictures of him as possible. Fortunately the first objective was easy since 1. he loved his costume and didn't mind having it on for most of the day, and 2. we were invited to a costume playdate at Cartwheels and Coffee during the day and then went trick-or-treating last night in the rain with Tom, Amanda, and David!

Unfortunately it was hard to get a really good picture of him in his costume - he was totally distracted at our playdate and then it was raining when we were trying to take pictures last night. Nonetheless, here are some pics:

birthday party.

We celebrated Caleb's 1st birthday this past weekend with a fall-fun-filled-party. The weather was perfect for chili and hot apple cider, which both were thankfully on the party menu. For sweets we had an arrange of pumpkin cookies, carrot cake cupcakes, caramel apples, and a pumpkin shaped birthday cake.

the spread

dessert table #1

dessert table #2

pictures of caleb from each month this past year

Unfortunately, Caleb was not very enthusiastic about eating his first ever birthday cake (or any sweets for that matter). I think it was the consistency of the icing that he didn't particularly like. One of his favorite things the entire night was having the lights go out (this is his reaction whenever a light turns on or off). hilarious.

After singing Happy Birthday and blowing out his candle, we opened presents. Caleb got a great mix of clothes, books, puzzles, and toys. We also got a radio flyer wagon which we've already used and Caleb loves!

We are so thankful for all the family and friends who came to celebrate Caleb's first year of life. Steve and I couldn't have gotten through this past year without all of your support and encouragement along the way. (I realized I didn't get pictures of everyone who was there - huge bummer.)

And a special thanks to my mom who helped cook, bake, and decorate for the big day!

the smokies

We just got back from a super fun vacation with the Berry family in Bryson City, NC in the beautiful Smokey Mountains. There were 23 of us altogether so there was never a dull moment (especially with the 2 grandkids there). Besides taking in God's beautiful creation whenever we woke up and saw the view from our cabin, we did LOTS of activities and ate LOTS of food.

Activities throughout our time there included hiking, eating, white water rafting, cornhole tournament, eating, horseback riding, tubing down the river, eating, golfing, watching movies, playing card/board games, eating, putting together puzzles, and eating some more. It's a good thing we had so many physical activities with all the food that was consumed during our time there.

It was amazing to have boiled peanuts every day, fresh veggies from our gardens or farmer's markets, hand-picked blueberries, fresh peaches from GA, and then of course the neverending amount of sweets and blowpops (a Berry favorite).

Even though all the cousins are getting older, whenever we get together we just pick up right where we left off before. I am truly thankful for a family that even though are far away geographically continue to visit one another and can continue to have really fun family vacations together!

Family hike to some waterfalls

The highest mountain in TN - Clingmans Dome - but it was too foggy to see anything

Another viewpoint from Clingmans Dome

Caleb loved hiking!

Taking Caleb to look at the waterfall

The start of a crazy hike...Chimney Tops

This picture doesn't do the craziness of this rock climbing adventure justice.

On top of the chimney. You can't tell from this picture, but we had a magnificent view once the clouds cleared away.

handmade with love.

A couple of months ago I began making my first baby quilt for my future niece or nephew. Before starting, I knew there were two main requirements for this specific quilt:

1. it had to be a fairly easy pattern so I would finish it in time and

2. the colors had to be gender neutral.

I found an awesome pattern on etsy and then went to a local quilting store to begin looking for fabric. I wasn't sure at first what color scheme I wanted to do, but I knew I didn't want it to be the usual yellow and green.

I knew the nursery was mainly white and navy blue (which I love), but I also knew that I wanted to use more than just two colors in the quilt. Since it was a surprise quilt, I didn't want to spoil it by asking my sis-in-law too much about whether she was going to bring out any other colors in wall decorations, blankets, etc. So the goal was to have enough different colors in it that it wouldn't necessarily clash with any color that she could possibly accent the nursery with, but also to remain gender neutral.

What I ended up with was 12 different fabrics of all sorts of colors - reds, greens, blues, oranges, greens, yellows, etc of all various patterns - polka dots, birds, whales, stripes, flowers, etc. To bring in the nursery colors, I decided to use white muslin for the sashing/borders and then navy for the binding and the back.

I was really happy with the end result and was super excited to give the quilt to my sis-in-law at her shower. I hope she and Tom-Tom Jr. (or Amanda Sr.) will enjoy the quilt as much as I enjoyed making it!

smitty.

We had a wonderful weekend with the Kriegers at Smith Mountain Lake for Memorial Day. It was a perfect way to welcome summer and I have to say that Caleb looked the cutest yet in his lake attire. Here's some pics that showcase some of the few lake festivities that went on:

lots of hanging out on the dock

lots of drooling over Caleb's adorableness

lots of cleaning

lots of playing in the water...nude

lots of boat rides

lots of refreshing beverages (just had to put this one in there bc it was too funny not to)

and of course lots of taking pictures of the cutest baby in the world