Sneak Peek

We had a sneak peek of Brynn recital tonight at her rehearsal. Man, was it cute! I can't wait until Saturday!!

"A You're Adorable"

Brynn's buddies she dances with on Wednesdays: Olivia, Miranda, Brynn, Abbie, and Abby. All the girls, but the Abby on the end (she just helped herself into our photo and we didn't have the heart to tell her to leave), I taught at North Trail with their moms and the girls were born within a couple months of eachother. There was something in the water in the 2006-2007 school year! Whatever it was helped produce some pretty adorable girls!

Problem Solver

Cara LOVES turning on and off light switches. Most often you'll find me standing next to a wall while she says, "Opf....On....Opf....On." Over and over again. We received a box of diapers in the mail on Monday and left it sitting by the wall. Cara helped herself and couldn't have been happier!

Grandma Connie's Cookies, Gingerbread House, Good Nap, Holidazzle, and Chipotle

Since Lynn was closed on Friday Grandma Debbie came to (attempt) to make Grandma Connie's famous sugar cookies. We were sent home with a bag full of cookies on Thanksmas to have for Christmas--they didn't make it until Christmas :(

Cara was much too interested in measuring and stirring her own cookies that we finally gave her her own container, flour, salt, and measuring devices.

Grandma Debbie brought Brynn a Santa apron to bake cookies in. So cute!

Since I had to have the day off, I schedule Cara's 18th month appointment. While Cara and I were gone Grandma Debbie and Brynn built a Gingerbread House.

After the dough cooled (per Grandma Connie's instructions) we were able to roll and cut the cookies. Brynn was really interested in rolling, cutting, rolling, smashing, cutting, rolling, mashing, rolling, and cutting some more... cookies.

After a long morning of rolling and cutting cookies Cara took a four hour nap (now I know how my cousin, Kristen feels because her kids take a 4+ hour nap EVERY day-LUCKY!). By the looks of that hair it must have been a good nap!

We planned on eating some where near/in the Nicollet Mall, but it was a really long wait so we ended up eating at Target. Brynn had pizza and Cara had a hot dog (both gross, I know). I did bring Lima Beans and apples to balance the meal out a little.

Again, my three favorite people in the whole wide world!

Just a glimpse of what we saw!

Brynn spotted the glow stick as soon as we sat down so...Darren bought two!

Since we parked right ouside of Chipotle we just had to get some chips and guac to go.

The GIRLS LOVED it!

Wee Wee! Cara was fine with sharing the quac...until anyone else wanted any :)

Cara was also fine with frosting cookies... until it was anyone else's turn to frost or sprinkle them!

The finished products--YUMMY! Mental note for next year: always keep an eye on the sprinklers! I'll have to admit that the cookies were okay, not Grandma Connie's, but a close second...maybe third :)

The girls seemed to enjoy their work!

O' Christmas Tree

We spent a good portion of Saturday morning on the search for the perfect Christmas tree. Darren managed to find it and comments every time he passes it in our big open room :) We thought it would be the perfect day since we had12 inches of snow the day before. Although it was beautiful at the tree farm, the 12 inches of snow made it really difficult for Brynn to walk, and us to pull the sled without a ton of fluffy, white snow blowing up in the girls' faces. It didn't take us long to ditch the sled and carry both the girls.

First snow angel of the season--the snow was so fluffy it didn't take much to blow in Brynn's face!

The girls and Darren with our "perfect" tree. Yep, that's Cara throwing a fit because I set her next to her dad to take a picture. It sure is hard to be more than 12 inches away from me!

Brynn was in heaven eating mitten full after mitten full of snow. I am not sure why she thinks snow is so yummy, but no matter how many times I told her to stop she just kept munching. After a while I just gave up!

Sleigh ride pulled by reindeer (donkeys).

What a great day officially starting the Christmas season!

Snow Bunny :)

Little piece of heaven...

...for Oliver! Our neighbor's mom was in the hospital so we went over to let their dog out several days in a row. Marley (I know, pretty original) and our dogs play with each other all summer, but in the winter we are quite the hermits and don't see much of them. We decided Marley could use a break from her kennel so we brought her back in (a first, normally they play out in the backyards) to our house. Ollie and Marley tugged on this rope for at least 3 hours while

Colby and I did some cuddling on the couch. Colby has never been too interested in playing with any dog other than Ollie, but she usually stands around awkwardly and attempts to get Ollie to play with her. She wanted nothing to do with it on Friday night. Poor girl. She is on a new steroid that is supposedly supposed to shrink the tumor and delay growth of the cancer. Since she started the steroid she has been much more comfortable, but obviously not comfortable enough to play. We were given two different scenarios by two different doctors. One said she wouldn't make it a week...almost two weeks ago. The other said she could last a good few months comfortably on the steroid. We are just enjoying loving her up right now!

Good Helpers

I'd never get all my chores done after a long day of work without my helpers!

Sweet Girl

Cheesy was being a great helper while Darren put Brynn's doll house together that she received from Grandma Connie. Looks comfy, doesn't it?

Thanksmas

We had Thanksmas (Thanksgiving and Christmas if you were wondering) with Darren's family on Saturday. Connie and Dave left for warm and sunny Arizona this morning to get their share of golfing in. It was great to see the cousins who we only see once a year--man teenagers grow a lot in a year! Thanks for a great start to the holiday season!

Mullenbach Cousins

We had the second annual Thanksgiving at our house this year. Grandma bought all the kids new pajamas to get their pictures in. Of course it's not easy to get a good picture of 5 kids under the age of 3 1/2--three of which are 17 months and under. We decided it shouldn't be too hard in about 5 years... The kids were all troopers...just not very smiley at the same time.

Sad Hearts :(

It is with sad hearts that we post our sweet, slightly obnoxious and annoying, but extremely lovable Colby Cheese was diagnosed on Monday with a highly aggressive form of cancer-Lymphoblastic Lymphoma. She has a cancer filled tumor in her abdomen the size of a softball. After being quite lethargic and having diarrhea for a couple weeks we brought her in to the vet and were shocked, saddened, and heart broken to find out this information. Since Monday she, and Ollie, have been spoiled rotten. Although she is still with us now we look ahead to the very near future and are sure going to miss our crazy, free spirited dog!

They even get to cuddle with me on the couch in the evening--this is a BIG treat in our house. When this is all said and done Ollie is going to need quite a bit of retraining!

Too Cute!

The girls "helped" me clean out the front closet this week. Cara found Brynn's rainboots and coat and just had to try them on. Although she couldn't take more than two steps in them without falling over she thought she was pretty cool!

Playdate with Peter!

We had Jen, Pete, and Claire Bear over on Tuesday night for dinner. Of course the best part of the night was playing with Pete. I don't know if he is really that fun...or if his mentality is between a 17 month old and a 3 1/2 year old! Either way the girls always have a great time when we get together with the Berlings! Even Cara Bean warmed up to him--she surprises us little by little each day!