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!

Reading

Brynn reading one of Cara's favorite books, Goodnight Gorilla, to her. Cara has been really into books lately. Her favorites include, Goodnight Gorilla, Big Red Barn, Moo Baa La La La, Yummy Yucky, Night Night Little Pooky, and Big Little. These are the ones she will gravitate to every night but will sit and listen to any book read to her. These were all Brynn's books when she was little so she knows them all by heart and will "read" them to Cara any time she asks...and she is pretty good at it too!

Prettiest Dancer

I know I am a little biased, but I think we definitely have one of the prettiest dancers on our hands.

Reading Attire

It's important to wear your prettiest dress when you embark on your favorite activity...reading!

Goons

It's always interesting trying to get a "good" picture of Brynn and Cara...then you throw Colby Cheese in the mix and this is what you get!

Forts!

Daddy sure knows how to build a good fort!

And were out...almost

We pulled the last gallon size bag of frozen breast milk out of the deep freeze today. Cara is definitely going to be going through withdrawls since that is all she has had for the last 17 months of her life. We have tried whole milk with her, but she is not too interested in it. As soon as she sees a bag of her milk taken out of the freezer she begins whining and crying until she has her cup in her hands--I sure won't miss that one bit!

SNOW

We had our first big snowfall on Saturday. It was so fun to get up to a winter wonderland right in our backyard. Brynn was so excited when she saw the snow. She came down from upstairs and said, "I can't even imagine! My playset is covered in snow!" After breakfast (and doing a couple loads of laundry) we headed outside to play in the snow. Darren was out running a couple errands so it was just the girls and me. Initially, Cara couldn't wait to go out and play...then she actually got out in the snow and decided it wasn't as cool from the outside as it was from the inside. I did manage get a few pictures despite her lack of enthusiasm for the snow.

She looks really excited here, doesn't she?
Cutie pies!
Cara preferred to hang out in the garage where the wind wasn't quite so intense.

While Cara was down for a nap Darren and Brynn spent a good amount of time building the perfect snowman. Unfortunately, the snow was too heavy the snowman didn't make it 24 hours before it collapsed.

A cup of hot cocoa was a must after coming in from playing outside.

Brynn and I decided to warm the house up a little with the oven so we baked some banana muffins.

The girls both thought they were delicious!

Does it get any cuter?

The girls were in such playful moods one evening so we spent the night chasing eachother around the house (hence not having clothes on--they were a little sweaty). When we finally stopped and looked at the clock it was way past bedtime. I put in one of Brynn's Baby Einstein videos that she got as a gift when she was a baby so they could wind down a bit. They both plopped themselves on the couch to watch it. As they settled down and cooled down Brynn became chilly so went and got her blanket off the blanket rack and brought it back to the couch. Cara watched Brynn get hers, hopped off the couch, grabbed her blanket, then looked at Darren and said, "bup (up)" and covered herself up. Although she says very little, she sure is one smart little cookie!

POTTY

Every time Cara is naked she intentionally pees. It doesn't matter where she is, but she sure thinks it is neat to watch it come out. We have been sitting her on the potty before she takes a bath since the end of the summer. She sits there for a few seconds and then decides she wants to get off only to pee on the floor or in the tub. Well, on October 12th she surprised us. We put her on the potty before her bath and as usual she hopped off within seconds. After playing in the tub for a few minute she pointed to the toilet and did her typical uh, uh so I took her out and sat her on the potty. To our surprise she peed!! She, of course, hasn't done it since, but if she is anything like her big sister she will be potty train early!

Giddy Up!

I love...

...sleeping babies! And yes, she is as sweet as she looks!

Getting so independent...

Brynnie learned how to zip up her coat last week!

We love to color!

Cara's new favorite activity!

Trying on any, and all, shoes not put away. She is so stinkin' cute!

The Three Loves of My Life!

Halloween 2010

We had the best Halloween this year! Friday night we spent the evening cleaning out and carving our pumpkins.

Brynn was really into carving this year. I had to distract her with other "jobs" so I could do a little carving at a quicker pace. Shortly thereafter she caught on and was back in my lap "helping" me carve some more. She's getting too smart for me!
The final products!

Saturday we had our second annual Halloween party. It was SO much fun. All the kids were absolutely adorable and did so well playing together.


Here's Nolan in his pre-costume skeleton outfit.
Before the party began Aubrey kept herself entertained on top of the table.

Amanda, Jas, and Eli stopped over for a bit. They had to leave early so Eli isn't in the group shot of the kids so I thought I better put the cutie in here!

We played a little pin the smile on the jack-o-lantern.Brynn Tressa

Ella GraceAubrey Mae

Henry Dennis

After playing a couple quick games we set up some paints so the little ones could paint some pumpkins...I'm still finding paint on random walls throughout my house!

Rotted apple grins,

creepy fingers,

more creepy fingers,

and mummies (for the kids) were just a few of the fun foods we ate.

The little kids eating some dinner......and the big kids eating dinner.

An attempt to get a picture of all the kids in their costumes. Lots of smarties were eaten during this photo shoot and we still didn't get a good one!

Cara, who doesn't like anyone, loved Uncle Derek!

To wind the night down we got all the kids in their jammies and played with flashlights and glow sticks. A BIG hit.

Sunday night we ate an early dinner so we could head out and do our own trick-or-treating. Our annual shot of the girls and the dogs didn't turn out, but hey we captured a moment in time right?!?

Colby Cheese (doctor), Brynn Tressa (giraffe), Cara Noelle (elephant), and Oliver Pedro (mailman)

Cara lounging in the wagon as Brynn runs from house to house.

The girls thought they were so cool sitting out on the steps in the dark AND eating suckers!

I'm not sure why this video ended up here...it's from the fun party!