Safety First

Brynn received a frog and pig finger puppet from Lynn for Halloween. Ever since then she has been quite attached to the frog. She sits it on the toilet paper roll while she pees so it can watch her, it has to be on the counter in the morning while she is eating breakfast, she sleeps with it, and today she decided it needed to be strapped in her carseat with her. I wonder how much longer this will last!

Benefit

We went to a benefit on Sunday for one of Darren's good friend's dad. Brynn had a great time. She, of course, loved the spaghetti and was quite fond of the chocolate cake. All the little ones were given helium balloons, and she was able to run around with two of her good buddies Peyton and Evan.

Just Plain Silly

Kate purchased a new head lamp to wear when she reads in bed (yep, a head lamp). Brynn was quite intrigued by it so Darren found his that he fishes with and she and Katie had a great time chasing each other around in the dark house.

Swimming Lessons

Darren and Brynn started swimming lessons last Tuesday. Brynn loves swimming so we knew this would be a big hit.

In addition to singing lots of songs and splashing in the water they practiced kicking the ball,

scooping the water,

and blowing bubbles.

Nigh, Nigh

Waiting for Daddy to come read me books so I can go to bed...little did we know he was out shoveling so it was quite the wait.

Banana!

There's nothin' like a good banana!

Play Dough

Brynn had quite the cold (and still does) last week so when Katie's school was closed due to the cold weather on Thusday she offered to stay home with Brynn. We decided a day to sleep in, be lazy, and take a good afternoon nap would do her good. They enjoyed a quiet day in their jammies sipping hot cocoa, playing babies, and making play dough.

Please note that Katie took the video and didn't realize if she turned the camera it would not correct itself on video!

Dancing With Daddy

Brynn loves "dancing" with her dad. The best part is her holding on to his ears for extra support!

Good Helper

Brynn has become quite the helper around the house. Each night it is her job to set the table. I give her one item at a time and tell her to put it in Daddy's spot, Mommy's spot, Katie's spot... So far she hasn't broken anything...yet, but I do cringe quite often when she is putting the plates and cups on the table.

Brynn gets so excited when she sees the vacuum come out or hears it turn on. One of her other jobs is to help vacuum. She did get a play vacuum for Christmas (it turns on and really sounds like it is working) but Brynn greatly prefers the real deal. Here she is helping Daddy vacuum the hard floors.

There's crap down there.

Yep, that's what my sweet daughter told me this morning! We had a two hour delay today (which never happens so we were quite tickled) so I was able to bring Brynn to Lynn's. Brynn noticed Katie's car was not in the garage and told me "Key's (Katie's) car gone." I told her that Katie had to go to work. She stared at the garage floor with all the snow and ice from the tires and said in a puzzled voice, "There's crap down there." I wasn't quite sure how to respond (I did my very best not to laugh) so I just told her the garage floor was dirty. I guess we will now have to watch what we say...

New Year's Eve

The Eckhoffs come over last night for a little New Year's party. Brynn and Peyton are such good buddies. They had so much fun running around chasing each other. They both slept very well that night...and so did the adults!

Playing in Brynn's baby bed. We usually don't let Brynn climb on this, but it was too cute watching the two of them try to get into that little spot!
Opening gifts Climbing on the Kangaroo Climber Santa brought Brynn

Of course, the two had to freshen up after the hard night of playing before crawling into bed.

Children's Museum

Brynn and I met Kristen and Ella New Year's Eve Day at the Children's museum. The girls had so much fun!

Brynn dried her hands (about 58 times in a 20 minute period),
played in some bubbles,

splashed in the water with Ella (on the right),

pet a snake,

watched the fish,

crawled through tunnels,

went down the slide,

practiced the climbing wall,

and built an igloo with some blocks.

Holiday Inn and Swimming

The day after Christmas every year my family rents hotels at the Holiday Inn in Austin to continue the celebrations. Brynn tried out the swimming pool last year, but wasn't too fond of going swimming with Uncle Bob and the cold water sure didn't help. This year she was big enough to swim in the kiddie pool with her second cousin Claire and third cousin Ella. The girls had a great time!

Ella, Brynn, and Claire
Claire swishing Brynn around in the pool.

Nearly the whole time Brynn was in the pool she would yell, "I swimmin, I swimmin" over and over again. I am pretty sure the crowd was aware of what she was doing!

Baby No-No

Brynn's first cousin on my side of the family was born in August. She absolutely adores him and is quite concerned about whether he has his pacifier, toys, or dog blanket when we are with him and talks about him constantly after we've seen him. We can't seem to get a great picture of the two of them, so this will have to do!

Nolan Otto Mullenbach

Christmas 2008

We had an absolutely fabulous Christmas. Who knew it would be so much fun with a 22 month old?! Brynn loved opening her presents...and everyone else's. After she opened the first couple she really didn't care what each present was. She would just open it and then yell, (above all the noise) "My turn!" and move on to the next. Towards the end it took her no time at all to power through each gift wrapped gift.

We have Santa come each Christmas on my mom's side of the family. Brynn was in awe of him and was quite excited when he called her name, but was not too sure about actually sitting on his lap to receive her gift!

Showing the pros how it's done!