Getting Ready for Christmas

We've spent the last week learning all about Christmas. We are very excited by all the snowmen Mommy has around our house, and love to show you their mittens, hats, and buttons! We are trying to learn that Santa says "Ho, Ho, Ho" (and not just "Ho"). We also enjoy all the packages Mommy brings in the house - we love to go through them, if she lets us!

Grandma Estochen sent us Advent calendars - every day when we get home from daycare, Mommy lets us have the piece of candy for the day. Of course, we love to try to open all of the candy - but Mommy is faster than we are!

Aunt Renee and Uncle David gave us antlers last year - and we love to wear them around the house. We haven't quite figured out what reindeer say (if you have an idea, Mommy would love to hear it), so we dance and say "Gobble, gobble" (some Thanksgiving residual!).


Posing with our Christmas tree - Mommy's glad it's upside down, so most of the ornaments stay ON the tree!!

Mommy found us a magnetic snowman to dress-up, and hung it on the front door. We can play with it for HOURS every day.

We are learning about wrapping presents - we even helped Mommy "make" some wrapping paper this year! It could be coming to a store near you...

Did St. Nicholas come to your house? He came to our house, and brought us M&M's and new sweatshirts. When Mommy told us to look in our shoes, we went in the bedroom and got them... She's learning not to say things too literally around us!!


Saturday, it was very snowy out. We enjoyed watching Cy play outside, so Mommy got us all dressed up, too. Of course, by the time we were dressed, Cy wanted to come back in - and we didn't want to be outside without him. Mommy and Daddy had to convince us to try the snow by throwing very lightly packed snowballs at us. Then, we tested out walking in it. When our cheeks got bright red - and we had to come in - it was hard to understand "snow" and "no" in the same sentence. Sunday, we were so excited for the snow, we could hardly wait. Angie and Mommy took us outside in our sleds, made snow angels (we didn't like it), and went down the slide... again, we didn't want to come back in. It snowed a LOT last night, so we can't wait to go out there again!!
Stay warm!

Happy Thanksgiving!

We had quite the last 10 days! We celebrated Daddy's birthday, and had a BIG Thanksgiving weekend! Grandma, Papa, Aunt Heidi, Uncle Cory, and Uncle Tony joined Mommy, Daddy, Aunt Angie and us for a long weekend!

Wednesday night, Aunt Heidi and Aunt Angie babysat us while Mommy & Daddy went to a hockey game and to celebrate their birthdays. When Mommy got home, she was going to make her "kids" Jello (we made the Cranberry Jello on Tuesday), but we threw away the Jello when we were "helping!". Thursday morning got eve more interesting... Mommy & Grandma learned the hard way that we don't put aluminum foil in the bottom of our new oven (one new part later - it's brand new again!). Then, they decided to bake the pies anyway since the foil had already baked on - and the smoke alarm kept going off and the fire department kept calling to check if it was a false alarm... the pies got baked, but wow, the nerves got frazzled!

We got to learn all about the Berger family traditions - we went on the Turkey Trot in the morning (a little over a one mile walk), and Papa pushed us the entire time. Cy went with - and kept circling back to make sure we were all OK. Then, we went home and had a little lunch before the big party at Mark & Carol's. We got there just in time for "Berger Grace", then helped Mommy & Daddy eat food off their plates - Thanksgiving dinner was so much better than the Mac & Cheese and Carrots we had at home! We played for a while before it was time for the Hot Dog Roast on the beach! We helped Papa and Uncle Cory make their hot dogs, and we helped eat them, too!

On Friday, Neela helped Mommy, Papa & Grandma hang up the Christmas lights. Papa taught her how to climb a ladder - both ladders - and she made it all the way up to visit Mommy on the roof. Believe me - this WILL NOT happen again anytime soon! It was too much for Mommy nerves - and who knows what the neighbors were saying! After Neela was back on the ground, she bossed everyone - "Mommy, Get Down!" and "Grandma, Get Down!". The lights look great! Then, we headed to the hotel for some swimming - we liked to put our feet in the hot tub, even though it was "hot"! We chased Mommy to the big pool, and eventually managed to jump in off the side in our life jackets. As you can imaging, Kylie was cautious - and Neela had no fear. Neela also tested out floating on her back... We have pictures, but we need to get them from Heidi and Cory.

On Saturday, Grandma, Papa, Heidi & Cory took us to Mark & Carol's and Mill's (it's becoming our favorite store!). We helped Papa buy lots of cool stuff - and Mommy, Angie and Tony got all of Mommy's Christmas decorations up! It was great!! For supper, we went to the Cloverleaf in Newport - it was great food! Kylie noticed the Wild on the TV, and the "Boobies" on the Budweiser poster - so much for all that anatomy they say we're supposed to learn! Neela focused on the Cy on Daddy's T-shirt, and the missing Cy on Mommy's shirts. We both loved the fried mushrooms!

Sunday, everyone headed home - and we headed to a football party at our friend, Reardon's. He is a Patriots fan - and they lost to the Steelers. We didn't gloat - but we did dress in a lot of black & gold!

We hope everyone had a great week! We have so much to be thankful for... family, friends, and the village that raises us! All our love - K&N

Turkey Pops from Grandma Estochen

At the Hot Dog Rost with Papa & Cory

Neela's Turkey Headband (Thanks Bonnie & Hambone!)

Neela & Mommy

Helping Mommy make the Cranberry Jello

Kylie tries Cory's Mountain Dew (Cory got to put her to bed that night!)

Kylie's Turkey Feathers

Kylie & Mommy

Neela tries Heidi's Pie

Kylie & Daddy

Kylie's Piggies

Neela's Piggies

Neela's self portrait (she keeps stealing the digital camera!)

Putting our new Monkey ornaments on the tree - but we WON'T leave them there!

Helping Daddy eat his birthday cake!

Opening the birthday box from David & Renee

New Shoes!

We got new shoes yesterday - and we were very proud of them!!

We got home from daycare, and Mom opened the box for us. We couldn't our old shoes off fast enough, and we were so excited to walk around in our new RED shoes! They feel a little different - they are the our first "hard sole" shoes.

Of course, we can't always be angels. Look what we did to Mommy's wall - at least it's washable crayons!! Otherwise, we'd have a "purple church" story like the one from when Mommy grew up and drew a "purple church" on Grandma's newly painted wall! Grandma says she couldn't get mad because Mommy called it a church... Mommy was a smart kid!

2-9... Another fine year of Cyclone Football is almost in the books!

We are talking non-stop and moving non-stop, so it's hard for Mommy & Daddy to keep up with us. Right now, we are putting our babies, bunnies, and puppies to sleep in the big rocking chair, the little rocking chair and the end table with our blankets, and the blankets Grandma made for the babies. "Night, night... shh... baby sleeping!!" Mommy even had to make a "hat" for the baby out of a sock - the other babies had headbands.

Last week, we talked to Uncle Tony - and said "Hi Tony" so many times he was thrilled! We are also getting much better at Angie & Grandma - and recognize all our Grandmas in our flash cards. Of course, we can say almost everybody in our flashcards - we really like the "Mommy & Daddy" card! Our other favorite thing is coloring with markers, crayons, stamps - whatever we can get our hands on - and we love to singalong to Row, Row, Row... ABC's... Wheels on the Bus... Do your ears hang low?... Itsy, bitsy spider... and any song on our "Wee Sing" CD in Mommy's car!

Grandma & Papa G. came to visit two weekends ago (November 8 & 9). We took them to Little Gym for "Grandparent Day" (or whatever relative you wanted to bring). We showed off how much we love the bars, the beam, the balls, the bells, the bubbles... they have lots of "B" stuff there! Then, we went to a birthday party for Great Aunt Carol and Great Uncle Mark - they turned 60! We weren't the youngest guests - our cousin Caroline (OK, 2nd or 3rd cousin) was the youngest. We taught Carol & Mark all the things that were NOT baby proof in their house, so they could get ready for Caroline to be mobile!

Now... we are done with babies, and we're climbing on the end table - just like we do on every piece of furniture... this is a combination of Grandma E., Papa G., Jesse (from daycare), and the Little Gym all rolled into one.

This last weekend was the final Cyclone home game. It was COLD! We got to wear our hats, mittens and winter jackets (Daddy calls us his little "Sarah Palins" with the fur on our hoods) and play outside a little. When the game started, Becky took us to Tim & Terri's for supper, baths and bed while Mommy, Daddy & Chuckie froze at the game... the Cyclones lost 52-20... time for more of that "2-10 Water" we drink!!

Here are some pictures of our adventures...

Mommy's birthday brownie didn't turn out perfect - but we enjoyed it!

It was a little big to bite into - but it looks like Mommy is VERY hungry!

Uncle Chuckie came down for the game - we're sure he came to see us more than football! We couldn't wait to get dressed up and go outside to play with him!

Neela's Cy tattoo

We had fun in the RV, too! Here we are playing with Ben & Adam on the RV bed. They were teaching us to play catch and JUMP!

Picture time - Kylie LOVES Adam!!
and we both LOVE Ben's tattoo!

Neela & Ben

Adam & Kylie

Having fun with Mommy...

Chuckie's Beer... or is it Kylie's?!?!?! She really wanted to get it away from him!

We played the game... "Where's Chuckie?" Can you find him?

We hope you all have a great week!! We have lots of parties coming up - Mommy's birthday is Wednesday, and so is Mason's (he's at daycare - we're coloring his card tonight!).

Love, K&N

Trick or Treat!

Tarzan, Jane, and the 3 monkeys get ready to trick or treat!
Kylie is the monkey on the left.

We got "dirt pies" from Bonnie & Hambone - we waited to try them until Saturday, but we LOVED them!! Especially Kylie - Mom used a lot of Spray & Wash on our shirts that day!

Our trick or treating was scaled down this year - we went to Richardson's, Peterson's, Soderstrom's, Cockeriel's, Starken's, Stehura's, Tenner's, and the Fire Station (pretty much the same route as last year). At every house, we had to help dump out the entire bowl of candy - then help refill it again, and again, and again... We convinced Mom & Dad to give us a few bites every once in a while, but they won't give in as much as Aunt Angie! We ended up at the Sheehan's for the second year - Cy loves their house, and the girls enjoyed the freedom of no more costumes while Mom & Dad had a beer with Mike & Sue.

On Saturday, we went to the Oman's for a party - this was the first time kids could attend. Everyone was impressed we knew "beer" and "pop", and that the little monkeys were true monkeys - climbing EVERYWHERE! Mom brought us home to the babysitter (Sydney), and she went back to the party for a little while.

It was such a great weekend to be outside, we did all kinds of things! We helped Daddy rake leaves - we did most of the work (pictures always tell the truth, right??).

We also helped Mom & Dad clean the garage - we tipped over Mom's bike, emptied out rubbermaids, and rearranged the pumpkins - all very necessary work!

We loved Mommy's hat on Halloween - we tried both of her hats on - we liked the witch's hat on Mom, and the Spider web hat seemed to fit us a little bit better.

Last weekend, we cleaned pumpkins with Grandma & Papa G - Mom & Dad didn't want to miss out on the fun - and the nice weather - so we cleaned out MORE pumpkins last Thursday night. Neela really wanted to use the spoon to clean the pumpkin - and Kylie loved the "seeds". She dug them out - then put them on a spoon and tried to feed them to Mom. I wonder who taught them that... (PAPA!!!)

Neela is in love with Elmo right now - she and Elmo took a break (with Cy) while Kylie kept working on the pumpkins.

What else is new? Kylie has all of her eye teeth at various stages - Mom hopes that helps her sleep better - but helping herself to Mommy's latte last Saturday certainly didn't! Neela's teeth are not coming in as quickly, but that's been the story all along.

We hope everyone had as much fun as we did in the last few days!
Have a great Election Day - Mommy's taking us to the polls tomorrow (we'll get stickers!!).