Brooke's 1st Big Girl Snow Experience

Brooke FINALLY got snow boots that fit from Grandma Banana & Papa Pizza - and was treated to some time in the snow with her big sisters and Daddy!

Kylie & Neela were building a snowman with the snow Daddy was clearing, and Brooke tried her best to help - when she could walk and stand up!

Our Super Cool Snowman - with shades, Mommy's scarf, and Great-Great Uncle Gerry's hunting hat!

Kylie & Neela paid Brooke back by using teamwork to pull her in her sled!  She LOVED it!  Cy watched closely to make sure she enjoyed it the entire time!

The Christmas Tree

Grandma Banana & Papa Pizza helped us get out our Christmas decorations after Thanksgiving.  We still have our upside down tree - so we need a few boosts to get the ornaments up!

Brooke napped through most of the work, but did manage to hang up her ornament from Little Grandma!

Grandma Banana made us our OWN Christmas tree - in all our favorite colors!  We love having a tree in our bedroom (we assembled it in the toyroom), and Daddy set the timer to turn on when we wake up and right before we go to sleep!

Brooke's Long Good-Bye

The day after Thanksgiving, Tony & Chelsea came for lunch... and Brooke was great at good-bye... to Tony!  Chelsea and Angie BOTH tried to give Brooke a hug, and Brooke ran away and gave Tony LOTS of hugs!  So cute - and she's getting a little too good at the LONG, Minnesota good-bye!

Happy Thanksgiving!

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving Day with the Berger family at Mark & Carol's house!  It was a bit cold for the Turkey Trot, so Grandma Banana & Papa Pizza represented the entire Guggisberg Gang - while the Estochen Crew got cleaned up and ready!

Brooke got to experience her first Berger Thanksgiving - complete with the family grace - as she sat at the kids table with Kylie, Neela & Caroline.  All Brooke really wanted to do was CLIMB on the kids table, and pull the tablecloth off!

Brooke lost her tights - and found her toes - very early on!

Can any of us look at the camera?
Way to go, Caroline!
The 4th Generation Girls: Brooke, Caroline, Emmy, Neela & Kylie

3 Generations

Tony & Kylie

After digesting, it was time for the bi-annual hot dog roast!  Papa Pizza was in charge - Uncle Mark & Uncle Pete were game, and the Guggisberg Gang was fully prepared for the close to 0 degree weather!

Kylie's Hot Dog - no ketchup, no bun!

Caroline, Taylor, Mommy & Kylie

Aunt Heidi, Aunt Angie, Mommy, Uncle Cory, Papa Pizza, Aunt Chelsea & Uncle Tony

Papa Pizza & Uncle Cory

Uncle Tony & Aunt Chelsea

Neela & Papa Pizza cook her hot dog

We are so thankful for our friends and family!  It was a great day!

End of an Era - So Long, Little Gym!

It was a sad day in our house when The Little Gym closed it's doors in Woodbury on November 24. 

Here are some pictures from the girls' last week:

We grew up so much at Little Gym - when Kylie & Neela started, they couldn't even walk!

Thanks for the memories... Now, on to our next adventure!

Happy Birthday, Daddy!

Daddy had 3 days of celebrating!

On Tuesday, we went to Bonfire for dinner! 

Our waiter was amazing with kids - and all 3 girls had ice cream.

On Wednesday, the girls bought Daddy black and gold (Steelers - not Hawkeye - color) balloons - Daddy's favorite colors.  They also each gave him a bottle of whiskey!

On Thursday, we FINALLY had Daddy's birthday cake!  We ALL enjoyed it with Grandma, Papa, Heidi & Cory... not sure who liked it best :-)

What is that THING on your head?

Get the candles Daddy!

Daddy!!!

1, 2, 3, BLOW!

Cory helped Brooke with her cake...

It got better over time :-)

Kylie didn't need any help!



Neither did Neela!

I'm a BIG KID now!

Brooke is growing up way too fast!

She loves to climb on everything, and tries to do everything her big sisters do!

She is repeating many words, including "Down" and "No".  She even told her grandparents "Hi" and "Bye" today!

Playing with Play Dough

I can find my belly button - and YOURS!

See????!!?!?!?!

Forward rolls at The Little Gym

Bouncing on the Air Track

Brooke also fell in love with the "fat" beam at The Little Gym - Mommy would say "walk, walk, walk", and Brooke repeated "walk, walk, walk"... and then she'd walk across with no help!  Her other favorite things were the donut with bars, swinging from the low bar, and bouncing on the spring board... such fun!

Happy Birthday Mommy!

We know ALL about birthdays!  Daddy told us there were all kinds of secrets, so of course, we couldn't keep any of them!  We needed to know when Mommy was hanging up the decorations (she dug some out for Daddy to use once we were in bed), and who was coming to the party (we thought her brother and sisters should be there for sure!).

Mommy said we could have a "little" party with just us -- Mommy, Daddy, Kylie, Neela & Brooke.  Neela wanted to know why Mommy didn't have any friends to invite!

The morning of Mommy's birthday, Brooke woke her up crying at 4 AM from her cold and teething.  Then, Neela crawled in Mommy's bed at 6 AM.  "Mommy, is it morning time yet?"  "Yes, Neela."  "It's your birthday..."  Then launched into "Happy Birthday" in both English AND Spanish!

During the day, Mommy took Neela and Kylie for preschool screening - they both passed with flying colors.  Can you believe they are both in the 90% for height, and the 75% for weight?  Remember, these two didn't even HIT the growth curve until 3 months! 

After that, Mommy swapped with Daddy.  Mommy took Brooke to Little Gym, and Daddy took the big girls shopping.  Then, we went home and decorated!  When Mommy & Brooke got home, we jumped out and said "SURPRISE!".  We bought Mommy 3 red balloons and 3 red carnations from her 3 girls - and because red is her favorite color.  (Daddy is convinced he's trained us well - he let us pick ANY flower in the store, and we went for carnations... Mommy says she needs to take us shopping!)

We also bought Mommy 3 truffles... but Kylie was hungry, and opened her's and ate it before Mommy could even take it from her hand :-)  The smile on her face said it was VERY good!

We went to American Burger Emporium for dinner - and our excitement made us very tired!  Neela fell asleep on the bench, and Kylie tried to sleep on the floor.  All 3 girls finally woke up in the car on the ride home enough to eat the leftovers!

What a fun day - and kids make it even more memorable!  Love you!

Let it Snow, Let it Snow, Let it Snow!

Kylie & Neela awoke to the first big snowfall of the season, and could not WAIT to get outside!  Of course, first, we had to go to a princess birthday party for Olivia -- we made our OWN pizzas, then we ate Ariel cake, then we got to play outside when we got home!

Check out all the snow!!

Kylie cleaned the snow off the big pumpkin!

Neela couldn't wait to eat the snow

We made a snowman with our neighbor, Maddie

Brooke had to hangout in the house -- Mommy couldn't find her boots!

The Newest Musical Sisters???