Berger Family Picnic 2012

The annual Berger Family Picnic reminded Mommy of being a little girl all over again!  All the kids running around, puppies, piles of food, tons of dessert, swimsuits, water, the family prayer...  The kids "sneaking" desserts (thank you, Aunt Angie for teaching us a new trick!)...

Neela, Coco & Lily (another twin!)

Brooke gets her own water... in the same place Mommy used to do water balloons!!

Headed for the lake with Mommy

The most challenging part of most picnincs is trying to get all the "youngest" generation together for a picture... with everyone staying in one location, and everyone looking at the camera.  Well... the only child who refused to stay in the picture was Brooke.  Mommy suggested Brooke hold Kylie's hair... you can see how well that worked (at least she was in the picture!).  Then, Mommy hid behind Brooke in the picture... that worked SOOOO much better!  We never all looked at the camera - there was too much fun happening - but we did all manage to get in one picture together :-) 

In most pictures...

Front: Cannon, Neela, Caroline

Back: Kylie, Cole, Lilly holding Luke, and Addy holding Emmy

...and the roving child in purple is Brooke!

After the pictures, swimming, eating, swimming, sliding, swimming... the bean bag toss commenced.  This is the first year in a long time that Daddy did not make the finals - but that's OK, he still had fun :-)

PONIES!!!!

We went to a BBQ at our friends' house -- and look what showed up!  PONIES!!  We have never been this close to ponies, and we could not have been more excited!!

They let us pet them...

...brush their hair....

...fix their hair....

...walk them, then RIDE them!!

What a thrill... and what stories we have! 

Yes, Brooke enjoyed the ride, too -- despite the look on her face :-)

Thank you, Greg & Brenda!

Texas Cousins... in Minnesota!

We have wanted to visit Texas forever... and the next best thing is having visitors from Texas!  Our cousins from Texas came over tonight - and we had so much fun playing with them.  We are all about the same age - we found toys to play together, tried out the Just Dance on the Wii together, chased each other around the house, and just generally enjoyed having fun with kids our own age... the pictures say it all! 

Neela & Cole

Aunt Angie picked us up from daycare, and we got to pick out her birthday cake (and cupcakes).  We enjoyed every bite... including the "lots" of candles we thought she needed (not quite the 31 that SHOULD be there), but the "forest of candles" was enough... and we lit them TWICE so everyone had a turn! 

Birthday Cake, Candles & HELP!

You can't have cake without ICE CREAM!!!

After more fun, and playing tag, catch me if you can, and chasing each other... we took a break to look at the stars and trees... 

... then our parents MADE us stand together and smile!!  Can you imagine???

This is about as good as it gets with 5 very sugary (the cake and ice cream, remember??) kids!!

Of course, Cannon and Brooke had a blast!  They are 4 months apart in age -- and enjoyed every minute of each other!  Our moms were joking, every conversation involved "poop" and "pee" on the potty!!

But, how can you not be so cute????

And... the parents and grown-up cousins were just as happy to see each other!  Can you tell??  (and doesn't Mommy still look SHORT??)

Is this what all moms do??

The last picture of the night... we were all dressing up -- and totally having a blast!!

We can't wait to play again!

A day in the life of a 2-year-old "Angel"

Brooke's been a very busy, active, creative 2-year-old little girl -- and growing up way too fast!  She has an opinion about EVERYTHING, and LOVES to sleep with Mommy, Daddy, Neela, Kylie, Cy... anywhere that is NOT her bed :-)  (She still is not enjoying the transition!)

A few of her favorite things - and recent sayings..

"Grandma has pollination" - she was talking about Grandma Banana's nail polish

"I don't like that fluffy thing" - she did NOT want to wear a dress with a poofy ballerina skirt

"I will sit and wait my turn" - a great reason to use her pull-up instead of the potty!

She loves to open the refrigerator and get her own snack - usually cheese, yogurt, strawberries or milk

She loves to pretend to be "Simone and Jeanette" from Alvin and the Chipmunks, and this causes a few fights with her big sisters - who also want to be the SAME characters.  When we told the girls they had to buy their own copy of Alvin and the Chipmunks movie, Brooke ran and got her piggy bank to get the money!

Daddy says her theme song should be "A little bit of devil in her angel eyes"... and Mommy could not agree more!  She just has to look at you, and your heart melts.

Her most recent escapade involved a scrape on her knees...

... that turned her into the "Nexcare Princess"...

(Can you guess where Mommy works??)

She also practiced her raspberry talents with Grandma Banana and Papa Pizza...

... and thoroughly crashed on the train ride!

The Nexcare princess had an encounter with impetigo... the doctor suspects it came from the cuts, the heat, and some germs somewhere.  It made her legs a bit sore, so she had an excuse to sleep with Mommy -- and watch a LOT of Jake in Mommy's bed!!

On her last day of recovery at home, Brooke tried just about EVERYTHING in the house and outside.  When Mommy got home from work, we played "Catch me if you can", jumped on the trampoline, played the ice cream game...

... Candy Land...

... did a puzzle or two... then played the Matching Game...

...then decided to be a silly girl with freezie pops...

... and finally, played on the swing set before crashing HARD for a 2.5 hour nap!!

Despite how icky her legs look, they are healing -- and she's our little Teeny Bear.

Or... if you are keeping track... Brooker Bear Elizabeth Teeny Bear... And sometimes, she throws in an "Estochen" for good measure!

Train Rides & Bike Rides

Mommy and Daddy decided we should have a surprise after the 4th of July... so... Grandma Banana and Papa Pizza came to visit... and then we went on a real train ride! 

We drove to Osceola, Wisconsin to ride on the St. Croix Valley train.  While we waited, we checked out a boxcar on the property...

Kylie Driving

All 3 girls with Grandma & Papa

Kylie in the door

Neela is ready to drive
(Notice... her cast is GONE!!)

Brooke and Papa Pizza in the captain's seat!

Mommy, Brooke & Neela

Family Picture

Mommy said we could have one souvenir, Brooke found engineer's hats, and we all wanted them!  Don't we look adorable?!?!?!

Where is the train???

Here it comes!!

The horn is LOUD!!!

On the train, we checked out EVERYTHING!!!  We looked out the windows, walked the length of the train, found the dining car, the mail car, the sleeping car, the engine, the caboose...

We even watched the engine switch from one end of the train to the other!

Of course, all that looking made us a little tired! 

Good thing there were so many laps and seats for us to rest on :-)

After the train ride, we found some ice cream... Brooke woke up, and was thrilled to sit with Papa.  She also tried just about every ice cream around the table!!

On Sunday, Grandma and Papa got our bikes out... we tried the burley, we tried the tag, Neela tried riding without training wheels.. the only serious crash was when the burley came unhooked AND unchained when Grandma took Neela and Brooke down a hill... Neela was supposed to "take it easy" with her cast off, but "No Fear Neela" has a lot of summer to make up for!

Happy Trails!