Bruehl... Party of 6

Life has been crazy at the Bruehl household for the past month (in reality, the past 10 months)!! We had a wonderful Christmas week spent with our families.

We spent Christmas Eve with Grandma Jean and went to church, on a carriage ride through Old Town Fort Collins and then to Red Lobster for dinner. We came home, opened our special Christmas Eve gift (pajamas), read our two special Christmas Eve stories (The Night Before Christmas and The Christmas Story about Jesus), set out milk and cookies for Santa and carrots for the reindeer and then finally got the kids off to bed. Grandma Jean was spending the night and Grandpa & Grandma Meyer arrived from WI to surprise the kids. We spent the rest of the night getting last minute gifts wrapped and/or set up in front of the tree, G&G wrapped the box that they would be hiding in on Christmas morning and then we all headed off to bed, with expectations of an early morning with the kids.

Ethan gets to help "drive" the carriage.

Grandma snuggles with Aaron & Ryan.

Setting out cookies & milk for Santa and carrots for the reindeer.

Hanging up the special key for Santa to get in our house because we don't have a chimney.

A glimpse of the tree after Santa had arrived.

Grandma Jean slept in the Ryan’s room on the bottom bunk with Ethan. Although the boys have their own rooms, we thought it would be a fun tradition for them to sleep together on Christmas Eve in anticipation of Santa’s delivery. We had a plan in place for Grandma Jean to text me when the boys woke up so we could get G&G (who were sleeping in Ethan’s room right across the hall from Ryan’s room) upstairs and into their box before the boys came out of their room. Everything worked according to plan and it was such a fun surprise for the boys to see that Santa brought Grandpa & Grandma all the way from WI!

Checking out what Santa put in their stockings.

Ethan helping Mama pass out the gifts. He can read this year, so he was able to read everyone's names on the gifts.

Aaron wants to get in on the action!

Yay... this paper is so much fun!!!

Mama and her sweet little girl!!!

Awwww... she loves her big brother!!!

Bailey protects her bone while Daddy is antagonizing her!

Grandpa and Daddy set up the boys' new race track.

The Grandmas take a break.

Aaron loves the new alphabet train Santa brought for the babies!

Trying out the new choo choo wagon!

Look at that silly hair!

Grandma Jean must have really been tired!

The babies are so tiny under those big Santa hats.

We had a fun-filled week with the family which included Ethan’s 5th Birthday!! We had a campfire themed birthday party (thanks to G&G for giving our family a fun fire pit for our backyard) on Sunday with Ethan’s friends! We couldn’t have asked for better weather and the kids were able to play outside and roast hot dogs and s’mores and have all kinds of fun! Ethan’s birthday was on Tuesday, December 30. We took the kids to a fun indoor waterpark with G&G, Jen, Broggan & Anderson. A great time was had by all! We came home for a little rest and then headed off to Hibachi Steakhouse for a birthday dinner celebration. All in all, I think our guy had a great birthday week!!

Sweet little Ryan roasting a hot dog.

Our big boys!

Majo and Broggan!

Look at that goofy smile on his face!

Ethan and his buddy Josh.

Ethan in his new chef gear from Grandpa & Grandma!

Daddy, McKenna, Aaron, Ryan, Anderson, Jen, Broggan & Jessi

Sweet baby girl!

Anderson... McKenna's future husband?

Silly Daddy!

Aaron playing in the water fountain!

McKenna and Anderson

Daddy, McKenna, Broggan, Ethan, Ryan, Aaron & Grandma at Hibachi.

Silly Aaron!

Everyone's faces when they lit the fire.

Jen & Broggan

Ethan feeding Broggan some of his birthday cake!

The whole gang: Grandma Jean, Aaron, Daddy, Mama, Ethan, Broggan, Jen, McKenna, Grandma Meyer, Ryan & Grandpa Meyer... HAPPY BIRHTDAY ETHAN!!!

Grandpa and Grandma had to go home on New Year’s Eve. We were sad to see them go, but thankful for the wonderful visit we all had! Grandma Jean came over and spent New Year’s Eve with the kids. The babies went to bed on schedule, but the boys stayed up until 10 p.m. (midnight on the East Coast) and watched the ball drop. Matt and I went over to Jen & Derek’s for our annual New Year’s party! We grilled steak and boiled crab legs along with lots of other yummy foods, played an exciting game of Pictionary (Girls rule and boys drool… LOL) and rang in the New Year with great friends!!

The girls: Jana, Stacye, Vanessa, Rosy, Jen, Kelly & Chasity

Time for a silly pose!!

The video of the boys on Christmas morning:

A cute video of McKenna playing with her new toys:

Singing Happy Birthday to Ethan:

The kids are growing right before our eyes! Ethan is such an awesome little guy! So loving and smart. Even though he is five now, he knows how bittersweet it is for me that he is growing up so fast. He always indulges me with lots of hugs and kisses and says, “Mama, I know you’re sad that I’m not a baby anymore!” It’s just so sweet that he can understand that while I’m VERY proud of him, I’m sad that he is growing up so fast!

Ryan is just our little monkey. He is a big cuddle bug and learning so much so fast! He really is his brother’s clone. He has got the cutest little face and such a wonderful little voice!! I am so blessed with the two boys who, although they have their moments, are so well behaved and good little guys!!

Believe it or not, our babies are almost one!!! They turned 10 months old on Sunday!! It is so hard to believe that almost a year has gone by already! They are getting so big! They are crawling everywhere and cruising the furniture. They can both stand unassisted for about a minute at a time, so I don’t imagine it will be long before they are walking. Watch out then!! Aaron has one tooth on the bottom and is about to cut the other one next to it. McKenna is still toothless! Aaron seems to have gotten all of the hair so far, and what little McKenna has is absolutely white blonde…. Just like her Mama’s was! Life really has gotten easier for us. The babies are now eating three meals a day, one snack and one bottle at night. I can’t tell you how wonderful it is to only have to wash two bottles a day, as compared to the 8 we were washing just one month ago!! For breakfast they eat yogurt mixed with rice cereal, cheerios and sliced cheese, along with a cup of formula. At lunchtime they have two jars of baby food mixed with rice cereal, some finger foods and a cup of formula. They generally nap from about 11:30-2, give or take. At 3 they have a finger food snack. At 5 they eat another two jars of baby food mixed with rice cereal and usually some of whatever we are eating for dinner. At 6:30 they have their one and only bottle of the day and then it’s off to bed. Aaron still is not a wonderful sleeper at night. I’d say 2 out of 3 nights he cries for an hour during the night. We are firm believers in crying it out, so after checking to see that he’s okay and applying orajel for tooth pain, he cries himself back to sleep. Hopefully he will grow out of that soon! McKenna is our perfect little sleeper. Once we put her down, we usually don’t hear a peep from her until 7 a.m.

I continue to keep busy with MOPS, playdates, book club, girl’s night out and other misc things. I’m also still going to Weight Watchers and the gym! I had gotten off my schedule a bit over the holidays, but have been back in the swing of things for the past week! It feels good to be back on track.

Matt is also doing well. He has been working very hard at work for the past several months. Things are going well for him and he is being recognized for his hard work. We are proud of him!!

Here are some recent stats from the twins’ 9 month appointment and Ethan’s 5 year appointment. Everyone is growing and the doctor praises us for our parenting… it feels good to hear from a professional that you are doing something right!!

Ethan weighed in at 40.2 lbs and continues to be in the 50% for his weight. However, his little body has done some stretching this year as he went from the 50% for height to the 70%!! Going to be a handsome, tall boy!!

Aaron also grew in length. He measured 29-1/4 inches, putting him in the 77% for height. His weight came in at 19 lbs 11-1/2 oz, putting him in the 35%. His head measured 18-1/4 inches, putting that in the 77%.

McKenna continues to be our little peanut!!! She weighed in at a mere 14 lbs 14-1/2 oz, putting her in the <3%>