XMAS 2010

Just a few pics to remember an awesome, crazy morning. 3 kids in PJs, happy as could be after opening only one present. For some reason they didn't understand that there were more!
Same kids, different angle:
The before picture. As usual, Connor and I were the only ones up at 5am. How about that one giant ornament in the middle of the tree?
So sad- the after picture. We did recycle, but it is a little upsetting the amount of cardboard and batteries that go into a Merry Christmas...
Our favorite present from 2010- the sweetest little boy around. Here he is happy as a lark on 25 dec and the poor guy had surgery on 28 Dec! Doing well!

'twas the nite before...

Holidays make it tough to post! Here are our three cute little elves before heading out for Christmas service. I should say Christmas Mass, but this year we opted to try out a different religion. It was much quicker, they had candles for the kids to light (Keegan chucked his a few rows back and Maggie got some burn spots from spilled hot wax), they had home made cookies for after the service and it only lasted 45 minutes! Whew! Well it worked for us this year even if it means I don't get to go to Heaven anymore.

Here are the kids putting out 'reindeer food': oats and sprinkles. Musta worked cuz Santa came! We also put out cookies and milk and later Maggie told me that next year she wants to put out BEER for Santa. I guess she's figuring out who Santa really is. Um, red wine please and dark chocolate!

5 Mulloys on Xmas eve:

We got together with a group of friends and their kids and made it Mexican Food night for Xmas eve. Non-traditional, but super fun. All the kids got one present to open and it was jammies. So fun to see, from a 13 year old excited about her new jammies down to 6 month old Connor!


The pre-kid shot: (well, baby snuck in the picture but he doesn't really know what's going on)



Let the Chaos Begin!

The Forgotten 3rd Child

Is now eating solids. Is now 6 months. Is now grabbing for things, chewing on them, and throwing them around. Our forgotten third child is becoming less and less of a baby each day. He's been just the easiest, SMILE-fest, happiest little guy we ever could have asked for. I can't tell you how many times Brian will say to me "did you put the baby down to sleep?" and I respond- no he's right there on the other side of the couch or something because he doesn't seem to complain or make a peep! Poor guy gets overlooked in a lot of ways. I took him to the Ped for his 6 months check up and she said "oh, he just has one tooth?" and I said "he DOES?"! Hadn't even noticed...

He sure mixes in with the other kiddos and makes our family complete. Above is the big guy himself with Papa on a birthday celebration.


Maggie got a detailed Baby Book. Keegan's is still empty but I documented it all in this blog. For Connor, I find his stat sheets and shot records mixed amongst my work paperwork and Maggie's drawings. So to make it official, here are the stats:

Stats at 2 months: 14.5 lbs (67th), 26 inches (99th)
4 months: 16.7 lbs (55th), 27.5 inches (98th)
6 months: 18.6 lbs (68th), 29 inches (99th)
Head 60th or so

It's hard to believe that at almost 19 lbs he's only in the 68th for weight. He wears 12-18 month clothing and his feet are already a size 2!


For entertainment I'll set him up on his belly and he likes to talk to that cute baby in the mirror.


We think he'll be a blondie like his older siblings but who knows. Eyes are still blue and he still reminds me of a little Irish elf. We love you little guy, happy half-year birthday!

Nanta Clause and Papa Came to Town!

Yesterday we had a pretty mild day planned, then Nana went and made it super cool! She took Maggie to get her first 'real' haircut (which apparently took 2 minutes) and then went and did some super holiday shopping! Here are the kids in front of the tree:


Cute little elves- Nana picked out these hats. Maggie calls it her 'sleeping cap'




All the gifts were opened in about 5 minutes and immediately Keegan claimed "MINE" over each new toy. who knew a little boy would be so excited about Maggie's electric blender?
More to follow...

Connor Giggles, and the other two do too!

Giggles, spits bubbles, reaches for things, and pretty much smiles all the time. We are so lucky.

And then these two are just always making us laugh. Here is Maggie making Keegan laugh

Mohr Thanks

We headed to our friend's house- the Mohrs for Thanksgiving. Laid back, good food, and tons of outside space for the kids, and even Euchre to run around

3 Boy Mulloys and 2 bottles
We're always trying to get a shot of the 5 of us, and can never seem to make it happen
We have so much to be thankful for this year- and are thinking of my Dad above as this was such a special holiday with him (and he was the best cook ever!)
The next night we headed up to Denver for a sleepover with our old friends from North Carolina. The kids hung out with some other kiddos and got to watch a movie on the couch. Is Keegan a goofball or what?!

Trick or Treat with a Mullet

It took a while, but I got all three kids into costumes for trick or treating. There was a little competition about who got to hold the Pepper and Poo was not very happy that Doggie got to hold Pepper.



Somehow I got them all to smile for this one, well almost all smile:

Brian of course took out his yearly mullet and modified it for the Colorado weather. This wig just blends so well with his coloring that most people who meet him on Halloween have no idea he's himself if they meet him at a later date! We employed the wagon strategy to maximize our amount of Candy procured, and it worked great!
Here is Doggie at the Zemans taking more than the 2 pieces allowed per the sign. Heck, Doggies can't read!!

Halloween 2010

Libby's Influence

Libby and I met when we were 14 months old in the strollers together, and we've been life-long friends. She's been especially helpful to our family as my dad went through his cancer diagnosis. She and her friend Pete came down to visit and brought to life an expression my sister says about Keegan "Live like a Mulloy!" So we opted to change our blog title to this fun theme (um, Soon to be Four and Five of us was a little dated for our current status). While here with Libby and Pete we climbed Stanley Canon in a hail storm- pictures to follow when she passes them along!



Libby and Connor


Pete and Keegan

Pig and Pumpkins

This weekend we hit the pumpkin patch. Here is Maggie carving her pumpkin into a 'happy' pumpkinWe met up with Maggie's friend Brynn and climbed the haystacks, took a train ride, and went to the petting zoo. Of course, we also picked out a pumpkin
The interesting thing about this pumpkin patch, is that it's really not a pumpkin patch! The pumpkins were getting off loaded from a big truck where they'd been bought at the grocery store! Good profits for these people! Next post: the jack-o-lanterns!
above is the 900 lb 'off leash' pig that (rumor has it) has very sharp teeth.

So I gave Julie a Ring....

We have a pretty funny story about our engagement, which was 7 years ago this Columbus Day weekend (it's an easy way for me to remember it!) Brian had moved out to North Carolina and I was thinking maybe he'd pop the question. Then I left on a 6 month deployment to Iraq... no ring. What I didn't know is that the day he dropped me off for my outbound flight to the nasty desert he returned home to the FED EX guy finally delivering the ring he'd bought! So, upon my return from the war, Brian popped the question! Nothing fancy, but that's kind of how we work. My sister and his brother were both in town for the 3 day weekend. Brian went to tell his brother and said "So I gave Julie a ring this morning..." to which Mike responded "What kind of a ring?"

7 years later I'm so glad it was an engagement ring and not a mood ring!

Here we are around that time, when Bri had his buzz cut pre-deployment:


And a favorite picture of mine from my first apartment after graduation. We used to watch these 2 kids every once in a while, Cody and Megan. Now Cody is one of my best babysitters and Megan is playing division one soccer at the Academy! Sara is in the background- one of my truest and most dependable, and IN SHAPE friends

Should have known what I was getting into back then. Snowball to the face right as I was ready to smile for the camera.

Anyone know how to flip pictures? Oh, the old days where we both had great hair with no effort!

Love you Bri! Love the past 7 years!

In the Forest

We headed up to a national park last Sunday. Packed a picnic and threw rocks into the lakes, and hiked around. Our lakeside picnic:



Upon arrival, Keegan did a giant poo poo in his pants which just made them not even wearable in camping conditions. He therefore took to this stylish look of diaper and camo hoodie for the day:



Dad and kids!



Little babies can hike anywhere in car seats!!

Heaven got a new smile...

My Dad left us on Sept 15th, 2010.


This is one of the last pictures off Dad with Mom, Mike, Lisa and Addie in our family room at home.
My friend gave me this great description of death and what comes next:

In the bottom of an old pond lived some grubs who could not understand why none of their groups ever came back after crawling up the stems of the lilies to the top of the water. They promised each other that the next one who was called to make the upward climb would return and tell what happened to him. Soon one of them felt an urgent impluse to seek the surface; he rested himself on the top of a lily pad and went through a glorious transformation which made him a dragonfly with beautiful wings. In vain he tried to keep his promise. Flying back and forth over the pond, he peered down at his friends below. Then he realized that even if they could see him they would not recognize such a radiant creature as one of their number.

The fact that we cannot see our loved ones or communicate with them after the transformation, which we call death, is no proof they cease to exist.

Since she has sent me this I've seen more dragonflies than ever before!

We all went to Minnesota to celebrate my dad's life. The great part was that it did give us a chance to get all our kids together- something that had never happened before. Below are Bri and sister in law Claudia with a bunch of cousins:


Good friends helping us celebrate Ed with pizza and beer
Cutest cousins picture at the cemetary. Dad must have smiled from above for this one:
Our family:
Uncle Tom with Connor. Making him look even more orange with the orange shirt.