Nina had a great first birthday. Well, I should say that her parents probably had just as much fun at her party (or more) than Nina herself. We had pizza and lots of cake.
Nina liked the cake....
...... and all the attention from the girls who played that she was the birthday queen.
Me and the girls are getting ready for the Halloween parade. Izzy is a princess (what else?) and Nina is a Lady bug. This may be the last Halloween before the princess mania will also start for Nina!
Andy with Nina at the school Halloween festivities.
Izzy erklaerte uns heute, was sie mal werde moechte, wenn sie gross ist. Zuerst meinte sie, sie wolle Aerztin werden. Als ich ihr sagte, es gaebe doch noch viele andere gute Berufe, wollte sie Taenzerin werden. Ich erklaerte ihr, dass man dafuer sehr viel ueben muesse und man oft Blasen an den Fuessen haette vom vielen Tanzen. Dann schlug ich Lehrerin oder Anwaeltin als Alternativen vor. Da sagte Isabel, sie wuerde gerne Tanzlehrerin werden. Hier ein paar Bilder also Vorschau auf Isabel's spaetere Karriere....
....Vielleicht haette ich nichts sagen sollen, als sie Arztin als ersten Berufswunsch aeusserte....
This weekend, Nina had her first sleep-over guest: Ava from Brooklyn. Ava is only 4 days younger than Nina and just as cute. The two had a wonderful time - and so did her parents. It is amazing how two babies can sound alike. They do the same stuff, consider the same stuff funny - whatever Izzy does in particular! - and cry and complain about the same stuff.
It is great to have a big girl in the house! Izzy was really helping out with the little ones: stuffing pacifiers back into the mouths, doing funny songs and dances for them and screaming obnoxiously - you would not believe it, but sometimes it helps.....
Here are some new pictures of Nina and Isabel.
Nina is excited about sitting at the table and eating. Isabel likes to carry her little sister around.
Nina 5 months
Look at her! The little bunny. She loves taking baths, in particular with her big sister Isabel. The only annoyance: swallowing water when turning to the side! Other wise whe is a born swimmer.
This Thanksgiving we had family from both sides with us. My mother stayed with us for 3 weeks to help with the baby and to cook and take Izzy to daycare. A big help.
And here is the complete family at the thanksgiving meal. Everybody brought some part of the meal, which was all delicious.
NINA really taught me patience. First it took some time to actually conceive her. A lot of prayer, trust and patience were needed. Then she did not want to come out. She was 8 days late! And those 8 days were tough, particularly the last 2 nights. But now she's here and it was all well worth it.
And she was much bigger than expected. I would have never thought that I was carrying a 9 pounder. (That's 4100grams)
She looked a lot like Izzy from the beginning. Can you see the resemblance?
Izzy is excited to have a little sister now.
Wir haben von vielen gehoert, dass wir doch endlich mal etwas von unserem Haus auf der Webseite zeigen sollten. Nun, hier sind ein paar "Before and After" Bilder. "Before" war noch als die vorherigen Hausbesitzer in unserem Haus wohnten. Den Hauptunterschied kann man in unserem "family room" sehen.
VORHER
NACHHER
Natuerlich ist noch laengst nicht alles perfect, aber es wird immer besser.
Fuer weitere Fotos koennt Ihr hier auf diese webseite schauen.
Netzwerk Philadelphia war auch dieses Jahr wieder bei der Steubenparade in New York dabei. Hier die ganze Gruppe.
Waehrend wir Ewigkeiten darauf warteten, endlich loszumarschieren, spieleten die Kinder am Boden auf der Strasse in the 62nd Street.
Just before the new baby will be born, we went camping in the catskills.
Continue reading "Labor day weekend 2007 - Camping in the Catskills" »
Izzy was very happy to have someone to play with all the time while in Germany. Uroma and Opa were always there during the first week and then Oma during the second week.
Therefore Andy and I were actually able to go out at night and enjoy watching " the Perfume" in the Westparkkino with Beatrice.
Rome is a great city, but there are too many tourists. Of course we were some of them. We were able to enjoy this great view after only a 2 hour wait in the bright sun and after climbing 502 steps to the top of the St. Peter Basilica. I guess it was worth it. No pitty for pregnent women in the Vatican! Most of our day in the Vatican we spent waiting in lines.
Gisgi was a great tour guide. She really knew the whole city well, except for the bus connections. She needs to work on that! (No wonder she is always using her scooter to get around). One of the best parts was just hanging out, having ice cream, cappuccino or cafe latte. And the pizzas are really good. Next picture shows Andy in front of the Trevi Brunnen.
Here is Izzy with her friend Luisa (Soyoun's daughter), playing princess. That seems to be an international game. Even in Germany kids play it....Isabel did really well with her German this year except for one moment where Luisa and Isabel got into an argument because Izzy said Luisa does not want to understand her while Luisa was complaining that Izzy was speaking English (which Izzy did not realize that Luisa would not understand - complicated!).
The next picture shows Izzy being very proud that she is allowed to hold her little cousin Leni (Stefan and Ruth's daughter). Leni was not so easily amused, but Izzy found out that singing and dancing in front of Leni yielded the best success of a happy baby.
On August 4, Roman got married to Birgit and we were there! It was a fun wedding with bavarian character. Here you can see Isabel in her Dirndl carrying the wedding bands. She was so proud of that job. We were also able to tour the historical downstown of Ingolstadt and learned about Frankensteins origins. The medical museum in Ingolstadt is always worth a visit. Next picture shows the Krotsch kids with family.
The wedding gift nicely displayed on the next picture.
For the honor of Andy's grandma and Izzy grammy, there was a big party in Elkton, Maryland at aunt Barb's house. Here are some of the guests enjoying a great summer evening. Izzy was playing happily with her cousin 2nd degree Kendell. Of course Kendell was more interested in the older girls, but sometimes agreed to play with Izzy. Here they are, the two princesses.
After looking through my purse - as usual - Isabel found enough sunglasses for her Daddy and herself. Aren't they perfect for Daddy?
This summer in Narberth Izzy got her favorite motif paintes on her face: a butterfly. The next picture shows Izzy and her friend Katriona after face painting on the 4th of July celebration in Narberth.
This is the first time we made it back to New Orleans for Mardi Gras since our move away. Also it was our first time see New Orleans post-Katrina. I am not posting any pictures of the Katrina damage (which we could clearly see in the area of the ninth ward, but also in many other areas. We stay at Andrew's house - thank you Andrew which also had been hit by Katrina (it was flooded). Andrew is still fixing it up.
We marched with the "Skeletton Krewe" in front of "Krewe d'Etat". Check out the pictures.
We went to colorado to see Uncle Howard and Aunt Kathleen (and unfortunately we did not take a picture of them or their daughter Lara). During our stay we were also able to enjoy great Colorado skiing in Breckenridge. Oh, it's so much better than Camelback-skiing! One can actually ski downhill for a longer time than it takes to get up in the lift. Also, we did some Denver culture: The Lifestock show. Lisa and her family came with us. Stefan, check out what became of your former "exchange sister".
We went to see the Mummers parade and went for a great party afterwards in the area of where the Mummers-afterparty is happening. At Kirsten's house Marc McGuigan, the organizer of Netzwerk Philadelphia, seems to have become Izzy's new best friend.
I guess this is what everybody with a 3 year old is going through: The Toilet-humor-phase. Izzy is in the prime time of it. Anything in connection with "poopi" or "pipi" is really funny.
Here a pictorial expression of that phase.
And here are the birthday guests: Katriona, Sophie, Kate, Samantha and Ella
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Many little lights, nice people, great deserts that was "Christmas by Candlelight" at Narberth Pres. Click to see the guests of our table and the three lovely hosts Thanh, Lisa and Corinna.
Continue reading "Christmas by Candle light at Narberth Pres" »
While Corinna is raking leaves, Izzy found something better to do.
We are all really happy to have uncle Stefan visit from Germany. He was playing with Izzy, building towers and other crazy things, playing monster, picking her up from daycare. What a vacation! Did you like it Stefan?
Continue reading "Fall has come and passed, Uncle Stefan was here" »
Aunt Shannon started a craft project and everybody seemed to like it. They made a Pilgrim hat for Izzy and then others also tried it on.....
Continue reading "Thanksgiving in Lancaster 2006 - The Pilgrim Hat" »
Izzy was a princess for Halloween - what else is new. Probably 30% of all girls at the parade in Narberth were a princess, a fairy or a ballerina. But Izzy loved it. Here you see her with her friend Katriona.
Continue reading "Ihre Hohheit Prinzessin Isabel - oder Halloween 2006" »
What does New Orleans have to do with Germany? Why are these guys throwing Mardi Gras beads during a German parade? Well, look at the colors of the Mardi Gras beads: Black, red and gold. Yes, the colors of Germany. Also this genius idea of using Mardi Gras beads to spice up the Philadelphia Steuben parade (which is dominated by men and women in traditional German costumes - nice, no doubt!) - which was very popular with the crowd - stems from our special German-New Orleans connection. The German girl meeting the man of her dreams in New Orleans and so on......Anyway, enjoy the pictures (Click link below).
Sorry Sue and Dave, it took us a while to finally post those pictures, but here we go. The key event of the camping trip was of course the pot roast. "Grandpa Dave" was the amazing chef of that special dish which includes carefully layering corn, carrots, potatoes, chicken, clams, shrimp, cabbage into a large cast iron pot which gets boiled over the fire for 3 hours! Amazing. The Bowser Jr's actually spent the night at the Bowser property in the midst of the woods of Pennsylvania. Isabel had a blast! Enjoy the pictures (link below)
We are now "Narberthians" since our move on June 25th, 2006 away from Brooklyn. ( and by the way, we had the worst moving company help us. Don't ever get "bridgeway movers": They "lost" some pieces of our furniture and when we asked them to reimburse us they never called us back or never picked up the phone anymore. So now we're screwed).
Anyway, we went back to Brooklyn to celebrate Andy's and Alex Henschels birthday.
(this picture shows all the guys from the German Stammtisch in Brooklyn or at least most of them!)
A great party hosted by the Henschels. Of course the food was excellent (pulled porc or chicken, plus a whole lot of other good stuff) - who would have expected anything different from Alex and Elizabeth as hosts.
Thank you guys, we had a great time.
Izzzy was so happy to see here Brooklyn friends again. See below more pictures.
check out the video! This was from the summer of 2005 in Bardolino (oder Lazise)
Ole, ole ole ole ole, Super Deutschland, Ole! Dank Tante Gisgi haben wir nun auch die richtige Ausruestung zum Anfeuern bei der Fussballweltmeisterschaft in Deutschland 2006. Isi kann schon ganz gut "super Deutschland" sagen und "ole ole" singen. Isabel und Andy waren beim Eroeffnungspiel "live" dabei, bei den Henschels gab es eine "Weltmeisterschaftseroeffnungsparty". Hoffentlich fliegt Deutschland nicht so bald raus, dass wir die Fanartikel noch mehr geniessen koennen.
The delivery from aunt Gisgi has just arrived in time for us here to support the German team during this World cup. Izzy is getting really good at singing "ole, ole ole ole ole, Super Deutschland, ole". That's soccer fever! Let's just hope that the German stay in the game for a while ....
Isabel with the newest addition to the Maisch Family: Laurin.
Never too old to play. Isabel with Oma playing "horsy" in Ingolstadt.
The Zeitler daughters with their mother and Isi in the middle.
Skiing and sledding with Opa. And then this is what happened:
Isabel got very, very tired tired........
Wait, is this one related? - Crazy uncle Stefan:
Die letzten Momente von 2005. Isabel, Andy und ich bei den Henschels im Wohnzimmer. Eine schoene Silvesterfeier.
omg so CUTE. and her name rhymes! congrats!
Karin Mama Oma said about dancing head bonk :wie im Westpark-Cafe, der Star auf der Buehne !!!! im vollen Rhythmus !!!!
Karin Mama Oma said about Camping trip for Labor day weekend :Da haette ich getraeumt, ich waere auch dabei gewesen.................
Karin Mama Oma said about Philadelphia Steuben parade :Tolle Idee !!
Karin Mama Oma said about Fussballfieber - Soccer fever (site5) :ole, ole, bravo !
Love all the pictures!!
Shannon Holloway said about Philadelphia Steuben parade :Dear Corinna, Andy, and Izzy:
Thanks for sending the link to your blog. You all look great in red, yellow, and black.
Hope the Boards went well. Come back to Brooklyn soon!
Hallo ihr drei,
ich schreib einfach mal hier rein...feine Sache, dass man so noch was mitbekommt von Euch über Eure Bilder. Auch fein das Video. Mann, ihr seid ja schon richtig amerikanisch geworden. Wen wunderts.
nicole said about
Summer in Bardolino and Munich
:
Hey!
Love looking at your site to see how things are going? We really miss NY! Have a great Christmas!
Nicole John Luke
McG said about We All Need Someone To Look Up To :Looks like you are enjoying being a dad. I got engaged not too long ago.
Co said about We All Need Someone To Look Up To :Wow, where did you get that picture from. That´s awesome. Great website update.
Angel Antin said about K-1 (Fiancee) Visa Timeline :Andy,
Nice site. Love the photos. Beautiful family. Can't believe you're in NY.
What a cool life you've made! Here's to you!
Best regards,
aa
Hi,
Could you send me information on how to get in touch with Prospect Heights babysitting coop?
Thanks,
Kelly
Very sweet. Thank you. Claudia
marc said about This is how we shut the baby up! :ja,ist wichtig, früh mit dem wein zu beginnen, dann zieht der in der pubertät nicht mehr so arg rein...
marc said about Spring is finally coming to Brooklyn :mei, grosseltern würden sagen, was ist die gross geworden....