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Nina's first birthday

Sun, 16 Nov 2008 22:46:33 -0500

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.

Halloween 2008

Sun, 16 Nov 2008 22:43:28 -0500

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 Ballerina

Mon, 14 Jul 2008 22:49:42 -0500

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....

A weekend with friends

Mon, 14 Jul 2008 22:04:46 -0500

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.....

Nina is a cutie

Tue, 22 Apr 2008 22:42:19 -0500

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

Bath tub bunny

Sat, 12 Jan 2008 12:51:17 -0500

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.

Thanksgiving with the family

Tue, 04 Dec 2007 15:48:42 -0500

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 Katarina is here - finally!

Tue, 04 Dec 2007 15:26:19 -0500

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.

House renovations and improvements

Fri, 02 Nov 2007 15:09:44 -0500

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.

New York Steuben Parade 16. September 2007

Thu, 20 Sep 2007 10:07:18 -0500

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.

Labor day weekend 2007 - Camping in the Catskills

Sat, 08 Sep 2007 10:48:32 -0500

Just before the new baby will be born, we went camping in the catskills.

At the German relatives

Thu, 16 Aug 2007 08:15:18 -0500

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.

Visiting Gisgi in Rome

Wed, 15 Aug 2007 16:25:59 -0500

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.

Izzy and her little German friends

Wed, 15 Aug 2007 14:59:32 -0500

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.

Roman's wedding in Ingolstadt

Wed, 15 Aug 2007 14:53:16 -0500

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.