Family Wedding Fun

A couple of months ago the Mr's brother married one very lovely lady. We had some serious wedding fun. The bride and groom haven't shared wedding pictures online, so I'm not going to be doing that for them. Also, the vast majority of pictures on our camera were ruined: blurry, grainy, and with a surprising number of fingers across them.

Nevertheless, here are some fun peeks into our lovely day together.

Before the wedding, the kids and I were goofing around in our way-too-small hotel bed. I love these pictures. I hope this is what they remember: their silly mommy being silly with them.

First up was the actual wedding ceremony. PJ was so excited about it that he crashed out and slept through it all.

Jelly Bean was not impressed, so we had to leave the ceremony room. I missed the chance to tear up at the sweetness of two good people swearing fidelity to each other.

As soon as the ceremony was over, PJ woke up and resumed his role as The Boss.

It was juice. 

Jelly Bean remained the explorer. Here she had located jewelry that was worth more than our home.

Dangerous sense of taste.

While the adults were drinking juice (and champagne), the kids convinced Oma to ride the glass elevator with them. Many, many times. So many times that even Opa got into the fun.

But is it ever enough?

Outside, we took pictures, chased birds, and Jelly Bean tried to dart off in each and every direction. Then we moved to the restaurant for a wonderful, wonderful meal.

PJ focused on goofing around.  

Jelly Bean focused on food. 

It was a lovely wedding with good people. Granny also got to join the fun but sadly all the pictures with her aren't share-able based on what is technically called "shit" quality. She took a picture or two of me -- and I looked FABULOUS - but they didn't turn out either. 

You'll have to just do with a picture of these three.

That is one handsome hubby.

What a hard life, eh?


xo

Italy with Granny

While my mom was here, we all headed to Italy for a few days. The five hour ride down went remarkably well. Most likely because Granny was non-stop entertainment in the backseat and there was tons of food.

When we got there, the fun just kept going. They goofed around a lot on the floor which was especially remarkable because the tile floor was freezing.

When we got too cold, we turned to board games of all sorta of types and sizes. And complexity. And spontaneously revolving rules.

Jelly Bean tended to focus on slippers to keep her feet warm. Can anyone be more adorable?

Thankfully we all also had the Mr.'s almost constant cooking to warm us up.

Although it rained most of our time there, we took advantage of the one nice day. We got out of the house and into the beautiful little villages at the bottom of the hill and along the lakeshore.

Of course, ice cream and other sweets were included! 

We also took a little field trip to this place. This beautiful, glorious place.

Afterwards we all took a walk....

Like Granny, like grandbaby. 

...and a massive, massive nap. 

Only now, more than two months later, reviewing these pictures, did I realize the gift my mother left behind. Pictures of the entire Steinbach clan. Pictures of small moments of parenting usually missed. THANK YOU for those beautiful pictures, Mom. Thank you.

Two pictures of all four of the Steinbach clan! Amazing.

Thank you mom.


xo

Paddy's Day 2015

St. Patrick's Day is a big deal around here. Each year we go to the Heidelberg Irish pub for some fish and chips, well-poured Guinness, and live music. This year Granny is here with us. We started with a short trip to the super-fancy playground in Heidelberg.

And ice cream, of course. Granny played with the kids while I took an important business meeting. It isn't always easy to balance of family and work with the added joy of time differences. Thankfully we've got tons of support.

Then we met up with Papa and hit the pub. We all made ourselves comfortable right away.

Jelly Bean owned the place, charming everyone and dancing along with all the music, live and recorded.

Granny enjoyed the atmosphere as well. She also really dug into the wonderful fish and chips with extra vinegar and ketchup.

Jelly Bean was all over the french fries and ketchup.



Of course the handsome Mr. enjoyed the Guinness. Me too for the record!

I really enjoyed the Guinness.

Jelly Bean enjoyed goofy around with Granny. Loudly. Hilariously. Too fun.

Our precious PJ was also there. I promise. He loved the french fries, the ketchup, the music, and the fun green outfits. He just refused to be a part of the picture fun. 

XO

Christmas Day 2014

Christmas Day - finally! Also called American Christmas in our house. Santa made it to our house:

Jelly Bean got up at her usual time. So she and I went downstairs and enjoyed some play time together while the boys slept.

 

PJ slept in his suit until almost 9am! Partying makes you pay at some point. ;)

But he finally got up and remembered Santa Claus was suppose to come. It took a lot of persuasion to get him out of his suit and into his sleeping clothes.

 

But we finally did it. And then we had to wait for papa to get into his sleeping clothes as well. So we made Christmas faces.

This is the Grinch.

This is Santa Claus.

Finally we were all ready and PJ and Jelly Bean were allowed to charge the tree.

We took it really slow opening the gifts. We took play breaks and even stopped to eat breakfast. The kids didn't mind, in fact, they seemed a little overwhelmed by the newness and excitement a few times. I can't pick which pictures to post, so here are too many.

We started with the gifts from Granny and Grandpe. Both kids loved their new kindergarten bags.

 

Then we opened the gifts from mommy and daddy. I made the kids superhero caps. They were a hit.

 

We took a play break and opened the parent gifts. Building up on my birthday gift, the Mr. got me a lovely pendant with all of our names and birthstones. I was really touched. 

And I gifted him a piece of writing.

 The kids were still happy with the gifts they had opened, so we ate some yummy breakfast.

 

After breakfast, we opened the gifts from Santa Claus. We had just managed to meet Santa the Friday before Christmas. Thank goodness we did! PJ had been telling us for weeks he wanted a SpiderMan but when we met Santa, he clarified: he wanted a SpiderMan costume.

Santa, that professional, really pulled through.

 

I'm pretty sure Santa has connections with AmazonPrime.

Our music lover, Jelly Bean, got a walkable piano. This thing is pretty fantastic.

I may have been caught a few times playing on it myself.

Afterwards, I'm pretty sure we all took a nap and then enjoyed an excellent goose dinner lovingly and excellently prepared by the Mr.

 

Slowly a joyful, kid-filled Christmas came to an end. I'm realizing how much more fun and inspiring Christmas is with the wonder of a child. And ribbons, of course.

XO