She's Three Years Old

Our little girl celebrated her third birthday. It was full of wonderful moments of joy and big surprises.

First thing she got dressed up as a princess.

Then she insisted on a picture with her big brother to share her excitement.

The first gift was also from big brother who decorated the outside of the box himself.

It is a wohnmobile just like what Granny and Grandpa live in!

Later that day, she got to see her big gift: a massive doll house. The Mr. and I gave her the doll house and then the families got together to gift her all the furniture inside. She was so excited and as the day went on and more rooms filled up, she got even more excited. 

Before the party started, we got to skype with Oma and Opa. Again I was reminded of how grateful I am for technology that helps us remain connected.

For her birthday she requested a purple cake with hearts. Mommy delivered!

Our Colorado based family came for the party. We grilled meats and had homemade mac'n'cheese upon request and some fruits and salads. Even a dear friend of mine from college who just moved to Denver joined us!

It was a wonderful day. And now we have a three year old in our family again.

I'm still so thankful for this little one. What a wonderful addition to our family and our home. Thanks for choosing me as your mommy!

xo

Christmas Joy

Christmas has come and gone and the memories remain fresh.

We started our Christmas eve with some silly selfies while getting all dolled up. Its hilarious to me how much kids love seeing their picture being taken.

Before we went to Oma and Opa's house, I asked the kids to pose for a picture in their specially chosen Christmas outfits. PJ chose both his outfit and his sister's dress. Bean heavily and proudly accessorized.

Both kids wanted their baby doll in the picture, so we got a special chair for him and then posed. Hilariously, when I posed this adorable picture online, more than a handful of people thought it was a pregnancy announcement.

That would be one big fat nope.

Later in the evening, Bean got another accessory.

Thanks to the wonders of a selfie-stick, we managed to get a picture of the entire Steinbach clan on Christmas eve. Good looking family.
 

The next day, we celebrated American Christmas.


Bean got a doll she can dress, feed, and cuddle. She was thrilled and still sleeps with "mein Baby!" almost every night. She and PJ take turns caring for Baby and take their responsibilities seriously.
 

 

Little man got a horrifically un-photogenic Transformer as well as an extremely complex Lego set he put together patiently over a couple of hours with some help from me. I am fascinated how removing him from a negative, stressful situation has freed him up to concentrate on more complex, challenging tasks. Another sign that we made the right decision for him.

 

 

Then we took a walk in the surprisingly warm Christmas Day.

Like my sweater? Bean chose it for me at H&M. Someone please invite me to an Ugly Sweater Party.
 

 

We wrapped up our day with a fun puzzle from Granny and Granpa.

What a wonderful Christmas celebration.
 

XO

Jelly Bean is Two!

Our little lady is TWO years old! It was a wonderful day full of family, friends, surprises, Minnie Mouse, and "backe backe kuchen" (cake). 

This was the first time she got to help bake cupcakes. She did a good job and ate only twice as much as made it into the cupcake holders. 

After a morning of preparing the house and ourselves, Bean got to open the first of her gifts. 

PJ helped. A lot. 

After naptime we all got dressed into our party clothes. She got to wear a brand new "princess" dress. 

The dress didn't stay for long - not a big surprise - and she got to be quite the expert at present opening by the end of the day. A number of friends came as well as family. It was a relaxed atmosphere with good people and good food. 

As the evening came to a slow close, Bean finally got a quiet moment with Granny and Grandpa together. 

We have so many more pictures, even with us parents!, of our wonderful day together. 

Birthdays are special, an opportunity to celebrate the birthday kid as well as reflect on how lucky the rest of us are for that specific birthday kid. 

Bean, I love you and I'm so grateful you joined us. 

XO

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