Karina's first swimming lessons! / Schwimmunterricht für Karina

Letzten Donnerstag hatte Karina ihre erste Schwimmstunde. Es ist eine kleine Gruppe mit 4 Kindern und dauert tatsächlich eine halbe Stunde. Es hat ihr Spaß gemacht und obwohl sie Angst hatte, hat sie sich doch getraut alles zu machen :)

Last Thursday, Karina had her first swim lesson. It's a small group of just 4 kids and it is half an hour long. She had fun and although she was a little scared, she did everything the teacher asked of her :)

Omi & Opi visit us!

Right after coming back from our trip to WA, my parents visited us for 4 full weeks! We hadn't seen them since September 2013 in person, we had skyped every Tuesday though. The girls were excited and we had a great time! Aside from sightseeing in D.C. and Baltimore, we did some yard work and got rid of the pond, to replace it with a sandbox for the girls. Omi & Opi got a water table for them and whenever the weather was good we were outside playing. Bubbles are a huge hit these days too.
We took lots of pictures of course. There all on our Phanfare webpage http://nielsona.phanfare.com

Us, in Washington, Bellingham

Finally! We did visit Grandma and Grandpa in Bellingham :) it was Lily's first time meeting them and Karina's second time (although I'm sure she can't remember Christmas of 2010 very well...).  My thoughts about them being shy at first were completely unnecessary! The girls started playing like they knew them forever! It was awesome :) since our visit we're trying to establish a routine in skyping once a week. Somewhat successful, but always fun.

We had a great time and it was hard to leave. Nothing compares to a great relationship with your grandparents.

Cookie mouths! / Kekslippen!

Karina's 4th birthday!!

For Karina's birthday we went to Chuck E. Cheese's and the kids had fun playing. Afterward we headed home to spend some more time together, unwrap gifts and eat muffins!

Birthday girl!! 4 years old!!

Family pic! Lily in pose!

Two very cute little girls!

Strawberry muffins w/ Nutella cream cheese frosting

Gifts!!

First use of the fest tables and benches

Jill & Rob with Karina bear

Super Bowl!

Super Bowl pictures!
Not many, but we actually dressed up with Jerseys and T-shirt. Adam brought them from Denver, Colorado. He was fortunate enough to be able to be at the Super Bowl, yes, live in New York! I'm sure the experience was fantastic. The game however...meh...not sure I can call that a game. It was so unbelievable! The Denver Broncos lost, or better were humiliated by the Seattle Seahawks...*sigh*. At any rate, we had a great time at Jill and Rob's :)

Bilder vom Super Bowl!
Nicht sehr viele, aber wir haben uns mit Trikots und T-shirt zurecht gemacht fuer das Ereignis des Jahres. Adam hat uns die shirts von Denver, Colorado mitgebracht. Er war so gluecklich und konnte live beim Super Bowl in New York dabei sein! Ich bin mir sicher es war ein fantastisches Erlebnis. Das Spiel aber...naja...bin mir nicht sicher, man kann es ein Spiel nennen. Es war so unglaublich! Die Denver Broncos haben verloren, oder besser sind gedemuetigt worden von den Seattle Seahawks..."*seufz*. Auf jeden Fall, hatten wir eine grossartige Zeit bei Jill und Rob!

Just freezing.../ Einfach nur eiskalt!

Fun with boxes/Spaß mit Kartons

Wir hatten noch 2 Kartons übrig und unsere Mädels haben diese heute bemalt, damit gespielt und Blödsinn gemacht. Ich habe ein paar Fotos geschossen, auf jeden Fall hatten wir viel Spaß :)

2 boxes were left at the house and today the girls colored on them, played with them and were goofy. I took a few pics and we had fun for sure :)