Update

So, as usual it's been a really long time since I posted anything.  Partly that was because we had the most incredible run of viruses between February and the middle of April--someone was ALWAYS sick.  Anyhow.  We seem to have come out of it now (knock on wood . . . although Julian has a cold and missed daycare yesterday . . . . )  Here is a picture of Johanna on Easter Sunday looking for Easter eggs (Lilia hid them). 



On Easter Monday through Wednesday we went to the Pfalz and stayed in a hotel.  We had a 2-room suite so it worked out OK, although Lilia and Johanna sharing a bed was a bit challenging . . . we had to resort to threats when they were still kicking each other after 10 p.m. ("If I hear another peep out of that room we are packing up and checking out and driving home, DID YOU HEAR!!!?!")  On Monday we visited Burg Trifels, which we last visited 10 years ago with my friend Sarah and her mother. Both Sarah and I were quite pregnant at the time.  Unfortunately, I don't have pictures from either visit (we forgot the camera this time).  On Tuesday we visited a wild animal park.  The kids liked that quite a bit.

Well, not all the animals were that wild, as you can see.

 

There were wild pigs with piglets.  Everybody agreed that the piglets were very cute.

We hit Berg Berwartstein on the way back.  You can see that Julian was getting tired of being in the backpack.

Julian really liked the Biene Maja that he got from Oma and Opa for Easter.  Speaking of the little guy, he is growing up before our eyes.  He took his first steps a couple of weeks before his first birthday in March, and as of the last week or so he is really walking and has pretty much given up crawling.  He doesn't talk in words yet (other than Mamamamama) but he is still very good at communicating and he has a wacky little sense of humor.  He will giggle at just about anything (dropping lego blocks into the sink, his sisters trying to scare him, singing songs from daycare, when I shrieked after accidentally grabbing hold of a slug . . . )  He is still obsessed by buttons and electronics.

This was just too precious.  I sent Johanna to wake Julian up from a nap and she tried to do it gently so he wouldn't cry.  He woke up just enough to crawl over and sack out again in her lap.

He's usually a pretty happy guy!  But hard to photograph, because he loves the camera and wants to get it himself as soon as he sees it.

I tried to get a picture of him this afternoon but he crashed just as I was getting the camera out, so I got tears instead.



And this evening, brushing teeth with Thorsten before bed.