more fun in the snow + grandma Inger visiting

Mormor Inger visited for 10 days to help us look after Anika in between au pairs. She got to experience the snow storm instead of the warm spring-like weather she had hoped for. They still had fun in the snow and indoors.


Mamma and pappa had fun with Anika in the snow also.

wow snow

Last weekend we got a lot - A LOT - of snow overnight, more than 50 cm (almost 2 feet)! It was an incredible winter wonderland, and Anika and Tascha played for hours in the snow. Below are some of the best pictures from this one-day wonder. The snow melted within a couple of days since we got temperatures over 10 degrees Celcius (55+F) the days after the snowstorm.

Our house and the surrounding trees were covered in snow....

The view from our living room window into our backyard.

good friends!

Here's a few pictures of Anika and the friends she has seen lately (sorry, no picture of Christopher for some reason!)

Ansel, Tadeusz (sp) and Anika were playing at Ansel's place in Dupont Circle on February 19. It was Justin's 31st birthday - hipp hipp hurra - a good excuse to drink some champagne!















Isabella and Anika dancing together - two very cute girls! We expect they go clubbing together when they get old enough ;)



Isabella got a little brother on February 6, his name is Nicolas.

moved in... and other news

wow, I don't want to do this again in a while.... it was the most exhausting week of my life as far as I can remember. We spent day in and day out packing, then one full day to move all our belongings from Gaithersburg to Falls Church, and then we didn't have time to unpack for almost a week because we had to clean out and fix a few things at the old place in Gaithersburg before we sold it. So it has taken us a good 4 weeks to get settled in the new house (and for 3 of those we didn't know where our digital camera was!)... but it finally is feeling like home! And Anika can run around as much as she wants without us worrying about complaints from downstairs neighbors, we can play loud music, we can let Tascha outside in the yard without being on a leash... yes, it is very very nice to have a single family home :)

now we only have to get an electrician to come and figure out how to untangle all of the crazy wiring for the last few wall sconces, and steve to finish remodelling the upstairs bath room, and we are ready to have a party!

other news:
- Ana finished her one year with us as an au pair and moved to another family in Takoma Park
- mormor Inger visited for 10 days to help with daycare for Anika (thanks a million!)
- our new au pair Helene from France arrived yesterday, and she seems to be a very sweet girl
- finally, the big news that we haven't told you all: I AM EXPECTING! So we will be a family of four (five incl. au pair Helene) at the end of July this year. Very exciting! I am already 4.5 months pregnant, and I have a nice bump already.

that's it for now... seems like this will be a blog with monthly updates, not daily or weekly... hopefully i will have more time now when we are all settled :)