Katie & Luca

It was such a joy to overlap my time with Katie's while at my parents. Granted, two kiddos on jet lag made my parents' apartment a tad snug (snug is an understatement), but it was fun to be in such close quarters and to be all together.

Some of my favorite memories of Luca while we were together:

- he loved Basel and would have gone there every night if we could have! When he saw the trams/trollies, he would say, 'ding, ding, ding! hello everybody!' it was so cute and never got old

- he did NOT like the taste of mineral water...too bubbly I guess. Sophia on the other hand DID like it, well she would make a funny face from the bubbles but then go back for more! Luca being the big-boy cousin looking out for her would say, 'don't drink that, Sophia! It's too sour for you!' in a sweet, warning voice.

-Katie was singing "wheels on the bus" with Luca one morning and together they were improvising new verses, like what does Mommy say on the bus? what does Aunt Betsy say on the bus? what does the rooster outside say on the bus? well she also asked him what does Sophia say on the bus? and his response so astutely captured her on jet-lag...he said she says 'waa, waa, waa' unfortunately she did a lot of that the first 10 days. I'm happy to say that once she started sleeping again, Luca made her laugh a LOT and he would ask her, 'are you happy now, Sophia?' it was really cute to see them together

-Luca & my Dad would sing a song together every morning that goes, "It's a Happy Day! and we thank God for the weather....it's a Happy Day! and we're living each day for the Lord! it's a Happy Day! and things are gonna get better....'cause we're living each day by the promises of God's Word' and I loved hearing it! His sweet, singing voice cannot be measured. I'll have to ask Katie to get it on video. I'm glad Popeye taught us all a new song

-walking around Sitzenkirch and talking to all the animals...there were goats, horses, chickens, cows, dogs, birds, cats, roosters....all within a 5 min walk! kind-of fun to be in a farm town! :)

out to eat at a beloved German restaurant in Kandern....the Ochsen...yum

Luca giving Sophia a Christmas present! He is helping her open it since she was too little to know what to do with it....a book in German! I love it! thanks Luca & Katie!!

We look forward to seeing what Luca's little sister will look like! Thanks Katie for coming and making that long trip by yourself while 33 weeks pregnant! You are amazing and I'm so glad we could share our time there. Highlights were lunch out just us (while Nana & Popeye babysat), walk up to Sausenberg (pics on K's blog), and our 2 am "party" in the living room! I wish I had snapped a photo of EVERYone in the house up at 2 am because of jet-lagged kids! at least we all got a laugh (it was either that or cry!) :) Love you!