Nina's first sign!!!!

We've been working on sign language with Nina for a little while now and today was the first time she intentionally used it!!!! I am soooooooo proud. When she did it today at breakfast I thought it was maybe a one time thing but then she did it at lunch too (she had fresh, yummy pear AFTER apples and oatmeal). Luckily I was prepared and had the camera right there!!!! The correct sign is pointing all fingers of both hands together but with little ones you can't expect that much yet - Nina uses one hand open and points the fingers of her other one to it. We also speak english while signing because we are using the American sign language. I know for some people this is nothing but for me seeing Nina signing to me is a huuuuuge deal!!!! I can't wait for more!

FOOOOOOOD!!!!...again....

Here's our little explorer after her first Oreo:





She loooooves green beens and sucks the jucy insides out:

Nina's not impressed.

....well, we hope she'll learn to like the snow...'cause she'll find herself on a snowboard pretty soon!!!!

Fun in the snow!

A week ago we got a lot of snow here in Kansas. After looking at it from the inside and examining it on the kitchen floor we finally decided to have some fun outside in the cold:





















Did you notice the plastic bags on Nina's feet??...we didn't have waterproof boots in her size...

Craziness in the Krause-House!

...finally- the last load of pix from Germany!

Here Nina meets Alma, my best friend Mignon's daughter for the first time!!


Nina saying 'hello!!' to the feral cats my parents are helping through the winter