Mama had a good time 'at home' in Castrop-Rauxel

Baptism - Post Party #3

The Kuehne's showed up a bit later for pizza and cake. They stopped by as they were driving home from Hamburg. Here are their 2 sons, Moyan and Yul.

Baptism - Post Party #2

Godfather likes to play with Anna's gifts/toys. Nora held Anna for about 2 minutes and kindly let someone else hold her, but Julia would not let go once she got her. (We understand.)

Baptism - Post Party #1

Anna meets her 2nd GREAT grandma after the baptism and the party begins...

Anna's Baptism

Wolfgang baptised Anna at his church. When he asked "what is this child's name?" we wanted to reply, "Hey Grandpa, you know her name!" but we behaved ourselves. Tom, AnnMarie, and Katherin are Anna's Godparents.

Auf Schalke Stadion

... had to post... was very impressive !
Steve Cherundolo had a good first half for Hannover 96.

Anna's First Day in Castrop-Rauxel

Anna meets her GREAT grandparents and Uncle Andreas.

Tongue tricks and Soccer tickets

Anna plays a new game, which is to stick out her tongue (mimicing mommy or daddy). She also has begun to giggle (so it seems). We are generally too focused on the actions to catch it on film so far, but we might be able to get a photo this weekend, as several people are visiting from Colorado, likely freeing up our hands.

Anna's Baptism is on Sunday, 25 September in Castrop-Rauxel. Grammy and Grandpa, as well as Tom and AnnMarie (godparents) will be there. As a thankyou for Tom and Bruce traveling so far, I have gotten us tickets to Schlake04 on Saturday (Bundesliga soccer).

Schalke04 is a perennial powerhouse and the favorite team of Andreas, Steffi's brother. However, I feel like I must add a disclaimer that my family will likely be cheering fot the guest team (Hannover 96) because an American, Steve Cherundolo, plays for them. This hopefully heads off any protest from Steffi/Steffi (VfL Bochum fans) as well as Nora/Julia/Kolja/Jan (fans of BVB Dortmund).

Happy Anniversary

We were married one year ago today. We ate some of our 1 year old wedding cake and went out for a nice dinner. Anna came with us and slept through the appetizer/salad. For the main course, though, we had to take turns holding Anna while the other ate.

New Videos

I have been crazy-busy lately. No change to post more pics. I was able to convert some of the video footage that Steffi took, while her parents were here. Enjoy!

Videos found at www.courchene.net

I have a capacity problem with my web provider, so I had to remove the older videos in order to make room for these. After we solve the problem, the older videos will be up again.

Funny faces and cute photos

We have a bunch of cute new photos thanks to Wolfgang, who brought his nifty Carl-Zeiss camera.

(above) Funny face before a 'burp'

(below) Chillin in her new outfit from Bill and Linda Husson (Uncle Michael's parents and Aunt Kat's in-laws) and a doll from Grammy Courchene.

Anna's first trip to a Biergarten

Mama, Oma, and Opa took a trip to the 'Ammersee' (a lake) with Anna to enjoy the sunshine. Like good Germans, they found the nearby Biergarten and enjoyed a snack. Daddy is still in Zurich and is missing the fun.

Oma and Opa visit Munich

Daddy had to go to Zurich for the ASTIN Colloquium, so Oma and Opa Winckler came down to Munich for a few days.

The princess...

...has officially taken over our bed.