The Krieg Family

Fall 2012

2013-04-10T13:45:00.001+03:00

This August we left Texas and returned to Vilnius for our last year of living overseas! The flights back to Vilnius were fairly uneventful. There was one disgruntled lady in the Newark airport who was bothered by my 2 month old hungry baby and my 2 year old busy girl. After I told her to sit somewhere else, she was not very happy with me and of course, she ended up on our 8 hour flight to Frankfurt.
Vilnius in the fall is always welcomed after hot summers in Texas. We were also looking forward to being just the four of us for the first time in our apartment. Giuliana moved into her new room and Norman took over her old room and crib.
The end of August school started and Giuliana started the toddler program at AISV. This is Giuliana on her first day of school.

It did not stay warm long. It quickly cooled down and out came the winter clothes. Giuliana loves the winter weather but she loves her summer clothes. There is a daily battle between G and her nanny over what to wear in the house. Her nanny wants her in pants, socks, shirt and sweater and Giuliana wants to be in her spinning dress or a t-shirt and shorts.
Norman is such a good baby, but very different from Giuliana. I feel that we have been very blessed with two very well behaved children. Norman sleeps through the night, eats very well, and is happy all of the time. Giuliana is a funny, confident, and a spunky young lady:)

Giuliana loves to get herself dressed in the morning. Her little pineapple vest was mine when I was younger:)

Planting Flowers.......that never bloomed by the way.

Norman eating for the first time

For Halloween, our school had a pumpkin carving contest. Instead of carving pumpkins we decided to paint pumpkins.

Giuliana decided she wanted to be a witch kitty for Halloween. There was also a contest at school for guessing the number of toys in a jar and Giuliana's class won! She was right up front during the assembly and got up all by herself to take the jar for the class. She is not a shy girl!

We tried to get a picture of the two of them for Halloween, but as you can tell from the pictures below.... it didn't work that well.

A friend of ours tried to take some family pictures for us, however not too many of them turned out well. I don't know if it's trying to get 4 people to all have a good picture at the same time, or just us....but it just did not work out:) Here are a few of the two of them.

There are several things we will miss about Vilnius:
1. Working with Kelly every day
2. Walking to school every day with Kelly and Giuliana
3. Grazina; Norman and Giuliana's nanny (adopted grandmother:)
4. The friends we've made
5. Our apartment and the views!! Below are a few pictures of the views from our apartment from this fall.

This year, the city built a new park near our house which was very exciting. Most of the parks in Old Town are old, falling a part, and littered with mischievous unmentionables....

Summer in Texas

2013-01-03T15:21:00.000+02:00

We were only in San Angelo for a few weeks, and in Dallas the rest of the time. Giuliana spent most of her summer outside! Norman on the other hand, spent most of the summer sleeping and eating. (Me too:)

Dallas

Norman snuggling with Aunt Angela

Granddad and Giuliana relaxing in the pool

Daddy and Thomas watching Giuliana belly flop!!

Eating olives with Aunt Angela

Playing in the chalk

Thomas and Giuliana having a water gun fight!

Kelly setting off a lantern

Uncle Quincy and dad trying to keep it from going in the trees:)

Crazy Caki

We went to Houston for the weekend to see Scott and Jenny! They asked us to be Audrey's godparents!

Flying a kite with granddad

What is wrong with Aunt Bug??

One last haircut before we headed back to LT

San Angelo

Fourth of July

Norman napping inside during the fireworks

Uncle Dan watching fireworks with Giuliana

Dee and Norman

Cheese!

Grammi and Giuliana in the sand box

Giuliana, Emma and Kami

Giuliana was telling Erich to buy her a big diamond!

The Zimmermans were so sweet to bring so many presents!

Long day on the swing

Giuliana stayed with Grammi and Gramps for a few days all by herself!!!!

Grammi and Giuliana playing with the cat

Baptism

2013-01-03T13:51:00.001+02:00

After Norman's birth, we headed out to San Angelo. We had Norman baptized at Mount Calvary Lutheran Church (the same church Giuliana, Kelly, and David were baptized in).

The girls getting ready before the baptism (Charlotte andEmma Zimmermann)

Erich Zimmermann straightening the pews:)

Norman's godparents (Dee, Dawn, Kami, and Martin)

Norman's Arrival

2013-01-01T20:57:00.000+02:00

June 9, 2012
Doodle came over to play that afternoon and join us for dinner. We were out at the pool when I noticed contractions beginning. They were not strong, but I knew that it was contractions. The started very mild and as the night went on, they continued to slowly get stronger. All through dinner we were timing them and I was trying to stay calm. They were consistently 7-8 minutes a part. Doodle left, and around 9pm I called the doctor and went in to the hospital. When I arrived, I walked calmly in and the resident checked and I was only 2cm. They wanted to keep me for 1 hour to check my contractions. When they were checking me, they noticed Norman's heart rate had slightly dropped and the doctors wanted to keep me for 1 more hour. After 2 hours and no dilation, they sent me on my way. The resident told Kelly to call when my contractions were 3-5 minutes a part. As soon as I got in mom's car to leave the hospital I had a BIG contraction. I think it was Norman telling me to stay at the hospital! But, we left and went home. We went to bed and my contractions consistently stayed at 7-8 minutes and they quickly got stronger and stronger. I was screaming through contractions and Kelly would not let me call the doctor because they were not 3-5 minutes a part! My mom heard me screaming downstairs and came up to check. She let me call the doctor:) After mom and Kelly got me to the hospital, and I screamed through the hallways into my room, the nurses told me I was 8.5 cm and "You don't need to scream, that doesn't help." I kept screaming through contractions and begged for an epidural. As soon as I got the epidural, Norman decided to hang out for a while. That gave the doctor time to make it and Norman arrived at 9:25am, June 10, 2012! The doctor said he had a head full of red hair! Norman weighed 7 lbs 15.5 oz.
Kelly and I were so happy! My mom, dad and Giuliana were already on their way to the hospital when Kelly called them. Giuliana was a bit apprehensive when she walked in the room seeing mommy on the bed holding Baby Norman. However, she quickly warmed up to him.

Giuliana helped the nurse wheel Norman to our room

After we moved to our room, we had several more visitors! David, Debra, Fritz, Doodle, Lala, and Uncle Quincy all made it to see Norman in the hospital!

Giuliana showed up after nap time with her baby Dallas

Proud Granddad

Overjoyed Grammi

Loving Gramps

Lala (Lauren Shaw) even made it up to hold the newest Coco baby boy!

Proud Daddy:)

Three generations

Content Caki

We took Norman home on June 11. When I say home, I mean my parent's house:)

First bath

Before Norman Arrived

2012-10-07T15:43:00.000+03:00

Before Norman arrived, Giuliana was busy swimming, meeting new friends, getting 1st haircut, and her 1st tip to the Arboretum with Doodle, Caki and Aunt Bug! Dacey and Luke came to stay with us in Dallas and we went to the Dallas Aquarium!

Giuliana loved ice cream sandwiches, but had to put it on a stick so she would not get her hands dirty:)

Kelly made it to Dallas the day before my birthday which was the best birthday present ever! A few days later we took Giuliana to the Dallas Zoo. And it was a good thing we brought her then, because I went in to labor the very next day:)

Giuliana's Second 2nd Birthday

2012-10-07T15:24:00.002+03:00

Giuilian celebrated her second 2nd birthday party at the ranch. She was lucky enough to celebrate her birthday with family! Her Grammi, Gramps, Gigi, and Grandad were able to drive in from San Angelo! Mom, Dad, Doodle, Uncle Quincy and cousins Gentry and Elizabeth came from Dallas! And Kauli, Tristan, Piper, and her future boyfriend Colton made it from Austin! We were so happy to see everyone and celebrate with so many people!
When it was time to open presents she had help from her cousin Elizabeth. She was tearing through presents like crazy. She didn't stop to look at presents, she would just open it and move on!
After that, We had cupcakes and sang Happy Birthday. I think we lit and blew out candles a hundred times for her. She really enjoyed blowing out the candles.

Norman's 1st outfit:) Thank you Grammi

4 Generations (we probably took 10 pictures and of course not one turned out:)

Giuliana and Piper

Uncle Q, Gentry and Elizabeth

Dad cooking out

1st Fish!

Giuliana and Mommy's Trip to Texas

2012-10-07T15:12:00.001+03:00

On Friday, April 13, Giuliana and I headed to Texas. We decided to deliver Norman back home instead of Lithuania so I had to travel home 31 weeks pregnant. The trip consisted of 2 flights. A short 2 hour flight and a long 10 hour flight. Giuliana was amazing on both flights. It was me on the other hand that did not do so well. Number 1, we were flying on Friday 13th! I am deathly afraid of flying and that made it worse. Number 2, I was crying every 15 minutes because I had just left my husband. Crying in the airport security line, crying while buying Giuliana a pretzel in Frankfurt, crying during take-off and landing, etc.....

Getting comfortable on the plane:)

Giuliana made it to Dallas. Ready to shop with Caki!

But when we landed in Dallas, my mom and dad were there to get us and I felt much better. (The crying did not stop until June 2, when Kelly got home).

Giuliana's First 2nd Birthday!

2012-10-07T15:05:00.001+03:00

My sister and her husband Erik came to visit us on our spring break in April. I can not believe it, but the only pictures from their whole visit that I have are of Giuliana's first 2nd Birthday Party. We celebrated her birthday early because Giuliana and I were flying back to Dallas before her 2nd birthday, leaving Kelly in Vilnius to complete the school year.

Kristin made this awesome Hello Kitty cake from scratch!

2012 (January-March)

2012-10-07T14:44:00.001+03:00

My parents were here for New Year's! We started January out by going to the Center of Europe monument, which is outside of Vilnius.

Right after my parents left, winter really came to Lithuania. It held off for quiet a while which was very nice. Unfortunately it came and stayed too long!

This snow man has buttons and eyes made out of olives and a nose from a Halloween pumpkin candy:)

We had some friends we had met in Bahrain, come and visit us. The were living in Italy at the time, and they decided to leave Italy in February for Lithuania in February! I felt so bad because the week they came, was the coldest week we had....-25 degrees! They have a sweet little girl, Harper, who is just 6 months older than Giuliana. They had fun playing.

Giuliana and Kelly spent one afternoon changing her baby bed into a big girl bed! We wanted to get her ready for a bed before Norman got here:)

We celebrated Easter at the US Embassy. Giuliana got the idea of hunting eggs this year because I told her there was candy inside. However, after each egg she picked up, she stopped to eat all of the candy. She did not end out with many eggs. There were some fast kids there that knew what they were doing.

The first of April, our dear friends, the Olson's left Lithuania. They were the first family we met when we got to Vilnius. Living here will not be the same without them! I still remember the first time I met Erin, she had blueberries all over the front of her shirt and she didn't know it. She had 2 children and I was always in awe of how well she managed her kids. She just made it look so easy. When they left, they were a family of 5! Annika and Giuliana were a few months a part.

Mom and Dad Come to Vilnius!

2012-08-31T11:45:00.001+03:00

Mom and Dad headed out the day after Christmas to come and visit us! We went to pick them up from the airport they were greeted by not only the Krieg family, but the Lithuanian paparazzi! Apparently the Lithuanian basketball players were all headed back to Vilnius on the same flight as mom and dad.
The first thing we did when they got to the house was open presents and go through suitcases to see what they had brought us. Then we headed down the street to the square to walk around and have some dinner. Mom and dad were tired, so we headed home and went to bed early.
Over the next week and a half, we took them on the grand tour that we take all visitors to. KGB Museum, Trakai, Hill of Crosses, and walking through Old Town. Only this time we added one more destination to our tour, we decided to check out the geographical center of Europe.

I would like to point out the difference between my mom and dad: Dad wearing camo hunting jacket, Mom wearing full length mink coat.

Standing at the top of Death Hill. This was the hill we slid down on Christmas Eve.

Dad bought G this balloon and it stayed inflated and floating for over a month.

The "Loom Lady"

Trakai

On New Year's Eve, we sent lanterns into the sky. I do not have pictures of the fireworks, but it was AMAZING!!!! We had firework displays out every window. My mom would not go to sleep before midnight because she thought she would miss the fireworks. I kept telling her that she could go to sleep, because the fireworks would for sure wake her up. Well, at about 11:15 they began. Huge fireworks were set off right outside of Giuliana's window. She woke up yelling "fireworks!!!" and we were up for the next hour and a half going from window to window and sipping champagne watching the firework show.

We absolutely LOVED having my mom and dad come to visit and experience Lithuania with us. Thank you mom and dad for coming to see us!

Christmas 2011

2012-08-31T10:57:00.001+03:00

We had a pretty interesting Christmas Eve this year. There was no snow, but it was cold and icy. Christmas Eve we went to church and then over to Andy and Erin's house for a Christmas party. We had a great time visiting with friends and celebrating Christmas. A friend of ours had kindly loaned us their car for the holidays because my parents were coming to see us the day after Christmas. When we left the Olson's house, we dropped off a few friends on the way home. As we were turning down the street to drop off Krista, we soon realized how slick the roads really were and slid down the hill! We all sat and watched quietly as Kelly tried to steer the car. Then we hit a parked car that was about 3/4 the way down the hill car. Another car slid down soon after, but did not hit us. Krista, Giuliana and I had a very difficult time trying to get home with all of the ice. Kelly had to sit in the car, with no jacket on, and wait for the police. It was a huge mess and finally 3 hours later, Kelly finally made it home, almost frozen!

Christmas morning was a lot of fun! Although she didn't understand the idea of Santa Claus, she did understand opening presents!

It's Almost Christmas

2011-12-23T16:03:00.000+02:00

The Christmas season is always so much fun in Vilnius. It is always snowing by Thanksgiving and by the time December comes around, we have several Christmas parties and activities to join. However it has not snowed yet this year! It is so wierd that it is December 23 and no snow. Of course, it isn't wierd for Texas, but it is pretty odd here. All of my students are worried that Santa wont visit because there is no snow. I had to explain to them that Santa visits places where there is no snow at Christmas.

Giuliana as a Christmas Angel at our church service.

"Baby gone!"

Fall in Vilnius

2011-12-23T15:34:00.000+02:00

As soon as we arrived in Vilnius, we went through the process of unpacking and getting over jetlag.
We started school and Giuliana spent her days with Grazina. She was so happy to see "Gee" again!
September 2nd is Kelly's Birthday so we celebrated by going out to dinner with some friends and then having some cake at home while he opened his presents!

Happy Birthday babe! I love you more than anything!!!

G enjoying carrot cake.

Just out walking around

It was chilly enough by the end of September for a jacket.

Minnie Mouse trick-or-treating at the embassy.

Checking out her candy!

One of my All Time Favorite pictures!
G just relaxing while daddy's vacuuming...

Summer in Texas- End

2011-12-23T15:22:00.000+02:00

The last few weeks of our summer vacation we spent in Dallas. This summer I had to have a small surgery, so I was on the couch for a few days. After I recovered, we went to Denton to see the Cocos!
We didn't get to stay very long because I still wasn't feeling very well, but we did get enough time to see 3 new baby girls we had never met! Addie was almost a year old when we met her for the first time, Piper was almost 3 months old, and Georgia was only 6 weeks old!

Sweet Addie

Precious Georgia

G, Cooper & Georgia, Colton & Piper, and Nolan & Addie

Nolan and Aunt Lala

G chillin in the baby chair

Tristan and Kelly

I don't have any pictures of the 5 of us! At least we got the cute pictures of all the Coco babies!

After the Coco weekend, we headed down to the ranch for the weekend.

Repainting all of the birdhouses. Granddad would have been so happy to see them bright blue again!

G and Uncle Erik taking a stroll around the backyard

Kelly sanding the picnic table while G enjoys the pool:)

Every summer, Doodle takes Kelly and I out to lunch and this year we went to Hunky's again. Giuliana enjoyed it more this summer than the last.

Hunky's strawberry cake!

The rest of our time in Dallas was spent in the pool, helping Caki water the flowers, shopping at the mall with Caki, and visiting with family and friends.

Bed Head

"Come here Caki!"

G and Uncle E

Waiting to get Bobo stuffed at Build a Bear

Stuffing Bobo

Trying on Aunt Bug's old cowboy hat

"This is the way the ladies ride, from side to side to side!"

Jimbo and G

A VERY hard goodbye!

Summer in Texas- Middle

2011-12-21T21:10:00.002+02:00

After Kristin's wedding, we headed to San Angelo. First stop was to Grami and Gramps. Giuliana loved staying here for several reasons:
1- Grami did anything she wanted:)
2- Grami had a sand box
3- Grami had a water hose that probably ran the entire time we were there. (we should have probably offered to pay the water bill that month:)
4-Grami took us to the park
5- Grami had a sweet cat that would visit G on the porch
And the list goes on.....

Debra hosted a little get together one night so we could catch up with Kelly's family. This was our first time to meet Dusty and Nanci's little boy Colt and as you can see, he is adorable!

Dusty and sweet baby Colt!

My Lithuanian babies

G and Uncle Dan

Jake playing dress-up:)

Dee, Dawn, and Jimmy

G talking with Grami and Martha

Gramps, Grami, and Giuliana

After spending time with Grami and Gramps, we headed out to Eola to visit Dee, Dawn and Jake. And I can't believe it, but I didn't take any pictures! Just this one of Giuliana taking over Jake's chair.

We ended our visit in San Angelo with Granddad and Gigi. Giuliana had so much fun staying with Gigi and Granddad. Gigi has a puppy named Bobo and Giuliana fell in love with this sweet basset hound. All day, every day, Giuliana would say "bobo" until someone took her outside to see the puppy. Giuliana spent her days at Gigi and Granddad's playing in the pool, playing with Bobo, looking at the cows and constantly wanting to be in Gigi's arms.

Granddad and G reading the paper

Giuliana started saying "cheese" this week and would really ham it up for the camera.

Trying to go outside to see Bobo

Kelly and I took G to a library time for kids.....I think she was a little too young. Maybe next summer.

Usually, every summer we try to make it to make it to the Kiesling family reunion. Luckily this summer we were able to make it!

Dusty, Colt, G and Kelly

Nana and her babies:)

Another summer event we try to make every summer in San Angelo is Billie's birthday party at the Colts game.

Happy Birthday Billie!

Jake and Kursten

Dawn and Kelly

G and Daddy at the end of the night. Look at those red cheeks!

Summer in Texas- Beginning

2011-12-21T19:49:00.000+02:00

We arrived in Dallas a week before Kristin and Erik's wedding. As soon as we landed, Caki and Granddad met us at the airport and drove us straight to get my dress altered for the wedding. When we were done there, we went home to surprise Kristin and Erik (they thought we couldn't make it in until 2 days before the wedding. By that time, Giuliana was extremely tired, so we all had a bath, ate some dinner and Giuliana snuggled in with Granddad.

The next morning, Giuliana was up bright and early and went outside to get the newspaper with Caki in her little tutu.

That afternoon, we drove to the ranch to see my granddad and celebrate Father's Day. Giuliana had fun picking tomatoes with Caki while granddad, Kelly, and I had a chance to catch up.

When we got back to Dallas, we saw some police on horses and Giuliana had fun looking at the horses.

We started Kristin and Erik's wedding celebration with a small wedding shower at the nail spa. Giuliana went along:)

The Bride to Be and Morgan!

Roo Bear and G

The day before the wedding, some of our "other mother's and aunts" hosted a Bride's Maid Luncheon for Kristin.

Doodle and G discussing what to order

Aunt Kelly, Margie, the Bride, Jeri, and Aunt Paula

The next day was the wedding and it was the most beautiful wedding with the most wonderful bride and groom! I love you both Kristin and Erik and am so happy for the two of you!

Sorry Erik, I don't have any picture from the wedding of the two of you....:)

Giuliana's 14 month old photos

2011-09-21T20:49:00.000+03:00

Okay, I know that I have not posted in 4 months. The summer came and we found so many more exciting things to do rather than post pictures on our blog:) These were taken in Vilnius last June, when Giuliana was almost 14 months old.

Nida, Lithuania

2011-05-11T17:41:00.000+03:00

Last weekend, we went to Nida to celebrate Mother's Day. It is a resort town in Lithuania on the Curonian Spit. Kelly, Giuliana and I went with my friend Kathy and her friend Shannon, who just got here to visit from Canada!

You see these weathervanes all over the town.

The Inn we stayed in.

After we walked around town, we drove to the sand dunes.

It was a little windy

The island reminded me of Anne of Green Gables

After the dunes, we drove to the Russian border. You can see their flag. This is the small part of Russia on the Baltic Sea.

Then we walked to the Baltic Sea

On Sunday, we left Nida and walked around Klaipeda.

Hitler stood on that balcony to announce he had taken over the city during WWII.

Wow, what an outfit.

After walking around Old Town, we had lunch and then drove home. We were in the car for about an hour when I realized I forgot the camera at the restaurant. So.....Kelly drove us back to get the camera. By the time we made it to Vilnius, it was dinner time. We stopped at Tres Amigos for dinner! G had made a bit of a mess on herself so she had to sport her too small pajamas in the restaurant:)

G and Kathy

We had a wonderful weekend and I had the best Mother's Day!

Sweet baby and mama!

New Moves

2011-05-11T17:01:00.000+03:00

Here is Giuliana working out with dad.

And here she is dancing to some music!

Baltic Tour

2011-04-29T15:46:00.001+03:00

Kelly, Giuliana and I spent the week driving through the Baltics. We rented a car and headed out Monday morning for the longest drive...8 hours. Giuliana did great! We weren't sure how she would do since we don't have a car in Lithuania and she doesn't ride in one very often. We took a few stops along the way. First stop was to see the Baltic Sea for the first time! We were in Latvia and parts of it were still frozen, but it was beautiful!

G didn't want to walk on the sand.

You can see the ice in the ocean behind Kelly and G

That night we made it to Tallinn, Estonia. Because we are so far north, we have sunlight until about 9pm, so we walked around the Old Town and found a Texas restaurant. They even had Dr. Pepper!!

Entering Tallinn Old Town

Old Town square

Watching birds

The next day we took a ferry to Helsinki, Finland. The ferry ride was only 1.5 hours so we just went for the day and came back to Tallinn that night. They even had ferries named after G and I!

Baltic Queen

Baltic Princess

YUMM!!!

Poor Ronald! I guess they don't like McDonalds in Finland:(

Wednesday we walked around Tallinn and then headed south to Riga, Latvia. When we made it to Riga we setled in to our hotel and then walked around. I forgot to charge the camera so we didn't get a lot of pictures from Riga.

St Mary's Dome Cathedral (largest church in the Baltics)

4th largest organ in the world was under construction

What are you looking at?

Our last day of the trip we walked around Riga a little and then headed back to Lithuania. We stopped by the Hill of Crosses in Siauliai. It is a hill in the country that has thousands of crosses on it. During the Soviet time, the Soviets would tear down the crosses but the Lithuanians would keep rebuilding. Now people go to plant their own cross.

Headed home:)!!!!

Mama!!

2011-04-29T14:58:00.000+03:00

Easter Sunday

2011-04-24T20:58:00.000+03:00

Happy Easter!
This morning the Easter Bunny visited Giuliana. He left her chocolate eggs, new tights and mama's favorite wooden eggs!

After the Easter Bunny visit we headed off to church for service, and Easter egg hunt and lunch. Giuliana loved hunting for Easter eggs.

Enjoying the stroll home and the beautiful weather. About 1 minute later, G threw an Easter egg on the ground:)

We stopped on our way home to have another Easter egg hunt! We re-hid her eggs along the old city wall that is right across the street from our apartment.

I didn't take any pictures, but we had another Easter egg hunt while skyping with my mom and dad today!

Giuliana's New Moves

2011-04-24T20:49:00.000+03:00

She has got a little Elvis in her:)

Giuliana's 1st Birthday Party!

2011-04-17T17:59:00.000+03:00

Giuliana will be 1 year old on April 20, so we had a birthday party this weekend to celebrate!

Birthday princess and her daddy

Sakotis- Traditional Lithuanian cake

Getting help from friends opening all of her presents

She loved her strawberry cake!

New Shades:)

Playing with her best little friend Anika

Giuliana had SO much fun at her party. She has never been around that many children all giving her attention. She absolutely loved it. She went all day with only a 30 minute nap in the morning and was an absolute angel! By the end of the night she was worn out:

Worn Out after a great day!

I can't believe my sweet little angel is 1 year old! Her daddy and I love her more than she will ever know!

Just some randon pictures and videos from home

2011-04-17T17:39:00.000+03:00

I was cooking and walked around the corner to check on her and this is where I found her!

I know I have written about Laura before, but Laura is her stuffed monkey that she loves.