Beaver Blog

2011-11-13T22:16:00.003-05:00

1st Skiing Trip of the Year

2011-11-08T23:01:00.004-05:00

Tutu

These pics are for Julie -- we promised a photo of Ashlyn in her tutu...
These were taken about a year after promised and posted a good 5 months afterwards, but at least it got done. I have to say, standards have dropped a bit since we had 3 kids! :)

She did enjoy strutting her stuff in the pretty tutu, and she is quite the dancer!

2011-11-08T22:51:00.002-05:00

Visiting the Alpacas

2011-11-08T22:37:00.002-05:00

More Halloween Pictures

2011-11-01T23:10:00.005-04:00

Happy Halloween!

You probably thought the blog was good and dead... well, it was all but just that. However, my good friend Carey has appropriately guilted me into bringing it back to life, and what better time to do so than at Halloween? This is a fun pic of Monika and the kids as they are about to go out trick or treating. They all had a great time!

2011-01-18T23:56:00.002-05:00

Crested Butte Ski Trip

From Crested Butte - Jan 2011

2011-01-04T22:28:00.002-05:00

Merry Christmas!

OK, I know it's been a long time, a REALLY long time... and I am very sorry. There goes another thing to add to my new years resolutions. Seems like my new years resolution pile is building up like my other piles at home and at work! I'll get to them eventually, and if not they must not have been that important to begin with (or just not as loud or dangerous as the other things that needed attending to!)

Here's some pics from Christmas. Kid's had a great time, as did we, though we are all happy school is starting up again tomorrow!

2010-11-01T00:24:00.001-04:00

Halloween 2010

2010-10-19T00:01:00.002-04:00

Cheyenne Mountain Zoo - Oct 2010

Did I mention how great our weather has been? This was on Saturday, got up to 85 degrees. We had a nice morning at the zoo. Thanks to Mitch and Molly for our annual membership -- we plan to visit a lot!

2010-10-18T23:59:00.002-04:00

Breckenridge - Oct 2010

Did I mention it was snowing out there??? Who knew? Guess that's good for the ski season... but meant we spent a lot of time indoors. We found a nice little children's museum that the kids loved... and a brewery that the parents loved :)

2010-10-18T23:57:00.001-04:00

Soccer- Fall 2010

OK, so Eliot is the one who played, photos of him to come later!

2010-10-18T23:53:00.000-04:00

More from Babcia, Dziadzia, and the "other Babcia's" visit

Happy Birthday Dziadzia!

2010-10-18T23:48:00.001-04:00

Some Ashlyn pics

It's rough being the third child, only about 1/3 of the photos and fame... but all of the love!

2010-10-18T23:45:00.001-04:00

Playground pics

Enjoying the nice weather while it lasts -- these are from yesterday!

2010-10-18T23:44:00.001-04:00

Rolling along

Eliot loved it -- Koen was a bit on the wary side. This is what we did at the hot air balloon festival. No, we did not actually watch hot air balloons -- those we got to see from our porch, first thing in the morning!

2010-10-18T23:40:00.001-04:00

Date Night

Date night margheritas. How parents stay sane (that, and grandparents!)

2010-10-18T23:37:00.002-04:00

Memorial Park

September 2010

See how happy Koen looks? This is probably 15 minutes before he takes a 6 foot tumble, straight down (he did not see the hole and ladders). He ended up not walking x 3 days, and it was not until orthopedics visit 1 week later that they found the fracture. He's a trooper though -- toughed his way through it all! Kids are amazing...

2010-09-04T01:02:00.004-04:00

Summer 2010

Thank goodness for the iphone... at least we have captured bits and pieces of the summer. These photos start in early July (when we got our new iphones) through now. Glad we captured at least a few moments amidst the craziness and chaos! Will download photos from our other cameras and post those soon...

I am happy to announce we are finally pretty well settled in, and the kids are getting into their routine at school (and at home for Ashlyn). Monika, our new au pair, has been here for 3 weeks and we are all settling into a nice schedule and routine. Thank goodness for some stability, finally!

Many thanks to EVERYONE who helped us get through this crazy summer, especially Andy's parents and my folks as well, and others who took a kid for a while (Grace and Scott, Kim and Dave) or helped load up the moving van. We could not have done it without you!

2010-06-15T00:53:00.005-04:00

Home Sweet Home

So if all continues to go well, this will be our new home in Colorado Springs. Our closing is scheduled for July 30, and we are lucky enough to be able to stay with Andy's parents with frequent visits to my parents in the meantime. The new house has plenty of space for visitors, so we welcome you to come out!

From

2010-06-15T00:36:00.004-04:00

Eliot's last day of school - June 7th

Eliot had a wonderful last day of school. His teachers, Frau Schiwek and Tonja organized a going away party for him in his classroom. Andy, Koen, Ashlyn and I all got to attend -- we ate cake, listened to special songs, and watched them play fun games. His best friends, Mattis and Kiana walked him into the classroom for the surprise, and Eliot got some special presents as well (he especially loves the magnifying glass -- you can see it in the photos). He stayed all day, right up until the time all the other kids went home... I think he just did not want to miss even a minute of it. His German Kindergarten and all of the teachers and kids were absolutely fabulous, and we send them a huge Danke! We certainly miss you already. Here's some photos from his last day celebration.

2010-06-15T00:26:00.003-04:00

Koen's last day of school - June 4th

Here's some pics from Koen's last day of school (at the Vogelweh child development center). He had a great day, it was nice and sunny out and they played outside for a long time -- he especially liked the water bottles! His teachers wrote him some wonderful letters and we will miss them as much as they will miss Koen. He got a special present as well -- Ms. Jessica had brought in a blue bear into the classroom months ago, which Koen adopted as his lovey at school, and slept with it every day during nap... well this blue bear got to come home with him, and now bears Koen's initials on it's foot. Koen simply loves him and the bear has been traveling with us everywhere we go. Thanks Ms. Jessica, Ms. Amber, and Ms. Cassandra for a wonderful classroom -- Koen has always loved going to school, and even the following Monday he was asking to be dropped off at school! We will certainly miss you all...

2010-06-15T00:20:00.003-04:00

We're back!

Sorry to have so few posts recently... we've had a bit on our plates lately. In the past week, we have moved our family back from Germany to the US (to include a transatlantic flight with 3 children under the age of 5, a dog, 6 pieces of luggage and 8 cases of wine), found a home to buy in Colorado, and now are getting ready for my brother's wedding, which is this Friday.

I'll post some of our web albums from recent events and try to catch you all up!

2010-05-31T16:45:00.003-04:00

More Ashlyn

She did come with us to Italy, I promise... though it was pointed out to me that she did not make the Italy photo album cut. Lets just say she was hiding from the rain :)

Anyways, here are a few pics of Ashlyn from May 24th... one of our only few nice weather days recently... it continues to be cold and wet. There's a mirror at the top of that toy and she was having fun giggling at her reflection, and I was having fun and giggling while watching her.

2010-05-24T17:51:00.003-04:00

Italy photos

Wanted to organize these better, but in the end there is just not enough time... so I am posting some photos w/ a few captions. Movers come in 2 days (ok 1.5 days) and life here is getting hectic... will try to post again before Andy's computer empire is taken down :)

Enjoy!

2010-05-17T15:26:00.004-04:00

Updates...

Sorry for not posting any photos in a while... took a trip to Italy first week of May, and I learned the joys of packing for a family of 5, including 3 carseats! You can imagine how the folks behind us in the security line at the airport felt.

Now we are starting to get busy with the big move back to the states, and Andy's in Belgium for a few days this week tying up some work stuff. Good thing is the kids were very well behaved today, and most importantly all 3 are now in bed asleep! :)

These bath pics are from end of April, I promise Italy ones will come soon.

Enjoy!

2010-04-19T16:19:00.000-04:00

2010_04_17

2010-04-16T14:35:00.002-04:00

Ashlyn - Bathtime

2010-04-09T14:34:00.003-04:00

And even more Ashlyn

Eliot and Koen remain enamored with her.

2010_04_09

2010-04-06T15:15:00.007-04:00

More Ashlyn

She has really been a pretty good sleeper so far and the boys absolutely love her...sometimes too much.

2010-04-03T09:16:00.006-04:00

Presenting....

Ashlyn Pazdan Beaver

4/2/2010 at 5:05 AM

8 lbs 4 oz

Landstuhl, Germany

2010-03-07T16:00:00.002-05:00

Some recent pictures...

2010-03-07T15:43:00.003-05:00

Sweden Feb 2010

Andy, Eliot, Mitch and Molly picked up our new car in Sweden a few weeks ago. They got to pick it up directly from the factory. Apparently it was a bit cold in Sweden :)

Koen and I hung out together at home. We had a good time too. Here's some photos of the trip to Sweden and of our new "monster truck". We needed a bigger car with the baby on her way, but now we are not only saving for 3 college educations, but also for carbon offsets! :)

Enjoy the pics!

2009-12-25T14:21:00.000-05:00

Christmas Day 2009

2009-12-25T14:20:00.002-05:00

Christmas Eve 2009

2009-12-25T13:56:00.004-05:00

Koen turns TWO!

So Koen is not a big fan of the snow, or of cold weather in general. I essentially had to bribe him to go outside in the snow and go sledding with promising he could have his Elmo cake when he came back inside. If you saw the last post, you can see that my bribe worked!

2009-12-25T13:53:00.002-05:00

First big snow 2009

(ok, really first big snow since 2006 when we got to Germany)

2009-11-04T14:08:00.003-05:00

It's a .........

Well, I guess it should be obvious from the photo, but if not, then I can report that the Dr. thought it had more girlish parts than boyish parts.

2009-10-31T16:27:00.002-04:00

Halloween 2009

OK, sorry for the long delay in posting anything. After we returned from the states end of August, we have had a run of visitors essentially the entire time except for 5 days (during which I was on call). We had a blast with all of them, and I promise we'll catch you up on all the photos, as soon as we catch up on some sleep and laundry! Hope the Halloween pics hold you over until more photos are posted... the kids had a blast trick or treating, and Andy and I are having a blast eating it (the kids are only allowed 1 per day, so it has to go somewhere!) Is that where all of our candy went when we were kids???

2009-08-31T15:05:00.007-04:00

Introducing the newest Pazdan Beaver

From

The little bean was confirmed today to have a heartbeat, and was kicking around those little leg limb buds! Due date is April 8, 2010.

2009-08-31T14:24:00.002-04:00

August 2009

2009-08-06T16:26:00.000-04:00

Summer Fun

2009-06-21T15:55:00.002-04:00

Tuscany, June 2009

2009-05-06T17:00:00.004-04:00

Tour de "Mosel"

The Germans are great. They love their roads and they love to drive, but they are not afraid to close down 140km of major thoroughfare to cars so that families can bike. We did a 42km trip. That's right, 42km (26 miles) with 8 adults and 4 kids ages 3 and under. Eliot was a trooper riding tandem with mom -- helped me pedal (and I even took some breaks!) And Michael (Eliot's friend, age 4) rode 20km on his own 2 wheeler!!! We had an awesome time.

2009-05-06T16:51:00.003-04:00

The Elusive "perfect" Family Photo

2009-05-06T16:31:00.009-04:00

Andy's 34 th birthday

Making the cake

Gee. That's a lot of candles. Does someone have a fire extinguisher handy? The worst part of 34 is that Eliot still has a lisp with his "th" so it sounds like he is saying "44". Like we need an extra decade added on!!!

2009-05-06T16:10:00.001-04:00

Easter 2009

2009-05-06T16:09:00.003-04:00

Time for a photo update!

Sorry we have been crazy delinquent... please do not give up on us! We still do take photos, and we promise we will eventually share them with you!

2009-05-06T15:17:00.006-04:00

Eliot is up to all sorts of new tricks...

Tumbling...

Easter Egg Hunting...

Tandem biking...

2009-03-29T03:25:00.003-04:00

Koen Walks

Koen starting walking about 3 weeks ago. We now spend all of our time chasing him around... and seem to have very little time to post photos and videos. We should have more time available once we get him off to college.

2009-02-21T14:42:00.005-05:00

Koen's first haircut

Um, guys... what is she doing to me?

OK, enough Mr. Nice Guy... now I just want my mommy!!!

2009-02-21T09:53:00.001-05:00

Scotland Feb 2009

2009-02-07T14:22:00.001-05:00

Eliot "Lion Face"

One of Eliot's school teachers got a new face painting kit in preparation for Fasching (aka Carnival, Mardi Gras). She tested it out on a few kids, and Eliot was transformed into a ferocious lion. Check him out...

2008-12-28T14:26:00.001-05:00

More Family Visit Photos (Nov 08)

2008-12-26T16:43:00.004-05:00

Christmas

2008

2008-12-23T14:58:00.004-05:00

Renee's Trip to the States, Visitors to Germany, and Fun in the Snow

2008-12-23T14:51:00.002-05:00

Koen's B-Day Videos

From Koen 1st B-Day

2008-12-22T16:03:00.001-05:00

Koen's B-Day

Here are some phots from Koen's 1st B-Day

2008-12-02T04:03:00.002-05:00

Chamonix, France

We just got back from a quick trip to the French Alps where Eliot tried out skiing for the 1st time. He really seemed to enjoy it.

2008-11-06T15:04:00.002-05:00

Halloween 2008

Our frog seems somewhat concerned to be surrounded by ferrocious sharks and bumblebees

This is before we explained that bees sting with their butts and not their mouths

Eliot, Koen, Michael, and Spencer ready to go.

2008-10-25T14:49:00.006-04:00

He Rides

Michael left his peddle bike at our place when he went home for a nap. Couldn't hurt to give it a try. Click each picture to see the video.

From 2008_10_25

2008-10-13T16:24:00.001-04:00

Strasbourg, France

Eliot seems to be somewhat unimpressed by another European Cathedral

Spencer, Eliot, Koen, and Renee

2008-10-10T07:26:00.002-04:00

Garage Work Resumes

After having to take a bit of a break on the work on our garage due to the road work out front, Arno has resumed in full force. How is he going to make up for all of that lost time? Extra help of course. Who do you think is driving the small red wheelbarrow at the bottom of the picture.

Eliot was in heaven the whole time. I wonder where he got his love of digging from?

2008-10-03T16:50:00.006-04:00

Sorry it took us so long to post, but here are highlights of our fabulous vacation (with 3 generations of Beavers) to Greece.

Note. If the embedded slideshow is causing troubles, you can click the "Greece 2008" label above to view it in a separate window. The pictures should be a little higher quality there as well.

2008-09-04T03:40:00.001-04:00

Venice, Italy.

In hindsight, I remember hearing the splash...

The fact that I didn't even look up from whatever vendor's wares I was perusing tells you how unlikely I thought it was that Renee or anyone else for that matter would fall into the canals of Venice. It's a shame that I didn't look up earlier, because I would have gotten better photos. In this photo, you can see the scene of the crime. You can just make out the wet footprints leading away from the stairs to the left. That would be from Renee.

More evidence of the mishap in the soaking wet jeans. No injuries, just a badly bruised ego as she had quite the audience of onlookers.

We went back the next day for another look. Renee says that 3rd step is slippier than it looks.

2008-09-03T15:56:00.000-04:00

Another Illini Fan on the Way!

2008-09-03T15:53:00.001-04:00

Gramma and Grampa's visit

2008-08-13T16:12:00.003-04:00

Happy 3rd Eliot!

Look at that awesome cement truck cake. Toni rocks!

The artist at work.

The Bouncy Castle

More Bouncy Castle

He who controls the M&Ms......

2008-08-02T16:41:00.005-04:00

Ice cream trip. Eliot had been looking forward to this promised trip to the ice cream shop all day. At some points, he was out of control. In the end, he got his ice cream, but really didn't enjoy as much as expected.

2008-08-02T16:09:00.000-04:00

Hey, what is this..... a hand me down? it's got like 20 km on it already.

2008-08-02T15:54:00.003-04:00

Cruising Mode

2008-08-02T15:54:00.002-04:00

Funky basket swing at the K-Town Dinosaur Park

2008-08-02T15:47:00.001-04:00

Hey, I've got teeth too.

2008-08-02T15:45:00.000-04:00

Koen - Showing off his two front teeth. They're brand new.

2008-06-30T08:11:00.002-04:00

In Training Already

Eliot has been telling Koen about his legendary "Fast Lap".

2008-06-21T15:55:00.004-04:00

Koen's First Hearty Meal

Well, maybe "hearty" isn't the right word for it, but it was at least something different from "Mommy's milk" as Eliot calls it. It was an avocado that Renee purchased in a market in Barcelona. She actually got a pretty funny tongue lashing from the stand owner because she squeezed the avocado prior to purchase. We both knew the absolute "DO NOT TOUCH!" rule here in Europe. She just forgot. Oh well.

Koen liked the avocado mildly. I think that he was just disappointed that he didn't get any of the tasty prosciutto that the rest of us were eating.

2008-06-21T15:03:00.004-04:00

Happy 1/2 B-Day Koen!

If you would care to compare, here's a link to Eliot's 1/2 b-day post.

Eliot doing some learning on Koen

Is this a hat thief caught red handed?

Mr. Wobble Legs in action.

Koen's developed this funny wrinkle nose grin. This isn't quite it, but it's close.
Happy
Happier

2008-06-21T14:49:00.003-04:00

Garage Construction in Full Swing
Our great landlords are moving full speed ahead on the construction of our new garage. Eliot loves spending Saturdays watching them work. They worked all day today to get the foundation poured. They mixed the whole thing in a little rotating drum themselves.
Nothing like vibrant Crocs to protect you from the cement moat.

Herr Schultz helps Eliot leave his mark. Notice that he didn't have on his vibrant Crocs. Consequently, he eventually succumbed to the depths of the concrete moat. We will think of him fondly as we park our car in the new garage.

2008-06-19T16:49:00.002-04:00

Barcelona

Here is a slideshow from our trip to Barcelona last weekend. We were excited to resume traveling, but as you might have guessed, it is more difficult juggling 2 little ones.

2008-06-03T15:10:00.004-04:00

Patio Progress
- So I took Eliot out of school the other day to watch the excavator working on our patio. As you might have guessed, he was thrilled. I didn't have the heart to tell him that his sunglasses were on upside down all day.

2008-06-03T14:55:00.003-04:00

Koen - I'm sure his hair is going to turn brown one of these days......

2008-06-01T17:42:00.003-04:00

Japanese Garden

The boys had a great time with the laughing, big bellied Buddha!

2008-05-25T15:20:00.004-04:00

More zoo... more goats

Eliot has been dealing with some personal space issues lately. "Too many friends" has been a common saying for him at school. That comment may be appropriate here too!

Ed (Michael's Dad) is now back from his deployment to Qatar. "Four months in the desert and all I got is this damn goat!"

Cheap thrills. 50 euro cents to be exact. (I wish I could keep Andy entertained for that amount too!)

2008-05-25T15:01:00.007-04:00

Mother's Day 2008

This is actually the first mother's day I have gotten to spend with my family -- the last 2 years I was away taking board exams. This year was so lovely, however, that I think it made up for lost time! The weather was gorgeous, so we went on a long walk in the morning, and spent the afternoon at the "Dinosaur Park" (which also houses alligators, as you may notice). The boys (all 3 of them) were in a great mood... what more could a mom ask for!

2008-04-30T00:29:00.001-04:00

From our US trip

We know that we haven't posted any from our US trip yet. Here are some raw ones. Hopefully we'll add more and annotate them soon.

2008-04-07T17:35:00.007-04:00

Amy, Derek and their boys (Alexander and Anthony)
Visit on their way to Poland

Eliot had the best 24 hrs -- two live in friends for a day - Alexander (age 4) and Anthony (almost 2). The three of them ran circles around us and they had a blast doing it (and we had a blast watching them!) And little Koen just looked on, yearning for the day he could run with the other "Wild things"!

These three fellows look as if they are incapable of mischief...Um... guys.... they're kinda swarming me here... I can't really move quite yet - anyone wanna help me out?

Gulp... HELP!

2008-04-07T17:23:00.002-04:00

Eliot the Thug

2008-04-07T17:21:00.000-04:00

Koen Blowing Bubbles

2008-03-25T09:56:00.000-04:00

GOATS

Can we take this one home?

2 at once

2008-03-24T17:06:00.001-04:00

Easter Fun

2008-03-24T16:21:00.000-04:00

An Innocent Bystander

The boys had just come in from a wet outing on their bicyles. They really enjoyed it. Both were both sopping wet from riding through mud puddles. Here Eliot is checking out the damage to Michaels back side.

Uh oh. This looks like a couple of guilty boys.

Yep. It seems that some pushing ensued and poor Koen caught a dirty rear end to the face. Honestly, it was just mud. He didn't seem to mind too much.

2008-03-10T16:32:00.004-04:00

No more tongue tie!

Koen had surgery (very minor - snip, snip) today to free up his tongue. Impressive to see about 6 hrs of paperwork and documentation just for a procedure that takes approx 2 minutes (ok, 10-15min TOTAL with anesthesia, from pre-op waiting area to recovery room). Glad to see our medical system is efficient :)

2008-03-09T16:34:00.005-04:00

Can't stick my tongue out :^!

Soon enough, little one... soon enough.

2008-03-09T16:21:00.002-04:00

Smiles

2008-03-02T16:44:00.007-05:00

Cooking with Grandma

Apparently Eliot has got quite the skills with the butter knife-- he quartered all of the mushrooms for a stir fry! We think he's almost ready for Iron Chef.

2008-03-02T16:40:00.000-05:00

More Koen Close-ups

2008-03-02T16:19:00.000-05:00

Wiesia, Ludwik, and Babcia's visit

2008-03-02T10:17:00.003-05:00

Mitch and Molly's visit

2008-03-01T09:50:00.002-05:00

Meeting Grandma and Grampa

2008-02-11T14:50:00.000-05:00

Trying to get out a goofy grin

Koen goofy grin

I think we need a bit more practice :)

2008-02-11T14:35:00.000-05:00

Babcia and Dziadek meet Koen
Eliot having fun with Dziadek

Sleepy time for Koen