Keeping Up With the Kissingers: May 2019

Wednesday, May 29, 2019

May 2019 in Gaming

May in Gaming is always bittersweet.

As the warm early summer days arrive, many of the wonderful students & our family friends that are only here for a semester or the year depart.

Here are a few pictures...

Isaac loving his regular visits to see the horses across the street from where we live:

Private concert in the Bibliothek:

Final day of school for Ellie & Francis. School goes through June but we took them out early due to going to the USA!

Ellie’s first & last day of final year of kindergarten (she is fluent in German now & always correcting her brother’s pronunciation & grammar):

Francis’ first & last day of first year of kindergarten (he is speaking a bunch of German & loves doing so):

Isaac & some of his 2-year-old buddies:

Isaac & his best friend for the year, Leo:

Saying “goodbye” is always hard to do....

But that’s why we’re thankful the German world for goodbye is “Auf Wiedersehen,” which literally translates to “until we meet again”!! :)

Wednesday, May 15, 2019

Hold Your Horses: Isaac Turns Two!!

"Happy Doo-Doo, IZ" - Isaac Kissinger, age 2, singing Happy Birthday to himself

Hold your horses - literally - because Isaac just turned 2!

This boy is obsessed with horses! There are a few horses just up the street from us that we like to visit, and he likes to watch the ones on YouTube. "Horses. Phone. Ok!" is a common phrase we'll hear from him. (Yes, we try to limit YouTube and videos on our phone ;) Rain was predicted all day for his actual birthday, so Ellie had the great idea of taking him to the petting zoo at Hochries about 30 minutes away the day before his birthday. We headed there right after Mass in the morning and beat the rain! He, and his siblings, loved riding the ponies! Isaac's first time!

On his birthday the next day, which was also Mother's Day this year, we went back to Haubis (about 30 minutes away) - where we had spent Francis' birthday. Haubis is short for Haubiversum, one of Austria's incredible bread factories. This visit we had to be inside due to the rain but that turned out great as well! They have a lovely kids' indoor play place, and mom and dad were able to enjoy our meal and coffee as the kids played!

Isaac opened some of his toy horses the day before his birthday, and literally has not stopped holding two of them at nearly all times! He will set them down briefly when he's performing Mass - he loves to dress in our dress-up clothes priest vestments, find his kids' Bible, and sing, "Oh God, holy Father" as he processes around our coffee table (aka, his altar) and in and out of the living room with the Bible raised above his head. He currently has bright orange hair (think that's a forever thing) that has never been cut, a chipped front tooth (luckily that's a baby tooth), and is definitely left-handed (guess that's also a forever thing). He loves asking Ellie to come and play horses with him (she simply adores him and can't resist)! And he loves tackling Francis - if he's anywhere close to the ground, Isaac is instantly on him. Not quite sure what he'll make of being a big brother in less than 3 months, but he sure loves being the baby of the family for now!

We love you, Isaac Joseph!!

Friday, May 10, 2019

Easter Season 2019

It's been a busy, fun Easter season for our family :)

We've had lot of celebrating to do!

Our 7th wedding anniversary - April 14
Courtney's 37th birthday - April 19 (Good Friday) - the kids weren't too impressed by the 'bread loaf' cake :)
Francis' 4th birthday - April 22 (Easter Monday)
Brian's 37th birthday - May 2 - the kids liked his homemade peanut butter oreo ice cream cake :)

We had a BEAUTIFUL stretch of sunny, warm weather all through Easter Week!
Only to have snow follow - pictures of snow below are from May 5!

Isaac will be 2 on May 12, "new baby" will begin the 3rd trimester that week, and Ellie will continue counting down everything possible... days left until we visit the USA this summer, her half birthday, how many days until she begins 1st Grade, etc.!!!