Selma, Alabama!

We have not been very good with keeping up with this. We actually just remembered it. Maybe now that Sarah is staying home with the kids, we can post stuff a little more frequently. Considering that our last post was in 2007 (eek!), it can't be much worse.

Karl has a job teaching at Concordia College in Selma, Alabama. We moved here about a week into July 2009. We're settling in just fine, but it is taking a while to get the house the way we want it. I guess it's a never-ending process.

Selma is a nice little community. Their downtown is being revived a bit; there are a lot of neat old buildings and historical markers. It was rather important during the Civil War (an industrial center destroyed during a battle) and during the Civil Rights Movement (march across the bridge on the way to Montgomery, I think). Karl will, of course, make corrections to any errors that I have here.

Lena and Gus are settling in well here. Lena just finished her first session of swimming lessons; she learned to blow bubbles, put her whole face underwater, and even started to float. Hopefully, next session she will improve in her strokes and kicking. :)

Gus is exploring everything. I mean EVERYTHING! He loves trying things, getting into things, and generally being a toddler.

Oh, did I mention that we have a pool? So weird, it was not something we were looking for, but we liked the house, so . . . we now have a pool.

Sorry for the rather random post. Hopefully in the future they'll be more themed and less scattered.

Lena and Friends in Detroit!

This past weekend we were in Eastpointe to celebrate the Baptism of our new Goddaughter, Anastasia Sophia Grayl! Lena had a lot of fun playing with her friend Samuel (Anastasia's older brother). Here are some pictures from the weekend:

Happy Valentine's Day!

Here are some pics of Lena making a finger-paint heart for her daddy for Valentine's Day. Lena got the idea from her friend Tommy Jackson.

Muffins and Car-seats

Here are a couple snapshots of Lena we took today... enjoy!




Lena LOVES muffins! Here's a shot of her devouring some apple-cinnamon ones that mommy made for Lena.









She also took her first ride in her big-girl car seat today, facing the front. She did well, but was pretty sleepy and wasn't as excited as we thought she'd be to face forward. I guess some things are just more exciting for parents than for kids.

Magdalena and Joshua

Lena finally met her friend, Joshua Wangelin this weekend. Mom and Dad (Bill and Kristin) were in town from St. Louis on their way to Detroit. Even though Lena isn't smiling much in these pictures, it was a great time this weekend! (We may have some better ones of Lena when the Wangelins send us copies of the pictures they took.)

Magdalena is ONE!

Yesterday was Lena's first birthday! She spent it in Cleveland with her Baughman side, Columbus with her Palmer side, Detroit with her godparents and Kalamazoo with her mommy and daddy! Check out some pictures from the different parties. Click here or on the picture of Lena diving into her cake below to go to our Shutterfly site and view her Birthday Album:

Chicken Lena!

Our goal is to make frequent posts about Lena (and her parents!)... so here are a couple shots her dad took this morning in her Halloween outfit: