From the Archives: Kruses past

And now for a little romp through the photo archives. This is from grandpa Doug's genealogy collection here we have the William Henry Kruse family. From what we can tell, Great Grandpa George is not yet born when this photo was taken.
There is just something about this scene. The six of them peering out at us from a hundred years ago. Clearly they take raising a family very seriously!
Recently I've heard some idle chit-chat around the office by people saying that they could never have children right now given the state of the world. Consider our ancestors at the turn of the last century, WWI has not started yet, there has yet been no flu pandemic, the Great Depression was not even imaginable, and certainly anything as all-encompassing as WWII was beyond speculation. 100Million people were killed in conflict in the 20th century. Is the world now too dangerous for babies? Good thing those pictured above didn't think that way. It's one thing to be stoic, but quite another to be a cynic.

Bed-time Stories

Story time is crucial. Since Erika has turned three, she can express lots of preferences for books, and will correct me if I miss a word on her favorites. The hard part is keeping story time on track and not off on a tangent. In this picture, Erika is in her bed. Note that she is using her insane cuteness to manipulate me (her father) into reading an extra book, or really just about anything to stall for time. I got the camera out to document what I'm up against! Nonetheless, we do not deviate from the routine. 15 minutes of books and a brief poem from a German story book and lights out. Schlafenzeit! There is no better way to end the day.

Another half day of snow in a year!

Twin update

We finally know the gender of the twins: female.
So, we are expecting identical twin girls in late May. For those keeping score at home, I'm told that the chance of having identical twins is 1 in 285.
Erika was informed of the news, but responded angrily. She insists that those are not girls in mommy's tummy but babies! I asked her if she is a girl, and she denied that as well. I found that no matter how you finish this sentence: "Erika, are you a ____?" she will emphatically deny it, turn away and become very agitated. I'm not sure what that is, but there you have the psychology of our 3-year-old.