Say cheese!

The kids were photographed at Lia's kindergarten!

Not too bad considering that the poor man photographed roughly a hundred kids the old-fashioned way (on film!) with no props and no tacky background. Kind of cute, no?

Ben and Lia

Lia

Ben

The photographer's name is Wolfgang Dutzki, but he is not represented on the internet, which does not come as a surprise if you think that he completely missed out on the digital revolution. The pictures turned slightly blue in the scanning process, but this way we can share them with you. The photographer kept calling Ben "Benny! Träumerchen!" and I had to exert all of my self-control to keep my mouth shut (he's certainly NOT a Benny!), but now I'm glad I did.
The result is really, really nice. Even in blue. 

Cousin Cordes

We have a new partner in crime:

Ove Jona

Lots of good things we can teach you, little man.

Ready when you are.

With love, from Lia and Ben

And everywhere Lia goes...

... Stevie goes, too.

Talking about friendship. Lia's best friend is a teddy bear.
Not just a teddy bear, but Stevie, who actually is a girl. They share all of their adventures and the same bed, or in this case MY bed. Around midnight you can hear paw- and footsteps down the corridor, when the two of them come shuffling to my bed. Stevie is Lia's biggest fan and never misses out on her ballet class, where (s)he sits on an extra pillow in the corner. Poor bear looks like ninety, and probably is ninety, or ninety one, in bear years. Her(!) fur has a greenish tint that even a German washing machine can't wash off, and there's a hole just above her heart, where our neighbor's dog in Charlotte got hold of our poor lady bear. It don't matter, she's still the most beautiful greenish girl bear ever! And fully deserves to be carried around in a chic handbag. Like this morning.

Senior bear ready for kindergarten.

Best Buddy George

Georg, that's Ben's best friend. He's Greek (as you can tell by the light hair and blue eyes) and he owns really cool trucks. The big sisters Lia and Carla are friends as well, but it's much nicer to meet without the girls. The men like it quiet, and vehicles are a serious business after all. It's ok that Georg just turned one, gives Ben a superior feeling and a little bit of power over the little guy. Just recently Ben bit into his little pal's butt to show him who's in charge. Yep! That's how the cookie crumbles, and the two of them meet often to share a cookie or two. Not the cars, though, they are definitely not for sharing. Every guy has to have his own steering wheel. Ben has a firm grip on the cement mixer. No touch, little guy!

Yeah, I love you, too. But get your fingers off my truck.

Ah, the scene is save. Me and my truck.

The long-haul truck drivers posing with their beauties.

Routine maintenance. The best pit stop is at Georg's place.