My Most Favoritest Man.

I just want to say I have the most amazing husband in the world! He has been a strong force in our family.. Not only is he working a very stressful job (not to mention taking on 3 different jobs), He's in school getting his MBA, he's getting awesome grades, and even searching for other jobs so he can grow even more and dealing well with the stress that comes with that. On top of all that He still finds time to send me e-mails everyday with words of encouragement (or whatever he feels like), he helps around the house, make me laugh, makes sure we stay on top of things spiritually, and loves me in the most perfect way. He's the most fantastic father, and even more comes home to other kids I'm watching and has fun with them to! He's is such a wonderful man! God really showed me favor when he blessed me with this man! THANK YOU LORD!!!!

I'm the luckiest girl in the world, isn't he soooo dreamy! hahahaha!

He is handsome even with a "dirty 'stache" !

My man is a model! Nice hat!

I love you "more than I can promise" Simon! Thank you for all you are and all you do!

Izabella is 4 today!!

Wow, I'm not really sure how to start this blog or what to say. My first born is no longer a toddler! She's a preschooler!! She's like a real kid!! It seems like yesterday I held her in my arms for the first time, nursed her for the first time, cried cause i couldn't get her to stop crying for the first time, became overly protective for the first time, loved like I'd never loved for the first time....saw her reach, sit, crawl, stand, cruise, walk, fall, first time she bled and how instead of being panicked I was calm, first tooth, word, and the most blessed thing , the first time she said "I love you." I know all of you who have children remember all those "first times", how could you ever forget them, they are the most beautiful, prescious, magical moments you have "for the first time" with your first child! It is so emotional for me to know that she is no longer a toddler but is a preschooler, a real kid!! Don't get me wrong it is sad but it is also amazing to see her growing up into the little girl (not young lady yet, that comes ALOT later, baby steps you guys c'mon!)that God wants and has created her to be. My prayer is that I can be the mother that she needs me to be to prepare her for this world, to have self confidence, and most of all to continue in the path that God has started her on. I'm aware later on in life she may get off the path a wee bit, but I hope that God can and will use me during those times to get her back on the path and right back to where God wants her. I love her soo much and the person she is becoming, and even admire some traits she has that let me know she'll get by and survive this crazy life just fine. So I guess all in all I am soooo grateful for the incredible gift God has given me with my first born, and am soooo humbled that God would grant me this honor not only once but twice and hopefully more to come... I love you Izabella Lobunza Kratzat! My Bellarina princess.
Bella's "little birthday" as she calls it, her "Big Birthday" is coming later,



She got her first real digital camera..Our way of getting her to stop using ours before she breaks it!

She was sooo excited and has been taking pictures non stop, and uploading them onto the computer. She's actually had some really good photos!! (Watch out Jeanne! Actually you can be her mentor..)

She got an Angelina Ballerina movie from Gramma Nili and Babu, for my little Bellarina...


There she is, my gorgeous 4 year old first born daughter.

My girls crack me up!!

OK, not much to say but that the girls looove to dress themselves , more like insist on it so here are a few photo's of their out fits! enjoy!!

Nadya(Cinderella) and friend Samara(Belle?)
Bella as Snow white
Love this outfit yellow shirt, white frilly dress that is way tooo small, it wouldn't even zip up in the back, pink shorts, green tights with navy deer on them and multi colored crocs to tie it all together.!!! hahahah! love it my little fasioneesta
midnight service they were only going to wear their p.j's but insisted on wearing dresses over them, you gotta let them express themselves right??
these boots were made for walking and they look sooo much better on her than they do on me!

the girls looove putting on Uncle BoBo's clothes on when we go visit them, it's sort of become tradition! every time we go there the first thing they want to do is put his


this is a funky scarf that I have, they loooove wearing it! this time they decided to attach themselves by the head.
You remember this one, undies,headband, necklaces, yeah, I think she's all about the accessories not so much the outfit!! hahhaa

Feeling the Love

I just had the best weekend!! Simon was gone all week on a spiritual retreat, so I got to have even more one on one time with my girls.. So the nights he was gone, the girls and I would do a "special thing since papa is gone ". They got to fall asleep with me on the couch, and then I would take them to bed. So on Thursday night Simon calls and is just telling me about how much he misses me and doesn't think he's gonna be able to make it the rest of the weekend, I thought "Awww! he misses me! " (He's gone on several business trips but has always been so busy that he didn't get the chance to REALLY miss me, or atleast mean it when he told me, hahaha!). So i thought that was just awesome that he was miserable because he missed me soo much. ;-). That night the girls were falling asleep on the couch while I held them and they tell each other they "I love you", grab hold of each others hands and fall asleep! (awww) and then simultaneously in their sleep they let go of each others hands and each of them grab my hand!! (tear, tear!! sooo beautiful!!) so I waited a little longer before I took them to bed that night! So Friday comes along and Simon calls and says "I'm on my way home, pack you and the girls up we're gonna go somewhere!!!" WHAT!!! AWESOME!! So he takes us to Cincinnati, we drop the girls off at my brother-in-law's(and his wife) place and we go and stay at the HILTON!!! It was amazing! and then on Saturday night we decided to have the girls with us and that to was just incredible! just the boost I needed!! I can't thank God enough for having such an amazing family!! Simon didn't have to take me on a weekend get away, I was happy enough with him going crazy cause he missed me so much! hahah! I love you Simon! I love you Izabella and Nadya!! Thanks you Lord, from the bottom of my heart I am eternally grateful, and owe you BIG time for this awesome family and life you have given me!
The Family enjoying our stay in the hotel! It was soo much fun, relaxing and just getting out of the house was a bonus! hahaha!

Please pray for Kenya

My parents have been up here in Indiana for about a month and a half, and we have the pleasure of having them stay with us for 3 weeks... They were supposed to leave to go back to Kenya on the 7th of Jan. However that has had to be postponed because things are REALLY horrible in Kenya right now. They just had elections and it was apparently a really shady election so there is a lot of fighting, looting, killings the death count as of now is almost 300, this has just happened in the last week.Roads are closed, airports have cancelled flights and people can't even go to the grocery store safely.. It's really sad because Kenya is normally a very peaceful country and has just progressed wonderfully, and this is going to set them back like 20 years. I have my whole dads side of the family there, friends , many loved ones. Please pray for the safety of all the innocent, the children,our families and just the country as a whole. I'm so glad that mom and dad aren't there right now in the midst of this and that they are safely here with us. They have been a tremendous help for us with watching the kids, financially,doing dishes, and Simon and I have had more time to spend together to ! That's always great! Thanks mom and dad for all your help! We love you and are enjoying our time with you.

This is going to be a loooong one! merry christmas!

Merry late Christmas and Happy New year to everyone! We had a wonderful Christmas season this year! The girls really were getting into everything! From the snow, christmas songs, decorating christmas cookies,learning about Jesus's birthday, all the way to Santa and their favorite, Rudolph!! hahahaha! So here are alot of photo's of the holiday! I hope you all had as wonderful a time as we did with our family! Love you all!


Uncle Manny and the girls making cookies for Santa.


The girls dancing around waiting to go to the midnight service, it was so cute, they wanted to wear dresses so they put dresses on over their pajama's! haha!
The girls watching childrens choirs sing christmas songs. They loved it! They were clapping singing and dancing!
I just love this photo of Bella ! Isn't she adorable with those big brown eyes!





This is Christmas a.m.I had to wake them up! hahaha! They wanted to sleep in the living room to wait for Santa, and in the morning when they woke up Nadya was so upset cause she didn't see santa, she didn't even want to open her stocking or gifts! hahahaha! We kept telling her Santa only comes when you are asleep. Finally we got her to open up her stuff, but even after all was said and done she said " hey! but i didn't see santa!" Oh my!
opening gifts..

Bella loved the guitar! She kept "rocking out" and everytime she was done she would say ( and still does) "That was good rocking!!" or "that was good Rock and roll!" hahhaha!
Here is Nadya buried in all the blankets, gifts, and wrapping paper. I think the whole thing was a bit overwhelming for her, (I'm sure all of you with little ones understand completely!) but she enjoyed herself to!

I cooked my first christmas meal ever!!! It was sooo much fun! I really did enjoy it! I made 2 roasted chickens, roasted turkey and a pot roast ,sides, and 2 cheesecakes! I have to mention that it was also the first time I had ever made any of these things and they all turned out great! Not to brag but it all was pretty darn good, and my cheesecakes were amazing!! hahahaha!It was fun, I really didn't stress about it and everything went pretty smoothly, must be beginers luck! hahaha!
Simon slaving over the hot stove all day long! (hahaha yeah right) He did do a great job keeping the girls entertained so I didn't have to worry about them all day. Thanks for your help Si!


It looks good! and it's finally done!

Here is the end result, I felt like i cooked alot more than what it looks like but it was good and i can say we were all stuffed and had plenty of left overs! Hope everyone is recovering from the food and craziness of Christ mas! I can't believe a new year is already upon us! I hope everyone had a great 2007 and that 2008 will bring many more blessings and stories! Love you all! Thanks for reading this! hahahah

Ode to our cousins aka neice and nephews (and the parents to)

So my sister Elaine and her family just moved out to Seattle Washington!! sniff ! It was sooo hard to see them go , of course we know it was better for their family and at least it's not as far as Kenya so it'll be easier to go see them.While they were here our girls just connected with their kids right away and had a blast with them every time they got together.. Bella and Nadya really look up to their cousin Eva, she's 5. Since they've been gone the girls have been having "pretend Eva, Alastor and Owen" around, whether it's them pretending they are them or having their stuffed animals be them. They miss them and so do we!!! I love you Elaine, Matt and the kids! I miss having you close by, knowing that you were a just 20 minutes away! I know you have to do what you have to do (especially for the fam) . I thank God soo much for having such an awesome family and friends in our lives! Thank you for always being there to support us! WE LOVE AND MISS YOU SOOO MUCH!


Owen double fisting it.
Alastor, Nadya, Eva, and Bella


Bella and Alastor hugging bye... and sticking their tongues out. They are literally 2 months apart, Alastor just turned 4 this pas t weekend, that means Bella is going to be 4 in 2 months!! OH MY!!!!!