Berg Family

January and skiing

2012-01-30T11:54:00.004+01:00

We celebrate Three Kings' Day here in Switzerland every year. Jacob picked up our Three Kings' Day Bread at the grocery store/bakery right next to his work and it was so delicious. The tradition goes that everyone picks a morsel of bread and someone has the king in their morsel. It was so fun that Hans' found the king in his bread this year! It was especially cute because somehow he knew it was a big deal.

He was very happy to get the crown and be the king! I couldn't resist posting all of the pictures!

Just some down time on the couch.

I found Abram leaning against his little brother to watch the iPad with him.

And pictures we just have to capture: when your 1.5 year old still likes to snuggle on the couch.

This has been ski month for our family!

Abram and Chloe both have had ski lessons every Saturday.

It has been fun to see them catch on!

Chloe with her play friend Clara. We do playdate swaps every week!

Another highlight of January was Chloe's invitation to go to Kindergarten all morning

with her big brother. She had a great time and especially loved playing

with the four other 3 year old sisters that came to class as visitors.

We are ready for February now!

Thanksgiving, December and Christmas!

2011-12-19T14:26:00.012+01:00

Merry Christmas from us! Here is our most recent family picture taken in November.

Attempts at posing the children. I love how Hans is trying to squint his eyes like his brother and sister always seem to do :)

Hans, almost holding still.

We enjoyed Thanksgiving with friends on Thursday, actual Thanksgiving Day, at the Jeppson Home. Although it is not a holiday that Jacob gets off here in Switzerland, he was able to get work off a little early so that we could enjoy it with the Jeppson and Gourley families. It was really nice to celebrate Thanksgiving on ACTUAL Thanksgiving Day this year.

We also had a Thanksgiving feast on Sunday evening and invited the Nordlin Family, two single girls who were studying in Zurich for a semester, and the Missionaries in our ward.

Daddy and Daughter on Thanksgiving "Sunday".

The Twilight moving "Breaking Dawn: Part 1" premiered here in Switzerland a week later than it did in the U.S. The Monday following Thanksgiving, I went with several girlfriends to see it. It was so fun to see it with girlfriends!

Abram's Kindergarten picture that we just got.

Jacob couldn't believe we now have a school-aged little boy!

I went running along the lake a few weeks ago (yes, I really should make more of a habit of it!). Before I turned for home, I snapped a shot on my phone. I heart Zurich.

The beginning of December brought Swiss Christmas traditions and lots of Grittibanz! They even have a special counter in the grocery store here in Switzerland for the purchase of these sweet bread men during the first week of December. I love my dimpled 5 year old boy with his Grittibanz he made at Kindergarten.

For the first time since we have been here in Switzerland, we went as a family to the forest to see Samichlaus. We took the bus and the tram from our house, through the city, and then into a forest. Notice the sign that tells us which way to Samichlaus.

Our 25 minute walk through the forest.

Once we arrived at Samichlaus' hut,

Abram climbed the ladder to peak in at Samichlaus' sleeping quarters.

Samichlaus' invites his guests in to his hut/cottage/husli. We listened to him tell a story about "yesterday when he was very hungry and he ate some star cookies". Abram understood more than Jacob and I did, but hopefully we understand even more of his story next year :)

Sure enough, as we headed home, there were more Samichlauses along the Bahnhofstrasse. Here is my personal favorite, the Lindt & Sprungli Samichlaus. Hans meeting and greeting Samichlaus.

For the month of December, we continued our visits to our village farm. Every time we went, there was an advent door to open, telling what the Zwergs (elves???) had been up to. On this day, Abram translated for us that the Zwerg had been cutting out so many stars that his hand began to hurt.

Hans making a mad dash to visit his farm animal friends.

The goat that Hans likes to kiss :)

Since the end of August, I had been enrolled in a German class that was offered by the local city/community government. My teacher, Marianne Gerber, was fantastic. I must also mention the fantastic babysitting service that class offered that Chloe and Hans learned to love. Since completing the class in mid December, I have found that Hans is a great block stacker and that both Hans and Chloe can sit and play with a small set of toys for a very long time. Here is Chloe and Hans with one of the two wonderful babysitters that loved and cared for them 4 hours each week over the last four months.

Ward Nativity reenactment. Abram loved being a sheep/horse/goat.

We went to Trampolino for the first time for a friend's birthday party. Lots of indoor fun.

We visited the "Zurich America Center" - American Consolate here in Zurich. Abram needed to get his passport renewed. His passport expires next month - which means that we have almost lived in Switzerland for 5 years.

Hans officially joined the Nursery at church. And Chloe had her last time in Nursery. It was sweet that they got to enjoy Nursery together for at least a few times. I can't believe Chloe won't be playing dollies and jumping in the balls at church anymore.

Already posted to my Facebook, but here is Hans, our tortilla monster. He growled and everything.

And Hans, finding those glass balls on the tree to be too irresistible. I think the final shatter count was 5. He learned to leave them alone :)

Trying rag curls in Chloe's hair for the first time. Ever since she was very small, she has been very patient and still to wait for me to finish her hair.

We DID get some snow just 4 days before Christmas. Abram and his friend Charlie got right out in it to sled and build a snowman. Just three days before Christmas, the rain fell and fell and fell though, so we had a green Christmas this year in Zurich.

Just a few days before Christmas, we walked over to the Lindt Sprungli Chocolate Factory to one of their open house chocolate sampling and demonstrations. It was beautiful and delicious!

Chloe eyeing the truffles.

Abram admiring the milk and dark chocolate in his sample.

A beautiful sink, hand washing station outside of the demonstration room.

A chocolatier tapping the chocolate out of the bear chocolate mold.

Chloe and Abram and Bear at the Christmas Market this year.

What I ended up gifting family friends for Christmas this year.

What I ended up gifting teachers this year. I stitched up these owls and then stuffed them.

Christmas even morning. Decorating the windows at home.

What we are always sad to miss back in Utah.

But our Christmas Eve was still wonderful. We were invited to share Christmas Eve dinner with the Jeppson Family and their family that was visiting from the U.S. We had a wonderful ham dinner and then chocolate fondue. Here are our three as they prepared for the Christmas Nativity reenactment. We appreciate the Jeppsons for hanging in there with our active little ones during the reenactment!

Christmas morning. Abram made a clock at school and we opened it on Christmas morning.

Chloe trying on her new princess outfit from her cousin, Bekah.

Hans checking out his new swiss wooden car from Daddy

Our three little ones on Christmas morning.

Hans, captivated by his new Transformer from Grandpa and Grandma Berg

Chloe's new IKEA kitchen.

Abram's new sled with a steering wheel.

Hans' new IKEA slide.

Abram and Chloe in their new presents from their Berg cousins, Ray and Bekah.

Kids playing Hullaballoo - a gift from Frank and Emily. The kids loved it! Also, notice our Christ picture finally hanging above the piano again!

And here was a gift for Jacob (and all of us). Finally. . . pictures of all of our family up on our family room wall! I had to improvise a bit because I couldn't find foam board for sale here in Switzerland. I ended up using a large flat piece of styrofoam, slicing it, and hot glue gunning everything together. They were super light weight which was great, so that we could hang them from some artificial flowers.

So relieved to finally have a new post up! Now on to a Happy New Year!

Beginning of November

2011-11-11T21:08:00.008+01:00

Every Thursday afternoon between Abram's music and gym class, I take the children to the farm up the hill in our town. Abram and Chloe find the fresh from the farm milk and the seasonal freshly pressed apple juice to be the biggest treat of our visit each week. Hans' favorite is to catch up with his dear friends the cows/calves, chickens, guinea pigs, pigs, sheep, goats, and donkeys. I love this photo of me with the kids. It was just about an hour before I headed to the airport for my trip to London.

Walking to the farm

We happened to be there when they were placing a new jug of juice.

Even though they are nearly four years apart, it is fun to see Abram and Hans starting to play big brother/little brother.

Last weekend, I got to go on a trip to London! Three days and three nights without the children and with some great girlfriends.

We stayed in a posh apartment in Hyde Park. You wouldn't believe the beauty of the inside of the flat. Modern, yet full of character. We felt elegant and indulged.

A little culture. Visiting the British National Museum. A must see!

Stumbling upon Hans' road and Hans' mansions and Hans' lodge.

While I was playing and shopping and dancing and eating and talking in London, Jacob was super, darling dad with the children.

Playing with the leaves of fall with Daddy on Friday - the day he took off work while mommy was gone.

How did Jacob get Hans to stay still long enough? Definitely in love with this one!

The first picture of the kids that I saw when I was on my trip. What in the world was Jacob having Abram and Chloe do? Get to work, you two!

He took all three to the Transportation Museum in Lucern on Saturday.

Grandpa Berg would be so proud!

Before I headed off to London, I made this Modge Podge wooden cube with pictures on it as an example for a craft evening we are doing in Relief Society in a few weeks. It turned out beautifully.

October 2011

2011-11-01T14:58:00.007+01:00

Just one more shot from Grandpa Petty's visit at the beginning of the month.

Abram and I started learning how to play chess together. When Jacob got home, it was time to clear up any game play misunderstandings :)

Hans was so cute after church, that I wanted to get some pictures of him. But no chance. He was too busy and too fast.

Grandpa Petty brought Chloe a mermaid Barbie. Abram was very convinced that when she was placed in icy cold water, she would turn into a human.

Grandpa Petty brought us some tomatoes from Italy. Jacob and kids turned the crank and juiced the tomatoes. I did the bottling part :)

I can't get enough of our weekly visits to the farm with Hans. He loves all of the animals so much.

Walking Chloe home from spielgruppe. Our attempt at a fall picture with Hans. . . . not interested.

Pictures on the carnival ride at Thalwil's Chilbi this year.

Photos from the Halloween Carnival. Minnie Mouse kissing Santa.

And the family photo op. Just hoping we can get a family photo sans costumes sometime this next month. Happy Halloween 2011!

Prague. . . with the kids

2011-10-13T15:54:00.006+02:00

So we went to Prague in June for our 10 year wedding anniversary, but with a hotel voucher that we still needed to redeem, we headed to Prague this past weekend with the kids. It was just drizzling rain for the first hour or two once we arrived, but the rest of the weekend turned out to be a beautiful welcome to fall and nice cool weather.

We took the subway to get from the hotel to downtown. Prague has a nice underground transportation system.

We got a traditional Prague treat, a trdelnik.

In addition to a yummy sugary treat, Chloe thought it made a nice bracelet.

Beautiful Prague. . . crazy kids! :)

Our few days looked a lot like this. . . strolling the streets.

Part of our vacation escape was patroning the Hard Rock in Prague.

For those of you who enjoy eating out as a family back in the States, this is a very unfamiliar thing for us. They don't have many kid friendly restaurants in Switzerland unless you go to the IKEA cafeteria restaurant. Always makes Jacob and me feel like we are back in the U.S. for a few hours.

Abram in front of the astronomical clock.

Jacob explaining the hourly chime ritual of the Prague clock.

Hans and Chloe being entertained by the puppets in Prague.

So we haven't done a big city with the kids since Hans was in my tummy. Definitely pros and cons to going with or without kids. I think we will try to do a big city once a year without the kids though. Maybe Paris in the spring?. . .

On Sunday mourning, we went to the downtown Prague Branch. The church building is beautiful and just two doors down from the Israeli Embassy. They were broadcasting General Conference in Czech for church service. We got to meet the mission president of the Czech/Slovak mission, lots of missionaries, and some American expats working in Prague.

Time with Grandma

2011-10-13T15:15:00.007+02:00

We visited Grandma Petty two weeks ago for General Conference weekend.

It was fun to stop for Gelato in her little town. The yogurt gelato is the best.

Time for play in Grandma's mini cooper!

Time for reading in Grandma's reading room!

Time for play in Grandma's garden.

Grandma found this little house for $20 at a garage sale. We have hauled it back to Switzerland to enjoy there. Thanks, Grandma!

On Sunday morning, we went for a drive up in the mountains. Isn't the green lake water gorgeous? Beautiful morning in the mountains!

Saying their prayers in church.

It's Pumpkin Time!

2011-10-13T13:42:00.004+02:00

Grandpa visited us this week! We took him to Jucker Farm to see all of the pumpkins.

And it seems like a visit from Grandpa isn't complete without going to see the animals at the zoo. It was very fitting this time, because Hans LOVES animals. Grandpa said that he just loved following behind Hans the whole time. Hans is such a quiet, easy going little guy and Grandpa got too see that firsthand.

Thanks for visiting us, Grandpa Petty!

Our Android phone summer in review 2011

2011-09-22T09:10:00.016+02:00

What a terrible name for a blog post, but I love so many of these snapshots from my cell phone, so they are going up! I am so sad for this summer to end. I feel like a little chapter of our life has come to a close with summer's end. Glad to have all of these memories with my children.

We had a very warm and early spring this year. We took lots of bike rides to our town to go to the post office, pharmacy, bakery and grocery store. This was Abram's last time riding as a passenger. He rides his own bike to come along now.

We are not in the car too often except to go to church on Sunday, but when we are, I love to look back and see my two handsome boys!

One of our earliest beach moments this year. Hans looking to eat that shovel.

Beware! Boys on a mission!

The typical scene. I am in love.

California girl or Swiss girl?

Downtown market in the morning with Abram. He won't be joining us so much anymore - he started Kindergarten this fall.

Fun times at Park im Gruene. Hans still just a crawler.

Chloe bossing around some girls from church that are old enough to babysit her. They were too sweet to let her use her 2.5 year old imagination.

I love this one. My baby boy at the beach.

Chloe found a seahorse on the way to spielgruppe.

And a letter "T"

Abram's first visit to his new Swiss Kindergarten.

His teacher Frau Zinsli.

One of my favorite scenes. A bunch of pre-Kindergarteners showing how READY they are to go to school. Abram is definitely one of them.

The bus stop outside his school. We hadn't gotten him a school bag yet, but he didn't mind using my Vera Bradley bag this one time :)

Good times on the bus with friends. I don't remember where we were headed that day.

Hans getting more beach time. Hans was great to have at the beach until about a month ago when he started walking. . . and now he is so fast that I can hardly keep track of him. That is one good thing about Fall coming. I needed a break from having to chase him!

I started German classes again in June. They were on Tuesday and Friday evenings from 8-10pm. It kind of killed my social life for a few months, but I finish classes next week. Glad to have such understanding friends! Now on to morning German classes with free childcare this fall. Here is the view before I board the train in our town. Stunning every time.

More rides on the bus and waiting at bus stops.

Three silly kids!

There is a triathlon that bikes right by our neighborhood every July. Chloe and I cheering on the bikers at the turning point.

Hans playing peekaboo in a play pirate ship.

Abram was invited on a bike ride with some friends, Max and Jasper.

Two weeks of daily swimming lessons for Abram. He finally started getting the hang of it!

Our neighborhood park.

I love Hans' perfect cowlick swirl.

Chloe attempting the wooden bike. So funny how different her skill level is to her big brother's. We even girled it up with a pink basket. No go :)

Cute pigtails. She loves to get her hair done.

Farm treats at Jucker Farm with friend Kahri and her mommy Megan.

Hay bail fort/maze at Jucker Farm.

Within minutes after leaving Jucker Farm. That was a fun day!

Hans sitting up to the iPad all by himself.

The farm in our town. The kids really loved feeding the calves.

Our first time going to the Kinderzoo in Rapperswil.

Pony rides!

Chloe was slightly hesitant at first. So glad she had such a fun time!

Lunch with new friend Clara.

Chloe looking pretty happy to be eaten by a dinosaur!

Hans knows how to get what he wants! Fun to see him grab handfuls and start stuffing his mouth full. Apparently, he wanted a dessert after dinner. Love this sweet boy!

First week of Swiss Kindergarten

2011-08-24T15:16:00.002+02:00

Abram did it! He went to his first week of Swiss Kindergarten. He was happy to go each day, but reports that four hours is a bit long. He is making new friends and even figuring out which children also speak English. On Friday, I told him to give his gym clothing bag to his teacher, but as she took it from him and told him in Swiss German that she would keep it, he started to cry, because he wanted to take them home and thought I would want them back. She repeated the directions in English, but it was too late and the tears were flowing. Kind of a sad but sweet story for a little guy still trying to figure out the language.

He has a very unusual situation for Swiss Kindergarten this year. All Swiss children walk to Kindergarten (usually by themselves), but there were too many children in our area enrolled to go to the local Kindergarten, so they selected a group of five children who would take a special shuttle bus down the road (three bus stops away) to another Swiss Kindergarten. Abram is one of the five, so the bus picks him up every morning (M-F) at 8am and he returns at 12:15pm.

Chloe is THREE!

2011-08-08T22:39:00.002+02:00

Happy Birthday to our Chloe!

Dear Chloe,

We are so excited for you to be three now! This summer has been so fun with you. You are such a smart little girl. You can explain things in great detail. You have the cutest little "s" lisp and soft "r" sound. You don't like to be left out - you like to say the prayer for every meal if we let you. You love playing with both of your brothers. Abram really loves you and relies on you for lots of fun play at home. You very seldom say "no" to any of his imaginative play scenarios. He says, "do you want to be the monkey and I will be the zookeeper?" and you say "yes", or he might say "should we play astronauts in outer space?" and you say "mmmm. . . yes." When ever Hans shows his walking skills, you are sooo excited and enthusiastic about him doing something new. You are happy to sit in front of the mirror for a long time, so that I can braid your hair. You love to sing and make up songs to different tunes you know. And you love to dance. You love to be tickled and you love it when we take you in our arms and squeeze and hug you and tell you that you can't get bigger because you always have to be our little girl. You are so much fun.

Love, mommy and daddy

And Chloe in the hospital after she was born. She had a very different look than her brothers.

It is fun to see her turn into a beautiful little girl full of personality.

Abram is FIVE!

2011-08-01T20:00:00.001+02:00

10 days old.
1 year old.2 years old.

3 years old.

4 years old.5 years old!

Dear Abram,

This has been such a fun summer with you as we have waited for you to turn 5. Hiking, soccer, swimming, teaching things to Chloe and helping Hans take his first steps. You are just about ready to go out and conquer the world. You are thrilled to go to group activities like soccer camp, swimming lessons, primary activities, but you still make sure to ask if I can stay and watch. We have done some 1:1 activities and it is fun to have an independent nearly five year old to do things with. You like to lead Chloe in fun games and you like to get down and help Hans play at his level. Just recently, you have practiced becoming a good colorer. You are very careful with any work that you do.

You took German playgroup by storm this year and now you are piecing together German sentences to communicate yourself to Swiss friends and neighbors. You found some things hard to do this year and sometimes you just didn't want to do some things, but you learned to stick with it sometimes (like for forest playgroup and learning to read). Because of your persistence, you are a great hiker and reader. You are taking swimming lessons this summer and getting more confident with putting your head underwater. You are determined and motivated to learn how to swim this summer.

You like saying your prayers at night and at meal times. You have a sensitive, empathetic heart - like just a few days ago, you and Chloe got balloons - Chloe let hers go and it floated up to the sky - as she cried, you said with a tender, soft voice and a pit in your stomach, "Mama, I'm really sad about Chloe's balloon too." I had to reassure you that it would be okay. You are my helper. You are starting to set the table for breakfast and lunch all by yourself. You don't hesitate to run up three flights of stairs if I need something for Hans.

I am so glad that YOU are my little boy! I love you, Abram!

Love, your mama

Our first two weeks of summer

2011-07-31T22:41:00.014+02:00

Frank and Emily and family passed through on a two week trip,

so we spent Saturday up in the mountains.

All 5 cousins hiking around Trubsee above Engelberg.

Brown and blue eyes.

Hans in Engelberg, Trubsee

Cousins taking the seilbahn/gondola/cable car together down the mountain.

A "too goofy" one of Hans.

Chloe had a little princess birthday party to get ready to turn 3 next week.

Abram attended a mini soccer camp for 4 days and LOVED it!

It was great to see him off to a positive start with sports.

A trip or two to Park im Gruene.

Someone had put this small trampoline at the garbage pick up curb,

so I claimed it and dressed it up for our backyard. The kids are loving it!

We were some of the only people down at the lake on Saturday.

Looks like we are finally out of a rainy July and moving on to a warmer August. Let's hope!

More hanging out at the lake. Our "backyard".

It's a jungle out there! Our planter box gardens were quite the success this year!

Or more like a monster. It was great to be so successful.

Hopefully we can plant/harvest some cool weather crops still in the upcoming months.

One little harvester.

Some of the fruits (or vegetables) of our garden. I did a little canning.

Does anyone want some green onions???

This little guy started climbing (2 weeks ago). . .

and walking (yesterday). Hooray for Hans!

Happy Swiss National Day!

2011-07-31T20:42:00.005+02:00

August 1st is a big day for us here in Switzerland. First, it is Abram's birthday! It is also Switzerland's national day, so Jacob gets the day off work and there are fireworks and celebrations throughout the country.

Thanks to my mom for saving the traditional outfits.

A less enthusiastic photo.
And 26 years ago, my brother Frank and me in Germany wearing the same outfits.

A snapshot of Chloé as she goes across the street to church. I can finally do french braids with her hair.

A few pictures after church. Setting up.
The best one we got.

Happy August 1st!

Outskirts of Salzburg, Austria Trip

2011-07-06T09:44:00.016+02:00

At the end of June, we went to Austria (outskirts of Salzburg) and Germany (Berchtesgaden) with Frank and Emily and their children.

The forecast wasn't in our favor for half of the trip, but it started out hot and sunny on Wednesday so we went to the swimming pool. There were water slides and kid pools with a dreamy view of the Austrian countryside and mountains.

Between the rain falling on Wednesday night, we went to the town center and enjoyed traditional Austrian band music and traditional Austrian slap dancing.

Thursday morning gave us good weather one more time and we went to one of the most gorgeous places we have ever been - Hallstadt, Austria. The city is on a lake up in the mountains and has a salt mine that dates back to the 1500's.

Uncle Frank and Aunt Emily took Abram and Frankie out on a boat.

Walking through town.

We happened to be there on a Catholic holiday. We were pleasantly surprised to see so many Austrians dressed in traditional dress - lederhosen and dirndls.

Here is the Bergeinfahrt (Mountain Entrance). We have a picture of Jacob's dad in front of this sign too. Makes for a fun photo with these Berg men!

Here we are getting suited up to go in the salt mine. They even have a little suit for a one year old. Those Germans think of all the details!

Here we are going down into the salt mine as a family. Weeee! All of our expressions speak for themselves.

Recognize this church? Monsee Cathedral where Maria gets married in the Sound of Music.

It was pouring rain the entire time we were there. Unsuccessful attempts to stay dry!
A funny one of Hans there at the church in Monsee.

Before we parted ways on Friday, and in the pouring rain, we went on a gorgeous drive through the mountains in Austria. They have mountain huts that serve food that they make old world style still up in the mountains. The hut we visited made their own bacon, milk, butter, bread, and soups that were unique to Austria. We enjoyed a meal together.

Here we are in front of the hut that dates back at least 400 years.

And here is Hans barefoot in the hut. I seriously felt like we stepped back in time - I couldn't tell what century we were in!

Hans' One Year Stats

2011-07-06T09:39:00.003+02:00

10.9 kilos (24 lbs), 80.5 cm tall and still getting on his tiptoes. Hans has been our easy going baby #3. We love him to bits. He has finally learned frustration and communicating to share his opinion on things like if he doesn't like someone taking something from him, etc. He is thirteen months old now, but still loves the good old fashion crawl to get around. His other favorite past time is digging around in our pot of dirt out back. Hans, our little gardener.

Happy Birthday Times Two

2011-06-15T21:44:00.010+02:00

Happy Birthday Jacob and Hans!!!

Birthday Cake for the one year old. . . and birthday cake for the 33 year old!

The whole family blowing out the candles!

The cake and the cupcakes.

Cake!

Chloé and her cupcake. (Thanks to our friend, Aiden Ryan, for all of the beautiful photos - I handed him my camera and I am so glad I did. I will have to hire him for future family events!)

Hans was spoiled with presents from lots of families. Kinda sweet for being baby #3 in the family.

And a present for the big birthday boy - new dress shoes to replace the current ones that have holes in the soles.
What a view for a birthday party and it hit 80+ degrees too!

Hans and his daddy and his big top teeth growing in!The whole crew.

Well it all begins. . . two birthdays on the same day to celebrate every June 15th! We had a great time celebrating tonight with friends who could make it. Being a Wednesday in the middle of a school week, meant we missed friends who couldn't make it due to the usual, routine commitments, but the company that came was all great! We have such wonderful, dear friends here in Zurich! Happy Birthday, Hans and Jacob!

Our Romantic Getaway to Prague

2011-06-08T10:29:00.010+02:00

Last weekend was dreamy. We drove to Stuttgart to drop off the kids (thanks to my brother Frank and sister-in-law Emily for keeping the kids) and then on to Prague, Czech Republic for our getaway. In a nutshell, we got to see that we've still got it - that chemistry, that playful fun, that laughter - what we had eleven years ago when we first met.

Charles' Bridge in the background.
Brides of Prague

ummm. . . we saw quite a few stag parties (groups of UK bachelor men). Apparently a tourist wanted a picture with them and the "angel" on the right is the groom-to-be.

The Dancing Building

Astronomical clock to the left
Found a guy that knew how to use our camera. I could learn a thing or two from him.

Some of our adventures included:

1) Picking up hitchhikers at the Czech Border on our way to Prague - two college students who were completing a sort of "Amazing Race" challenge (sponsored by their university). They had to hitchhike from Holland to Prague - our team (Ahmar and Renka) got to the astronomical clock in 36 hours and placed third out of eight teams.

2) Actually getting to read tour guide books and interesting information about Prague at our leisure because our hands weren't full with three small children the whole time. This included taking a tour of the Jewish Quarter for an afternoon of one day.

3) Staying at the Marriott Executive Apartments downtown. We had a really fun time there ;)

Along with that, it was great to be able to easily go to and from the hotel room if we wanted to throughout the day. We had a working kitchen, which we only used for breakfast - it was so great to not have the alarm clock of our children so we ate breakfast whenever we wanted!

4) Stumbling upon the Hard Rock Cafe Prague and getting our dose of American style dining as well as the closest either of us has ever gotten to the bar scene. . . loud music and tattooed servers.

5) Eating at several Rick Steves' restaurant suggestions to include a quaint farm-themed traditional Czech food restaurant (where the waiter stopping us from ordering more because he said it would be too much food) and an indian buffet that was in the student area of town and was dirt cheap (Jacob was very hesitant about it at first, but as soon as he stepped in the door, he was a gleeful indian food connoisseur).

6) In deciding what scenic ride we wanted around town, we opted for the rickshaw biker, instead of the horse-drawn carriage or the old-car convertible rides.

Prague had good shopping, inexpensive dining out, and beautiful old synagogues, cathedrals, castles, and bridges. Prague had the beauty of other major European cities without too much modern day hustle and bustle (perhaps because it was a weekend and because it is smaller than Paris or Rome). We love Prague and it's recent history - with being freed from communism as recently as 1993, having close ties to American ideas like democracy (one of their leaders married a rich American woman and helped bring those ideas to Czech popularity). We love Prague!

10 years!!!!!

2011-06-01T13:45:00.006+02:00

Today is our ten year wedding anniversary! (I really should be packing the kids for their stay with Frank and Emily in Stuttgart - while we take off on our romantic getaway to Prague for two nights without the kids. But I couldn't resist trying to blog this day just a little.)

Most of my European friends are REALLY surprised to hear that we have been married for 10 years. Most of them got married in their early 30's so they are just reaching their fifth or eighth wedding anniversary, with children similar ages as ours. I realize that I did get married VERY young. In some ways, my first few years of marriage were when I really grew up. And that is when Jacob and I grew together a lot too.

You could call it lucky or call it blessed, but I really got the best thing of all ten years ago - Jacob. I don't think I knew it at the time. He is more than I ever could have asked for - even on the day we got married. Thanks for loving me through it all, honey.

And a few more pictures to celebrate our ten years!

"We're engaged" :)

We both played nice with the cake. Gotta give him a kiss for that one.

Another wedding day shot.

And just taken today. Look what we have 10 years later :)

Can't wait for the next ten years!

Backyard fun and neighbors

2011-05-24T22:33:00.003+02:00

We have lived in our townhouse here in Zurich for one year now! Two things we LOVE about where we live is our backyard and our neighbors. Lots of yard (or "garden" like we tend to call it - something about the UK vocabulary influence here) and lots of children (and great parents too). My neighbor, Anik, took some snapshots of us hanging out in the backyard this afternoon and sent them to me. Here is Chloé just up from a nap.
And Abram flying his transformer instead of posing next to his mommy for a picture.And Abram sitting on his brother's head. Hans cried after that one :(
Anik likes to joke that we could have our own neighborly playgroup. . . and I could run it! This fun with passing a ball started with Hans just sitting and playing with a ball, then Abram tossing it back and forth with Hans, and then soon enough all of the children joined in.
And nothing like some American b-ball shots right in the heart of Switzerland.
Is it summer almost?

Sattel Hockstuckli

2011-05-23T09:27:00.006+02:00

On Saturday, we went up to the Sattel Hockstuckli. Here we are going up on the gondola/cable car. It was revolving so you could see 360 degrees during your ride.

A picture of moi and some beautiful views.

Here we are on the alpine slide (rodelbahn). After a few rides, Chloé learned to hunker down and be a passive rider.

Abram loved it!

Sattel has the longest suspension bridge in Europe. Here is the beginning of the bridge.

And here is Jacob with Hans on his back crossing the long, long bridge.

Walking the loop. You can see the suspension bridge in the distance on the right side of the picture.

Hiking with Daddy!Our friends, Didier and Jennifer Schlucter and children, live in Sattel. So we called them up and they spontaneously joined us for picnic lunch and playtime with the children.
All of them about the size of Chloé.Abram probably had the most fun on the inflatable contraption. It is a giant fish that opens it's mouth (deflates), and then swallows up all of the children when it inflates. In this picture, Abram is hanging outside it's mouth as his friend, Sam tries to pull Abram inside the fish' mouth.

Chloé having a fun time.

Hans having a fun time too.

Getting ready to load the gondola for the ride back down the mountain.

On the way back down the mountain, we road with this German mountaineer. Hans nuzzled right up to him.

Hans standing for a better view.

Abram and his friend, Sam, in front of a Monotracer.

What a beautiful Saturday!

Mid May

2011-05-17T09:27:00.007+02:00

Just some random pictures for mid may, but at least some way for me to document our life and simple happenings.

Although we live close to the city and near a busy road, I am starting to be more comfortable with biking with my trailer. I think it helps that Hans is not an infant anymore as well. Abram can ride behind me and we can go places! Here are my littlest two after a ride to the post office.

On Friday night, I needed a little clothes shopping time, so we met Jacob downtown and he took them home - and I stayed downtown to shop. As I was walking to catch my connection home, a parade was assembling - it was a fireman's parade that showed off all of the old and new fire trucks in Zurich city. We will have to remember that for next year and take the children.

Other than getting some cute new tops, my shopping trip was very successful because I found an electric broom vac. They have some fancy expensive ones out there, but this is super kid friendly and easy for my 4.5 year old to use. It is by Kärcher and I got it at Fust. Abram is a pro and very happy to help me with cleaning the floor now. Thanks to Annelisa, my sister-in-law, for showing me this as well as some other things to help my kids be more helpful with chores and cleaning the house.

Abram made bread in spielgruppe yesterday. Usually he comes home with a clump of dough that has been baked. But today he came home with a blowfish - detailed with raisin eyes and nose, "pokey things" he cut with scissors, and a tail that he had attached. Reportedly created all by himself. Can you tell I was impressed?

Walking Chloé to spielgruppe in the rain. The stairs behind us lead to the train tracks. We cross under the train tracks through a tunnel to get to spielgruppe.

Dropping Chloé off at spielgruppe (playgroup) this morning. We left the house early and walked slowly, so Chloé could walk all by herself. She was happy and willing until we actually had to part ways in the classroom. Better than last week though when she cried for 10 minutes after my departures. It is hard to grow up sometimes.

Abram started lifting Hans and carrying him yesterday. Kind of cute. Kind of scary. Today, Abram asked if he could help Hans walk. Here they are!

And finally, I have to mention that two days ago, Hans finished nursing. He is such a baby to us still and I hesitate being finished with nursing with every baby I have, but it was his time. He has been on formula for a few weeks. The greatest thing to come from it so far, is that I had my first uninterrupted, sleep-filled night for the first time in 11 months - last night. Hooray for Hans!

Oh, I have to also mention that Hans waved to the grocery store clerk yesterday, clearly and distinctly, for the first time. He loves when someone waves at him now, and you might even get a wave back.

Here is a one minute video clip of Hans laughing it up. He has a fun little chuckle and belly laugh. Chloé had picked up "nute" (which means "no" or "not" or "don't" in Swiss German), we think from nursery at church and it was cracking Hans up.

Legoland 2011

2011-05-15T20:12:00.008+02:00

Blogger is giving me trouble with uploading photos, so that is why I am so behind with posts. I managed some photo posting though, so here it goes.

We think it has become an annual tradition to venture toLegoland with the kids. . . especially in May when the park isn't busy and there are no lines. Legoland Deutschland is three hours away, so we like to go for two days to the park and spend the night at their Feriendorf (get buffet breakfast) and camp in their Knights' Tents (platform tents with platform mattresses inside). It is a good deal for here in Europe.Snapshots of all three.
Picture with Clutch Powers
Hans was just about tall enough for a few rides, but the "no baby" sign barred him from riding, even if he was tall enough. We decided not to get season passes this year because it will just be more fun when he can also go on the rides. Legoland is fabulous for a young family, with family bathrooms and baby stations dotting the park. They also have a baby restaurant where Hans could play and crawl and eat - baby food was just 1 euro a jar and you can warm everything there, so I actually got a big stash to take home as well.Chloé is definitely all girl. She would rather be pushing a doll stroller, and not riding a bike or steering car. Here she is humoring her dad with a boat ride.
And here she is failing her first driving test. The ride attendant rode around with her, as she didn't want to push on the gas pedal. We have more pictures of him pulling her car from the gutters.
Here is Abram at the fahrschule. He was a great driver and passed all the other cars on the track.

Here is a picture of Abram's favorite ride. On the 4th time he was brave enough to not duck behind one of us and even enjoyed getting a little wet.

We didn't buy any roller coaster photos (18 euro each), but Abram had at least a dozen great pictures of him having the time of his life (even raising his hands up in the air) on all of the rollercoaster rides again and again over our two day stay at Legoland. He is just preparing for his Uncle Anthon to take him on a grand tour of all roller coaster theme parks in the U.S. someday.

Happy Mother's Day!

2011-05-08T14:07:00.006+02:00

A picture of me and my children

(4 days after my 30th birthday, Mother's Day 2011)

I am just so grateful today, on Mother's Day. I am so blessed to be a mother. It is so challenging sometimes - and it leaves me sleepless and exhausted at times, it takes my breath away sometimes, and it tugs at my heartstrings, but being a mother is the greatest gift I could ever ask for. As we now have three children, I realize the continual sacrifice it is to properly care for my children - to teach, to wash, and to love them non-stop. I don't think we can have everything in this life, but we can have what is most important - a family. I am learning to be more unselfish everyday. I am grateful for a husband who values my motherhood more than anything else. I couldn't ask for a better gift from him. He has such confidence in me and it helps me want to be better at what I am doing everyday. I am grateful for the gospel and how it settles any unrest or discouragement a mother of young children could have; my role as a woman and mother is divine and eternally important. There is eternal influence and power in motherhood.

Happy Mother's Day!

So proud of himself!

2011-04-30T15:45:00.003+02:00

This was Hans on Friday. He discovered the stairs.And this was Hans yesterday! Oh my! One more little boy to chase around the house. . .

Going to the Zoo with Grandpa

2011-04-14T14:46:00.007+02:00

Grandpa Petty was in town for two nights and a day. He loves animals, so we decided to take him to the Zurich Zoo. My dad's love for animals is a very special, fun, sweet thing about him.

The children loved being able to ride in one of the Zoo pushchairs. They don't usually get to ride in one because I have to push my infant in a real stroller.

Grandpa and Hans.
And Hans being smiley and adorable as usual.My mountain goat.
My little prairie dog.
My little chick.
And a nursing mother couldn't resist taking this picture of another nursing mother.

This little guy looked so similar to my three monkeys when they were newborns :)

In the evening and after the zoo, we went down to the beach. It was dreamy and relaxing.

Taking a rest next to Grandpa.

Grandpa brought Chloé a play-doh breakfast set. The children have had hours of fun playing with it since he left.

Thanks for visiting us, Grandpa!

Our Garden

2011-04-14T14:35:00.003+02:00

On Sunday evening, I asked Jacob to take pictures of our balcony garden. It is our first year having planter boxes and my first time "gardening" since we moved to Switzerland. The magnolia tree is in full bloom in our backyard and we have sprouts and vines popping up.

Jacob made sure to tell me that the last picture was not staged. She was supposed to be getting in her jammies, but got distracted and had to go out and water the garden.

We love downtown Zurich.

2011-04-09T00:03:00.006+02:00

Taking the boat downtown to meet Daddy for lunch on Thursday. Just starting to see a new cute playful side to these two. They crack each other up sometimes.

Abram, the tree climber. And yes, that tree is wearing a sweater. Perhaps a statement that this tree is alive too?
Meeting Daddy for lunch downtown.

Waiting for the bus downtown to take us home.

Friday morning market at Burkliplatz downtown. Eating sweet bread shaped like a bunny.

Roses.

The beach on a Friday evening. Dreamy.

All smiles at the beach - and it is only April 9th! I can't believe I have three children, crazy!

Daddy meeting us down at the lake when he gets off work on Friday.

Tickles. . . Hans likes the attention I think.

And I am guilty of taking all of these photos on my camera phone. Are my hands really that full that I can't bring a real camera along?

Spring is in the air!

2011-04-03T23:10:00.011+02:00

Greetings from the chocolate factory! We walk by this Easter display on our way to the lake and park for play. A factory worker stopped and offered to take my picture with the children - I need to get some spring wardrobe out - enough with the black.

Abram saw the reflection of a Swiss flag in a car door. So we looked up to see this.
Abram is enjoying the freedom of trying out rollerblading and scooter riding lately. Pretty handy to have a stroller for him to hang on to sometimes.
We got down to the lake and Abram just wanted to practice rollerblading. An Swiss woman saw that I was a little busy with the two younger children, so she went over to help Abram practice blading. Apparently she had learned to rollerblade 17 years earlier when she was in the U.S.
Abram and Chloé playing ice cream shop.
Chloé in charge of arranging the tulips in the vase. She did a beautiful job and we have enjoyed the flowers on our table all week. I love tulips. . . simple, sturdy, and beautiful.
This weekend was DREAMY. We did mostly nothing but relax and play, just as a little family. We stumbled upon a carnival downtown, so Jacob took Abram on his first bumper car ride. I think Abram's review of his first ride would be "bumpy".We all took our first Ferris wheel ride (first time ever for all of the children, and first time in Zurich for the adults). Chloé smiling in the sun.
The boys and a view of Lake Zurich.
Jacob pointing to where we live down the lake.
If you didn't know better, you might have thought it was July this weekend. Temperatures in the 70's on both Saturday and Sunday. Chloé has suddenly become this little mommy. She very methodically wraps doll blankets around her baby, and did you notice the bag on top of the sun canopy? On my stroller, that is where I stick my bag or other junk. This stroller is special because Chloé chose to borrow it for the month from the Ludothek (toy sharing library) in our community. FYI: Chloé would much rather be pushing a baby stroller than be attempting to ride a bike.
Our three little ones.
Abram. . . growing up.
A view from the caboose.
Pretty much convinced me that we should get season passes to Legoland this year. So fun to see them riding the little kiddie ride.

The park was packed and the water play area was open and busy too. Yes, it seemed like July.
9.5 month old Hans.
Family photo. Timer set. Camera positioned on Chloé's doll stroller. Didn't get to even look through the lens. Taken in just one shot. Can you tell I am pleased?

Photo taken at home after family bbq, because Abram said, "Mom, get your camera." Hans was interested in Abram's buttons and the attention/play of his older brother.

Of course, another highlight to our weekend was watching some General Conference. Jacob hooked the laptop up to the t.v. and we watched the Saturday morning session on Sunday morning. I printed out Conference activity packets and the children sat happily at their little tables that I arranged in front of the t.v. The children colored and did the activities during most of the session as I helped them cut out craft activities and listened to conference. So great to be able to watch conference at home! Jacob is teaching the children all of the apostles' names which has been a fun and interesting exercise. . .

Hans' Discoveries

2011-03-27T13:32:00.005+02:00

Shortly after we discovered that Hans can scoot to things, we also discovered that his huge motivation for scooting was to get to inflated balloons. Sure enough he spies one from clear across the room and he is after it, all other toys aside. And he has learned to use them as make-shift pillows. Or perhaps he loves the sound when it is up close to his ear and mouth.

He discovered himself in the mirror recently too. What a fun little play friend he thinks he has found!Jacob got Hans to sleep. . . on his chest.
It was a cute scene. But soon enough Jacob wanted help transferring him to his crib - for fear of waking the little man. Hans is definitely his daddy's little boy.

Jacob in London

2011-03-27T13:28:00.000+02:00

Jacob was in London for a few days this week for work. What a city!

Geneva Auto Show 2011

2011-03-27T13:12:00.003+02:00

Ever since Abram was very, very small, he has just been in love with cars. (Not trains or airplans, but cars). Earlier this month, Jacob took Abram on the train to Geneva to go to the annual car show there.

Jacob and Abram were convinced that this was probably a transformer in disguise. . .

Abram saw this one and said he had to have a picture in front of it to show Chloé.
The crowds and crowds on a Saturday.
Jacob in front of his new car brand.

I love all of these full grins in front of something Abram loves so much.

On the train ride home, they fixed this tattoo to Abram's arm. He still has the tattoo, almost a month later :)
Until next year. . .

Arm-y Crawl

2011-03-21T17:00:00.004+01:00

Hans just starting scooting forward the last few days. Jacob noticed it first on Saturday. The balloon has proven to be very motivating to crawl to, but very frustrating to keep a hold of or play with. He is not our early crawler, stander, or walker like the other two, but that is okay with us :) Oh, and ignore my motherese at the very beginning. Good Job, Hans!

Nine months old

2011-03-15T22:36:00.002+01:00

I am so in love with this little guy. He really has all of our hearts. I was bathing Chloé this evening and walked by him as he was playing on the floor in her bedroom. He had been there for awhile, but continued to be his sweet little contented self. Then he said 'mama'. I made a big deal out of it because of course that is my name. . . and his talk usually just includes 'dada' and 'gaga' all of the time.

Big Sister Helper

2011-03-08T13:30:00.002+01:00

Here is another video clip of our delightful little Chloé (and Hans). Hans really is a live dolly for her to play with and feed :)

Rollerblading Helper

2011-03-08T13:24:00.002+01:00

As we had warmer weather in the month of February, I introduced Abram to rollerblading a few weeks ago. After five or six times, he was pretty confident. It wasn't until he tried rollerblading inside, that he found how easy it really was on such a smooth surface.

Chloé can sometimes be a challenge, but she really loves her brother and loves to help him and play with him.

Early March Pics

2011-02-28T09:49:00.005+01:00

So I have a new Android phone. It is great and I can get a hold of all of my friends - I finally am a texting girl and snapping shots with my phone on my camera. Here are some recent shots:

Chloé and Hans awaiting my return from helping Abram get into his playgroup classroom. Am I the luckiest person in the world to have these faces greet me all day long or what?

My view of Hans as we walk home from dropping Abram off at playgroup.

Feeding the ducks on an early March afternoon. We walk to this spot often to feed the ducks.
Chloé showing her gymnastic skills at an indoor play place here in Zurich. Made me realize that I need to do a little mom and me gymnastics class that they offer during the school year when she turns three.
Chloé and Hans hanging out as Mommy gathers for lunch with some of her friends.
Can you tell that I am in love? with Hans of course. . . although I do love the grocery store, Migros, here in Switzerland, too. I love that he can sit up in the cart now and be my shopping helper.
With play friends at the local farm up the hill. We always get a fresh liter of milk when we visit.
Chloé and Hans playing with our sweet petite voisine (little neighbor), Marion.
Abram and Chloé enjoying the sun and some play time on the tail gate of our new car. The tail gate on the Volvo XC90 has proven itself useful time and time again.
And I just got called to be on the Relief Society Activities committee at church. We had February's activity at my house (eek!). Here I am with Rahel, the Relief Society Counselor over the planning committee.

If you didn't know. . .

2011-02-15T20:00:00.003+01:00

Yes, I went brunette again - last month. Just one of my quirky things that Jacob loves about me - I like to change my hair color :)

Sitting Hans

2011-02-15T19:27:00.003+01:00

There is something incredibly adorable to me about my little baby sitting up on his own (okay, maybe everything he does is incredibly adorable to me because I am his mama). His backbone is still so smooth and curved, he still needs a little support sometimes, he can't quite turn his head to see who/what is behind him, and it is the last little time before I know he will start scooting and crawling and getting around all by himself.

Sleepy Hans

2011-02-15T19:20:00.002+01:00

A month ago when I took the children to the indoor swimming pool, (yes, I take all three children to the pool by myself every other week or so), I had even more proof of what a fabulous baby Hans is. When he gets tired, he is obliged to simply fall asleep. I changed his diaper and started attending to the other children, only to glance over and see that he had quietly fallen into a deep sleep. I still swaddle him tightly every time he goes down to sleep. I keep telling myself that he will grow out of this whole swaddling business, but until then he is still my baby.

Hungry Hans

2011-02-15T14:20:00.001+01:00

I think Hans may be the child who eats us out of house and home someday. He LOVES food. And I have actually had a lot of fun making his baby food and feeding him too. He is always ready for the next bite. What a happy, contented baby he is! I tried making baby food for Abram four years ago, but he never liked it much. Or perhaps I just didn't know what I was doing. Baby food is a little pricey here in Switzerland and ranges from 2.50-3 swiss francs for one medium sized jar of baby food, so it has been great to save a little money by steaming, pureeing, and freezing the foods into ice cube trays.

Just in the last few days, Hans has been cutting his first few teeth. It has affected his appetite and mood a little it seems. He appears to have a little bit of a cold and fever, but it really appears attributable to cutting teeth.

Our Valentine's Day 2011

2011-02-15T09:21:00.002+01:00

For Valentine's Day, the children chowed down on candy all morning and we made heart sugar cookies with frosting. For lunch, we hopped on the bus and headed downtown to meet Daddy.
Here we are at the bratwurst stand. Come visit us and we will take you!
This is one place we go and just remember how much we love living here in Zurich. We ate our bratwurst and burli (bread) and fed the ducks some of the bread too. We enjoyed some decadent homemade sugar cookies.Here is Hans on his first bus ride sitting in a real seat. What a big boy! He cut his first two (bottom) teeth over the weekend too.

Thanks, to my valentine for the beautiful flowers from the Bahnhofstrasse and the Teuscher truffles. Can you tell that I love "Love Day"?

2011-02-14T10:10:00.000+01:00

First time on skis

2011-01-24T14:05:00.003+01:00

So Jacob and I finally did it. We both went skiing for the first time this past weekend. It was a fun time. More for me as I found it strangely similar to rollerblading - another sport I have always loved.
More pictures to come, but here were are during our weekend in Garmisch, Germany. We met up with Frank and Emily and their children and had a wonderful weekend.

Abram got to try out skiing for the first time too. Skiing was surprisingly soooo fun. Looking forward to more of it in our family's future!

We went sledding with Frank and Emily and all of the kids too.

And here is Jacob driving home - with the ski goggles. We have a new car finally, but haven't placed the sunglasses in it yet.

Thanks Frank and Emily for such a fun weekend with your family!

Post Christmas Fun: Smashing Santa

2011-01-12T18:37:00.005+01:00

So we live next to the chocolate factory here in Zurich (if I haven't mentioned a hundred times before this). Much against my new years' resolution to consume less chocolate and just smell it instead, we went to the factory shop last week. They were getting rid of their huge 1000 gram chocolate Santas for 15 chf instead of 49 chf, so we got one. And then we had fun taking pictures of Santa with all of the children.

For Hans, it was a newborn Santa playmate. Don't Hans and Santa look like good ole' pals?

For Chloé it was a Santa dolly.And for Abram, it was a Santa superhero figure or a birthday cake with candles to blow out.

Perhaps a new post-Christmas tradition for our family?
When Daddy got home, it turned into a karate chopping block.Bye, bye, Santa, until next year. . .

Happy New Year

2011-01-01T19:06:00.006+01:00

Well, my first new year's resolution can be to post my big, huge, long post for December. I kept uploading the pictures, but still need to do some writing to go along with the pics. Seems like I start the blog posting process, but get interrupted in the process and then I don't get to it for another few days. While I was just writing this, Hans woke up and I had to help him.

Okay, now I am back. And by the way, I haven't been blogging much, so I haven't been able to say this, but our little Hans who is 6.5 months old now, has confirmed himself to be the Baby of the Year for 2010. . . and perhaps 2011. He is so easy going and patient and predictable. He fits in so well and adores the ongoing love, attention, and playfulness he gets from his brother and sister. Along with Hans' disposition, I have to mention that Abram and Chloé probably deserve honorable mentions for how much they do help play with and take care of Hans. Chloé is always eager to get me a diaper and wipe or throw away his diaper. Abram tends to show his helpfulness by entertaining, giving him his binky, and talking with Hans, especially when I am not in the room to help with him. Abram helps with Hans out of genuine interest and love for his little brother. We have definitely seen this year how wonderful having a baby in the home can be. A baby does take a lot of work, and when it comes down to it, I am really tired a lot of the time. But we are so blessed and grateful to have Hans and Chloé and Abram in our family.

We spent Christmas in Italy with my family. We had a wonderful time to include getting this great family picture at the top of this post. Is anyone else as excited as I am when everyone in your family is looking at the camera at the same time when you are trying to take that family photo? Grandma and Grandpa even gave all of their children the gift of watching the grandchildren (minus the nursing babies) while we went to Venice for a day.

I found my list of goals for 2010 and was pretty proud of myself for being diligent most of the time with family home evening as well as having a clean sink and clean kitchen table before I went to bed each night. Other areas I can keep working on for this year :) Isn't that great about a clean, fresh start to a year or to your day or week. I love the grace in knowing that I can change for the better and do better each day.

Even though New Year's Day seemed like any other Saturday for us here, I couldn't help but feel a sense of excitement for the wonderful year we just had and the year that is ahead of us now. We are especially grateful for our children, for our families, for our health and for the gospel of Jesus Christ in our lives.

Happy New Year to you in 2011!

First Half of December 2010

2010-12-08T20:47:00.022+01:00

Our kick-off to December. . . started in November of course!!! The Lindt & Sprungli Chocolate Factory next to our house had it's first ceremonial Christmas lighting ceremony.

Roger Federer (famous Swiss tennis player) was there to light up the factory for the season along with the CEO and iconic image of a chocolate maker. Roger Federer spoke (in Swiss German) and said that his wish was for this to become a tradition just like lighting the tree at Rockefeller Plaza in New York City.

Here is the beginning to my career in taking paparazzi photos, and perhaps also the end of my career in it. Can you see his head and nose? There were some serious fans, including middle aged Swiss women who love playing tennis themselves.The event included six or seven chocolate houses where you could get samples. Here is the side view window of one of them making prailines. Kind of fun. When I stopped at the hot cocoa house, it was so delicious that I had to ask them how they made it. Sure enough, I could use some of their dark melting chocolate to make it - they gave me the "recipe". How fun is that?
They had a carousel for the children to ride. It was a rainy night, so I think that most of the children lived around the neighborhood. As our children rode, I spotted all of our neighbor children also riding too.

Next was Thanksgiving. Last minute, we ended up having no plans, so after being a little mopey on Thursday while Jacob worked a regular day, I made plans to prepare T-day dinner on Saturday and have people over to enjoy it on Sunday. At church on Sunday, I asked people whether they had had a Thanksgiving feast yet, and sure enough some people hadn't. We ended up having a new couple in the ward, Darin and Amanda, who met in Boston, she completed some masters degree research in Antarctica and he works for Google. We also had an adventurous single girl who went to BYU, Hope, who works for the Teach America program in Philadelphia and hops flights for really cheap to lots of fun, exotic places. Oh the fun of a single adventurous person! She happened to come to Zurich for Thanksgiving weekend, so it was fun to have her and hear of all of her adventures in travel and working in a Philly inter-city high school.

Hans turns six months old this month. He is not our roller or our sitter yet, but he is an absolute dream of a baby. He is so good-natured, smiley, cuddly. . . he loves his brother and sister - he lights up when either of them pay him any attention. And on the flip side, Abram and Chloé are in love with this little guy and do everything they can to help him. It warms my heart to glance over and see that Hans has his binky in his mouth, when I know that I didn't give it to him OR when Chloé runs to get him a new diaper or take his dirty one to the garbage. If either of them get him to laugh, they love to keep doing whatever made him laugh, over and over again. He just went to the doctor on Tuesday. He weighed 19 pounds (8.8 kilos) and was 73 cm long. He continues to be a long one! I even just started him on rice cereal last week along with applesauce, sweet potatoes, butternut squash, and bananas. . . all that I pureed myself and froze in little ice cube portions so I can use it for a while. He is taking to it pretty well and I am mostly proud of me for trying to be routine and consistent - something I didn't do so well with the first two children.

At the end of November, we were downtown and saw the beautiful new Christmas displays in shop windows. We loved this shop window - a chocolate shop of course. If you look closely, there is a gingr

It snowed several times in December, so we made sure to get out and play in it.

We made gingerbread cookies.

Santa is a very smart man, because he has one of his houses right on the chocolate factory property. We went to visit him, but peeked in the window to find him sleeping. Doesn't he know that he should be getting ready for Christmas!

And here is Santa's mailbox.
We have some of the best neighbors in the world. . . and they are from many different places (Germany, France, Denmark, and Switzerland). Here is Chloé with our neighbor, Marion, who is just 3.5 months younger than Chloé. Just a few months ago, we started having playdate morning swaps every Monday and Wednesday. Here they are dressed up like princesses.
On December 6th, Samiclaus visits all of the children in Switzerland. He brings treats like peanuts, tangerines, and sometimes chocolate and checks to see if the children have been good. The "Christ-kind" or Christ-child (that they often simply refer to as the angel), is the one who brings the Swiss children gifts on Christmas Eve.
On Saturday, December 4th, we headed downtown on the bus. We were still car-less and we were glad that we were, because we might not of stayed so close to home if we did have a car. Christmas was in the air in downtown Zurich.

Samiclaus was even driving a tram downtown. During the month of December, children could ride on the tram and listen to angels tell Christmas stories.

The Zurich HB (main train station) had a Christmas Market all month long. Here are the boys with the Swarowski Crystal Christmas Tree in the background.

Abram waiting to ride a merry-go-round.

A fun thing they have at Christmas time here in Zurich. A singing Christmas tree. Choirs from the area come and sit on these platforms shaped like a Christmas tree and sing for the crowds to watch.
A roasted chestnut stand.

While we were downtown on the first Saturday in December, Samiclaus was all along the Bahnhofstrasse (downtown shopping street in Zurich) meeting the children.

As you can see, Samiclaus also has a scary counterpart, "Smootzli", who looks like him, but he is silent and is known to take away the children who are bad.

Abram took a little while to have his time with Samiclaus. Abram took the goody bag, but declined the tangerine orange.

Chloé even got up the courage to go meet Samiclaus. I think she was really motivated to get that bag of treats. It was really something actually, because when a 2 year old girl steps up to meet Samiclaus, everyone has to wait until Samiclaus pays attention to the 2 year old. Apparently, a two year old girl with that much courage doesn't have to wait at all to be attended to.

Showing Daddy the goods!

A cool frozen fountain that we saw downtown.

The giant advertisement display on the chocolate factory nearby to our house.

Hans and Mommy.

A little sledding with Daddy on Saturday.
Making Christmas candy trains.

Chloé with her chocolate advent calendar.
And Abram with his Christmas advent calendar. He always worried that he would forget to open the next day's chocolate candy door, so he would always want to open it a day early :)

Another Samiclaus encounter and another "Schmootzli" too. This time in the Lindt Chocolate Christmas Market shop.

Abram's forest play group had a special visitor too. Yes, you guessed it, Samiclaus and his donkey. He came at lunch time and sat and talked with them around the campfire and then hiked out of the forest with them to greet the parents at the end.

With all of the Samiclaus' Abram encountered in the early part of December, he would always comment that it was just a person in a costume. I asked him if the forest Samiclaus was the real Samiclaus and Abram said that HE was the real Samiclaus.

For the second weekend in December, we travelled up to Stuttgart to visit Frank and Emily and their children. Thanks to a friend that was not using a Marriot hotel reservation she had booked, Jacob and Hans and I went for the night to Heidelberg to stay the night. Hans getting comfy in the NICE hotel bed.
In the morning, we had a few hours to see old downtown Heidelberg, Christmas market, and shopping. Heidelberg has the longest shopping street for pedestrians.
Downtown Heidelberg
Later in the day, we met up with Frank and Emily (who had watched our children overnight and through the morning) and headed to Esslingen, Germany to a medieval Christmas Market. Medieval Bowling with the children.

Frank, Emily, Frankie, and Katie
There was a nativity scene set up with live animals and a nun who was recounting the Nativity Story in High German.
Frankie got to bake his own gingerbread cookies at a booth run by one of the local bakeries of Esslingen.
Since we were in Southern Germany already, we decided to drive towards Munich to visit Aunt Melissa, who was home visiting her family before Anthon joined her and us for the Christmas holidays in Italy. It was wonderful to see her and her family and eat a wonderful German Sunday afternoon meal of potatoes and red cabbage.
A picture of our three little monkeys in December.

More of December to come!

Snow!

2010-11-26T13:17:00.007+01:00

For not feeling so festive on Thursday, Thanksgiving Day, here in Zurich, we have had a great Black Friday. (We will recreate a Thanksgiving feast this weekend when Jacob is not working). We woke up to snow outside! We stayed out for more than an hour making snowballs and a snowman and then we came in to make hot (warm) chocolate. It was so nice that the children could play right in our backyard.

Eggs

2010-11-20T14:26:00.007+01:00

When we first moved to Switzerland over 3.5 years ago, I remember one of my first times having "sticker shock" was seeing how much a carton of eggs cost at the grocery store. Instead of paying the usual $1.29-1.99 for eggs (depending on if I was buying a dozen or 18 eggs) that I was accustomed to in the U.S. (3.5 years ago), I was paying between 3-6 chf (approx. $3-6 equivalent) for 10 eggs in a carton (they sell eggs in quantities of 4, 6, 10 and 15 here - since most quantities are done in the metric system by "tens" and not by "a baker's dozen). Over time, I have learned that not all eggs are created equal.

Although grocery stores are much smaller here in Switzerland than the typical U.S. grocery store and appear to have "less selection", they have many egg buying options: imported eggs, swiss hen eggs, free-range hen eggs (freilandhaltung in German). Not sure if this is unique to Swiss laid eggs, but each egg has a tracking code that you can type into the grocery store website to see where your egg came from. With tracking code 1-CH-473, check out where this egg came from.And here is a map of Boswil (where the egg was laid) and the grocery store where I bought it - about 35 km away from the store/our house:

View Larger Map

Fall

2010-11-18T15:30:00.000+01:00

To kick off the Fall, we walked up the steep hill in our town to the town farm. We bought a liter of milk, fresh from the cold milk dispenser, from the cows they milk there at the farm and drank it as a family there on the spot.

Look at this yummy picture of Hans. He is 4.5 months old and definitely in that stage of why I love my babies. He has finally gone to sleeping long naps in the day which is helpful to me at home. He loves to laugh and play and cuddle. I remember this stage with all my babies, because while Hans is eating, he gets distracted and repeatedly stops to look up at me/smile/and then go back to his business of eating. We are all just pretty much in love with the little guy. He continues to show off his big, chubby hands. Doctor check up was last week. Just shy of five months old, and he weighed 18.5 lbs. (8.26 kilos) and measured 27 inches (69 cm). He is topping the charts at 97%ile or above. He is not quite rolling yet though, so he still seems so baby, even though he is so long and heavy.
We have been enjoying a very mild autumn here in Zurich. It has been wonderful to have lingering good weather days where we can go out with light jackets and play and play. We like to meet Daddy for lunch downtown sometimes still. It's always fun to spend more time with Daddy!
As I mentioned in our last post, we just sold our orange FIAT Idea and have not yet gotten a new car - it is ordered but won't arrive until Christmas. Cousin Frank's third birthday was the next weekend after we had sold the car, so we decided to take the train to Stuttgart as a family to be there for his birthday party held on a Saturday. Happy Birthday, Frankie! It was fun to be there with you at your Pumpkin Patch Party!

I don't know if I have seen a smile quite like this one of Chloé's before. My two and four year old.

Last week we still were having some of those great fall days. When I think about it, I love having little children all around me at home. Yes, they can be a little crazy and drive me a little crazy sometimes, but I am so grateful for my beautiful children that I get to be with each day.

Happy Halloween 2010!

2010-10-30T21:59:00.005+02:00

Astronaut Abram!

Tinkerbell Chloé!

Our little leopard.

Two Tinkerbells!

Our orange FIAT Idea didn't make it to the Halloween Carnival this year. We were looking forward to dressing it up like a pumpkin for it's last hurrah, but ended up selling it last weekend instead. We are car-less for six more weeks until the car we have ordered arrives. Jessi broke or sprained her left pinky toe, so instead of taking the bus and tram to get to the event, we rented this Mobility car (a car pick up and hourly rental program they have here in Switzerland).

Happy Halloween 2010!

Repost and the last two weeks

2010-09-12T11:06:00.008+02:00

A year ago, this picture was in my blog post. It is pictures like this one that help me remember how much I need to cherish moments with my little ones.

Oh, so my friend, Tanya, sent me these two photos that she took of Chloé when we went to the Lenzburg castle a few weeks ago. Here is Chloé playing dress-up and being a princess. These pictures are particularly sentimental to me, because Chloé has been struggling lately with being sad and frustrated a lot, not to mention that she is a handful and thinking she can do whatever she gets in her mind to do. It is tough to be 2 sometimes. I hope I can help her understand how special she is.

We walk to and from to Abram's play group every Monday. Although it is only about an 8 minute walk, it can turn into much longer with the pace of a two and four year old as well as the distractions they find along the way. Last Monday, it took us about 25 minutes to walk home. Abram had made bread with his class. After struggling with the difficulty of sharing his proud possession of bread he had made, his teacher passed by and gave Chloé a morsel of her own. The whole way home, Chloé would stop and pick a little piece of bread from her roll again and again (she sounds a bit like her mommy doing that). Of course the next thing they discovered was a grassy hill with little flowers, so they picked several dozens of those next. We finally made it home. Here is Chloé's doll stroller outside our doorstep at lunch time.

Chloé is enjoying Nursery at church each Sunday. Worst case is that she asks for me during the last 30 minutes of the two hour block. . . 2 hours can be a long time when you are only two years old :)

They make crafts each week/ Here is her lion mask that she brought home last week. I love this little series of pictures of the children playing with it. Isn't she scary?

We still do "school" at home on Tuesday and Thursday mornings when Abram is not at play group. Fridays we are leaving for fun outings. I was so happy to catch this interaction on video. Abram had decided that he didn't want to do reading time (he wanted to play and have his sister go play with him), but he couldn't convince Chloé not to do reading time, so instead he decided to read to her. I love how engaged Chloé is in Abram reading to her and how she fills in the blanks if Abram pauses. I love how Abram is sweet to her and acting like her teacher. It is funny how later in the video Abram tries to read from memory by looking up from the pages. We still work on very predictable texts for him, but when I get more organized we will move on from that. The video is almost 4 minutes long. . . just warning you!

Yesterday was a gorgeous Saturday in early autumn. We took the bus up to the forest and Abram showed us where his Waldspielgrupppe (forest play group) hikes to every Wednesday.

When we arrived, he showed us the gathering place with a fire pit in the center.

Here we are sitting around the campfire.

Our often distressed little two year old. Hang in there sweet girl.
Another tee-pee structure Abram gets to play in during Waldspielgruppe each week.

And here is a snapshot of 2.5 month Hans this morning. He holds his feet and head up well when he is on his tummy and just started "rolling" from his tummy to his back a few days ago.

This is probably my last post until October. We go to Utah on Wednesday for Jacob's sister's wedding. Can't wait to see family!

Trees, Apples, and Forests

2010-09-02T14:44:00.005+02:00

I sort of wing it with a lot of my "lesson plans". I am sure I will run out of spontaneous ideas at some point though and have to do more planning some times. I hadn't done too much pre-planning, but I knew that we had some books about trees and apples, so I ran with it. We first read The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein. It was a great way to introduce different parts of the tree, what we use trees for/how they help us, etc. We ended up drawing this diagram of a tree to explain vocabulary and how to draw a tree.

Our "study" of trees also included going out and shading the bark of a tree onto paper. We still need to make paper crowns with leaves and sticks as another extension activity. I think the extension activities regarding trees and apples are probably endless.

Drawing simple objects has been a focus for me with Abram. He does not have a natural tendency to like drawing and you won't find him asking to color usually either. So after practicing drawing trees for 5-10 minutes on Tuesday, look what he did independently and happily by himself on Thursday.

Today, our circle time, which included reading about apple harvesting, merged into snack time (because we were hungry). I got a few apples from the kitchen and we talked about the parts of an apple, where each of the apples came from (New Zealand, Grandpa's backyard in Italy, etc.). We had an apple tasting and Abram surprised me with eating 1.5 apples during our lesson. And then we paired eating the apple with peanut butter (my favorite treat). Abram has never eaten more than a bite of an apple and then refused the rest, but I suppose after seeing all of the children at school eat apples every time at snack time, he decided they weren't so bad after all. Glad that at four years old, he is finally learning to appreciate an apple.

I realized after slicing an apple in half, that we could use an apple for stamping. Or maybe I have done that before with them. . . glad they can't remember if we ever did.

Two year old Chloé particularly loved the stamping process, and Abram was more into the drawing (as he had just become an expert tree artist).

And here is 2.5 month old Hans in his usual place for "school". . . in my arms. I can bounce him on my knee or swaddle him or occasionally put him down. I love it if he naps through our activities, but that is not the norm so far.

Abram started going to Spielgruppe (playgroup) last week for one morning each week and Waldspielgruppe (forest playgroup) for one morning each week (rain or shine or snow). His Spielgruppe has about eight children with one teacher and his particular Spielgruppe is a two room little building dug out of the side of a hill. His Waldspielgruppe meets at the beginning of the forest and then they hike into "camp" where they have a roofless "hut" with a firepit in the center and little logs and other natural seating lining the inside of the hut. They have a man-made tee-pee made out of sticks and branches as well. Each outing, the teachers build a fire and cook something on the fire for the children to eat (like soup or macaroni). The children can bring something to roast on the fire as well (like a sausage or corn on the cob). Here is a picture of Abram in his Regenhose (rain pants which all of the children and teachers wear in the forest). He is with his teacher, Fränzi, who also happens to be his Spielgruppe teacher this year.

Here is Abram with his Waldspielgruppe venturing into the forest. Some 3 and 4 year olds were hesitant about leaving their moms for their second outing into the forest, but Abram lead the pack with two other confident little hikers.

Public transportation in Switzerland continues to prove to be amazing. Our car was in the shop for a whole week and I was easily able to get Abram to his Waldspielgruppe by taking the bus by our house up to the top of the city. And with a little bit more walking than a car would require, we also went to the grocery store on our way home. Here is Chloé on our walk home from the bus stop.

the last week and a half

2010-08-31T15:56:00.004+02:00

Two weekends ago, Grandma and Grandpa Petty stopped through again to visit on their way to Germany. Next, we had the Barlow Family come stay with us all last week. They lived in Switzerland three years ago when we first moved here. It was great to see them and have the children play together all week. For their final evening, we took the boat on Lake Zurich and ate at a Swiss restaurant downtown.
The (ever so sweet) Barlow Family: Eli, Jared, Mia, Alyssa, Sam
Hans at the restaurant. I love it when babies are little enough to lay down on the bench next to you in the restaurant (and not wiggle away yet), or when they are small enough to sleep in the stroller next to you when you are out on a date for the night. (We got to have a date night when Grandma and Grandpa were here two weekends ago). Hans still seems to have a little bit of cross-eyed-ness at 2.5 months old.Chloé's "smile" when you tell her to smile for the picture.And I think this picture about sums it up. Having three very little children makes us tired. I just was thinking about it today and how I am operating on fatigued mode most of the time lately. Isn't Hans cute though for making us oh, so tired???

Transportation Museum with Daddy

2010-08-23T11:06:00.005+02:00

Jacob took his last two paternity leave days from work on Thursday and Friday. I congratulated and thanked him for truly using them as "paternity leave" days and helping me out with the older children while I took care of Hans and got some things done that I needed to. I was able to complete my continuing education credits on-line to keep up my speech therapy license - I am good to go for another three years :)

On Thursday, Jacob ventured out with the children to Lucerne to the Swiss Transportation Museum. Here are some pics from the day out:

They had every type of transportation for the children to go through and explore. I love these photos of Abram like a flight attendant greeting you at the airplane door and Chloé talking to her grandma on the phone telling her that she is on her way to see her!

One room had Swiss slippers to wear as you walked across a giant map of Switzerland.

And the transportation museum trip wouldn't be complete without a Swiss train ride.

The boat exhibit apparently was from the first city we lived in when we moved to Switzerland.
The children played with the play car garage for about a half an hour.

Thursday evening, we went on a walk down by the lake.

Me with my three children. Even Hans is scowling for the camera.

Back to School!

2010-08-15T00:01:00.007+02:00

It has been a really long time since things have been "normal" around our house. From traveling to the U.S. in April, moving homes/cities in May, and having a baby in June, we have been off track and things have been hectic and a bit strained at times. The children have needed more routine and schedule and I finally am getting my act together.

Last week was the beginning of more routine and schedule around our house. It felt so good and I already feel like we have made quite the turn around. I got the camera out one day to share some of what we are doing.

We have a large wall next to our kitchen/dining table. A few weeks ago, I mounted some German words to a Primary song on the wall, and now we have the song memorized in German. Success! So I decided the key to integrating anything into our routine was to mount it onto this wall that we see all day and throughout the day.

For at least six months, Abram has always asked "what day is it". I finally posted a working calendar for Abram to use and for us to use at "circle time" during our "school time" each morning. Every morning, Abram is excited to take a sticky note off to reveal what day it is. Hehas even been good to remind me of the date when we are out and about or when I need to know. We draw little pictures in the corner of the date if there is a special occasion or event we want to remember about that day. The calendar is good for learning days of the week, months of the year, counting (by 1's, odds/evens, by 5's). Of course we talk about the weather too.

I have made the choice this year to send Abram to "spielgruppe" (or play group) 1-2 mornings per week. He will be home most of the time though, so have a schedule and doing some "school time" at home will be important. I decided to do 30 minute increments in the morning, but have found that it offers enough flexibility that if something takes 45 minutes, we can always get the next task done in less time. I don't stick to the schedule too strictly, but it acts as a guideline and helps me stay on track throughout the morning. (If you are looking in detail at the schedule, I am not sure we will have early bath times like that until winter and darkness comes early in the evening. Nevertheless, I am glad to finally have some kind of an outline of a schedule posted and published on our wall.)
I am committing to having my children help me in the endless cleaning and work that needs to be done around the house. Instead of them playing and begging for me to play with them when I need to get things done, we can do jobs together around the house and have fun while doing it. The other day, I told Abram that he could go play (in the basement playroom) by himself or he could come and help me do a cleaning job in the kitchen. He opted to join me in the kitchen.

This is what I have come up with so far for a job chart. I took pictures around the house of jobs that my children can do, printed, labeled, and laminated them. I have thought about also having a permanent "we help everyday with these jobs" kind of a chart (like clearing/setting the table, etc.) so that my children don't feel exempt from helping out once their morning or nighttime job is done. As of the first week, I am amazed at Abram's enthusiasm in participating in "jobs". He has even started going to the drawer where we keep the pictures of the "jobs" and selecting what he wants/will help with for the day. Chloé is still trying to figure out the whole system, but that is okay - she is a little young still.
For one project/craft time in the morning, I had black and white dried beans, so we did bean mosaics - it is a working project that we can finish up when we have some down time.
Developing drawing and fine motor skills is a priority for me with Abram right now. My mom gave me the idea to cut out paper shapes and put them behind contact paper. Then have the children roll out play-doh on top of the shapes and cut the dough over each shape.
This task was hard work for Abram, but he stuck with it and completed it. If he is not wanting to finish a task, I consider that it might be difficult for him and try to give him the right level of assistance so he can complete it as independently as possible. Being engaged in the task with the children help them enjoy it more.

One morning, we had a "social studies" lesson and discovered what our address was by going outside and observing our house number, mailbox (with mail inside), finding our street sign, and studying the map that is posted outside of our apartment complex. We came home and painted houses (our house) with the street number.
On Friday, we went on a "field trip". It was a last minute outing, but very enjoyable at that. We visited the Lenzburg castle and ended up being just there at the castle and around the castle grounds for 5 hours. Every moment of it was entertaining, to include visiting the baby dragon that lives in the dungeon, playing in their kinder museum where the children could make swords and crowns and play dress up and knights/maiden of the castle.

It would be fun to have the field trip outing match the "theme" of what we have learned in our "school time" each week. That will happen some of the time.

Here is Chloé getting some of that medieval ironing done for the royalty.

Abram playing knights in the kinder museum play castle.
Abram first dressing in his knight costume.
Chloé playing in the castle play kitchen.

Chloé is 2 !

2010-08-14T23:35:00.007+02:00

Chloé turned 2 on Sunday. I think she was ready for her celebration after seeing Abram's birthday party the week before. We sat her in her chair outside, handed her the cake, and within two minutes she had eaten all of the letters off the cake!

When I asked Chloé what kind of cake she wanted for her birthday, she said, "a cupcake"! As you can see, she blew out one of her candles early on. There she is grabbing for her first cupcake.

I made the letters on her cake from a ready-made fondant kit that included tiny cookie cutter letters to cut out of the rolled fondant.

Chloé's favorite gift seemed to be her Max and Ruby hide-and-seek book, although all of her presents have been well played with this week.

Abram was sweet and let Chloé shine on her birthday. He was happy to be in on her birthday party - another party filled with cake and presents.

As soon as Chloé started putting on her new princess dress-up from Grandma Berg, Abram ran to get his super hero cape (that he got for his third birthday). Lots of fun to come for these two in the land of make-believe!

And here is Chloé playi

ng dress-up with Hans.

We took the bus to the park a few days later. Chloé brought "daddy" along to the park.

Happy Birthday, Chloé! We love our smart, singing, talkative, compassionate little girl!