Wowza! What a crazy weekend!

So, December is always a crazy month. After Xavier was born in December, it got a little crazier trying to make sure he gets a non-Christmas birthday party, but still wanting the decorations up long enough to enjoy them and make them worth the time. After Makenzie was born in December, I just mentally prepared myself for on nutso month. So far, it's living up to my expectations. In our little ex-pat family of close friends over here, we've got a birthdays on the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th of December (We also have 5 November birthdays, but those have been survived for the year). This year the kids turned 1, 2, and 5. Not close enough to have one big party, so our kids have been spiked on birthday sugar since Thursday.

Adding to the fun of December is a gymnastics competition the first Sunday and the church Christmas program the second Sunday (with a practice the Saturday before). Sadly, its all caught up with Ezekiel this morning so he's at home for the day with Makenzie and me.

My posts are going to be in pictures and I'll try to caption them, but with two kids home today and a party to prepare for on Saturday, if I don't get the pictures up today it's just not going to happen. That will make grandmas and grandpas sad, so here goes.

I hope you all are able to take the time this month and remember why we're celebrating!

Conversations with Xavier

Xavier's been making me laugh most days while we're eating breakfast/lunch/dinner and I want to record some of these conversations so I don't forget!

While discussing how far behind we are on dishes and why we're having an easy dinner that doesn't create many more:
X: Wouldn't it be fun if we could just put them in the washing machine? But, they'd break, so we better not do that.
Me: Did you know that there are machines that wash dishes like the washing machine does for clothes?
X (and E): Really!? How's does that work?
- It's conversations like these that remind me how little the boys really were when we left IL.

Scene - Dinner, discussing behavior charts at school, time-outs, fights or not on the playground, etc.
X: We started playing a new kind of tag today! (they'd been playing freeze tag for a week or so)
Me: Really? What's that? (expecting toilet bowl tag, or some other crazy variation)
X: The girls were it and they were trying to kiss the boys! I didn't get caught.
- M.M., I doubt you read this blog, but I will never forget the night that I told my dad we were playing this game on the school playground. He was not pleased. We were about the same age as X.

Scene - U left the table to get M cleaned up and ready for bed
X: When I'm a daddy (he meant grown-up), I don't want to have a baby, but I'm going to have to.
Me: You don't have to have a baby if you don't want, but that should probably be something you want to talk to you wife about before you get married
X: But then I'd have to TALK to her!
- Won't that be a fun story to remind him of when he's begging to go on a date in 10 years?

That's all I've got for now. Makenzie turns 1 tomorrow! I can't believe it. Birthday pictures to come this weekend!

Thankful

We attempted to get some fall pictures a few weeks ago (before the snow comes). Some went better than other, but is there anything better than being a kid and playing in the leaves?



My teenage mutant ninja turtle/spiderman



She was not so impressed with the leaves

Trying to get a good shot of these three is near impossible. Even with an incredibly fast camera.

I love how Xavier continues to sing "I am the Way" while Makenzie is pulling Ezekiel's hair out


Happy Thanksgiving!

Observations from the parade

So, Thanksgiving is not celebrated here. Since we're in such an international community, a lot of our friends celebrate, but it's just not the same without American food and Black Friday shopping (my mom did send me some velveeta to make one of our traditional recipes, but it was just too depressing so I'll save it for Christmas). Anyways, I LOVE the parade. Last year a facebook friend gave me a link to watch it online, but the link wasn't working this afternoon so Ulysses found me a new one. :-) When the boys got home from school, they watched the last half of the parade with me. Here are some of their observations:

M spent the first 30-45 minutes just waving at the computer screen since everyone was waving at her.

- During a commercial with a baby in a walker driving down the highway:
X: Mom! Why would they do that to a baby!?
Me: They didn't honey, a computer did it.
X: (very confused) huh...

Of course, the whole concept of commercials was lost on them. They kept asking me where the parade had gone.

- Once the Spiderman balloon had passed, E kept begging me to bring it back. He could not grasp that it was live TV and I could not rewind or control it. Even when it was on the screen, he wasn't happy with the angle and kept asking me to fix it. I think he thought I was on google street view.

- As the elves passed:
E: Why are they not working?!?!?!
Me: Santa gave them the day off
E: humph

- The first band that they saw:
E: Why are they waving flags?
X: That shows what country they're from
Me: No, they're the color guard. That's their job in the band. All of these people are Americans.
X: ALL of them?
Me: Yes. It's a very big country
X and E: HUGE eyes of disbelief

- Santa
X: That's the REAL Santa Claus. Are the reindeer real?

We've had a lot of fun conversations at home lately. I'll try to post some of them soon.

I hope all of my American friends and family have a great Thanksgiving!

Finally Gone!

So, Xavier's had a loose tooth for about two months now. We were completely convinced it was going to fall out while Ulysses was in Taiwan (6 weeks ago!). He's been very careful about eating because he's petrified of the tooth fairy. We have a birthday party this afternoon at a bounce place and I didn't want him to swallow it, so I convinced him to bite into a banana at lunch. Yes, all it took was a banana. After a brief moment of panic that he swallowed it, he's been pretty excited ever since.

In France, it's a tooth mouse that comes to take the teeth, but that scares him even more than a fairy. So, he's decided we're going to write a note to the tooth mouse asking him to leave the tooth for the tooth fairy and he's going to leave some cheese for the mouse. I have no idea why he decided that the mouse comes in the night before the fairy, but at least he's come up with a solution.

I wonder how long it's going to take him to fall asleep tonight!

Circus

Every other month or so, there is a circus that comes to town. The boys always see the signs and beg to go, but we've never been. Since the shuttle launch was postponed by at least a day, we decided to go tonight. Who says you can't still be spontaneous with three kids?

It was a one-ring circus with six performers. We all had a great evening. Here are some pics. :-)

Everyone watching the horse intently


I was surprised at how big the animals looked when they were running 3ft in front of us.


The clowns were the boys favorite


After about 45 minutes, Makenzie had enough of the circus and decided moving the chairs around was more exciting


This billy goat kept climbing higher on smaller platforms until he ended up ~7ft up on ~5in of wood


The llama scared the kids in the chairs


This camel was huge! Again, I'm really glad that we didn't pay extra for the seats. The boys would have freaked out being so close to the animals


The circus ended with the musicians (the trumpets being the boys' favorite as always)

The 'Finer' Things in Life

While Ulysses was gone a friend (who has access to the US mission and all the American foods in it) brought me a Hamburger Helper to give me an easy meal. While it reminded me of how much easier mealtimes would have been with boxed and instant meals, I chose to keep it until Ulysses came home since he actually enjoys Hamburger Helper. Since I've been sick all week and we'd run out of frozen meal options, I made it tonight. While we were eating, Ulysses and I were lamenting and drooling over all of the delicious and finer foods that our children are missing out in their childhood. So, if anyone is looking to send us a Christmas care package, we're missing - Kraft cheese and macaroni (the shapes, not the noodle version), frosting in a jar, boxed cake, cookie, brownie mix, velveeta, graham crackers, and Gerber anything.

What's your favorite 'finer' American food?

October 2010

I'm starting current. If you want to see chronologically, wait a few days and click on the first month that you want to see.

Everyone reading books


10 months old!


Xavier kept building train stations. Makenzie kept destroying them before I could get a picture.


At the expat expo


What's all this noise?


She's very proud of the HUGE mess of beef and peas that she's just dumped all over the floor


Xavier entertains Makenzie whenever she wakes up until I get there


What'd ya bring us dad?


A baby doll!



Makenzie had to be in the center of the action - no one was hurt!


Finally got the racket

Where have I been?

So, I don't know if anyone but my husband still reads this thing, but here goes. We've had a whirlwind year. I'm putting pictures on my computer now, so hopefully I'll get some on here soon. But, to answer anyone's question as to why I haven't put much on here lately let me give a quick recap of the last year.

October 2009 - great family of 4 vacation to Barcelona for a week. Ulysses was in meetings for most of the week, but the boys and I got to explore Barcelona and I could understand most of what was going on around me. It was a great feeling and made me feel not like the "stupid American who only knows one language" like I do at home.
November 2009 - Ulysses gets notice that his funding has been cut and will not be paid beyond June 2010; The university is not sure if there is enough money to bring us back to the US, but they will see what they can do if he doesn't have a new job by then.
Day before Thanksgiving 2009 - We receive notice from the hospital that I can't deliver there because insurance is not cooperating unless we come up with 30000chf to guarantee the bill will be paid. During the course of the next week, we get the hospital to agree to me signing a guarantee and insurance sending a promise of coverage. This was not an easy process. Thank you to my wonderful Bible study group (and others) for their prayers during this process.
December 2, 2009 - I check into the hospital
December 3, 2009 - my princess Makenzie is born :-)
December 2009 - I try to figure out the French/Swiss birth system all the time stressing about what insurance is going to pay and what we're going to have to come up knowing that we only have a paycheck for 6 more months.
December 2009 - my parents come for almost 3 weeks for Christmas holidays and to walk the boys back and forth to school so I don't have to take Makenzie into the germ infested school. (Ezekiel's RSV stint in ICU has scarred me, but I think I managed pretty well last winter.)
January 2010 - I figure out life with 3
February 2010 - I figure out life with 3 at home
March 2010 - I start planning VBS for our church
April - June 2010 - Ulysses is applying for countless positions, I'm planning VBS, Makenzie is trying to walk, the boys are in love with their sister.
April 2010 - the deadline to tell our landlord if we're moving at the end of June (we have to give 3 months notice)
May 2010 - Ulysses is offered a job, but with less money
June 2010 - negotiations on said job since it is the only offer on the table. Insurance pays the hospital.
July 2010 - VBS and Makenzie's first fever. Thank you again to all of my prayer warrior friends!
July 2010 - told Ulysses has to go to Taiwan for 2-3 weeks, but will be paid for the trip
July 2010 - Ulysses interviews with another university and is offered the job, but it would mean a move to Germany in 6 months
August 2010 - Ulysses starts working with a Taiwanese university, but isn't getting paid until he goes to Taiwan
September 2010 - Xavier starts primary school, Ezekiel is alone in preschool
September 2010 - Ulysses goes to Zurich for a week
October 2010 - Ulysses goes to Taiwan for 17 days
We're still waiting on insurance claims to be figured out from the last year or more. We think we have all of the pay figured out and are now living in 4 different currencies (thankfully I have a smart husband because our budget is a nightmare).

Those are just a few of the highlights (lowlights?) from the last year. Thank you to all of our friends stateside that have been praying for us even though you haven't known what's been going on and thank you to all of our friends here for their prayers and letting me talk/cry/stress myself through.

I can't believe my baby is almost a year old. I know I will always regret how stressed I've been and how I missed most of her milestones.

Road Trip Day 3

Someone keeps getting on me that I haven't done the last day of our trip.

Our last day we got out of our hotel a little later than we had hoped, so we got to the park a little later than we wished (10:30 instead of 10). It was okay though because we knew we had most of the day and just needed to leave about 6 hours to get home. The boys were quite excited to repeat some of their favorite rides and Ulysses was excited to see Miniland where they had miniature cities built entirely out of legos. It was pretty impressive. Very shortly after we got there it started pouring down rain. The boys didn't mind because that just meant there were no lines and they could keep going on the roller coasters without even getting off. It also meant that they were willing to do the water rides since they were already wet. We were even able to ride one ride as a family (sans Makenzie - she was sleeping in the stroller with the operator).

The rain let up about 1 and we thought "great! we'll eat lunch, do one more ride, hit the shops and be on the road by 3." HaHa. We did do that, but it all took more time than we expected. Plus we then decided to all change into dry clothes before we got in the car. All told, we didn't get on the road until 5:30. Still, we weren't thinking it was going to be a problem.

We generally stay up until at least midnight, so we weren't concerned about the drive. We did not take into account traffic or construction. The speed limit for most of the drive was 60 (as opposed to 130) and we weren't going even close to that for most of the day. It was very frustrating. We found a Burger King on the road and the boys were disappointed because it wasn't McDonald's, but they had a playplace, pay toilets, and was a break from driving in the rain.

We finally got in shortly before 3am. Thankfully all three children went straight to sleep and were able to get a few hours of sleep before we had to return the car. It took us a few days to recover, but I think we're there. U is back to work and grandma and grandpa come today!

Pictures will be posted soon!

Road Trip Day 2

Legoland was a success! They have fountain Pepsi! :-) Ezekiel whined most of the day, but really enjoyed all of the rollercoasters and really enjoyed building and racing a lego car. He got in the way of some older boys at times, but he had a lot of fun. Xavier said he enjoyed it all and he seemed to. He is very easy going and tries not to whine too much. Makenzie spent the day eating and sleeping, with short breaks to watch what ride her brothers were on.

We left the hotel about 9:30 and returned at 11. It was another long day. I'm glad this trip is only three days. Ulysses carried both boys upstairs to our hotel room in hopes of keeping Ezekiel asleep. It worked! We've got three sleeping babies. Tomorrow we'll be back in our own beds.

The boys favorite ride was a Himalaya type where they spun in circles forwards and then backwards and up and down on a track. It was nauseating. Luckily, I only had to go once since Makenzie needed to eat. Ulysses went twice, but I think the boys would have gone at least 10 times if they didn't need a parent with them. We've gotten old. :-(

Ezekiel was excited that they had a roller coaster like the Troublesome Trucks and has asked to ride those again tomorrow. We did not do any of the wet rides because it was just too cold. On our last ride of the day, it started pouring. Makenzie's stroller seat was a puddle and all three boys were soaked.

Our streak of getting lost is continuing. We missed our exit and had to drive 25km to get to the next one so we could turn around. Once we were finally on the way to our hotel, we apparently missed a speed limit change because we got our picture taken. :-(

My biggest frustration this morning was with Legoland. We chose this trip partly on a friend's recommendation, but largely because the website said all of the rides were based on age, not height. We have a very short, but very adventurous four year old. According the website, there was only going to be four rides that he could not do as a four year old. The first two rides we tried to go on said you had to be four, but they had a height restriction as well. Of course, Ezekiel wasn't tall enough and it started the day off a little rough. The last two rides he couldn't do were towards the end of the day and one of them had a junior version.

Most of the rides we had to do baby swap with which most of the ride controllers did not understand what we were doing with a baby in line. It was frustrating, but only delayed us once with a particularly grumpy worker. Makenzie did get to ride on the lego train. She was pretty excited - standing in the seat dancing for Ezekiel the whole trip. She just might be more adventuresome than Ezekiel! Amusement parks will be really crazy for us in 10 years.

I think I'm mostly rambling at the moment. It's too late. Pictures will come when we get home and get them on the computer.

Road Trip Day 1

A few notes so I remember...

- Makenzie is starting to get her own opinions and make them known. She does not like her hat (it might be lost at this point), she wants to walk always, she does not like the car anymore (she was done about 4:30, we left the house at 10), whenever we stop to go to the bathroom I should feed her, when we finally got to the hotel at 10, she would not let me out of her grasp, but went to sleep shortly after 11

- Ezekiel did his activities from his backpack all day with about 2 hours of sleep in the late afternoon

- Xavier did none of his activities in his backpack and slept about 2 hours in the late afternoon, he mostly just watched the beautiful scenery as we drove across Switzerland

- the German autobahn scares the begeebees out of me

- my stress on the autobahn does not help Ulysses drive any slower

- we were in 4 countries today

- there is a 7km tunnel to get from Austria to Germany that took us about an hour to get to and through (total less than 20km)

- we got lost in Austria

- I said "If they can just entertain each other until we get to Austria I'll be happy." How many of my friends have said that? Of course, then we got lost and they had to amuse each other until we got to Germany

- We failed on the directions every time we had to leave the major highway

- we eventually found Bern's bears, but I did not get to take home a stuffed one

- M was not impressed with jarred spinach, but it could just be because she wasn't on me. we'll find out tomorrow

- Instead of "Are we there yet?", Ezekiel asked "Are we in Germany?" all day

- Xavier is still the best traveler of our kids

- Ezekiel is getting better, but it was nice to let him know that he was just as bad (actually worse) as Makenzie when he was a baby. He had to be reminded often as he was telling her to be quiet most of the afternoon/evening

- Xavier is starting to show signs of car sickness, but a stop at McDonald's play place seems to cure it

- It took us over 4 hours to find a McDonald's (or anything of the like) on the side of the highway. We were ALL starving by the time we found one at 8

- Pictures will be posted when we get home

- We're off to Legoland tomorrow!

Time Keeps on Tickin'...

So, now it's June. Ugh. Makenzie is 6 months today! I can hardly believe it. She's 7.5kg and still 63cm. She has mastered sitting up, can stand forever holding on to fingers and for a good long time holding onto the side of the bathtub or a chair. She's started rice cereal from UK. The only baby cereal they sell here is chocolate, vanilla, caramel, or biscuit flavored. I'll be getting some ground oatmeal from the whole foods store here, but there's no vitamins or minerals added so hopefully she'll stay healthy and not anemic! Hopefully I'll be able to get someone to bring me some cereals and biter biscuits from the UK or US soon. I had a friend offer a month ago, but I didn't realize I needed it. Isn't that how it always works? Anyways, here's some pictures from this weekend. I'll try to post more after lunch!

A friend of Xavier's mom asked me if her son could spend the night for her birthday. The boys were pretty wild, but it went well. Ezekiel is not quite ready for sleep overs, so he was pulled out early and watched Batman with me in our bedroom. Unfortunately the big boys did not fall asleep during that time and all three had to be separated at 10 after a couch jumping incident. But, all 4 kids were asleep by 11 and everyone played nice in the morning.

Happy French Mother's Day! The boys both made me things at school.

THREE Smiles

I know I'm way behind, but I actually had all three smiling on the couch this afternoon :-)