Bits of Spring so far...

A beautiful day in Morges on the Lake of Geneva


Planting seeds and watching them grow


First day of an exciting new career! Look how grown up he looks...:-)


Kite flying


Silly pasta making


Gang of Easter Egg hunters

And that about sums it up.

Six Months

Truly not the best photo, but...I do what I can. And I'm so late in posting this, that this picture shows me with a 6 month belly even though I'm 7 months already...and I did quite a bit of growing in the meantime! I'll try to catch up...I promise. Anyway, everything's going well...I can't believe we'll be a family of four in just a couple of months!

FIVE months!

a flesh-revealing 5 month photo! I recently had the *big* 20 week control...everything looks great! And I'm over the halfway hump! woohoo!

It's starting to feel more and more real (especially as the baby is moving around like crazy now). We've been thinking a lot about names. I think we have them narrowed down...but I'm not telling you! :-)

Beautiful Winter Days

We have had AMAZING winter weather the past few weeks...thank you universe! This has allowed for some great weekend getaways and day trips, and lots of running around outside.


Promenade in Vevey.


Lake of Murten.


Open cafe terraces....in February!!


and lots of lounging around in the sunshine.

And now that I'm fully and truly in the middle of my second trimester, I'm feeling GREAT and it's absolutely the perfect time to take full advantage of the outdoors again. YAY!

my valentine

My sweetie surprised me with a heart shaped pizza for lunch today. He actually asked them to shape it that way...isn't it cute?!

Happy Valentine's Day, everyone. Hoping your hearts are as full of love as mine. xoxoxo

Dino Fasnacht part 2

This time a much bigger parade in Biel...and with his friend Elizabeth. Lots of confetti was thrown...I can tell you that much! They city organized a kids dance party afterwards, complete with free apple juice and cookies. And it was sunny!! And still is!! Those of you in California will never truly understand how meaningful this is. :-)

Anyway, that's it for Fasnacht/Carnaval this year. I hope we've all adequately chased off the bad spirits of winter so that spring can make a timely appearance. Let's hope!

More about the belly...

Ok, so here's the story:

1. I'm 4 months pregnant

2. I felt terrible for much of the first trimester...very different from the first time around, when I had no symptoms at all.

3. Due date is July 26th. My 35th birthday is on July 23rd.

4. We don't know the gender, but this may change next month.

5. Names are not yet selected, but there is a list in progress. Any suggestions? Nothing terribly biblical, mind you.

6. The birth will postpone our first foreign service posting abroad...but it's a small price to pay. :-)

7. A certain someone is extremely happy about becoming a big brother!

8. This means that there is NO chance for a return visit to California this year.

9. My belly now at 4 months is as big as it was last time at 6 months.

10. We don't plan to have any more after this, so we're trying to enjoy it while it lasts!!

Dino Fasnacht

It's that time of year again. Time to dress up, play loud music, throw confetti, and chase away the winter. We had so much fun, we're thinking of hitting two parades this year. Party animals!

hint hint

too many cookies? or....????

fun in the snow

tracking...




sledding...



snowmen...



and most importantly, snowballs.

Happy New Year.

christmas morning

cute new pj's from Gigi...


a bald eagle in the stocking...



and endless stacks of pancakes. :-)

merry christmas and frohe Festtage

We wish you a merry, merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!!! We'll be thinking of you...

I'll leave you with a few photos from St. Nick's day (Dec. 6th) when a certain magical someone visited our home and gave the little one the full run down of all good and not-so-good deeds done throughout the year (he knows if you've been bad or good so be good, for goodness sake). Then he sang "Rudolph" for Santa and shared his Christmas present wish list: 1 mammoth, 1 baby mammoth, 1 yellow T-Rex, and one bald eagle. (No, the dino phase is NOT over) :-) St. Nick then left him with the customary "Chlaussack" or santa bag filled with clementines, peanuts and chocolates.

We'll see how he does this year.

Happy Holidays!

Blast from the Past

2nd birthday party

I'm an aunt! (again...)

and there you have it

Already snow...and it's only the beginning of November. I think mother nature has to make up for the warm winter last year. Let the hibernation begin!

five

Happy Birthday, my darling.

fall days

We're still taking our frequent walks through the forest near our home. It's really starting to get cold, so now we have to bundle up...but it's so beautiful at this time of year. It's my favorite!


The little one got a pair of binoculars and a bird whistle for summoning larks, so we've been doing a fair amount of birdwatching lately.


Not sure we found actual larks, but plenty of other local birds. With the leaves falling off the trees they become much easier to spot. These things were an early birthday gift from his Götti, and we love them so much.


And for a rather Waldorf-inspired task, we collected a large bag of leaves and he put them into piles by species. To keep it all very simple and magical, we don't yet get into the names of the various trees etc., just colors, shapes, textures and perhaps even a few used to fashion a "leaf man" or two with beady little acorn eyes.

No. 6: The capital (Swiss Top Ten)

Berne is the Swiss capital, and it's just so nice. Just small enough to be quaint, just big enough to not be totally boring, just international enough not to make one go insane, German-speaking with a hint of French...and a great place to live! The old town is a UNESCO world heritage site and is one of the best examples of medieval architecture in the world. We sort of miss living there, although we really aren't far away (what's 20 minutes by US standards??). It's currently my very favorite Swiss city....



no, I have not chopped off my hair! I had to pull it back because it was so unruly. :-)


Zytglogge and one of many famous fountains in the old town.


hazy view from up...


view of part of the old town and the Aare river from a bridge.


Gerechtigkeitsgasse...the oldest street in the oldest part of the old town. Nice for strolling and window shopping.

Berlin

Well, I haven't posted in a while...at least partially due to our holiday in Berlin. It took me a while to get back into my usual rhythm. We had a good (if not exhausting) time, saw loads, did the urban thing...cafes, restaurants, vibe. We had a nice balance of exciting big city adventures and calming nature walks, since we chose a vacation apartment near a lake and a forest.


Wannsee...the lake we stayed near.


Monuments...

points of interest...


the apartment we rented...


the coolest kid in the world happens to also love hangin' in cafes...

We had a great time. Switzerland feels awfully small and provincial at times. Mostly I love that about it, but once in a while I like a bit of city action! And it's only an hour away by plane...

Corners of Our Home