christmas guests

We have been having too much fun to take time out for our blog...since everyone took off for Gruyere today and Liam and I stayed here to have a snooze, I have a few minutes to post. Grant and Leanne arrived here on Christmas Eve and we have been enjoying their company since that moment. They rented a motor home and are traveling around and braving the cold to soak up as much as they can during their time over here. Their perfect, sunny Brisbane weather sounds too good to us and we can't really understand why in the world they would be so excited about skiing, sledding, iceskating and sightseeing in this bitter cold! Leanne at the piano, playing some good old Waltzing Matilda...

The boys and their ongoing comic fest

Kaydon and Sheldon

Tialyn

Kim and Zoé

Kaioa

Tiana

Scott and Florence, Chantal, Kailee, Emily and Rhyan

Steve and Allie, Emma and Liam

Kid's table

Grant reading a Phantom to the boys

Sheldon

A visit to Dylan's classroom

These pictures aren't really sharply focused, but I didn't have the heart to delete them because of that! We are having some trouble with the little camera but anyway, here they are. We were invited to dinner at Dylan's classroom and it was a fun evening. He was really proud of all of the things he had accomplished and loved building a tower with Ralph, one of his favorite areas of the room.

Liam's Potty Train

When Hannes was a little boy, to encourage him to get interested in life without diapers, we told him that we would take him for a ride on the train as soon as he was potty trained. Three potty trained boys later, this special event has somehow been christened "The Potty Train". And it makes sense really, a train ride as a reward for being potty trained now being called the potty train. So Saturday Ralph and the boys took the train up the hill from our town to a mountain town where we go sledding sometimes. There was also a visit to the music box museum which they said was really interesting. One thing Liam was looking forward to was going potty on the train and was very disappointed that this particular train had no potty. Mom got to spend the afternoon shopping alone in town. Bummer!

Gingerbread party

Today we had some of our friends over for a cookie decorating party. It was great fun and the kids decorated for a long time then went outside to play in the snow. The cookies looked great and the kids were really creative! It has been snowing all day as well as last night so Kim and kids opted to stay home.

Where are all of you??

I am getting the feeling that all of my blogging buddies have abandoned their blogs for FACEBOOK! Come on you guys, I miss you.....and I have deactivated my facebook acct in favor of blogging...I am a retro lady I guess.

Zoé's birthday bag

Zoé doesn't know it yet but she is getting a new meeting bag too for her birthday. I just finished it and I think I like it almost better than the other ones. I am thinking about rounding out the flap at the bottom for a more feminine look. We have been invited for a birthday brunch on Saturday morning and then a visit to a museum of the 'senses'. Sounds fun!

New bags by the old bag

Long before summer, I promised the boys new meeting bags. I finally got them done just in time for sp. mtgs and was so happy when they were just about as excited as I was when they saw them for the first time today. They are made from old swiss army blankets and are VERY itchy but used as bags they don't bother you that way. I still need to come up with some way to keep the flaps closed.

Thanksgiving

Our Thanksgiving dinner was on Saturday and we had it together with two other families..it was in the Emmental and the view was beautiful! We used to live close by here and it made us feel a little homesick for the beautiful mountains and farmhouses. Our day was like most thanksgivings, way too much good food and lots of sitting around chatting. The kids ate the least and ran around the most so they weren't quite as miserable as we were in the evening...TOO MUCH FOOD! It was a great day though and it was good to catch up with old friends.

Baking season is upon us

We are looking for alternative forms of entertainment to outside activities these days as WINTER is here. It has just been hovering around freezing but then there is a breeze too and it goes through all layers of clothing and chills to the bone. Brrr. This afternoon we baked bread and played a few more rounds of Take it Easy, our new game. It has been fun to play with the boys and although it says for age 10+, we all play and even the youngest player has been known to smoke the rest of us. We are looking forward to Thanksgiving, which will do on Saturday with a few other families. I am to bring rolls, chestnuts and sauce and an apple pie. So more baking will be happening these next few days.

Cookies

The boys cut out some cookie shapes tonight and it looked so cute with Liam climing up on the table to be close to his work. Notice the telltale dough package behind Liam. Love that homemade dough! We have a new game, Take it Easy and have been having fun with it. It involves math and logic so it has been great for our brains!

Post bath hair

The boys were cute this evening when they got out of the tub.

26 weeks

26 weeks and kicking like crazy! The boys were forced into posing for a picture with their increasng mom. I have been instructed by my dr. to take it easy this weekend as I had some contractions this past week. So that is not very easy advice to follow but I am trying. The boys are getting good at the dishwasher and helping Ralph get meals ready. I think we will have to keep this up. I am happy that there is finally a little belly showing! I am feeling good otherwise. Enjoying a quiet Sunday.

OUCH

While most of you were sleeping, we heard a big bang and then screaming and sure enough, it was time for our next accident. Dylan was carrying an armful of wood down the barn stairs and dropped a piece, then tripped over it and fell the rest of the way down with the rest of the wood in his arms. The fall left him very shaky and his poor face is all scraped up and swollen. I think he will be sporting a nice shiner tomorrow. He spent the afternoon playing his nintendo and seems to have picked up again. It is girls nite out and Kim and I are taking the Happy Campers to Bern for some late nite shopping. Don't know who is looking forward to it more.....

Thanks grandma!

Thanks to Grandma for sending the birthday package a little later than all of the other things! Liam really loved the elephant mask and has been wearing the sweats all day. If you haven't guessed yet, our son has a thing for elephants! It brightened up our very grey day.

La vie en Suisse

We went to the Joratel today, an area about an hour from our house where several families of our friends live. We didn't seem to leave with a pic of our host and hostess...too bad. We did finally get our friends Becky and Nellie to stand still long enough for a picture! It has been fun catching up with them. The boys enjoyed the farm and the little quad that they found in the garage.