Santa found us at our new house!

The move is over!! Our little apartment has been cleaned to the very particular Swiss standard (took me 13 hours with 2 helpers) and we're all settled into our new house. Oh, the space, the view, the yard!!! It's just great. We've been taking advantage of the ski resort that is a short 7 minute drive up the mountain from our house. The kids love to sled and Danny has his first ski lesson this Thursday. On a less exciting note, so do I. I had a bad experience a couple of years ago and have been reluctant to give it another go, but apparently it's considered a sin to live in Switzerland and not ski, so after A LOT of "encouragement" I've decided it's time to conquer the mountain. 

Despite the fact that we missed our families terribly this year, we had a fantastic Christmas. For starters, we finally picked out a tree that didn't die before Christmas day! 

A couple of days before Christmas, we visited a Christmas market in Ulm, Germany. Our family tradition is to visit a Christmas market every year and pick out an ornament or decoration.
This is our collection so far. The skiing Santa and tree were this years find. The decorations at these markets are awesome, but I have to admit it's the food that keeps me coming back year after year. My personal favorite is the dampfnudeln mit vanilla sauce. It's basically a big cinnamon roll covered in warm vanilla sauce. We also enjoyed waffles with cherries and whipped cream, sausages, spatzli, and berliners.

This market was held on the grounds around this church which happens to be the tallest church in the world. (I don't know why we got a picture of this and none of the actual market) The kids had a blast riding the high speed carousel and warming up with a giant cup of hot chocolate in a nearby cafe.

On Christmas eve we went sledding with some friends, snacked on some schinken gipfelli, watched the Grinch, opened a present, layed out some gingerbread men, clementines and homemade peanut butter cups and egg nog for Santa, then headed off to bed anticipating his arrival.

Notice Rachel's "Christmas pajamas." Apparently the much warmer ones I picked out were not "princessy" enough.




We finished off the day with a Christmas feast, Matt's mom's delicious Swedish meatloaf, sweet potatoes with a brown sugar and pecan crust, peas (our kids love them) and Grandma Jackson's blueberry jello. 

We hope you all had a very merry Christmas and we wish you all the best in the upcoming new year!

    

Kid Update Nummer Drei

Daniel

AKA: D and Sir Shmooie

Age: 4 years

Current Favs: Looney Toones, Nintendo Wii, going to school, peanut butter and the Hulk.

New Tricks: Gets dressed all by himself, vaccuming, and the boy has some sweet new dance moves!

Quotes: "Danny Jackson to the rescue!" , "Is it going to take long?", and my fav, "I'm still having fun!" (Says this 10-15 throughout the day)

Mommy's thoughts: Danny is full of energy, fun, and has a great imagination. He is a loyal friend and a protective big brother. He amazes me everyday with how quickly he learns and with his uncanny memory. He's the most even tempered, well mannered kid you'll ever meet.

Rachel

AKA: Rachie, Beanie, and Princess Tenula (made that one up herself)

Age: 2 years 5 months

Current Favs: Anything pink or having to do with princesses, looking at books, avacados and lettuce

New Tricks: Jumping off of everything! Climbing, swimming alone with floaties, and buckling herself into her car seat.

Quotes: "I not get hurt." (Her reply right after jumping off of something high that I just told her not to jump off of.) "I do it by MYself!!"

Mommy's thoughts: Rach is spunky, spunky, spunky!!! She's a strong and very independent little girl who knows what she wants. She knows how to push everyones buttons and makes us all crazy from time to time, but she's also extremely sweet and lovable. She's a definite Daddy's girl and a complete crack up! 

A+ Danny J

Today, I attended my first ever parent teacher conference. Here are a few things Danny's teacher had to say about him.

"Daniel is loved by all the children in the classroom and is an appreciated friend during free activities. He is, at times, a bit reluctant to play new games where he doesn't completely understand the rules and prefers to observe for a while before joining the other children. He is getting better at trying new things and is slowly expanding his safety zone. Danny is athletic and is showing an age appropriate level of gross motor skills. He is great inquirer and asks several questions. Daniel is an asset in the classroom with his knowledge and fine articulated English."

When I talked to my mom about Danny's reluctance to try new things, she said I was the same way when I was a little girl. I didn't want to try anything new unless I knew I could do it and do it well. She and my dad then began laughing while reminding me of how I used to cry all the way to soccer every week because I was afraid they would make me play goalie. In my mind, if you shoot a goal and miss it's no big deal. You're even praised for coming so close. If you're playing goalie, on the other hand, and that ball slips by you, you let your entire team down. That's a lot of pressure to put on a 6 year old!

Several times throughout the conference, his teacher commented on how wonderfully Danny speaks. This morning during class she asked him what his Daddy does for work. He replied,"My daddy is developing a prototype for a new tool." That made Matt proud.

Couldn't you just look at those BROWN EYES all day!

Photos courtesy of Jessica Lang Price Photography

(More to come)

Thanks Jess!!!

Insight

"There are only two lasting bequests we can hope to give our children. One is roots; the other, wings."

-Hodding Carter

"Children are the living messages we send to a time we will not see."

-John W. Whitehead

"When I approach a child, he inspires me in two sentiments; tenderness for what he is, and respect for what he may become." -Louis Pasteur

"You can understand and relate to most people better if you look at them--no matter how old or impressive they may be--as if they are children. For most of us never really grow up or mature all that much--we simply grow taller. O, to be sure, we laugh less and play less and wear uncomfortable disguises like adults, but beneath the costume is the child we always are, whose needs are simple, whose daily life is still best described by fairy tales." -Leo Rosten

"You can learn many things from children. How much patience you have, for instance."

-Franklin P. Jones

                        

"If a child is to keep alive his inborn sense of wonder, he needs the companionship of at least one adult who can share it, rediscovering with him the joy, excitement and mystery of the world we live in." - Rachel Carson

Room for Improvement

Danny shares his birthday with a little girl in his preschool class named Cindy.  Both Cindy's mother and I wanted to bring in a cake to share with the class.  We had to choose days.  She took Monday and I settled for Wednesday.  My original plan was to bring in the leftover baseball cupcakes that I had made on Danny's birthday, but there weren't enough.  I thought about making more, but I honestly had no more energy.   The previous week, I did a LOT baking for both Matt's and Danny's birthday.   So, late Tuesday night I decided to stick to a simple chocolate sheet cake with dark chocolate ganache (American style frosting is way too sweet for the Europeans). 

The next morning, as I was packing up the cake to take to school, I asked Danny what kind of cake Cindy brought in for her birthday.  His eyes lit up as he described the "huge" and "nawsome" castle cake with tall towers and flowers made out of frosting.  Based on the description, I imagine it to look something like this:

I looked down at my plain, brown, and very non "nawesome" cake that looked something like this:

 

"Ahhh crap!"

The cake tasted good for sure.  Perhaps even better than that darn castle, but let's face it, kids could care less about the taste.   I was feeling slightly inadequate and embarassed.  Normally it doesn't bother me much when I drive into the school parking lot and park my very modest car next to the other mothers in their Porches, BMWs, and yes, even Lamborghinis.  But that day those cars increased my feelings of inadequacy.  Those cars and the drab, colorless block in my hands that resembled an old roof tile more than a birthday cake.

Nonetheless, my boy wanted a cake and I gave him a cake.  I was very pleased when he came home and told me that the cake was "so yummy."   Even so, next year will be different. Danny will have an awesome, tasty, colorful birthday cake to be proud of.  Bring it Cindy's mom!!

Danny's Birthday Denial

Danny turned 4 years old on Sunday. Several times throughout the day, Matt and I looked at each other and shook our heads in disbelief. We have a 4 year old?! We weren't the only ones having a hard time wrapping our brains around the situation. For months, Danny has talked about turning 4, but when the day finally came, all he wanted was to be 3 again. Shortly after his birthday breakfast (Mickey Mouse pancakes) and opening his new remote control car, I found him in his bed facing the wall and obviously pouting. After asking him what on earth he could possibly be upset about, he explained to me that he did NOT want to be 4. He wanted to stay 3. I might understand this behavior at 40, but 4!!

After a while, he snapped out of it and had a very happy day. That night, as I was tucking him in, he said,"Mom, is my birthday over?" 

Without thinking, I replied, "Pretty much bud, but you'll have a lot of birthdays AND next year, you'll be 5! This was the point he completely broke down.

"I DON'T WANT TO BE FIIIIVVVVE!!" 

(Note to self: next year just focus on the cake and presents. Don't even talk about the age change.)

Happy Birthday MJ!

Today we celebrated Matt's 31st birthday! I thought about having a party, but since he's been gone for the last month, the kids and I decided to be selfish and keep him all to ourselves. He even took the day off work so we could spend the whole day together.

We started the day off with a big birthday breakfast, french toast with blueberries and whipped cream, bacon, eggs and Florida orange juice. Then we headed out near Zurich to Jucker Farm. Right now, they are having their Kurbis (pumpkin) season. They have hundreds of pumpkins in all shapes, sizes and colors. They have giant prize winning pumpkins, pumpkin sculptures, and pumpkin in all of their food. For lunch we had pumpkin soup, pumpkin bread, pumpkin ravioli, and for desert, pumpkin cake! So good!!

Unfortunately, it was rainy and freezing. So, after lunch, we picked out pumpkins for jack-o-lantern carving and headed home.

In keeping with the theme of the day (eating), I prepared marinated salmon for dinner and a chocolate amaretti birthday cake for dessert (recipe courtesy of Giada De Laurentiis).

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/giada-de-laurentiis/chocolate-amaretti-cake-recipe/index.html.

Happy Birthday Mattie J!

We LOVED spending the day celebrating YOU! We adore you and are so happy you're home where you belong!

Peter Pan & Princess Pig Tails

Fun with Aunt Jenny-Part 2

Day Trip to France

La Montagne de Signes (Monkey Mountain) in Kintzheim, France 

This was such a blast. For an entrance fee of 8 euro, which includes a handful of popcorn, you can enter this beautiful park and feed some of the 280 monkeys inside. One little mischievous monkey kept giving us problems. First, he came up and stole my park pamphlet right out of my stroller. He took it up a tree and proceeded to eat it. Several minutes later one of the park employees tracked me down and returned it to me all chewed up. Umm...thanks?

His antics didn't stop there. A bit later we came across the same monkey and Rach went to give him her last piece of popcorn. He took it, put it in his mouth, and then snatched her glasses right of her face! He obviously didn't know who he was dealing with. Rach yelled, "HEY!!!" and grabbed them right back. He then grabbed on to Danny's jacket with both hands. We literally had to pry him off. 

Four little monkeys

 Colmar and Eguisheim, France

We visited the Unterlinden Museum in Colmar, but were terribly disappointed to find that the Picasso exhibit had been closed. Fortunately, they had a room full of knight armor and swords. Danny was thrilled! After that, we walked around the scenic towns admiring all the beautiful buildings and flowers, we enjoyed a bit of French cuisine, and we stopped at every cookie, chocolate, and pastry shop we passed on the way back to the car. 

Fun with Aunt Jenny-Part 1

Heidiland

Matt's sister Jen arrived last Wednesday! Thank goodness! Unfortunately the first couple of days she was here, the weather was nasty. Finally, one morning we woke up to a clear, sunny day and headed to Maienfeld. Maienfeld is where the famous Swiss author, Johanna Spyri, spend many of her childhood summers. It later became the scenic background for the book Heidi. 

Rach and Dan enjoying lollipops in Heidi's outhouse