Sam's Baptism

Sam was baptized a few weeks back, and I feel like it was a huge milestone for us. I cannot believe I have a child old enough to be baptized. How is time going by so fast? It is fun and all, but it can be too fast, and sometimes I feel like I have to stop and catch my breath.

For me the day was a little bittersweet- which I was not anticipating. I was so incredibly proud of Sam, but a part of me was sad that we didn't have any family to share the day with. I think that was the first time I've felt any real homesickness while living here. If we were back in Maryland, Sam would have been baptized with his cousin Peter, and there would be a ton of family to celebrate with. Here, we didn't know if we'd have more than 3 people coming- especially since the baptism service was in English. However, I was so happy to see a handful of families and people there supporting Sam. I actually teared up a bit...man I am getting sensitive with age. Again, I can't fully express the gratitude we feel for the members here who have made us feel like we have an extended family.

It was a special day, and most importantly, a day I think Sam will remember. Once he got over his initial nerves ("Gee I"m scared!") he was thrilled to be in the spotlight- especially when he discovered that here in Switzerland people bring presents to a baptism. More lego, yea!

After Sam was baptized we had people write their testimonies on these cards. I love what everyone wrote! I think the German ones are great, and Luke's (the middle drawing) was so sweet. He really looks up to his big brother.

Below is a pic from Sam's family party and a poster from his German class. For some reason I always think Sammy isn't learning any German, but then he'll surprise me by translating a sign on the road or something. Sam is continuing to love school. This year he has a teacher from England, so he is starting to use words such as "rubbish", "snow trousers", and "keen". Pretty funny.

Baby It's Cold Outside

Europe is going through a cold spell, and I can attest that it is freezing here. I'm looking forward to warmer days filled with walks in the park, but until then, we just have to content ourselves with winter activities. As a matter of fact, Andrew is currently sledding with the 3 oldest.

A couple of weeks ago Afton and I joined friends at the Basel zoo to see the penguins go for a walk- which they do daily during the winter. It was one of the coolest things I've seen!

We've also had a little snow which the kids are thoroughly enjoying. The cool thing is that unless it is really icy, the boys still have outdoor recess at school. That means that each day they truck to school in their and snow gear. They love it.

While we have been "enjoying" the freezing weather, Andrew was able to go to Sydney for work. Somehow he squeezed in a ton of touristy stuff- including touring the Opera House, going on a harbor cruise, and renting a long board to go surfing (luckily he was not attacked by a shark, that happened the day after he went to the beach). After seeing Andrew's pictures though, I'm not so sure there even was a meeting. He loved it there.

Passport Photo Blunders

We finally have a passport for Clara, and let me tell you, getting her passport picture was no easy task. We were warned off from the photo booth machines and told by the embassy to go to a photographer. Great, except that the photographer I called wouldn't take Clara's picture unless she was sitting up on her own. Ummm, she is 2 months old. The next option was for me to take a picture myself and have the photographer print it off for us. All for the steal-of-a-deal of 40 Swiss Francs! We did this, but only after having about 10 pictures rejected. It's not fun photographing a baby to look straight forward with her mouth closed and hands down. The picture below is as close as we got.

While sorting out Clara's papers I stumbled across some of our other passport pictures. We've had about a billion taken for different things here, and these were just too awful not to share.

Did I ever post about the wild night out Andrew had in Basel? I have the mug shot below as my proof.


Andrew's second attempt is still a little ghetto gangster, but at least he doesn't look like he has been partying all night long.



The passport photo booths are not easy to use with kids! You have to plop your child in the seat and hope they don't turn out looking like the picture of Luke below. For some reason the Swiss residency office wouldn't accept it. That was 8 francs down the drain.



I by far am the worst photo taker of the bunch. The photo on the left below is on my residency card here, and the photo on the right is my Swiss drivers license. I don't even know what to say about these except "gag".

I saved the best for last though. This is my ID card for Andrew's work. I look like a straight up alien. And a boy alien at that. I have no idea what I was thinking at the time, or better yet, what face I was trying to make. If you are left asking yourself if I have any shame after posting these, the answer is no, no I do not. As I've said before, it left the moment my kids were born.

For the grandparents...

...who I am dying to share this baby with.

You might be in Switzerland if...

1. you enter the hospital- in labor- and the receptionist asks if you have an appointment.

2. you get an email explaining that the rush hour commute will be disrupted for a "Catastrophe Training Exercise". This is where a catastrophe is staged and reenacted by actors.

3. you count your discarded change and discover that it totals 116 francs.

4. your tram breaks down for 10 minutes and no one utters a single word or complaint.

5. you consider yourself one of the "lucky ones" because your local grocery store stays open until 8 pm on weekdays and 6 pm on Saturday (closed on Sundays of course).

6. your freezer height and depth are both shorter than the length of a pencil.

7. you get told off by random citizens for minor misdemeanors such as putting your feet up on a train seat.

8. you attempt to speak the national language but are continually spoken back to in English.

9. your American children prefer to wear swimsuits like this-



10. your American husband owns (and has worn) swimwear like this-

We're American! We don't plan, we do!

The title of this post is a quote from the movie Midnight at the Museum 2. The boys recently saw it, and Luke has been spouting off that quote for days. I'm waiting for him to shout it out on the tram one day. It is also an appropriate title for this post, which really has no rhyme or reason to it.

I'm starting to really appreciate having two girls in a row. I have so many dresses which Afton was only able to wear once. Now Clara gets to wear them once. Darn those babies for growing so quickly!

Afton (around a month and a half)


Clara (2 months)

On the Clara front, we are head over heels in love. She is just about as sweet as a baby can get. The best part is that she is sleeping through the night. ALL of my other babies woke up about every 2-3 hours to eat. It was hellacious. This baby? She eats at 7:30 pm, goes to bed around 8:30 pm, wakes up at 4 am to nurse again and then sleeps until 7:30-8 am. Angelic.

The other kids are not so angelic...but we are head over heels for them too.

Christmas 2011

The International school has a 3 week Christmas break. 3 weeks! Prior to this break, the thought of 3 weeks alone with my kids left me shaking in my Hans Solo boots. The good news is that aside from a nasty bout of mastitis (for me), we had a great holiday. The 3 oldest kids were more than content to hang out at home, which- for the most part- is exactly what we did. It was perfect for me and Clara.

Christmas was a low key, but sweet, family affair. On Christmas Eve we headed to downtown Basel to enjoy this season's Christmas markets one last time. Tragically we found them all packed up and abandoned. We quickly switched to plan B which entailed dinner at Papa Joes American Restaurant. This place is about as un-Swiss as you can get. Its loud, crammed with tacky decor, and serves things like chicken wings, fajitas and burgers. Think Applebees, Chilis and Joe's Crab Shack. We loved it. We rounded out the night by acting out the nativity story. Clara was perfect in her reenactment as baby Jesus.

On Christmas morning the kids woke up to find their booty from Santa. Santa in Switzerland is a little tricky because the Swiss don't really acknowledge him. Their version- Samichlaus- comes on December 6th and delivers sweets and fruit. The tricky part is trying to explain to Sam and Luke why Santa visits us, but not some of the other kids at their school. Whether they bought our explanations or not, they were thrilled with their gifts...more lego...yea...

Since Christmas fell on a Sunday this year we went to church, which really was lovely. It was especially nice to see all of the church members on Christmas, who we consider to be our family over here. We feel so blessed to have these wonderful people in our lives.

After church we went home to open the rest of the presents, and then to skpe with our families. During our calls we received one more Christmas present....the news that my little brother Joe proposed to his girlfriend Vanessa! We are so excited to have another sister/aunt in the family! Congratulations!