Quote of the Day

As we are leaving school today, Chance sees his Kindergarten teacher from last year and says

"Hi Nilde! You know what's different about me this year? My daddy is much more useful now. He has his very own Nintendo".

THE BIG 3-1

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO RYAN!!!!!!

Chance loves birthdays and this was the first year that he came up with his very own idea of what he should get Ryan: his very own gameboy, so that the two of them can compete/play wirelessly together. Now, if you really think on this, you soon realize that this probably wasn't really a gift for Ryan now was it? But so goes the mind set of a 5 year old. Nonetheless, I had to buy the thing, I mean it was his first time coming up with and fully owning a gift idea on his own. And the poor kid was dying for weeks not to spill the beans, begging quite a few times for Ryan to open his gifts just a little early.

But the time finally came and so here we are, opening gifts on the big day.


In addition to the gameboy, he made Ryan some very heartfelt cards. How cute can you get?

Quote of the Week

First Grade started off with a bang. Chance is LOVING it. This year has been such a noticeable difference already...as soon as we hit those school doors, Chance is off and running and before I can catch up, he's already in his classroom ready to start the day. There's also a great comradery amongst his friends, that I didn't witness last year. He basically has the exact same classmates again, but I can tell that they are already much closer and enjoying each other's company more.

Today as we were leaving school, Chance's friend Mikkel stops him in the hallway for this exchange:

MIKKEL: Hey Chance, tomorrow do you want to play with me?
CHANCE: Sure Mikkel! Would love to. We can do whatever! But, just remind me tomorrow, okay?

And of course you know Chance, never avoiding a moment to party......here he is at his girlfriend Lavinia's birthday party this evening at McDonald's. Never a dull moment!

Our First Grader

Here he is folks.....our big First Grader. He got off without a hitch, anxious and ready to see all his friends from last year. Ryan and I both took him to school today and left asking ourselves, are we old enough to have a first grader?

After dropping Chance we headed to the other side of town to pick up our new ride. After a year of commuting for 45 minutes in EACH direction.....times that by 4 and you have my typical school day......we committed to renting a car to carry us through the next 8 months of our stay in Switzerland. That is, carry me and Chance and Brooks to and fro school everyday in some sort of sanity!

So here it is, our new little beauty.



I wish I could say that we had been given options in terms of brand and color, but at least it didnt have the words MOBILITY written across every window and sides of the car as we were afraid of. Ryan got to drive it home and I followed behind in the exact same car that did have the words MOBILITY plastered all over it. We dropped that car off and when I hopped in to ours, Ryan's first words were...

"If I close my eyes hard enough while the car's not moving, it almost feels like I am driving my S5". Poor kid.



But to me, you see, it is like an S5. It's as luxurious as it gets for us right now, and it sure beats the hell out of me on a train with a baby :)

My Zara Niño

Ryan went out last night with some coworkers and was showered with a nice stash of clothes for Brooks. I love the store Zara. I am sure to many others it's about a medium grade store....kinda in the middle price range and quality. But to me, the Old Navy shopper, it's a bit more than I like to typically spend on clothes unless they are on sale. So when Ryan came home with these little man Zara jeans, I just had to laugh. How adorable they are. Not to mention I really like that my little kiddo will be dressed in Spanish apparrel. Viva Espana. And they even have the Euro cut legs.

Jack's Back

I wanted the title post to also mention Ava's back as well, which is equally as important, but I just like the rhyme of the title, and so it remains.

Our friends are back!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Chance has been waiting all summer for the return of his friends from their LOOOOOOOOOOONG trips back to the US. We met up at the park today and spent 3 hours watching the kids run and play, while the moms mostly parked ourselves on the blankets and had very nice chats ourselves.

I was telling Ryan the other day how play at the park has changed so dramatically this summer. Seems only yesterday at this same park I was camped out underneath the climbing equipment with my hands held high, in the event that Chance might fall as he scaled the ropes atop a very high climbing structure. Or waited at the bottom of the slide to catch Chance at the bottom of it, or tried to prevent him from falling off the pole as he tried to slide down it with very little grip. Well, not no mo. Chance can now scale the pole, ground up, in a matter of 3 seconds...and stop half way up and just hang there looking around. He can climb the rock wall to the top of the rope structure with confidence, and instead of sliding down the slide, he is now running up it at lightening speed. My little man is not so little anymore....actually Monday he is now my first grader. Ay yay yay.

DEFINE: "Nubicious"

Today for lunch we made breakfast bagels, with eggs and bacon inside. It was Ryan's idea and he worked very hard in the kitchen to pull these bad boys together. We sit down to eat and Chance proclaims after taking a bite:

"These are delicious, nutricious and nubicious. You know what "nubicious" means? It means that they look a lot better than they taste"

Get Up Get Up Get Moving

Chance has been out of school for 7 weeks of summer, and I've gotta say I have turned in to one of those mothers I swore I would never be. I've spent the last 5 years dedicated to nurturing the brain of my child, stimulating his mind and encouraging some advanced learning so that he could get ahead in this life...ok, so it's probably been way over the top but this summer the pendulum has swung the other way.....WAY the other way, and I have become one of those mothers that doesn't stop her child from picking up his gameboy and playing it until the battery dies, or stop her child from watching the same episode of Super Why for the 12th time in the same day. My only saving grace is that at least Super Why encourages reading, and enough of it might then counteract the brain cell destruction that comes with hours on end of gameboy playing. And I justify all of this with the reasoning that I am pregnant and doing the best that I can, but I just had an epiphany today in the kitchen while prepping dinner, that maybe it's cause I know that I am about to start groundhogs day with the next 5 years of my life, and the pressure of stimulating a child's brain is about to start all over again, and maybe just maybe I just happened to need the last 7 weeks off!

All this sitting around did get to me this past weekend. The boys took off for a little while on Saturday to get Chance out of house, and while it was so nice to be alone for a couple hours I am so glad that on Sunday I decided to participate in the activities. We headed down to the lake and walked along the promenade towards town. So many people were out and about and Chance kept himself very entertained with his remote control jeep and ice cream cone.


I started playing with some more of the Photoshop features today and here's the boys down at the lake feeding the swans....with a little watercolor touch up.

The Swiss alphorn players were out playing some tunes which we captured on tape,



and then we passed the man who takes rocks and magically stacks them on top of eachother. I've gotta say the balancing act is pretty impressive.

The day ended up taking us to the train station so I could get a new phone. My prego brain caused me to leave it on the tram the other day, and somehow I didn't luck out to get it back. Someone is now walking around with my phone on their ear but at least my new one works in our apartment, which is a very nice new upgrade. I used to have to hang my head out the window to get phone reception. So with new phone in hand we went to Sam's Pizza, a great Americanish pizza place we've found near the train station with thick crust and melty cheese. The 6-sliced pizza that we devoured with no left overs still cost us a nice 40 bucks (before drinks and a side salad) but sometimes it's just nice to get out!

The Love Between Brothers

Chance is so excited for Brooks to come....he hugs him everyday and tells me how excited he is for Brooks to come out and meet him.

First Week of August

As I've mentioned recently, we are spending a LOT more time than usual around the house and despite some efforts on my part to keep this place tidy, apparently I am not meeting some minimal heath standards.

Since we've moved the computer in to our room, Chance has been spending quite a bit of time on our bed watching brain mushing activity on the slingbox TV. And since he's all over my white sheets and white down comforter, I have become much more aware of the condition of his feet. Having to wash black feet several times a day has made me come to the realization that perhaps I should make more of an effort to clean our floors. The light colored parkett hides the dirt so well, I am often baffled how a child that hasn't gone outside all day can have black feet.

So today I got out the rag and cleaner, and proceeded to get down on my hands and knees and wash the kitchen floor. It was at this time Chance was sitting at his little table eating a snack and he says to me, "you know mom, maybe you should ask Santa for a mop for Christmas. That way you could clean the floors every day and I wouldn't have to wash my feet so much." Please pass along to Santa, that if he even attempts to bring me a mop for Christmas, he could possibly get so injured that he won't be able to complete his deliveries to all the other kids around the world. Yes, I do need a mop, but then I'd need a bucket.....you see, the needs just snowball. It's just easier at this point with my gigantic belly to wash 2 little feet.

Speaking of gigantic bellies, I am wondering if mine could possibly get any bigger. Little Brooks is apparently now 5 1/2 lbs, not sure that I really have room for another 3 lbs.....I am convinced for every pound of belly Brooks adds, my ass grows proportionally by 3. It's a strange phenomenon. And not to mention my 3 pairs of maternity pants are screaming at the seams, and I absolutely refuse to buy anything bigger in the last month, since I am convinced that I will NEVER do this again. Our family is now complete and I am ready to get out of my fat pants and go back to the gym.

Last week we went and got Chance a "real" basketball that he's been wanting for a very long time. Being cooped up in the house has enabled Chance to practice his basketball tricks and moves. Last school year I felt like a really bad uncreative mom when my child begged and pleaded to be in the school talent show. But being in the talent show involves either having a unique talent, or having very creative parents....both of which Chance has not yet been blessed with. So when he started showing interest in basketball tricks, I was somewhat relieved that perhaps next year he could show off some moves as his unique talent. Look for yourself.