Well, I must say that yesterday was one of my biggest mommy mess ups!

A few months ago I picked Jackson up from school and he had a piece of masking tape on his shirt with his teachers contact info and address. I was puzzled and asked the teacher what it was for. She said she had been talking to Jackson about the animals near her house and she would love to have him out to see them. He had asked for her address and phone number so that I could call her and make a plan. Oh my. We have been so busy this summer that it took me a while to get it together but yesterday we went for a visit. Her house is in Bolligen, a small town just on the edge of Bern. She lives in the top floor of a big mansion that I believe has been in a Swiss family for a couple hundred yrs. The cement steps had grooves in them to tell you how old it was.

The boys were ecstatic. Owen started mooing as we pulled in next to the cows. Before going out to see the animals we went and had a drink and snack on the terrace. As we walked onto the terrace Jackson’s teacher said, “the only problem is that the railings are low”. Um, yep, they were low alright. If Jackson had tripped while walked toward the edge of the terrace he would have launched right over the edge. It was below his waist. Which of course means that Owen could easily climb over! So as the 2 teachers sat and enjoyed visiting with Jackson I feverishly followed Owen to be sure he was safe.

After our tea time we went outside and picked prune plums. I am no expert on prunes or plums but I thought prunes were just dried plums. Apparently, there are plums from Italy that are known as prune plums. Anyhow, Jackson’s teacher grabbed him a bag and helped him pick a big bag full. Owen (my picky eater mind you) thought they looked good and started popping them in his mouth. No big deal except for the big pit. So I chased Owen around during our plum picking to ensure that I could help him pop out the pit. He was in heaven running through the tall wet grass, picking up freshly picked plums! They were like candy to him. As we finished the plum picking I remember sighing a sigh of relief thinking “whew, done with the terrace and the plum pit popping, now we can just enjoy looking at the animals and head home”.

I pulled out the camera and let Owen toddle down the dirt path ahead of us toward the cows. As I watched him walk with excitement ahead of me I made note of the fence and saw that he could not get too close to the cows or pony. I snapped a couple of pictures and headed his way. When I was about 10 steps from him he let out a huge scream and was thrown back from the fence. You guessed it, my sweet Owen got shocked by the cow fence. He had grabbed on with both hands and it threw him back and he plopped down crying and holding his hands out. I felt HORRIBLE!!! Here I thought I had things under control. Luckily he was not burned and he was fine beyond the initial shock.   We can now check “letting your child get shocked by a cow fence” off the list of mishaps!!

I have to add this for all of you parents with kids starting school…The irony of Jackson’s teacher inviting him over is that when he began last year she really had a tough time with him. For about a month or more I would go to pick him up and she would have some complaint. She didn’t quite know what to do with his energy and I think he really challenged her with his millions of questions. I literally started picking him up quickly and rushing out so she wouldn’t tell me about the morning. He was loving school and I reassured her that we had just made a move and left all of his friends and that I knew he needed time to transition. Pretty soon I noticed that she greeted Jackson cheerfully in the mornings and had made a special bond with him. He had become a helper in the class which was using some of that extra energy and she now “got him”. It was a tough transition and it was so hard as a mom to know that I had to relinquish my control and let him learn to be a part of a class. It made our adjustment to Bern quite hard.  But, a yr later Jackson had tea with his teachers that he once struggled with and they expressed to me how much joy Jackson had brought to the class and how much they would miss him this year. My prayer for Jackson is that God would provide teachers that “get him” along the way and that he will be able to use his strengths to continue to impact the lives of others.  He has an extra dose of energy that I myself struggle to channel but I hope that we have the resources along the way to help him grow and be a successful learner!

Nothing too exciting to blog about today…I will play catch up next week. We have a busy weekend ahead of us. Jackson has a birthday party tomorrow to go to and then on Sunday we have his end of the year school BBQ. We are hoping to take Jenny to Ballenberg tomorrow morning where they have an outdoor Museum on Swiss living. It is a neat farm with demos on bread making, traditionally dressed up cows, all that swissy stuff. Tonight we were planning to go to the pool for the evening but it is a wee bit chilly this afternoon so I am guessing we will raincheck that plan. I am betting a lazy evening is more of what we need!

Here are some pictures from the week to leave you with!

Sweet, yet ornery, tan baby

Last day of school for the yr was today. It is sad for Jackson to move on to a different school but we has loved his time at the English Speaking Playgroup. It was just what he needed as he transitioned into life in Bern!  He got to ride the tram with Seth to school today…He asked Seth to high-five before they left.

(Seth packed his lunch yesterday and I thought it was pretty impressive that he managed to fit a HUGE piece of chocolate cake in! I snapped a photo as evidence. Rationed cheetos, pb&j, a mini me apple and CHOCOLATE CAKE)

Happy Friday! May your chocolate cake be exponentially bigger than your apple!!

A couple of weeks ago I hosted a baby shower for a friend from the Embassy with a few other ladies. With everyone bringing food it meant I could focus on decorating and doing fun projects like icing a zillion cookies! The shower went off without a hitch and everyone had a great time! The mom-to-be didn’t want to be the center of attention so we made it a family affair! Here are some pictures!

Katie and Haley made AH-mazing cake balls. Red velvet with chocolate icing were the best! I am going to have to make those at home at Christmas time!

the kids decorated onesies that we hung on this cute line

Sweet mom-to-be!

Katie and Jeremy found the best dad gift ever for when he has to come up with dinner!  Being away from the US we hadn’t seen this but they found the pizza cookie combo box at the commissary! So funny.

Not sure if it’s officially summer yet, I know I should know the exact first day but here I am calling it early summer. It’s hot, we’re in shorts and short sleeves and we are enjoying the pleasures like picnicking, ice cream cones and our zoo membership.

A few months back we decided to buy a membership to the zoo. The boys are free so we just got one adult pass. It’s a 15 min walk from our house and the kids love it so at the time it seemed like a good investment.  It may still prove to be a good investment but I have to

be honest that I haven’t gotten as much use out of it as I have wanted.

On Tuesday, the boys and I ventured out for the morning to the zoo and then stopped on the way home to eat a quick picnic and skip a few rocks into the river. It was kind of a little boys dream morning.  I took along the camera and had some fun attempting shots while assisting with climbing and lunching.  I am enjoying capturing these moments that will be gone before we know it! I used to only take the “big camera” when Seth was going to be there so I could focus on taking pictures.   These aren’t as in focus but they are what they are!

(bring your swimsuit dad and Graham, Seth plans on going down the river with you)

It’s hard to see in this not so great pictures but the flamingos were guarding their eggs! I don’t think I have ever seen a flamingo nest!

a little scared without Jackson and sitting up

the highlight of the zoo is really the playground. It’s kind of a lame zoo from an adult perspective, lacking most of the big animals BUT as a parent I will say it is about as much zoo as the kids can do and enjoy and then the park makes up for the missing giraffes and elephants!

pb&j tastes better by the river

Jackson thought it would be nice to eat with shoes off and laying on his tummy watching the people pass by

We’ve gotten busy lately and I am enjoying those days when we decide it’s just going to be the 3 of us!  Sibling rivalry is getting to us these days but it’s these quiet walks and picnics together that I hope the boys will remember!