It is a rainy morning here in Bern. Thank goodness! I have been loving the sunny weather but the pollen has almost been unbearable. I hope it rains hard enough and long enough today to wash the pollen away! But along with rainy days comes the need to occupy the kids inside more!

Most of you know that Jackson attends a playgroup 2 mornings a week. They call it a playgroup…it’s basically a Mother’s Day Out. They do crafts and learn about seasonal things, they have playtime and music time. It is more structured than a free for all but not a formal preschool. One of Jackson’s favorite things to do at “school” is play with playdough. We have it at home so it isn’t novel to him but he thinks it’s different there. One day when I picked him up the teacher said “I promise on Friday I will get you the recipe for the playdough”. I thought, “hmmm. Okay, no rush. I had no idea we needed it.”  On Friday the teacher made a beeline to me with the recipe. She explained that while Jackson played with the playdough one day he asked all about where to buy that kind. She explained that she made it and he asked her for the recipe. Such a funny kid.

A couple of weeks ago on a rainy Sunday morning Jackson and Seth made a batch! Jackson and Owen have enjoyed it so much so I thought I would share the recipe with you too.  I added a few of my own little tidbits but all credit goes to the English Speaking Playgroup for this fab recipe.

ESP’s Famous Playdough Recipe

2 tsp of cream of tartar

1 cup plain flour

1/2 cup of salt

1 T. oil

1 cup water

Mix ingredients into a smooth paste. Stir in some drops of food coloring. Cook slowly on the stove over low heat until the dough comes away from the sides of the pan. When it is cool enough, knead for 3-4 mins. Put water in pan to soak to make sure it doesn’t stay forever!

My sweet friend Amy in Bogota made some for Jackson’s second birthday. I don’t know what recipe she used but I bet it was similar! She made 4 colors and put them into little plastic tubs! It was a super cute, cheap birthday gift that Jackson LOVED and enjoyed for months following!

Hope you and your kids enjoy!!

We did things a little differently for mother’s day this year. We celebrated on Sat because Seth was worried that so many things would be closed on Sunday. The boys took me downtown to the market that I LOVE! I could spend hours roaming the market, taking in the sights and smells! Now I knew going into it that Jackson didn’t have the same feelings because 10 minutes before leaving the house Seth told him about the plans. He screamed “I don’t like mothers day and I DON’T LIKE THE MARKET”. So, we browsed quickly to keep the troops happy. Jackson actually had a great time and lasted longer than expected. After taking it all in we hopped over to the homemade taco stand and bought tacos and quesadillas to take to the park nearby. We also bought some cherries and blueberries at the market to add to the picnic. We had a fun lunch and the boys got to run around.

Yesterday on Mother’s Day Jackson and Seth made Pioneer Woman’s Lemon Blueberry Pancakes which were amazing!! Jackson gave me the cards he had made at school last week and the boys tried so hard to behave! (It’s Mother’s Day stressful when kids know all you want is for them to be easy-going and on their best behavior) We had a pretty chill day of bike riding and church!

Deeper thoughts on motherhood later…for now, some pictures from our day

I love how they put the bouquets into old cans

Super curious how much the farmer would sell this painting of a tomato for! I *may* have asked Seth to sneak back during a weekday market to ask. I love it!

a proud bride and groom parading through the market.

These days Owen feels so big to me, this picture reminds me in the big picture that he is still my little guy!

these were my favorite flowers of the day. Jackson picked them out with Seth…saying he knew I would love pink!  Truly blessed to have 2 beautiful, healthy boys and a husband that helps me raise them!!  Thanks boys for a special Mother’s Day!

In our grocery store there is a bagged salad section similar to what you would see in the US. When I am lazy and don’t feel like washing lettuce (read: every time I go to the store because I am in a season of my life that does not warrant lettuce washing except for RARE circumstances)  I head on over and grab a bag of greens.  A few months ago I discovered that they have one bag that is the salad of the month. During the Fall I was pleased to discover chopped apples in one of the bags. Since I don’t speak German I usually don’t even attempt to decipher the ingredients. I just glance in the bag and if it seems relatively normal I snag it.

Yesterday I hurried through the store on my way to get Jackson from school. I grabbed the salad of the month for May. Much to our surprise last night we had a salad with heart shaped carrots.  Somewhere in the Swiss alps there is a machine set to cut carrots into hearts for the month of May.

I can’t even imagine what the salad of the month for June will contain!!

Some of you may or may not know that every few months we take a trek to Heidelburg, Germany to buy groceries at the commissary there. The reasoning isn’t that we miss Ranch dressing or salsa but that we can’t afford to buy groceries  solely on the Swiss market. And the Embassy knows that and provides us with a base pass in Germany. I about died when we arrived and I did our first grocery shopping trip. Our social sponsor took me to the big grocery store to stock up. I got a cart full of basics and it cost over $400. No joke.  This lasted us about a week and I was almost in tears to return to the store the following week! If I hadn’t been in so much shock I would have taken a picture of the receipt.  In the future maybe I will do a blog on how much basics cost here like bread, milk, etc. Just for fun! I remember telling my friend Katie when we arrived that we would have to drive to Germany or France in order to buy full out groceries. She gave me such a hard time and teased how “bad” she felt that I would have to pop over to France for groceries. In all honesty, it isn’t a luxury to drive to another country for groceries. France being closeby is so nice, having to go there for food, not so nice.  It isn’t a given that post will have a commissary. We had a small one in Bogota with “necessities” so it is really nice to have a full store in our part of Europe.  We know our access is a luxury. Can we live without American products? Absolutely. Can we afford to buy only locally? Ummm, not so much.

Okay, back to Heidelburg. So basically in  addition to a few treats we buy nearly all of the meat, paper goods,  canned goods and bread we will need for 3-4 months. If we are having guests during those times we buy extra to make sure we can have plenty of meals to offer. It is a bigger job than I ever imagined to attempt to anticipate our grocery needs that far in advance. And an even bigger job to get there, buy that much food, pack it into coolers of ice in the trunk and make the trek back. My friend Leigh has been a trooper on 2 occasions and has made part of the trip with me. She has the benefit of getting a few American goodies but I score the bigger reward of getting a day with her, kid-free!!

A week or so ago Seth and I decided we needed to do a trip but I didn’t want to do the trip alone, and I really didn’t want him to do it alone. SO, in a moment of insanity we decided to make the trip again with both boys! In all reality the day went much better than I would have expected. We had moments of laughter and lots of moments when the boys were reaching to peel off the seal around the windows to make an escape from the car!

We left home at 8 AM and arrived home after 9 PM. Because it was a Friday and lots of people are Spring-breaking we ran into lots of traffic and slowdowns. We made the most of it and enjoyed some family time. We took a few videos and pictures throughout the day to document a typical Heidelburg grocery journey for you!

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about 10 mins into the drive. We stopped for gas, trunk full of igloo coolers, and the boys already a bit edgy!

using his sleep sack to attempt a nap…trying to block us out

Blues skies and lots of fields of yellow goldenrod- looking flowers

miles and miles of cars…or kilometers and kilometers of cars, whichever you feel more comfortable with! For us it was miles and miles! We sang lots and lots of silly songs and attempted to lighten the mood. Sometimes our listeners welcomed our singing at other times it caused eruptions of whining and other potentially obnoxious behaviors. The good news is that our kids tend to take turns “having a moment”…well, it could be good news but really what it means it that when they each take a turn you potentially have many minutes occupied by someone’s turn.

3 1/2+ hours and we were finally getting close!! Hang in there boys!

As we approached the gate and sat in a line waiting for our passports to be checked Jackson made up a rap song…Seth did backup

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After a quick lunch at the base food court the boys and Seth went to the park on base while I did the shopping.

Jackson immediately recognized the park as being just like the ones in the US that he went to with his cousins. It was padded ground, child-size climbing gear and there was even a safe section for Owen!

after the boys got refreshed and I had the majority of the shopping done they came to offer moral support on the final lap around the store. By the second cart, I was getting weary and wishing that Leigh was there to help me hunt for the final items on the list!  Checkout took a good while. But can I just tell you how amazing it was that cheerful employees bagged my groceries for me. You bag your own groceries in Switzerland which is fine but with 2 carts full I may have melted on the floor in tears. It was so nice to have their help!

We loaded the car, buckled the boys in, refreshed their drinks and snacks and headed on our way.

(oh wait, don’t forget the potty. We strategically held Jackson’s potty out so that it wouldn’t get buried in the massive load of stuff….you are probably thinking for sanitary reasons, however it was for very practical potty emergency on roadtrip reasons. always thinking.)

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by 4 pm when we pulled out of the parking lot Jackson crashed! And we jumped right into a huge traffic jam!

We pulled over when we saw a family-friendly place called Schnitzel Huber. Turns out it really was family friendly and the boys were even able to play in a play corner. The food wasn’t as delicious as these boys in the sign make it looks but it was a perfect stop for weary travelers.

We got the boys in their pj’s after dinner, Jackson tried out the new hoola-hoop from the commissary to get the final energy out and we hopped back in the car for the final leg of the trip.

When we arrived home we got the boys in their beds and began to unload the groceries. I meant to count the bags and show you all of the organization of the giant freezer but by then I was a tad bit worn out and had to focus on unloading the slightly defrosted items.

above is one of the loads…this doesn’t include the freezer or fridge stuff. And I meant to take a picture of the receipt. It was as tall as me! After previously budgeting more on a weekly basis it can be frightening to buy for a few months!

In the end we forgot Dr. Pepper for Seth. So sad. That is one of the treats I always bring back for him. Poor guy!  If that is the only thing we forgot though in our 14 hour journey I would say we did pretty well!