This is my question for anyone I encounter that has lived in Bern longer than us. My Colombian neighbor that has lived here for years swears it will still snow again. The Swiss say we can count on another snow by April or even into April. What???? Let’s hope these snow-loving people are so wrong. Because I NEED Spring. Yes, I said NEED. I need some regular sunshine and time outside of this house. And so do the boys. We have had some really nice days this week and we have gotten out each afternoon after nap.The gardeners came and cleared out the old grasses and plants, revealing tons of tulip, daffodil looking plants! So exciting! I keep telling myself that the gardeners would not have cleared the winter plants away until winter was over. Right?!

Earlier this week when the weather looked promising we dug out some outside trucks and the t-ball set Aunt Sara and Uncle Thomas sent Jackson a while back. Spring training you know. Well, Owen, in case you all weren’t aware has some very promising baseball skills. The fact that the boy knew how to hold the bat, place the ball on the tee, followed by a vigorous and well-aimed effort to hit the ball off the tee, is amazing to me! Walking has given him a whole new lease on life.  He feels so liberated to try to keep up with Jackson.

sneaky guy

Jackson is also loving the spring fling. He is out the atrium door before I even know he is gone. Often half in pj’s and without shoes.   He is in teacher mode with Owen these days, showing him the ropes on the big boy bike, ball throwing and rock skipping. Owen is usually receptive. Usually.  Jackson is also staying busy with his English playgroup. We added a morning last week so he now goes Wed and Fri mornings. He loves it. This week they have been preparing for Carnaval that begins this weekend. We will be going to the kinder parade tomorrow afternoon. Pictures of that to come I am sure! Below is his clown mask he made!

So this isn’t officially a Foreign Service blog. We happen to be an FS family so this blog includes lots about our life as such but it isn’t meant to be “for the Foreign Service”. But lately I have been getting comments from other FS wives. I appreciate you all checking in. I am not sure how we got on the list of blogs and it makes me nervous but I am excited to likewise find other blogs and share in that community. We share a crazy lifestyle. I want to take advantage of your experiences and ask a few questions that have been nagging me. This is the one that gets me the most lately….

How is your lifestyle in the FS affecting your children…don’t give me the “kids are so resilient” stuff, tell me what the joys have been for your kids and where the challenges have been. Our 3 1/2 yr old has struggled with this particular move more than I anticipated and it has my wheels turning.

If you are comfortable, please share!!!  I would love to glean a little wisdom on this parenting abroad business!

On Valentine’s Day, the O’Leary chicas along with 2 friends came to visit for the week. We had such a fun time.  The boys got spoiled rotten by all of the attention. We walked by the river, shopped, toured Bern, Thun and a couple of towns in France, ate, laughed hard, and had a wonderful time!

One of my memories of living with Annie was of her making her famous devil dog cookies. They were awesome! So for her visit I made heart-shaped red velvet whoopie pies! They turned our better than expected. I was sure they would look like big blobs. And I had about a 4th of the food coloring I needed. So mine were hot pink and not so red but you get the idea.

here was the recipe I used…

http://annies-eats.net/2010/02/08/red-velvet-whoopie-pies/

Enough about the treats..here are a few pictures from our time. I haven’t uploaded them all yet.

So fun to have Annie, Suzanne and all of the girlies here! Wish we all lived closer! Still having some withdrawl!

I have to admit, Seth and I were both shocked to realize that he was turning 32 this year. All year long he thought he was only 30. Oh my. We are getting older faster than we thought. I think we still think of ourselves and post college, newly weds who just happened to have our kids at a young age. Anyhow, back to the birthday.

Last Sunday was Seth’s birthday. We let him sleep in and baked him a chocolate cake while he slept. When we woke him up we served him breakfast in…nope not bed, in a tent. And Ikea igloo tent. Jackson was so excited! He and Seth sat in the tent and ate breakfast sandwiches.

Late morning after Owen had napped we gave him his gift and had some cake (to avoid the boys having their sugar rush before their nap).  We gave him a tent to go camping with the boys! For those of you that don’t know we live just above the river and in particular the campgrounds along the river. I know the boys will enjoy lots of daddy bonding with the new tent!

Here are a few pictures.

being silly