In early December I was invited to go on a girl’s getaway to celebrate my dear friend Leigh’s 30th! She had invited a group of her friends from Germany and asked if I would come along. I was honored! We headed out on Friday afternoon and Seth graciously dove in as SuperDad and kept the boys until Sunday afternoon when he and the boys joined us! So I got to have Friday night, Saturday and most of Sunday just with the girls. We ate and chatted and ate some more, shopped a little at the Interlaken Christmas market, drank hot wine, ate some more! Each of us took on a meal and it was really fun because everyone got really into their meals. We ate like queens all weekend and I am confident my pants were tighter when we left the chalet. It was such a fun time of celebrating Leigh and getting to know her sweet friends!

I missed the memo about wearing skinny jeans and tall boots. I have since gotten with the program and got some skinny jeans to go with my boots! Sheesh, someone should have told me sooner!

Katy Jo unexpectedly got to tag along for the girls weekend and was such a pleasure! She was a great sleeper and such a sweetie!

this was the view of the mountain directly in from of our chalet. Stunning!

Bo, Leigh and Katy Jo.  We are enjoying every chance we can to hang out while we live so close!

The boys and Seth came up on Sunday night to join in on the fun. We stayed in the chalet until Tues morning when we headed back to Bern. Unfortunately, we had no idea that Owen had a double ear infection. He didn’t sleep more than 20 mins at a time the first night and the second he was up screaming ALL night! Despite the ear infection and sleepless nights we enjoyed being on our first getaway as a family of 4. We sat by the fire, sipped hot chocolate and champagne and enjoyed each others company. We hope to go back someday when everyone is healthy!

carpenters workbench in a little shop we went in

Well, I think I always anticipate us doing something super exciting on New Year’s Eve. To be honest I don’t think we have even been up to kiss at midnight in quite a few yrs. Last yr I was probably up at midnight but it was to feed a little Owen baby and it was for sure not for fireworks and champagne!

This year we spent the morning sledding and now have plans for a very mellow evening of fondue, molten lava chocolate cake and some champagne (which may or may not be consumed at midnight). It has been a fun day. Seth’s parents are in town so that makes it feel more like a holiday. Seth lit a party popper that was a canister full of party blowers and streamers and Jackson shrieked “Happy New Year” as it exploded. I made Jackson an ice cream snowball (vanilla ice cream rolled in coconut) and put a sparkler in the top. That my friends, is the extent of our New Year’s fun. And these days it feels like more than enough.

fondue! they may or may not have mouthfuls!

2010 has been a very good year in the Kolb house. We always have our fair share of drama related to our frequent moves and transitions but overall this has been the smoothest move in many ways and our little family is growing up! I love babies but I am loving even more watching the boys as they learn and grow! I am looking forward to this coming year and all that it will bring with a 3 1/2 to be 4 yr old and a 1 yr old heading into walking, talking and wrestling his big brother. I am excited to enjoy another yr of marriage to Seth and to grow together as a couple and as parents.  I have hopes that 4 yrs old will be kinder to Jackson than 3 and that Seth and I will gain wisdom as we continue to try to crack this code in parenting.

This past yr has been filled with fun cooking and baking projects and some DIY crafty things. I hope to keep that up. But I did get an email forwarded from Seth about enrolling in the Foreign Services long-distance German program. Blek. That may or may not be on the yr’s agenda. We are spoiled in Bern because nearly everyone speaks English and in Bern most don’t speak German they speak Swiss German so no matter how many hours I spend on High German, really it’s all about the Swiss German.  I know many of you think “oh how amazing it is that you all can learn so many languages”. I guarantee my brain is as old and as limited as yours and I have 2 kids to keep alive and well so it just doesn’t seem as glamorous as some may think. We’ll see.

First up on the agenda for 2011 is a getaway with Seth. Seth and I are heading to Paris to celebrate our 5 yr anniversary. I have never been to Paris. It will be cold I am sure and I don’t know how much touristy stuff we will be doing. We will mostly be sleeping in, eating yummy food and enjoying the fact that we can finish sentences without being interrupted by our little ones.

On Tuesday we had a little family celebration for the little O man! We plan on having a few friends over to do a more formal celebration when Seth’s parents are in town for a visit but we couldn’t resist celebrating on the real day too! After naps we had cupcakes and Owen got to open his gifts. Seth and I had put up a banner and balloons which were a big hit! Here are a few pictures from our family gig!

Jackson worked hard on Owen’s birthday card. He was so proud of it! He drew the whole family, (heads with arms and legs minus the bodies)

a little groggy after nap, checking out his balloons

Owen loved the birthday boy and excitedly pulled out rubber duckies for the bath!

Sweet big brother!

He DEVOURED his cupcake! So much for being a picky eater that doesn’t want to try new things. He LOVED it!

Love you, Owen! Happy Birthday! We are so glad you are in our family!

We had kind of an extended Thanksgiving this year. We spent Thanksgiving Day in Bern doing untraditional things like eating Chinese food and walking around downtown looking at the windows all decorated for Christmas.  I will be honest holidays away from home are not something I look forward to. By the afternoon I was knee deep in self-pity and if my tired brain is remembering correctly my sweet husband had to basically say that he wasn’t going to want to hang out with me and take me to dinner if I didn’t cheer up. It is a weird lifestyle to begin with most days of the yr but I find holidays to be the toughest.  But by the time we had some dinner and took in some holiday cheer downtown things were looking up. On Friday we headed up to Kandern (not sure if it’s actually up but we headed there) for the weekend with Bo, Leigh and Katy Jo.

It has been a surreal experience for me each time we are with the Bowen’s on this side of the ocean. I always hoped to live near Leigh when we were both grown up and were married with babies but never thought it would happen. After going through all of the jr high, high school and college journeys together it is fun to continue the journey in closer proximity.

Here are some pictures from our Thanksgiving celebrations both in Bern and Germany

And now off to Kandern…it was a snowy day so we were a bit nervous about the roads. They were clear and it was amazing to do a roadtrip in a winter wonderland!

Friday night Bo and Leigh had arranged for some students from BFA to watch the kids so the grown-ups could go out to dinner! It was a much-needed night out!

pumpkin soup!

so maybe walking the icy hill with a loaded stroller wasn’t the wisest of decisions

the finished bird…best yr yet. Maybe we have finally gotten the hang of it.

I attempted a turkey roll for Jackson…he wasn’t as impressed as you would expect!

our spread

Bo had a broken foot but was a good sport about hosting a crowd!

Jackson waited all week to use the turkey napkin ring he had made at school. The time had finally come! He was so proud of his creation!

Owen had a wonderful first Thanksgiving..he wasn’t so sure of the strawberry bib that KJ lent him but he loved the food!

We had a wonderful weekend and arrived home on Sunday afternoon in time for Seth to shovel the driveway and Jackson to get some rosy cheeks! Followed by a round of hot chocolate!

Let the holiday season begin!