Well, if you had asked me yrs ago if I wanted boys or girls I would have said I thought God would probably give me 6 little girls because no way could I handle little boys. Ironically, I have 2 boys, that both happen to be ALL boy. And amazingly enough we are navigating our way through parenting little boys, some days quite blindly and with gas masks on but making it through nonetheless!

I hear lots of people say that boys are much easier than girls. I disagree so far. Maybe in the teenage yrs I will see this more clearly but right now they are tough. No tougher than girls but by no means easy. I feel the pressure to raise princes. Not spoiled brat princes but rather noble, God-fearing, sweet-natured, compassionate, gentle, kind, strong boys.  I want them to have good manners and for them to be a pleasure to be with. Sounds easy, right?! I will let you know when we are done about 20 yrs from now. In the midst of it I feel like it is a daily challenge. Thank goodness they have a wonderful daddy because he is able to model this so much more nobly than my naggy mom attempts to teach.

And just to give you a good laugh I will give you a tidbit from one of my morning conversations with Jackson. Disclaimer: you don’t have to read on.

As I was cleaning off one of Owen’s dirty cloth diapers Jackson asked if he could watch. Sure, whatever. So gross.

As he watched me he said, “I learned from George (curious george) that you can use warm poop to help grow your garden”

me: “Jackson, we don’t talk about bathroom things and I don’t really think George used warm poop to grow his garden.”

he argued with me for a few minutes and stayed strong in the argument that George really did teach him that. Finally he said, “no mom, not WARM poop, I said WORM poop” (as in using worms in a compost pile.)

me: “oh, well either way, we don’t talk about potty stuff”

Last week I bought myself a few new scarfs, accessories and a couple of casual dresses to wear with leggings. Now more than ever I feel the need to put on some more feminine, girly things to balance out these boys in the house. I love them to pieces but talking about WORM poop growing my garden at 7 AM just isn’t my fav way to begin my day.

I am guessing I have posted this pic before but I couldn’t resist. You can see the pleasure in his smile. He loves it!

Seth is gone this week for the Davos economic conference. It’s a big deal and huge honor for him to be in the posse. He is assigned to Geithner (sp?), the US Secretary of Treasury. He will be rubbing shoulders with some pretty impressive people. He is enjoying the work so far (he left at the crack of dawn Sunday) and will be there until sometime Friday or Saturday. I am so glad for him but really missing him too!

I got spoiled for the last couple of days because my friend Leigh came in from Germany to keep me company! She and Jackson baked a cake for me for my birthday today. Now that she is gone I am trying so hard to keep my mood in check and stay on top of these boys. I am worn out because Seth helps with SO much.

This morning Jackson came in well before wake up time and told me he was having a hard time sleeping. I went in and tried to get him back to bed. He laid on the floor and began a fit. None of my reasoning helped so finally I blurted out “it’s my birthday, I need you to wait in bed until your bunny clock says it is time to get up and then I need you to come find me and sing to me.” Silence, then he quietly climbed back into bed and whispered excitedly, “okay mom, goodnight”. When his clock went off he busted out his door and met me in the hallway. He broke out into a boisterous “Happy Birthday” tune. Made my day!

It was fun with Seth’s parents visiting because we are getting to do more touristy things that we had been saving for when guests came.  Before Seth’s dad left we took a day trip to Gruyere where we toured the Gruyere Chateau and the cheese factory. It was a cute little town with shops and fondue restaurants. We packed a picnic that we ate around the fountain in the middle of town. Our fingers nearly froze because it wasn’t really warm enough to be picnicking! If I had been on my own I would have ditched the lovely picnic and cozied up to a pot of fondue in one of the chalets.

Here are a few pictures!

sporting his fox hat from Graham and Tina! So cute!

Jackson only agreed to a picture if everyone stuck their tongue out

I don’t think Owen totally has a Kolb nose but he tried to scrunch his in this picture to look like the men

clearly he would not have lasted long had he lived in the times of canons and castles

just pretty

what? no more cheese samples?!

we bundled up and headed out that evening just the adults in downtown Bern!

Spring was trying to hard to spring here last week in Bern….now the snow is falling again. I am enjoying the snow but I am so thankful for the hope of the Spring to come!!! The winter blues get shaky when they see the rays of sunlight and feel the warmth of the season to come!