Weekly Routines

I returned home to find TONS of snow in Zurich. The kids were thrilled, and so we celebrated by playing outside after school. Since we don't get that much snow at our place, it was fun to have enough to really build - forts, snow"people" (not just men, as Kate was quick to point out), and sliding tracks.

The rest of the week was filled with lots of the usual busy-ness.... playdates with friends, grooming appointments for both Chopper and me, and Lego Club with Jack's buddies at school.

On Friday, Jay returned (after 10pm) from his long week away, and it was great to have him back for a very quiet weekend.

On Saturday, we took the kids into town for dinner. Our real motive was to take "Flat Stanley" (pictured below) out on the town. Stanley is on loan to us from our cousin, Sami, so we were anxious to take him around - and photograph him enjoying Zurich.

On Sunday, we celebrated our friend, Mike Kelly's, 40th birthday, by having a family dinner with the Kelly and Baganz family. It was a fun evening, and even more exciting as Stacey and Ryan had just purchased a home in Dallas (where they will be returning to in May). We all had fun looking at the pictures and seeing the beautiful home they will be moving into.

During the next week, the kids had their Parent-Teacher conferences, so we had half-days on Wednesday and Thursday. During Wednesday morning, I went into Kate's class (pictured below) for Science Day. My table was all about mixing different things with water. It was a really fun morning, and I enjoyed the "fly on the wall" view of Kate interacting with her teachers and classmates.

It was really nice, as we had a chance to do some of the things we don't do that often anymore. On Wednesday, I took the kids to the toy store for haircuts and snacks. After weeks of fighting me (on wearing barrettes or headbands), Kate decided bangs are pretty cool - because your mother doesn't make you wear anything to pull your hair back - and opted to have her bangs cut again. :)

On Thursday, we went over to my friend, Annemarie's, house for lunch. The kids had a blast playing together - and Annemarie and I had an opportunity to really catch up, which was very nice.

After lunch, I took the kids to ICS, where the teachers had organized supervision, while I had my conference with Jack's teacher. Everything went really well - Jack really has the perfect teacher for him, and it was so nice to hear how well he is doing in the classroom (especially since some of that good behavior doesn't always manifest itself at home!). We celebrated the conferences with a few surprises that Jay and I had got in advance.. a lego set for Jack, and a Sleeping Beauty doll for Kate...

On Friday, we were BUSY... packing for Austria (we were leaving on Saturday), and getting ready for a dinner party that I was hosting that evening for some of Jay's colleagues from Baxter. We also hosted an impromptu playdate with Benny, whose mother had gone into the hospital unexpectedly (she is pregnant with twins). To everyone's surprise (most of all Angie and Jim!), the babies arrived the next day. All appears to be going well, but at 28 weeks, it was definitely an early surprise. It was so nice to be able to help out Angie, and I'm hoping we can do more for her over the next few weeks, as these are the times when it is clear just how far away from home we all are.

The Friday night dinner was really fun. We had two couples over, and shared many stories and laughs. Together, we represented Switzerland, Spain, Germany, and America - fun to compare the cultures of all of us together... Finally, after 1am (very late for us!), Jay and I climbed into bed, completely exhausted... but at least the car was nearly packed... here we come, ski week!