Playdates and Studying

We returned from ski week to a busy few weeks back at home. Jay and I had registered (awhile back) to take the B1 German exam on Saturday, March 13th. And we returned from Austria, realizing we only had 19 days left - and that I was not even close to being ready. As an example, the guides state that you need to know 2500 words by the test date - and at our current count, we were at 1200... so the cramming began! Jay and I committed to only watch German TV at night, only speak to each other in German (whenever possible), and to practice the tests each evening...

It felt like being back in college - only with one major change. 36 year old brains do not absorb information the same way that 18 year old brains do... there were nights where I swear I could feel the synapses in my brain firing up (with some pain). :) And while I'm not sure you can really "cram" learning a language, we gave it a good try...

Also during this time, we kept busy hosting lots of playdates for the kids. Jack's friends Emma and Benny came over a few times, and we also had our buddies Chance, Brooks, Ava and Colin over for a kid dinner. We also had some great outings with new friends - Jay and I had a really fun dinner out with the Mahler's (Claudia has become a good friend of mine from ICS), and we had a nice brunch with the Munk-Riis family (Annemarie is also a very good friend).

Over the weekend, we treated the kids to a performance of the Blue Man Group. Jack absolutely loved it - he thought the music was incredible, and laughed at all of their antics. Unfortunately, it was not quite a hit with Kate, so after an hour, I took her outside to wait out the rest of the show. Regardless, it was fun to see (Jay and I had never seen them before), and it was a nice family outing for a winter day.

During the next week, German practice took a back seat to entertaining... we had Jay's colleague and good friend, Camille, over for dinner on Monday night. He is a wonderful mentor to Jay, and so it was fun to talk about Jay's career - and have someone else play the role of "interviewer," asking Jay tons of questions.

The next night, we had our friend, Jesse, over for dinner. His wife, Leanne, and their children (Abby and Luke) have been back in Minnesota since November, as Leanne's mother passed away last month. Leanne and the kids will stay in Minnesota until school starts next Fall, so it was nice to see Jesse, and to catch up on how they all are handling a very difficult time. We keep them all in our prayers, and hope that they return to Zurich soon.

On Wednesday, the kids and I had a group playdate at Kate's friend, Julia's, house. And the kids experienced the most incredible playroom they have ever seen in their life. Julia is the same friend who hosted the most incredible Halloween party we had ever attended (as nice as many weddings we've been to), so I guess I should not have been surprised by the playroom - but I was still blown away. It was like walking into Franz Carl Weber, our very fancy toy store. There were multiples of everything - 4 play kitchens, several life size castles, you name it... and all organized meticulously. The kids were speechless... :)

On Thursday, I went to the zoo with Jack's kindergarten class for the day. His teacher, Miss Mills, had hurt her knee the previous weekend sledding, so she asked my friend Alyse and I to accompany the kids for the day. It was a freezing cold day, so we were thrilled to learn that we'd be spending a good part of the day in the rain forest area (inside!). It was great to be with the kids - and so fun to see what good "scientists" they were, searching for creatures and plants. And it is always nice to see Jack in his own "natural habitat."

The highlight of Kate's week came when a big box arrived from Sami - filled with new clothes, accessories, a tricycle and car seat for Bitty Baby. We had fun dressing up all the babies in the new gear, and Bitty even hosted a birthday party for all her fancy friends (above).

On Friday, we had a playdate over at Chance's house, which was a great time to catch up with Stacey and Jen... Stacey is one of the most efficient people I know, and so it has been fun (although a bit sad) to watch her prepare for their move home. She is super organized, and every time we see her, she is handing over things to us... the good thing is, I think she's got it so well orchestrated, that their last month in Zurich will be quite enjoyable for them - rather than being super stressed. It was a great ending to a busy two weeks.