…every single pair of Jackson’s jeans have a hole worn in them…it’s time for shorts

…i replaced the dried up winter greens in the house with forsythia and pussy willows!

…we burned the last of our hot chocolate candle today..it’s time for something fresh and new!

…we are antsier than ever for the weather to warm up so we can officially tuck the coats, gloves and hats away!

…the atrium is begging for some pots spilling over with flowers. (you mean you didn’t know an atrium can talk?! ours can…unfortunately I am the only one that hears it begging for pots of flowers)

…it’s still light when Seth comes home! Bring on the evening walks!

This new season brings us closer to our upcoming move which means I need to get in gear with sorting through and getting rid of things we don’t need. We will be downsizing on space and I want to take only the necessities!  We are getting into that funny time when everyone knows we are leaving soon and that is all they want to talk about. Most people assume we are already on our way out and our friends back home know we are coming back. It is hard feeling some days like we are neither here nor there. Fortunately we have some time left here to enjoy the friendships we have here and to Swiss spring and part of the summer before we have to brace for going back to fix up our home!

You may have seen my little bit on Spring over at World Moms Blog earlier this week. We are ready for it!

“No matter how long the winter, spring is sure to follow” -Proverb

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Happy Friday, y’all! Only 11 hours until date night here in Switzerland!! We can make it!

 

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Week before last was Fastnacht in Bern. It is Carnaval season all over Europe right now. Everyone is dressing up, throwing confetti and hoping that winter will move on out and bring in Spring. the boys and I went downtown with our friends for an afternoon of confetti, music, crowds of people and warm, welcoming sunshine at the children’s parade. Jackson wanted nothing else than to be superman and Owen was just happy to be along for the ride, refusing any fuss of a hat or bells!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Turns out the festivities did little to scare away winter. We had a beautiful week last week but we are back to snow and rain today! No fun! Out comes the hot chocolate again as we hunker down and wait for the beautiful weather to return.

 

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Well the bad news is we are nearing the end of our last fondue season in Switzerland…the good news is we are nearing the end of our last fondue season in Switzerland. It seems we have acquired some baby tummies around here, only not the sweet, human kind, the “fondue baby” kind. It doesn’t help that each and every guest that comes has been dreaming of a pot of hot, bubbly fondue when they come! We do it for the guests, I say! Recently we had friends for fondue and we were trying to figure out how many times we had had fondue since we arrived. Because we have had 26 guests Seth said at least 26 times…that number is not really accurate because thankfully we had groups of guests which means we didn’t eat it THAT often.  Here is the evidence of how many pots we had with guests…the rest are unfortunately unaccounted for.  At least we won’t look back longingly on our time here wishing we had just enjoyed it. We have!

Last night I had a girls night out with some gals at the Fondu Hutte…here are some not so great pictures…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We ordered herb fondue and sun-dried tomato fondue.  They were both delicious!! I am often scared to stray from the plain old cheese but these were both worth trying at home. If you are local and you haven’t tried the Fondue Hutte you will have to try it out! It’s a cozy set up with furs and blankets around, a fireplace and just generally very wintery and Swiss looking. Great for tourists as well. It isn’t cheap but a fun treat during fondue season. I believe they are only open November through February for fondue and they mainly do group reservations so you have to get a table on one of the few nights when it is open seating. Which I believe is Wednesday and Thursday!  So hop on over before they close for the season!

Back to the fondue baby tummy… my goal for the coming months is to get into shape before our move. Unfortunately stress doesn’t  normally do amazing things for me like help me miraculously drop the pounds!   My attempts to exercise with the boys is comical. Yesterday I did crunches with Owen on my stomach and Jackson whipping around the exercise band. Fun times, I tell you. I am looking forward to Spring when the birds are chirping, the sky is blue and the temps are above 7 measly degrees. I can meet Seth at the door and leave for a walk before he even realizes that he has been abandoned with the starving housebound heathens boys.   Here’s hoping for a healthy Spring! And the loss of fondue tummies!

 

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Our Swiss friends have been telling us about their apartment in the mountains since we arrived. It is in Grindelwald where we went with my brother Graham and my sister-in-law Tina. This past weekend they lent us their place for a few days. I kept it a secret from Seth until his birthday so he only knew about it for a couple of days before we went. I was actually hesitant to go at all considering it would require all of the packing of snow gear and resettling of kids with sleep. But we decided to give it a go and thought it might be a the perfect break from the house hunt stresses. Turns out the kids slept relatively well but the house craziness continued with numerous interactions with the bank and our realtor, i.e. messages in the night and wee hours of the morning. We still haven’t heard the final word on our counter offer but we are hoping for news tomorrow when the bank is back to work.

After a relatively snow free winter here in Bern it was fun to have some really snowy days! We left Bern Friday around lunch time and started with lunch at the Trucker Bar…sounds delightful huh. Seth had read they have the best burgers in Bern….after which I decided it’s just better to wait until the US for burgers. It looked good but was a bit scary. But then again it might have been the atmosphere that threw me. We hit the rode, arrived in the afternoon and geared up to sled and play in the snow. The next morning we went sledding at a place around the corner where they offer ski lessons and lots of winter sports. Seth and Jackson got sled passes and rode the automatic ramp up and the sled down. That afternoon we went to the indoor pool at the sports center. On Sunday we woke up to big beautiful snowflakes. We played in the snow with some oh so grumpy Kolb boys and had a big pot of fondue before packing up and heading back home. The boys slept like champs last night once they were back cuddled up in their own beds. The trip might have been just what Owen needed to jolt him back to being a sleeper.

Here are some pictures from the weekend.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Grindelwald

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

view from balcony

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

(not sure if you can tell but it appeared a bird landed in the snow and left his wing markings)

 

 

 

 

 

 

a bit deep for snow angels

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

happy boy

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

rosy cheeks

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Heidi was our main read of the weekend

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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