Friday, February 8, 2008

Cesar's first day in Pre-K

We finally found a day care that would take Cesar (hard in the middle of the year). It's called "Little School" and Cesar LOVES it! He only goes twice a week but he counts days in between. He can't wait to go back. He has so much fun and is learning some English words. He's already picked up so much French over the past few months, it was time to do something for him to learn English. Look at this little grin!




Growing so fast!

Isn't she adorable? It's incredible how much she has grown these past few months. When we came home from Guatemala, Rosa's head reached the bottom of the white part of her high chair. Look at her now, her head has reached the top of the chair! My little girl... not so little anymore.



Hi there!

The flight back

I have to admit I was VERY nervous about the flight back to the US: 11 hours stuck in a plane with a 14 month old and a 2 year old, during the day (the flight to Europe was easy since it was a night flight, everyone was sleeping). I can now say more than ever that I have two absolutely wonderful children. We didn't have one problem, no tantrums, no screaming, no meltdowns. They were awesome the entire way! Here are some pictures to prove it if you don't believe me.


Nap time!

Playtime...



Believe me or not, but the food was awesome!





... in fact, it was so good that Cesar had a fork in each hand!

Where is Daddy? Here he is!

In the snow


We woke up the day after Christmas to see everything covered in snow. It was awesome. So we bundled up the kids (Cesar, Rosa and their cousin Leo) and went outside. We weren't as wise as the Cross's or the Mohrs and didn't think to use the laundry basket as a sleigh. We just used big garbage bags. It was a lot of fun and Cesar loved it especially when he was sliding off the bag! Also we are lucky that my mother and brother are living on a golf course, we actually had little slopes to slide down. We had such a good time, I am so glad that the children got to enjoy the snow for the first time - who knows when this opportunity will come our way again... not in Florida, that's for sure!




Thursday, February 7, 2008

Christmas

Our first Christmas as a family.. what can we say? ... Not only that but we were with my entire family in France. It was wonderful. Santa Claus (of course) stopped by, Rosa got so excited again when she saw him - even though she doesn't make the relation with the presents yet, but Cesar does and he was really excited too. The kids were spoiled and we had to buy a huge suitcase and borrow two more to bring it all back! I did say "small presents" to everyone. I guess they didn't hear the part where I thought "and only one per child".


Rosa with her Papylou. Isn't she beautiful in her red dress?






On Christmas day, we went to my aunt and uncle's house as we used to do every Christmas for as long as I can remember. I love this picture with my brother Philippe (Cesar calls him Tonton Ip), his son Leo, Cesar, Rosa and myself. And no... I didn't plan for Rosa to be dressed with the same colors as I had... it just happened that way. Remember, it was towards the end of our trip, not many clean clothes left! :)


On the way to France

A few days before Christmas, we left our apartment in Switzerland to go spend the last few days in Europe with my parents in France. The trip is usually not bad at all, only three hours but that time we got stuck in traffic jams and had snow on the way. The kids were wonderful though. Here are a few pictures to prove it.





We're back!

Okay, I know, there is absolutely no excuse for me not to have posted here in almost two months. Two months??!! Time flies... We've been back home in sunny Florida for a little over a month now and we've been so so swamped but we're finally settling into a nice routine. Today was the first day that I took off from work since we got back, the kids are taking their nap so I can actually spend a little time posting some of the pictures that we have accumulated since our departure from Switzerland. I promise I will make an effort to post on a more regular basis. I know how much I love to look at my friend's blogs and can't wait for them to post another story or more pictures of their little angels. I just need to do the same thing and include this in our routine. I'll get there.... eventually. :)

Saturday, December 15, 2007

Kids say the darndest things (continued)

Today Cesar was stroking Oscar's hair and told him that he needed to go take a shower because his hair was dirty... grey! :)
FR: Aujourd'hui César caressait les cheveux de son papa quand il lui a dit qu'il faut qu'il aille prendre une douche parce qu'ils sont sales... gris! :)

Last week in Switzerland

This is already our last week in Switzerland. And what a week! Rosa has been sick with Rotavirus. It's already pretty bad on its own but if you're not at home, only have a tiny washing machine where you can only put a couple of things in it, have to hang everything in a cellar on a line where it's so cold that even in two days it doesn't dry properly and have to change Rosa's clothes three-four times a day, you can just imagine the fun! The poor thing gets the sickest during the night with bad cramps and wakes up every hour. We're hoping it will be over soon! Besides that, we are really looking forward to going home. Switzerland is absolutely beautiful as you have seen in the pictures but we miss home. We miss our house, our cat, our friends, the kids miss their toys and books. However, there are also a few things that we will miss from Switzerland: the good bread and pastries, the wine, the wonderful cheeses and the chocolate!! We ate so much of it though that we're not even planning on taking some home. We will miss our dear friends from Switzerland, we will miss our walks by the lake, the ducks, the swans, the goat and the pig (this reminds me I still need to take a picture of them!). We will miss the beautiful landscape but we will not miss the weather, we can't wait to get back to sunny Florida (in the 80's now). One thing for sure: we will leave Switzerland next Saturday with wonderful memories of the past two months.

FR: Et voilà déjà notre dernière semaine en Suisse. Comme le temps passe vite ! Et quelle semaine ! Rosa a été malade avec une espèce de gastro. C’est déjà pas drôle comme ca mais quand on est pas à la maison, qu’on a qu’une toute petite machine à laver la lessive où il n’y a que quelques habits qui y rentrent, quand on doit tout accrocher à la cave où il fait si froid que même au bout de deux jours les habits ne sont parfois pas secs et qu’on change Rosa d’habits deux à trois fois par jour, vous pouvez juste imaginer comme ce n’est pas drôle du tout ! La pauvre semble être le plus malade la nuit avec des mauvaises crampes qui la réveillent toutes les heures. Nous espérons que ca ira mieux très bientôt !
A part ca, nous attendons avec impatience notre retour à la maison. La Suisse est absolument magnifique comme vous avez pu le constater sur les photos mais la maison nous manque beaucoup. En fait, c’est la maison, le chat, nos amis qui nous manquent, César parle aussi des livres qu’il a à Gainesville sans arrêt. En tout cas, il y a quelques choses de Suisse qui nous manqueront aussi : le bon pain, les croissants, les desserts, le vin, les bons fromages et le chocolat !! En fait, nous en avons mangé tellement que nous ne prévoyons même pas d’en ramener avec nous. Nos amis de Suisse vont nous manquer, les promenades au bord du lac aussi, les canards, les cygnes, la chèvre et le cochon (ce qui me rappelle que je dois encore en prendre une photo). Les merveilleux paysages vont nous manquer, mais pas les températures, pour cela nous avons hâte de rentrer a Gainesville où il fait encore 27 degrés semble-t-il ! Une chose est sûre : nous quitterons la Suisse samedi prochain avec beaucoup de bons souvenirs de ces deux derniers mois.

Brunch and walk by the lake

Last Sunday, we went to our friend's house Denis to have brunch with him and his two children Sven and Cleo. Since they live by the lake, we decided to go there via the scenic route. One thing we didn't realize was that on the way there we would get drenched (even though it wasn't raining when we left our place - and it's only a 10 minute walk) and that on the way back, we would freeze! Here are a few pictures to prove it.

FR: Dimanche dernier nous sommes allés chez notre ami Denis pour partager avec lui et ses deux enfants Sven et Cléo un bon brunch. Comme ils habitent au bord du lac, nous nous sommes dit que nous allions y aller à pied. Malheureusement, nous n’avions pas prévu qu’en chemin nous allions nous faire saucer (bien qu’il ne pleuvait pas quand nous sommes partis de notre appartement et que ca ne prend que 10 minutes à pied pour y arriver). Au retour, le vent s’est levé et il faisait un froid de canard. Mais quelle belle région tout de même.