School, birthday, and things.

Jethro and Hazel started school on Monday of last week.  It was rainy, so we took pictures inside and my dying camera didn’t do too well, but we got one decent traditional picture (before they put their jackets on to go out). We didn’t do crepes with icecream for breakfast that morning, but we did have them for dessert later on that week.  It’s the first year I missed doing it for breakfast – but it’s only the fourth year I’ve had kids in school, so… Here, here,  and here are the first three years.

Jethro and Hazel walk to school, which starts at 8:20.  Then it gets out at 11:55 and they walk home for lunch.  On Tuesdays and Thursdays, Jethro goes back from 1:50 – 4:15.  And on Wednesdays he goes in early, at 7:30.  Hazel goes back on Thursday afternoons.  Before I moved to Switzerland, I talked a lot to my friend Sarah who had lived for 9 months in Germany with her family.  She had mentioned to me that she had to look at the schedule every day to see when her kids got out or went to school, because it was always different.  Very strange.  But I like that they get to be home most afternoons.  They get Sport twice a week, music, handwork –including woodworking and other things, and of course math, Deutsch, etc.

Ethne is sad that she’s not old enough to go to school.  To me though, she looks like she’s getting much too big!

  This is Talmage’s toe without a nail.  It got banged and fell off not long after.  Don’t worry, he’s a punk, he can take it.  I was so impressed that I could do Ethne’s hair like this!  I had never tried before, because I thought it would be too wispy and thin.  It was pretty cute.  But it fell out pretty quick, being as it’s very wispy and thin. And this picture is especially for Cassidy, because she wasn’t smiling until I told her I would make sure Cassidy saw her picture.  Hi Cassidy! My four kids.  Watching Bambi.  (Except Jethro- he’s reading.  As always.)  (Oh, and that naked baby on the windowsill isn’t mine.) For my birthday  on Saturday Brett and I got babysitters (three in fact—Damaris, Melinda, and Talitha—the kids were overjoyed), and we went and had a grand time together.  First we went on a hike called the Alpbach Gorge.  This is the description found online:

‘The Alpbach gorge is not a place for weaklings!  The breathtaking climb along cliff walls and above the splashing river between Meiringen and Hasliberg is really something. The ascent requires you to be sure-footed and not afraid of heights! There are parts with ladders and some parts without hand rails. The trail should be taken from Meiringen up towards the Hasliberg and it is a cliff trail which you follow at your own risk.’

As soon as I read it was for people who aren’t afraid of heights I wanted to go.  It was really awesome.  Especially since it was really impressive yet not lengthy.  :)  And it really wasn’t as difficult or scary as they made it sound.

This is what we climbed: Next we went on a boat on the Thunersee.  You can ride for free on your birthday.  To be honest though, we found it a bit boring and both of us almost fell asleep.  (We must have been tired.  Or we’re getting old.  Or it was really boring.)  We figured we should have just gone swimming in the lake rather than cruising over it.  I’ll post pictures from the official boat website because they are really awesome and mine were really lame.  It was actually a really hazy day so it didn’t look anything like these nice pictures, but I’ll give you the pictures anyway.  :)       This is my cutie pie Talmage. This is my cutie-pie Hazel.  I thought she looked really cute the other day after church so I took several pictures.     Oh!  I almost forgot to mention the awesomest thing!!!  I had a niece and a nephew born on my birthday!!!  My sister Megan had a little girl, and my sister-in-law Lindsay Ann had a little boy.  Way back when they first told me they were pregnant I told them they should have their babies on my birthday.  Obviously, they recognized how awesome that would be and DID!  I was so impressed.