Wyatt at the Water Trough

There's something really great about this water trough for getting good pictures.  Pretty light shaded by the tree, or probably just, you know, water so the kids stay in the same spot for a long time.  :)  Here's Orrin at the water trough at roughly the same age.

I told Talmage I'd pay him if he sat in the water.  I meant on the bottom- up to his neck, you know?  But he barely put his bum down against the top surface of the water.  It was pretty funny.

I love this kid's face (funny teeth and all)!!!

Here's a shirt I stencilled for Wyatt, because I want to start calling him Wolfie more.  I love how that sounds.  But Brett said my wolf looks like a dancing dog and not a wolf.  I gave Wyatt some gummi bears to try to help him be happy and look at me for the pictures, but instead I just got pictures of him holding out his hands and begging for more gummi bears.  :)

Hazel's late birthday present finally arrived in the mail- the boxed set of The Mysterious Benedict Society.

I don't know why.

Oh my gosh this kid is so so so cute!!  Even when he's giving me an ornery look.

Ha ha- this picture is too funny.  How many boys can lie down and read a book together.  And THEN I realized what book it is-- Fancy Nancy!  Ha ha ha ha.

Swinging on Sunday afternoon.

This is the kids' last week of school, so they have been busy with school-end parties and field trips. I went to Talmage's kindergarten-ending party and his theme had been pirates so all of his class was dressed up in pirate head-scarves and big tin-foil earrings and drawn-on facial hair and then they sang a pirate song.  It was awesome.

Hazel's class had had a theme of movie-making, so we went to her Film Abend and watched all the movies they had made during their Landschulewoche.  They were pretty fun--lots of clay aliens landing and eating people.  :)

Let's see, what else has been happening.  Brett continues to look for jobs.  The second to last week in June he was gone to Munich for a conference.  While he was gone (too bad that he wasn't there), some American friends who live in Austria came down to go to the embassy in Bern, so we met up at the Marzili and they went in the Aare.  Jethro also swam in it for the first time.  Then we had dinner together and their daughters played with my kids while we chatted.  We got along great because we can sympathize so much with all the expat problems and perks.  It was a really fun night.

Jethro and Hazel are in the same riding class now, and on Hazel's birthday one of the other kids in her class found out it was her birthday that day and asked if they could ride in the forest since it was her birthday, so they did.  And the next week they rode bareback for a while.

Maybe Orrin will go to waldspielgruppe this fall.  And Talmage keeps begging to go in soccer, so we'll see about that.

Next year- Jethro will no longer be in elementary school!!!  Hazel will be in 5th grade and have the teachers that Jethro has now.  Ethne will be in 2nd grade.  Talmage will be in kindergarten for his second year.  There was a small moment when I worried about whether I should bump him up a grade, like I did with Hazel and Jethro, so that he would be in the correct class when we get back to the States, but then I remembered that one of top things I love about Switzerland is how nice and easy they take it on the young kids in school.  And Brett told me I should just start teaching him to read from the book I used with Ethne (Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons) and when we get to the States he'd probably be fine going to whichever grade we want him in at that time.  So we've started on those lessons and he's doing great.

Brett and I have tried to map out a bit of what the (what I always feel is a SUPER SHORT five-week) summer will be.  It will include swimming lessons for the kids and actually for Brett too, Jethro going on a youth trek because HE WILL BE 12 and in YM!!!, hopefully a short camping trip, and hopefully lots of fun and relaxing.