Hide n' Seek, Anyone??

Bekah is at the age where she really cracks me up. She loves to play hide and seek with Noah...but she is a terrible 'hider'! This was one of her most recent hiding places....hmmm....I wonder how quickly Noah was able to find her....

She also still thinks that if she can't see you, then you must not be able to see her. She will stick her head under a blanket with her bum way up in the air and her whole body showing, and she really thinks you won't be able to spot her! It is soooo priceless!

The best is when I put her on the potty. I will leave because she tells me that she 'needs privacy' (even though I am the one who has to wipe her bottom!). When she calls me because she has finished her business, she will be sitting on the potty with her hands over her eyes so I won't be able to find her! LOL! As if I may have forgotten that I sat her there two minutes earlier! So funny.....

The other thing that I love about this age are the mispronunciations of words....besided (instead of decided), patakiller (instead of caterpillar) and breeza (instead of zebra). I just love it, because so soon she will be able to say all of those words correctly....and then she will be big. Sigh....

Noah is now at the age that he can pronounce pretty much anything.... the only word that he still says incorrectly is 'hangabur' (instead of hamburger). And....I must admit.... I hang on that word every time he says it....

Old Friends, Good Memories

We recently had some visitors...our friends Matt and Trish. We met almost three years ago in the P&G cafeteria in Geneva. At the time, we were all in Geneva as expats...and we both had young baby girls. Matt asked us how old Rebekah was, and that was the beginning of a great friendship. It was a friendship made of many play dates, shared meals, lots of long talks (between Trish and I), as well as a few gripe sessions too!

It was so nice to be with Matt and Trish again. It had been 18 months since we had last seen them, just before they had relocated back to the USA. I love being with my friends who have lived (or still live!) overseas. We have such a kinship over our shared experiences. They understand so much....and it is OK to talk of our travels and experiences without having to worry about seeming pretentious.

Geneva was such a big part of our lives...it deserves to be acknowledged and reminisced over....but that can be difficult to do with other friends who don't share the same experiences. For these reasons, I loved our visit with Matt and Trish.

The girls reunite!

Another great thing about the visit was that Matt and Trish are so great with our kids. They have kids the same age (our sons even share the same name!)...and they completely understand the challenges. Trish played with the kids while I made dinner and they had a blast with her.

Here they are...all cuddled up in one big recliner.

It was a great visit and I look forward to getting to spend time with Matt and Trish again soon. Maybe next time we will be able to get all of the kids together too....we will see!

She's A Big Girl!

The talks of 'big girl' beds have been going on in our house for months now. It kept getting put off and put off and put off. I was reluctant to take Rebekah out of her crib because 1) she was happy there and 2) she never tried to climb out and 3) I didn't want a second child roaming free who could come in our room to wake us up in the morning.


Well, once Bekah was well over three years old, I began to feel guilty about it....kind of like I was depriving her of a right of passage!


So, after much deliberation, shopping around and talking about whether to get a whole bedroom set or just a bed, we went out and bought just a bed.


At the moment Bekah is sleeping on the box spring and mattress without a bed frame. The mattress and box spring are so deep, that she can barely get up onto the bed without the frame! We have the frame and head board in the basement, waiting to be assembled...but I am not in a rush. We already had one incident of her falling out of bed. Once in the three weeks since she has been in there isn't too bad, I guess.....

We don't have a bed rail, but I did buy this HUGE body pillow....Dora of course! It is bright purple and it is almost the length of the entire bed! I put the pillow on the outside edge of Bekah when so goes to bed and there is no way that she can roll over it. It is too big and she is too small! So far, it has worked beautifully!

She looks so little sitting on that big bed, doesn't she?

Wondering Where I Am?

In case you have been wondering where I have been lately....I have been keeping busy over here. You should pop over and say 'hello'!

Leave me a comment so I know you were there! :)

Eric Carle Museum

For the last few weekends we have made the effort to do little day trips in an attempt to explore our new country. We used to do these types of trips frequently when we lived in Switzerland. We would even go to Italy (Aoste) for the day! Sigh.....those were the days.

Well, we no longer can go to Italy, but we can go to Amherst, MA! *grin*

We just purchased a book a few weeks ago called, "Amazing Places To Take Your Kids". In that book we found the Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art. So, despite a lengthy drive of about an hour and forty five minutes, we made our way there.

For those of you who may not know, Eric Carle is a famous children's author. He has written many children's books, most famously, The Very Hungry Caterpillar.


The very first thing we saw when we pulled into the parking lot was this VW car....painted to look like it had hopped right off the pages of the story book, The Very Hungry Caterpillar!

The museum features an Art Studio, where they have craft supplies set up for the kids. The day that we visited the kids were making collages using positive and negative shapes. In the photo above, you can see Bekah working away. She loves anything like this....probably because I don't let her do it very much at home. I have a low tolerance for messes. I feel guilty about that. I will feel better once she starts preschool in September because I know she will get to do crafts there!

Bekah's creation.

The other very popular thing with Rebekah right now is any kind of animal. In the studio they had a corner with some toys. Look at what Rebekah found, immediately!

Noah spent a lot of time building towers with these cups.....as many different ways as he could think of!

Contemplation......

The kiddies pose while wearing the tattoos they received at the museum. Those things are still on them after a good soak in the tub! I don't know if they will ever come off.....

The other great thing about our visit to the museum was that it took place during Children's Literacy Week. In order to help celebrate, the museum sent the kids on a gallery hunt. Once they completed their tasks, the received a free copy of The Tiny Seed. It worked out well because that was one of the few Carle books that we don't have!

Thanks for popping by!

The Power of One Person

I really have to stand up and commend my husband! Recently, when he tackled a project at our house, he was like a man on a mission.


The background story:
When we looked at, and the bought our house last spring, we had visions of using the 3/4 acre plot in its entirety. Despite the fact that some of it is wooded, we envisioned forest walks as a family, playing hide-and-seek in the woods, etc. Well, that all came to an abrupt end when we moved in. Once everything was lush and green, we quickly realized that the only way we were going to get back there was with a bulldozer in front of us. It turned out that there was a 30 foot buffer of native weeds, vines and a tangled mess between us and the beautiful pines in the distance. It was so thick and so dense that you couldn't even walk. So, we got an estimate to clear it out. The $3000 price tag shocked us and quickly brought the discussion to a halt.


Once the snow melted this year, the discussions began again. It looked horrible back there. With nothing turning green yet, you could really see the mess. There were several trees that had been knocked down in a storm when the previous owners lived here, and they had simply cut them up and left the logs scattered everywhere. Trees were leaning here, there and everywhere, and the vines were out of control. So, we got another estimate. Well, it wasn't any better then the first.


Truth be told, I probably would have caved...taken the money from our savings and just paid to get the work done. That is how badly I wanted it cleaned up. Kevin, on the other hand, wouldn't hear of it.


That is when he went out and bought his very first chain saw.


I really wish I had before and after pictures...but unfortunately, I just have the after pictures. I think you can still appreciate how much work was done when you look at them. Kevin worked for three days straight...over a long weekend...and got the job 95% done. We still have to haul out the logs that were left laying around....but it is unbelievable what one determined person can do in three days!

This photo shows a big tree laying across the back. It is actually a series of about three trees tangled in vines. Kevin cleared up to that point. That will stay there for now...to be tackled as part of a second project. He isn't too eager to work on it now..... I don't think he will be clearing any more land in the near future. *wink*

In this pic you can see the logs laying around.... It looks like some were stacked and then they gave up and left the rest!

This is Rebekah in front of the brush pile...

We are still waiting to have the brush pile hauled away...the neighbours are probably beginning to talk! We got a good deal on having it taken away, but it means we had to wait for a week or two. The landscaper is going to haul it off when he comes to our neighbour's house to do another job.

If we hadn't gotten a good deal on having the brush pile taken away, Kevin was getting ready to rent a wood chipper to make his own mulch.....