Fall vacation

This past week, the children were on fall vacation here. Since Andrin is attending playgroup, he also has a vacation and we took the chance to get out and have some fun outings. The weather was also cooperating until the end of the week when it suddenly became really cold and rainy. But that was perfect for our big project for Saturday ... We have not had enough moving activity lately and thus decided that we needed a little bit more. For different reasons which I will not elaborate on here, we decided to switch Andrin's room. He has been sleeping with Bigna and even though it would have been easier to move her crib to his room, we moved all his things over to her room. That means that Mami has a room to herself now and there is a bigger guestroom (hint, hint :) It was a lot of work because we had to partly disensemble Andrin's bed.

Halloween is soon ... Andrin's new use of the toy basket. It took me a while to actually see what he really had done ...

Some difficulties getting up the stairs.

Another train formation ... Early in the morning ...

Bigna got to hold the recipe book ...

Hanging out in the chair.

Bigna really likes her toy box.

Mami did not take this picture. I think it probably was Papi ... Was he shocked to see our living room in such disarray? If you ask me, it could be worse. You can actually still see the floor!

In the process of getting Andrin and Bigna's room back together.

The guest room and Mami's office (no, no, guests do not have to sleep standing up!).

All done.

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Bigna loves to be on her tummy in the bath now.

She also loves to throw ducky out of the bath and then look over the edge to see where it is ...

It is quiet ... are we missing something?

It is very quiet at home ... not just in the evening, but also during the day. And when Bigna is sleeping, it is even quieter ... Oh no, Mami forgot to take Andrin home after our visit at Oma and Opa's house!
Yes, our big boy had his first sleep-over and vacation at Oma and Opa's house. We are so proud of him! On Sunday, Mami and the children left the house early to give Papi the opportunity to do some serious work on his grant proposal. We first stopped in Lucerne and visited Omama in her new apartment. From there, we went to Oma and Opa's house. Andrin was so excited to get there. We had a good and relaxing day. Since the weather was surprisingly nice (against all the weather forecasts), we decided to go on a little walk on the "gnome path." Well, our boy had a different idea and did not want to walk and I did not take the stroller with us ... We ended up walking down to the animal shelter and he was happy there. But now listen to this smart boy: I had told him that there would be no ice cream for boys that do not walk to see the gnomes. At the animal shelter, they had garden gnomes all over the place and he looked at me and said with a big smile on his face: Now I can get my ice cream!
After an early dinner, I asked him if he wanted to stay the night with Oma and Opa and he was all excited about the idea. I also reminded him that he did not need to cry when I left. He went upstairs to get his bed ready with Oma and then asked to visit the neighbors, Teddy and Fraenzi, who have a little farm. He was all ready to leave and said "goodbye Mami" and wanted to get out the door. Well, that was a little bit too sudden for Mami! We then had a proper goodbye outside and I was so surprised because he did not cry and was waving at me driving off in his frog rubber boots at the side of the road.
According to Oma and Opa, he has done really well. But it seems like he is getting a little bit homesick and he thus will be coming back home tomorrow. We all will be happy to have him back!

Happy anniversary ...

It is past nine o'clock at night, the children are in bed (Andrin is camping right now on the hideaway couch in Bigna's room because he does not want to be alone), and then I realize something .... my husband did not give me flowers or even verbally acknowledge our anniversary! But I guess I cannot really blame him since I also just realized it now! I think this is the first time that I kind of forgot about it ... What is that supposed to mean? It has only been six years ... mmmh .... One of the "excuses/explanations/..." could be that there is a lot going on around this time: Andrin's birthday, our anniversary, Mami's birthday, ...

Falling for fall ...

I love the fall, I will admit it in a heart beat. I love the crisp mornings, the warm and sunny days, the special light, walking through the leaves, the storms, ... This year, we have a really mild fall and the temperatures have been really pleasant, actually even warm. Andrin has been really excited about something else to do with fall: chestnuts. The other day, we went to get some fish at the local fish market and we came across a beautiful old chestnut tree and looooots of chestnuts. We could not leave until Andrin had picked up all the chestnuts!

Building another porcupine.

Chuckling in his chair after loading up the little Radio Flyer with the fresh laundry ...

Bigna is getting so big and even is sitting on her own most of the time.

Since Bigna seems to enjoy to roll down stairs, we decided that it was time to put up some gates. Knowing our house, you can imagine how many gates we could have put up (11 to be percise:). We decided to start with three gates and focus on the areas that we are occupying most of the time. But due to our special stairs and banister, we had to get special gates (special price as well :) and then add some wooden panels. Andrin used them right away to build a ship and then announced that he was sailing to Switzerland ...

Chestnuts ...

Bigna and Andrin are enjoying a ride together. After a while, Andrin decided that Bigna needed to get off because he wanted to go fast again.

Once I looked at the pictures, I discovered how she is resting her head on one of her fabric toys ... smart girl!

Happy third Birthday, Andrin!

Finally, I have time to post pictures from Andrin's birthday on September 28th! We can hardly believe that our boy is already three years old. In the morning, he opened up some cards (thanks for all the wonderful cards and presents!) and then we went to playgroup. Mami took Andrin (Papi usually takes Andrin on Monday and Wednesdays) since we had something to carry, some cupcakes to share with his friends. He got home and was so excited to tell me that he blew out the candles on the cupcake. For lunch, we had French fries and chicken nuggets. And then we already had visitors: Oma and Opa, just returned from a three-week-long vacation in Croatia (not to mention that they already hit the road again ...). We had some more cake, more presents, and lots of playtime. Papi got home a little bit earlier and Andrin opened up the rest of the presents.

I was so happy and confused to see a video message from my friends Henley, Hazel, Holden, and Becky.

Showing my sister Bigna the new Lego truck that I got from my Goetti Thomas.

Mami made a tipi for me. A good place to get some quiet time and play.

Another cake, this time from Oma.

I was not entirely sure about this sparkly thing on top of my cake.

Opa also brought some of the isles that he once made for his work with his students. Since he is retiring in a year, he started to clean out his supplies. Great for Andrin (and Mami).

Andrin's way to organize the chalk that he got from Opa.

Playing with Oma and Opa (and Bigna).

I guess they were both getting hungry!

Happy Birthday, big boy!