Musings of Amy

The first week in November we attended the town’s turnip lantern parade. Just typing that out in English looks really weird! 🙂  Because we have never called it anything other than the Räebelichtliumzug. haha

Anyway, only Noah and Alexandra carved turnips this year.  And next year Noah will be too old, and only Alexandra will be in the parade.  Of course, we always have the option of carving our own at home, but somehow we never get around to it.

Sarah’s class was asked to help push a boy in Alexandra’s class so he could use his hands to hold his lantern.  She and Tim volunteered and walked the whole parade with him.

Sophie’s class had the job of lighting all the lanterns and then walking the parade route to relight any candles that accidentally went out.  We bought her a new lighter just for this important duty.She and her friend Sheryn were fire buddies. 🙂

Noah carved his turnip completely on his own and did a pretty good job.  Controlling those sharp knives isn’t it easy!

Along the parade route, there were some more kids from Sophie’s class controlling traffic, stopping cars and asking them to turn off their headlights as the kids went past.  And at certain points, the whole group would stop and they would sing a few songs.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nrY8Ah1QJ6A

The parade stops where it starts, at the school.  They had the local youth band play a few songs to entertain us. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2yZ0sig7Frs

I was in a silly mood and Nick obliged and let Chris take a photo of me trying to dance with him.

After the music was over, the teachers handed out chocolate bars stuffed into soft rolls.  And they also started serving barley soup. This soup is what the older kids look forward to every year.  The one year they didn’t serve it, they were so, so, so sad.  There is also warm punch to drink (alcoholic and non) and everyone just stands around and chats and enjoys the food.

When everyone had had their fill, ( I think Nick had 4 bowls) we headed home.  Such a fun tradition that I hope we will still participate in even when we have no kids in the parade.

Since Halloween was on a Thursday this year, and Thursday afternoons are always hectic for me, we broke with tradition and had our Halloween feast at lunch instead of dinner.  Nick has Thursday afternoons free, and Chris works from home that day, so everyone was still able to be there and enjoy it.

I bowed out from the Young Women’s activity that night and took the younger kids trick or treating in town.  Sarah and Sophie went with their friends after I dropped them off in the town square and then we went to pick up Noah’s friend, Noel to come with us.

I just love that even though we live in this tiny Swiss village, they totally get into Halloween.  People carve pumpkins, decorate their houses, and some even had special creepy treats for the kids.The most important thing is that they had fun!  Well, the most important thing to me.  They may say the amount of loot they got was a bit more important. 🙂We stayed out for about an hour or so, until the kids got tired of walking around.  The bigger girls stayed out longer, and I went back to pick them up when they were finished. It still isn’t exactly like in America, but it’s pretty close.  So glad my kids can share in this fun aspect of my childhood even though we live overseas.

This year we again held the annual Halloween Carnival.  It seemed like many of the moms who run it were very busy beforehand, so we didn’t get together and decorate the whole room like we had in the past.  Everyone just brought things for their area/table.  It still looked festive, but I missed the fun of climbing ladders, standing on tables, and the cute hanging bats.

I made the games for two booths, and Nick kindly agreed to run one for me.This booth started out with one jar full of candy, many years ago.  Since I have been doing it the past few years, I seem to add another jar every time.  It is just so fun to decorate the jars and fill them with the brightly colored candy.  Plus, I think it’s more fun for the kids if there is a greater chance of them actually winning one.  As luck would have it, Alexandra guessed the closest on how many gumballs there were in the jar.  (As I blog about this 8 months later, she still hasn’t eaten all the gum!)

There were lots of fun booths, and a good crowd turnout.  Several of the friends and neighbors we invited showed up, which made it even more fun.  I always think it is good when people not of our faith can see that we can be deeply spiritual and religious and still have fun.One of the new booths this year was made by the Faith in God kids and the leaders.  They cut out holes in cardboard boxes, decorated them, and the kids tried to shoot Nerf darts through the targets.  Fortunately several of us had guns and darts to donate to the game.

Alexandra really wanted to be Little Red Riding Hood, and I found a great, free tutorial online for how to make her costume.  Noah had his wolf costume from his play in the spring and agreed to wear it to complete the look.  She used her basket full of goodies as her trick or treat bag, and still uses the cape for dress up at home all the time.

The treat table was a bit sparse this year, so I was very happy that I had the baking bug this year.  I made the same chocolate skeleton cookies I had last year, and with a bit of the leftover dough and I did some witches hats.  And then, just for fun, I HAD to make the guacamole tray I had seen on Pinterest.

It came out pretty good, didn’t it?  I was very pleased, and the disgusting visual apparently didn’t put anyone off, as every last drop was eaten up. 🙂  For sure going to make it again.

Sarah wanted to be a witch this year, and was actually big enough to wear my costume from a couple of years ago.  It was a bit long, but with my high heels it worked out just right.  Crazy how much she has grown in the last little while.

I love how so many of the adults dressed up.  I did too, although my costume was kind of lame.  I just ran out of time to do anything spectacular.  My favorite costumes were my friend Jessi and her husband Jacob.  She was Supergirl, he was Clark Kent/Superman.  Sadly, I don’t have a very good photo of them, but it was pretty awesome.

I did the Halloween Bingo again this year, and it worked well.  But next year, I for sure, for sure, need to get there early so they set me up in the main room and not off on my own. Because only about a third of the kids come and find me, and I get tired of trying to hunt them down in the main room.It is easier to play the game where it is quieter, but if no one comes to play the game, it’s a moot point.

Sophie was Catwoman and her friend Monica was a zombie-something. 🙂  We had a lot of fun making and finding all the different parts for her costume.  I was especially proud of the cat eyeglasses. 🙂  And my friend Tanya let her borrow her black boots to complete it all.

After the party was over, we all cleaned everything up and put all the chairs back for church the next day.  Sometimes I miss having a real cultural hall like in the States, but it is always amazing how quickly the room can become a chapel again when everyone works together.  That is definitely one good thing you can say about us Mormons, we know how to work!

Since we have year passes, I decided to take the kids up to Legoland during fall vacation. I was kind of excited because I knew they were celebrating Halloween there and I thought it would be fun for the kids to see it. Legoland completely met, and exceeded, all my expectations.

This greeted us right at the entrance.  I knew right then we would have a great time.  The crowds weren’t too big, and it was our third or fourth time going this year, so we took it slow and rode whatever sounded fun at the time.  Including the train which we don’t often bother with.

We had the most fun looking for all the hidden decorations, placed in odd places in the park.  Like this witch beaver, for example.

Then there were things that were a little more in your face. 🙂

We also quickly learned to look up, as there were all kinds of different things hanging from the trees.

The weather was absolutely perfect, too.  Not too warm, not too cold, with a bit of cloud cover.  And since it was vacation, we didn’t need to worry about getting home at a certain time.  We just stayed until it closed, knowing that the kids could sleep in and take it easy the next day.  (Not that the kids sleep in very much, but at least they didn’t have to go to school or something.)

My favorite bit may have been how the decorated the big castle.  I so wish we could do this to our balcony roof!

Some of the decorations were pretty gruesome, but it didn’t seem to bother Lexi any at all.

There was also a little show with a hilarious witch and her friend.  Afterwards, the kids could go up and “trick or treat” at either the left or right door.  Only the older girls wanted to go up, the young ones were too shy.

I talked the kids into going on a ride they had always been too scared to try before.  I think it looked too easy to fall off of, out of, or down.  But once they got on, they figured out it was fun, and they ended up wanting to go on it more than once. 🙂

I did need to sit next to Lexi the first time, to help keep her safe. Noah sat out the first time, but when no one died, he decided to give it a go.  However, he still wasn’t sure it was going to be fun.  🙂 He’s still with us, so it all ended okay. whew!

I have no idea where they found all these giant pumpkins.  But there were piles of them all over the park.  I had Alexandra get as close as possible for a size comparison.  They were huge!

It was a truly lovely day, and I am so glad we went.  It really got us all in the Halloween mood, and was a fun way to spend a vacation day.

Since we are planning on going to America next summer, we are saving up and not going on any European trips this year.  But we still have 2 weeks of vacation from school every 6 to 8 weeks, and we need to find at least a few activities to do during that time.  So, during fall vacation, I scheduled a trip to the Victorinox Museum, also known as the Swiss Army Knife Museum.  It was so much fun and now I feel bad I didn’t know about it before to take all our visitors here.  It is seriously so cool!

There is tons of history all about pocketknives in general, and then of course, the Swiss Army Knife.  There were displays set up with some rather interesting knives, including the world’s smallest functioning pocketknife.  There was also a time line of the development of the company, with different highlights mentioned.  And the kids favorite part was the little mini theater.

Two people could sit in this chair and you close the curtain in front of you.  Then you push a button, the chair spins around, and you are in front of a giant screen.  There are about 6 different little films, in at least 4 different languages, of real life situations where people used their Swiss Army Knives to save the lives of themselves, or others.  Fascinating, really, really interesting.  An astronaut on the international space station used one to open the hatch so a docking space shuttle full of astronauts could unload.  (The tool provided by NASA didn’t work…)  Or the guy who got in a car accident, was suspended upside down by his seatbelt in a ditch, and the car was rapidly filling up with water.  Used his knife to cut the seatbelt, since the release switch had been damaged in the crash, and then escaped out the window.

But the main reason we came was so that the kids could each assemble their very own knife.  Yes, for a nominal fee, which is not much more than what normal knives cost in the store, you can build your own, under guidance of course.  It comes with a specially engraved blade that tells everyone it was self-assembled and they engrave your name on it.  Urs , the professional knife assembler, is  giving the kids a basic overview of what they will be doing.

Noah got to build his first. It takes about 15 minutes to build one knife, but the museum was so full of cool stuff to look at, the kids didn’t mind waiting around for each other one bit.

There was a picture tutorial to follow, in case you got lost, but Urs was also right there to show you what to do next.

When each knife was finished, Urs took the child over to the engraving computer and let them choose a font and type in whatever name they wanted.  Then the machine scratched it into the side, Urs filled it with white paint, then carefully wiped off the excess and wrapped it all up in an official box.  The kids use their knives for everything, and are so happy whenever they go on a school outing where they are allowed to bring them and use them.  And there is never any confusion about who’s is who’s because they have their name on them.  Such a fun family outing.  We can’t wait until the next visitors come so we can take them to get their own knives!

The two youngest had been kind of quiet for a while, so Chris went in to check on them.  This is what he found.  They were having quite a great time in stuffed animal heaven.  And these are mostly just the ones that belong to Alexandra.  Noah and Nick have a giant bin in their room as well.  But they remember where and from whom they received every single one.  They are all individual, all special, and they have been very distraught every time I have mentioned getting rid of a few.  So I have stopped mentioning it, and just bought storage to hold them all.

I made the giant Hello Kitty for her birthday last year and the baby she received as a present.

These two can play for a long time making up stories and whole lives for their soft friends.  They treat them like they are actually alive.  I was the same way with my dolls and stuffed animals.  You should see the sweet way they tuck in the ones privileged to sleep with them at night.  And yes, they do rotate a few in and out of the bed, although there are a couple who are special favorites.  Funnily enough, both stuffed dogs, although neither one are big fans of dogs in real life. 🙂

Every year I ask if Nick would like to invite a few friends over for his birthday. They could go to the movies, go out to eat, whatever.  Every year he turns me down.  He has friends, he just prefers to be with family on his birthday.  But I always like to give him the option. 🙂

He was gone at school for most of the day, but we made sure to have his favorite chosen meal for dinner and then it was time for presents.

I love how Nick always closes his eyes when opening gifts.  He loves the suspense of not knowing and the surprise of finally finding it out, and wants to hang on to that for as long as possible.  He doesn’t even really care what the present actually is, he is grateful and appreciative of anything we give him.  He just loves to be surprised.

Clearly this book was a good choice.  Sarah picked it out for him and bought it with her allowance money.  These two have really bonded over books in the past little while and it makes this Mama’s heart so happy.

Alexandra drew him a picture and he gave her a big hug as a thank you.  Nicholas doesn’t like a lot of physical contact, although he will tolerate some from certain people.  But Alexandra is a whole different matter.  He spontaneously loves on her quite a bit, and will tolerate her climbing all over him for extremely long periods of time.  Like longer than I would.  Such a sweet love these two share.

He decided to be a little silly with the bow. Sadly it didn’t stick enough to stay in his hair.

Noah helped pick this out for Nick while we were at Legoland.  It was a hit. They now have a whole bunch of Lord of the Rings Lego set up in their room.  We even had to rearrange a few things to make room for it, and they play with it all the time.  Happy 14th Birthday, Nick.  We love you!

Originally, we were going to have Sophie’s party on the Saturday of the Aeugst Chilbi.  The party wasn’t until the evening, and I figured everyone would have plenty of time to attend both, especially since it would also be there all day Sunday.  But no, pretty much every girl but 2 said they couldn’t attend because they were going to the carnival for the.whole.day.  Sophie was very disappointed, both in having no one come, and in having to postpone it.  But in the end, postponing won.  It was a good decision, as now every single girl she invited came.  And a party like this is best when there are lots of kids. I really like to set the mood and build excitement for the kids’ parties with fun invitations.  And this kind of party required extra special ones.

Naturally, they were delivered by owl posts.  Which required me buying several packs of balloons to get enough white ones.  We now have enough colored balloons for the next several years. 🙂

When the girls arrived we started off by having them put on the Sorting Hat and get divided into the four different houses.  They each received a laminated house shield to wear around their necks, declaring where they belonged.  They also took a trip to Diagon Ally, where they chose a wand, or had a wand choose them, ahem.  And they also got a cauldron, a monster book of monsters, a pen and a wizard hat.

Then they entered the Great Hall for a Welcome Feast.On the menu were Sophie’s choices from our Harry Potter Cookbook.  We served pumpkin juice, sausage rolls, french fries and a few other things I can’t remember. Naturally we ate under the enchanted ceiling, designed to represent the night sky.

After dinner, we separated everyone into their houses and went to class.  First up was Defense against the Dark Arts and Care of Magical Creatures.  Noah took them outside for the creatures class, and I taught them some stunning spells. After about 15 minutes, we switched, so that everyone got a turn to do both classes.  Then we had two new classes, Potions and History of Magic.  I taught Potions in the dining room with all kinds of fun powders that the girls got to mix together to see what happened.I had a second experiment planned, but Nick shortened his History of Magic class, which was a trivia quiz on all things Harry Potter, so we ran out of time. 🙁At least everyone got to make one crazy explosion!

While Sophie opened her presents, I tried to tally up the points to see who won the House Cup. Unfortunately, I couldn’t grade the quiz because Nick hadn’t asked the questions in any particular order, nor the same order every time.  It was  rather frustrating and I finally just chose a House Shield out of a hat so that someone would win.

After presents, we had everyone come back to the table for cake. I was very relieved when Sophie requested a cake that looked just like the one Hagrid made for Harry.  That I can do!

While the girls were eating their cake, I set up Honeydukes in the reading room.  Then I let them loose to shop and fill their cauldrons.  This time, since most of the decorations were made already from Sarah’s party, I had more time to make the acid pops myself.  Sophie really liked them!  And of course, I also made the chocolate frogs again.  But skipped the peppermint chocolates, as no one really liked them before.  🙂

Some of the parents arrived while the girls were still shopping, but they waited patiently until everyone had all that they wanted.  I would classify this party as a success, as the birthday girl and her guests had a fantastic, dare I say, magical? time.

Every couple of years we have a carnival in our little village.  It is the complete opposite of the one in Zurich, in that all the rides and offerings are old school. For example, there is this game where the kids hold a fire house and try to knock out the “flames” in a burning apartment building.So cute, and the little kids love it.  But in order for the game to work, there has to be a parent who is willing to stand and pump the water the entire time the child is shooting.

I was always glad my kids felt like they were a bit too old for that game.  Talk about sore arms!

There is also a bouncy house.  Sometimes they control the number of kids inside at one time, sometimes they don’t. There is always at least one kid who gets hurt, and several more who have a great time New this year, and not in keeping with the theme, was a mechanical bull ride.  Several of the girls’ friends rode it, but Sarah and Sophie were too afraid of getting really hurt.  The kids were flying pretty far when they fell off!

More our speed was the wheelbarrow races.  I think the kids all ran at least 3 races each, if not more.  The school principal, Mr. Langenegger, was in charge, along with Noah’s teacher, Mrs. Wolfer.

There was also a kind of treasure hunt.  The kids were given an area to search in, and they had to count how many stars they found in that area.  Then they came back and told the teachers how many they had found.  If it was the correct number, the timer was turned off, if not, they had to go back and keep looking.   Noah and Alexandra found all the stars pretty quickly, but thought they were missing one, and so kept looking and looking without coming back.  So they won the prize for the longest time. 🙂

The kids could also try their out their lassoing skills, only instead of an animal, it was a wooden post.  Alexandra was successful almost right off the bat, but it was almost impossible for Sarah.

The kids all spun the Luck Wheel, sponsored by the library.  The prize you could win was a book, but not everyone landed on the lucky spot. However, Alexandra won a book, and she was super excited when she was finally able to read it all by herself!  Took a while until her German skills were up to par, but she made it!This swing has been part of the Aeugst Chilbi for years and years.  Just before this year’s carnival, volunteers painted it all nice, and replaced any parts that were getting worn or were already broken.  There was talk of having to just throw it away,  but some of the old timers rallied together to save it.  Should be good for at least another 30 years now.  The man taking the tickets for the swing didn’t think the girls were going up high enough, so he decided to help them out. They were not happy about it, as they were purposely staying low so as to not fall out.  I heard all about it when they got off. 🙂

There is also always a game similar to a dunk tank, but without the water.  Two people sit on high bars across from each other and throw bean bags at a target.  If you hit the target first, the other person falls down on to mats.  It’s very popular, but unfortunately, someone got really hurt while we were there.  She had been sitting on the bar, but with her feet wrapped around the metal supports.  So when she got knocked off, her leg got clamped in between the bar and the metal.  There was a loud snap, that many people heard, a scream, and then she fell.  They had to call the paramedics, and she was in a lot of pain, and very, very scared.  Didn’t want them to touch her or move her at all because it hurt so bad.  Eventually they shot her full of something that knocked her out, and then they were able to load her up in the ambulance and take her to the hospital.  As soon as they left, the bars went back up and people immediately started playing again.  That is just the Swiss attitude, one that I actually like, if you get it’s usually your own fault, and that risk is understood and inherent before you even participate.  No one else’s fun should be spoiled because you didn’t sit on the bar correctly.

Of course, it just solidified in my kids that their choice not to participate was the correct one. Instead, we all headed back over to the relative safety of the bouncy house.

And by this time the kids had done enough.  We gifted the few remaining punches on our tickets to a couple of Sophie’s friends who were still going strong, and headed home.

Alexandra had a day completely filled from start to finish with celebrations in her honor.  It began with festivities in kindergarten. I arrived at around 8:30, bringing lemon cake and chocolate cupcakes for all the kids, to find her wearing this.They sure know how to make a kid feel special.  And as if that wasn’t enough, she also got to sit on an actual throne!All the kids gathered for circle time and they sang whatever songs Alexandra chose. And then she got to choose a few games to play, and was always allowed to go first.

For the last game, Alexandra chose two helpers and they all went to the entry way.  Then Frau Meier asked two other kids to hide Alexandra’s present somewhere in the room, and then she was allowed to come back in with her helpers.  They played a version of “Hot and Cold” to help her find the present.  Finally, after much running around it was found.

They have the topic of American Indians for the next couple of months, and Frau Meier is using a popular children’s comic called Jakari to explain it to the kids.  There are books, movies and music, and Alexandra loves it all.  Later she got to paint the t-shirt and bring it home when it was all dry.  She now  uses it as a pajama shirt.

Each birthday child also gets to have a birthday sparkler inside, under adult supervision, of course. Then we cut the cake and ate the cupcakes, and it was time for me to leave.  She was having her friend party that afternoon and I still had to get everything ready!

Fortunately, she wanted the same Puppy Party I threw for Sophie and Sarah a few years previously,  so I could use some of the same games. The invitations were so fun to create.  I also made a new dalmation table cloth and together Alexandra and I made cute treat bags for her friends. And of course, we had to have pupcakes!  These were a bit easier this time around, as I had picked up some of the candies recommend in the instructions while I was in the States in May. They are seriously so cute! Inside the treat bags, I had lots of fun things I had picked up in America as well.  Like paint with water books, all dog themed, and bone shaped erasers and naturally dog stickers.  The other girls were a bit older when they had their puppy parties, so I had to sew, stuff and finish all the puppies for Alexandra and her friends myself, rather than letting them do it at the party.  They did turn out pretty cute, and so furry!

When the kids first arrived, I let them choose a dog.  Then I gave them glitter glue, glitter pens and bone shaped cardboard to decorate to make a name tag for their new friend.  We let them dry while we went outside to play a few games. First I wrote the kids’ names on “bones” and each child got a bone that was not theirs.  They hid it, and then they all had to go find their own bone.  This ended up being more difficult than I thought, as only about 3 kids could actually read their own name!  But we taught them to look for the first letter, and it worked out okay.

These two found their bones relatively quickly, but others needed more help.  And it got trickier because the kids had no idea whose bone they had hidden.  Didn’t think that one through, I should have put their pictures on them instead! Oh well.

Then we played “Sit, Stay” where each child took turns being the dog trainer and tried to trick the dogs into doing something without him/her having to say “The dog trainer says” first.  You know, like Simon Says.  It was a warm day, so we stayed in the shade for this one.  Some of the kids really got into pretending to be dogs. Ahem.After every child had had a turn being the dog trainer, we went inside and had a drink and checked to see if our puppy name tags were dry enough to be laminated yet.Then it was present time!

Yes, she received a new version of her favorite stuffed animal, named Spuddy.  This new friend was named Lars, in honor of the boy who gave it to her, and he and Spuddy both have places of honor on her bed.

Finally it was pupcake time!  I was glad I had found these extra thin candles.  They worked perfectly for Noah’s bomb cake, but also didn’t mess up the pupcake faces too much!While the kids ate their pupcakes, I laminated and cut out the tags, then attached jump rings in them to thread ribbon through.  Or at least that was the plan.  Glitter glue, no matter how dry, will melt and spread with the heat of a laminator.  Tip one.  Jump rings sold in Switzerland are too small to get through laminated cardboard.  Tip two.  So eventually a few mothers helped me just put the ribbon directly through the holes in the bone tags, and tie them around the puppies necks.  Didn’t look as cute as the pinterest photo I had gotten the idea from, but at least they were able to finally go home. 🙂

When Papa got home, we had dinner and then it was time for more presents! Fortunately, with all this excitement and “center of attention” stuff, there were no temper tantrums or meltdowns.  Sometimes there can actually be too much birthday, but not this time.

Lex had picked out some Lego as well, but I also had this Barbie for her, that you can “cut” her hair, or add extensions to make it longer.  She is her mother’s daughter and is always excited to get new Barbies. 🙂

Sophie made her a new bracelet using all her favorite colors.  She still loves it and wears it all the time.

This was what she picked out at Legoland, cuz she loves comic book superheroes.  Seriously, the girl watches Spiderman cartoons all.the.time.

And just for fun, you have to see the t-shirt she is wearing.  I bought it for her, because I always says she is the perfect ending to our family.

Love you, Lexi-Lou!