*har-ry pot-ter. say it with me.*

We bought the 1st Harry Potter Movie a while back and the best part about the whole transaction is how the kids request to watch the movie.

"Mom, can we watch Harry Poppins?"
" ...Harry's Potter?"
"... Peter Poppins?"
"... Peter Popper?"

And my favorite...
"Can we watch Harry Peter's Potter?"

*my family*

I have a pretty great brothers and sisters. I miss you guys tonight.

*mom*

Happy Birthday Mom! Just to reflect a little on my dorkiness here is an a journal entry I wrote 19 years ago. Imagine this in bubble letters with hearts over the i's.

"My mom turns 34 years old today. It's a big step to take, but I am sure she will be able to handle it."

Now that I am much closer to 34 years old that is a little scary to read. But maybe Mia will think I can handle it and it will be OK.

Onto the whole reason for this entry... my Mom.

There are so many things to appreciate about my Mom. I think I appreciate her more than ever now that I am a Mom and realize all that she put up with with my other (imperfect) siblings. Luckily she had me to keep her sane. Ha. I appreciate that she tried to make us sing during family home evenings. I appreciate that she had us do family scripture study every morning- and made our non-member friends sit in while we had family prayer. I love her for coming to California for the births of both my babies and helping me get back on my feet. I love her for helping me move to Switzerland. I love her for teaching us to be kind, gracious, good people. I love her for nurturing my love of literature. I love her for doing all the crafty stuff I don't have the patience to do for me. I love her for letting me and the kids camp out at her house for a month if we need to and putting up with our messes. And most of all, I love her for teaching me how to properly scrub a toilet. No, most of all I love her for loving me first.

Happy Birthday Mom--- and after all these years I still think you can handle it.

I love you!

*stuff*

Snails, snails, snails. How one kid can have so much love for such slimy creatures is beyond me. Notice how huge that sucker is in the picture. That thing could feed a family of six in France.




















This is one of my favorite faces that Sam makes. He is threatening me with plastic scissors in this picture.




















Mia loves candy. I love these boots on her. It's great to have a little person to dress. You never have to worry about them being too fat for the clothes and you know they will look adorable in anything you get for them. I would much rather spend all my money on the kid's wardrobe then my own (and it shows!)

*more stuff*

Sprinkler fun! In between freak thunderstorms the kids have enjoyed the hot, humid weather.



























The men in my life. JB is househunting for us in NY right now. I miss him. [Zurich]























My little style guru. Latest requests: pierced ears, a pink bra and contacts.

*rheinfall*

We went to visit the largest waterfall in Europe on Saturday. It is only about an hour drive from our house when you don't take the scenic route that I did to get there. The waterfall is pretty impressive and very beautiful. You start at the top of a cliff in a "schloss" or castle and then head down about 1,398 stairs (with lots of impressive views on the way) to the bottom of the falls. We took a boat ride (see pic of J & S) that took us out to a little rock right in the middle of the falls where you can climb to the top and get a great view of the castle off in the distance (see pic of A & M). The kids only shoved off a few slow climbers into the falls. And of course, after all that climbing we had to get some ice cream!

*flughafen (airport)*

So if any of you are ever stuck in the Zurich Airport for a while with kids there's something you need to know about. They have this GREAT observation deck in terminal B. It has so many fun things to do (besides actually watching the airplanes take off). AND unlike most things in Switzerland it's really cheap! (2 francs per person- kids under 6 free). They have a playground, a small racetrack with mini-motorcycles, trampolines, an old helicopter that continues faithful service by letting kids torchure it (see video on next post), a small merry-go-round and two restaurants. It's a really fun time. Bring lots of 1 and 2 franc coins for the different rides.

*how to fly a helicopter by Sam B.*

*precious moments*

Mom finally put sand in the sandbox! Hooray!




















We love to go on Sunday walks as a family. We usually go to the playground or throw rocks in the little stream by our house. Sam loves Jared to chase him on his bike.




Our strawberries are finally ripe. We're still working on only picking the red ones... but both kids claim they taste just as good "pink".






















Playing with the hose is so much fun! I love to watch these two play together. They have such a bond these days. This morning I woke up and they were playing Sleeping Beauty and Prince Charming. Sam was definately running the show with a lot of commands. Mia just did a lot of sighing, but that seemed to satisfy him.

















Mia devouring a cupcake at an international fair in Baar, Switzerland. She has a whole mouth of sweet teeth!










Our family on top of Mt. Pilatus near Luzern, Switzerland.
We took a trip with the Thomas family and went to the top of a local mountain. It was a gorgeous day and a great view. On the way down we went on the longest Alpine Slide in Switzerland -- 1350 meters long! It was SO AWESOME! Both Mia and Sam loved it-- Sam was yelling "Mayday, mayday!" and Mia was yelling "Yahoo!" I have to admit I did a little yahooing myself, well, until a bug went in my mouth.