Welcome to harmony's Roundeo.

So, Paisley is a kindergartner. And she loves it! I had a strong suspicion that her and school would be a great match, and I'm happy I was right.

She has continued calling it "Cado's school" even though it is also hers now. Her teacher is the same teacher Cado had for the last two years, Katalin. She is great. We told her it would be interesting for her to see how different Cado and Paisley are. Within the first couple of days she said, "yep, you were right!" One major difference is that Katalin correctly observed about Cado, that you can expect him to stay where he needs to be but not to stay still! He was always moving in some way or another and as his mother at his age, has more energy and life coursing through his body than he seems capable of containing or controlling! Paisley's classroom behavior is extremely attentive, observant and anxious to do what the teacher says and stay out of trouble. She is an excellent color-er and drawer. Her french is coming along really well. She LOVES to sing, and at school they do a lot of singing. She is always singing a cute little french song.

I had only planned on having her go 4 mornings a week. (they don't have school on Wednesdays). But after Cado went to parascolaire (staying for lunch and afternoon), she said, "when do I get to go to parascolaire?" So, I said are you sure you want to? She said yes, so I said we'd give it a try. She loved it! in fact my food has been unsatisfactory to her since. They feed them too well there. Then I asked if she wanted to go back to school after lunch on Mondays and she said yes. So her schedule is Monday morning, home for lunch, Monday afternoon, Tuesday morning, Thursday all day, Friday morning. Cado stays all day every day except he comes home for lunch on Monday. And on Tuesday he asked if he could stay for the after school parascolaire time, so I don't go get him until 6! Which means I can have a very productive Tuesday with no goings or comings between 11:30 and 6!

Wednesday Paisley continues doing dance, and Cado has been doing Judo. They both seem really happy with their extracurricular activities. I've considered doing a dance or gym class with Nevie...we'll see. Then on Wednesday night I have mutual with the youth. So, I am missing my relaxing play day Wednesdays.

The Sunday before school Spencer gave each kid a Father's blessing. It was really special. He said things for each of them that were really inspired. He blessed Paisley that she would love school and thrive and that French wouldn't be a problem for her. And it has been true. Starting school has seemed to help her blossom. She is really happy and I've seen the way she interacts with the other kids in her class and have been pleasantly surprised that she seems to be connecting with them and has friends and is comfortable being her fun self. In her preschool they were really worried about how independant she was and never talked or really played with any of the other kids, just sat back and observed or did her own thing. And I'm proud of how she isn't letting any gaps in her french stop her from connecting or communicating with the other kids. So, she's doing some growing socially.

Spencer blessed Cado that he could be a leader in doing what's right and being an example of good, and that he would find concentrating on his school work easier. You could see how good both Cado and Paisley felt about their blessings. Cado was just pumped afterward. He was glowing! He has this little chuckle, giggle when he's super happy about something, and he was doing that. The next morning I had his clothes laid out of which he fortunately approved, and after he put them on, he said, "Mom, does this look good for what a leader of good should wear?" I said definitely. He just beamed. The first couple of weeks he was giving us a report on how being a leader of good was going, and he explained that he had been inviting others to be leaders of good with him! He said, "that's another thing a leader of good does, they help others become leaders too." I don't know how he knows this stuff, but he's quite right.

After the two big kids got down off the chair, the cutest coypcat ever hopped right up there for her turn. She was so cute and still while Daddy gave her a blessing. He blessed her that she would be okay with her brother and sister being gone and that she would be able to have more control over her emotions and be happy. That's because she's a screamer. She has been very cute about Cado and Paisley going to school. She loves taking and picking them up. They are all so excited to see each other after school, big hugs, kisses, giggles and lots of talking ensue. Geneve makes sure she gets a hug and a kiss from each of them before they go into their classes. And she enjoys having the house all to herself and time with Mommy. She's still a screamer.

As far as Cado's attention, he's made a huge improvement from last year. He seems to be doing really well. He really takes school seriously and wants to do well. He has homework now, and he sits right down and gets it done. He's really sensitive to his own emotions and others and he loves how good he feels when he makes good choices and that's really motivating for him. His teacher seems really great for him, her name is Carine. He used to have trouble not finishing his work because he'd get distracted and instead make cool drawings on the back of the paper, but now he says he's getting his work done and having time to do other things. 

So, Back to School has been a success. I think I am the only one who may not be thriving, I've got lots to work on, I think I need to ask for my blessing!

We took a trip to see some of Germany and Austria in August. Neither of us had ever gone to these places and we  had a really great trip!

I have attached an album. I realized too late that I should have made more than one, as it is several pages long. You may view it three different ways: thumbnails, inline (like blogger), or full (like facebook). Also, a friend of mine did some of this trip not too long ago too, and she does a good job of mentioning some things I may have left off.

We started out in the middle of the day on Wednesday I believe, and encountered pretty bad traffic and weather, and of course were travelling with 3 kids one of whom was still having regular potty accidents, and so we did not make it to our destination of Reutte Austria when we had anticipated, and due to that and the fact that the weather was very wet and foggy and cold, we were unable to visit the Ruins there, but instead walked around the town of Reutte where we stayed. We had a nice meal at our hotel where we ate wienershnitzel, flour dumplings with cheese, some fish and another pasta dish. And it was all very yummy.

checking out traditional dress in Reutte

I think our kids really enjoy family vacation and do quite well in the car and they especially LOVE staying at the hotels. It's funny, I think as a kid I loved going to a hotel too. There's a novelty and "playhouse" kind of feeling to it. They get so excited at every hotel they get to discover and make their home for a night or two.

Paisley is a hilarious backseat driver. We have GPS now (YAY!) and so "the lady" tells us what to do. But that's not enough for Paisley, she has to repeat it just to make sure Dad gets it! "Now, turn right." the lady says. "Dad, RIGHT!" Paisley yells.

We were also talking about the beauty around us as we drove and one of them asked who made things, for example, "who made the mountains." us: "God". "Who made the buildings?" us: "people." After awhile of this Paisley said. "I feel like a lot of mans do a lot of work...but God"! We were cracking up. We explained that without God's creations man wouldn't exist or be able to create anything, and that God created man in his image and thus man is also a creator of things and in creating does well. We also asked her "who made this or that" and she would say God and began to see. It was funny though.

Another interaction was that Paisley said in awe: "I didn't know the planet looked like this! I didn't know the whole world looked so beautiful as Switzerland."  I said, "I'm glad you guys appreciate beauty." And Cado replied, "who doesn't?" so cute.

The next morning: Thursday, we went to two of King Ludwig's castles in Bavaria. (a very interesting person, worth a look). We first visited Hohenshwangau where he grew up, and then the castle he made and only lived in about 100 days before his "mysterious death" (read murder (that's my opinion), called Neuschwanstein.  Both gorgeous, both filled with amazing, beautiful things. The words flawless, impeccable, and perfect often came to my mind in Germany and Austria. The N castle is famous for being the castle that inspired Disney's castles, thus it is nicknamed "the sleeping beauty castle." The kids love castles! The only problem is that Cado REALLY wants one of his own. He seriously does, and did a fair amount of grumbling about the unfairness of the world that he doesn't have one. We encouraged him to pursue his dream and maybe he will accomplish it some day.

You have to hike up to these castles, and the hike up and back from the N castle is pretty steep and long. We were able to take a horse carriage down from the H castle, but it stopped short of taking us up to the N castle which is what we were hoping for. It was also raining or sprinkling the entire time which meant a lot of slippery, staining mud. The whole week we had a lot less sunshine than not, and for me this just could not call itself Summer weather and feel good about it! I kept thinking it's August and a light sweater or jacket isn't good enough!? this is wrong!

After considering the ruins again and deciding it just wasn't going to work (to my great dissapointment) we headed out from the castles after lunch, and to Vienna. If I recall we had a #2 accident on the way, which considerably lengthened our drive and finally convinced me to put a diaper on Geneve for the remainder of that drive. As usual we probably ate at McDonald's or Burger King.

This is the ceiling of a fancy restaurant called burger king.     This is the Demel sweet shop

Vienna Day 1, sunshine! At least for part of the day. As is usual on our first day in a big city we take awhile to get going and accomplish anything. We did a walking tour on our own and just took in the city at a glance. It is a beautiful city. One of the highlights for me was being "hit on" by a couple of Mozarts (guys dressed up like such trying to get people to buy tickets to music performances of various kinds), before they saw that I was married with THREE kids no less; hey what girl, especially a mom who is often haggard from tending to her busy motherhood life, doesn't appreciate some affirmation from the outside every once in awhile. There were a lot of these "mozarts" pestering people wherever we went. We did not however see any performances, though it would have been interesting for us adults perhaps, due to both the price, which despite their sell was not cheap enough, and the fact that I didn't want to pay that price only to find out that my 3 kids couldn't sit through 2 hours of opera, ballet and symphony. Voila.

a mozart man

We did hear about a street parade and installed ourselves for that only to find out that what that meant was a bunch of drunken people and floosy looking women, throwing themselves over the flatbeds of trucks while flailing to deep house and techno music. Still we enjoyed dancing a bit on the sidewalk. We also enjoyed just looking at the beautiful city, or sitting in one of it's parks. We couldn't decide what to do and so we didn't do much! which was a bit frustrating. We would have liked to see the famous "Spanish school" of horses perform but everyone's gone in the summer so they weren't doing it! bummer. 

Then in order to not have done anything we finally decided to go to an interactive music museum, fortunately open late, which was AWESOME! The kids even got to direct a virtual symphony. Vienna is of course known for being the music capital of Europe (and perhaps the Western world), so we had to do something musicky there. This was a good thing to do, as it was pleasing to all ages and did not mean paying a bunch of money and sitting still for 2 hours. There was a good mix of history and learning and playing.

Our favorite part may have been the simple oval room, dark with colorful dim lights and re-mixed Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven music. Cado came running to me, "mom! you have to see this! come!" so excited. I came and it was just this simple room and he said, see! At first I didn't get it and then I saw that Cado, Paisley and Geneve were doing modern dance and interpreting the music through their moves all over the room. Definitely my kids! I of course joined in. There was a bench in the middle where Spencer sat while we danced wildly around him. Most likely the room was meant to do what Spencer was doing, but what we did was obviously much more fun and a much better use of the space.

The next Vienna day, we went to the Shchonnbrunn Palace a bit outside of Vienna.The castle tour was amazing and impressive, duh. (no pictures were allowed in any of the palace interiors that we visited.) The country appears to be a bit obsessed with The Emperor Franz Joseph and his wife "Sisi" , though I got the feeling they only use her for the money she brings in but actually despise her, while they seem to revere Franz. Paisley loved looking at the pictures and souvenirs of Sisi with her super long hair and fancy dresses. We spent a good amount of time here as the grounds are comparable to those of Versailles, which is to say the gardens are beautiful and extensive. We then returned to Vienna and went on a very long, tiring, unpurposeful walk around the city, chilled in a park for awhile, ate ice cream at a famous ice cream place which gives a large amount for a good price, and ended up listening to some classical music in front of the beautiful gothic town hall.

The next day we headed to Halstatt which is part of the "sound of music" country, near Salzburg. We arrived in beautiful sunshine. We parked outside and above the little town and walked down to it by a staircase. It is right on a lake and is extremely picturesque and quaint. At the end of our walking tour a shopowner came out and offered a necklace to each of my girls for free, which of course Geneve broke in the first hour, and because of which Cado was quite jealous at not having received a similar gift. We then ran up the stairs to our car because the weather within the hour or two since we got there had turned from glorious sunshine to torrentous hail.

We arrived in Salzburg fairly late in the afternoon or early in the evening. (by the way Spencer made all of the hotel arrangements and did an excellent job, all of the places were lovely, and the last few also had excellent breakfasts). We decided we would go up to the castle which sits high on a hill in the middle of the city. We bought some sausages and bread and went up the funicular to the castle. We explored the grounds and the kids imagined all sorts of wonderful tales of castles and royaly and the like. They thoroughly enjoyed themselves. Castles are good fodder for the imagination. We enjoyed the lovely view and the sunset lighting of the castle and made our way down in the dark.

Unfortunately it was quite late by that point and breakdowns began to ensue. Cado suddenly began to seriously consider what his future vocation might be and became very disturbed by the idea of being a police officer as he had previously considered because it would mean bringing people to their punishments and he couldn't handle the idea of causing another suffering. He said, I know people shouldn't do bad things, but why can't they just be told not to and not have to be punished. He was WEEPING and balling over this dilemma of mercy and justice and how he would ever be able to know what he should do with his life! Somehow Spencer managed to help him get through this crisis, a think with a powerful combination of validation and distraction.

Which reminds me that he was continually being pressed by his "boss" while we were in Vienna, to work, and he grew weary of telilng him to leave him alone as he was on vacation. I know this because Cado griped about it to us (he probably did not use the word weary) after picking up and hanging up several times his phone (i.e rock) with sighs of exasparation. Paisley joined in this pretend as well and they were very occupied with work matters while we toured around. What is funny is that I don't think they got that from Spencer or I. Paisley though, was mostly concerned with the fashions and particularly shoes, of the women all around and kept a keen eye out for tall, fancy shoes being sure to point them out to me if I, having picked up on her interest, hadn't already pointed them out to her. Geneve for her part was very interested in horseys and as there are MANY many horses in Vienna and Salzburg her cries of delight occured often.

   this is a theatre! it's featured in SOM.

The next day in Salzburg, we took the walking tour (with our guide Rick Steve's through his book "The best of Europe.") of the city, and as a part of that visited sound of music spots. Our kids had never seen the movie, so we had given them a summary along the road, and as Spencer had been smart enough to put the sound of music Music on our zune (mp3 device) we were able to listen to and belt out together the wonderful songs from said show. As we were doing this tour I heard someone nearby reading in English what I had just read and turned to see a group of people who also happened to have Rick as their guide. We all had a good chuckle.

We loved the gardens of one of the palaces (sorry no title that's already been forgotten) with it's fountains and statuary, labryinth of shrubbery and fun park. We enjoyed that area for awhile. When we had finished the walking tour, we went back to our car to leave the city and I whined about not having been able to try a treat from "Demel" which is a sweet shop Rick recommended, and so Spencer not being able to resist my beautiful batting eyes dropped me off to grab a box of treats: apple and cheese strudels (which I am reluctant to admit were not as good as I expected, but nevertheless were worth getting and trying, one must eat strudel in Austria right?). When I got back in the car Spencer said, "okay we're going to Rothenburg, I just reserved our hotel." I was very excited for this surprise. We had talked about going to Rothenburg ob-der-tauber as it was highly recommended by Rick Steve and friends, and though out of the way we decided it wasn't likely we'd get to it otherwise. This also gave me hope that we might be able to have a go at the ruins again. In departing we swung by the mansion used in the SOM movie as the Von Trap home, and took our last look at Salzburg.

           strudels from Demel;                     breakfast near Rothenburg

Then we started up for Rothenburg. We arrived extremely late to a very cool hotel, but which unfortunately was so cool that it did not have an elevator. (Spencer by the way is a very good and reliable driver, which is to say he did 99% of the driving and never complained or got tired while the rest of us snooze away, and then he takes all the luggage up too.) We woke up at our hotel and had a very yummy breakfast of eggs, sausage, good bread and of course hot chocolate which the kids enjoyed without deviation every morning of vacation, and which was one of the highlights of the whole trip for them.  

We then drove a short distance to the medieval walled city of Rothenburg odt. It is a very charming town with complete and long wall encircling it and lots of steeples and peach colored buildings, cobblestone, gardens, a town square, little shops, and a lovely view of the surrounding area. We ate some shnee balls which I find very fun to say and walked around the wall and town. We weren't able to do the whole wall as we only had 2-3 hours there.

We then headed down the "Romantic road".  We stopped at a couple of cute little towns along the way, and drove on tiny farm roads through trees and cows, pastures and ponds. It was a very picturesque drive, which was crowned at the end by a fairy tale castle and layers of gorgeous sunset-lit mountains. It was truly breathtaking, even so much so that it captivated the kids (though as I said, our kids are generally pretty observant and appreciative of their surroundings) as well as the adults . I was so glad  not to be the one driving.

I was also delighted that we had enough time to squeeze in a visit to the ruins! Which were well worth the wait and I'm so glad we didn't miss. We got there in the nick of time. The kids saw that there was a very cool playground with drawbridge and fort and battering ram, etc. at the entry of the ruin site, all made of wood and ropes, and when faced with such, had a hard time thinking that hiking up a mountain to castle ruins was the thing to do. I insisted, knowing that they would indeed appreciate it once there, and sealed the deal by telling them we could return to the park. So we hiked as quickly as possible so as to lose as little light as possible, to the top (about a 30 minute hike). The kids did great. Cado of course had no problem, he was rather in his element, but Paisley in the same situation is truly challenged and it is not at all her cup of tea. She nevertheless accomplished it! with lots of encouragement and a bit of help from holding on to Dad's hand or her preferred spot, his back pocket. Geneve got carried a few times and we made it! 

And as I suspected the kids were in imagination heaven. Cado grabbed a long stick and asked Paisley to assist him in ramming down the door as they stormed the castle...and the exciting adventures continued. For the few minutes we got to spend at the top I took lots of pictures, we took in the amazing views, and the kids played with all of their great ideas. We hiked down in the dark and were able to play for a bit on the fun playground as a family. We finished with McDonald's (which is pretty good here, and I would say the Austria McDonald's are the best I've experienced), and were again on the road, this time for home. 

I'm really grateful we were able to do it, and for all we got to see, and for how much fun we had together. Paisley coined the trip "the castle trip" which as you can see was true enough. I LOVE being with my family. I feel so blessed and happy that these 4 wonderful people are mine!

We had a great (but too fast) Summer. I'm still thinking of the things I didn't do or wish I could have done twice! The weather wasn't very summery for this Southern California girl. I think we had 2 weeks of genuine summer weather where it was hot and humid. I liked it. It's the best way to enjoy playing in water! The hotter it is, the better the water feels. It mostly stays near 70-80 degrees and fluctuates between rainy and partly sunny. But we did our best to make the best of it.

The kids did swim lessons the first week and that was really fun, that was one of the nice hot weeks. They loved it and made a lot of progress! At the end Cado jumped off the diving board! And Paisley had no trouble putting her face in the water. Geneve loves swimming and can't get in the water fast enough! We also enjoyed squeezing in friend time and seeing old friends who were around from Singapore or Hong Kong. We played at my favorite lake spot "Baby plage".

The next week I potty trained Geneve. And as far as that goes, I am currently....FRUSTRATED. I will never understand potty training but I think I'm ready to embrace the "train at 2 and it takes a year, train at 3 and it takes a week" idea. So, long story short, she's wearing diapers again, and is a bit confused I think. She'll do some #2 in the potty and some not which is extremely unpleasant for mom and dad. She's super capable, she showed all signs of readiness, and she was quite successful for quite awhile, but she started having more and more accidents because she decided she didn't care and it wasn't worth it. By the way "Three day potty training" by Lora Jensen is not a fool-proof gauranteed to work deal. She would have you think otherwise, but I'm here to testify that IT DID NOT WORK.

Daddy took 2 weeks off just to hang out with the family around Geneva. Unfortunately the weather took a turn for the worst for those two weeks, and we hardly had any sun. We managed to get to a pool or two anyway and saw Toy Story 3, Mommy and Paisley got to go on a mommy/daughter shopping date, we went to a mini-train park, went hiking, and got invited to do lunch out in the french countryside at the amazing house of a school friend of Cado.

In August we made a volcano (Letter V is now done :) ), went berry picking, went to pools, pateaugoires and splash pads, parks, and the bouncy castles on the roof of a mall, did accrobranche (you'll see in the pictures), and not least of all did a rapid speed tour of some of Germany and Austria!

We took a week for our Germany/Austria visit, and I think it deserves it's own post.

Well, like I said, I'm still having a hard time accepting that my last summer here is coming to an end. I'm not ready for cooler weather because it never got hot long enough! But Fall here is beautiful. My kids are as cute as ever and are growing up too fast, the universal lament of the mother. They are enjoying school, and though I was sad to see summer go, I have to say getting back to a routine and schedule is exciting too.

Going to start potty training my baby tomorrow Morning! :( I'm excited and SAD. Watching and helping your kids grow up is like that.

She's been taking off her diaper every time she pees. I read this 3 day potty training book, and I feel more ready than I have before. Cado was such a cinch, he basically just did it himself, that I thought, this potty training thing is a breeze, what's the big deal? So with Paisley when I saw she was ready I just thought it would go the same and I knew what I was doing. Turns out I was wrong. It took a year to potty train Paisley! I know it was because I was negative and did a lot of the "do nots" of potty training. a few months into it I finally sought some help in a book, and smacked my forehead with a very regretful "doh!" Then I started doing things right, but had to make up for all the previous mistakes and help Paisley see that potty training could be fun and positive.

Anyway, because of that, this time I realized I should be more prepared and maybe even follow someone's tested methodology, so I got the three day potty training ebook, and I believe in it. It's like when I read "love and logic", it seemed so right and obvious to me, I thought, why is this not what I just naturally do? The potty training idea is just to be 100% focused on the child for 3 days (minimize distractions, even cooking and chores: so plan ahead, get house in order), and positive reinforcement, and subtle word changes, it's not, "if you want a candy you'll need to go potty in the toilet first." but when they do it (and you help them by running them to the toilet every time they start to go), you say, you just went potty in the toilet, let's get you a treat! And instead of "do you need to go potty?" you say, "tell mommy when you need to go potty okay?" No forcing, no bribing. You watch them, and get them to the toilet as soon as you notice something happening. Then you praise and congratulate and reward. I feel good about this.

And it's good too, because I did get my house in order, with the help of Spencer and the kids, yesterday. so added bonus: clean house, and stocked fridge and meals planned, etc. We're going to be housebound for 3 days.

So, wish me luck! And it doesn't hurt for grandparents to call with their praise and encouragement, so feel free to do so! I could probably use it too!