We've had a great holiday time over these last couple of weeks, sharing with family and friends both near and far, and enjoying sleep-ins, great conversations, funny games, cosy fires and yummy baking (and a little too much chocolate...if that is possible!).
We spent Christmas Eve with Eti's family, and then Christmas day at our home. It's always interesting to discover how different families and cultures celebrate. Here it seems that much of the celebrations take place on Christmas Eve. Eti asked me that morning 'Should we give our gifts today or tomorrow?' to which I responded (a little too) quickly 'We can't give them today! We give gifts on Christmas day!!'...then realised that's only because I always did that with my family. Fascinating and fun.
The girls were spoilt with lots of books, puzzles and bubbles....and also their very own kitchen! I think it's fair to say that I was more excited about this kitchen from IKEA because it's so cute! Their grandparents treated them to the kitchen and another dear friend bought them a whole lot of accessories like miniature pots, utensils, a soft basket of fruit and container of vegetables. For the moment the girls love opening and shutting the cupboard doors, turning on and off the stove hob lights and carrying their pots around the place (which are occasionally found in the kitchen drawer with the real pots!)...
So much fun!
In between Christmas and New Year we 'crossed the border' and went to spend a few days with a friend in the German-speaking part of Switzerland, a.k.a. Die Schweiz. It's a fascinating thing about a country such as this, where there are four official languages spoken, and suddenly from one part to the next, all the language on signs changes. I have no idea what to say in German, so thankfully with Swiss-German they do use some French words :) We had a great time with Erika, discovering her part of the country and enjoying the beauty and differences of her area. I wish I had remembered to take my camera with us on our first outing because the view of the mountains with the fog in the valley was just stunning. Here are some other beautiful views that I did remember to capture...
We also discovered a great place to visit which I would really recommend to anyone visiting Switzerland for a few days - the Kambly Biscuit factory. It has a great shop with an area to learn the history of the company, as well as plenty of delicious biscuits to taste! It was a wonderful place to take two little toddlers to because they had room to roam, the biscuits were up high and we could feed them snacks as they needed!
As you can see, we did have a great time with Erika & look forward to returning in the springtime. Our route home was adventurous as we decided to take the 'scenic' route, which involved a mountain pass and lots of snow! But it was beautiful and Eti was our expert navigator!
New Year was passed cosily at home by the fire with yummy nibbles and Meghan's delicious mulled wine (we even managed to somewhat convert my frenchman to heated wine!)...which was just the right thing as Eti had a stomach bug.
Our days have been peaceful and relaxed. We ate plenty of these...
The other day we awoke to sunny, clear skies and felt adventurous enough to venture out for a picnic lunch by the lake. I guess looking outside from in we forgot to realise how cold it was outdoors, but it was an 'experience' nonetheless and gave us some good fresh air :)
...and led us to a little visit at IKEA...which I mentioned on Wednesday. So we've had a rich, relaxed time of adventures, time with dear friends and celebrating Christmas and the beginning of a whole new year of opportunities. We look forward to see what comes!
It's now just past 11pm and my bed is calling. I hope you all have a great Friday and weekend! We're looking forward to seeing our friend Rose this weekend, who is a fellow kiwi and living not-too-far-away during the next 3 months, and then heading down to the South of France on Monday for a few days by the sea!
Wow, what a weekend of snow! It snowed here for much of the weekend and we have somewhere between 50cm and a metre on the ground. Eti was even able to go out snowboarding yesterday and enjoyed lots of the first-of-the-season powder on a nearby skifield. Fun! And it's just so beautiful to see from a cosy, fire-warmed, lamp-lit living room
So, by Sunday afternoon the pile of snow on the balcony had grown considerably (I have since finally ventured out and retrieved the clothes hanger!), as well as on the ground...covering cars and such...
We kept ourselves well occupied beside the fireplace, playing with 'babies' (possibly both girls' first clear word!)...which involved undressing and tickling of toes, and playing 'peekaboo' in and out of the playhouse. Lots of giggles were heard!
Daddy made a fun 'sled' and pulled the girls around the living room and kitchen for a while. I think some of his love for adventure and risk-taking is rubbing off...
I love this photo he captured of a moment of quiet reading in the playhouse...
Meanwhile, I was busy cutting out and sticking together a cool paper Nativity set, that I had spotted here and downloaded from here. We didn't have one, so it was great to make our own!
I got on a bit of a creative roll this weekend and decided to use some IKEA childrens' fabric that I'd had lying around for quite a while to make some pillow cases for some cushions that were in the playhouse. I had no idea how to make them, so I turned to Google and typed in 'How to make a pillowcase'....et voila! 7 pillowcases later and I'm quite chuffed with myself for achieving a little sewing project that has left me dreaming of bigger ones!
Now I'm back to ticking off jobs on my 'to do' list as we have our friend, Cathy, arriving on Wednesday morning and there are a few bits and pieces to tidy away :) We can't wait to share Christmas with her!!
Hope this week is beginning well for each of you and you find moments of quietness amidst the preparations for Christmas to remember the precious baby that was born all those years ago, for whom we celebrate, and who gave us such an amazing example of how to live.
P.S. I liked this beautiful story that we came across this morning...
This week has been one of snowfalls and fairylights. Today winter decided to show us that it really means to inhabit the village for a while, as the snow piled up. Eti couldn't even drive his work van home at lunch-time, which is saying something coming from a country where nothing stops for snow. We even change our tires for the winter!
Yesterday I realised that we had three strands of fairylights upstairs in the storage cupboard that I had completely forgotten about. So the Christmas tree was adorned with an extra set, as well as the mantlepiece...and the third was for having some fun! Until, of course, the lights started going into the mouths :)
I just love the view that we've been gifted with from most of the rooms in our home. I try not to take it for granted that we overlook a beautiful set of alps that sometimes almost appear like they're a painted backdrop.
And snow it has today! A friend told us tonight that, during these next three days, the nearby skifield will get just over 2 metres of snow! Crazy! Eti loves the sound of that :)
As of the last few days we now have two little girls walking around! Elise has been trying so hard after seeing Amélie walk around, and has been getting up on her feet time after time. She can now walk a few metres and is so proud of herself...and rightly so! We are too. What a miracle she is! Next step will be to call her physio and invite her around because she wanted to know when she started walking so she can come around and see it for herself :)
I love this shot of her deep in concentration as she presses the buttons on her book to make animal sounds. They're really into this book this week. Amélie makes me smile because she quietly mimicks each animal as she goes through the book :)
Along with the cosy-indoors feeling that weather like this brings, I've fallen several times into the temptation of baking delicious smelling goodies. We have a rapidly disappearing tin full of ginger crunch and chocolate chippie biscuits in the cupboard.
And I've been enjoying ignoring the pile of clothes needing to be folded (though I did get there this afternoon!) and instead creating...
...some unfinished patchwork Christmas ornaments to make up for not getting the girls an ornament last year. Mum gave me this pattern and they've been a lot of fun to make! (p.s. they probably look more complicated than they really are!). I'll show you the finished product when I find the ribbon I'm looking for.
I'm pretty proud of my first-ever knitted item that actually has a purpose (asides from the little blankets I made for the girls in their incubators last year)...a scarf for one of the girls. AND I learned (thanks to 'Knitting for Dummies') how to change colours! I did start with 20 stitches and somehow ended up with 21 which is a bit of a mystery, but not too unusual for me. It probably happened during the few seconds I tried to see if I could knit without looking. So now that I know it can be done, I have one more to make, so the girls have something to wrap around their necks to keep snuggly warm this winter.
It was exciting to receive a parcel from NZ this morning, that contained the latest Parenting Mag. I'm saving it for a moment when I can sit with my feet up and soak in all the fun and great advice! I'm SO thankful for wonderful resources like this!
I spotted this copy of The Velveteen Rabbit on a table in the girls' room tonight as we were putting them to bed. It's still a bit too wordy to keep their concentration, so I've been reading it to myself this evening :) I haven't completely read it for years, but it's a beautiful story. And the illustrations are just as beautiful!
And then got carried away with photographing fairylights (which you have probably noticed from some photos above!), after having a great talk with a dear friend, Carol, over skype this afternoon. She takes amazing photographs, so she was giving me some advice on f-stops and aperture, which is a whole new language to me!
So that's us for this week. I'm hoping we will get this big snowfall so Eti can hit the slopes, which he loves to do. We hope you're all enjoying your week and look forward to hearing about it! One more week 'til Christmas!!!
