Geno's Special Easter Basket From School

Geno received his Easter basket early from school, because he would not be there next week. They used an egg carton, put crepe paper grass around it, made yellow crepe paper flowers, put some grass and candy in there, and it was done. What a great craft. Can you tell that Geno is proud of his Easter basket?

Buddy Club

Coretta has been donating her time to helping out with the preschool section of her school by creating and organizing events for them during recess. For her hard work, she was presented with a hat in front of her peers at assembly. Great job Coretta!!

Easter Bunny

The Easter bunny came early to our house, since we will be on a Mediterranean Cruise and on our way back home on Easter Sunday. Coretta and Geno woke up early and were excited to find their Easter baskets. Here is a photo of them this morning.

Coretta has been elected for Student Council

Coretta has been working hard preparing her student council speech over the past week. She wants to make sure that she appeals to both the boys and girls in the class and feels it needs to have a humorous side. In Coretta's mind, "funny sells." While creating her speech, she decided that the main points she would focus on was expanding the boot room and assign helpers to keep it tidy, create a teachers against students soccer tournament, and stated that she would be reliable and dependable. She then stated, "that her ideas would be so bright that they would need shades" as she put her shades on, and ended with "Change your underwear, change your school." Congratulations Coretta!

Geno and his Cars

Lately, Geno's favorite past time is to look out his window on a step stool at all of the cars that drive by. Sometimes he counts them, sometimes he notices their colors, but mostly just watches them. The other day, he wanted to watch the cars outside his window, and asked daddy to pull up the blinds, and he stated "Daddy, turn on the light." Nick had to explain to him that at night, we are unable to see the cars. How cute is that!

Geno's New Haircut

Today Geno got his first haircut at a salon, since we were back in the states. He has had this fear of salons since we moved here and has scared every beautician into refusing to cut his hair, so we had to introduce the buzz cut. Today he actually was excited to get his haircut because he would be able to ride the bus, have lunch with Daddy at the kebab place, and get a present from Mommy. We were very proud of our little man. Great job Geno!

Making Chocolate Bunnies at the Bakery

Today the kids and I went to the Holz Rust Bakery in Baar and made our own chocolate bunnies from scratch. When we arrived, they asked us what mold we would like. We had frogs, ducks, and bunnies to choose from in all different sizes. Geno and Coretta both chose a bunny.

Then we were to go to the first station where we could paint chocolate inside of the mold in any way or color of chocolate we wanted. Once finished with that, we went to the next station where they clamped our mold together and put our name on it.

Once to the last station, they took the mold, filled it with chocolate, tapped it lightly with a wooden stick, and then set it upright for a few minutes. Then they put chocolate on a sheet and made the base of the bunny and put it in the freezer. Once out of the freezer, they opened the mold and out popped the bunnies. The kids really enjoyed this Easter event and I think we will do it again next year.

Flat Stanley Visits Zug, Switzerland

Flat Stanley has been visiting us all the way from America. More specifically all the way from Saint Paul, Minnesota sent here by Zoe Schearer. He spent today with Coretta and I exploring Zug, Switzerland on a beautiful and sunny day. We first went to the Coop Restaurant where we had steak and chicken nuggets, fries, and chocolate cake. Once we finished our food, we went down by the lake where Flat Stanley was able to see Lake Zug or Zugersee, do some sun bathing, and see may sights. Some of the things he was able to see were some exotic birds, the old part of Zug where there are cobble stoned streets, a butcher shop, and the farmer's market. We then decided to go to the Fisherman's Museum where he saw a fish hatchery where fisherman take fish from the lake, extract their eggs, nurture them from the tadpole stage until they are big enough to go back into the lake. Upstairs of the museum, we saw 80 year old fisherman's nets as well as several other artifacts. One fable in particular was most interesting. many, many years ago, there was a picture that surfaced of a half man half fish creature in the lake. Later on, they found it to be a fake. Just something the fishermen made to pass the time. We saw several other different kinds of fish, wobblers, and an authentic wooden fishermen boat. Overall, I think Flat Stanley had a great day!

Nate's Party in Thalwil

One of Nick's colleagues always throws a party for staff and rents out a hall, has the food made by two Spanish sisters who serve different types of tapas, and drinks. This is the first year that I was able to attend, and it was a great time. The kept coming around to serve us food and drinks, and had a chance to catch up with some friends I haven't seen for a while. The above picture was us at the party.

Dangerous Snowshoeing Experience

Nick had a work function where the whole office was going skiing or snowshoeing for the day. After lunch, Nick asked if any of his colleagues would like to snowshoe with him, and they declined opting for drinking coffee or skiing. Nick, being set on spending the afternoon snowshoeing, took off into the mountains by himself. During this excursion, he was enjoying the solitude and beauty of nature as he made his ascent up the mountain ridge. From the looks of it, the mountain ridge looked as though it was steep for a while and then leveled off. As Nick proceeded up the hill, he realized that once up, he realized it only leveled for a brief moment and then was a steep incline again, so he proceeded. By the time he got to the top and took some pictures, he started to make his ascension, when he received a call from another colleague stating that the gondolas were going to close in about five minutes. As Nick looked around at his surroundings, he noticed that there were no skiers on the chairlifts and it was getting dark. At this point, he began to sprint down the mountain in hopes that he would be able to catch the gondola in time and not be stranded on the mountain at dusk with no food or avalanche shovel. he made it, and was relieved that he wouldn't have to eat himself to survive.

Geno during Speech Therapy

This is a video of Geno and his speech therapist in a session this week. His speech has definitely come along way! I am very proud of his progress! Ms. Ziegler asked if it would be okay if she taped part of Geno's session so that she and some other therapists can look at ways that they interact with their students and look at ways they maybe able to improve.