beeing creative::with "schwarzwaelder torten"

like every sunday night we meet as a community to share a meal and be together. this looks different every time. some times it is a time of sharing stories of our lives, listening to a travel report, discussing an interesting article or bible passage. other times we play games, have fun pure or like this past sunday we are creative...


we split up in three groups, each group got all the needed ingredients for a "schwarzwaelder torte", chocolate sponge cake, lots of whipped creme, cherries and chocolate shaving. and yes there were a few more ingredients which were added for the fun of it...


lots of whipped creme didn't make it into the dessert...


one team was super creative, they created something like an "ice bomb"


the results turned out fun and yummy!

a first::for the six year old

naomi's first day of school, and back to school for the boys...
after having moved back to switzerland last year, naomi went to kindergarten and enjoyed it a lot, kindergarten in switzerland is fun. it is very wholesome, and naomi is so ready to start with "real" school. learning to write and read and getting homework! we had many great conversations about it all and during our summer brake there was lots of thinking being done in regards to this new "thing" called school!


so, here we are!
7am we get up and of her cloths have been chosen carefully yesterday evening. of course the dolly "n" had to have breakfast with her and some happy conversations have taken place over the past days, very sweet.


hopping along in her new school bag, not missing a sight on our way to school.


the boys were great, the loved to take her along, very proudly pronouncing her a brave sis and of course, she will have to fend for herself when the sixth graders will be threatening her!
she got to hear all the "horror stories", there was once a brawl and a boy got a scratch in his eye and is now blind... o well i guess those tips of stories make their way around the school yard in any given town... but i thought of it as very cute the way the big brothers coached her for the big day. now a week into it all, it is routine and no big deal, just normal and i'm glad for her. she loves school, she loves to run out of the house every day with her big bros.

{this moment}

A Friday ritual.
A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.

Inspired by SouleMama

summer::the fourth

we got to see a very old church, built around the year 200 AD


the church of densus






and of course, the building was not that interesting for our nature boy....
he found a rock with ton's of little fossils!


and then on the road sides, once in a while ruins of failed businesses, these big and wide towers have been iron furnaces of the csv calan, someone else has taken a photo, an very impressive black and white one...
many other said places of not finished construction sights we passed by. mostly abandoned within the last few years, as the mortgage bubble hit in eastern europe in a similar way as in the USA.

summer::the third

visiting places in romania includes quite a bit of driving...
the streets are mostly very high frequented main roads. lots of cars and trucks of all ages and then as soon as you leave a main road there are villages, people selling produce right there on the street side and we passed many horse pulled wagons loaded high with hay. definitely a unique experience...


int he car...


and outside beyond the car windows...


the little farm we visited, there are so many interesting parts to the history of the village life and in particular to these lovely place. in short the house was built in communist times. there were two floor plans available, a one story and a two story one and that's why houses look very much alike!


the farmer and his wife work 5 hectares of land. they have one milk cow and three buffalo cows, about two dozen chickens and a couple of pigs, and a hand full of cats. a garden where lots of yummy veggies grow a few fruit trees, that's what they live on. there are no shops in the villages, no groceries to be bought, it's just the market on saturdays.
here is a very interesting link in regards to making hay and stacking it. it is an art, yes indeed it is.


the farmers wife was in the middle of braiding all her onions into long strands, something i remember my grandma doing too. i do wish for a garden to be able to grow onions, to last all winter for our family...


here the result!
to the right are the garlic braids, all safe in a little dry shed.


the buffalo pull what ever needs to be pulled, be it plow, wagon or just anything.


elias and i were stunned by the sight of this rooster!


and the kitty love...

summer::the second

we didn't just stay at our friends, but we also enjoyed each others music. went on adventures together and had lots of fun talking and laughing...


there was violin, piano and singing...


and of course attentive listeners!


a good hike through hip high grasslands. the scent of wild honey lots of raspberries, black berries, rose hip and little critters!


thank you r for taking us on this hike up to the roman fort!


such an amazing place the amphitheater on the mountain top!


the gate of prolissum lent itself to pretend play, better than we could have wished for! o those dacia's fighting against the romans... (here some more about that part in romanian history)


and then a dramatic photo of all, a cool mountain, water buffalo's roaring from the valley and such cool cumulus clouds in the sky.

summer::the first

in the following days i will be posting a few snippets of the two weeks we spent on the road to romania, staying with our friends and coming back home...
it has been a great journey, we spent 4 days on the road and managed to drive just about 1300km in those days. camping was enjoyable for all, after the first two nights of rainfalls. but our tent did it's job and we stayed dry. and there is to say we all love spending time in a tent when it rains, it's such a soothing sound! the time in romania was hot and dry, wonderful landscape and dusty streets... more later



lots of ball games...


yummy meals cooked on the gas stove...


crossing boarders, a cool game and all wanted to be the first ones to see the sign of the new country!


some very unique vehicles we passed by as soon as we rode on romanian streets...


and stunning landscapes, lot's of fascinating sights especially in regards of farming.


the romanian village...


and many of the wonderful churches, we often wished to stop...


and then a big feast as we arrived, we enjoyed a wonderful cold freshly harvested watermelon! thank you o & r
(elias is missing on this one, joel got the camera ready on top of a car...)

things are happening::amidst getting ready

in these few days before we head east there is lots happening...

::i love the days before holidays

::yesterday was the moment to spend some moments at a health food store to get a few surprises for our friends r & o, no i'm not going to tell you what


::lots of hanging and reading


::amos and i had to get rid of a bit pate brisee, there were some nectarines and blueberries in the fridge too


::the first crop of my tomatoes, the plants start to look too yellow for my taste, it's all that rain we have been getting...


::carambole the game, many hours have been played lately


::the opportunity to clean up the bed rooms has been great. the boys enthusiastically took to it and their room has not been looking as great since we moved in. i loved their energy boost


::this is naomi's energy burst to get ready...

::joel got a new sleep pad, "kaikkialla" sounds great doesn't it! i still have to be happy with my trusted 12 year old therma rest i'm fine with it.

::the violins are ready to come along and so are the drum sticks, which makes me happy. the kids decided on their own that they really want to take the instruments along. i'm sure joel will take all his beloveds along too, which is great, i love music in my ears and thea will do her dancing.

::enough said, we are gone and the blogging will happen again in about 2 weeks

{this moment}

A Friday ritual.
A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.

Inspired by SouleMama

getting ready::to head east

we will take a road trip out east, to visit our friends in romania. it's a long drive, though we decided to take our time for the 14ookm. we allotted 3 days for it and take the tent along.
the plan is to leave some time on friday and make it half way through austria. hopefully finding a nice little spot to pitch our tent. we will not take the fastest route but want to enjoy some of the austrian alps. a second and third over night will be in hungary, there are some really nice spots at lake balaton. we know, that we want to arrive in cluj-napoca some time on monday. so there we go with our borrowed toyota...

the middle boy::his 9th birthday

it was amos special day today!
even on the white board in our hallway was the message very clear, there will be cake after dinner and everyone is invited for it.


the day started with a big brotherly hug even before breakfast. i was in awe of the precious moment and will keep it in my memory to remind myself that this is possible and true too...


joel was preparing a scavenger hunt last night and here we go, the kids were really excited. it started with the magical writing on the soccer ball, which amos found after getting a hint from his birthday card...
followed by some hints and notes, through math riddles and the some comic magazines...


finding two notes which added up with a new hint "under the bike saddle"


until he finally finds the wrapped present in the mail box, yeah!


there were many more surprises in store for the boy and he was so very happy with his cake. he and i were baking it yesterday, he really really wanted to help. we chose a zucchini "gugelhupf", it was important to amos that he did most of it and that it is a sweet-veggie gugelhupf!
i'm so very happy for amos to have a summer birthday, and that here in switzerland the evenings are very pleasant to spend outside. it's light until 9:20pm and the kids are on holidays, what more do you want. family is close by, and friends too, thank you t & d for coming over and celebrating with us.