Finally, finally, finally we have seen what seems to be the last of the rain, and the sun has been shining for the last few weeks. What a difference it makes to my mood here! The challenge with Lugano and little children is that there aren't a lot of indoor things to do when the weather is bad, so we end up staying cooped up at home a lot, which does nobody any good. But with sunshine, even in the colder temperatures we find a little bit of time to swing on the swings outside, or run around in the park, walk down to campus - anything that gives us some fresh air and exercise!
Carolyn managed to catch a great shot of some of the kids when we had a little meet up in the Montagnola square. I don't think, in all the years we've tried, anyone has managed to get all the kids to smile, be still, and look in the right direction. Big success right there!
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| "The big kids!" - Cassidy, Calvin, Liam, Drake, Stirling and Grayson |
Sometimes the ordeal of packing Eowyn into the car twice a day just to drop off and pick up Liam is just exhausting. Other days, she's quite the funny little person keeping me entertained with her questions, her music requests, and recently, her funny face. Out of nowhere I turned around and she made this face. I started laughing and asked her if that was her funny face, and of course she proceeded to repeat if for me a number of times. She will still do this same face if you ask her!
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| "funny face" Eowyn |
We have had a lot of playing pretend going on at home (as seen in Liam's swimming/diving outfits from a previous post). What I didn't add was a photo of Eowyn, also eager to play, walking around with a backpack on her back. She does this from time to time now - takes it out and asks me to help her put it on, and then wanders around for a bit!
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| Carrying her load |
In an effort to save some money on food (which we have done quite well at, I must say) we have also been eating one dinner, and sometimes two, at the dining hall. To me this is a sacrifice because the food isn't that good, and it is always a bit hectic getting the kids to eat, focus and then leave in time for bed. We have to do away with bath time and usually story time too, which often is a tricky thing, but the kids just love it. I mean it's like a special treat for them. Just yesterday I said to Liam that we'd be having dinner at the dining hall. He literally got up, danced a jig and starting shouting "weehee, we're going to the dining hall for a special treat! I promise mummy when it's time to go I'll just say, ok, and do good listening and just leave right away. No fuss!" Can you guess what we often have trouble with by his immediate response?!
The advantages are that we save money, I don't have to prepare a meal, and we don't have to clean up. The kids love the social aspect and getting to see some of the other families with kids at the meals. It's always a bit of a party for them, though for us it's kind of crazy ensuring food is actually eaten etc!
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| Dinner in the dining hall - oh what joy! |
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| Though she may not look it, she is also enthusiastic about dining hall food! |
The great thing about Lugano is that when the weather is nice, it's beautiful. So even in November a stroll along the lake makes it a good weekend. We haven't had a lot of these this year, but we did manage to get down town with the kids at least once and make the most of the sun.
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| Bumping into the Miller kids down town - Eowyn looking up to Josh, (her favorite!) and the boys |
Sometimes, amidst the fighting and non-sharing and screeching in our house, we manage to capture the two of them playing nicely, or doing something so sweet together. It happens on a regular basis, but the loud altercations tend to outnumber these moments:
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| Liam invited Eowyn to sit on his lap and read her favorite counting book |
Kat's due any day now with baby 2, so we managed to go out for tea at a fancy hotel and just the girls to celebrate her. It was really relaxing and an enjoyable afternoon, but I must confess that my scones are WAY better!
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| Alison, Kat and Carolyn at Hotel Splendide - Afternoon Tea |
This year we had 2 Thanksgiving dinners and somehow managed to skate by again without having to tackle the turkey. I feel like it's too risky to offer to do it and then mess it up, so I'd rather stick to what I know! On Friday of our long weekend we had dinner at the Millers with a few other friends. Shan did a crazy job of preparing almost everything, but I brought some homemade apple stuffing (which is quite tasty!) and a salad. The kids were super amped up and I'm not sure they ate a whole lot, but us adults actually sat and enjoyed our meal. Yum!
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| Kids table (sans Louisa) - Liam, Oliver, Eowyn and Calvin |
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| Adults table - James, Rik and Louisa, Matt, Patrick, Josh, Sam and Shan |
Thanksgiving 2 was hosted by Leigh and was a continuation of our tradition of doing Thankgiving together. I think this was the 4th year! We've grown as a group, and so this year it was us, the Doves, the Walsers and the Millers (Dibberts and Christina and co were out for this year). We must have planned exceptionally well because everything was just perfect. We even arranged to have 2 of our Franklin sitters help out with the kids so they could be downstairs for some time playing and not get under foot with food preparations etc. So we had a calm and lovely time getting ready for food - everyone brought plenty and everything was delicious. We even sat down and ate first, and then had the kids and babysitters come up so we could help them with their food without having ours get cold. Genius is what it was!
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| Good times - adults chilling while waiting on the food! - Josh, Shan, Kat and James |
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| Dinner before the kids came up - All the adults |
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| And I was there too! |
And then the kids came up and it was fun and games with them eating at their tables and running around as they do.
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| Drake, Eowyn and Calvin |
My birthday this year fell on a Weds - a beautiful sunny wednesday. This is the short day at Liam's school, so everyone goes home at 11:30am. Whenever possible, we head to the playground for a picnic lunch and outdoor time instead. There were a number of weeks when this wasn't possible, but luckily my birthday week was just gorgeous, so outside we went. As a really sneaky surprise Leigh had baked a giant birthday cake for me and brought it with her, so after the kids had eaten lunch we all got to enjoy a piece of her delicious cake. It certainly made the day feel more special in an otherwise regular kind of day!
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| Cutting my giant cake - me, Leigh and Carolyn |
There are days when I honestly feel like I am stumbling around blindfolded with this whole parenting thing, and days when it is the most wonderful thing in the world. What I do know, is that it is all-consuming. Once you become a parent it's so hard not to identify with that role over anything else. I also know how deeply I value conversations with other parents, as they can understand what I'm saying when I complain or feel at a loss. I know it's a bit of a cliche, but I get it now. The tricky piece is keeping hold of the other bits of ourselves - our dreams and aspirations that go beyond being a parent. I also am learning that we need to be a bit gentler with ourselves when we think we screwed up with the kids. It feels terrible, but we've all been there at some point, and it's the continued reflection and striving that will make us better parents. I hope my kids will some day forgive me for all the mis-steps I have made along the way. I'm sure there are already too many to count, but hopefully my love for them will override that.
