First break!

Okay, so I received a call from Anna's teacher today.  Apparently someone ran into Anna at school and she fell and hurt her wrist.  After getting it checked out at the hospital, we discovered that she had a compression fracture in her wrist.  This is the very first broken bone in our family.  Not really something to celebrate.  But I am happy that the break is not too bad.  She has to wear a cast for two weeks.  The only problem will be making sure the cast comes off before she gets baptized.  I told the hospital staff that I needed to get it off before her baptism.  They looked at me in puzzlement.  I then explained that we do baptism "by immersion" -- so it will HAVE to get wet.

Anna with her temporary cast.

Anna with her pink cast.  Wow!  These things are so much better than when I was a kid -- color choice?

Rollerblades

Today Anna and I went rollerblading along Lake Geneva.  It was so refreshing to be outside again and using my NOT PREGNANT body.  The sun drenched everything and the blossoms almost smothered us with their perfumes.  The best part was spending some special one-on-one time with Anna Claire.  Things have been so busy with the new baby that I cherish these moments of peace!

Doings. . .

The kids have been on spring break for the past few weeks and we definitely did not plan a vacation.  Instead, I've tried to fill their time with other activities.  Anna and Mariah took tennis lessons last week. I had to drag them there the first time, but after that they loved it.  Rob has now set up our garage door as a backboard so that they can practice.  This week, Anna got to try out circus school.  Mariah has been in a circus class all year and Anna has been dying to go.  They learn all sorts of things there -- from balancing and acrobatics to just doing funny circus tricks.  Anna got particularly good at walking on giant balls.  Random, but great for the core!  Maybe I should try this!  The only place besides these that I've managed to get to is the park.  At least we've had sunshine!

Mariah playing pirates at the park.

Anna with her circus friends. 

"Go faster Mom!"

America?

Tyler looked at the American flag on a peanut butter jar today and said, "Mom, I want to go to this country."
I said, "That's the American flag.  We are going to that country."
"But Mom, do they speak American there?" he asked.
"No, they speak English, just like us.  America is your country.  You're American."
"No, Mom.  I'm from Switzerland."
"You were born in Switzerland but both your parents are American so you are American too."
"Oh!"

How is it that my kid doesn't know his heritage?  I mean, we taught him the entire Star-Spangled Banner on the way to Paris last year and he loves hearing about the Revolutionary War.  We have been here too long.  Tyler was born in Switzerland and that is what he sees as his country.  He can't fathom that he is not Swiss.  There is no automatic citizenship for foreigners born here so Tyler is no more Swiss than any other American.  Furthermore, he can't understand how he is supposed to identify with a country where he has never lived, but only visited a few times.  The complexities of our situation here help me to better empathize with American immigrants.

On the other hand, people tend to think that we Americans are extremely harsh with immigrants.  Au contraire, the U.S. is one of the most generous countries in the world with immigrants.  The U.S. on a yearly basis generally accepts more immigrants as permanent residents than all other countries combined.   Moreover, the U.S. and Canada are the only two advanced economies that still recognize jus soli, which is the grant of citizenship solely by birth.  We definitely need to overhaul our immigration laws, but in doing so, maybe we should consider what many other European countries do -- offer more temporary permits but limit pathways to permanent citizenship.  However, then you risk ending up with kids like my kids -- children with no rights in the only country they have ever known.

That reminds me.  I need to get Thomas a U.S. passport quickly.  Otherwise, he is stateless. :)

Happy Birthday Kari!

Today is my first full day back at home.  In some ways, I just want to go back to the hospital and hide there for another week.  Life is so busy here with kids and kids activities galore.  The kids are out of school for two weeks so I'm challenged trying to entertain them and feed a new baby and generally recover myself.  

Here is little Thomas completely unaware of his change of environment.  This swing is a life saver!

Kari's birthday is today so I wanted to do something a little special.  She loves German chocolate cake so that's what we made.  After I decorated it, I realized that it looked kind of like a generic grocery store cake.  But it tasted much better!

My grocery store looking cake.

Happy Birthday Kari!

"Mmmm.  I yike it!"