it's going to be a good year.

this is from today -- all the boys (in front of the house where we're staying)! L to R: Dennis (10), Phillip/"Phipsy" (4), Naui (the friend) (9), and Nicklas (9 on Sunday!). aren't they adorable?

I realized something last night as I heard myself say it out loud to Ryan... "it keeps getting better every day." The Schmid family is wonderful, and I can't express how happy I am with this decision.

Today I kept all of the boys by myself for the first time which was interesting... I'm just glad that everyone SURVIVED the pool and the ice cream outing. We had some close calls. Haha. But seriously. Everyone had fun and I learned that little miss nice au pair can't always be around. ;) It was good, though. The kids and I seem to be getting the hang of our relationships and I'm really enjoying it.

I've been talking with Nicole and Christoph (parents) a lot lately too and we're getting to know each other and I'm learning about Switzerland. My visa came today and I can't wait to leave in almost two days!! Thank you all for your love and prayers. I'll keep you posted!

ps- my schwizzerdeutsch is improving!! :)

I'm hereeee!

hiiii everyone! I'm glad I have a chance to write a blog finally. :) I figured this would be a good way to stay in touch while I'm gone.

soooo I'm here and it's... GREAT! the family is really wonderful. Monday was a long day of traveling, but from the moment I met the family I've felt totally at home. the parents are super nice and accommodating and the boys are SO cute. honestly, they can be little brats sometimes... but then they're sweet and it makes up for it! haha. they are definitely little boys.

Monday evening we just hung out at the beach. I have been soooo tired since I got here and it only seems to be getting worse! yesterday (Tues.) I got up early to handle my visa stuff (finally) with dad man, and then we spent the morning out on their neighbor's boat and went shopping in the afternoon. this morning we went deep sea fishing which was reeeaaally fun! I caught FOUR fish! (that's like a miracle for me. the little 8 year olds fishing with me each caught about 15+.) so that was fun.

like I said, everyone in the family is really sweet, and they're fun. there's another little boy here (besides the 3 Schmid boys) with us (a friend from Switzerland) and he's my favorite. he's SUPER sweet and speaks very little English, so we've sorta developed our own little language of english/german/sign language/facial expressions.

the one thing that's been really hard is the language. I can understand a LOT of german... but this is SWISS german. it'll be a lot easier once we get to Switzerland and I'm taking german classes and have gotten used to their accents. (the Schmids except for the youngest, Phillip, all speak very good english but they all speak german to each other.) so I'm kind of an observer right now, but mostly it's working really well. I help them out with the kids and the house and it kind of just happened as soon as I got here. the kids like me, especially Nicklas and Phillip (the younger two) and Naui (the friend). Dennis (the oldest) seems to like me too, but I've spent less time with him.

ANYWAY! that might be way too much information, but that's what's going on in my world. I'll try to keep you posted about life through this site. we leave for Switzerland on Monday -- PLEASE PRAY THAT MY VISA COMES IN TIME!! until then I'll just be hanging out... fishing, falling in love with yorkie puppies, dolphin watching (we've seen a lot!), playing with hellicopters, etc. :)

lots of love to all!

I have a blog!

Look -- I made a blog! more to come :)