Top 'o the mornin'!

Ella is distraught.  St. Patrick's Day isn't celebrated here, not at all. 

But I told her she'd probably still get a visit from Lucky, the leprechaun who has been visiting our house and leaving us chocolates ever since Ella and I made his acquaintance in preschool.  Her preschool teacher suggested that the kids build leprechaun traps in their homes for Lucky, and Ella did, but then had a crisis of conscience and disassembled the trap, replacing it with a leprechaun playground.  Trapping just isn't nice.

So last night, as she has every St. Patrick's eve since, Ella faithfully built her playground.  And then she surveyed the boys' wardrobes and helped them set out green clothes to wear tomorrow.  Only Ella could convince Joey to swap out his choo-choo sweater.)

And, what do you know, Lucky rewarded his little believers, leaving chocolate eggs for all.

After we dropped Alex off at school, Joey really, really wanted to go on a train ride.  So we took the train downtown and got our groceries there, as well as a few new card games for the kids to play with on those longer train rides.

And, on our way home, I remembered a Dim Sum stand across from the Landesmuseum that I'd read good things about somewhere. I'd pointed it out to Dennis once, but he objected 1) to the fact that it was dim sum, and 2) to the fact that the stand adjoined a public bathroom. 

Restaurant slash WC

Joey had no such scruples, however, so the two of us got ourselves some handmade dumplings with lots and lots of chili sauce. "It's spicy!" our server warned.  Gott sei Dank! There's not a lot of heat in Swiss food, and I've really been missing it. And while Alex and Ella prefer their food bland and blander, Joey is right there next to me when I'm attacking the jalapeño dip.

This afternoon Dennis came home from work early, and I returned to my Berlitz German class.  I actually had quite a lot of fun this week, and I think I'm starting to win my stuffy teacher over with my absolute willingness to make a fool of myself as I try to speak. He still shakes his head at me, but now with a laugh and a smile.  Don't worry. He'll come around.

A blast from the past, compliments of Netflix streaming

The kids are off school tomorrow for a teacher work day, so Friday movie night was moved up a day. Dennis and I happily played cards and ignored the kids while Uncle Television entertained them with old episodes of She-Ra. (Although I must point out Aunt Kathy is the one who first introduced my kids to this fine television experience.)

A while ago, Ella pointed out something that I'd never noticed about that show: no one is ever hurt or does violence, despite all of the battling between good and evil. The good simply capture the bad guys in some goofy way (with plenty of snarky quips) and then return them to the Hoard, to fight another day. Inefficient, but otherwise laudable. Ella eagerly embraces the idea of a princess of power, and the boys love the show as well: Joey happily sings along with the theme song every time. "Do do do do do She-Ra She-Ra!"And he cheers every time her horse turns into a magical flying Pegasus.

Because what's not to love about that?