Bend it like Beckham!

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Picture update...

Some of the latest pictures of our kids.

Future Captains of the Swiss Armed Forces

Mat is once again instructing future company commanders of the Swiss Armed Forces. He hast ten students in his class including a 2nd Lt from Latvia. The following pics are some impressions from the Captains Career Course (or Leadership course I).

Visit from Fort Benning

Last Wednesday we met up with a classmate from Fort Benning. Jeff (2nd from the left) made a short trip to Europe with a friend of his who's also a Captain in the US Army. Since the visit was on a very short notice, all we were able to do is go out to dinner in Bern. However, it was still great to spend some time with some old friends from the states.

Facial features...

Miles and his little sister Reagan

Voilà a few recent pics of Miles (now 2 and a half years-old) and Reagan at 4 and a half months. Miles is an absolute gentleman to his little sister!



To see the single pictures click

2007_06_17

BIel-Seeland Officer's Society

The following picture featuring Mat and Peter Forster is one which appeared in the local newspaper "Le Journal du Jura" on Thursday.

As of this year, Mat has taken over the presidency of the Biel-Seeland Officer's Society. For the past 10 years, it would appear that not much was happening in the officer's society, since there were never more than 20 people present during their events. For a club with over 400 members, this is very poor attendance!

Mat took over with the goal of bringing a new wave to the club and of trying to make something out of it again. His objectives are to increase the number of participants as well as increasing public awareness of the club by having more media present during certain events.

The first event of the year was held this past Wednesday at the Hotel Elite, in Biel. Peter Forscher, THE expert regarding Middle Eastern conflicts, as well as author of 3 books on the subject, gave a presentation to well over 80 people. The room was so packed that they had to pull out more chairs for everyone to sit. Among the guests were several national council polititians as well as one Brigadier (1-star general). Following his presentation was an "Imbiss" with wine and fancy finger food, accompanied by military music played by a quartet.

The soirée was a huge success, and many emails filled Mat's inbox the following day, with positive feedback.

Mat and his entire executive committee deserve a tap on the back for a job well done!

Together - Inspirational video clip

Here's a great inspirational clip about a father - son relationship. Mat uses this clip in his leadership classes to underline the importance of teamwork to future platoon leaders and company commanders.

Check it out - but be aware, it's quite emotional.

Lady bug cake

A lady I work with has a daughter who just turned 20 last week. In order to make this an unforgettable day for her, she asked me to make a special cake to mark the occasion, a cake in the shape of a ladybug.

After spending 8-9 hours preparing my masterpiece, I managed to complete my mission. Here it is. From what I heard, there was a tremendous "WOW-EFFECT".
I can only hope that it tasted as half as good as it looks...

Happy Birthday Corina!!!

Visiting the Tank Museum in Thun

Tank Museum in Thun

Miles on a walk

Back to Work!

Well, my alloted 14 weeks of maternity leave has expired and I found myself heading back to work this week. Quite frankly, these 14 weeks were so extremely busy for me that I feel as though I never left work in the first place. Time flies when every second of the day is taken up.

We were unsuccessful in our search to find a nanny to care for Miles and Reagan. Well, perhaps it's a blessing in disguise, who knows? However, we did manage to find a "Taggesmutter/Maman de Jour" who will be taking care of our kids one day per week. My freak mother-in-law will also be taking care of them one day a week.

It is not the ultimate solution but it is, a semi-solution. A nanny would be great, but on the other hand that would mean having someone constantly around me in the house...an idea which I am not too crazy about!

On Monday I took the kids to their caretaker and it seemed to have gone well except for the fact that Reagan slept a total of 30 minutes that entire day as opposed to 2 hours in the morning and 3 hours in the afternoon under my watch.

On Wednesday my mother-in-law came here to care for the kids and I made the huge mistake to phoning her to see how things were going. Instead of saying hello she had to mention to me how "horribly shocked" she was at the sight of some dust which was present on the ventilator (fan) in Miles's room. (We have a little fan which is constantly running in his room in order to camouflage the echoing sounds that run throughout the house.)

I flipped out after hearing such a pathetic little remark. I told her that I would love to see her in my shoes: having to juggle a part-time job, a very lively toddler, a 3-month-old baby, a dog that sheds its white needle-like hair throughout our 7-piece house laden with dark grey-colored stone floors and massive windows throughout (which I am constantly struggling to keep clean). All this with minimal help since my husband has a very demanding job with lots of responsibility and is not often home and if he is home, it's more cleaning for me since he's not really a neat-freak since His Mother obviously never taught him how to be. (but that's okay)

Our place is spic and span by average standards and in my opinion, there are more important things to dwell on than some dust on a ventilator!
Little Miss Dragon should learn to keep her comments to herself since she brought up ONE child in a house HALF our size with the help of a CLEANING-LADY who would come by her house TWICE a week. She NEVER had to WORK outside the home. She is now DIVORCED.

Nobody is perfect and I do not possess a magic wand that I can wave around every day to chase the dust and dog hair away. However I do the best I can to manage, while trying to set priorities in the right order. Unfortunately, with only 24 hours in a given day, the dust sitting on the fan on the 3rd floor will have to wait its turn! :-)

Miles Deere

Miles the builder with his John Deere tractor.

Miles the builder

Happy Easter!

Well Miles had quite the surprise upon awakening this Easter morning. It turns out that the Easter bunny came for a visit and left a trail of eggs from Miles's bedroom, leading down 4 flights of stairs and into the backyard, where there were large chocolate easter bunnies hiding in the trees.
Also to be found was a bike helmet and....a BIKE!! Miles was so excited when he found this bike that he spent the entire day riding around outside. The only time he would take breaks was to eat...chocolate!
The next morning he didn't want any breakfast. He simply wanted to go outside on his bike, which he did and has been doing ever since. Happy Easter, Miles!

Click on the picture below to see the whole album and a few short videos.

Easter 07

Reagan at 8 weeks.

Things are now finally beginning to resume to normacy in the Mueller household. Reagan is a real doll and being more and more alert with each day. She smiles often and especially when hearing Miles's voice (must be the high pitch tones).

Last night she surprised us all by sleeping from 6pm until 4am. A very comfortable 10 hours. I can only hope that this is the beginning of a pattern taking place. Going to bed at 6pm and sleeping 10 hours would make everyone here a happy camper!

Real Democracy in Switzerland - First time voter

After residing in Switzerland for almost 11 years as well as working and paying my share of taxes, I finally obtained Swiss citizenship as well as the right to vote.

For those of you unfamilliar with the Swiss system, I believe it to be one of the best systems in the world (if not THE best).
Switzerland holds votations and referendums every few months. The people take this very seriously and in the weeks and days leading up to the votation one cannot flick on the TV without seeing and hearing debate regarding the issues surrounding the topic at hand.

On Sunday March 11th the main topic was concerning health care--mainly if medical care should be completely subsidised or remain as it is (privatized). In Switzerland, health care is mandatory and privatized. On average, an adult pays approximately $2000 per year (minimum) for medical insurance. Some people (mainly the crazy socialists) think this is a very big amount and believe that it would be better if the government should foot the bill (tax payers).

This idea makes the hair on my head go frizzy. As a Canadian citizen, I know full well about the pros and cons of living in such a system where medical treatment is "FREE!", a term widely used by Canadians gone blind. Such a "FREE" system taxes the working population beyond belief and the results are nothing but crowded waiting rooms, a band-aid, and a long waiting period before treatment even begins. Often patients who are seriously ill are forced to wait so long before getting treated that they either head down to the USA to pay for their own treatment out of their own pocket or risk dying. It's a known fact that Canadians run to the doctor for every little sniffle and pseudo-ailment simply because it is "FREE".

Luckily for Switzerland, the people have alot to say and most of the folks who do, normally have more common sense than the government. The results of this votation were as clear as water: 75% in favor of the status-quo and against the whining-jealousy-driven socialists that came up with such a stupid idea in the first place.

The following pictures are of me placing my vote in the ballots. This is a historical moment for the Müller-Jennings family.


Ich bin eine Schweizerin! :-)

Miles and the Tank

Mat bought a R/C Tank on an online auction. The tank, a fantasy model, is 82 cm long, can shoot and looks quite cool. The only problem was, that the whole fun lasted only about ten minutes... After rolling up and down the hill a couple times the wheels on the left side stopped turning... Miles was very disappointed after the tank was broken. Well, I guess you can't ask for too much quality when an article is pretty cheap and made in China... The solution to the problem is to buy another tank ...only a more expensive one...

Miles's multiple facets...

Miles in action as always!

Mat's instructing future company commanders

For the first time since we are back from the USA, Mat is a small group instructor at the Swiss Armed Forces Leadership Course I. This course is designed to teach tactics and leadership to future company commanders .

The course is very intense. The students have classes from 0700 till 2230 for almost every day for a duration of four weeks. After this course the candidates have the mission to lead a recruit school company for 8 weeks. Once this is completed, they may lead a real company.

Mat has nine students including an officer from Latvia in his group. Three infantrymen, 1 tanker, 1 military police, 2 Logistics- and two Signal-Officers.

Following are some pictures taken during the first week:

Reagan

A picture of Reagan at 2 days short of being one month old.

Miles eating a croissant

Miles in action

Mat on the Cover of Schweizer Soldat

Schweizer Soldat is a monthly magazine distributed to all 100 000 or so military members here in Switzerland.

What a surprise to us when we discovered Mat's face gracing the cover of this month's issue.

He looks mean, but he looks good nonetheless:-)

Bull Terrier with hat

Our dog She-Ra wearing our sons favourite hat. The hat he calls 'helicopter chapeau'...

Miles