Jenelle’s very good friend and talented photographer, Tricia, spent several hours in the summer photographing our sweet girls. Biased though we are, we think the pictures turned out wonderfully! What do you think?
Category Archives: Pacific NW Fun
How to Move a Family to Switzerland
When Jenelle and Jonathan each last moved to Europe, they fit all of their possessions in a few pieces of checked and carry-on luggage. They can report that moving a family of five is more complicated. In fact, it may involve one or more of the following:
- making a decision about each of your worldly possessions so that you can divide them into four piles (stuff to bring with you on the airplane, stuff to ship with the movers, stuff to place in storage, and stuff to discard);
- traveling to Switzerland a few months before the move to look at apartments (and actually being blessed to find one to live in);
- finding and hiring a mover to pack up your “for shipping” things (after you’ve inventoried them for insurance purposes);
- finding renters and hiring a management company for your new rental property (i.e., your former home) while you’re gone;
- making all of the minor repairs to your house that you’ve been putting off for years;
- buying all of the things from home that you don’t think you’ll find in Switzerland (at least not at a reasonable price), including several years’ worth of kids clothes and activities;
- obtaining or renewing passports;
- obtaining visas for each family member;
- talking a relative into coming with you to help watch the kids for the first two weeks in Switzerland (not as fun as it sounds, really);
- selling or giving away your cars in the US;
- determining how much storage space you need, finding a storage unit and then moving things into storage;
- arriving at the airport with 12 pieces of checked luggage (plus four bicycles) and a questionable number of carry-ons;
- flying for 13 hours from Portland to Amsterdam to Zurich (possibly discovering, a few hours into the trip, that you have only three diapers in your carry-on luggage);
- spending four nights in an airport hotel in Zurich recovering from the flight;
- enduring un-synchronized sleeping schedules of three children while they spend a week overcoming jet lag;
- spending a month in a vacation apartment in a small Swiss town;
- registering with the government;
- opening a bank account in Switzerland and learning how to transfer funds into it from your US account;
- arranging for a wide array of insurances;
- learning your way around town so you can carry out your daily activities;
- renting four different vehicles in Switzerland over a month to move your family and their stuff around the country;
- buying a car in Switzerland;
- shopping for furniture;
- moving into your permanent apartment (still working on that one);
- carting three kids in a stroller thru a small town while attempting to understand a dialect that many native German speakers consider incomprehensible;
- finding a German class;
- other details, big and small, that Jonathan won’t bore you with.
Jonathan and Jenelle are grateful that they didn’t have to do all of these things by themselves. They would like to thank, among others: Jenelle’s sister, Lisa, for coming along; the Gibby family, for watching the kids, loaning the Vances their cars (yes, both of them), bringing luggage to the airport, and doing so many things that Jenelle and Jonathan didn’t have time for; Jenelle’s parents for helping with packing and preparing the house; Jonathan’s parents for watching the babies during the house-hunting trip; Tricia Batchlor for watching the kids; the Carroll family for food, transportation and a shoulder to cry on; Lisa Stott for watching the kids and being the other shoulder to cry on; Rachel Gunther and Lisa Poulsen for watching the kids; the good men of the Quatama Ward for moving stuff into storage; thoughtful neighbors for watching the house during the house-hunting trip; the German-American School of Portland for giving Jenelle a head start; Schindler Elevator for its generous support; Welcome Relocation for house-hunting and bureaucracy-navigation help; and countless others who have kept the Vances in their prayers and wished them well.
The Yellow House
Jenelle said for years that she always wanted to live in a yellow house. In August, she learned that, yes, dreams do come true! The Vance Villa received a new coat of paint, and for a week Jenelle lived in a yellow house.
Stop Toying with Me
Three Kids Two and Under: A Year in Review in Numbers
Those who know me well, are very aware that I’m a numbers nerd. What better way to sum up the one-year birthday of Clara and Nicolyn than with a few solid numbers for posterity. Next post: a year in review in pictures (probably a little more interesting for the rest of you, but I had a great time putting this together).
Weight of twins at birth: 14 lbs. 7 oz. ( 7 lbs. 4 oz. and 7 lbs. 3 oz.)
Length of twins at birth: 42.25 inches (21.25 inches and 21 inches)
Weeks gestation at twins’ birth: 38 weeks
Number of months Jenelle was on nausea medication: 8.5 (including two weeks post-delivery)
Days of live-in help after twins were born: 40 (Jonathan’s mom, my mom, and my sister – I know blessings will be showered on you dear souls)
Number of days Jonathan worked from home for only four hours a day (to help transition me to full-time): 1 month
Contributions to landfills. Diapers purchased and used in 12 months for three children: approximately 5,438
Number of Costco formula cans used in 12 months: approximately 116 (about 1 can every 3 days; not including all the free sample cans people gave us or two months of pumping)
Number of bottles washed on average per day before the babies were 6 months old: 17
Number of bottles washed on average per day after the twins were 6 months old: 11
Number of Rick Steves travel videos watched while feeding twins: 80+
Number of DiGiorno’s pizzas eaten (Vance family equivalent of fast food): 36
Number of DiGiorno’s pizzas left in freezer yet to be eaten: 9
Age difference between Clara and Nicolyn: 18 minutes (Clara is older)
Age difference between Annika and twins: 22 months, 1 day
Number of months our family had three children ages 1 and younger: 2
Average number of hours of sleep Jenelle got during night hours the first couple of weeks: 1
Average number of hours of sleep Jenelle got after waking both babies up at the same time during the night: 4
Number of days twins slept in parents’ room: 0
Age Nicolyn and Clara moved to separate cribs: 4 months
Age Clara and Nicolyn crawled: 7.5 months
Age Clara and Nicolyn walked: 10.5 months
Number of car seats that fit in a Toyota Corolla: 3
Number of times Jenelle has gone out with all three kids by herself (you know something is an event if you can list numbers like this)–
Park: 5
Joann’s: 3
Costco: 1
Grocery store: 0
Doctor: 4
Library: 3
Number of times Jonathan has taken all three kids out by himself: 1
Number of times Jonathan watched all three kids by himself: many, many (ie. all the German classes, gym workouts, breakdown-need-time-to-myself evenings, etc.) I don’t want you to think there hasn’t been some equally yoked-ness going on around here.
Number of plane rides Jenelle, Annika, Clara, and Nicolyn have traveled on during the last 12 months: 4
Number of plane rides Jonathan has traveled on during the last 12 months: 17
Number of days Jonathan traveled away from home during last 12 months: 28
Number of doctor visits during last 12 months: 63
Number of adult evening German language classes Jenelle has attended: 23
Number of times Jenelle has said “Isn’t (insert cute kid action) so cute?”: Who knows? A lot. Then times that by three very cute kids.
Number of breakdowns Jenelle has had: Not as many as the “cute” number. But a fair number.
Amount spent on chocolate “therapy”: classified
Number of attempted sewing machine repairs (for sewing therapy): 5
Happy birthday Nicolyn and Clara! It has been a whirlwind of a year, but we hope that somewhere in there you’ve felt often how much we love you and are so happy you are part of our family!
You Think Sew?
Avid Jonathan & Jenelle blog readers will easily recall that Jenelle has showed her sewing talents on a number of occasions. But they may not realize that Jenelle doesn’t limit herself to Halloween costumes — in fact, she recently turned out a hip new ironing board cover (well, as hip as an ironing board cover can be) and a cute blouse.
Nana and Grandpa Dell in Oregon
In late April the Vance family was fortunate enough to have as their guests Nana and Grandpa Dell — or, as Annika sometimes calls them, “Jonathan’s parents.” Grandpa Dell did all of the home repair projects that Jonathan had left undone. Nana brought wonderful birthday presents for the girls. Together, everyone went to the zoo on a beautiful Saturday.
Merry Christmas from the Vances
Christmas Around the Clock
Building on a long tradition, everyone in the Vance family receives a new Christmas ornament each year. Here’s a picture of Jenelle’s new ornament.
As the mother of three kids under three, Jenelle thinks it’s the perfect ornament for her life right now. To better understand why, we should explain that the ornament winds up. Below is a video of it in action.
Smoothly Roughing It
Jenelle and Jonathan, reluctant to let their three-kids-under-three status keep them from enjoying the Great Outdoors, decided to take their family camping. Since this would be the first camping trip with newborn twins, they were reluctant to go certain places. For example, they were reluctant to go anywhere that would require spending the night in a tent.
Fortunately, in Oregon there are many ways to go camping without a tent and without sleeping under the stars. (Some purists will assert that this is merely “camping” and not camping, but one should note that most of those purists do not have a young gaggle of girls to travel with.) So, the Vance family made a September reservation for a cabin at Stewart State Park, which is only a 35-minute drive from their house.
The cabin had a lovely view of the coast mountains. It also had some simple furniture, electricity and heat. It proved to be about the right level of camping for the Vance family right now.
Although Annika was already an experience camper, she enjoyed new experiences like roasting marshmallows and helping Daddy with breakfast. She thought her sleeping bag was pretty exciting, too, since it was Mommy’s and it was pink.
After managing to get some sleep during the night, everyone went for a nice stroller-friendly walk on a trail in the park.
More pictures are here.