Tears...

It occurred to me today that I might not live in France forever. That one day, perhaps sooner than I wish, I will have to leave. It was enough to make me sit down and cry. How is it that this country that once made me weep in anger and frustration and loneliness has stolen my heart?

Driving Miss Lexi

We were in the car on the way to dance the other day, and had two little friends with us. They were playing "driving".
The littlest of the 3 asks, "Miss Megan, what are YOU driving?"
I answer " A navy blue Volvo station wagon"
She says "I'm driving a SHOE!"
Her sister says "I'm driving a mini-cooper"
Lexi, "I'm driving a cherry red Ferrari, baby!"

Her uncle Pat would be so proud.

New Year's Resolutions

I'll be honest. I'm not much of a New Year's Resolution making kind of gal. But as I get older, I realize that there are some things I'd really like to do in my life, and maybe stating them publicly would help me to actually "do" them.
I was feeling inspired by a really great book I got for Christmas-"Mastering the Art of French Cooking"-by Julia Child. I also got "Julie and Julia", which is a great, easy read. I'm no Julie Powell, and I know I won't ever make it thru the 500+ recipes in the cookbook, but my goal is to try one a week. I certainly won't blog about them, because it could get rather embarassing. But I am going to cook, and I know I will love it. I'll start with the same one JP starts with in the book, and from there will pick out the most kid friendly ones in the book. Maybe when I'm finished, I'll make a list of the top 10 for our family.
So this week it's Potage Parmentier (leek and potato soup). I'll let you know how it turns out!

Merry Christmas

From our family to yours...Merry Christmas!

Birthday Fun

One thing I thing is so cool about living overseas is the international community our kids are exposed to. Represented tonight at Olivia's birthday party are the U.K., Spain, The Netherlands, Begium and Scotland. These girls are all amazing. 12 and 13 years old and they all speak a minimum of 2 languages, some speak 3 and 4. Olivia was lamenting to me a few weeks ago that she didn't sign up for Spanish. She feels like she's so far behind because she's only fluent in two languages! Maybe by the time she turns 13, she'll be on her way to mastering language #3!
Happy Birthday, Bonne Anniversaire, Feliz Cumpleanos, Hartelijk gefeliciteerd and Alles Gute zum Geburtstag!

12

Happy Birthday beautiful Olivia!!!!! I love you more than you will ever know, my precious girl.

November, where did you go??

It's been a busy month for our family. With work, school, a holiday and vacation, we haven't slowed down a bit! We were happy this month to have the girls home for two weeks (they have 2 weeks off school every 6 weeks), it's always nice to have a change of pace and let them sleep in some! They are at school from 8:30-4:30, and by the time we get home and they do homework, it's already 6:30. I feel like we hardly see them most of the time!
We were able to take a short family vacation to London last week, which was amazing. We haven't traveled much outside of France, but thanks to cheap RyanAir flights, sweet friends with a guest room, and free museums in the city, it's an affordable getaway!
We also had our friends Darren and Dana and their kids visit us from North Africa. It was a much too short, but very sweet visit, and the kids just loved seeing their friends again!

Last night we hosted 200 people for the annual [iccp] Thanksgiving feast, which was a great time! It's always so fun for our community to come together in such a big way to celebrate and fellowship with each other.

December promises to be a busy month, as well! We have the Annual Christmas Carol concert next weekend, Olivia's birthday after that, a birthday party for two of my girlfriends here at the house, Christmas, and of course a New Year's party here! So much to look forward to!

Trick or Treat

A little trick or treating fun...

strike...

Lexi continues to improve her strike pose. Gotta love the Hip-Hop class!

Another reason to love France

Lexi's best friend at her new school, Margaux, came over to play today.
When her mom dropped her off, she told us that next week they are moving
one street away from us. Lexi has not had a friend since we moved to France that lived
near us. I can't even believe how happy this makes me. And Lexi is beside herself. They have planned sleepovers and playdates every weekend for the next 6 months. We couldn't have gotten
better news over this holiday. (Lexi thinks finding out she could turn into a mermaid would actually be just as good, but she's still really happy!)