The girls have been on break for the last two weeks, and it has been wonderful to have them at home! At the end of the break, we took a short holiday to Portofino, Italy, and it was amazing. It was so neat having Olivia say "can't they speak French so I can understand them?", and then having her order in French at a restaurant we went to. It's pretty wild to be sitting in Italy and watching your 9 year old decipher a menu in Italian, and being able to do it because she speaks and reads French and can figure out words that are the same. wow. They are becoming these awesome little world citizens right before our eyes, and to them it's not really a big deal, but for us it's huge! It was very fun as we crossed the border back into France and the whole family cheered because we could understand all the road signs. Olivia then said-I just can't wait to get home and sleep in my own bed and call McKenna and Sarah! This is the first time she has referred to France as home. Quite a milestone for us. The last few weeks have been really great, as Olivia's social circle is expanding, and she is having more playdates, etc. There are several little girls she really enjoys spending time with, and she was able to see all of them, (and have sleepovers!!!) over break. Lexi has friends she plays with at school and church, but still isn't too interested in getting together outside of that. She has decided that she wants a bowling birthday party, though, and wants to have friends from class come. We went to a birthday party last week at the bowling alley here, and the girls really enjoyed it-and it's fun for the parents, too!

I'm off in a few days for the 2nd installment of training for CAI in Den Haag, so I probably won't post much during that week. I'm including some photos from our trip...