Confession

I have a confession...I'm terrified.

tomorrow is our annual Christmas Carol Concert at the Cathedrale downtown. Over 1000 people will be there.

And I'm reading in front of them.

For most people, this wouldn't be a big deal. But speaking in public is a huge fear I've had all my life. Other than something awful happening to one of my family members, this is one of the things in life that scares me most.

But I'm going to stand up at the front of that beautiful church tomorrow and read 6 verses from Isaiah.

I just have to remember that this isn't about me.

My sweet 9 year old had some advice for me when I asked what I'd do if I messed up.
And here is what she said...
Mama, the people who are your friends know how brave you are for just doing it. The people that don't know you, well, most of them don't speak English anyway. And plus, you just have to learn to laugh things off.

Pretty wise advice, I think!

Now I Get It...

When we moved here 4 1/2 years ago, we bough a bunch of our appliances from a family who was going back to the US. A lot of what we bought was only a few months old. I thought at the time that it was really bizarre that they would have bought so much new stuff right before they left.
I am now having my "AHAAAA" moment.
We have 8 months left in France. And ALL of our stuff is breaking. I've already replaced the toaster and hand mixer. Our microwave and vaccuum are on their last legs. My washing machine broke 2 days ago (and of course i have company coming and linens to wash!!) Two of our space heaters are now defunct and need to be replaced and our 11 year old car is making more wierd noises each day. It's frustrating to say the least, but these things will need to replaced. UGHHHHHH...

Well. It is now official that we are moving back to the States in July. Sometimes this makes me really happy, but mostly I am just SAD about it. France is our home. We have come to love it. It was a hard battle. As many of you know, our first two years here were extremely difficult. At least for myself and the children. We are at a place now where the kids have dear friends and really good school situations. It is so painful to think about leaving.
But...life goes on, and we must go with it.
Olivia, Lexi and I talk every day about things we are looking forward to upon our return. Being nearer to family tops the list. Maybe getting a puppy. Queso. You know-the basics! We talk about the things we'll miss about France-and there are a LOT. Mostly it's the people. For Olivia-it's her school and all her sweet friends there. The pace of life is much slower here, and I love that.
There are a few things about France that we will not miss, however.
We all decided that the biggest thing is...
Men PEEING in public.
that's right.
It's absolutely disgusting. Most of the time, they don't even bother to try and hide. we see it every day. It is not something we get used to. It's everwhere-along the highway, normal roads, in town. But the place it bothers me the most is having to see it from my very own driveway.
We live a little out in the country, but the road in front of our house is quite busy. There's a little pull-out just below our driveway, and it's a very popular place for men to pull over and pee. It's just so nauseating.
I really wonder if this is a European thing or a french thing. We really don't recall seeing this anywhere else in our time here.
We did see it one time on the road in Italy. But the car had French plates...

Off to the Castle...

Headed here (near Anduze) this weekend with a group from iccp! Our largest group ever-56 people. The weather should be beautiful, and as usual, I know it will be fun!

I can't believe it's almost October! September has kept us quite busy, and it doesn't look as if things will slow down at all in the next few months. Our biggest news from September is that our sweet Olivia broke her wrist rollerblading! It was awful. But she was so brave-amazing really-and we are so proud of her. It's been quite a struggle, as she hasn't been able to write at all. Homework is piling up, and teachers aren't quite as sympathetic now that we are a few weeks into the cast :(
She's managing for now, though, with the help of her wonderful girlfriends. They take notes and photocopy everything for her, help her with her locker and books, and are just being so helpful and supportive. She really is blessed with dear friends here.
Lexi is full on into her pony class and loving it. She's learning all kinds of neat stuff, and really bonding with her horse Caravelle. They are assigned a horse at the beginning of the year, and they have that one for 10 months of class. she really has such a great rapport with animals, and it's so fun to see her interacting with all the horses. And of course she looks darling in her little outfit! I think she's rather excited about the fact that she gets to carry a pink "whip", although she'd never dream of using it on Caravelle!

Here we go again

Ijust realized, AGAIN, that it's been a while since I posted. Writing does not come naturally for me, and each time I sit down to try and compose my thoughts, I just kindof blank out.

But...so much has been going on, that I thought I'd give it another try.

The children and I spent 3 weeks in Austin this summer. I've been really burnt-out and tired this last year, and just needed some quiet time with my parents to just relax. It ended up being much busier than I expected, but it was a really good time. I got to reconnect with a few old friends from HS that I hadn't seen in 15-20 years, and that was a highlight of the trip for sure.

I live very much in the present, and have never been good about maintaining relationships once I move from someplace. This trip made me realize how important those past relationships are-after all, they helped make me into the person I am today. It was so special to get to spend time with Emily, Mary and Josephine, and I look forward to rebuilding those sweet friendships. I also got to spend a lot of time with my dear, dear friend Julie. It really was just what I needed <3

Once we got back to France, things got even busier. Back to school preparations, getting back into the kitchen, and catching up with sweet friends here has filled my time in August. And for the first summer in the four years we've lived here, we started going to the beach! It's been blissful! We have an amazing little town called Bandol that is 50 minutes from us, and it has a lovely sandy beach. We also enjoy going to Cassis, which is about 40 minutes away. Teal and I aslo got to get away for a night for our anniversay to Ile de Bendor. Such a treat!

Another exciting thing that has happened lately is that I got to be in a video. The son of an aquiantance of ours was shooting a pitch video for a reality show set in Provence, and we got to be part of it. It was sooooo fun! The most amazing part was getting to do a cooking piece with an amazing chef in a professional kitchen. I learned some cool things in the market as we were shopping for food, and then got a couple of great recipes in the kitchen. If you know me, you know I LOVE TO COOK. So beyond the TV thing, this was just a fabulous experience. Really a once in a lifetime deal. And I have to admit-2 nights in a row I've had dreams about hosting a cooking show on television. ;)

And Teal got a sandwich named after him at La Goulette.

Well, that's it in a nutshell! xoxoxoxoxo

sooo...i don't know why the pictures come out so crazy when i put them on here-they are supposed to be at the bottom :( I'm such a technology dork.

Megan

Reconnecting with o-l-d friends has been wonderful!!

Alexandra

Summer means lots of sleepovers, swimming and delicious fudgebars!

Olivia

Olivia spent the weekend with her friend Danielle. They met in Kindergarten, and have the same birthday. They refer to each other as "the Twinkies", and are just adorable!

Summer 2010

Just a few photos from our summer so far...

Poor Lonely Blog...

I have forgotten all about you. The hustle and bustle of life has kept me away from the computer the last few months, and sadly, you were the first to go. But now that summer is here, and I'm making Olivia do the chores :) , I'll have a bit more time!
The biggest news since January? hmmm...
Olivia and Lexi were both baptized by their dad, Olivia won her school talent competition singing "Leave" by JoJo with her best friend Chantal, Lexi rocked her Hip Hop end of the year performance, Teal's been doing an amazing job (along with Dom!) leading ICCP and the CA team here in Aix, and I am becoming a really good cook, and absolutely LOVE being in the kitchen!
Here are a few photos from the past few months...

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!