La famille!!

My mom and everyone else arrives in 2 hours! I've had a great time so far with Aaron, so the next 6 days are going to just be as exciting. I can't wait to see my sister, Harry, Andy and MOM! It's weird.... it's been 7 months!

We've had fun, adventures, and yesterday was a real event taking the 3 kids into Paris. Today I'll have Matt and Tiphaine in the city to meet everyone at the hotel, then the Eiffel tower.

Well, this is super short because I have to get ready for the day....if I don't blog again for another few days its because of all the excitement and plans.

Thanks everyone for birthday wishes and gifts! I'll write more soon!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Happy Valentine's Day, everyone back home! I hope you all have a good day. Unfortunately here in France it's not really celebrated....and if it is, it's just for "adult lovers", so I was told. So the kids have never done anything special for today. The parents even looked at me strangely when I asked if we could make cards and buy treats. So that was odd and disappointing. But thanks to my dad and Carolyn, I had fun heart stickers for all the kids to wear on their shirts today. And Ashley bought them little heart suckers....so we celebrated a little bit at lunch time.

The sun is shining and I'm trying to do last minute preparations for my family visit! Yesterday I also purchased a train ticket to London! I am going for the day on Feb 27th to see "Les Miserables" and I'm SOOO excited! Because I want to travel more before leaving Europe, I decided London was not at the top of my priority list, so I'm going over and back in one day on the chunnel....so maybe I'll see a site or two, but the main point is to see my favorite musical, Les Mis! It's a dream to see it in London too. I'll go the same day my family leaves Paris...so it works out nicely!

Thanks to everone that has sent me cards in the mail this week....and Aunt Judy, I got your packages! I am opening everything on Friday night I think....so thanks in advance! Saturday I'm waking up early to meet Aaron at the airport and then we're going to Tours for the weekend. It'll be a memorable birthday and I'm so glad to have my brother here. I am really looking forward to the next 2 weeks.
(thanks mom, Harry, dad and Carolyn for the birthday money as well!)
I love you all and am so grateful to have such great support while I'm here!!)

Big kiss from Paris........the city of love, is it? No Valentine for me here....but that's alright. :)

Pretty in Paris

Hi fellow stalkers. ; ) I know it's been awhile...but that's just how it goes. Let me first say HOW PRETTY the weather has been the last week. CROSS YOUR FINGERS it lasts for my family's visit! It has been in the 50's (sometimes warm, sometimes cooler) with clear sunny blue skies. It really makes Paris and my mood go up in the beautiful factor. Haha. I love it. So I'm thinking positively that it will stick around at least another 10 days! Say your prayers.

All is fine here. The same work life....going to class, driving the kids a lot, playing new games and singing songs, dealing with temper tantrums and disobeying from time to time....but generally everything is good. Tiphaine fell down yesterday on the pavement and really sliced open her chin. It was not a pretty sight, but thankfully there were lots of moms around to help with First-Aid kits. Matt is still behaving the best of the 3 I think lately....although he still has his "terrible 3" moments. Ines and I are playing the piano more together...she has successfuly learned and memorized 'Mary...", "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star," and the Middle C scale! We play "do re mi" sometimes too. Last week I made the girls little blue "tutu's" with toole Virginie bought. They turned out cute...it was a trial run, so maybe we'll do it again with 2 colors. They are really cute though. Last weekend I babysat 2 nights in a row until 2 a.m. So....needless to say I was extra sleepy on Sunday. Saturday I walked around the Seine, took photos and bought myself (and gifts) cheap artwork....it's everywhere, and the paintings are really pretty, so I'm excited to now have a little collection that I can eventually frame and hang in my "Paris/European" room that I will have one day in an apartment or house.

My brother Aaron arrives on Saturday morning!!! I am so excited to have family here. Virginie and I will meet him at the airport, and then the 2 of us are headed off to the train station, where we'll get a train to Tours. We are staying one night and wine tasting for my birthday! We will go to Vouvray probably and walk from wine cellar/vineyard to another. It's been a lot of fun planning the itinerary for my family....Mom, Harry, Andy, and Megan will arrive next Thursday...so I have 12 days of visitors! Thankfully I have a good amount of time off work, and the days I have the kids I can take them with me to Paris. yep, Virginie told me I can take them with me, Aaron, and everyone else to join in on the Paris activities (just 2 days that I have them)...so that'll work out nice.

I also am planning my last 5 months here (OMG, 5?!??! goes by so fast)...and carefully planning my days off that I can squeeze in some travelling. SO I will update everyone when I have fun info about my upcoming trips!

Hold on to your boots!

Hi everyone. Another week in Bougival town....did lots of driving and fending off the heavy winds this week in Paris. I only went into the city once on Thursday....saw a movie. The weather is not pleasant enough right now to walk around outside and be adventurous. Today I took the kids to poney lessons and forgot to bring Tiph's riding boots...but thankfully enough she happened to be wearing her rain boots (galoshes) so she wore those during her lesson. Too bad they weren't tight enough and as she rode the poney the boots kept falling off her little feet. She was crying and looked so sad, so I felt really bad.....but she was a strong little girl and made it through. Then we went home and I gave her a hot bath because her feet were cold.

Thanks to my friend Ruthie back home I have a new activity to do with the girls...make ballerina tutu's! Yep! Virginie bought the toole and elastic yesterday so either this weekend or next week we'll make fun tutu's for them to play in. Matthieu has been a good little boy lately....and Ines is smart and feisty. Haha.

No big plans this weekend, except Sunday is the first one of the month so maybe I'll go to a museum or two for free! hoping for nicer weather so I can workout or something. My brother arrives in 2 weeks, on my birthday!! yay!! Can't believe it's almost Feb 16th~ I'm excited for 12 days of family visits.....we have some fun stuff planned.

Ok, i'm off to bed.... bonne journee to everyone back home. I miss you all