Back on Track....Sort of

After our 2 week winter break, we have found our normal routine of school and work chez nous. And for a change this winter break actually felt like a vacation. No one was sick which has been the norm the last few Februaries and we were able to get out, explore and do some things. Returning to first grade and preschool, the kids were happy to see their friends. All of these positive vibes came to a screeching halt last night when Laura became sick with some kind of stomach bug. Luckily for us, this is something we don't have much experience in. Fevers, ear aches, colds, runny noses, sore throats, those I know just how to treat. But this sort of illness is quite rare at our house. Fortunately, after a few rough hours of being sick and a long night of tossing and turning, she is doing much better; able to keep down some toast and drinking lots of water. She is now just tired and sleeping quite a bit.
This morning, as Laura had a short burst of energy and was singing, maman and papa were wiped out. It never fails to amaze me how they bounce back and the adults are the ones left looking like they had been sick.
Laura's last meal before turning into Mount Vesuvius, was one of fish and rice.
Upon seeing the rice once again a few hours later, she asked me somewhat panicked, "are those my teeth?" I quickly reassured her that was not the case and explained how her tummy was sick and was "throwing out" everything she'd eaten in order to make it better. She seemed to think this was logical and she was not worried after that. She was quite the trooper during it all, taking it all in stride while saying to me "sometimes people get sick mom and the tummy gets angry and throws everything out"
So the million dollar question now being....who is next??? It's bound to continue and make the rounds right? Well, time will tell, for the moment all is calm here and I'm sincerely hoping it stays that way!
Here's hoping no one else has an angry tummy any time soon!

Trip to Nancy

Earlier this week, we took the kids to the city of Nancy where they have a really nice park. Not only was the wonderful walk through the town and park an event for us (ie no need to stop for potty breaks) but the train ride there was quite the adventure for them. The last time they were on a train, Kevin was 3 and the girls 1 and we went to Strasbourg for the girls' passports. Kevin does remember that trip but it's been awhile so they were all really excited to get on board. It's about an hour train ride, and although I had brought things for them to play with in case of boredom, it wasn't necessary. They spent the time looking all around the cabin or looking outside. The time flew by. While on the train, the girls noticed a sign with a sleeping telephone and this provided them with endless laughs. It was quite amusing. They kept inventing stories about why the telephone was sleeping, and with each one, they'd laugh even harder. (one of my favorites, "mr. telephone, you really should wake up before you miss your stop") If anyone near us was really trying to sleep, I'm sure they didn't have much success! Just before arriving in Nancy they noticed a little further down in the next cabin another telephone sign but this one was awake. Again, endless giggles when they discovered it. I was pretty sure of what these signs meant but I decided to ask the ticket person. She explained to me that the "sleeping telephone" means cell phones should be turned off and the "awake phone" sign meant it was an area designated for cell phone use. Areas are no longer segregated by "smoking / no smoking" now it's "phoning, no phoning". That's progress for you! During the girls' endless fascination with the cell phone signs, my son and husband were enjoying the view from their window. Things were a little calmer on their side of the aisle.

The remainder of the day was spent walking around the town and playing in the park.

An enjoyable day was had by all.

Snowless in France

Having grown up in Chicago, the fact that I have not seen any snow yet this winter is certainly something to write about, possibly shout about and maybe jump up and down about. I'm sure this is the first time in my life I have not seen snow in at least one of the winter months. Since living in France, snowfall here has been quite different from what I was used to. Actually it was a nice change,3-5 of inches would fall; pretty, white, fluffy snow covering the landscape and then it would melt just as you were starting to get sick of it. I arrived here in December 1999 and after maybe just a few weeks, as my husband was getting ready to leave for work, it started snowing really hard, so thick you couldn't see five feet in front of you. I'm thinking, this is going to be a big one, at least 8-10 inches. He was going to drive to work, I convince him it's better to walk, might not be able to get the car out at the end of the day right? Thanks to me, he dresses as if he's going on a 3 day hike into a blizzard. He goes on his way, it continues to snow for about an hour, there's maybe 3 inches on the ground, the sun comes out and most of it is melted by the time he comes home. He had tried to convince me that it probably wouldn't amount to much but I was sure he was wrong. Well, I had never seen anything like it. When I see snow coming down like that, the brain goes into battle mode. Ready to fight the elements. I guess those days are over, over here anyway. This apparently is not the norm for this north eastern region of France though. Sounds like, several years ago, they had winters similar to Chicago; lots of snow, cold temps that lasted well into March or April. That has all changed. Guess there is something to global warming. Chicago winters have also been much more mild recently, except of course this current winter where they have been hit with record cold and snowfall in February. Sorry Chicago, but I do feel your pain!

The only problem with this wonderful change in climate is that I miss the snow! Really, I do. Ok, not the frigid temperatures or the mountains of snow piled up all around, but those few inches that blanket everything we see, turning our ordinary everyday scenes into a winter wonderland, that I miss. And I had assured the kids that during their winter break, we would most definitely be out playing in the snow at some point, building snowmen, but no it was not to be. Winter break here is almost finished and there is no snow in sight. Sometimes they'll look out the window watching the rain asking "when is it going to snow?" I've started saying to them, "see the rain there?, well that is snow, just melted!" Desperate times call for desperate measures....

They'll need to use those wonderful imaginations of theirs if they want to see some snow this year!

In A World of Their Own

Even when activities are not planned everyday, my son Kevin and his twin sisters find plenty to do at home with their own vivid, active imaginations. At the moment, my son is obsessed with knights, staging chateau attacks and setting up barriers. If I had a euro for every time I've heard "à l'attaque" this past week..... As for the girls, they're the three little pigs, minus one which doesn't seem to bother them. I think their brother is the wolf, which works out well when he's saying "à l'attaque" so often. I slight change from the "Then I'll huff and I'll puff" version but it works.
Conversation overheard this evening between the girls "Qu'est-ce que tu fais mon petit cochon copain?" reply: "eh ben, je contruis ma maison, mon cochon copain" "what are you doing my little pig friend?" " well, I'm building my house my pig friend"
And when it's like this, there's no chance of stepping into their magical world, I'm on the outside looking in, in amazement.

Splash!

In my continuing effort to keep the kids busy while they're on winter break here, we took a trip to the town of Amneville http://www.amneville.com/index.aspx about 40 minutes from here for an afternoon of swimming (indoor of course). As part of the education program, the children get swimming lessons starting in preschool and continuing through grade school. My girls will be starting their first swimming lessons in April, my son just finished 16 weeks of swimming lessons in January. I think it's great that it's incorporated into the physical ed. program. But it does seem to vary depending on the town you live in. Friends of ours who live in the town right next door, literally 5 minutes away, have kids the same age and they do not have swimming lessons offered. My children really enjoy playing in the water but I would not call them natural swimmers. They're very hesitant about putting their face in the water for example, so it's been a slow process, especially for my son who has been getting lessons for a few years now. There's been definite if not slow progress. If they learn to swim and feel comfortable in the water I'll be satisfied.
When the kids go with school they get on a bus and go to a pool about 30 minutes from here, for the moment our town doesn't have a pool, actually they did but it was too old and was closed for years. But fortunately for us a brand new one is being built here in town and should be open by the end of the year. I can't wait, it'll be great to have one so close. We went to Amneville because it's nicer with a choice of 3 pools: there is an Olympic sized one, medium size and then a baby pool. There are also two slides that Kevin loves to go on.
It was a great afternoon, we took a friend of Kevin's with so basically 2 sets of twins! Papa stayed with the boys, me with the girls. As I chased the girls around in the pool pretending to be a shark, I wonder if anyone else knew what I was doing when I was saying "dun dun, dun dun..."
(Think "Jaws" music) I'm not sure they know that movie over here. The girls loved it.
It also provided an opportunity to prepare them for their "piscine"* days. They are really looking forward to it.
The best part of an afternoon like this is that they sleep like logs! In bed by 8-8:15pm and sleeping until 7:30am!! That's unheard of in our house. Usually they're up by 6:30am at the latest. So it really is feeling like a vacation even for maman and papa!

*pool

MIA Dou Dou

I've been able to convince my girls that they need to keep their favorite stuffed toy (otherwise known here as "dou dou") in their beds. They absolutely have to have them when they go to bed and we've spent many an evening searching for one or both of them after losing it sometime during the day. We were coasting along fine for months and I was no longer even thinking about it when it happened. Dou dou as my daughter Colleen calls hers, was missing. She climbed into bed, looked under her pillow and he was not there. We searched under the covers, under the bed, all around the bedroom, all the while she's frantically crying out "dou dou!". Thus began a search and rescue mission mostly by papa and me. But to no avail. Absolutely could not find it. We had been out during the day but I was certain she had not brought it with so I knew it was somewhere in the house, it was just too late at that point to continue looking for it. Luckily for us, Colleen does have others and one in particular named "boo" which she especially liked when she was teething, she just recently rediscovered. I explained to her just a few days before that as a baby she had it with her all the time and that is why he's missing a leg. She chewed it off. She looked very sad at that point and was afraid she had hurt him but I reassured her that boo was happy she had chosen him for teething when she was a baby. So I told her she could sleep with boo and that the next day we would certainly find dou dou. She agreed, no doubt in large part because she was so tired and just wanted to sleep. I felt like I had won a major victory. I was really worried she was going to fight to find him there and then. Aaah relief!
The next morning, I was searching first thing, at this point she didn't seem that concerned. I'm thinking I was more worried than she was. After looking through a toy box full of stuffed toys, we were starting to go through again and my husband picked up a clown hat and found him inside, nicely hidden from sight!
Needless to say dou dou has not moved from her bed since. Sometimes all the drama and tears are worth it for the lesson learned; even at the age of 4.

Carnaval a little early and Happy Valentine's Day!

What to do on (yet again) a rainy day? Dress up of course. Kevin was thrilled to get his cowboy set, actually he's a sheriff complete with hat with a star on it, his sheriff's badge, gun, holster and extra bullets. Such a classic boy look and I couldn't resist getting it for him although I really don't like the gun aspect to it. He assures me he's protecting the town and won't hurt anyone.

When I saw my daughter the other day using a chicken thigh from her fake food set as a gun I couldn't help but laugh. They will find ways to invent their own toys.

As for the girls, we had Winnie the Pooh and a roll of Lifesavers running around chasing the Sheriff. Or Winnie chasing the roll of Lifesavers saying "yum, yum, I like candy, I'm going to eat you up!" They obviously can't wait for Carnival which is not for another month here in town, and thought they should practice with their costumes on. It's basically Halloween part deux in our house. Except Kevin was a Knight this past Halloween and the girls were Winnie and princess Cinderella.

As for Valentine's day here in France, it's certainly not the Hallmark event it is in the U.S. although the florists do try their best to sell their flowers. Heart shaped cookies and candy were very appreciated by my little ones. The girls really love hearts so this is their day! Lots of coloring going on with a Valentine theme.

As my husband is off we're planning to watch a movie this evening, relax and enjoy eachother's company. That's a perfect Valentine's evening to me!

Happy Valentine's Day to you all! As they say here.....GROS BISOUS!

Keeping busy

Well, the weekend flew by somehow as it always does, even in this dreary wet weather we're having. Time to pull out the cookie recipes and bake some sugar cut-out cookies with the kids. Elephant, heart and bear shapes were the favorites here. As winter vacation has begun with no snow in sight unfortunately, we'll be trying to stay occupied with trips to the pool (indoor of course) also a play area called Tom et Co located in Metz which the kids really love and if the weather improves, hopefully some outdoor activities. Good thing Santa brought so many games this year. There's always time for another round of Margot L'Escargot or Pretty Pretty Princess.

Of course my other means of staying busy is my new blog. As I'm a complete neophyte when it comes to blogs, I've been learning a lot just trying to set it up and add some "decorations". I've only just begun but it's a start. Doesn't look too bad anyway.

My son who is in 1st grade (or CP here) has homework during the break. He needs to read in his book that they keep at school but allow the kids to take home during vacations. He enjoys reading and it's fascinating to watch as he learns to read and the world of books opens up to him.
The girls being twins never get bored. They keep each other amused and are non-stop all day. It's true what they say that once you reach a certain point, twins can be a lot easier since there is a built-in playmate. That time has arrived at our house and it's wonderful to see!
May this week be filled with fun activities and occupied happy children. 'Cause as we all know, when they're happy, the parents are happy!

here I go!

I've finally decided to start my own blog. This in large part is due to all those expats living in France whose blogs I've been reading for some time now. They've been a source of inspiration to me as I continue to find my way here after seven years of living in France. It's an amazing network/community of sorts to which I hope to add some new experiences/insights. It's also a great way for my family and friends to keep up to date on our daily lives. And finally it just seems like fun!

The title of my blog pretty much sums up my adventure. I was born and raised in Chicago. I met my husband through a mutual friend and the rest as they say is history. One year later we were married, and I moved to a small town in north eastern France. Big change to say the least. Our son was born less than a year after our wedding followed by twin girls two years after our son. (If you're keeping track, by our 3rd wedding anniversary we had 3 children!) Yes I'm proud to say I've contributed to France's new found status as the most fertile country in Europe passing Ireland this year with an average of 2 children per woman.

Now as my children are a little older (6 1/2 and 4 1/2 yrs old) I find I've got a little (just a little) time on my hands and blogs, specifically expat blogs, quickly caught my attention as I surfed the net.

Currently the big event here is winter vacation which will begin after school lets out on Friday Feb. 9Th. Many people I know will be taking trips to go skiing, but as we plan to take a trip back to Chicago this summer (after almost two years since our last visit) we'll be staying put and trying to keep the kids occupied. Not the easiest thing to do when it's cold and rainy nearly every day here.

When I'm not busy with the kids I'm working part-time teaching English. What else for an English speaking expat in France? Actually this is not too much of a stretch for me since my career in Chicago was in education, specifically teaching french! So I've just flip flopped but it's got a lot of challenges even if it is my native language. I've been a language assistant once, when my son was a baby, took time off when the girls were born and just this past fall started teaching English in the grade schools in my area. Definitely been an interesting experience. But I've always liked a challenge. One thing that's great is in general the kids do want to learn the language. I'm sure I'll be posting about that more as time goes on.
I'd love to get others input about their own experiences teaching English in France since it is such a common path for the expat living here.