A Beautiful Old Campus

I spent the bulk of the day as the "lunch lady" again at Quincy's school. They were desperate for some extra hands and since I do enjoy spending time in any kitchen and I do so enjoy seeing Quincy in action with his friends, I agreed to work again (Much to Quincy's chagrin!). We worked very hard today, preparing most items for the salad bar for the rest of the week, lots of chopping and cutting. After finishing my work around 1:30, I took a few minutes to walk around Quincy's beautiful campus and take a few pictures.


His school was founded in 1852 by the Sisters of St. Francis. It was a boarding school for girls for a long, long time before becoming a co-ed day school in the mid-90's. The campus is still the site of the Mother House for this order of nuns but unfortunately, of the 120 that still live there, most are very elderly and infirm. The school cafeteria is housed in a portion of the convent and many of the school kitchen appliances are shared with the convent.

Today was "Adopt a Sis" day, where students can choose to eat lunch with one of the nuns and maybe become a bit wiser from the experience. Both parties seem to really enjoy this and we saw smiles on many faces, young and old. There are no longer many nuns active in the school itself but it is nice to have that connection between the two.

The school is located in a beautiful little, little old German settlement about 5 miles from our front door. I love the European feel of the old brick buildings and narrow streets with German names.

Muddy Bottom

We were lucky enough to have a gorgeous weekend with almost fall-like temperatures. It started out busy with Quincy's first acting lesson on Saturday, a volunteer training program for me at school, and a soccer game for Max. Yesterday afternoon, Josh got Quincy oriented to our lawn mower and got him busy in the yard while Josh did the trimming.
It's about time that boy earns his keep! We then had kids playing over at our house all afternoon until Josh and I left for a party yesterday evening. Our old friends and neighbors had a big party to showcase Andy's home brews and enable us to receive a huge welcome back from at least 40 old friends. We had a great time and once again, enjoyed introducing our French friends to the Batesville crowd. This morning, after early Mass, we literally had to force ourselves off of the deck where we could have easily wasted the day, just enjoying the sun and lounging around.

Calvin got in a little fishing while Josh and I tackled the two garages.

We unpacked many, many boxes, put many things in the attic and began a large pile of things that we will give to Goodwill. By late afternoon, we were ready to stop so while I ran to the grocery store and a Longaberger basket party with Tabitha, Josh took the boys and the dog to a very pretty little spot that he had discovered.

They climbed around the rocks and the stream and got a little muddy. All had fun however.

The Lunch Lady

I spent the bulk of the day today working as a volunteer in the high school cafeteria. This small, private high school employs only one permanent staff in the cafeteria and just fills in the rest with volunteers. We worked hard today! Cooking, setting up, serving, and cleaning up. I had a good time however and enjoyed seeing Quincy in his own environment. He seems to be settling in well and I loved the small, cozy atmosphere of the school. I worked with two good friends so we took ourselves out to lunch afterwards and had a good time. Tonight, Josh, Coco and I went for a long walk around the neighborhood while Tabitha and Calvin enjoyed a movie at home. Quincy and Max are both at friend's houses for the evening.

It's All About the House

Today, after my daily four mile walk with a friend, I resolved to do nothing but work on unpacking the house. So, I spent the next 6 hours straight in the basement family room, tackling the mountain of boxes. I still have a long way to go but the kids are thrilled with the result so far. They can finally find many of their toys, see the television and play down there. Here are my before...

and after shots.

Because I unearthed many boxes that Quincy had been hunting for, he is now thrilled to have most of the components of his basement bedroom put together. He LOVES having his own space away from the rest of the family!

I also found my welcome mat today. I purchased this in France and am thrilled to be able to welcome people to our home now in a French manner.

We have definitely shifted our family schedule to a much more American one. I have to admit that I love the longer evenings that we now have. Because the kids get up for school more than an hour before they had to in France, we now eat at 6:30 instead of 7 or 7:30 so that they get to bed earlier as well. But, since they are home from school by 3:30, they have plenty of time to play, read and do homework before going to bed. Not bad at all!

And, finally, just a typical Indiana scene that I saw while picking up Quincy from school today...

To Tip or Not to Tip

I seemed to have forgotten how to function in American society. I took Coco for a haircut today and after I had picked her back up, paid for the services and was driving home, I began to wonder if I should have tipped the groomer. After not worrying about having to tip at all for the past two years, I am no longer certain about what we are supposed to tip for and what we are not!
I whipped up an awesome French lunch today and invited an old friend over to share it with me. We had a great time and I finally got to use the warming drawer that came in my kitchen! I kept our quiches warm while I gave Beth the tour of the house.

Settling In Very Well

It is really beginning to feel like home around here, despite the fact that we still have mountains of boxes to unpack in the basement and garages.

This morning, we woke up to a gorgeous day, with mist rolling off of the lake....

After breakfast, the kids took off for school (the three younger ones ride the school bus while Quincy rides with a neighbor kid who has his own car) and I joined three friends for a four mile walk around the neighborhood. I then joined my French friend for coffee and to tour her rental house. They are still waiting for their furniture to get through customs so they can move into their house. I continue to try to help Gaëlle as much as I possibly can with their adjustment into the US way of life. Today, I talked to her about gun safety. It dawned on me that no one has guns in France so her kids would probably not know what to do if they saw a gun at a friend's house around here. I wanted to make sure that she knew that it might not be a toy and to be extremely aware. After our coffee, I buckled down to work around the house. I now have the guest room all set up and ready for guests! I also spent a good deal of time cleaning the house.... this is a very big house....
I got Coco started with a vet today. I wanted to make sure that she had her doctor established and to get her started on heart worm medicine. That is something that they do not do at all in France.

After the kids came home from school, we headed to the library. Everyone was thrilled to have our pick of English books at our beck and call! We stocked up and headed home to read.

Max's English reading is progressing nicely. He seems to be keeping up in school and read a chapter book from start to finish (42 pages) this evening.

Bucking the System

Josh and I attended the Parents Only open house for the junior high tonight. I followed Calvin's schedule and met with his teachers while Josh did the same with Tabitha's schedule. We bucked the system a bit tonight by asking that Tabitha be moved up into the advanced math class. We don't blame the school a bit for putting her in the lower class since they didn't know her level and didn't have the past three years to look at but... we know how intelligent and self-directed that Tabitha is and we know that it will be much better for her to have algebra in 8th grade versus taking it freshman year. So, they have agreed to bump her up and we have agreed to work hard with her to get her caught up to the rest of the class. Hope this works! We also asked if we needed to change her reading goal for literature class. She has already met 175% of her first quarter reading and testing goal in the first 1 and 1/2 weeks of school!
I drove over to Indianapolis today and had lunch with my good friend, Teresa. It was the first time that I've seen her since we moved back and we had a great time catching up and enjoying each other's company. Teresa and I have been friends for about 25 years so any time we can spend together is fun.

Gorgeous Weekend

We had such beautiful weather this weekend that it was very hard to get any work done inside. Because of that, we did get many of the weeds pulled, some of the bushes trimmed and the grass mowed. The kids spent plenty of time on their bikes and Coco just ran wild. I did manage to get all bedroom boxes completely unpacked so everyone is very comfortably settled into their new rooms. Josh even hung our first picture tonight!
We took a step toward achieving a dream of Quincy's today. He has been claiming for years that all he really wants to do is be an actor when he grows up. He took some acting classes and did a few performances when we lived in West Lafayette but not much since that time. Well, yesterday, I took him to an open call for an audition in Cincinnati with an acting coach. He did very well and out of 200 applicants, he was one of 10 chosen to return today. He went back and again made a good impression so he will now begin his training on Saturday mornings at a school in downtown Cincinnati. He is very exciting and has already been given some monologues to learn and some acting technique books to read. We'll see where this leads!
While running around Cincy, I did manage to squeeze in a trip to Ikea where I got a few ideas for my bare living room!

The Babysitting Niche

Quincy and Tabitha are already being sought after as babysitters. Tabitha had her first job tonight, babysitting three girls in the neighborhood. While Quincy did our babysitting for us by staying home with Max (Calvin was having a sleepover with a friend), we were asked to join some friends for dinner at the country club. We saw many, many old friends and had a great time catching up with so many people that we missed. Super fun.

BBQ and Friends

Everyone is settling in so nicely here. Max has found a friend in the two boys who live across the street so he and Kent are always outside riding their bikes or their scooters in the cul-de-sac. Calvin and Tabitha have old, good friends in the neighborhood and are always riding their bikes around the lake to play with those friends. Quincy is making some new friends from around southeastern Indiana as his private school draws in kids from outside of our little town. Life is good...
We got home too late for me to blog last night but we had a great day. I have been taking an hour long walk every morning with a good friend and enjoying every minute of it. I took another walk yesterday afternoon with another friend in her neighborhood because the weather was just too good to pass up. Yesterday morning, I spoke to the 2 third grade classrooms about what it was like to live in France. Some of the differences between France and the US and some of the similarities. With Max's help, I also taught them a few words in French. We had a great time and they all loved the honey/orange Madeleines that I made for their snack.
After work yesterday, we drove the one hour down to Madison, IN on the Ohio River.

We went to enjoy the big BBQ cook off that the town hosts each year. We spent some time strolling along the beautiful river front.

We could almost picture the Delta Queen landing there with Grandpa Shenk waving from the deck.

In the amateur division of the cook-off, we met up with a friend of mine from 8th grade! I haven't seen Matt in the 25 years since 8th grade but we have reconnected over the past couple of months through Facebook. Matt and his friend, Marc had four entries in the BBQ contest and we were lucky enough to get to feast on their delicious food.

Our kids had a great time playing with Matt's much younger kids while the adults enjoyed getting to know each other.

We stayed until it got dark and the hot air balloons were all lit so that we could hear the results of the contest. Matt and Marc won 2nd place in the beef division so they were thrilled.

Calvin has decided that he would like to the enter the children's division next year so he plans to start cooking!

Lots of Meetings

Today seemed to be one meeting after another with no time to unpack a single box. It is awfully nice to go to meetings now where I can understand 100% of what is going and participate! I am gearing up to volunteer in the school library, get a French club up and running at the elementary school, and help in the cafeterias at both the high school and the grade school. I also had to squeeze in a trip to the pediatric dentist today after Max fell and hit his tooth on the black top. Remember when he did the same thing during one of our first weeks in France? Much easier to handle when you can speak the language and know the dentist! Anyway, he is fine, just a little sore. I also ran Tabitha to the public library today so she could fill out an application to be in the Teen Advisory Group for the library. She is VERY excited about this prospect and hopes that she gets selected. Josh came home from Philadelphia today after a successful trip of meeting with nurses about their need for bariatric beds. For hours now, I have been baking French Madeleines to take to Max's third grade class tomorrow. I will be talking to them about France and the cultural differences that we observed there. Should be fun!

What is Going on Here?

So, our first week, there was the rain storm of the century with flooding everywhere, including our basement. The second week there was a big electrical storm which burned down our local Taco Bell. Today, there was another huge storm and our power was knocked out for more than 90 minutes. What is happening around here? I do not remember all of these weather systems in my previous Midwestern life.
Today, was a very exciting day however as I finally got my new washer and dryer delivered!!

They are huge and fast as all American products should be. I played catch up on laundry all day long and loved the efficiency of my new machines!
I find myself having adopted some of the French ways as I now tend to invite everyone who stops over into my house for some coffee!
One neighbor stopped over with a still warm from the oven, homemade apple pie! Delicious!
Josh is in Philadelphia for a few days. When I asked him what was in Philadelphia that he needed to see, he said, "Nurses". I decide not to pursue that line of questioning any further!!

Enjoying the Cul-de-Sac

We live in such a great location. On the lake, with no one across the lake, and at the end of the cul-de-sac. After school today, the boys hopped on their bikes and rode like crazy around and around and around the cul-de-sac with no fear of cars going by.


Coco is still terrified of our yard because of the electric fence so although she watches the kids, she is afraid to venture too far away from the house.

Quincy shot some hoops on our very nice permanently affixed basketball hoop and Tabitha took Coco for a long meandering walk around the neighborhood. I did lots of unpacking today and even baked my first batch of cookies in my new kitchen and made an awesome hot and spicy Mexican meal for dinner. Quincy took off with a friend tonight to watch his high school soccer team in action.

Max decided that he loves the kitchen location that I found today for one of our comfy chairs.

It's All So Easy!

Today was a day without visitors. So, it was time for me to just get things done. It's been daunting to the go to the grocery store just because we are starting with nothing. No spices, no basics, no oils, etc. We have to buy everything that we need to make anything! I did get some serious grocery shopping done today in addition to running 3 other errands. I was back home again and putting my groceries away within 90 minutes of when I left the house. Pretty incredible and a far cry from trying to navigate my way through errands in France! The kids had dentist appointments today, I had a doctor's appointment and I had a million phone calls to make to get all of our other back to the U.S. things scheduled. So, it was a busy but quiet day. I also managed to squeeze in a long walk with a good friend before it got too hot and muggy.

Can't Beat the Laundry

We had a very busy but very fun weekend...
Max had his first soccer game of the season and did a great job despite the heat and humidity. His team won 3-0 so he was quite proud.

I enjoyed catching up with lots of old friends at the soccer fields. I had forgotten how much that is the place to be on any given Saturday in the fall. After ordering my new car and doing some unpacking Saturday afternoon, we welcomed my sister and her family who arrived for a visit with their new puppy. Coco and Bailey could not have been better behaved or had more fun together.

The kids had a great time with their cousins and we enjoyed showing off our new house.


My brother and his girlfriend, Kerry, also joined us for dinner. It was too hot to enjoy our beautiful deck so we enjoyed our air conditioning instead. The kids woke up early this morning to do some fishing on the lake before it got too hot and to play with the dogs a bit more.

My sister-in-law, Debbie, then drove over from Cincinnati for her tour of the house and to join the 11 of us for lunch. Very fun.
I was thrilled to discover the extremely clean and pleasant laundromat in Batesville! I have never had the need to use the laundromat before but since my new washer and dryer won't be delivered until Wednesday, we were getting a little desperate in the laundry department around here. I was reluctant to go to the laundromat as it takes so much time, money and effort. However, there were 40 large machines for both washing and drying, a coin machine was readily available and one load only cost $2.50 total to wash and dry! Compared to the 4 machines, no money changer and a total price of $12.75 to do one load in France, this was fantastic! It's the little things that make me happy...

The Snowball Effect

Those of you who live in a small town will immediately be able to identify with this... When you live in a small town and you decide to invite a few people over for dinner, you don't quite know where to draw the line. Since everyone knows everyone and everyone knows what everyone else is doing. Anyway, this is what happened to me today. I wanted to invite a few people over for a party to break in our new house and to introduce the French family to a few of my friends. Well, one invite led to another and before I knew it, we had 50 people coming over for dinner. We had a fantastic time and it all worked out great. Everyone brought something to eat, most brought something to drink, and I had unpacked enough chairs and lawn furniture for everyone to enjoy our deck comfortably. The kids had a ball down by the lake and playing volleyball and hide and go seek. The French family made many new friends and felt very welcome, and we all enjoyed some of the local cuisine... fried chicken!

The Sea Shipment is Here!

Hurray! Believe it or not, tonight, we finally have all of our things under one roof. Now, much of it is far from unpacked or usable, but at least it's here!


I spent an exhausting day unpacking, supervising the movers and directing the carpet layer. Thank goodness that the carpet layer was so flexible, he managed to lay carpet in one bedroom, the family room and the basement stairs without getting in any one's way!

Coco helped me supervise and also managed to stay out of every one's way.

We had some frustration and disappointment when we found some broken or damaged items. Fortunately not too many things (and only one bottle of wine!) but unfortunately, some treasured mementos of Tabitha's. She went to bed in tears after discovering the loss of one earring that her Grandpa Shenk had given her shortly before he died. I'm still hoping that we will find this soon.

Another Teenager in the House!

Tabitha celebrated her 13th birthday today. Unbelievable! Unfortunately for her, she celebrated by having her first day of 8th grade. Not exactly the way that she wanted to celebrate but she had a nice day, enjoyed her classes, reconnected with lots of old friends and had chocolate pie for dessert tonight.

Max was a little nervous about school this morning as other than kindergarten, this is his first US school experience.

He had a great day however, loves his teacher, made a great friend named Gus, and got to take his shoes off in class! Calvin also had a great day as the only 10 year old in the 6th grade. He was intimidated by nothing and had a great time at recess playing with some old and new friends. He is really excited about being in junior high and having the opportunity to read all sorts of books and win prizes with the Accelerated Reader Program.
While the kids were slaving away at school, I enjoyed our wonderful 80 degree day to the hilt! I got my errands done early (thank God for the stores open 24 hours a day in the good ole U.S. of A.) and then joined my friend and neighbor, Kelly, on our lake for some kayaking.

We had a wonderful and peaceful time cruising around the lake.

After a quick shower, I joined a couple of friends for lunch at a little local pub to celebrate our kids returning to school. It was then off to the dentist for me for a bi-annual cleaning before it was time for the kids to be home from school again. Josh and I enjoyed a nice long sit on the deck this evening. What a great place to live!