Fall is in the Air

It got cold so quickly! Last week, was hot and humid and this week is cold and windy. I even heard that it is supposed to get down to 35 tonight! Josh is already freezing to death and wondering how he will survive a real winter after years of mild temperatures!
You will be happy to know that I finished my book for my Book Club. Since I am the founder of this club, I felt it was essential that I actually finished the book and was prepared to discuss it at our first meeting (which is in 45 minutes). A good book but not one that totally captured my attention by any means.... "Beneath A Marble Sky" by John Shors.
I am on so many committees, I have to constantly consult my calendar to see exactly what meeting I am supposed to be attending. Yesterday was for the Accelerated Reader program, tomorrow morning is for the 8th Grade Breakfast, tomorrow night is for the high school fundraiser auction, and tomorrow afternoon is for the school library. I am still enjoying it all though... Haven't used up my joy of being able to communicate with those around me.
The kids continue to attend after school Enrichment classes which occur 2x a year to introduce some new interests. Yesterday, Calvin and Tabitha made bracelets to benefit the same charity that I did a couple of weeks ago. Today, Calvin attended the 2nd introduction to acting class. And, last week, Calvin and Tabitha both attended a pottery class where they threw some pots with a local artist. Very fun.

No Time to Talk...

Sorry, I have no time to blog this evening... I have started a book club which is meeting for the first time tomorrow evening and I haven't finished the book yet! This is very unusual for me so I have to get busy reading!! 90 pages to go...

I will share Quincy's latest school photo with you, however.

A Very Special Day

After thoroughly enjoying watching Notre Dame beat Purdue in an exciting game last night, we had a very special day today. Because in France kids make their First Communion as third graders instead of 2nd graders, Max has been a bit behind his U.S. class. He did all of his preparation work in France though, so it was just a matter of actually making the sacrament. Today was the day! He made his First Communion today at the 11 o'clock Mass with friends and family present for the event. We are very happy for him and had a great time celebrating afterwards. The sun even came out this afternoon so the kids and cousins and friends could play outside and the adults could enjoy the deck for a bit.
Here is Max with his parents,

his grandparents,
his Godparents,

and receiving Communion.

Rainy Week

We are hoping that after one more rainy day today, we will finally see the sun again. We needed some rain but not a whole week's worth! I volunteered in Quincy's cafeteria yesterday for the entire day. Served up lots of fish sandwiches, au gratin potatoes, and corn, and then did lots of cleaning afterwards. Makes for a tiring day. I do so enjoy watching Quincy among his friends and peers however. Just a little spying into his life.
I guess it's a reaction to all the different foods we ate around Europe, but I have really been in the mood to make and eat some good ole Americana food. So, it has been mac and cheese, beef stew, roasted chicken, and chicken pot pies at home. This week, I marinated and slow roasted a huge beef brisket. So, last night, we had a couple of friends over for BBQ brisket. We had a great time and delicious food!

Pieces and Parts

I did get my 4 mile walk in this morning with a couple of friends but it rained for the rest of the day, limiting any yard work or outside activities. I was happy to glimpse our first peek of autumn, however, when I looked out the back window, through the pouring rain and spotted some leaves changing color. I love the fall!


We have finally unpacked and gathered all of the pieces and parts to our beloved air hockey table. Josh put in the call to the 3rd party assembler (isn't that an unusual job?) and they finally set up an appointment to come out from Cincinnati today and put the table together. We knew that a couple of pieces had been broken in the move but we thought these were ones that we could fix or just put up with. We were all so excited to get our table put together and to have a favorite past-time re-initiated. You can imagine my disappointment then when the assemblers carried the huge, main part of the table down to the basement and unwrapped it, only to find a big divot in the playing surface! This makes it completely unusable so I asked them to just take it back up to the garage and go on their way. We were crushed... We have certainly had more damaged items during this move than any previous one. Lots of claim forms and broken hearts...
Fortunately, the new ottoman that I had ordered 4 weeks ago arrived shortly afterward so my spirits perked back up. After 7 years with our big, homemade ottoman, we were ready for a change. Love it!

A Warm Welcome

The kids came home from school with gift bags today. All of the new students in their school were given bags to welcome them to the school. It would have been very easy for the school to not consider as us new, so we were all thrilled to be given these little treats. The kids received sports passes, welcome cards, and a school t-shirt along with several pieces of candy. What a nice gesture!

I actually ran into an old acquaintance that didn't yet know we had returned to town! Wow! She must be way out of the loop considering that every day, I have strangers welcome us back and seem to know more about us than I know myself!

The Soothing Sounds of the Trumpet

I am sitting here listening to Calvin practice his trumpet. There is no "better" sound than a brand new band student practicing his instrument... Calvin started band this week and while he is quite excited and eager to practice at every opportunity, the rest of us are not quite so thrilled... Coco is hiding under the desk...
Calvin also had an enrichment class after school today. He took a basic drama class. Calvin enjoyed it immensely. Enrichment classes are offered twice a year to the elementary students to allow them to explore some different interests. Each of our kids have signed up for three or four so they will be doing many interesting things over the weeks to follow.
While waiting for the kids at the public library today, I observed the traffic out on what is the main street through downtown. Now granted, this is far from being a big town but there is a steady stream of traffic down this street. I noticed that every single driver in every single car that passed me was talking on their cell phone. Wow! That cannot be a safe practice. After this being completely banned in France, we got out of the habit and are hoping to not fall back into it.

Still Learning

We were feeling very good about how all of the kids are adjusting to life back in the U.S. school system. They all brought home mid-term report cards this past week with really excellent grades. However, Max brought home a paper today where he had gotten a D. That is pretty unheard of in this house and he was pretty upset. When we looked it over carefully, however, we realized that it was sentences that he was writing when his teacher would read them out orally. He did fairly well except that he did not capitalize any months, did not capitalize any names of countries, and did not put apostrophes in any contractions. These are all things that he never learned because they are not done in the French language! As soon as we told him what he had done wrong and taught him these basics, he did just fine. I guess we are all still learning...
I went to orientation at my old job today. I do not intend to work much at all but did promise my old boss that I will work as a "sub" when another therapist is out sick. I am hoping to limit this to no more than 2 days a month.

Football, Hot Dogs, Apple Dumplings, and Family

Whew! Busy but very fun weekend! We were lucky enough to enjoy a beautiful couple of hours on campus at Notre Dame before we headed into the stadium to watch a very exciting victory over Michigan State. It was hot and we were sun-baked but the excitement on the field kept us all engrossed.




We then had a quick visit with some Notre Dame friends before driving to Van Wert to stay with my parents for the night. This morning, we headed to Fort Wayne to enjoy some of the annual Johnny Appleseed Festival activities at the park before dropping the kids with Josh's mom and joining an old friend for lunch. We reconnected with this high school friend through Facebook and saw her for the first time in 20 years today. Great time! We then headed over to an open house 90th birthday party for Josh's grandma. Josh's whole family was in town for the event so a good time was certainly had.

It was then a 3 hour rainy drive home and some quick showers before tucking everyone into bed. Whew!

There Was a Time...

...not too long ago, when I would absolutely be met with squeals of delight from all four of my kids, just by saying the words "Pizza Party". In our house, this just means the opportunity to eat pizza while sitting in front of the television. A very rare occasion around here and one that is loved by all. However, now that we suddenly have two teenagers in the house, they are not so easily impressed. Since I finally finished clearing out and setting up the playroom in the basement and the DVD players were finally hooked up, I thought that tonight would be the perfect time for those magic words. Well, they are not so magic anymore... Quincy said "I'm going to Joey's." Tabitha said, "Oh... I was hoping to go to the high school football game with my friends...." The magic words still work for Calvin and Max and they are happily ensconced in the basement with their blankets and pizza, but the big kids are out with their friends. Sigh...
While buying fruit at the supermarket today, I was stopped short by the huge and beautiful display of shiny and colorful apples. This is certainly not a sight that you would see in France and I am still enamored with it. In France, the produce section of even the biggest supermarkets, is still pretty much in it's natural state. The fruit is not waxed and shiny, and the vegetables still have dirt on them. Even though, I like to buy organic and I know that more natural is better, it is still a beautiful sight to see this gorgeous selection of fresh fruit.
We are heading up to Notre Dame tomorrow where all 6 of us will attend our first football game together. We are all very excited! Go ND!

A New Car

Finally, finally, finally... We made a decision and bought one of the two cars that we need. Josh had test-driven this car on Monday night in Indianapolis. He then decided that he wanted my opinion so I drove over to Indy today to do some driving. I loved the car, so we decided to make the plunge. We traded in Josh's dad's car for this Volvo. While the dealership prepared the car and the paperwork, I drove the 15 minutes to my friend, Teresa's, house for lunch.

We had a great gab session and book exchange before I got the call that the car was ready. With an easy switch, I was on my way back home in the new car. Josh loves it and is thrilled to have one to call his own. We are still waiting for my new Ford which was ordered weeks ago.
Quincy asked to bring his "girlfriend" home from school with him today. He really likes this girl and spends many evenings texting her endlessly. She lives in Aurora so we do not know her family. Anyway, she came home from school with him today and spent a couple of hours here before they both took off to watch a high school volleyball game. She seems like a very nice and very cute girl. I didn't feel like I could take her picture though without thoroughly humiliating my son so, you'll just have to wait for a future blog.

A Raspberry Patch

Today was another gorgeous one! I enjoyed the sunshine streaming in my newly cleaned windows! I did lots of puttering around the house after my morning walk before putting together my preparations for today's French club. I had another crowd of at least 45 kids, which continues to be a bit overwhelming. I do enjoy it, however and my kids have a great time being the "teachers".

Today, I brought in a bunch of baguettes and a couple of French cheeses for the kids to try. I was amazed by how many actually really enjoyed the Camembert and Brie! The loved the baguettes and ate every crumb!

After French club, we arrived home to see that my parents had arrived for a visit and "installed" a raspberry patch in our backyard! They had promised this patch to Max ever since March and he was thrilled to see the plants in the ground! He is ready eat his very own fresh raspberries. We enjoyed dinner on the deck with grandma and grandpa before they headed home and I headed to the registration meeting for winter swim team.

Windows and More Windows

Today, we woke up to a beautiful sunrise... The sky was painted in beautiful colors and reflected in the mist-covered lake. Just gorgeous! The only problem was that this gorgeous scene seen from many different locations in our house, just reminded me once again of just how dirty our windows are! Our house was meticulous when we moved in. Perfectly clean, far cleaner than any other house that we have moved in to. All except the windows! They were so dirty and have remained so. So, this became my project for the day.

Armed with squeegees, rags and an extension pole, I removed screens and mullions and set to work. 34 windows and 3 1/2 hours later, I was finished with the windows on just the first floor! Ughhh! I was hot, tired and dirty and had run out of time. The windows do look fantastic now, however and we finally feel like we can truly enjoy the many pretty views from inside the house. The rest of the windows will just remain on my to-do list for another day...
Max and I ran to the Farmers Market after school today and picked up some fantastic veggies. I whipped up a big pot of gazpacho for dinner. Delicious!

Still Looking for the Butler

I know that most modestly sized homes in this day and age do not have "Butlers Pantries". But, this house truly does... It is what it was called on the blueprints and it's what it truly is. It is (to quote Wikipedia) a room where food, provisions or dishes are stored and served in an ancillary capacity to the kitchen, located adjacent to the kitchen or dining room....
Anyway, I have found it a wonderful place to store my extra kitchen essentials that are truly only "essential" during certain parts of the year or for certain occasions. It also has a place for an extra refrigerator and because of the fact that I keep cooking more and more, and buying more and more ingredients to go with that cooking, I have discovered that I really need that extra refrigerator and freezer space. So, today, I was shopping again! I bought a simple but perfect refrigerator for that spot and even though there appears to be no butler that comes along with my butler's pantry, I am thrilled with my ancillary kitchen!

I also finally completed emptying the boxes in the kids playroom in the basement! We haven't really decided on an arrangement of furniture or gotten the air hockey table set up, but at least the boxes are gone and the kids can have their own space! Which means, of course, that we can have our own space too!

A Microbrewery!

We certainly had a busy but fun weekend. I took Quincy to Cincinnati for his acting class on Saturday morning only to discover that downtown Cincy was an absolute mess of closed streets due to their yearly Breast cancer run. I wish I had known about this earlier as I would have planned better and probably joined in the cause. As it was, I finally had to just drop Quincy off a couple of blocks away while I circled for a parking spot. Quincy made it to his class without mishap and enjoyed it immensely. I watched and cheered on the runners for awhile while enjoying the perfectly gorgeous day before grabbing a cup of coffee and settling in with a good book at a local cafe while I waited for Quincy to finish.

We then hurried home so Josh could take off on another fruitless car buying adventure. We certainly seem to be having trouble getting what we want! Anyway, I volunteered in the soccer field concession stand all afternoon while Max's team played and lost another game. I then sent Quincy off to a babysitting job while I whipped up some appetizers to take to a friend's house. Josh joined us at Jane's house for a wonderful little outdoor dinner party before we all drove over to the grand opening of a local microbrewery! The whole town is excited about this latest addition to our fair "city" and the turn out was huge! Our good friend won 2nd place for his home brew in their home brew contest so we were all proud and had a great time! After church this morning, it was time to buckle down to work around the house. We finally got rid of the last boxes in the basement family room while Quincy and Tabitha mowed the lawn.

I unearthed Max's special hot dog machine that he has been sorely missing for the past two years so he made us a nice dinner of hot dogs and toasted buns!

Calvin was only a little disappointed to learn this evening that he did not make the 6th grade boys basketball team. Josh might have been more upset than he was!

Helping Out

After our walk this morning, I took my French friend, Gaëlle, over to the local YMCA to show her around. "Working out" in a gym is a fairly unusual occurrence in France, but knowing that it is nearly impossible to do much outside around here once the weather turns cold, Gaëlle was eager to see what it is all about. So, we ran through the various machines, weight regimens, and the rules of the pool. After walking home, I picked up my car and headed over to another friend's house. There, I helped to string beads on bracelets to be sold at an upcoming charity event. A local woman started this charity, Everyone's Child International in the three years that we were gone from Batesville. In that time, she has been able to help many 3rd world country children with various medical problems. She has also enlisted the help of most of the town to do as much as they can for her charity. Because I am friends with most of the women who help out on a regular basis, it was time for me to join in. We had a great time putting together these beautiful little bracelets, drinking coffee, and just catching up on each other's lives. I was also able to meet two new women who have moved to town since I've been gone and are already actively involved.
Quincy is at a friend's house, Max has a friend over for a sleep over, and Calvin is at basketball try-outs for the school team. Just a usual Friday night, except, Max's friend is one of the French boys so they are conversing entirely in French and watching a French movie together.

Sofas and Soufflés

I really do have plans to do other things besides shopping but... Today, my French friend, Gaëlle, asked me to go with her to Cincinnati to show her around a bit and to pick up some things from Ikea. So, after our 4 mile walk, we headed out. I asked her to stop first at the Going Out of Business sale for our local furniture store. The sale was starting at 9 a.m. but I didn't expect to find anything, just wanted to look around a bit. Well, lo and behold, just inside the front door, I found exactly the furniture that I had been looking for for our living room and at a wonderful price! Well, after a quick phone call to Josh, I was soon the owner of a beautiful sofa, chair, two end tables and a coffee table, for an unbeatable price! I was also told that all the pieces could be delivered to my living room at 3 this afternoon!

Wow! What a productive "quick stop"! We proceeded on to Ikea where we both found some more things that we needed for our new homes.

Fortunately, Gaëlle found many more things at Ikea than I did so she didn't think that I was completely crazy. I did find the tall ramekins and the crème brûlée ramekins that I had been looking high and low for. So, after a few more shopping stops, a nice lunch and the 60 minute drive home, I arrived in time to receive my new furniture and to make chocolate soufflés for dinner.

Home of the Hoosiers

After a foggy early morning, I took the opportunity to drive through the beautiful rolling hills of southern Indiana. I rode along with my friend, Cecelia, while our friend, Jane, drove. Jane's oldest daughter is a sophomore at Indiana University in Bloomington and Jane needed to deliver a bike to her. I can't remember ever being in Bloomington, other than one quick trip during my college years. The weather was gorgeous today, the college kids all looked young and energetic and happy, and I had the fantastic company of two good friends. Great day! We did a little shopping in the wonderful little downtown area,

followed by some roaming around campus with Jane's daughter and then lunch at an outdoor table of a delicious little Moroccan restaurant.

Julia is an international studies major who is focusing on Spanish and French. We had a great time discussing the job opportunities that are available to multi-lingual people. Sure put me in the mood to motivate my kids to keep up with their French and to pursue their dreams!

Like Father, Like Son

Today, after my morning walk, I headed over to Quincy's school to volunteer in the development office. My task was to stuff envelopes for a big bulk mailing. After a couple of hours of catching up with old friends and fellow volunteers, and only a few repetitive use injuries, I hit the grocery store and then home. Back to tackling boxes in the basement again! It takes soooo long because it's truly like a time capsule! Opening these boxes that have been in storage since we left West Lafayette for France is fascinating. It's like a little peek into our lives at the time. We have all changed so much in so many ways that most of the things are not needed or wanted. However, I have to go through each just to be sure...
I found out today that the local furniture store is shutting it's doors after 50 years. Unfortunately, the economy has hit several of the small businesses in our tiny little downtown and we are now having even fewer choices for local shopping. What a shame!


Max and Calvin had a great time shooting some hoops in the driveway after school today. Calvin will have 6th grade basketball try-outs coming up this week. Quincy is still pondering his decision as to whether he should play basketball or swim team in the fall. Tough choice but not possible to do both!

Calvin is also joining the band and plans to take up his dad's old trumpet! Josh loves it!

Reunion, Fair, and Family

After not having Labor Day to celebrate the past couple of years, we completely enjoyed our long weekend. Max woke up with strep throat on Saturday morning, but after a quick trip to the doctor and stopping at the pharmacy for some antibiotics, we were soon on the road to Fort Wayne. We spent some time with Josh's mom there before leaving the kids with her and heading to one of the local country clubs. It was there that we joined about 100 of Josh's high school classmates and their spouses to celebrate their 20th reunion. We both enjoyed ourselves immensely since I knew almost as many people as Josh did and one of my best friends was also in attendance. We ate, drank, and danced until the wee hours of the night. Very fun! Unfortunately, I did not bring my camera along (can you believe it?) so I will have to ask for some pictures from others before I can post them. On Sunday, Josh and his brother drove up to northern Indiana to look at a car that Josh thought he was interested in buying (he wasn't) while I gathered up the kids and Josh's mom and drove over to visit my brother. My parents are in Canada for a well deserved vacation so it was my turn to check on Bruce and to take him on his annual trip to the Van Wert County fair. My gourmand children rarely eat much junk food, thanks to their mother's strong convictions about good and healthy food, but boy, they sure love it when given the opportunity!

We all filled up on funnel cakes, foot long hot dogs, pie, fried ice cream, nachos, and BBQ pork. Thankfully, even my kids drew the line at eating fried Oreos and fried candy bars! After our junk food bonanza and looking at the animals, it was time for a few midway games before heading home.



County Fairs at not cheap for 7 people! Whew! But everyone had fun, especially Bruce. After taking Bruce home, putting the kids to bed and reconnecting with Josh, Josh and I went to the theater to see "Julie and Julia". Fantastic! I can't remember the last time that we saw a movie in the theater! And, I had read both books on which the movie is based so I enjoyed it immensely! Today, we spent hanging out with Josh's family and his adorable, niece, Emilie.

Super weekend!

Fundraisers and More Fundraisers!

This morning I did my walking with one woman who is nine months pregnant, one with a 1 year old in tow, another with a 2 1/2 year old in tow, and one other friend. Needless to say, we did much more visiting than walking but still had a great time and all enjoyed a cup of coffee (or glass of water) at my house afterwards. The rest of the day was spent on "administrative" details at home and getting ready for all of us to go to Fort Wayne for the weekend.
Part of my administrative tasks today were just trying to sort out all of the fundraisers that we are currently involved in. We are currently selling raffle tickets for Quincy's school, trash bags for the other kids' school, raffle tickets for the church festival, raffle tickets for the soccer league, and seeking out donations for the auction and dinner at Quincy's school in March. Whew! I certainly did not miss all of this in France! I more than understand the need for all of these fundraisers but when we are already paying more than $1200 a month in tuition, it gets to be a bit overwhelming...
I took this picture over the lake last night....
Good night everyone, have a good Labor Day weekend!

Adjusting to the American Life

After kayaking on the lake this morning with my friend, Kelly. I met my friend, Kim for lunch. Kim had also lived in France for two years about 5 years ago and has a daughter who is the same age as Quincy. We enjoyed sharing stories of our re-entry into the American way of life. Kim warned me that they continued to find gaps in Bryn's education as that first year progressed, just because of things being taught differently and at different ages in France. After Max's soccer practice tonight, we all went over to the new home of our local French family. The Massons finally received their container shipment of furniture and things from France so they were finally able to move into their rented house. They invited us over for coffee and to tell us about their last two days. Gaelle and Alain spent the two days with a French man from New York city who was their cultural training coach. We had had the same type of coaching when we moved to France, telling how things would be different and WHY they were different. Gaelle and Alain were very happy with their coaching, felt like they had learned a lot but were a bit surprised by two things. First of all, corporal punishment is still allowed in the French schools (and homes) although we never witnessed any in the schools. So, the man warned them to be very, very careful here about how they disciplined their own kids in public and other people's kids in any situation. The other thing that they were told was to not serve a big French dinner with champagne to a group of Americans because it would be considered too long and too formal. They were a bit upset about this because they are very social and looking forward to hosting friends in their home. I told them that if their guests were aware that they should expect a true French dinner, that they would only be too happy to enjoy French food, conversation and good champagne!

French Club for Fifty

After school today, I ran the first meeting of my elementary school French club. I volunteered to start this club in an attempt to generate interest in the French language with the kids in town, in the hopes that this would then prompt the addition of French language classes to the high school curriculum. I also wanted an opportunity to share our experiences and to have my kids share their French knowledge so that they would continue to use it. Well, I was thrilled to discover that more than 10% of the grade school is interested in my club! We had 53 kids attend our first bimonthly session today. As hard as it was to keep 53 third through eighth graders on task, interested and involved, I think it went well and everyone had fun. We learned some simple greetings, some basic customs and how to count to 10. We then ate a snack of homemade pain au chocolat that I had made earlier in the day and played Loto - the French version of Bingo. Exhausting but fun.

After work, while I ran to a fundraising meeting at the high school, Josh drove over to Cincinnati and picked up our new dining room table and the sideboard that I bought yesterday. We are both thrilled with the way they look in our dining room and are now anxiously counting down the days until six weeks is up and our new chairs will arrive.

Fun Day!

I had such a great day today! After walking my four miles with two friends, I jumped in the car and drove the 45 minutes to Cincinnati to do some serious shopping. This house is so much bigger than our French house and quite a bit bigger than our last US house that we have space to fill. So, I headed to the furniture outlet stores that I used to know and love. Well, I still love them! I bought a fantastic large dining room table with a matching buffet.

I got a ridiculous low price and now just need some chairs to go with it. I am ready for some grand dinner parties! After my thrilling purchase, I spent the remainder of the day browsing for and buying a few little house things and even checking out some new cars for Josh at his request. I then headed over to Jungle Jims. Jungle Jims is a huge supermarket filled with all sorts of wines, produce and foods from all over the world. You can find a multitude of things there that you can't easily find anywhere else. Our French friends, who also just moved here, told us that they have found many of their favorite French wines and other French foods there which helps them to miss France a little bit less. I needed to see this for myself, so I wandered the massive aisles for a long time just seeing what I could see. I was a little disappointed in the French section in that it was much smaller than I had expected but still contained some pretty great things.

I hurried home in time for the kids to get home from school and then ran Max to soccer, myself to a lector training meeting at church, and Tabitha to another babysitting job before dinner. Tonight, I am baking pain au chocolat for the 51 kids that are signed up for my French club at the elementary school tomorrow.