American Cheese??

I can honestly say that we did not miss American cheese at all during our time in France. I am quite sure that French people would not even call it cheese. So, we have not bothered to buy any American cheese since we moved back. However, this afternoon, when I told the kids that I was going to make a big pot of roasted tomato and chipotle soup for dinner and maybe we could pair it with grilled cheese sandwiches, they immediately asked if we could use American cheese to make the grilled cheese. We did and it was delicious! I guess that there are some things that do require American cheese.
Today was still cold but the sun finally came out and things started to warm up a bit. Unfortunately, with that bright sunshine streaming through the windows, every speck of dirt and dust was suddenly made visible. We put everyone to work dusting and vacuuming so that we could better enjoy the sunshine without the guilt.

Swimming and Spelling

Tabitha found out today that she is a district finalist for the spelling bee so she will now compete in the final regional bee in Cincinnati in mid-February. If she wins there, she will get the opportunity to compete in Washington, D.C. with an all expenses paid trip for her and one parent. We will be busy practicing spelling for the next couple of weeks! Josh and I will then have to arm-wrestle to see who gets to be the one to accompany her to D.C.!
Quincy had a busy day today with many miles put on my car in the process. He had his acting class bright and early this morning in Cincinnati. I enjoyed a cup of coffee and a bagel with an old friend while I waited for him to finish. We then hopped right back in the car and drove an hour through the beautiful, snow covered rolling hills of northern Kentucky to make it just in time for the warm ups of his swim meet.

The swim team demolished their competition today in a surprisingly short meet. Quincy did a great job despite this crazy start to one of his relay events.

He placed either first or second in all four of his events and had a great time yuckin' it up with buddies on the sidelines between events.

I then drove a car full of boys home. Seventy-five minutes of thumping bass and goofy conversation... He and his friends are now at the Homecoming basketball game at his school. They plan to stay for the dance afterwards so it will be a late night.

A Colts Day?

A letter came home from school with all of our kids today, declaring the Monday after the Super Bowl as an official day off of school in honor of the Colts. This day was declared by the Archbishop for all of the Catholic schools in the Indianapolis Archdiocese! Apparently, the Colts are quite positive role models and supporters of the community and the Archbishop wants to give everyone the opportunity to show support during the Super Bowl without having to worry about going to school the next day. Wow! The kids are thrilled, of course, until Good Friday, when they will be in school, making up for this day off.

Tabitha is discovering that being an 8th grader certainly has it's perks. The 8th grade class all received t-shirts last week that they are now allowed to wear every Friday in lieu of their uniform shirts. They all feel like such big shots!

Soup Fit for a King

The kids went back to school yesterday, much to their chagrin. They would have preferred yet another snow day but it just didn't happen. This gave me the opportunity to join several friends at the home of our French friend for a morning coffee. Gaëlle served us not only some delicious coffee, but she also introduced all of the other women to the tradition of the galette des rois, the king cake. She served two king cakes and I was finally fortunate enough to receive the favor in my piece. I was crowned as king for the day. Love it!
The days just continue to get colder, so after Quincy's first play practice last night, we all came home to a big pot of our favorite soup. Sausage Kale soup. We all just love this soup but were never able to find kale in France. We are now making up for lost time.

Another Snow Day!

While typing in my password to blog tonight, I just realized that I have passed the 1,000 post mark. Last night, I must have posted my 1,000th post. Wow! That's a lot more information about our little family than many of you had ever hoped to gain when you started reading these. Hope I haven't bored anyone to tears by now! If so, sorry!
We got that 6 a.m. phone call this morning, letting us know that school had been delayed by 90 minutes. We then got another call later, informing us that school had been cancelled. Now, I am all for snow days but this was a bit of a stretch.... We did get a couple of inches of snow last night, the wind was kicked up pretty high and we did have some residual ice on the ground, under the snow from yesterday but.... By 9:15 this morning, the plow had been through and the roads were clear. Not just scraped but actually clear. Oh well, I guess we do have a lot of winding, country roads in our school district. Anyway, the kids were thrilled to be home and enjoyed their day. They played out in the snow but quickly dubbed it as "bad" snow. Not enough to really sled in and too cold to really stick for snow balls and snow men.

So, they came inside, played some games, helped me with some cooking, and watched some movies. We will be ready for school tomorrow!

Out on the Court

I met a new doctor in town today. I had to laugh because his name is Dubois but of course, around here, they pronounce that as Dooboyz, rather than Doobwah. (Remember that our county seat is in Versailles - pronounced VerSALES). I asked him what the correct pronunciation should be and he told me that his family gave up trying for the correct pronunciation long ago but that he would be thrilled if I pronounced it as the French had originally intended. He then proceeded to speak a fairly rapid French to me, interspersed with some English phrases. I could easily understand him and respond so it was fun. I now know where to direct my French friends if they need some healthcare.


Tabitha hit the courts today for her first 8th grade girls basketball game. Her team is very good and has been for the last couple of years. They easily beat their opponent tonight with a score of 47-9. Taba did a good job although she didn't play too much. She is the only newcomer to her team so as in the usual Shenk style, she was put in for about the last minute and a half of each half when the score was high in favor of her team. She had fun though so we are all proud.

We woke up to a pretty sunrise and decent temperatures today but that quickly deteriorated.

Before we knew it, we had some crazy sleet followed by swirling snow, high winds and dropping temperatures. Just nasty. It has not improved at all so who knows what sort of school schedule we will have tomorrow. On days like today, I change the picture of my computer desktop to some place warm and sunny and full of fond memories. I tell the kids that this is my " happy place" and we reminisce about our visit there. Here is today's "happy place"....

Our visit to Tallinn, Estonia in July.

Boring Weekend

Don't worry, all is well at our house. We just had a boring weekend. I finally started to really feel better on Sunday but we just had a bunch of stuff to get done at home so that is basically all that we did. Calvin and Tabitha were making their posterboards for the Science Fair while Quincy was studying his lines for the play. He got the part of Hamlet in "Just Another High School Play" so he has to get busy memorizing. Max is nursing a cold but feeling pretty good. Calvin had two tennis lessons this weekend and is really showing some promise as a player. We all took some time to cheer on the Colts yesterday afternoon. We are not professional football fans exactly but when they are so close to home and to the Super Bowl, even we got excited.

Under the Weather

Maybe it's the perpetually rainy and gray, cold days that we have been having... but I think I have some stomach bug that I can't quite shake....
I had a great day on Thursday. After a 90 minute delay for school because of icy roads, I took off for Indy. Turns out the roads weren't icy at all so I had a great time getting together with my friend, Laurie from West Lafayette. I haven't seen Laurie for more than a year so we had lots of catching up to do and ate some wonderful food at the Cheesecake Factory. That afternoon, I rushed home and threw together a dinner party. Several of Josh's French co-workers were in town for some project so we had them all over for dinner. We had a great time and a great meal.
From then on, it's been all downhill. I barely got out of bed yesterday except to hit the bathroom. All of our dinner guests and the rest of my family are healthy so who knows what has made me sick. I will take it easy, yet another day.

Queen for the Day

At our French club this afternoon, I made two galette des rois for the kids and introduced them to the French celebration of the Epiphany. They enjoyed the cake and loved the fun of seeing who would become the day's king/queen. We crowned Jenna as our royalty and then moved on to a fun game of learning the words for various French foods.

The class size of my French club has dropped from about 50 kids to 30. It now seems to be just the kids that are truly interested in learning French so we have a very good time.

Coco got a haircut yesterday and is now shivering a bit. The groomer cut it shorter than I had requested so Coco will now have to use her blanket and wear her Snuggie more often until her coat grows out some.

Calvin continues to work on his Science Fair project. He is attempting to harness Static Electricity. He will present his project to his class next week.
A Japanese woman has joined my walking group some mornings. She is a native of Japan and had only lived in the US for about 5 years. Her husband is American but with little kids at home, she feels like she has not gotten to know many people. We have welcomed her into our fold and enjoy her observations of the U.S. from an Asian point of view. On cold days, we walk inside the Y on their running track. We often pass this very old, Caucasian man who walks very slowly and often appears to be mumbling to himself, not making much sense. Yesterday, while Emme was walking with us, he quickly turned to her and asked quite clearly whether she was Japanese. When she answered in the affirmative, he launched into what appeared to be quite fluent Japanese. They proceeded to talk for more than 10 minutes and Emme found him quite interesting. You certainly can't judge a book by it's cover, can you?

Taxi Driver

Quincy had the day off today for Martin Luther King day because his school had some built in snow days in their schedule but the three younger kids had to go as a make-up day for one of the two snow days that they have had so far this year. Quincy enjoyed his day immensely, sleeping in until long after I was back from my morning walk. He then got a video call on Skype from one of his best friends from France. They had a great time catching up and sharing pictures. Quincy realized how much his French has deteriorated however as he occasionally struggled to find the right words to speak to Rafael. Quincy then spent the rest of the afternoon at local friend's house until it was time for swim team practice.

Max came home from school today, full of all sorts of new knowledge. It was great listening to him during dinner while he told us all about Martin Luther King Jr. and Ruby Bridges. He was just fascinated by all of the history that he learned today.
While I was driving Tabitha home from basketball practice tonight, Max told me that I was a good driver and really should be a taxi driver. I told him that I thought I was a taxi driver, every day between 3 and 7. He said, "Well, yes, you are, you just don't get paid for it. You should be a real taxi driver so you can get paid!" Excellent idea! Today, my driving route was....
3:15 p.m. Pick up the three younger kids from school
3:30 p.m. Drop Calvin off at the Y for swim team
4:00 p.m. Take Quincy to swim team practice
4:15 p.m. Pick up Calvin from the Y
5:00 p.m. Take Tabitha to basketball practice
5:45 p.m. Pick up Quincy from swim team and drop him off at his tutoring job
6:30 p.m. Pick up Tabitha from basketball
6:45 p.m. Pick up Quincy from tutoring
And, this wasn't even one of our truly "busy" nights!!

Weekend of Old Friends

Josh took off for Pittsburgh on Friday afternoon so he could lend his support to his friend, Sue, who was involved in that horrible car accident in Georgia with her family just after Christmas. Josh met up with a good sized group of his Notre Dame friends in Pittsburgh to attend the funeral for their little boy, Sean. It was emotionally devastating and exhausting but they all made it through. Josh was pleasantly surprised to see that the family is physically healing well. They still have a long road ahead of them but they are at least now back home among friends and family.

While Josh was still in Pittsburgh until Saturday evening, Quincy was fortunate enough to spend the day with one of his oldest and closest friends here at home. James moved to Salt Lake City, Utah from Batesville in 2005 and Quincy has seen him only a handful of times since. James was in the area for a swim meet this weekend so we made the effort to get the boys together. It was great fun to see how big they both now are and to see them pick up with their friendship just where they left off 4 1/2 years ago.

Max had a grand weekend playing with his best preschool buddy. When we first moved back here, Max truly hardly remembered anyone as we had left Batesville when he was only 5 years old. However, he and Matthew were good friends as toddlers and are now back to being just as close or closer than they were before. Max had a sleepover at Matthew's on Friday night and then the two of them spent the day here together on Saturday. They had a ball.

I tried my hand at making my own Gallette des Rois for the first time. It turned out beautifully and with Calvin under the table this time, we all had fun yet again with this tradition. We paired this with our absolutely favorite French meal of Blanquette de Veau. We are now all stuffed and ready for bed.

American-Sized

Josh went to a dinner at a local pub last night with a group of fellow marketing guys. The restaurant offers a free burger to anyone that can eat a four pound hamburger in under 20 minutes. One of Josh's co-workers actually gave this a try. Josh took a picture. Unbelievable and disgusting! This is NOT something to be proud of. We are happy to say that not only did this man not finish the burger, but that he also did not drop dead of a heart attack on the spot.

We received Quincy's report card in the mail today. We are happy to say that we are four for four. All four kids are on the honor roll for their first semester back in the American school system. Hurray!
I made pot-stickers for dinner tonight for the first time. Everyone absolutely LOVED them! Calvin said that it was our best meal ever while Max decided that today should be declared a holiday in honor of the pot-stickers!

Ready to Perform

The temperature finally got above freezing today. So, with the beautiful sunshine and warmer temperatures, our snow and ice finally began to melt. Everyone felt energized and I saw more people out and running errands than I have seen in weeks.

Max took his diabolo to school one day. This common, super popular toy in France, was new to just about everyone in Max's class. He was so excited to show it off and to teach his American friends this great past time.

Since then, he and Calvin have decided that they are going to perform in the school talent show with their diabolos. They are now dedicated to practicing their routine and are having a great time doing it. Max has also been busy practicing his guitar. His lessons have been few and far between since he started due to the snow days and Christmas break but hopefully tomorrow's lesson will actually take place.

Quincy tried out for the next school play last night. He hasn't heard the results of the try-outs yet but he is hoping to get some kind of role in the cast. They will be performing "Just Another High School Play".

Galette des Rois in Indiana

January is the month of king cakes, to celebrate the Epiphany in France. Our French friends helped us to continue this tradition by bringing us a homemade galette des rois last evening. We promptly put Max under the table, cut the pieces, and had him determine which person got which piece. The lucky person to then find the favor in their cake was declared the king for the day. In our case, Josh was the king. We did not have the crown which comes with every French cake but we still made him our supreme ruler. Great fun! I may need to try my hand at making one of these cakes for my French club.

Tabitha did very well on her try-out test for the school Academic team and has been selected to participate. Unfortunately, the actual meet is on the same weekend as her basketball tournament so she will not participate. She said, "That's okay, I thought that is what would happen. I just wanted to take the test anyway." Quincy couldn't believe any such words would ever come out of someone's month and just shook his head in disgust.
The three younger kids brought home their first semester report cards yesterday. Three excellent report cards, three honor roll placements, and three certificates for "Good Citizenship". We are all very proud! Quincy's should come home today.

Wii Are Back!

After 4 months of not being able to use our European Wii on our American television, Josh finally solved all the problems and it works! We are all very excited to get back to some of our favorite games and our Wii Fit!
Today was a gorgeous day! Still not very warm but the sun was able to melt some of the snow and we were finally able to get our sidewalks clear. Max and Calvin spent hours on our little hill, just sledding and playing in the snow. It's going to be tough going back to school tomorrow! They are really in vacation mode.



Our morning started out well today because the church administrator finally got our schedules all coordinated. Josh was the usher, I was the lector, and Calvin was a server, all at the 8 a.m. Mass instead of 3 different Masses.
This afternoon, Tabitha and Calvin spent a large chunk of time working on their science fair projects. Our kids have never had to do one before because they didn't do them in France. Quincy missed them entirely but at least Calvin and Tabitha have each other to figure out details with. The judging takes place on Feb. 2 so we'll see how they do.

Regular Activities

We finally returned to our "regularly scheduled program" today without snow cancellations or delays. It was very cold and we did get some more snow but nothing that got in our way. We drove down to the very pretty rolling hills and riverside town of Madison this morning. Quincy had a swim meet at the local high school. The meet was a quick one, lasting only 2 hours so we explored the town a bit while we were there. Very pretty. Quincy got a couple of 2nd places, one 3rd and one 5th, so it was a good morning. The best part of all is that he finally got his winter coat back. In his usual responsible style, he had left his coat at school over Christmas break. He was completely confident that he would walk right into the locker room and find it right where he had left it. Well, that didn't exactly work out. They had donated it to the local re-sale shop. We finally got in there to look for it and the woman behind the counter was nice enough to just let him have it back rather than pay the $17 that they were charging. We tried to talk her into making him pay but she would have none of it and Quincy was thrilled. Josh and I are now heading out to another 40th birthday party for a local friend. Looking forward to it!

A Day of Snow Fun

The kids did not have school again today so this morning, the neighborhood moms got together for coffee while all of the kids (a big bunch of them) played in the snow. Everyone split up around lunch time. After a bit of rest, time to warm up and time to dry the clothes in the dryer for a bit, my three boys and I picked up our little French friends and headed to the big hills. The hospital and country club share some big hills and allow everyone in town to sled on them. The boys had a great time, introduced the French boys to sledding, and sledded for hours. My toes were completely frozen (it never got above 20 today) but I managed to have a good time too. Now, Max and Calvin are spending the night with the French family while Tabitha has one of her friends over here. Tiring but fun day.

Snow and More Snow

We were forced to wake up bright and early this morning when we received a phone call. Quincy's school has an automated system in place which calls every parent when school has been delayed or cancelled. This morning's call was to tell us that school had been cancelled. So, after a quick check on the internet, we discovered that the elementary school had also been cancelled. We went back to bed for a short time, until the kids woke up and realized that school had been cancelled and proceeded to bounce off the walls in their excitement. The snow had started coming down hard and never stopped all day. It's still snowing. Those big, fat, fluffy flakes that are just beautiful.




Too cold for good packing snow, so the kids didn't make any snowmen but they sure had a ball sledding down the little hill in our backyard. I shoveled the driveway once in the late morning and then had Quincy and Tabitha do it again in the late afternoon. It's still not clear as the snow keeps falling but at least it's a start. Max and Calvin had a ball warming up in the hot tub after a hard morning "on the slopes".
We've gotten about 6-8 inches of snow so far and they are predicting more for tonight and tomorrow. The wind has also picked up so I'm seriously wondering if school will be cancelled again tomorrow. A four day weekend after only a two day week doesn't seem quite right. I made a big pot of potato soup this afternoon and two loaves of homemade bread. Josh is home safely from work so LET IT SNOW!

Another One Bites the Dust

My list of friends under the age of 40 keeps getting shorter... Not because I am losing them as friends but because they all seem to be getting old! It doesn't bother me so much to be almost 40, it just surprises me! How did this happen so quickly? I drove to Indianapolis today to take my very good friend, Teresa, to lunch to celebrate her birthday. Teresa and I have been friends since we were 14 so it's very hard to believe that she will be 40 on Saturday. We did have a great time at lunch however.


Her two youngest girls joined us and were just perfect all through the meal. Since Teresa had recently hurt her back, I took over the baby care role. It was unbelievable how inept I felt with the car seat and high chairs! It hasn't been THAT long, has it?
I had to meeting to attend this evening for the big fundraiser for Quincy's school. The committee kept talking about how to use these huge bolts of cloth that have been donated for the event. I finally asked where they had gotten the fabric and they just shrugged and said "From the caskets, of course". I just had to laugh... Only in Batesville would left-over casket fabric be so prevalent.

Dry Skin

Wow, after living in a mild, humid environment for the past two winters, we have forgotten just how much fun that winter dry skin can be! It's crazy! All of the kids (and most of the adults) are complaining about the constant itch, cracks, and bleeding. We are using lotion like it's going out of style but still.... How could we have gotten so unacclimated so quickly? It has been so cold here. We have a constant layer of snow on the ground and more flurries every day. We are supposed to have a big snow storm later this week. The kids have their fingers crossed for a snow day!

School resumed in full force yesterday for all of the kids. Homework, after school activities, etc. Everyone tried to tell me that they were sick yesterday morning and unable to go to school but I didn't believe a word of it. They were all happy to see their friends however and didn't truly mind.
Tabitha came home with her official basketball team uniform last night after practice. Her first game is 3 weeks away and she is very excited. They have been practicing hard and Tabitha is learning to be aggressive. Can't wait to see her play!
Tabitha has been studying hard for the next level of the spelling bee. She will take this test on the 21st and then hopefully be chosen to go on to Cincinnati in Feb. I will keep you posted. She is also studying hard for the school Academic Team. She will be tested today and if selected for the team, will participate in one big inter-school event.
Quincy had another swim meet last night. He continues to improve on his times each time. It is fun to see these kids so busy and just thriving!

The Running Resumes

Despite the fact that only Quincy went back to school today, (the other three start back tomorrow) my lazy vacation days were over. Tabitha and Quincy's extra-curricular activities resumed in full force and I ran around non-stop from about 3 until after 5. Still have two more pick-ups to do before the running stops for the evening... Sigh.... I'm missing the lounging around and reading my book already...


The boys and I did have a great afternoon though while Quincy was at school and Tabitha was hanging out with friends. We ran a few errands and then stopped in the craft store to pick up a few little things to keep the boys occupied for the afternoon. After a quick trip to the library too, they were set. They did crafts and read books all afternoon. It was so quiet and peaceful!

Oh, I forgot to tell you that Tabitha was able to buy the Kindle that she has been saving for months for! She now looks down her nose at those of us that still have to read "paper" books.

Sunny but COLD!

What a cold, cold weekend... It was 4 when we woke up this morning. That was in Fahrenheit! Last year, we would have considered that cold if it were in Celsius! Our lake is completely frozen and covered in snow. We spent a lazy weekend, just reading, playing games, and putting away the Christmas decorations. Always hate to see Christmas end but it will be nice to get back into the normal routine of things. Only Quincy returns to school tomorrow, the other kids don't go back until Tuesday for some reason.

Well, to quote Josh.... "We can no longer go to Paris on the weekends but at least we have this view right out our back door".