The Fall I Finally Fell for France

Wow.. time flies when you are having intermittent bursts of fun and are busy as a little pollen collecting bee.  Ever since the little munchkins started school we have been going pretty non-stop and loving mostly every minute of it.  There has definitely been a learning curve regarding scheduling, organizing time and learning to say no but we are slowly getting into a school going groove.. I think!  

It is hard to believe the school year is a couple of months away to being half-way over (ok, maybe I am already counting down the days).  It never ceases to amaze me how quickly time goes by...  now that the children are no longer babies - not even my little cherub like Emily - I feel like I need to hang on to every minute of their childhood.  I asked Sophia if she could please stop growing and she told me she would try - with all her child-like sincerity.  Of all of our children, she is the one who would NOT not want to grow up.  She is already designing her wedding gown and looking forward to getting married to the husband who is out there but she doesn't know yet and having children - Erin and Isabelle - but she still wants to live near Mom and Dad.  Joshua, on the other hand, is quite content to promise to never leave home sauf a brief stint at Clemson football as their star quarterback.. wait, that is Daddy's dream.  Emily, well, all we know at this point is she is perfectly happy watching Belle et la Bete in her pink princess shoes while telling us she can't not know how to.   

I would be lying if I didn't admit that there are some moments (hours?) when these precious gifts from God make me want to run for the Auvergne hills promptly after stopping by Nicholas for a nice bottle of St Emilion Grand Cru and Carrefour for a baguette and chunk of P'tit Basque fromage, however, I would not trade those hours or the bazillion of other sweet hugs, kisses, movie nights, bedtime stories, messy paint days, bath time fun, car karaoke, American Idol/So You Think You Can Dance marathons, baking, morning dance offs or random I Love Yous for anything in the entire world.

Here is a hodge podge of photos from our Fall 2010 while living in fabulous France.  And, in case anyone hasn't heard the news yet - We are going to be living here for 2.5 more years... Yep, can you believe it??  Who knew I would ever agree to THAT.  If Freddie had presented me with the question six months ago, it would have been No Way Jean Jacques (or Jose, whatever).  However, I think this is the Fall that I have fallen for France.

So, this will be our home until the Summer of 2013.

 The famous Place de Jaude

 "Strike a Pose" Sophia

Date Morning with Sophia...mmm  Chocolat Chaud!

 Our new mode of transportation to school - le bus!

 Playtime during a shopping trip to TRU

 Hey Mom - Can I be Davy Crockett for Halloween?

 Silly Faces

 Caught You Emily Claire!

 Batter is for baking E...  Tongue back in mouth, please.

 Loving the 3D french films... todays showing - Moi, Moche et Mechant (Despicable Me)

Mommy and Emily time at the Patinoire Brasserie during Sophia's ice skating lesson.