Uh. Yes. Wrote an entire E-mail in French to my friend. I still Got it. YESSS!!

Because I want to say it out loud

I get asked a question a lot. And people genuinely are wondering and are curious.

"How are you guys doing with having another baby? Are you still trying?"

For the record, it does not make me uncomfortable. And it is a valid question.

The answer is. YES. I guess. If God wants us to. NO. If He does not.

We've been trying for nearly 2 years (yes, nearly 2 years). In 2009, our last year in Paris, I had 2 miscarriages (one in TX, one in Paris). And now, in 2010, after all my fertility tests...we are trying! Happily, but unsuccessfully. If you get what I mean.

So the doctors say there is nothing wrong with me. And if there's nothing wrong with Brian...then...as the French would say,

"Pfffffff" (sound you make when you blow air through your front teeth without really parting your lips).

I don't talk about this on the blog or facebook because well, it's not the hunky-dorey kind of stuff you put out there.

But I decided to just answer the question out loud because well, I just needed to. A big part of me has really given up on the idea of having more than 1 child because it may be a very real reality that we will not have anymore. Not by our choice...but still something we can accept because we are blessed with a wonderful son and we are blessed by being happily married and providing a happy family for our one gift from God.

SO while there are days when I am sad and the tears rain down my cheeks; those days are few and far between the days when I am laughing at my son running around with strainers on his head and watching his dad teach him how to yell "BOOM" when you kick a soccer ball way up high.

If you feel badly for me...don't! If you feel awkward to ask me, don't! It helps for me to talk about it. But if you believe in Prayer, DO. Because in the end, when there's nothing wrong with either of you that can be explained medically, the only thing you can hold onto is the fact that it is not what He wants for your family. And in the whole big scheme of things...there's no reason to see the glass half empty when it is so obviously full with what is right in front of you.

Michael's First Soccer Game!

Considering Michael's genetic line, it is no surprise, that we would one day find ourselves at this stage:

Soccer. Brian coached Michael's team of 3 year olds and that was an interesting experience to say the least. We learned a lot from the first session and are excited to make some improvements for our next meet. That we will be lucky to have half the kids come back for.

Here's a quick re-cap. We did 25 minutes of "drills," which really was only 5 minutes of drills after parents kept trickling in every 5 minutes. Note to other soccer parents - please show up ON TIME to practice. It is disruptive for the coach to have to stop every 5 minutes to welcome someone and tell them what we are doing. Next week, I will have a clipboard and a whistle and greeting people and telling them what is going on.

After this. We had "THE GAME."

Here's Michael competing with this girl for the ball:
Don't be misled by her pink tights. She was pretty good and quite a formidable force. But Michael was able to break away and made the first goal for our team:Coach B instructing one of his players:

This is what happens to 3 year olds when you say: "GO! GAME START!"

Everyone staring at the ball. From both teams. NICE.
AH YES! Let's go! Michael for his 2nd breakway, resulting in his 2nd goal.

And within viewing of the field, is this awesome playground:
HOW ARE WE SUPPOSED TO KEEP THE CONCENTRATION OF 3 YR OLDS WHEN WE ARE COMPETING WITH THIS? :)

All in all, it was a great experience. We had some kids playing. Some kids crying. Some kids picking dandelions. We just hope everyone had fun because we sure did! And I don't mean to be braggy - but we were pretty proud of our little Michael. He had fun playing and really got in there. I am sure next week, I'll be the parent coaxing their kid to stop crying in my armpit and go play soccer. It's only the 1st week of the 8 week season. But for once, I'd like to say how proud I am of Michael! And hope this doesn't jinx us for the rest of the season.

ANOTHER.GORGEOUS.DAY!

Yes. It is another gorgeous day.

We started the day out at church. Yes. At Church. My neighbor informed me that every Friday, the private Christian school she teaches at takes all the classes to church Friday morning for a Kids' Church - if you will. SO she invited me. And since I want to send Michael to this school one day, we went to chk it out.

It was super cute and the service was only 45 min long. Michael liked the songs that involved clapping and he actually got something out of the homily...even if it wasn't exactly what the theme was. At least he listened. But like all kids in church, he just looked bored. But he was pretty well behaved most of the time. ANd he was super interested in the fact that our neighbor was handing out communion. And that kids were doing the readings and singings.

After that, we went straight to the FARM. I didn't bring my camera because I wanted to play with Michael. SO we played in their clean and tonka-stocked sandpit. Fed some goats by hand and with this awesome 'goat feeding pulley system'. We petted those guys. Then we went and played on their playscape, made some friends, pretended to feed MOmmy lunch. Then it was off to play on their big wooden school bus and wooden train. Then we got apples to feed their horse and donkeys. THAT was super fun and scary. I wanted to keep my fingers.

Then we had their $5 special for lunch. Went shopping at the farm stand. Michael picked out a spaghetti squash that we have to google to find out what to do with. He got some corn and an apple. I got some tomatos and zucchini for my ratatouille (that is baking in the oven right now and will be awesome). And a big thing of plums and sun dried tomatoes. Lovin' teaching Michael about shopping at the farm and making homemade things. One day, we walked out of Acme and I said, "We just can't buy anything at that store. All the produce is horrible and we will NOT pay our good money for bad food." And Michael looks at me and says, "That is a problem Mommy."

YOU BET IT IS.

Go read "In Defense of Food." It will change the way you view our grocery stores. I wonder if it is all true...I am going to google "criticism of In Defense of Food" right now to get another side of the story.

I don't want to work on my business cards because I can't find a SUPER horizontal picture for it and it's making me mad. So I am blogging instead of solving the problem.

Food and Randomness

Hi Everyone!

Prepare yourself for a Random Post.

First up. FOOD.

My sister in law brought her mom's recipe for Crock pot pulled pork. I am a fan. It is easy, fast, and DELICIOUS:

Texas Crockpot BBQ

1 large onion, chopped

1 cup ketchup

1 cup BBQ sauce

2 T red wine vinegar

2 T Worcestershire sauce

½ cup brown sugar

1 tsp chili powder

1 tsp salt

1 tsp pepper

½ tsp garlic powder

Combine all ingredients in crockpot. Add 3-4 lbs of lean roast or boneless chicken breasts. Cook on high until tender (about 7-8 hrs for roast or 5-6 hrs for chicken). Remove meat, shred, and return to crockpot. Cook on low 30 minutes – 1 hour or until ready to serve. Serve on whole wheat hamburger buns with extra BBQ sauce as needed.

Second Up. Arugula.

I have been looking for a good arugula for a long time. It is one of my favorite lettuces in salad. Most fall short from bags/etc. Haven't found a farmer who has arugula regularly.

I finally found a good one: Dole spinach/arugula mix for salads plastic box. Not in a bag. In a box. The arugula has a distinct peppery taste and actually tastes like a strong arugula.

Eventually, all lettuce in a bag tastes like plastic. Most start out tasting like plastic. So I never buy bagged lettuce. OK, maybe not never. But SELDOM. I always buy fresh red leaf or boston bibb lettuce. Or Trader Joe's artisanal lettuce.

Third Up. The weather.

It is freakin' GORGEOUS today. Windy, sunny, highs in the 70's. It makes me miss Paris, but I realize Paris is like this - oh - I don't know - 2 months out of the year? :)

Fourth Up. My yard of trees.

I got leaves. Lots of leaves. And they haven't even changed colors yet, the trees. It's just dead leaves from the heat of summer. It is going to get CRAZY around here come fall. You got kids who want to jump in piles of leaves? Bring them HERE.

Fifth Up. Subject of Fancy salads.

I love fancy salads. My favorite is to get fresh lettuce leaves, sprinkle balsamic vinegar, a good olive oil (right now, my fav is hazelnut oil), salt, pepper - MIX. Then add in "the fancy goods."

What do I mean by "fancy goods?" My friend Kirsten (SHOUT OUT!) gave me an awesome cookbook called Chocolate and Zucchini. IN there, is my latest fancy salad that I simplify a bit so it doesn't cost me $25 per salad plate. But you basically mix arugula/spinach/lettuce with some cut up leftover roasted chicken (you know what I'm talking about), hazelnut oil, balsamic vinegar, and peaches. She has hazelnuts in there but it's hard to find those here. So i put in cashews because I love cashews. Oh, and be restrained with the balsamic vinegar and a little generous with the hazelnut oil. I found out the hard way today when I added a tad too much balsamic vinegar.

I toss this. And for my lunch, I had this fancy cafe salad. And in the middle of my seemingly ordinary stay-at-home mom kind of day, I had a fancy salad, and I felt fancy eating it.

I love food. Can you guess?

Sixth UP: Photoshop CS5

I downloaded it for my 30 day trial off the internet. HEAVEN. Almost as good as when I started reading Twilight. WATCH OUT. Just need to calibrate my monitor and then you'll start seeing some crazy stuff pop out of here. For now, I just have this SOOC of my nephew Quinn right before he left:

Ornery

Michael is ornery today. It is actually very funny and not annoying like it can be when kids are grumpy!

We had a fun-filled weekend and we're all a little worn out. Interesting since we didn't do anything all weekend!

Anyways, Michael is just mad about everything today. He yelled at me about using his Michael bowl because he didn't want to. Then he told me listening to music in the car while he played Angry Birds makes him irritated. And with everything he says, he looks at me, wrinkles up his little face, and is talking all grumpily at a slightly raised volume at me. I would be reprimanding him if it 1) wasn't so funny and 2) if I didn't feel tired myself.

We're in the same boat Michael! But I'm not grumpy. Not.One.Bit.

Apple PIcking with Aunts and Uncles and Cousin

This past weekend, Team Besancon Boston, and Team Besancon DC came out to the country and we did not much of anything! It was great!

On Saturday, we went out to Milburn Farms to go apple picking. The weather was GORGEOUS - 70's and sunny - we had an awesome time picking sweet gala apples and crunchy empire macintosh! So delicious.

Here's Michael with his prize, albeit a little blown-out, but you get the idea that it's an apple right?

Picking some with Uncle Bill's help:
SUCCESS!
Folded up with his stylin' aunts:
And enjoying his delights in the field:
Afterwards, we bought some farm fresh vegetables (YUMM!), ate some very fried apple cider donuts, and explored the farm. Michael spent a great deal of time with their well stocked sandpit (YESSS!!! We miss the sandpit from Paris!) and saw their goats. They had these great ramps for them to play on way up high:
And Uncle B spent some time making Q-ball laugh. He is so much fun at this age. So smiley and great fun:
Uncle Bill grew a mustache, 2 trees got chopped down, my furniture in my bedroom got rearranged by 3 strong brothers, John showed us his vocal stylings in Singstar on PS2, Kelli got some SUPER cute shoes for Quinn at Gap at a fantastic price when us girls went shopping, a game of Risk got started, AK cracked us up with her Speed Scrabble skills (is YAR a word?), and Brian worked the grill for meals for us.

It was a gorgeous weekend in the country. Not many pics as we did much of NOTHING!

Sunday, we went to church, and hung around, took naps, us girls shopped and we celebrated Bill's birthday with an apple crisp with our farm picked apples! He was a good sport to come out to the country for his birthday!

On Monday, we went for a hike at a little trail down the road from our place. The boys threw HUGE rocks into the stream and we enjoyed some time in nature. Drove to 2 restaurants for lunch which were closed, stopped to get pizza, and went home to finish lunch there.

Everyone's gone now and it's awfully quiet. Back to normal life!

Photographing in Direct Sun Observations.

Stop reading here if not interested in photography. It is gonna get boring.

I learned some lessons about shooting in direct sun. None of which I have had a chance to duplicate so I am not sure if they are steadfast. Getting slightly better at it! No better way to learn then to get out and do it. All pics are SOOC. The key is to get the sun at the right angle with respect to the subject. You need the sun (which is overhead)...but just slightly BEHIND the subject. So you get a little bit of a halo effect and while the face is a bit underexposed...it can be bumped up a tiny bit on PS.
Also interesting, was NOT including the sky in the picture. I had some where I just had Michael and the sunny bushes, and those came out with a cool greenish yellowish look that I like (you might not)

The shot is far from perfect...but in bright sun it 1)does not have severe blowouts and 2)does not severely underexpose the shaded areas and 3) involve squinty people staring at the sun. SO to me, it's a pretty successful picture for direct sun. And that glare to the right is a leaf in the way.

Another tricky thing? In some situations, overexposing worked out better. Example:

And in other situations, underexposing worked out better. Example:

So bottom line? Direct sun must be shot in manual - and most of the time - overexposing a little or underexposing a little helps, depending on the angle of the light. Direct sun - makes it necessary to see which angle the light is coming from and finding at what angle (behind/side/front/back) is best for the subject to be lit. Sometimes, turn the subject around until you find the place that helps the camera not blowout areas. Also useful, to have a light reflector.

Best thing? GET-THEE-TO-THE-SHADED AREA!

SO while I didn't get any super awesome pics from the trip, I did learn a whole heck-of-a-lot. And I was still pretty happy with a good handful of my pictures. Not sure if you guys like it (ahem...KIM! hee), but it is what I have come up with for now. If you have some good tips, feel free to put them in comments!

First day of American Preschool

Our Little Buddy is so far from being little anymore. We have, on our hands, a full grown boy. And that boy started American Preschool today!

Michael was R-E-A-D-Y. All the kids were lined up to go to school, and when they opened that door - WATCH OUT. It was like the storming of the Bastille. The kids were SO-EXCITED. All of the ones I saw. It was incredible! What a blessing! Our last preschool, there was always SOMEONE crying, which I suspect is normal!

So us moms are standing there - hanging out - going - "So...I guess that's it." - no fits to worry about - no crying to make us sad. Did I mention how much I LOVE Michael's preschool?

I got there a little early and saw them come back all in a line from the playground, holding this cool line thing to keep them all together. Michael came out with the HUGEST smile on his face and he was so excited to show his folder with a little certificate, snack schedule calendar, and a crayon drawing of his school.

Then he got REALLY excited because they gave him a book of daily kids devotionals called, "Jesus Loves All of Me." When we got home, we pulled out our lawn chairs, sat in the driveway, and went through some of it. He seemed disappointed that the readings were not exactly related to the pictures of pumpkins/dogs/etc he saw in there. :)

Michael's take? Here's what I got after asking a ton of questions:

Mom: What was your favorite thing about preschool?

Michael: I don't know.

Mom: Did you make any friends?

Michael: Yes! Luke!

Mom: Did you talk to him a lot?

Michael: No.

Mom: Well, did he talk to you a lot?

Michael: No.

Mom: Well, how do you know he is your friend?

Mom: Did they read you a story today?

Michael: Yes! It was about dinosaurs who do not like school. But they are the right size for school.

Michael: I had a snack today that was like a circle!

Mom: Did you like the playground?

Michael: Yes.

Mom: Was there a lot to do?

Michael: No.

Michael: They had 2 slides there!

This is what I have so far. He told me something about Luke having to get the cat down. Have no idea what that was about.

Off to order books through Scholastic! School has officially commenced! Wonder how the next session will go??? When he realizes it's a regular thing?

Onto Level 2!

Michael made it to the next level of his swim class! So excited! He passed level 1 after 2 times (10 weeks total of classes). After nearly 2.5 months of classes, he can:

1) Splash
2) Enter the pool by himself
3) Blow bubbles in the water
4) Submerge his head for 5 seconds
5) Do 5 bobs (go under completely and come up, repeat)
6) Walk/bounce in the water
7) Supported back float
8) Supported front float.

He has started to kick with the noodle (with some assistance). He can dip his head underwater and retrieve a ring (in 2' end of the pool). He loves to jump from the edge of the pool into his Daddy's arms.

Doesn't sound like a whole lot, but I am super proud because it's not like he ever grew up around water much less a pool ( Paris = sea of concrete). He loves his lessons and his teacher. It's awesome!

Master Bedroom - CHECK

Been wondering what I am going to do when I finally decorate my master bedroom. Found some fabric inspiration. So when it comes time (maybe years from now...fabric should be on sale then right?), here is where I am going and no one can stop me:

(Picture courtesy of The Designer Insider blog)

Off to cut Brian's hair now. It has officially reached "helmet" status. Cutting hair makes me sweat. I am an easy sweat-er. Glad I am wearing my dry fit stuff.

Love,
P

P.S. Will be posting some master bedroom room pictures that are inspiring me! This is for my journal of a blog...obviously. One day, I'll go back to blogging for real.

Lovey Dovey

I just have to post that Michael was exceptionally lovey dovey with me yesterday! It was so nice! He woke me up with kisses all over my face and said, "I love you Mommy!" And all.day.long it was like this!

He would play and then run and sit in my lap and give me hugs/kisses and tell me how much he loved me. I wonder what I did?

Either way, I totally enjoyed it. As he grows older, I see him being so much more independent. I have to grab him while he's running around and pretend to chase him to get my hugs and kisses. He is busy playing, learning, and enjoying life. I am happy to watch it all unfold in front of me!

So I enjoyed my day in the sun. It was awesome.

No News is better than Bad News

Do you want to know where I am? I am in front of my new computer. ALL THE TIME. It is SO fast. And the monitor actually works. Incredible.

Been very busy doing the work for my business. Can't wait to show you the website when it's done. I'm about 60% of the way there. Gotta register it with the state tax office next. Then business cards! Gotta be ready to hit the ground running when school/MOPS starts.

Once I get PS CS5 and my old pictures on this computer. WATCH OUT.

Love,

P

Quick Drop In

Yes, I've been MIA! We've been busy makin' memories and taking pictures of them. So here's just a quick recap. I need to photoshop/crop these pictures (-do my thang-) with them but here's a start! All pics SOOC (straight out of camera).

Grammy came to visit for 2 weeks and brought enough activities for 4! First up, gigantic bubbles:
SUPER fun. Definitely put down the camera for a little while to participate. Then decided to get some pics of Grammy with Michael:

Then, on a hot and humid Saturday, July 24th, we wandered over to the Longwood Gardens for their fireworks show. It was amazing. Totally worth the money, which I thought was a bit overpriced when I was buying the tickets...but it was incredible. Here are my favorite 3 fireworks shots:

See that little circle/dot in the left bottom of the sky? That's the MOON.

My all time favorite pic of the night:

Love the way the sky is illuminated red with the people silhouetted and the next firework there in the sky. Just something you don't see everyday!

Grammy took michael to Washington D.C on Mon-Wed and gave us a break at home! I painted my dining room! Pics to follow of their fun visit to DC coming up later!

Following Friday, we all hopped on planes and met in Boston for a family reunion! Team Besancon Boston showed us a great time and were great models:

Need to bump up the curves a bit on that one...but I just love John and Kelli's face there.

Here we are on a bridge in bright sun in the Boston Common! It was a G-O-R-G-E-O-U-S day - highs in the upper 70's, lots of sun - just great fun!

Uncle Bill wanted to inspire fear in us for the Family Olympics by showing us how flexible he was with Aunt AK:

We coordinated our outfits for our family shoot. And here's our one example of the kind of shoes we wore for the shoot:

And proud Grandpa-B
While wandering around Boston Common, I see Brian and Uncle Bill trying to do this with Michael:

Not so sure THAT is a great idea!

And the real star of the show? Q-ball, of course:

Those baby blues are to die for! Need to do some cropping/photoshoping to make it LESS obvious he is in his stroller seat...but Quinn is as adorable for the camera as he is in real life. Perfect-est Nephew E-V-E-R. You can't be in this family without knowing how to work the camera.

Gonna go back and do this in B&W...but I can't resist posting it because every little person should know this kind of love in their lives:

On Sunday, we did Family Olympics. I have no pictures because I was busy doing more of the above with the kids for their families and for my portfolio! :)

Off to download pictures from all the other cameras. Can't wait to see what John/Kelli's friend Stephen did with his Canon 5d Mark ii. -Drool-

OH! And I'll be posting a smugmug album within the next week. Too many pictures that were cute to put in a blog post. Then, I might be able to get back to May 2010 on Smugmug too! Here's to hoping my computer cooperates.

Love,
P

Irritating.

So today, Michael was telling me about how much he didn't like his crab bisque.

It went something like this:

"Mommy...this crab bisque is really difficult. And I don't like to eat it. It's freakin' me out. And I ask for juice and you give me milk. And it makes me really irritated."

OK-THEN.

So we're dying laughing because he's saying this thing all-matter-of-factly...like anyone who is anyone would understand why I would be irritating to my son.

And then THE MOM tells me that he went on the same tirade in the car after they picked her up from the airport.

I'm going to have to have a talk to him about telling people directly when you have a problem with them and not talking about them behind their back first.

We have been having a great time with Brian's mom since she arrived. Today, we made gigantic bubbles (pics to follow...of course) and went to this awesome "teacher toy shop."

Brian's mom gave us a great date night! We did it low-key and like 13 yr olds. It was awesome. We arrived at the mall at 8:50pm. I went to PB to look at curtains. Brian went to BR and in 5 minutes...purchased 2 things. INCREDIBLE to be a boy and shop.

Then we went to The Cheesecake Factory and had dessert! Had a great time watching people (a family of four who did not talk to each other the whole meal and the dad played on his blackberry the whole time...and a "chet" couple). Our waitor was exactly like Steve Carrell in The 40 yr old Virgin.

Back to the Irritating Theme.

Curtain Cost - Piano Room - $1247.
Living Room - $850
Total - $2097

CHOKE. GASP. SPUTTER. RUN TO PIER1 AND BE TOTALLY HAPPY WITH THOSE CURTAINS.

CAN YOU BELIEVE THIS?!??! I THINK IT DESERVES CAPITAL LETTERS.

VERY HIGH on the unintentional comedy list

Check out the list of events for a local county fair:
http://www.cecilcountyfair.org/schedule.aspx

My favorites:

• Masters of the Chainsaw
• Big Tomato Contest
• Youth Dairy Goat Show
• Lawn Tractor and Small Engine Event
• Pig Fitting and Showing
• 4-H Bicycle Safety Exam
• AG showcase pig roast
• Pygmy Goat exhibition show following the 4H small and large pets auction

This is just a few. I know for sure I missed some. I think I am going to read through the list again to laugh.

Hope you enjoy!
P

Talk me off the ledge...or not

Before I get to it...just had to share our version of slip 'n slide:

This was the $5 slip 'n slide at Target. I didn't want to buy the $12 one that came with an inflatable boogie board. Looks like saving $7 and not splurging for the "upgraded" slip 'n slide worked out.

OK. Brace yourself. I have been thinking and thinking and thinking about curtains for...OH...I don't know...2 months. Trying to decide what to do in my piano room.

AND THIS IS THE MADNESS I AM CONSIDERING RIGHT HERE. Tree fabric on the left for curtains. Blue teal-ish velvet on the right for color of the walls and accent color:


It is as my curtain maker lady calls, "something very different. You won't see this anywhere else."

BUT. Is that a GOOD THING? Hmmm...will I want to look at it for a long time?!?! Or is it a phase?

Here is the scale of the tree print and the window it will cover with the lighting in the room. I am going to paint the walls either a neutral beige or the blue that is in the velvet. This is ok because this grayish teal/blue is also the accent color in my living room so it will kind of tie it all together. The black and white of the fabric goes with my black piano:

As you can see, the print scale is not HUGE compared to the space.

Here is the inset window. We are going to mount a box pleated valence...but NOT in the inset of the window. But actually on the walls closest to us so it frames the window. And then have 2 working panels that will pull together and close the whole window, which I need to keep the light off of the piano in the room.

Our plan is to make that whole wall a "focal" wall with the fabric and put a window seat in that inset.
Here is an example of the box pleated valence. Inside the folds, we'll have a plain black fabric to provide some "rest" for the eyes. On either side of the folds, she's going to put a plain black button on the bottom. Also for rest and contrast. So we'll have this valence spanning the width of the window and 1 panel hanging on each side (but within the width of the valence of course)
Honest opinions please. I do realize...it's kind of crazy and modern. SO I need some honest answers....

Will it be too crazy compared to my living room? You can see the room from my living room, which is way traditional:

What I like about this fabric - the tree pattern echos the forest our house is in, it is modern and graphic and different.

What I worry about - will I like it in 3 yrs? Will it be too busy? Will it look out of place in my uber traditional house? will it work with my baby grand piano?


SO. I need help. Here are the questions I want answered:

1. Is this tree fabric too crazy?
2. If I go with this fabric, should I paint the walls a neutral cream or a neutral grayish/tealish/blue?
3. SHOULD I COME DOWN FROM my modern ledge and just stick to the traditional decorating frame of my house....or should I try to inject the bit of "modern" that I like in my piano room?
4. Is this ugly and I don't know?

I have the weekend to think this over. Please help me!

Thank you,

P

Invasion

"A" and Michael have been "calling on each other" to use the old school words. It is adorable. Now A's older brother "E" is coming round too. I think I'm going to have to leave my door unlocked so the kids and come and go as they please! I am thinking of installing a revolving door....

Michael stayed over at A's house for a dinner of spaghetti and meatballs. Spaghetti and meatballs trumps my pork tenderloin ANY day. Even for me! :)

Then after dinner, we found 3 kids playing in our house. It was awesome. I love America. We could NEVER have done this in Paris. There were no other kids in our building! And while we did have another family friend in our apt block...they were French and beat up on Michael and they didn't understand each other. So I am so happy for my little boy to have friends to play with him who are from a great family. And so close by. And knowledgable about ticks and tick removal. :)

My Michael

Michael has discovered he likes to sing.

It is H-I-L-A-R-I-O-U-S. For a variety of reasons.

1. He has his father's singing genes. Which as you know...
2. He has expressed ZERO interest in singing up until this last week. NONE. All other kids singing ABCs...Michael...mute.
3. So imagine our surprise when he busts out with almost his entire Chick-fil-A Veggie Tales CD by memory.
4. Then apparently U2's Mysterious Ways is also in his repertoire.
5. But this is not to say that he is perfect. Quite the contrary. It is extraordinarily funny to see which words he remembers and what he does when they sing too fast for him.
6. Best part? Michael LOVES it and he thinks he is GOOD at it. THAT is very funny too but I am so excited he loves to do it that I am never going to tell him otherwise. Judge me if you want. I don't care.
7. Car rides are never quiet anymore. Not that they were ever THAT quiet. But now, they are filled with Michael's singing. Which is the best and brings smiles to our faces every time.

I will post a video someday. It is funny enough that we are going to go find our video camera and replace the battery that we couldn't replace while we were in France!

And today...something happened that I remember from my childhood...and it happened to Michael. Your neighbor comes over and asks if you can come over and play.

So as you've read before, Michael's newest friend, "A," came over today and asked if Michael could come over and play. Well, yes.

And I watched him hurry and go and have fun. Brian and I got 15-30 minutes of free time. And then I couldn't hear their voices outside so I started to freak out because we do live near woods and a creek...so i started to worry. But he was with "A" who is 6.5 and her older brother "E" who is 10...so it should be ok? RIGHT? Brian told me to chill out.

Luckily...it was near bedtime anyways so I sent B out to get michael...he was just playing inside at A's house.

Gosh...talk about having to let go and not be so overprotective. Now I see why it was so hard for my parents. I just didn't expect to have to do it so soon!

Charlottesville - July 4th!

On Friday, July 2nd, we threw a weekend's worth of worldly goods into the back of our SUV and drove to Charlottesville, VA to meet this super sweet gal:
She was surrounded by this entourage:

And we had a F-A-H-B-U-L-O-U-S time. Seriously. A weekend just full of laughs and we loved every minute of it!

On the way, we stopped in DC at Fairfax center to have Chipotle with Uncle Bill. Mmmm!! I was trying to see if Michael noticed that Aunt AK was missing so I asked Michael, "Hey...is Uncle Bill missing someone? Who is usually with Uncle Bill who is not here now?"

Michael thought.

And said, "GRANDPA! Grandpa is usually with Uncle Bill."

Not quite. But probably correct...I think Grandpa is usually around when we see Uncle Bill!

We arrived late Friday night in Charlottesville, had a good chat, and went to bed to prepare for our Saturday!

Woke up, checked out the Charlottesville City Market downtown (they are big about eat fresh/eat local), and strolled a bit through their little downtown area. SO cute! Had lunch at Revolutionary Soup and then headed out to see Monticello.

Michael and Charlie played all in Jefferson's gardens, which were gorgeous!

Then, we took the family tour of Monticello, which was great! Highly recommend that! Monticello is incredible because the architecture was just so beautiful! Inside and out. And it was neat to see his inventions incorporated into his home. And also a whole wall full of Indian headresses and tomahawks. SWEET.

Michael slept through the whole thing but woke up in time to do this for our family picture: NICE SON. All the chairs and trucks were setting up for the citizen naturalization ceremony they do on the 4th of July.

Brian wanted to strike a pose on the lawn. Again, CLASSY: At least you can say he looks strong!

And because I just like this picture:
Afterwards, we had barbeque with some biting flies eating us alive and went home for an early evening! Then Amy and I ran off to watch Eclipse and left all the kids with the boys! I can't say we regretted it but we were absolutely thankful that they let us do that!

Sunday, we went to their, as Andy calls it, "Rock Band Church." And it certainly was! Michael went to the class they have for children during church and I sat there thinking, "Now tell me why Catholics don't do this?!??!! This is great!" We can pay attention in church and Michael is happy too!

After church, we drove out to Blue Mountain Brewery where we enjoyed some beers, bar food, and gorgeous mountain views!

Went home and almost the whole house went down for a 3-4 hour nap. Sweet. MY kind of vacation!

All this in preparation for seeing the fireworks after 9pm!! Here's our little blanket spread. Can you see who just came back from Europe and doesn't really have lawn chairs?? We got some pizzas, had some watermelon, and had a fantastic picnic!! It was so fun to let the boys run around and so American to get to watch fireworks on July 4th. It was Michael's first time! And there was this older girl who was about 9 years old who basically distracted the boys from antagonizing each other and in turn babysat our kids!! It was fantastic!

Michael LOVED the fireworks and Charlie kept coming back to tell us that, "The fireworks look like they are coming right down on you but they don't!" And then Michael came and got me and said, "Do you want to come sit with me and this nice girl?" Well, of course! And then I started to get nostalgic because one day, he'll actually ask me this and the girl will be his girlfriend.

Here's a fireworks picture. Because I want to:
And I leave you with this picture, which is my favorite of the weekend. My favorites are rarely ever anyone else's favorite. But I love it because it is so American Summer to me:We left Monday morning and were so thankful for a great weekend with wonderful friends who helped make this 4th of July such a great one!

Love,
P

Eclipse

Sooo....I'm a big fan of the Twilight series. Had a great time with Amy this weekend as we saw the poorly acted Eclipse! It was a fantastic time and such a guilty pleasure. It's like the book you read under the covers with a flashlight because you don't want anyone to know that you read it.

I know it's not the pinacle of literature or not some kind of romantic vampire smut...but it's a captivating story! It's romantic, fast paced, and incredible that someone conjured up this whole world. So maybe you're not a Twilight fan...but maybe you are a Narnia fan...or a Harry Potter fan...it's the same kind of deal. A book written for young adults about a fantasy world. So there's no need to hate on the Twilight fans!

Anyways, I ran upon this blog...and this woman makes her case, "confession," for loving Twilight. And except for her adoration of Robert Pattinson...it kind of sums up what I think about the whole ordeal too! Thought the other Twilight readers I had would enjoy it so here it is:
http://cotedetexas.blogspot.com/2010/06/confession.html

P.S. Post about our awesome weekend in Charlottesville next once I go through the pictures! Best 4th of July ever!