Hotel de Ville

I love running into Paris pictures that are not particularly obvious, but strike a cord with me.

Eiffel Tower images - nope, they just don't do it for me. It wasn't MY Paris - so it's beautiful and great - but it doesn't make me take pause and reflect.

But this image did for a lot of reasons. First, it's the carousel at Hotel de Ville across from BHV. Second, we used to ride it every winter - it was a tradition. Go ice skating at Hotel de Ville - ride the carousel there. All free. Maybe not the ice skating - but it might have been!

So I recognize this carousel. I recognize that lantern. I recognize that street corner in the background.

Hmm...on second thought, the street is kinda close - and I don't remember that. So I may be wrong. Eh - whatever. Makes me still think about my memories there!

I know there are ex-expats that read my blog and I was wondering if any of you have moments like this in your everyday lives? Things that make you stop and think back to that really different life we used to lead? And inevitably - you think for a second - it would be great to go back.

And then you remember about the day you had to argue with the woman at Monoprix just to give you change because you wanted to pay with cash and not your debit card because there was no way the Boulangerie would take your 20 euro to pay for a 1 euro baguette. So Big Box Retailer NEEDED to give you that change. You held up everyone in line as you and the cashier had a staring contest to see who's will would win out.

It wasn't her. I needed my baguette gosh darn it.

Michael, Age 5

Been seeing this idea on Pinterest, so I decided to do it too! It's not as cute as the blank wall ones I've seen, but I like it just fine for me!

More later on Michael!

Michael's First Family Portrait

Done on Post it notes.

Michael is on the left.

Brian is in the middle with one eye.

I apparently am the massive Hair Woman.

He told me that he drew the arms to show that we were hugging each other.

Love.this.kid.to.bits!

P

My Mommy

My mommy is just too cute! Took the family to Lytle's Corn Maze today - more images to come! From this and Michael's part-ay!

Love,

P

Organizing school work

Just in time! Michael starts Kindergarten next year! DEFINITELY going to be doing this!!!

http://iheartorganizing.blogspot.com/2010/11/school-paperwork-storage.html

Another pinterest find! If you like any of the things I've been posting on pinterest - follow me! I'll e-mail you my info if you want it.

I guess I better get to cleaning my basement - aka - shove everything in a closet and hope it fits with the door shut.

How to sew lined curtains

I've been looking for a book which explains how to sew lined curtains. I wanted it to have step by step directions, preferably with pictures illustrating each step because I am not a sewing maven extraordinaire.

I looked at my Pier1 curtains that I love - and in my mind's eye - I kind of figured it out already. However, my mind's eye can be wrong a lot of the times.

Luckily, Pinterest, my new best friend, pulled through. Found this thread today and it is absolutely genius:

http://www.houseofhepworths.com/2011/10/12/how-to-make-professional-lined-curtain-panels/

I am so happy and need to pull out my sewing machine TOUT DE SUITE.

Another thing I love about this thread is she covers how to make it look "faux pinch pleated." I have seen the instructions on how to sew pinch pleats and wasn't too keen about measuring things and figuring out the spacing while sewing and also needing extra widths of fabric which would then entail repeats and lining up the edges of said repeats. Take deep breath here.

So also in that link is how to make it look a bit like pinch pleats (from far away!)

I'm a fan! And can't wait to start on this pinterest project!

Photoshop

It always amazes me what other applications I can use photoshop for. I love it for editing images and designing pieces for my clients. It's an obvious application!

But I needed to make a sign for 9 3/4 platform for our Harry Potter party this weekend. The blog I was reading said she painted a piece of wood and stuck stickers to it to make it look amazing.

I fully intended to do that.

And then I thought - it would be much cheaper just to make it on the computer and print it out on a sheet of paper.

SO I did it in Photoshop:

I love Photoshop because it lets me do what I want. Not like Microsoft Word, which thinks it knows better than you. I would have used Powerpoint if I did not have Photoshop. Powerpoint is such that you can move individual elements around if you like!

But knowing Photoshop, I whipped up this sign in less than 15 minutes and printed it out. For free!

CHECK AND CHECK!

What else is there to do - Harry Potter party wise?

• Make 10 robes - iron on Hogwarts insignia and cut/hem openings
• Make brick wall out of sheet for kids to run through
• Brian needs to construct all the quidditch goals. Should just be nailing them into the sticks we already collected from the yard. I spent lots of yesterday spray painting and couldn't write normally for 1-2 hours after that.
• Then, stick quidditch goals in the ground.

We have to do normal stuff like food prep, setting tables, etc - but for the most part, we are nearly there! I'm so glad my mom is here to watch Michael while I get stuff done!

P

Oo-la-la

Great post on moneysavingmom about busy bins for kids everyday of the week. That way, it is organized and ready for them to play. Also has good ideas on what to put in the busy bins!

http://aprilemery.blogspot.com/2010/04/mammas-bag-of-tricks-quiet-time-bins.html

Le W.E.

Am having a great weekend! Our Saturday was busy but filled with fun.

I woke up at 6am because I fell asleep at 10pm. I had roasted a chicken earlier in the week and wanted to have Asian noodle soup for breakfast. SO at 6:15am I started my stockpot for noodle soup with my leftover bones from the roasted chicken. Love getting multiple meals from one.

After my noodle soup, we had soccer! Michael did great and scored a good portion of our goals! In fact, his whole team is playing so well, and Brian is doing an amazing job coaching! They held their own even to a team which was playing REALLY unfairly (always played with one MORE player on the field than us - coach BLOCKING our kids from kicking the ball forward - ALL UNBELIEVABLE).

After this, ran over to Sacred Heart to setup my display for the Silent Auction at Oktoberfest.

Then off to Brian's coworkers house for a really civilized French lunch. I love dining with the French. They set the table well. They have appetizers and present them with finesse. The meal is just served to where you can ENJOY the food. The kids eat what we eat, not hotdogs and mac-n-cheese. Their kids aren't OBSESSED with Wii and the television. It was just so fun. What was even more interesting was that they are renting a house which we looked at to purchase. So when it came time for the house tour, we really didn't need it!

Hurried home. Called in a pizza order. Quickly washed my dishes. Quickly cleaned off my microwave that was so dirty that the food was starting to make friends with one another. Because you never know if your sitter is going to microwave something. Ran off to get said pizza and coke. Back at home. Meet the sitter ( super sweet girl who Michael IMMEDIATELY loved , which for my shy son is a miracle.). Meet neighbors to go up to Oktoberfest at the church.

Had a great time at the fundraiser and hanging out there! Catholics know how to put on a good Oktoberfest! Was pretty STOKED that my photography package was getting lots of bids!! So excited to be able to bring in money for the school!! My babysitter's mom was at the event so she updated me regularly about her daughter and Michael at home (so nice that her daughter was texting her mom!). Got to know her a little better too! Heard a lot of good things about the private Catholic high school we are considering sending Michael to if we are still here.

Went home. Drove the babysitter back home. Crashed.

Birthday Par-tay!

I usually do not bring my camera to birthday parties - I like to eat, enjoy myself, and chit-chat, not worry about focus, exposure, and my shutter speed!

But this past weekend - Michael was invited to a birthday party where it was necessary to bring my camera!

First, there was a cute little critter scavenger hunt. Here's a grumpy Michael with his little jar of insects:

The real hit of the show came with this lady:
She was incredible! She brought all sorts of reptiles for the kids to hold including turtles, iguanas, and SNAKES.
Michael looking at the iguana:
Michael's initial reaction when the iguana came out:
When she brought out the 2nd biggest snake she had, the kids went BALLISTIC! They all ran away to their parents screaming!! Eventually curiousity reigned king and they all went back for a closer look.

Michael was not havin' any of the touchin' of the reptiles. He was happy to pet the turtles, but politely ran away and hid during the iguana and snakes. Can't say that I blame the guy!

He had so much fun at this birthday party! His friend's house is AWESOME. They have this amazing back yard with a little Amish built very fancy play house, a huge playset in the back, and lots of backyard toys with grass as far as the eye can see. Basically, what I always wanted and instead, I have a huge sloping backyard with a forest full of ticks.

She had lots of great food including a chick-fil-a tray of nuggets. DONE AND DONE!

Had to blog about it because it was seriously cool. We'll be doing this one year!

P

Lunch Ideas

It's Michael's 2nd full week of school and I'm already OUT for lunch ideas. Found this blog on pinterest and I'm in love!

http://www.anotherlunch.com/

P

Mischievous Michael

So Michael decided to pull the *cough * cough * I'm too sick to go to school today bit with me.

Yesterday, he had a stuffy nose. Woke up from 2am-3am from it. No fever.

Normally, I would have told him to get out of bed. But I was exhausted too from our previous day.

And he continued with the I don't feel well, my nose is stopped up, I'm really tired, please don't make me go to school.

WELL - OK. I'm tired too. You're just covering the letter B, which I know you know. And frankly, I wanted to hang out with him.

SO I did that. We ate breakfast, watched TV together, then we played Wii together, then we played games together, then he had "downtime," then he played on the computer, then we played some more Wii, then we ate dinner, then we did puzzles, math flash cards, his kid's sudoku game, workbook pages, listened to the Saggy Baggy Elephant on CD, then we danced on a stage in the living room, then we swept the living room, stayed up late to greet Dad at 9:45pm when he came home from Pittsburgh, read books.

I would say I felt bad about providing a bad example of not going to school - but we just had so much fun today. He's got the rest of his life to go to school! I've only got him home for just another year or so.

So I stayed home and cuddled with my little one and played with him and it was so much fun.

I love Michael's school by the way. He's been talking about how many syllables are in words. He's been loving the songs they sing and lately, we have to stay after lunch so he can finish listening to the stories they read to him after lunch. They attached a ring of flashcards with beginning sight words for reading. Luckily, they are the easy ones and Michael already knows them (I, a, the). We've been working on them so it's great to have the reinforcement. They gave him a great beginner's bible that HE.LOVES. We read the stories a lot and he can tell me the story of Adam and Eve already with the snake. I just hope that he continues to love school!

Just made me think that they do a lot with reading/letters/phonics at the school, which is GREAT because he really needs more exercises with this. Reading is not something that comes naturally to him.

However, not much happens with Math. The only worksheet I have seen with math has just been one where he has to draw the line from the number on the left to the groupings of items on the right ( 2 to the picture with 2 frogs).

I wonder why that is? Anyone know? I have no formal education in early childhood education so I don't know.

Gone Fishin'

To officially mark our foray into the wilderness and red-neck-dom here in The Middle of Nowhere, PA - we made a trip to the fishin' hole in our neighborhood!

That's right - in our neighborhood - just a walk down the street- where I'm sure lots of ticks live.

As much as I am mocking this Sunday activity for us - it was SUPER fun and highly rewarding.

Rewarding? Fishing? Yup, in our pond - LOTS of little fishes are very hungry. We'd cast the line and within SECONDS, we'd have bites. Within a minute, we would have a fish on the line.

I'm a fan of instant gratification. It's a wonder I made it anywhere in this world. :)

So - pictures galore.

Michael gettin' ready:

Reminds me a bit of Andy Griffith (Griffin?)

Dad helpin' son:

Casting a line - me standing far away - hoping I didn't get hooked in the mouth myself:

Proud of our 1st catch of the day:

We got that one through the eye. Couldn't get the hook off. Finally had to just CUT the hook off and toss the fish back. Yah, there's a fish swimmin' around with a HOOK in his eye in that pond now.

Fishin' ain't for the light-of-heart-city-girl-named-Phuong.

Next, we caught a catfish who was lost from Louisiana:

Poor guy didn't even get the worm.

Michael's hilarious face with the fish:

Brian, proud of his large catch of the day:

Nasty up close image of the worm that decided this fish's fate:

SUPER fun activity! We had NO idea there were fish in that pond!

**End official post - start photography talk **

I took my D50 instead of my new fancy D700 to the pond - good grief. Talk about frustrating! It's got a zoom lens, which my D700 does not have. That's why I brought it. All sorts of exposure blow outs/strange color casts/frustrating. So glad photoshop saved a lot of these images!

Pretty proud of myself - edited 12 images in about 30 minutes. That's a record for me! A little over 2 minutes an image! Depending on the image, I can take anywhere from 3 - 15 minutes an image!

Finally came up with a work flow which lends me to posting my images on Smugmug and posting on the blog. If you are interested, here it is:

LOVE Adobe bridge for organizing images. Thanks KK for introducing me to this!

1) Copy images from memory card, paste into appropriate month/year folder

2) Adobe Bridge - assign 3 stars for every image I want in my smugmug album.

3) Edit whatever images I want to edit. Assign the new edited images as 3 stars. Send the original unedited images to no rating and gone.

4) Select all 3 star images - Batch rename - A_Month Year _ 01 etc for the month. If in the middle of the month, start count on the next number, which Bridge should do automatically.

5) Upload to smugmug all 3 star images.

6) Go back and select 5 star images for "best of book" at the end of the year.

VOILA! And so we start catching up. Next up is OBX to go through this process!

Sneak Peek

Guess who's gettin' ready for his Harry Potter birthday party?

He's not looking too happy, but he's excited about it!

Le Week-end

This past Saturday, (9/10), Michael had his first soccer game.

Michael's hunger/drive/determination for the ball has waned since last year. He's still one of the fastest (if not THE fastest) kid out there.

He can run from the back of the pack all the way to the front of the pack where the kid is kicking the ball - pass that kid and the ball - and take the ball and turn it around.

This year, he decided that running up there was all he had to do. And then he'd kind of piddle around the ball. And then just kind of look at it. Like he forgot that you're supposed to take the ball away, kick it all the way to the other end. And score.

To his very competitive parents - we're just sitting there and seething inside and trying our best not to say anything about anything and be "THOSE PARENTS."

Well, Michael had a great time. And like last year - after the first practice - Brian goes home and assesses the team's strengths and weaknesses and develops drills that help address what needs to improve.

Michael - and the rest of the kids for that matter - really like the snack part of the whole soccer bit:

After that, we went to Giant and busted our budget by buying fish.

I am a big proponent of "eating my money" because if I'm gonna spend my money on something, I'd rather spend it on items which will 1) nourish my body in a positive way and 2)be joyful to taste and eat. Life's too short to eat plasticized food. But that's just me and my family. You and yours can do whatever you like and it is no matter to me! I don't judge anyone on that and frankly, I fall off the wagon all the time (as I write this post I am stuffing myself with Barnum animal crackers).

Then, we decided to be "active" and headed to Milburn to pick apples!
Michael hammed it up for the camera for just a hair of a second:
All little boys should have pictures of them doing this with their dads:
These kind of apples were good, but not as good as the orange honey apples! Didn't even know that kind existed! I love Michael's face in this picture:
They did a lot of eating off of the tree:
And I caught Michael through the bushes. This isn't a spectacular shot, but I am practicing trying new things. I liked 1) The composition - like I am peering through a bush and the bush in front of me is fuzzy but what I am looking at is now 2) the post processing in photoshop - I do like that kind of vintage-y sharp look.

What I do not like: Michael's not doing anything terribly interesting and his eyes are shut. But it does capture the idea of a little boy - hunting around an orchard - and delighting on what he finds.
After that - more rest and relaxtion and enjoyment of Brian being back home. Brian traveled nearly 3 weeks out of the last 4. It was really hard on all of us. However, the break does make the heart grow fonder.

After many years of marriage - it is true what they say - that you can take each other for granted. At least Brian and I tend to. We get shorter with one another and take the stresses of our daily lives out on each other because we are there.

After Brian's little trip(s), we come back together - so thankful to be together and have each other forever. It is always a nice feeling to know that if you had to do it all again, you know you would because that person still fascinates you and makes you laugh.

He Does What He Wants

Michael could probably echo Pinocchio in saying, "I'm a real boy!" I am just amazed at how big he is getting.

My dad used to tell me that when we were babies, he would just look at us and wonder when we would ever grow up. Then, we grew up, and he looked at us and wondered how time could fly by so quickly.

I understand exactly what this means now.

Michael blew through this busy bag idea. I was hoping it would last longer than 2 minutes:

Pretty easy to do. Just get an old takeaway plastic container with a lid. Use a knife to cut an x in the top. Then give them a bunch of cheapo pompoms to shove through the hole. Michael kept saying, "Ow, ow, ow" - but he finished it nonetheless. Not gonna let a little pain keep him from gettin' those pompoms in there.

Michael had Christmas in August because Walgreens was having 75% off their summer clearance section. And the girl accidentally gave me 75% off the SALE price. So I went back for a 2nd round of stuff and by then she had asked her manager if it was 75% off the regular or sale - and she stood corrected. Should have been 75% off of REGULAR price.

Either way, here's the loot. I'll go into how much everything costed because it's too funny:

2 buckets of sidewalk chalk (12 pieces in each) - $0.25 each

500 water balloons with 2 hose attachments - $1.25

Slip 'n slide with big-ole-pool at the end - $5

Badminton set - $1.17

Ring Toss - $1.25

Bag of 3 bath toy boats - $0.75

BBQ Grill cleaning brush - $1

Playmate Igloo - $3.75 (Probably my biggest score!! Glad I got that on the 75% off sale price bunch!)

Freezer icepack - $0.75

Water Hose Snake - $2.50

Outdoor bowling set - $3.25

Cars sand toy set with backpack,pail, molds, sifter, shovel/etc - $2.50

Recently, Michael built a marble run - all by himself - following instructions in the manual WITH NO HELP from us:

And Michael can cut - all by himself. Looks like a pro huh?

It's a kindergarten skill - so I'm glad he mastered it. :)

Michael stays a bit later for preschool this year than last - which actually works out well because I get to touch base with his teacher every time! At normal pickup, you get your kid and you leave - not much said about the day. But with Michael's later pickup, I get to see his teacher in a more relaxed setting.

She told me today that Michael did his assessment test for the teachers to see what skill level he is. She said she was pretty impressed with Michael and that he knew a lot for his age!

Pretty proud mama I was!

If you pray, please pray for our friends Laura and Kril Cunningham. Kril is in the hospital because he had a seizure. The doctors think it is related to the severe sinus infection he has been fighting. Either way - it is a tough time for their family and any prayers would be greatly appreciated!

Love,

P

Milburn Apple Picking

We had so much fun today! We went apple picking and bought about 14 lbs of apples. At $1.39 a lb for freshly picked apples, I went a bit overboard.

Then we walked to the sandpit and played there. I am so happy to have this HUGE clean sandpit with GREAT toys so close to my house. Reminds me so much of Paris and many playgrounds here do not have sandpits. Michael loves loves loves it.

Then, we fed the goats, of course. And there were little newbie goats which is always so cute.

After this, we play on the playground.

Then we attempted to have lunch, but thankfully for my wallet, it was closed.

Bought some baked goodies and one last batch of gorgeous peaches before calling it a day!

Thus is a standard farm visit for us! We just love it there! Michael loved the tractor ride and picking apples was super neat.

It's never too early to go to Disney

After Paris, I was kind of under the impression that it's better to wait to go to Disney - when your kids can actually remember. I took Michael 2x when we lived in Paris to Euro-Disney and he didn't seem to remember it at all.

Then we had this conversation tonight:

Michael: Can you tell me about how I saw Christmas Goofy and how I was crabby, mommy?

Michael: Oh wait, I remember going to Disneyworld!

Me: You do?

Michael: Yes! I played with the Lightening McQueen car! (one of my only retail regrets - not buying him that RC lightening mcqueen car. Apparently it was important and only 40 euro at the time).

Michael: We rode the Peter Pan ride.

Me: Did you like it or think it was scary?

Michael: It was scary.

Me: That's right - you didn't like it.

Me: Do you remember riding the Buzz Light year ride?

Michael: No.

Me: Do you remember watching the old Mickey Mouse cartoons in the theater there?

Michael: No.

Michael: We rode the teacups!! It was so fun!

So you know what? They remember. He was 3. And I didn't make that photobook that year to tell him the stories - so he remembered all on his own.

He was 3. And he's nearly 5 now. I know for sure I didn't talk to him about the Lightening mcqueen car or the teacups. But that Peter pan memory may have been planted.

I hear a very loud cricket. And it probably is in my house.

It's 12:30am - and this is evidence on why I should not nap because I am really not tired, but I am tired of looking at the computer

P

First Day of School!

Hurricane Irene put a damper on Michael's first day of school on Monday - so he went today for his first day of preschool.

He was pretty happy about the whole affair:

With Mommy:

With Daddy:

He reported the whole day to me during the whole walk from the class to the car and the whole ride home. He even told me that he wished he could be at school longer than last year.

I told him that he is already going longer this year than last! Did he want more?

Michael: "Yes! Oh, wait. Let me think about it."

So cute. So glad he's having a great time!

P