Les Couleurs d'Automne

This morning the sun was (kinda) peeking through the gray so we thought we needed to take advantage and enjoy a small walk together before Stephen headed out to work. I'm so glad we did. We headed out with bread in hand knowing our ducks, geese, and pigeons would be waiting! Here are some of our pics from the day...

 Noah was a bit hesitant...

 Times like this I really miss Boone, but I'm thankful for today  and the beauty we enjoyed.

 Little Ol' Lady Sadie was too cold to get out of her stroller at first... but really liked feeding the birds

 Our Noah... twins with his cousin Titus. 

 At the playground near the lake... lots of fun today!

The Eid with friends...

After living in North Africa for a few years, you fall in love with the people, their food, culture, and some of their customs. I was told the Eid for Muslims is like Christmas for the Christian. It is a time for family, giving, sharing, and being together. We celebrated the Eid in both Egypt and Sudan and so it's fun to now have the experience with some North African friends here in France. For the Eid, Muslims celebrate when Abraham went to sacrifice his son and God provided the ram in place of his son. 

So, we had a few invitations from friends and neighbors who we have met here and were able to join in the celebration. We, as Christians celebrate God's provision of a sacrifice too, but believe this sacrifice was in Jesus. Here are some of the pics of the fun we shared with our friends...

This is  Sadie and her friend from school...

Kids... they ALL love cartoons!

While my friend and I prepared the food, the kids were very entertained.

Here is one of the meals we enjoyed. Our Algerian friends served us Cous Cous, lamb, vegetables, fruit, and amazing desserts! 

At our Moroccan's friends house... this was hanging up right by the door. (Sadie was a little scared of it, and I completely understand!... very different for a 4 year old!) This is the lamb they had sacrificed the day before the Eid. 

The kids had a great time playing together. Sadie likes being the only girl because she always gets to be the princess! 

This is my precious friend and her 3 month old daughter. 

This is her husband, a friend of Stephen's. We felt so special that they invited us to share this special time with their family. 

One of the best things about living overseas is learning all the different cultures and customs from around the world! What a precious gift we are getting to live out!

First Baby Pic...

Here is our little third angel we got to SEE today for the first time. 

Everything is looking good and he/she has all body parts in tact and is growing at the perfect rate. 

The doctor says it HAS to be a boy because it has a heart and a brain! Took me a second because it was all in french... then I got the humor. ;-) (I'm slow in many languages!) 

Anyway... we are praising the Lord for this little one who will be arriving mid-May 2013! 

Our Halloween FUN!

Well... what a fun season it is around here! Sadie Mac has vacation for two weeks for All Saints Break! We also get to celebrate "American Halloween" with friends from over here! Tonight we had a big party and carved the pumpkins from the farm and all got dressed up. 

Super Mario!!! (Princess Peach was also here... pics to come!)

Pippy Longstocking was here and was a big hit! 

She watched the little ones decorate the little pumpkins!

 Noah (aka Mario, but the mustache only lasted for the first pic) 

decorating his pumpkin with a marker!

 We feel very blessed to have lots of friends to celebrate with!

I was fixing dinner when everything got really REALLY QUIET! They had all

sat down to watch Charlie Brown's "Great Pumpkin"!!!! 

Then the carving began!!!

Crazy girls... we love 'um!

Daddy carved Noah's favorite... ELMO!!!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN EVERYONE!

Pumpkin Patchin' it... French Style!

So... when you live in the middle of a concrete jungle, a little fresh air and wide open spaces is a BEAUTIFUL THING!!! Some friends of our told us about a farm just outside of town and not too far from our house! So, being mid-October... we headed out on a great pumpkin patch quest! We were welcomed by beautiful flowers and a beautiful blue background of sky!

Cute little baskets of gords, tiny pumpkins, squash, cucumbers were all set in a row. 

Heading out in search of the perfect pumpkin!

And oh the beautiful rows of sunflowers!!!! I'm a very happy girl at this point!

Who cares... it's wide open spaces so, lets run!!!! We went with some other friends too and we're glad they came along for the adventure!

So, the next few pictures are sequential:

Noah running shouting, "Dada... Dada!!"

(I'm sure he's thinking... wait for me guys, he just can't say that!)

 Dada finally hears and turns around and preps for his boy...

 Melt.My.Heart

Noah shouting, "CHEESE!"

Rows and rows of orange pumpkins... YIPPIE!! 

 Picking the perfect one!

 After we got our prize, we headed over the strawberry patch... and the Great Strawberry!

 Heading back and of course... some more running!!!!

 The farm even had chickens and other animals!

 Fun day with fun memories. :-)

Our Home...

So... this is our new-ish home. We moved in at the end of August and we're still working. With two small children and pregnancy... life is a bit slower paced! Still have some things on the wall to put up and sorry for the clutter... but so is the life of a toddler mom. Hope you enjoy the tour...  

First, our living room. 

Noah's Room... with a pull out trundle bed when visitors come!

 Dining room that sits off of the LR

The Princess Room for Sadie Mac... This was our big project when we moved in. We had amazing help from my WONDERFUL FRIEND "aunt Krissy"!!!! She is worth $1,000,000!

All the walls in her room were basically like this, covered in wall paper... 

and Krissy came to help save the day! I was also thankful for her interior design support! 

The Master Suite

Random, I know... but it's the back of door and we painted it with chalkboard paint! 

It's been fun and useful!