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!

"Thing Three"

Well, an have an Egyptian Baby and an American baby... so we thought we needed a French baby. Thing One and Thing Two are excited to announce they will be big sister (again) and big brother! "Thing Three" will be arriving in May 2013! 

Olympics 2024... Here We Come!

Well, I guess gymnastics is her her blood. When I was a little girl, gymnastics was who I was... what I did, what I ate and drank. Mary Lou Reton was my hero! So... as long as she is liking it, we're going to let her! This is a gym that is about a 20 min. walk from our house and it's... amazing! 

We found out that there are National French competitions held here and so 

we are going to be excited to come watch! 

My little gymnast went this past week and LOVED IT! The class is full of 4 year old hopefuls ;-) and she was ready to go back (well, has been every day!) My heart was soaring as I watched her! 

(pic: she is third form right... purple with white shorts)

(pic: right beside the teacher doing leg lifts back this way... )

This is the little gym they started out in to "warm up"!!!

Living in Paris, France

Well, it's been a while since I've written... but I'm hopefully going to get back on track. 

We now live just outside of Paris and it took us only about 30 minutes to get to the above!!! I still can't believe that we live here. 

We decided to go and play tourist one day and here are some of the fun pics we took! 

It WAS a FUN day! 

My 4 Year Old Princess!!!

So, when in the world did we go from this....

to this...

Yes, my first-born turned 4 years old today. I can't believe it. Where has the time gone? 

We love her... the laughing, the crying, the silly-ness, the changing, the girly-ness,  the growing, the questions, the love of princesses, the strong-will, the "bashfulness", 

everything about her... because she's ours.

So, we celebrated her and her love for princess, with a Princess Party!!!!

Here is a sneak peak...

Party Prep:

The table decorated with fancy princess hats, fancy goblets, and forks... 

Daddy loves her so much, he even built her a castle!

The "nail station"

 And the princess' arrive to do nails...

And make-up...

Playing in her room with friends...

Opening presents... 

Games... 

(Pass the poisoned apple, when the music stops, that princess falls asleep! The couch was full of sleeping princesses! )

 "Pin the hair on Rapunzel"... it was a hit!

Cake Time!!

And yes... she LOVES princesses... so here is the cake I made. Rapunzel in her tower! 

(at some point, she changed into her Dorothy dress... Dorothy, the Princess of Oz?!?!)...

We feel so blessed to have so many great friends to celebrate Sadie Mac with us! We missed family in the States, but the Lord is good to provide others to party with us!

Then we headed to "the sandbox" (our school that has a sandbox) and celebrated with other students and their families... Here is Noah and his buddy Peter, playing in the puddles.

Some of our favorite BIG princesses... Ally and Abby

Our personal "grill daddy"

My Little Boy is Growing Up...

Recently, my little boy has figured out (quiet easily I may add) to get out of his pack and play.  NOOOOOOOOOO!!!! We learned with Sadie... keep them in their cribs as long as possible. 

Well, our "possible" time is over! 

We tried and tried the put him back to bed. We tried what the "books" say.  Basically... he just wanted to be in a big boy bed.

I got this pic when Sadie was pretending Noah's crib was her "carriage" and she was Cinderella. 

Noah was just playing along. 

And... the next few pics take place in like 6 seconds. 

 Over the top...

The Dismount... 

And getting on with life...

So, today we tried this. I had a "big boy talk" with him... and he stayed in his bed!!! party!!!

So, after fighting him last night from 2:12 am until 3 something... my heart had fireworks to see him sleeping in a big boy bed! However... my little boy is growing up. Sad.

(These fireworks were actually from Bastille Day (July 14th)... Independence Day... 

Great fireworks!