We Miss You Already NanNan!!!

We just had a wonderful 10 days with my mom and it was really, REALLY hard to see her go. She blessed our socks off by bringing us TWO SUITCASES, filled to the brim of stuff... JUST FOR US, while she lived out of her carry on. What a mom, right?!?! Our hearts and bellies are filled with pepperoni, coffee creamer, beef jerkey, nutter butters, GRITS, spices, clothes for the kiddos and lots of other wonderful treats from home...

THANK YOU MAMA!!!

We had a blast too... we did some site seeing... but there was a lot more just "being" together. We did the fun Eiffel Tower and Notre Dame... we did Verseilles and the other "big sites" around Paris. Here are some pics from the "doing"...

View of the city

Sacre Coeur (The Church of the Sacred Heart) in the back

Artist Row  and a little pic she bought with the artist..

Notre Dame

Playing at a park near Notre Dame

 Starbucks on the Champs Elysees!

 The Arc de Triumph

Big City Bus Tour (with my mischievous daughter!)

But here are some of my favorite parts and pics... the just "being"

Sweet memories reading

At a park

We love you NanNan...

Thank you so much for coming!!!!!

Happy 2nd Birthday Noah!

When did we go from this... baby boy at 4 pounds 1 oz... 

To my big two year old boy!!! 

Who LOVES ELMO!!!! 

NanNan is here (WOOHOOO!!) and brought us lots of goodies to make an extra special birthday party for my big boy! She was a wonderful help to make the cake and yummy treats for the party! 

 We had lots of friends who we were so thankful could come and celebrate with us!

PRESENT TIME!!!!!

 Daddy helping get toys out of boxes! 

Family photo opp!!!

 Noah was a bit overwhelmed to blow out the pic, so big sister Sadie decided to help! ;-)

TOY TIME! 

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!