Chronicling the experience of a New England Family spending a year living in the Loire Valley of France.

Friday, December 2, 2011

Brief Update

I've got so much blogging to do I don't even know where to start! I have a list of over a dozen posts to write and a period of over two months to cover. Suffice it to say, I find myself boxed in by a major writer's block. I could use tons of excuses about how busy we've been, but what a lame excuse.

For now, I will try to at least provide an update with a list of highlights:

Thanksgiving was good and bad - Everything looked beautiful but I forgot to take pictures! It seemed the guests who didn't know each other got along well. I used salted butter in my apple crisp. The Indian pudding looked like playdough. The buttermilk pie sans buttermilk was delish. The addition of fine French wine made everything taste better. And I have enough left overs to make tons of yummy turkey dishes like Turkey A la King, Turkey Noodle Soup and Turkey Pot Pie.

The kids and I are counting down the days until Christmas break. Which is not to say school isn't going well. But it is to say I am significantly more sold on homeschooling than ever before. We miss each other! The kids say everything about school one would expect them to say - school is "fine," school is "boring," their teachers are "nice," and recess is their favorite.

David and I are attending a French luncheon once a week designed to help non-natives practice speaking with native-speakers. It is helping a lot and we both learn more each time we go. The kids' French is coming along beautifully. Bo's French tutoring was observed by Vivi's teacher (I have no idea why), and she said Bo is doing really, really well. He seems to understand way more than he gives himself credit for. Vivi's accent is impeccable and her vocab just keeps growing. I have no doubt they will be speaking as much, if not more than me by the time we get home.

We've toured tons of great spots which I've yet to blog about. Castles mostly, but also a zoo that was filled with baby animals. We even saw a one day old gorilla. Very cool. I really must get those photos edited so I can post about it all.

We're working hard at preparing for a Christmas service at church. I am in the choir and Vivi and I are in a sacred dance (which I am choreographing). We hope to be able to use this event to invite a lot of Bo & Vivi's classmates to come check out our church. Sunday school is going well, but I am really slacking when it comes to Bible study. It simply doesn't work to procrastinate in a foreign language. I don't recommend it.

Eight months to go. We are all homesick right now - probably because of the holiday season, no doubt. But we have all sorts of things to look forward to - a trip to Strasbourg, France right before Christmas, celebrating St. Vincent's Day in January, friends' and family visits in April. It promises to speed by faster than I can blog about - that's for certain!

Hoping to get back into the swing of things and get photos and stories posted in greater detail soon. Thanks for reading!

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