Day 53

Wow! Where did the time go? We've been quite busy around here. Overall things have been going fairly well. Just a couple of bumps in the road.

Let's start with school. Both boys are doing really well in school. Adam is at the top of his class, even in the "French" subjects. He is working on verb tenses and figuring out how the verb changes depending on the subject. He still has a ways to go, but I am so proud of him. I had his class meeting and spoke with his teacher for a bit. She is very encouraged by Adam and thinks he is doing remarkable. Let's pray the rest of the year goes this smoothly. Alden is doing well also. We had his class meeting and he is basically just like all of the other students. His vocabulary grows everyday and he is excelling in many subjects. He just started writing in cursive. Yes, that's right, a kindergartener writing in cursive. That could be interesting. He has always had weaker fine motor skills, but we knew this was coming so we spent the summer coloring and printing. Wish us luck! Adalee has her good days and bad days at drop off. She loves it once she's there, but she has some separation anxiety still. However she loves to show off her newly acquired French words. She can count to 5 in French and knows a few of her colors. She can also sing the French songs they practice in class.

Everyone made it to their sport this week. The boys went to soccer and Adalee made it to her first dance class. She was so cute. It is modern dance and she spent most of the time dancing around the room and learning new movements. She was totally in her element!

We were able to Skype with Abrahm on Wednesday night. It was so great to "see" him. We haven't been able to see him since he left, so it was a special treat! The kids enjoyed showing Abrahm all kinds of things and showing off for him. Technology is truly wonderful.

Today we also got to see him. We had a hail and farewell for our whole American group. They had set up a Skype call for all the soldiers so we could see them at the party. The kids were excited again to see him. Adalee was dying to show Daddy her new "owie". On the way home I asked the kids if they were excited to see Daddy. They screamed YES! But then Adam said, Mommy I just want to touch him. That broke my heart. I explained that we all did and it was getting closer everyday.

Our biggest news of the week, was Adalee's visit to the Emergency Room. On Thursday we went to pick up Adam from his tutoring after school. She was running with the other kids and tripped and fell. She fell flat on her face on the cobblestones. She basically bit through her lips. The cuts were so deep, we really needed to take her in to make sure it was cleaned well and to see if she needed stitches. Fortunately a friend of mine was with me at the time, so she agreed to keep the boys until I could get back home. I quickly called my french nurse neighbor to ask her some questions about the hospital. She was actually on her way to the hospital to drop off her friend for her shift. She told me to just follow her and she would help me out. She not only showed me where to go, but spent her entire evening with me at the ER. Because her last rotation was at the pediatric ER at this hospital, she knew everyone. We were taken back first and treated great! It couldn't have worked out any better. We were so blessed.

So basically she needed some sort of stitch. They really preferred to "glue" it, but couldn't because of it's location. So they could either use the steri strips or actually stitch it. It had already quit bleeding and they got it really clean so I wasn't too excited about seeing her endure the whole stitch process. So we steri stripped it and then covered it. She also had some cuts on the inside of her mouth and chipped a tooth and knocked it loose. The day following the accident we headed to the US dentist at SHAPE and he basically said we needed to wait and see if she would lose the tooth. He felt that it was looking okay at the moment, but that it usually takes 4 to 6 weeks to see if it is permanently damaged. The funny thing about this story is that on Thanksgiving Day 2005, while Abrahm was deployed to Iraq, Alden took a tumble and really messed his mouth and teeth up and we ended up in the ER in Alaska.

So here'e hoping to a quiet and peaceful week!

Alden and Adaleee finishing up their lunches

All better now!

Mme Coline and Adalee sitting in the ER right before coming home.

Adalee, Katherine, and Adam enjoying their popcorn

Alden and Anna eating their popcorn

All of the kiddos watching the new Tinkerbell movie for Movie Night.

The leaves on the building behind us are changing colors. One of my favorite times of the year!

The kids were so excited to Skype with Daddy one night this week. This was the first time in over 8 weeks that we had seen him. It was so good!

A breakfast of champions.

(Abrahm, we now have new milk containers! No more Army milk)

More Mickey Mouse pancakes for breakfast one morning.

The boys working on their projects

My sweetie!

Day 44

Well it has been a long couple of days, but I think we're on the right track for the moment. On Sunday all the kiddos dressed up and we headed to Gaia's birthday party. The kids had a great time as well as the adults. Gaia's daddy is Italian and he had real, fresh Italian cheeses, salami and breadsticks. Yummy! He even had some Italian champagne for us to try.

Monday was a fairly good day. I had a luncheon with several other foreign ladies whose husbands work at the Citadel. It was a nice event and I met some new ladies. Then I got to go snuggle with my girlfriend's new baby girl. They had just gotten home from the hospital. It was so wonderful to hold a teeny baby again. It was even more wonderful to hand her back to her mommy when she got hungry or too fussy :-)

Tuesday was rather uneventful. School for the boys and some work around the house for me!

Yesterday, Wednesday, was another rough day! I think I am going to start refusing to get out of bed on Wednesdays. Last week was tough too! I took the boys out of English class and sports and Adalee out of dance so that we could head to SHAPE for medical appointment and flu vaccinations. I had arranged all of our appointments so we could get everything done back to back without having to wait or be too late coming back home. Well I got all 3 kids ready and we walked to our parking garage. I got to the van and tried to unlock it. It wouldn't unlock all of the doors. I quickly realized the battery was dead. It took me some time, but I finally found someone to help jump start my van. With the whole process taking so long and an hour drive still ahead of us, I could not make it to my appointments. I called and cancelled them and tried to reschedule for later in the day. The receptionist tried his best and got 2 of the 3 of us taken care of. The pediatrician took pity on us and went ahead and took care of Alden even thought he had no appointment. We also got our flu vaccinations and Pediatric allergy referrels for Adalee and Alden. So overall it was a productive day, but much longer than we anticipated. We didn't arrive back in Lille until 8:00 last night. The kids weren't in bed until 9:00. That is extremely late for us, but at least we got done what we needed too.

So today, Thursday, has gone much better than anticipated. Adalee didn't cry when I dropped her off at school this morning or at lunch. I was able to book and pay for our trip to Disneyland Paris. I am surprising the kids with a trip there during their October break. The best part of that is that I saved over $1000 because we are French residents. And finally the other exciting news is that I was able to park the car in my parking garage on my first attempt! For those of you not familiar with my parking arrangements, this is quite a big deal. So exciting!!!

Jump starting the van

The kids waiting patiently for the car to start

All of the kiddos ready for Gaia's Birthday Party

My Little Princess

Alden having fun on a scooter

Day 40

Let me start by say, "HAPPY GRANDPARENTS' DAY!"

It's been quite a long week, so I haven't been able to get on the computer and post at the end of the night. This was our first full week of school. To be honest, it was one of the toughest weeks I have ever had. It was so difficult. Getting everyone into the school groove and figuring out how to get everything done when everyone needed something different at the same time really wore me out. Part of it is just that I try to be so organized and when things seem unorganized, I really don't do well. The kids are all doing pretty well. They are all adjusting to new grades and the work load that is required.

Adam is doing well in CE1 (or 2nd grade). There is a lot more homework, but he is settling in just fine. He is enjoying his class and spending time with old as well as new friends. His French is coming along nicely. He still struggles with using correct grammar, but he is most definitely understood when he speaks and is reading really well.

Alden is doing well, but realizing Grand Section (Kindergarten) is a lot of work. He is so cute. Each day he tells me that they have toys in his room, but they never get to play with them. So finally on Friday as we were walking home he said to me, "Mommy, can toys be decorations?" I asked, "Why do you say that sweetheart?" Alden replied, "Well Mommy, I think the toys in my class must just be decorations, because I don't think we are ever going to get to play with them!" I love that boy!

Adalee is excited about school, but by the end of the week she started having some separation issues. She does really well until we walk in the door and she sees five other kids laying on the floor of the classroom kicking and screaming and crying for their mommies. By Thursday, she had had enough. She was clinching to me so tightly I couldn't pry her off. It was terrible. I did leave her and within about minutes she was playing happily with another little girl. When I picked her up, she said she had fun. So hopefully the kids will stop crying soon so she doesn't start off the day too anxious. We'll see.

This weekend has been fun and busy. We went to the Grand Place yesterday to buy two birthday presents for birthday parties we have this weekend. We then had a special treat for lunch at McDonald's. We figured we all deserved a treat after our week. Yesterday Adam had a birthday party for a little Romanian girl. He had a great time. Today we are all going to a dress up birthday party for a little Canadian/Italian girl.

Abrahm is doing well and staying busy. Please pray for us all this week to have a better week and for things to go a little more smoothly.

Alden and Adalee showing off their puzzle skills while I was working with Adam on his homework. They did all these puzzles in about 30 minutes!

All of the kiddos waiting to hear what they were supposed to be doing on the first day of soccer class.

Adam kicking the ball

Kicking the ball

More drills

Look at him jump!

Alden jumping over the cones

Ready to hit the ball

An action shot of Adam