It has been a busy week and I love it!!!

It started with a wonderful visit with our friends from our old neighbor in West Grove, PA. The Slezaks took a vacation in Paris and we were lucky enough that they took time out of their busy schedule to come by for dinner. Unfortunately I did not cook a 4 course meal but just pizza, wine and beer. It was so great to catch up with them and it was awesome that all the kids played as if they had known each other for years. It was a great night!!

The following day we were invited to watch Peyton's old school year-end performance. We did it thru Tango and it worked awesome. It was so great to see how all her friends were dancing and singing. We were also extremely touched that they made a wonderful poster with pictures of Peyton and BonJour on it. We just love her teachers, Miss Cris, Miss Diana and Miss Renu.

The next day was equally as special. Lance's old Pre-K class was having their year end performance and we used Tango once again to skype in. It was such a great performance and his old class performed a special act for Lance. It actually brought me in tears when they all held up "Lance masks" and sang Frera Jacques for him. It was so special and he was so happy. It is so amazing to see all these kids grow up and off to Kindergarten, most of them we have known since they were little babies. My friend Sharon sent me pictures of the performance. I love the one of her daughter Molly, also Lance's best friend, with the Lance mask in her hands with a big smile. Truly priceless.

During this week I also was invited by my friend Lindsay to go to a cooking class. It was a blast. The class was a good mixture of French and English speaking people so at the beginning the chef just spoke French but then translated everything into English. We mad a wonderful fish dish with vegetables, which just seemed so easy to make. Why does it seem so much easier when you are in the class, then you come home and you are just dazed and confused? The good thing was that after we made it we all sat down and ate the meal with wine and desert. In France there is always wine :-). It was so much fun and I am sad that my new friend is moving back to the states next week. I guess that is what happens when you are expats, I am sure I will experience a great deal of that in the next 3 years.

We also had the end of year performance for our Bilingual School we attend here in Paris. I had been told that the school goes all out for the year end and they weren't kidding. The performance was full of beautiful costumes and wonderful dancing. The theme was about different countires around the world. Lance represented Greece and Peyton represented China. Their costumes were awesome. Poor Peyton had a little stage fright but she just looked so darn pretty in her outfit. Lance did a wonderful job with his singing and dancing and since it is a bilingual school they sang in both english and french. At the end of the show the entire school performed a theme song for their school (in French and English). In just the two months Lance and Peyton have done very well, Keith and I are impressed with just how much French they picked up in a short amount of time.

In between all this we needed to find a place to get the kids a haircut. Keith found a barber-like shop to bring Lance and I brought Peyton to a salon. Peyton was so cute, it was only her second time getting a haircut and she was awesome. A young French guy asked her if she was ready and she went with him no problem. After the haircut she told me how handsome the guy that cut her hair was. Daddy was not happy to hear this..LOL!!! Not looking forward to her teenage years.

Besides the children's activities there was also a wonderful get together within our building, which gave us a chance to meet a great deal of our neighbors. They are all wonderful and it was amazing to hear where each of them were from and what they do. They were also nice enough to speak to us in English, but we promised them that in a few years we will be able to speak in French to them.

The next night we attended dinner at a colleagues of Keith's and it was so nice. We were a bit worried bring Lance and Peyton to his colleagues who's children are grown and out of the house. All day I kept telling them they had to be on their best behavior. The dinner was a 4 course meal and it was wonderful. The kids did well and thank God for the ipad. They just excused themselves after they had dinner and keep occupied with a movie while we chatted. It was a nice evening. Their apartment had a view of the Eiffel Tower and a highlight for the kids was seeing it all lit up. The negative is that it meant it was way too late. The sun doesn't set until 10pm here. It was a struggle getting up for their last day of school the next morning.

So then the last day of school came and because the kids were only there a short time it was not so detrimental as leaving their old school in the states and not so upsetting for Keith or I either. Everybody was right when they say how resilient children are. In another week they will start yet another school and will be there until we leave

The last thing was a wonderful evening with our new friends that are leaving to go back to the states this week. We really enjoyed meeting Lindsay, Parker and their children. We wish them all of the best and hope to keep in contact them.

Time for sleep, I am going to try to do a race in the morning.

Thanks to everyone for reading.

Life is good in Paris!!!

Lance's old classmates holding up a picture of him!! Made me cry!

Peyton had a little stage fright but looked sooo pretty!!!

Out to dinner with our new friends that are heading back to the States this week....bummer!!!