Septmonts bis

We visited Septmonts back in March with some friends, and thought that would make another good visit with my parents, since we finally got some semi-sunny weather yesterday. 

The boys had a great time running around the grounds. There were only nine other tourists there while we were, so we had the place almost all to ourselves, and this is one of the few sites in France where you're allowed to walk on the grass. 

We climbed up to the top of the tower, and all managed to make it back down as well.

the grandparents are here!

My parents arrived on Tuesday morning... and we put them straight to work digging the tulip bulbs out of the front yard. Noah asks Grandma often to go "diggering" outside.

The weather has been kind of crummy so far - gray, overcast, chilly - so we hung around the house a lot. We call that "giving them time to get over jet lag" to make it seem more appealing. I'm not sure they are falling for it. Then again, after the crazy heat and humidity of St Louis, you'd think they'd be rejoicing in cold, gray weather, right?

Hide and Seek

We haven't been going outside much lately since we're getting all the rain those of you in the midwest wish you you were getting. So Hide and Seek has become the latest game of choice, but hiding places are somewhat limited around here. 

I find this game very amusing to watch, because Noah, my little Ostrich Boy, goes into the guest room and hides his head under the bed, leaving the rest of his body visible on the floor.

If he does manage to hide completely, and someone calls out, "Where are you?" he replies, "Under the bed!" or "In the living room!" 

Also, neither boy counts to 10 or 20 when they play. Each counts to 12 or 13. 

And Frédéric can talk to them from his hiding place, and they still take an inordinately long time to find him.... because they walk towards his voice, and when he stops talking, they walk back away into a different room, as though he must have moved. 

I asked Frédéric if he *had* to look for them when they were hiding... wonder how long they'd stay hidden - how much peace and quiet could we get out of this deal?

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The garden is still hanging in there. The snow peas are done, green beans are almost done, zucchini didn't work out this year... the boys and Frédéric harvested some carrots the other day, and if it ever stops raining, we may get tomatoes soon. 

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Now our summer marathon begins... friends are coming for lunch Monday, my parents arrive Tuesday for three weeks, when they leave, other friends come, and after that we may take an overnight trip with other friends - and then it will be back to school time! (Hooray!)

Noah's Theological Musings

Noah: If our food is hot, we pray.
Me: We pray because our food is hot?
Noah: Yes.
Me: No, we pray to say thank you to God, because he gives us food.
Noah: Are you God?
Me: What?! No...
Noah: But you give us food.

Note to self: Quit while you're ahead

Me: Do you know who is coming to see you?
Noah: Grandma and Grandad.
Me: And you are happy?
Noah: Yes, I'm going to give all the hugs to Grandad.
Me: Oh?
Noah: And all the kisses to Grandma.
Me: You're going to give all the hugs to Grandad and all the kisses to Grandma? Why?
Noah: So you will not have some.

More reading & writing and the Great Tomato Massacre

Where shall we hide the knives to prevent this from happening again? Is he a mischief maker, or a budding chef? I guess time will tell...

Benjamin is discovering the joy of writing... he made this sign for his door all by himself.

It says "si vo vole rntre vo deone votre tice" which translates to "si vous voulez rentrez, vous donnez votre ticket" or "if you want to come in, you give your ticket." And yes, he does insist we give him a ticket to go in his room now. But he explained to us that we only needed to give him a pretend ticket.

He also drew this picture of battling tops (Beyblade Metal Fusion, for those who may not be in the know), with the caption: "le topi fun la bagar", which means "les toupies font la bagarre" or "the tops are fighting."

Noah told me the other day that he & Daddy were exhausted after making lunch and had to rest.

Also in recent news, friends from England came for lunch last weekend, and we went to a friend's 3rd birthday party in Paris this week. Now we anxiously await the arrival of my parents - Noah has been coming up and telling me, out of the blue, "Grandma and Grandad should come see me." So I dialed the phone for him and let him tell them that himself! I'm not sure if that is what did the trick or not, but one way or another they decided to come visit us for a few weeks this summer.

School's out for the summer... or is it?

And: How your child can embarrass you when you're not even there.

Benjamin managed that by bringing home his slippers last Friday, the last day of school. They were brand new in September; I have proof:

After 9 months of school - really only 7 once you take out the vacations - and they don't wear their slippers every day... they came home looking like THIS.

(What on EARTH do they do in school in their slippers that would bring them to this point of utter destruction??)

Frédéric and I were pretty mortified that he'd been using these at school in this condition - his feet were coming out of the bottoms of them! We told him we would have bought him new ones if he had *told* us the shape they were in... we did already buy him new ones for next year. Hoping they will last longer than these did! 

 As some of you saw on Facebook, I bought Benjamin a summer workbook. (One of those things I would never have imagined myself doing.) This one is mainly about writing, as his handwriting seems to have gone downhill over the past few months. He wasn't thrilled to see the book at first, but when he realized it was a "CP" (1st grade) book, he because very excited AND confident he could do it all. He says he wants to show his work to his teacher in September. 

That's cursive he's working on - they go pretty quickly here from "ronds et batons" ("circles and sticks" - printing) to "attaché" (cursive), so he's been doing cursive all year in kindergarten.

He's already gone through so many pages this week, I told him I'd have to go buy him another one, and he just giggled.

He also likes to play "the game with words" that Claudia Uccello got for him last year:

He is great at the math questions! He kindly leaves the "easy" questions like "What type of animal is Winnie-the-Pooh" for Noah, so he can play, too.

Latest Tidbits from the Mouths of Babes

Noah, putting on his socks: "Is it the right feet?"
Me: "Socks don't have feet."
Noah, matter of factly: "And no nose, and no mouth, and no eyes, and no hands, and nothing." 

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Benjamin: "When I am bigger and I'm a mommy..."
Me, interrupting: "You will never be a mommy. You can be a daddy."
Benjamin: "But! We already have a daddy! We don't need another daddy!"
Me: "But we need another mommy?!? You can be a daddy and have your OWN kids."
Benjamin: "Oh no, that's silly!" 

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  On our way home from the mountains... 

Noah: "I want to go potty outside."
Frédéric, trying to reason with him: "Noah, is candy for animals or for little kids?"
Noah: "Little kids!"
Frédéric: "And who are potties for?" (yeah, I'm not sure of his logic here either, but go with it)
Noah: "Benjamin!"