Pumpkin Pie

We celebrated Thanksgiving dinner on Sunday, November 25th instead of Thursday, November 22nd since France does not celebrate this holiday so no day off :-(

So, we had the typical delicious American fare for dinner of turkey, stuffing, green bean casserole, cranberry sauce, mashed potatoes & gravy.  Some of the ingredients compliments of the American store in Paris called the 'Thanksgiving shop' (how appropriate).  After dinner we had pumpkin pie and Noah tried it this year.

When Noah tried the pie he made a strange face so we asked him if he liked it and he smiled and said 'C'est bizarre!'  What a little funny guy!

Map man Noah

We woke up today with the sun shining after 7 days straight of rain so we decided we had to get out of the house.  We asked Noah what he wanted to do and he said 'Let's go see a castle'  Ha - just kidding!  He wanted to play with his trucks & watch a movie but we decided to go check out a nearby castle we have heard about.

Chateau Harcout was our destination and was about 1 hour from our house.  The castle was built in the 1200's and is still in good condition.  We arrived at 1 p.m. to find out that they open from 2-6 p.m. during the fall/winter season.  Luckily, Kurt had packed a picnic lunch so we had a nice leisurely lunch.

Once they opened we went through the information area to pay and received our map of the castle grounds and the surrounding arboretuem.  Right away Noah heard the word 'map' and decided he would show us where to go.
To give some background on 'why Noah thought he would be the best map man' let me explain a game we played last weekend.  It was rainy outside all weekend and we had some stickers for Noah.  On Sunday, Kurt decided to draw a map of the house to have Noah find the stickers.  He was excited to figure out the map and apparently he understands what is behind maps now.

So, Noah is now the man in charge of directions so watch out!

Our new dinner guest, Auréléa!

Auréléa has really been studying us while we eat dinner and even tries to grab our forks & spoons (and sometimes our food).  So, we started her on green beans and apple sauce (with prunes) and she is really proud to have her own seat at the table.

Here is the aftermath and as you can see she did a good job of keeping herself pretty clean.  We can't say the same for us since there were a few high flying moments where her arms took over.  The result :  green beans in my eyes and on Kurt's sweater.  Noah has been able to stay clean so far.

Auréléa's 1st tooth

That's right folks, it's that time again!  Her first tooth broke through on the bottom of her mouth.  She's been a real trooper considering how it must fel for your teeth to come in for the first time.

Kathleen comes for a visit

Kathleen was working close by (in the Netherlands - only 5 1/2 hours away) so she decided to drive herself down to stay with us for the weekend.  We were really excited and a little worried about her driving by herself at night.  But have no fear - she rocked it!  She made it to our back neighborhood gate 1/2 hour earlier than planned with no calls to us for directions (keep in mind that we live in the countryside of Normandy where there are roads that are not even marked) - Go Kathleen!

And we had a fun filled weekend with her.  We visited the Normandy beaches on Saturday during the day and hit Paris for the evening for dinner.  Then on Sunday we had a leisurely breakfast, played a quick game of 'petunk' (French bocci ball) and then she was off to work again. 

Thanks for stopping in Kathleen - come back anytime!

Noah's 'travail'

Noah is settling in well to his new school with his new friends.  Tonight, I asked him how it was going and what he had done all day.

Noah:  'Je fait le travail Maman!'  (I was doing work Mom!)
Me:  'Really Noah, what kind of work were you doing?'
Noah:  J'ecrit mon prénom Maman. (I was writing my first name Mom)
Me:  Really, you were writing your name, cool!'
Noah: Et je fait D, E, F, G...... (And I did D,E,F & G)
Me/  Really cool Noah, what starts with a 'D'?
Noah:  I don't know Mom.

And then he went to get a piece of paper with his work from the day to show us.   We noticed his name was written on it so we asked if the teacher wrote his name on his work for him.  He said, "No, Maman, c'est moi!" (No, Mom, it was me).  For some silly reaon we didn't believe him so we asked him to show us & Voila - show us he did!

Funny kid!  But Bravo to the school for starting to teach him to write his name and the alphabet in the 1st month!

Auréléa Turns Over!

It's been a crazy week for us all and in the midst we had a new event.....Auréléa, our 'petite chaton' (small kitten) turned over for the first time and she is a pro.

I think she has been practicing this new skill in secret she's so good at it or she is just really excited to have a 'new move'.  The only problem is she is stuck there sometimes as she is not yet consistent on rolling back over.

Here is the video event:

Auréléa Rolls Over! from kurt cerny on Vimeo.

Noah the French Teacher

Noah started at the Ecole Maternelle in the next village over on September 4th.  He had done a couple 'orientation' months in May & June before the summer to learn the rythm of the school.  So, now he is in the deuxieme '2nd' class. 

So school started on a Tuesday and on Wednesdays all schools between the ages of 3 - 15 are closed.  So, the French like to re-live the agony of the 1st day of school twice.  Once on Tuesday and once on Thursday.  Tuesday was difficult and Noah (along with alot of his classmates) was very upset but on Thursday he was a champ and went right into his room.  And now he is a pro, not even stopping to give 'bisous' (kisses) to his dad :-(

So, the 1st week we were asking him the name of his teacher and his new friends.  He did not know anyone's name yet.  We made it his 'homework' to find out and remember what everyone's names were and finally the following Tuesday he remembered.  During dinner we were asking Noah about his school day and the teachers name.  Finally he said 'Anne Frédérique' - OK, now we are getting somewhere, a week later.  So we said, ahhhh......'Anne Frédérique.'  He laughed at us and said, 'No, not Anne blablahblahblah, Anne Fré-dér-rique Papa!'  So, we repeated it again slowly, 'Anne Fré-dér-rique'.  Then again he said 'No, not Anne blahblahblah', Anne Fré-der-rique......'

We tried to also learn the name of his friends, Mateo, Mathias & Antoine......and we had the same lessons....'Ma-te-o, Maman!' and 'Ma-thi-as, Papa'.  We thought that was what we were saying :-(

We finally explained to Noah that we are from a different country where we only spoke English and it is difficult for us to speak French with the 'cool' accent that he has learned.  Not sure it got through to him but we will keep on practicing......Anne Fré-dér-rique........

Noah reading to Auréléa

I caught Noah reading Thomas the Train to Auréléa on Sunday morning.  He was pretty adorable and she seemed to really enjoy it.

C:RaniMOV017 from kurt cerny on Vimeo.

Auréléa & Noah's Photo Shoot

We decided to get some pictures done of Auréléa & Noah before she grew too big.  We found a photographer outside of Paris called 'Nuage en bouteille' (Cloud in a bottle), doesn't that sound nice?  They were a couple with a few children of their own and we worked with them for almost 4 hours, yikes!  During this time we were able to capture Auréléa in a few different moods - naptime, wide awake, hungry time and smiley time.  Noah was a trooper through the whole thing and we got some good shots of him too.  Here are a few good ones for your sampling.

Lookin' good Noah!

Naptime...zzzzzzz

Cou cou everyone!

Cutie pie!

OK - Are we done yet?