Those who love us

 Here are a few photos to finish off 2012.  We want to say thanks to all the people who love us, and who love Estelle & Léna from near and from far.

 Doesn't that little girl look pretty cosy with her grandmother reading to her?

 Here's what we did on NY's Eve:  I learned how to play a French card game called "Beulot".  It was a lot like "Pitch", a game I played in college.  But more confusing!

 The photo above shows the ultimate, ultimate perfect hand you could ever possible have when playing Beulot.  Guy got it!  For the first time in his life, or ever in his experience of playing the game has he ever seen anyone get it!

 We had to take a photo to prove it.  A good omen for 2013.
Below:  when we returned to Nice from Angers on Jan 1st, we had a package from Aunt Martha!

 Along with some yummy maple treats, we have a nice Madeline book.

 More importantly, I got this:

 It's a wall tin.  Love it!

 Thank god for the iPAD.  It sure helped on the plane.

 And now that Estelle can read, there are many possibilities:

 Santa's gift:  LalaLoopsy Silly Hair dolls.

After suffering this past week thru the worst roller-coaster in my professional adult career, I am looking at the first part of 2013 with a different plan/schedule than the one I thought I had.  When one door closes, another one opens, hopefully.  Thanks to those who love us for your support on life's rollercoasters.

Epiphany Party!

2 weeks ago we had a nice visit from Thomas, my "old" student - he is Xavier & Valerie's son (the olive tree people).  He was leaving the next day for La Reunion (Reunion Island in the Indian Ocean) where he will be for 2 1/2 years as his first post as an officer in the French Navy.  Thomas has recently graduated  from the French Naval Academy, where he was "majeur", which means he was #1 in his class.  This is a very important distinction - and he says it's partly due to his good English! :-)

 Perhaps the most amazing thing about Thomas is that when I met him he was 11 years old.  Now he is REALLY REALLY tall!

At 6 p.m. that evening we welcomed 27 people into our tiny flat to say Happy New Year to our friends whom we hadn't see since we'd left for Angers.

 

This is just a fraction of the food we had.  I kind of overdid it!  And people brought great stuff to share.

 
Meanwhile, the calmest moment of the evening was when I fed the 10 "big" kids in the kitchen.  This was the most contained they were the whole night.

 

Above: Lena, Celestin, Eva, Maelys, Louise.  

Below: Estelle, Flora, Eliott, Milo, Charlotte 

Not pictured:  baby Thomas, Basile, Chloé

 
Emmanuelle et Regis, parents to Charlotte, Maelys, & little Thomas who walked around in his pj's all night.  I did find him exploring the medecine cabinet at one point!

Thomas in action with Caroline (Milo & Chloe's mom, Jef's wife) behind...

Fransiska full of smiles since Thomas was "managing" Basile behind here.  Yannick looks on (Flora's dad - his wife Lisa & baby Rose were home with the stomach bug.)

This is most of the adults: Fransiska standing, then Yannick, Marie (Eva & Louise's mom), Manu, Regis, Jef, Arnaud (Eliott & Basile's dad) and lastly Marion (Celestin's mom) who is sitting down having a chat with little Basile who didn't want to let go of his Mommy Fransiska all night.  Wandering in the middle is baby Thomas.  Chloé was asleep in our bedroom in her stroller.  And see that closed door in the background to Léna's room?  That's where the other 10 kids were at this point, piled on Léna's bed, watching a film at 9:30 p.m.

Regis played a lot of piano for us - he is an organist for fun.

It was fun.  Tiring, but fun!

Christmas in Angers

Sunday December 23rd - we flew to Angers.

We had fun in Angers with Papy, Manou & Agnes....

We saw our friend Virginie Saulnier, who lives in Oregon.

Christmas Eve was a beautiful sight when we returned home from the evening mass.

Shoes on the hearth to welcome gifts from Pere Noel.

This amazing buche that Guy made himself!

Two happy little girls on Christmas morning!

 

This little game called "Dobble" is great for kids to play WITH adults - easy and fun, even Léna can do it.

Estelle got many wonderful games and creative gifts.

Léna got a lot of Playmobile!

That afternoon we went over to the Saulnier's for Christmas evening.  It was great!

A few cakes....

Playing Dobble:  Thomas, Virgine, Roland, Guy, Agnes, Estelle & Claudine.

My cookies (cut-outs, M & M's and peanut butter) look pretty good on that tablecloth!  No match for Guy's (2nd!) buche.

Later Dorothée & Arnaud joined us too.

At 11 p.m.  Thomas and I went home with Léna.  Estelle stayed on to play games!  A lovely evening.

Having fun with Agnes.

One of Léna's gifts:  baker's hat & apron!

One sunny morning, we walked around Pruniers.  This is the church where we were married 7 1/2 years ago.

A nice walk around the neighborhood - there is this little path between the housing circles.

It was a lovely time and we came back to Nice on New Year's Day.  I enjoyed a few days with the girls, using the time to unpack, put away Christmas, and get ready for a big party we had here on the 5th.