I'm leaving on a jet plane...

Some of you may be wondering why I was stuck in a hotel for a month in DC. (Just in case you haven't been following along on Facebook). We were originally supposed to fly out on March 11th, but our visas weren't ready. With no fault of ours, things were delayed and we were told repeatedly, "they'll be ready tomorrow." We kept hoping for them to be done quickly and kept moving our airplane tickets back a few days at a time. Anyway, I am happy to report that we got our visas today. We actually moved our flight up a few days and we are flying out Thursday night. (Yes that's April Fool's Day, and no, I'm not joking). The flight leaves around 10 PM and we arrive on Friday around 11 AM Paris time. We are hoping that the boys will sleep most of the night. We shall see. I think the seats all have little TV's in them. We are going to a temporary apartment for a couple weeks and then actually go to our place. I'm perfectly fine with that because the temporary apartment is a couple blocks away from the Eiffel Tower! And around the corner from a Boulangerie! Things are looking better. Now if only it would stop raining in Paris!

Being tourists (in our own town)

A castle at the Smithsonian. I know these aren't cherry blossoms, but they're pretty.




In a way it's a good thing we're still in VA instead of Paris. There have been some very nice days outside. Every time I check the weather for Paris it's raining. I will gladly welcome the blue skies and warm weather. We have taken advantage of it by going to the Zoo and the National History Museum in DC. Both have been very nice days. Perhaps if we're here long enough, we'll head over to the Museum of America History and the National Building Museum.

It's nice that Matt reads so well. It makes a trip to the museum more interesting. Perhaps he will be like his father and read about things at a museum (unlike me who barely pauses as I walk by). Don't get me wrong, I like going to museums. It's just that there are some things that catch my eye more than vampire bats or the history of some fossil or airplane.

We bought Timmy a harness. I figured that he needed to get used to it before Paris. We tested it out today. I slipped it on him while he was distracted by something on a TV. After that he didn't seem to notice it. He was intrigued by the things on the TVs on the floor.
He loved to be able to touch things. And he even managed to find something that had a button and he pushed it over and over again. That boy loves to push buttons.

Last Saturday we went to the National Zoo. It was a very nice day and therefore very crowded.

D.C through the eyes of a child

My parents got the boys digital cameras for Christmas. I thought it would be fun for the boys to take pictures of Paris with their own cameras. The cameras don't have a flash, so some of their pictures may be hard to see. Or they may be a bit unfocused because they need to hold the camera still. I let the boys practice while we went to DC. Here are some pictures from the National History Museum.
Up close and personal with dinosaur teeth.
Up close and personal with mountain lion teeth.

A tiger getting ready to pounce. Actually it looks like it is moving from the way the boys took the picture.

We have more on another camera, but we accidentally forgot to bring the USB cord for the computer. So those pictures will have to wait until our stuff arrives via slow boat.

My life in a hotel

We have been in a hotel since March 2, 2010. With 3 kids. Thankfully it is fully paid for and we got a suite with a living/kitchenette area, and two bedrooms each with their own bathroom. It seems like we have more space than we did in our 687 sq ft apartment in SLC. As potentially horrible as it could be with 3 kids, the boys are holding up well and they all sleep just fine in the same room. We have a makeshift wall between the boys bed and Timmy's bed. The couch cushions help block Timmy's view.
Matt and Thomas share a king sized bed. The 4th night here Thomas rolled off the bed and whacked his head on the corner of the side table. After carrying him in to our room I noticed that the back of his head was bleeding. There wasn't too much of a goose egg, but there was a cut. So I called the on call nurse to figure out if he needed an ER visit. I woke him up every couple hours throughout the whole night asking him questions. (neurological checks), and hoping that he wouldn't throw up (a sign of a concussion). He was fine the next day and slept just fine. I, however, did not.

We've spent a lot of time at Chuck E Cheese. The weather was a bit rainy for the first week. I treated the boys to cotton candy with the tickets they earned. The next morning Thomas helped himself to a lot of cotton candy and threw up for the rest of the morning. His cold also got worse and we ended up borrowing a nebulizer to give him breathing treatments.

It's not all bad. We are allowed a daily allowance for food and therefore we eat out alot. I thought it would be a lot of fun not having to come up with what to cook and I don't have to cook it. However, with a 20 month child in tow, it is a lot more difficult to go out to eat in nice places. we have gotten a babysitter a couple times so we could go out for an adult dinner. The boys have really enjoyed Olive Garden. And they were so excited to get Happy Meals because there were Star Wars toys. I think that the boys have eaten macaroni and cheese just about everywhere we have gone. In the end, they both still agree that my homemade mac & cheese is the best. One result of going out so often is that Timmy has now mastered using a straw. He's very pleased with himself. Also a result of using a straw is that he has also tried his first taste of root beer. He loves it. It's funny to see his little eyebrows go up when it is something that he likes.

The boys like being stuck in a hotel. They like going to the pool. I have to admit that it is helping them to be better swimmers and less afraid of the water. Matt has improved so much since last summer. He is now willing to blow bubbles, and get water in his face. It's too bad we never lived in an area with a pool (or I was never willing to shell out hundreds of dollars for a pool pass). I guess the longer we're here, the better he will be. I think that the school in France does swimming every once in a while. The boys met a French Canadian family at the pool and they got very excited when they heard them speaking French. They are learning new french words every day.
The boys have learned how to entertain themselves in a hotel room. They play hide and seek. Thomas needs to learn to stay in one place while counting. The two older boys really enjoy hiding and let Timmy do the seeking. The boys hide under the covers and then jump out and Timmy giggles. They also play cars. We've only lost one under the refrigerator. Doug has hooked up the PS3 so now they can also play video games.
Timmy discovered the kitchen utensils and he plays with them. The other two boys also took his lead and they have used them for lightsaber duels and they pretend that the pasta ladle is a dinosaur with big teeth that likes to eat cars. I have yet to get out the Lego sets I have packed and all the other Little People toys. I'm hoping to hold them in reserve until Paris.

Peek!

Every once in a while I will look at the pictures of our apartment in Paris, or Google the street view. It does help me to keep looking forward to it. One day as I was "walking" down the Champs Elysee's, I started thinking of the song. So I googled it and played it for the boys. We learned some of the words and then got a little silly.

My boys have some interesting dance moves. Play the song in the video and then play the dancing video at the same time. I don't have sound on the camera.

Matt and I do "Mommy and Matt school" every day. I took him out of school on the 9th thinking that we would fly out on the 11th. He reads a 'Magic Tree House" book everyday and I have him write a report about it. (what happened, what he learned, where it took place, and his favorite part). I actually had 6 new books being held in reserve for when we got to Paris, but he read all of those and we had to go to the library to get more. We do math time with story problems. We have spelling tests. I've found a couple web sites where kids can play educational games online. I really don't know how people home school their kids. Then again, maybe they're a lot more organized than me.

At the end of the day, all of my boys are still pretty tired.
Hopefully we're out of here soon. Everyday I think of my fresh baguette. I probably ought to use this extra time to brush up on my french. I'm hoping that it will all come back shortly after getting to Paris. About a month ago, I sat down and watched "la Belle et la Bete" en francais. (Beauty and the Beast). The boys even sat down to watch it with me and they watched the whole thing with minimal explanations. I found that after watching it, I was thinking in French the rest of the evening. There is hope that it will come back!

Chuck E Cheese

I have discovered Chuck E Cheese as a place to go when people need to release energy on a bad weather day and also on days when I need to get refill after refill of Diet Coke. It's been fun watching Timmy learn how to play there. I used to have alot of really funny pictures of Timmy on my phone when he was little, but my phone broke and then they were lost. Picture an 8 month old with his little face squished up against the clear plastic window of a play area. It was hilarious. Oh well. Here are some pictures of our most recent visit.

No, that is not Timmy in between the boys. We went with a friend.

Happy 10th Anniversary to us!

Ten years ago today I was married for time and all eternity to the man I love. Some days the time has gone by really fast. Someone told us recently, "You look too young to have been married for 10 years."Years ago I was planning on finding a babysitter and taking a cruise with just the two of us for the big 10 year anniversary. But then we got a position in Paris. While we are still in a hotel, and eating out all the time, it's not the same. We still got a babysitter for the evening and were able to enjoy ourselves. And we will be in Paris, so I can't complain. Maybe we'll still take a cruise, but on the Mediterranean instead. Does anyone want to come over to be our babysitter?!

I am grateful that we are moving to Paris. I am very excited to get back to the French people and the wonderful bread. I am also looking forward to a different way of life which will include less processed food and more walking. Although things are stressful in order to get there, I am still very excited.

I am very proud of Doug for all that he has accomplished. When I got to visit his work for his farewell party, people had nothing but praise for him. He is a hard worker and very dependable. When he says he's going to do something, he will. And he will do it very well. I do love that he is such a great example to many around him. I hope that I can raise my boys to be as dependable, hard working, and trustworthy as he is. I never did get to thank his mom for doing such a wonderful job raising him. I wonder how she did it so I can do the same. Thank you to everyone who has been such a great influence on my husband in order to make him the wonderful man he is today.
For past Wedding anniversary tributes check out the blog archive:
2009: http://jenos-h.blogspot.com/2009/03/happliy-ever-after.html
2008: http://jenos-h.blogspot.com/2008/03/happy-anniversary-to-us.html