I am a week behind!  Not too much happening the first week but Christmas week was fun- with one exception!  Going back- Chris's dad and wife Laura arrived. Kids were thrilled to see them.   I think they are appreciating family much more now.  Hugs seem to last much longer!  Alex and Olivia had their winter school musical performance.  Kids sang songs in French and played different instruments.  Chris's dad was a hit at the school.  As he speaks 7 languages fluently and is knowledgeable of several others-  he was excited to speak English, French, Spanish, Russian, and Chinese within the first 10 minutes of our arrival.  The kids from Korea and Japan were equally excited as he spoke with them as well.  Thursday was the kids last day of school as they celebrated their school party.

Bonpapa reading french books

Luciana waiting for the show

Friday,  I went to Champs Elysees with Olivia to meet up with her friend and her mom.  We went out for lunch and took the girls ice skating.  There are several ice skating rinks set up for the season throughout Paris.  Christmas is really a nice time to visit Paris.  Not too many tourists and lots of marches (outdoor markets) and holiday festivities.   The weather also has been pleasant.  It has averaged 50 degrees this month- I can not say I miss the freezing Midwestern temps and snow!  I have been told that  in January and February we may see some snow here and colder temps.  Saturday, we had our date night.  We started off with a bit of shopping for me.  Chris was my stylist and selected some nice pieces.  Of course- most everything was black!  Please note to anyone visiting Paris- bring black clothing. Anything else looks out of place!  For dinner we were joined by Chris's co-worker and husband who were visiting.

This past Monday, Alex was invited to Disneyland Paris.  When someone offers to bring your child to Disneyland- you don't pass it up!  He had a great time with a school friend.  We also had a nice visit from Chris's cousin Laure, her husband and son.  Tuesday- was Christmas Eve.  I spent most of the day preparing my french menu as we have one small oven!  For starters- Coquilles Saint-Jacques , Gougeres (cheese puffs)  and Foie Gras with apricots.  For the main course- beef bourgandy, mustered herb roasted potatoes,  and browned garlic brussels sprouts.  I had to add the foie gras as it is the most popular french delicacy.  It is quite expensive.  Unlike pate, it  is a made from the liver of a specially fattened duck.  These ducks are force fed so that they have large amount of fat in the liver and  produces a buttery consistency.  It really is quite sad as these ducks or geese are fed to the point where they can't even walk!  I don't care for the taste either and the kids wouldn't even try it (I should not have said what it was).  Bonpapa and Laura took the 3 older kids to church while Chris and I prepared the appetizers.

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Christmas Day! What a wonderful time of year! Alex woke up at 1:30, 3, 4 and 5:45am. He kept coming into our room asking if it was time to open gifts. Finally at 6- the three older kids came in as excited as can be. They then went to wake up Luciana . They were thrilled to see the tree with lots of gifts for all. The topper was we had one last gift tucked hidden away. Kids read the note - it said the kids deserved something extra special for getting excellent marks in school but the parents could take it away at anytime....an iPhone for Olivia and iPod touches for Alex and Olivia. There was disbelief from Olivia, smiles from Alex, and screaming and jumping from Emilia. Luciana was just as happy with her pink Minnie mouse purse. We had a nice brunch as I prepared gingerbread crepes and a Quiche Lorraine. I do enjoy cooking- but could use a day off! Luciana has been coughing for weeks and has had an on and off fever for the last 6 days. She was fine until lunch and then she fell asleep and woke up with a 104.5 fever. I have never had any child with such a high temp- we took her to the ER and sadly there were many children spending their Xmas there After a couple hours of waiting and xrays, she was diagnosed with a chest infection. Poor goopy is now on antibiotics for the next 8 days. There was absolutely no charge for the visit! We just had to pay $9 for 2 boxes of antibiotics and fever reducer medicine.

Kids woke up goopy at 6:30

Opening stockings

the new keyboard from santa

sick goopy

I pretty much spent the remainder of the week indoors with Luciana while their grandfather took one kid per day to different excursions- included a trip to Chateau de Vincennes.

Bonpapa and Olivia

Saturday evening we went to a Moroccan restaurant for dinner to give the kids a taste of what is to come! Tomorrow we are headed to Morocco!! We have quite the tour set up that includes two nights in a luxury tent in the Sahara......I will post lots of pics upon our return!

Alex and Laura

Goopy feeling better!!!

The last Petrini-Poli boys!