Yep. I'm sick. I knew it was coming for about a week, but it finally hit me on Friday, and boy did it hit me hard. I have been in bed for 2 days straight now with not even enough energy to make it outside or even eat. I am beginning to feel a little bit better, so this blog is the product of me not being able to sleep for a second longer, and being bored to tears.
There's something comforting about being able to skype with my parents whenever I want, but especially when I feel like this, I just want the comforts of home that much closer. Today, I was lucky to catch my parents on skype just as they were heading out to catch a movie and shop for Paris clothes together (and they say they don't like being empty nesters...HA!). While my mom is computer savvy (enough) to be able to understand how things work, my dad is still kind of in that baby phase where he's fascinated by computers. So whenever I skype them and he happens to be home, he likes to put his face right up to the camera and say "can you see me?.....can you see me now?" and make silly faces just to see himself on camera. While I originally laughed out of embarrassment (even though no one else is watching, except maybe the government), I now find it endearing because it is just another cute little thing about my dad that I love. He probably won't like that I just called him "cute", but it's ok, Dad, at least I didn't tell them you cried in The Notebook!...oops! So, needless to say, as crappy as I have been feeling all weekend, it brought me great joy to be able to skype my parents and get excited with them for their impending visit (10 days!!).
Nico is currently in China on business until Friday, so the kids have been replacing him with me it seems. They have been overly loving, calm, cute, and just so sweet to me the last few days. Yesterday I babysat for a couple hours in the morning while Val did some Xmas shopping, and for the whole 3 hours, we just sat at the kitchen table painting pictures and listening to Michael Jackson. They are also both beginning to get sick (oops!) so they were perfectly content sitting there calmly and quietly and painting beautiful masterpieces. So today, they begged me to come eat dinner with them. While I didn't have much of an appetite from being sick, who could say no to those precious kids! So I went down and ate with them some pumpkin curry soup, salad, goat cheese, and duck gizzards. Yep, you read that right. Here I was thinking the gizzards are only useful for gravy, leave it to France to make something out of nothing! They weren't my favorite (by any means), and they were especially not appetizing when I already don't feel great, but they really weren't THAT bad, or at least how I imagined they would be. As we are sitting at the table though, Lucien turns to me and says "Cory, why do so many people hate brussel sharts?" (for those of you who don't know what a shart is,
Read This, but to spare yourself, only read the first definition). So, my instant reaction is to completely bust out laughing, but because no one else knew what that actually was, I had to refrain as much as I could, so the only response I could manage was "I think you just answered your own question", and then proceeded to change the topic.
Not much knew to report from this week. Lots of snow, freezing temperatures, and snow fights. Wednesday Lu's soccer was canceled because of snow, so we ventured out to have a snowball fight! While the snow doesn't really stick to the ground here with all the people walking around, it does stick to benches and stumps, so we had more of a makeshift snow fight, and the kids loved it!
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| Lu plowing me in the face |
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| Alice attempting to plow me in the face |
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| I came out untainted! |
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| All the snow on my roof! |
Friday night, Ally and I made it over to the Avenue des Champs Elysees for the annual Christmas market. My first visit to Paris 2 years ago I visited this market and it is what made me fall in love with Paris. Hundreds of white chalet-type booths line both sides of the street selling crepes and other delicious goodies, as well as mulled wine, chocolates, cheeses, gifts, hats, etc. They also have lots of fun activities for kids, so it is definitely a must-do for me and the kiddos! Ally and I walked the entire length, both sides, before deciding on some yummy sausages for dinner. I, of course, managed to get ketchup and mustard ALL over my white gloves. We then topped it off with a nutella crepe for me and a chocolate waffle for Ally, so good! At this point, we decided to call it a night, because our toes and fingers were frozen beyond feeling.
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| Champs Elysees market |
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| Bad picture, but you get the idea how festive it is! That's the Arc de Triomphe in the background! |
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| Ally and her chocolate gaufre |
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| nutella crepe! |
This week, the Christmas shopping begins (and hopefully ends too)! Alice performs in her choir at school, and in her dance class, so I get 2 wonderful shows to go to as well! I will try and write back next weekend, but it's just getting busier and busier around here! Have a fabulous week, love you all!!
