Well, it has certainly been a while since I last posted. To borrow from a fellow blogger, (Hi Beth!), I have not been visited by the ghosts of favourite past blogs, or ghosts of the past year, nor have I been visited by the ghost of New Year Resolutions yet to be!! For starters, I don't make resolutions. (Neither do I resolve to not make resolutions, lol!) I work on a continuous feed of self-reflection and proceed (or procrastinate about proceeding) from there. ;p

There is so much to share since my last post - how much I enjoyed my French class in Toulouse, but not the accompanying strike action on the Toulouse metro lines; the delight with which my children decorated the tree with candy canes and chocolate, and their excitement that Santa Claus AND Père Noël visited them chez nous; my delight with the French tradition (as described in generic examples during my class) of Champagne & smoked salmon & oysters & many deserts to help celebrate Christmas; the crummy weather that we are experiencing; little cultural differences that show up in things like variable power rates and strike action and lack of Christmas commercialism (for toys, but food totally takes over here); Margo starting school - that my head is spinning, and not just from the migraines that have been periodically plaguing my existence (again) these last months.

Margo starting school is, I think, the biggest change around here lately. She absolutely adores school, once she got used to the idea that yes, she does attend the same school as the boys. (She is cool with it since she realised that she has her own classroom.) The language doesn't seem to matter much to her - she knows that they are different languages, and she's absorbing it all very quickly. I love how she "sneaks" up onto a chair behind me, puts her arms around my neck, and pops her face next to mine, cheerily saying "Cou-cou! Cou-cou, Mama!!" She had her first rough morning at school today, six days into this new adventure (she only attends mornings) - she apparently cried off and on all morning long. Tomorrow is a day off, then we'll see what Thursday brings.

Riley is understanding everything French these days, and is speaking it quite well, too. He is also very excited and pleased that they are now starting English class at school, and he likes to sit beside the teacher and "help". Lloyd was talking to him only in French the other evening, and Riley understood everything perfectly, but kept replying in English. Finally, he got tired of Lloyd speaking French, and told Lloyd to just speak English, already! Lloyd asked him why (in French), and Riley replied, "Because when you talk in French it makes my throat hurt!" LOL!

And Carson, my poor boy, has been to the Doctor twice in the last two months. One ear infection in December, and now, today, Scarlatina. He has medication to take, and hopefully his (very itchy) rash fades very quickly. But, he is being a very good sport about it all. It's just, this boy of mine hardly ever gets sick. I can't remember the last time he was at the Doctor for anything sickness related, and now, he's been twice, one month apart. (I have to say that I quite like this Doctor. He has a very gentle manner, and has a lovely twinkle in his eye. He explained things very well to Carson, and was even teasing him a bit. We asked how easily the virus would spread to others (ie. little brother and sister) and the Doctor asked Carson if he had a fiancee, or girlfriends, and if so, no kissing! Carson was eyeballing him a bit warily, and as soon as the door closed behind us as we left the office, Carson blurted out, "He was just joking, right?!?" ) Carson is also quite sad that he has to miss school for the rest of the week, but he was a bit better about it when Lloyd promised that we would get his homework for him each day from his teacher.

So, the week that I had planned of hopping from sale to sale, blissful in my state of sans enfants has been postponed. While Lloyd and Mr. Visa breathe great big sighs of relief, I admit to being somewhat ambivalent about the whole change of plans. I have great things to plan for, such as a visit from two very special young ladies (HI! Laura & Meghan!!) in February (with a side trip to Barcelona, baby), and food colouring to find so that I may make and decorate not one, not two, but THREE birthday cakes for our last three months in France! I have purchased a Mickey Mouse cake pan, as well as decorating tips, etc, and I only need to find the colouring for the icing!

It's hard to believe we are just three months and three days from our return home. Some days, I want to go back to MY house - my space and my books and my pets (oh, my pets!) and my friends and family and my comfortable place of being me - and others, I think about the friends we are making, and the culture we are slowly starting to tease open to maybe understand a little bit more, and think, we are going back so soon?? But mostly, I am ready to go home. And if Margo starts in again with "I want to go back to the old house! I want my babydolls, Mama!" [insert sobs and tears and snot and quivering lip here] (hers, not mine... yet), I will be packing us up in three shakes of Margo's mouton that she thrills to see out the car windows and whisking us off, back to Saskatchewan.