French Weddings, part 1

I've been horrible at posting about all my travels lately, so today, I'm going to take the first steps to overcoming my blog neglect.

On July 2, one of my mission companions who is from France got married. My amazing in-laws offered to come take care of my family so I could be at the wedding . . .

in FRANCE!


My sister, Kim, went with me, and we had a blast participating in a beautiful French wedding for a deserving couple who looked so happy together.

So here I am, in front of the Mairie (Town Hall) where the required civil wedding takes place first.

No, town hall is not the cathedral you see. It's the little house-like building behind me.

And here they stand, with the civil authority to the right, and their required two-witnesses-each on either side of them.

Most of the ceremony went something like "according to law number this, and civil code number that, blah, blah, blah . . ." But towards the end, they spoke about the importance of children, and their duty as a married couple to raise their children with love and with respect to the laws of the land. Not an exact quote, but we thought it was very cool that they included that in a civil ceremony (the same ceremony that is used for all weddings).

Then, of course, everyone has to sign the papers right there.

When it was over, they came out to a bustle of bubbles that attacked any innocent bystanders who may have wanted to congratulate the newly married couple. (It was quite windy, and Kim, who joined the bubble-blowing children, may or may not have run off several guests with her bubble blowing skills).

And here I am, with the happy couple.

Not to let this post get too long, I'll work on adding more in the near future.

A couple of weeks ago, London played his last soccer game of the season. Unfortunately, I did not take pictures during the game as I was too busy shouting, "You're on the same team!"

But I did take a couple afterwards.

Can you tell how stoked they are about the game?

And London was very proud to have "won" a trophy. All the rest of the day (and maybe the next couple after that), he was telling everyone we met that he now had TWO trophies and TWO medals for playing soccer.

And here they are again, showing off their cool trophies.

Though his team may not have "won" a ton of games (they encourage them not to keep score), London had a lot of fun and has already told us that he wants to be signed up next year . . . as long as he gets new cleats. :)

Aren't we the proud soccer parents?

(After all, I did wile my way into Rick's heart by showing off my soccer legs . . . though hmmm . . . perhaps we should just feel lucky they don't play co-ed at this age).

Dr. Batman Socks Dances with Mary Poppins

Before Khyah was born, we found cute little baby scrubs and couldn't resist. Now, almost 2 years later, she is finally big enough to wear them. So I present to you Dr. Baby-Girl:

She was quite thrilled to put them on and knew she was dressed just like Daddy.

Then Brandt got some really cool Batman slippers for Easter. I happen to know that the Easter Bunny went all the way to France to get them. Anyway, he was quite happy to model them for you all to see:

Talk about stylin'!

Bored waiting for Mama to finish dinner, the kiddos turned on the demo setting of the piano and started dancing away. You should have heard the howls of laughter coming from the living room! I think Khyah was loudest of all. I couldn't resist sneaking in to get a photo or two:

And finally, I watched Mary Poppins with London boy today and he surprised me with his own inspired drawing afterward.

You might recognize the scene where Bert becomes a sidewalk chalk artist. :) The picture on the left is the one of the circus tent. The picture on the right is the one Mary Poppins et al jumped in. There's a bridge, and London tells me that if you follow the path across the bridge to the left, you will find the country fair.

I Like Peas, Now!

Tonight's dinner menu included peas. And despite our fervent assurances that Brandt did indeed like them, he refused to take a bite.

Us: Just take one bite. You LIKE them!
Brandt [frowning and arms folded]: I don't like peas!

We told him that he wouldn't get any popcorn for movie night tonight. He still refused. We told him he'd have to go straight to bed and miss the movie altogether. He said, "My lips are shut tight."

We set the timer. He held firm until he only had two minutes left then finally allowed me to slip half a bite into his mouth.

He chewed, angry face in tact.

He chewed some more and his face softened.

He swallowed and scrunched up his face at me: "Did that bite have peas in it?"

"It most certainly did," I told him.

Suddenly he was all smiles. "Oh. I like peas, now!"

And he gobbled up his entire plateful.

Indeed, Brandt will be watching the movie tonight. ;)

Trip to France, Part 1: FOOD

This will be short, but orders are orders (you know who you are). ;)

Lest any of you get the wrong idea about my reasons for loving France, I have chosen to post on the food first. I love, love, love their food! I love their crepes . . .

I love their croque madames and their fries . . . (and I love that they keep ketchup on hand for us American tourists)

I love their gloriously rich (in all senses of the word) chocolat chaud . . .

I love their steak-frites . . .

But most of all, I love their pastries. And I apologize that there are no pictures. They were simply so good that I ate them up before any pictures could be taken!

(I mean, who can think of taking pictures when a mouth-watering tartlette aux fraises is staring you in the face . . . or a mille feuille . . . or a religieuse . . . or some profiteroles . . . or de la glace . . . or a pain au chocolat . . .?)

More Missing Teeth

London finally lost a top tooth. He is one proud kiddo, lisp and all! And I present pictures for your viewing pleasure:

Brandt got upset this morning that London was eating all the cereal.

sigh

That's the cereal he dumped on the floor.

This picture speaks for itself, I think.

This is Brandt cleaning up his mess.

Amen.