Tae has a friend!

Today Tae had a friend come over and play!!  Yay for friends for Tae!  However, it was a little touch and go...

As much as I do love our life, the traveling and seeing other parts of the world, there are down sides.  One is that we have to leave our awesome awesome family and friends and move to a place where we barely speak the language (or not at all) and we don't know anyone.  It is difficult to say the least.  When you have to translate in your head everything you want to say before you say it.  And when you work so hard to do it and think you got it just right and they just stare at you.  Yep, that's the best.

So Tae has seriously been the ultimate trooper.  He goes to a school where he can't understand anything and didn't have any friends and he hangs in there.  He doesn't cry when I leave and he is smiling when I pick him up 3 hours later.  I don't know many adults who would manage the same.  Well, with all the moving we have to do all the time, Tae doesn't have very many toys.  And it is okay, I don't want Tae to have a ton of toys or anything, but he seriously has nothing.  Like it is a little embaressing (for me).  I love that it is fine for Tae and he never complains, but when friends come over and they are like, 'This is crap.  I'm bored already.'

This is kinda what happened today.  Etienne came over.  He is a sweet kid, don't get me wrong, but after like a half hour he just wanted to watch TV.  I am thinking (total mom-like) 'Oh my gosh, I have to make this fun for him or he will never want to come over again.  He is Tae's only friend!!'  So I am down on the floor racing cars, building towers and knocking them down, trying to interest Etienne is something without truly succeeding.  I called my mom on skype, he thought that was funny for a second.  Then we were in the guest room and I threw Tae on the bed.  Yep, that is what Etienne liked.  Being thrown onto the bed.  So needless to say, that was my workout today!

I am so happy that Tae doesn't really know the difference.  He has never said that he doesn't have enough.  He asks us to buy him stuff all the time, but he never complains about what he has.  (I am sure that comes later in life)  I want him to appreciate what he has and be thankful to who gives it to him, I never want him to be a snob about toys and presents.  But the toy chest needs a little upgrade.  Now all I have to do is convince the husband.  He seems to think Tae is completely fine...

Tae on life after death

So we were walking home from school yesterday and Tae ran across the street without me.  There were no cars, thankfully, but it scared the crap out of me and made me mad because he knows better.  He just thinks he runs things...  Anyway, I was explinaing to him that he could get hit by a car because he doesn't always see things that Mommy sees.  He could get really hurt or even worse, die.  Here is kinda how it went:

Mommy: "Tae, you cannot do these things by yourself.  You have to wait for Mommy.  What if a car hit you?  Mommy wouldn't be able to have you anymore."

Tae: "Okay Mommy.  Sorry, Mommy.  Mommy?"

Mommy: "Yes, Tae?" (kinda annoyed tone)

Tae: "If I was gone from here though, I would be with God in heaven."

Mommy: "Well, um, ya, but um, Mommy wants you here."

How do you answer that?  Heaven is a better place to be.  But selfishly I want my baby with me.  Loosing Tyson this summer has brought a whole new outlook to our lives.  Always thinking about what is ultimately ahead of us.  I am so glad that my 3-year-old is realizing the same things.  Love you Tyson.

After a crazy and long weekend, things settled back into a relatively normal schedule.  Tae went back to school on Thursday and I went back to going to bed early and getting up early.  I like life with a schedule though, I am a little bit of a control freak.  We got a package from Momma!  Thank you thank you, Mom!  We love packages, but this one had something special in it.  A Camera!!  So I have pictures!!  I guess it was in her best interest to make sure I had a camera, so she could have pictures of her grandbabies.  Here is the first picture I took.  This is how Lavar feeds Eli... And yes, Eli is wearing his Bruins shirt.  Represent!



Look at those chunky legs!  (Eli's, not Lavar! haha)



Lavar had another home game on Saturday.  They lost.  Again.  Ugh it has been a rough last couple of games and Lavar is playing well, but his team needs to actually win.  It is a whole new ball game when the game is your job. I mean when he lost in college, it was like 'Ya, that's a bummer.  Okay, let's go out!"  Now it's like "Oh man, how were your stats?  What is the team's rank?  We have got to win the next one to be here.  How will this affect his contract next year."  I don't particularly like it, but Var is living the dream.  So you live it Baby!!   



Tae and his best (and only) friend, Etienne.  They listen to the huddles during the guys timeouts.



Um, so cute.

I can't stop taking pictures of him!

Those lips and cheeks!  Funny boy!

By the way, little side not.  I have to give Tae a lot more credit.  The kid is smart.  His French is improving.  He is already counting to 7, can say 'hello' 'goodbye' 'thank you' 'you're welcome' 'my name is Tae' 'mouth' 'book' and many more.  He picks up French words when people say them, sometimes.  He is doing really well.  I think it will happen faster than I will even know.  He just can't be taught French.  (Because that would mean that he doesn't know something.  Oh no, that could not be true!) 

As for me, my little French update.  After church yesterday, we were eating lunch at the missionary's house.  There was another couple there who are getting married this coming summer.  They are both French.  She offered to tutor me, but only if we speak entirely in French.  Super! That got me so excited.  Then there was another friend I met, also at church, who is an American studying at the university.  She suggested that I take a grammer course at the college.  I have never actually taken a French class, so I would LOVE to.  So Lavar and I talked about it and we are going to make it happen!!  It is every morning for 3 hours and I don'tt hink I have do that, but maybe 3 days a week.  That is what we are shooting for.  Nothing is set in stone for that, but in the works.  So I am excited and hopefully this will help me make some progress!! LOVE IT!! 

Teaching Tae French...

This is what it is like teaching Tae French. I used to think that this part of the show was a little silly and exaggerated, until I started trying to teach Tae phrases... It is seriously almost exactly the same. Hilarious. I will try to video Tae doing the same thing. French is tough, people!!

What a CRAZY weekend!! (Emergency room inculded)

I haven't written in a while.  Sorry for those of you that read it!  It is partly due to 2 things.  One is that I don't have a camera to take pictures of what we do, so I have nothing to post and I don't want to write boring posts!  Two is that I have been away all weekend at a friend's house, at the base of the French Alps.  Yep, beautiful!

Tae is on fall vacation for the last week or so.  We were a little bored at first, but then on Friday we packed up and headed out to see some wonderful friends, Eric and Emily Joldersma and their kids, Jack (8), Eva (6), Maizlynn (4), and Van (1).  Yes, you counted right, 4 kids.  But they are an incredible family and it is always fun to be around them.  Lavar met Eric and Emily when they were living in St Quentin in 2005, back when they only had 2 kids.  They are one of the few people that we know who are believers and are just wonderful people to be around.  So Friday we got there in the afternoon and Tae and Eva totally hit it off.  They had so much fun playing together.  We went to Eric's game that night.  He has been playing for 11 years, this being his 12th.  They lost, but it was kinda close, but still a loss and that always stinks.  We didn't get home until 1 in the morning I think.  Kids to bed, us to bed.  Finally.

Then Saturday we got up and the kids played and played inside and outside, they have a great yard.  Once again, Tae loving it.  Then it was time to get out the costumes.  They have a bunch from years prior, so Tae got to choose! How fun!  The first night he chose the Flash.  We have been really into The Justice League, so it was an obvious choice.  The Flash was funny and making jokes like "say it to my face!"  Which Tae/The Flash thinks is really funny.  Well come to think of it, Tae wasn't anywhere to be found, all night.  We got corrected a few times on that one.  So we loaded into two cars and headed out.  We went to a freind of Eric and Em's.  ~Little side note, this family is amazing.  Such a great example and something to look forward to.  They all are fluent in French and English.  Can just switch whenever they want.  Even the 4 year old.  Obviously, not the 1 year old!  :)  But it is so cool!  Someday, someday...~

So at this party, everyone spoke French.  They could do a little English, but mostly all French.  Then they made me speak French... And I did!!  I did, all night I was speaking in French.  I was having conversations with people! I think this had to be my most encouraging moment in France yet.  I was able to enjoy a party that was in an entirely different language!  I am not saying I am fluent, I am just saying it was a huge step and it gave me confidence to keep trying.  It is still very difficult to understand a lot of what they were saying, and these people were very nice to me to help me out, but still I did fantastic.  I am so happy!  It was fun, but then it got late, and then later, and then even later.  It was past 2 in the morning when we ended up leaving there.  It might not sound that late to some of you, but for me, that is late! 

The next day was Halloween.  We got up and hung out and cleaned the house and got ready for yet another party.  This time everyone was coming to the Joldersma's house.  So another night of speaking French.  Except this night was a little different.  For some reason, nothing was coming out right, I couldn't remember my French vocab or verbs or conjugations!  What?! I was practically fluent last night!  Man, my brain only has room for one night a week of French speaking, I am pretty sure.  Hopefully that capacity gets bigger as time goes on, because I was 'un peu retarded' on night number 2.  I almost forgot.  Tae was Batman on night number 2.  Batman, apparently, is very serious.  He doesn't smile a lot and does not joke around!  The costume was a little big, but he was LOVING it.  I mean, he was really Batman.  Once again, Tae w

as no where to be found. I think Batman and Darth Vadar (Eva) even saved the world a few times.  Busy night!

So Monday comes and we are relaxing and chillin and when it came time to go, Tae wanted Eva to come spend the night with us.  So we thought that would be fun.  Then Jack wanted to come too.  So great!  Then litle Maizy wanted to come but once she was told Mommy wouldn't be there, she kinda changed her mind.  So we headed out with two other kiddos in tow for a slumber party.  There is a reason why Lavar and I are only having two kids, and it was reconfirmed.  Not because their kids aren't great, they are.  Once again, it is a capacity thing, I am maxed out with two! 

Well the next morning I get a call from Eric saying Em got sick last night.  Throwing up.  And that everyone might have been exposed to it so keep a look out for it with the kids.  I didn't mention anything to them because I didn't want it to be a mind over matter type of thing, like 'oh ya, now that you mention it, I am sick!'  So we proceeded to have a very fun morning.  We went to this play place that had blown up bounce things, and trampolines, and race cars, and laser tag!  The kids did it all.  And had a blast.  But then, you know, got hungry!  So we headed over to KFC for some lunch.  Here is where things went down hill.  Tae and Eva were playing and it might have been a little too rough and although I told them to calm down, Tae must have tripped or something and he landed on his neck on the pole of a chair.  I was in the middle of getting the food so I kinda took him and told him he was fine.  Then he wouldn't stop crying.  Then he wouldn't stop crying.  He kept saying how much it was hurting.  He wasn't shutting his mouth or talking really.  We tried to sit down and eat,  but he just wouldn't stop.  It made me a little worried because he has been hurt before but he will always settle down.  He just could not settle himself down.  So I called Lavar and he said to bring them home.  Once we got home I called Em who informed me she was on her way to pick up her kids because she didn't want them to start throwing up.  After Lavar looked Tae over and calmed him down, he said he was fine and that he didn't need the doctor.  Well, I decided to take him anyway.  I just knew that he was going to be in a lot of pain and at the very least, get some pain medicine.  So our first time having to go to the emergency room for Tae, AKA Captain Catious 2, was in France.  Nice.  Anyway, we got there and he got checked out and they said it was fine but to just watch if he has a fever to come back.  And gave us some medicine.  I am so glad we did because after our friends went home, Tae was eating dinner complaining about his mouth and jaw hurting.  So I was able to give him his medicine and put him to sleep.  The next morning, with some rest, he was a different kid.  So I felt good about that.

Yesterday we had Tae's first basketball practice.  I will write about that later.  He loved it though.  And then today, school has started again!  Crazy crazy.  I kinda like the structure that school offers us though.  Kids up at 7:30 and in bed by 7:30. 

In other exciting news, I got a waffle maker!!!

I will write again soon.  I am also getting a camera soon, so pics of the boys to come!