already spring

Hi everyone,

Ben and Alex are in bed but they asked me to say hello for them. Riding bikes with Mom and Dad and playing in the park was enough to tire the little guys out for today. We had an amazing weekend weather-wise, especially today, which was sunny and in the mid 70s. After church, while the boys were napping Fred and I enjoyed being outside and Fred put the baby seats back on our bikes (we hadn't used them since the last move in December). When Ben and Al woke up we headed off to explore Prades and stopped at the playground on the way home.

Other than that not too much new to report; Fred is taking an English conversation class at work (his idea in order to keep up his skills) and as I write this he's busily working on his homework assignment for tomorrow, which is to write about something he likes to do outside of work. He chose to write about spending time with his boys and how much fun he has. It's mutual--Ben and Alex shout "Dada" whenever I'm out walking with them and we see a guy go by on a motorbike, and they point excitedly at the front door when I happen to mention his name during the day (expecting to see Daddy walk through at any moment).

By the way Dad and Amy, I've tried several times to call you both this evening but apparently good old Alice has decided to cut out on us like she does from time to time. (I guess that's the price to pay for unlimited calling). I hope to talk to you soon once it's working again. Take care for now!

it's us!

Hi everyone, last weekend we had our Mamie and Papy here visiting us (that's French for Grandma and Grandpa). We took them to see the land where Mom and Dad are going to have our new house built. We also played outside with them, although not too much because the weather was cool and rainy, and went to a flea market. We took Mamie and Papy to our favorite restaurant, a pizza place that has a cool play area for kids. We kept bring Bristle blocks to Papy at the table and he built us a tower.

Here's a picture of the lot where our house is going to be built, of Mamie pushing the stroller with me (Ben) walking along beside, then a closeup of me! Take care for now and we'll write again soon! love, Alex and Ben

Sunday night

Hi everybody,

It's us again! Hope you had a good weekend. The weather here has been really nice for February, we got to play outside with Mom several times this past week. Mom and Dad were unusually busy last week and didn't have as much time to play with us as usual, but we forgive them because they're working on building us...a new house! We'll let Mom tell the rest... love Alex and Ben

Yes it's true, this is our big news of the past week and seemingly a great answer to prayer. As you know we've been renting a house since we sold our apartment in early December because the housing market here in Montpellier is so expensive. So while not actively looking, I had been keeping an eye on real estate listings on the internet just in case and sending an email from time to time when I saw something interesting. A builder called last Monday to say that he happened to have a couple of small parcels of land available to the northeast of Montpellier within our budget (these are the ones that sell the fastest because they're the most accessible price-wise for young families like us.) We made an appointement for Monday evening to find out more about the project, Tuesday we went to see the site during Fred's 2-hr lunch break and by Friday evening we were signing papers! We really love the setting; it's a small town called Boisseron about 1/2 hour northeast of where we live now and Lord willing we'll be building a 3-4 bedroom house which should be finished by the end of this year. The only down side is that Fred's commute will be considerably longer; about 30 km each way which is higher than average for France where as you know gas is anything but cheap! Knowing that we can't afford anything closer though (unless I go back to work, which we'd like to delay for as long as possible) we're very excited about the prospect of having a brand-new house; we'll get to collaborate with the architect for the design and pick out everything from the exterior colors to the tile floors to the kitchen cabinets and counters. We would appreciate your prayers for the financial aspect however; although this house is well within our budget the fact that I'm currently a stay-at-home mom might not go over so well with the bank (banks in France are VERY particular about lending money and have become even more so since the subprime "crisis" in the States. Also it would be great if you could pray for our marriage during this process, which should be exciting and unifying but also potentially conflict-inducing as we will inevitably have to compromise over expectations, décor etc.

We'll keep you updated as things move along...take care for now!

P.S. The picture is of our last visit with Fred's family in mid-January to have a belated Christmas with them and celebrate his brother Mathieu's birthday.

intro

Hello Grandpa, cousin Kayleigh, great-Nana and anyone else who may be reading this! We decided to create this blog to keep you updated on our exciting life at almost 19 months. We've asked Mom to do most of the writing because we're usually too busy playing (when we're not on the lookout for something to eat). Talk to you soon!