Movie Premier

My wonderful sister went out last week and got us tickets to the premier of an AWESOME movie, which we saw last night. Tyler and I had to hold down the fort while we waited for the girls to arrive. No easy task, considering it was sold out AND everyone was acting crazy. Can you see the hamburger in the background? Haha!


I hadn't been to a movie premier in years, if ever, so I had no idea we'd have to arrive an hour early and get in a line like this...


But it was totally worth it, because I got to go with my brother, sister, and Nicole, a friend of Sadie's...


Are you still wondering what we went to see? And yes, I admit to having brought my camera to document this fun occasion...(at least I wasn't the only one!)


It was so great! I loved it! They did a very good job of adapting the book into the movie, and the acting was soooo much better. Sadie and I agreed- Bella actually looked like she was wearing makeup in this one. I'd say the average age of the girls there was around 20. Tyler was a little uncomfortable I think, being 1 of like 3 guys in the theatre. It was crazy, the level of anticipation in the crowd. I just enjoyed a night out to spend time with people I love.

Clowning around in the parking lot afterward. I didn't get a picture, but someone rolled up in a yellow ferrari while we were standing there. I was like, omg...seriously?!


Only 7 months until Eclipse... :)

I love Target so much, I could marry it.

Ok so not really. I'm not into bigamy. But I get such sweet deals there sometimes, I am over the moon and still riding the high from my latest trip. I'm kind of bummed about their new coupon policy, but I have only myself to blame, because I am one of the *cough* people who took great advantage of the almost-free wipes they've had on sale lately. I don't know how many wipe boxes are in our house right now, but certainly enough to last Thibault until he's potty-trained. Haha. Anyways...

We met Arnaud at Cici's last night for dinner, and I made a quick run to Target afterward. We haven't been out for dinner as a family in a really long time, mostly because Arnaud usually works until 6:30 and Thibault is in bed by 7, so there's not much time in between.

This was an interesting trip, because it was the first time I'd had a cashier who had no clue what the coupon policy was, and who seemed confused that I was even using coupons. Sigh. So I calmly explained how it worked, and said to myself it might be a good idea to start carrying the corporate policy on me from now on. With the holiday season upon us, I guess they'll be hiring a lot of new people who aren't as familiar with how things work.


So here's what I got:

4 bags Kraft cheese
1 tub of butter
2 packs of applesauce
box of Ritz
box of Nabisco crackerfuls
4 cans cream of mush soup
Pepperidge Farm wheat crisps

We've never tried the wheat crisps or the crackerfuls, which sound pretty gross to me, honestly, but I'm sure my kids will eat 'em right up! They'll eat anything that comes in a box, has a wrapper, or is colorful.

My grand total, including tax? $8.99!!!!

I have to give all the credit to my gal pal Crystal, whose blog I'm completely obsessed with, and who is responsible for a lot of the money I save on my shopping trips. Ok so she has no idea who I am, but I love her!!!!

Tasty Tuesday- Salade de Carottes Râpés

Can I just say that I am loving Tasty Tuesday? Whenever I'm in the middle of making a meal, I always think- Hey I should get a picture in case I want to post this for Tasty Tuesday. Thanks Laura!!

Today's recipe is a recent dish that I tried out because I had tons of carrots left over. This is a common appetizer/side dish in France, but I've never tried to make it myself! We eat it a lot when we're visitng over there, and I've always enjoyed it. Needless to say, Arnaud was thrilled and finished the dish within 24 hours.


Salade de Carottes Râpés (grated carrot salad)

2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 teaspoon salt and pepper to taste
10 carrots, peeled and shredded (I used the grater on my food processor and it took about .3 seconds to shred all those carrots)

In a medium bowl, whisk together the mustard, olive oil, salt and pepper. Add the shredded carrots, and mix until coated. Refrigerate for at least 2 hours before serving. (I served this immediately and it was great, but letting it marinate a few hours in the sauces will definitely make it more flavorful.)

You can vary this recipe in so many ways, using leftover ingredients you already have. This particular time I added boiled eggs and balsamic vinaigrette, and all those flavors were amazing! And in case you're wondering, my kids LOVED it! They scarfed it down without complaint, and I was happy to have a new way to serve veggies.

Open Mouth, Insert Foot

I've been thinking for awhile now that it would be funny to post all the things I've either thought or said about parenthood before I actually became a parent. Consequently, I've done every single one of these things at some point, and have had to eat my words more than once!

"I won't feed my kids candy just because they're begging for it."

"My kids aren't going to sit and watch tv all day long."

"My kids will behave in public. They won't scream or whine like those other children."

"I'm not going to be one of those moms who wears her sweatpants all day long."

"My kids will sleep through the night early on."

"I will read the paper every day and stay in touch with what's going on in the world."

"I'm going to cook homemade meals every night for my family. My kids won't eat chicken fingers and fries for dinner."

"With all that extra time on my hands, my house and car will stay clean all the time."

"I'm not going to let my child dictate my schedule."

"My kids will never appear in public without clean clothes, wiped noses and mouths, and combed hair. That's just embarrassing."

"If my kids don't eat their dinner, I'm not going to make them something else to eat and they certainly won't get dessert."

"I won't ever drive a minivan." (Hasn't happened as of yet but its on the agenda...you know, as soon as we win the lottery and college is paid for)

"I don't want my house filled with toys that I'm constantly stepping on, tripping over, etc."

Oh, the learning curve of experience...anyone else? :)

E & T update

My kids are amazing!!!



Yes, I know that every parent thinks that, but I am so stinkin' proud of my babies.

Eva is really taking off with her verbalization, putting together two- and sometimes three-word sentences, all in French of course. Sometimes I have no idea what she's saying, but I'll nod my head and smile so she knows I'm listening.



Eva is every bit the protective big sister for Thibault, and enjoys babying him on a daily basis. She'll comb his hair, feed him his snack, give him a toy he can't reach, etc. Don't get me wrong- she still gets a swipe in every now and then, especially when he touches one of her dolls. I'm telling ya- touch something of hers and you'd better look out! I love to watch them play together, and Thibault just thinks she is the greatest thing on earth.

Her favorite tv characters are still Elmo, Mimi, Babar, and Petit Ours Brun. She continues to love reading, so we're taking lots of trips to the library.

Eva is still wearing a diaper at night, but I want to wean her from that sometime soon. If we make her pee before going to bed, sometimes she wakes up dry. But not always. She still has the occasional accident, but for the most part she's very good about telling me when she needs to go. I'm just glad to only have to change one baby's diaper during the day!


Thibault is very close to walking. We're encouraging him, but in general he's very content to go from A to B on all fours. A lot of his pants have the knees worn through, and he can crawl so fast!

They've both been healthy for the past several days (thank you thank you thank you God!) but T continued to fuss more than usual. I was starting to wonder if he'd developped an ear infection when 3 teeth popped through. Seriously. When he gets teeth in, they all come in! That brings his total to 8 teeth, with one more just about to break through. No wonder he felt so bad!


They're so cute when they play together without fighting!


Wait...is that a love hug or a big shove?


Wait for it...yep there it is. Eva exerts her strength to show Thibault who's boss.

New tree

Because I have nothing better to do with my time (hardy har) I decided to plant a tree in our yard! We've had a few trees die this year, including our apple tree (sniff) and I'm hoping to replace those sometime soon.

This summer was blistering hot, and to make matters worse, we do not have a lot of shade in the backyard and the kids can only play outside during certain times of the day. I was determined to find a fast-growing tree that could be planted this fall, so we would be able to benefit from its shade by next summer. Well, after much internet research (because that's where you can find the answer to anything, right?) I stumbled upon the Royal Empress Paulownia Tree. It is a fast-growing flowering tree that is popular in the Orient, and I'm hoping it will shoot up in no time in our yard. I've read that it can be quite unmanageable at times, spreading out everywhere, but hopefully ours will stay in one place!

It arrived in a box, and Arnaud planted it last weekend. It'll probably be dormant for the remainder of the winter. Boo!

Its just a stick right now, but by next spring it should be a whole lot taller. I can't wait! I want to take a picture of the kids next to it as its growing, because I'm sure a time'll come when we won't remember it (and them) being so small.

Last week recap

Wow so I've really been slacking on the blogging lately. In my defense, we've had a lot of stuff going on around here, plus everyone has been in some state of sickness for the past 10 days. Here's a recap of what we've been up to...

We took a walk this weekend as a family, enjoying the sunny weather and spending some quality time together.





It is such a relief to have the kids feeling better, after a week of doing mostly this:


We've stuck close to home most of last week, and spent quite a bit of time outside enjoying the sunny weather. Sometimes I forget that it can stay this warm through the middle of November! Its crazy. But its better than blistering cold, for sure. The kids always seem to benefit from time spent outside.




My adoring husband did the sweetest thing for me: he granted me my wish of getting new countertops/sink/faucet! (He says its my birthday/Christmas gift for the next 5 years haha!) Having a white kitchen is a lot of work, and it has been next to impossible to keep clean with kids around and their constant splattering, spilling, dirty-hand wiping, etc. But our new counters look fabulous, and I LOVE them! We did a lot of research and got an excellent deal, and are very pleased with how everything turned out. We were without a working sink for 2 days, so I had to clean the dishes in the bathroom sink. That was interesting...

Old counters (well, they'd just been torn out):


New counters in Baltic Brown:



Thanks babe! You're the best!

You think your hair's got volume?

Check out this 'do! (this is what happens when your older sister gets ahold of the brush and wants to style your hair)


You probably can't tell in the picture, but my baby boy is feeling pretty under the weather. He's been battling a runny nose and other yuckiness this week, and the only place he wants to be is in his maman's arms!

Harris Teeter doubles!!

Ok so its that time of the month when I get to shop at my favorite grocery store- Harris Teeter! I usually can't justify spending any time or money there on a regular basis, but triple coupons is a great excuse to gets lots of free or almost-free stuff! If you are looking for coupon matches, The Deal Scoop has organized them into a google document, so you can have them categorized by aisle, price, or insert date- whichever works best for you! This woman is fabulous!!

I'll try to get a picture up later of my purchases, but with 3 out of the 4 of us who live in this household sick, it just might not happen.

Happy shopping!

Don't forget to vote today!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I'm warning you right now...if you do not go out and vote, I will hunt you down and kick you to the curb. Oh I'll do it alright. This is such a HUGE privilege for Americans, and most treat it like its nothing special! I got out this morning and voted with one kid on my hip and the other being dragged in from the parking lot, so I don't want to hear any excuses!!!!!

If you need to know where to vote, want to see a sample ballot, or see a list of candidates, click here.

Ok lecture is over. You'd better believe I'll be following the election results like a hawk tonight. Too bad I can't vote in the Raleigh elections, but you'd better believe I would if I could!!!