Audrey is 4!

First Day of School!

 The first day of school!  Which is actually just a couple hours of meet the teacher.....  but still!

Grace is starting Kindergarten.  Her teachers are Laura and Wynne.  Laura is from Australia, and Wynne is a University of Missouri grad, but from North Carolina. 

Grace wants to be an Engineer when she grows up.  She didn't come up with that entirely on her own.  She spends quite a lot of time building things, including rigging up our two single doll strollers into double strollers, etc.  I commented to her one day that she should be an engineer.... and so I believe that's where that came from.

Audrey is starting Pre-School at ISB. She is actually in the same class Grace started at ISB in.  Her teachers are Ms. Senior and Ms. Suzanna.  Ms. Senior is from England, and is a substitute.  The real teacher in the class, Ms. De Kloe, is out on maternity leave until January. We spent a little bit of time in the spring getting to know Ms. Senior so we would hopefully have a smooth transition into the class.

Audrey wants to be a teacher and a cowboy when she grows up!  Giddy up!

The Magic House with the Henson Ladies

After our fun time in Quincy, we headed down to St. Louis for some shopping, fun, friends and cousin time!

On Friday, we met up with Maureen, Autumn, and sweet baby Nora.  We met Maureen and Autumn in Brussels within the first month we moved here.  They were only in Brussels for 18 months, but our families bonded.  We miss them here, but we love that we have the opportunity to see them on the flip side.

We met at The Magic House, and spent about three hours chasing little girls all around through all of the amazing exhibits.

The Magic House is amazing, and was so much fun.  The girls had a blast and hated to leave.  We had so much fun visiting with Maureen and Autumn and meeting Nora.  Hopefully next time we'll be able to spend more time and get to see Jacob, too.

4th of July

The Rawlings came to visit for the 4th of July this year!  We also had our friends the Wotrin's over to celebrate American style!

Aunt Katie brought sparklers, and they were a big hit with the kiddos!

Audrey's Last Day of School

Today was Audrey's last day at La Coline aux Coralines.  This was a french preschool she attended two mornings a week for the last 6 months.  The beginning was rough.  She didn't want me to leave, and most mornings, I didn't.  But after awhile she warmed up, and enjoyed going.  It was conducted completely in French.  The teachers spoke some English and tried to speak to me in English to let me know how Audrey was doing. But for the most part, all French.  And it appeared that Audrey understood.  Although, at this age there is a lot of 'herd mentality', i.e. follow the group in whatever they were doing.  Audrey doesn't speak any French, however, but maybe she'll have a foundation for when she does start learning.

 With Valerie

 With Lieve

 With Lieve and Valerie

With Laurents

Our little Monkey

Audrey loves her Little Gym class, and is quite the little monkey....walking and swinging from all the bars!  It's her favorite thing to do.  These videos are a few months old.  I am sorry to fall so far behind.  I'm trying to catch up.  She will have her show soon in June, so look for some more Little Gym videos, soon.  I promise.

ECC Scavenger Hunt

We participated in the ECC Scavenger Hunt this year.  The ECC is the Early Childhood Center, which is grades Pre-School through 2nd Grade at ISB.  We were on a team with Grace's two best friends Sophia and Zoe, and their families. 

The rain held off and we had a really good time chasing down clues.

Happy Birthday, Audrey!

Audrey is THREE!  Hard to believe!

Birthday breakfast, and you can see our friend, Max the Elf was back to celebrate with us....

Celebrating at school...

Reading books with a friend.

Passing out cupcakes with her teacher, Valerie.

Listening to Happy Birthday sung in French

 Enjoying cupcakes

Being silly after cupcakes!

Bike Riding in the Forest

We had a couple days off school, so we met some friends in the forest for a spring bike ride.  That is one of the best things.  We have miles and miles of paths through the forest.  Some are just dirt, but this particular access has paved paths, which are perfect for bike riding.

It was the perfect way to spend a warm spring day!

Trunk or Treat