Fête des lumières

So last weekend Rachel and I headed to Lyon to see the "festival of lights". We woke up bright and early last Saturday to 14inches of snow but we headed to the train station anyway hoping to caught the 7:20 train out of Albertville but unfortunately the early train was cancelled. So we just headed over to the cafe to wait for the next train..

And naturally the second train was cancelled too. Apparently this is the most snow Albertville has got over night in over 25years or something. No wonder the first two trains were cancelled but lucky us the 12 o'clock train to Lyon was still going. 

Our wait for the third train was totally worth it. We ate at a McDonald's, found a starbucks, went shopping, and saw the biggest light festival of the french alps! 

It was a great start for the french alp Christmas season!

Merry Christmas! 

Happy Birthday, mom!

Happy Birthday, mom! I love you! 

p.s. Don't worry. I am taking my vitamins and staying hydrated. I should be over this cold in no time. ... Just spending all my extra time calling you at random hours of the night, while trying to calm down four hyper active kids, and spending my other extra time taking naps and watching boy meets world on youtube...don't worry about me :) hehe. I love you! 

Tis the Season to be Jolly

Merry Christmas! The Christmas season has finally started! I hope you all survived Thanksgiving, Black Friday, and Cyber Monday. I did. One of the draw backs from being in France is not participating in black Friday...It was a sad day. Cause I am a big black Friday shopper! But I have tried to start my Christmas season off right by decorating my room, watching Christmas movies, and of course Christmas shopping. And lots of Christmas music!  

My room decorations.

Christmas decorating with the célibataires :)

Merry Christmas! 

Happy Thanksgiving!

Hope you all are having a wonderful Thanksgiving. We celebrated Thanksgiving yesterday. At first I wasn't very excited about it. Spending my thanksgiving dinner with close to 90 people that I have only know for two months now. Didn't sound exciting to me. ..But when I woke up yesterday morning to people cooking in the kitchen I felt like I was at home. And I hurried to go get the kids to take them to the thanksgiving craft time, that Sarah one of the missionary teachers had organized. It was so cute all the girls making pilgrim bonnets and boys with their pilgrim hats. 

After craft time with the kids, I went running with Rachael we are trying to stay in shape during our crazy time in France. It was like we were having our own turkey trot run ;) After our run we spent our day in preparation for Thanksgiving meal. It was so much fun. We all ate so much food. And I think the Brits, French, and Dutch really liked our American traditions. 

Happy Thanksgiving! 

#nannyproblems

So every once in a while I will post something on twitter about the kids (mostly Josiah) followed by a  hashtag that looks like this #nannyproblems. Usually get lots of response from my tweets that have to do with my nanny problems. And when I get real bored and need a desperate need of laughing at other people's problems similar to mine. I look at other nanny's problems on twitter. Which make me laugh a lot because I can relate in so many ways.... I just want to share a few with you. 

if I hear "you're not the boss of me" one more time, it's bed time #nannyproblems

I should get mom of the year award even though I have no kids of my own... #nannyproblems

It's only 8:09 and I have already managed to dip my hair in pancake syrup #nannyproblems

Terrible 2's are a real thing...  #nannyproblems

I love how I try to sneak to the bathroom by myself. That is always a fail. #lifeofananny #nannyproblems

I feel like all these tweets could sum up my life this week (Let me remind you it's only Tuesday) So you can understand why I look them up on twitter just to laugh, right?!

Happy Birthday Sis!

It's my sister's birthday the first time I have ever been away from her on her birthday  It sorta feels weird to think she is going to celebrate her 21st birthday without me. But I guess we are both gonna have to survive cause I am also gonna miss her 22nd birthday too. But before I start thinking about next year already...

HAPPY BIRTHDAY RACHEL! 

I love you! And miss you! And hope you have a wonderful birthday! 

p.s. And I hope that you absolutely love the gift I picked out for you. hehe.

Happy Birthday Isaac!

Happy Birthday Isaac! 

True nanny dedication was happening today. I watched almost the whole first movie of Star Wars today with a group of boys all under the age of 12... You can't tell me that is not nanny dedication :)

Chateau de Miolans

My poor Josiah boy is sick today so I offered to stay home with him today after church instead of going to the lunch in after church... With Josiah slowly falling asleep as he watching his favorite Winnie the Pooh, it leaves me time to blog and tell you about how my weekend has been going. 

Friday we ventured out to a local castle, Chateau de Miolans which was really cool. We were allowed to tour this castle and they had the information available in English so I could understand. Which was a plus.

By the time we got home from the castle Friday it was still a little light outside so me and Rachel decided to go check out the french carnival...

It was very different then our American carnivals... if people are worried about spending their kids to American carnivals they should take a look at a french carnival. Sometimes I think I will never understand the french and their ways.

Saturday my morning started out great with a long run by the river. Then I spent some time with the Stoner's at the local park and took a trip to the grocery store with Rachel so we could make dinner for the Stoner's. Naturally I should have had more common sense then to use an american recipes when I am trying to cook something in France. I couldn't find half the ingredients I was hoping for. So I had to find a simpler recipe. But through all the trouble of finding the ingredients. The dinner turned out wonderful!

A Week of Vacation

I have seemed to have done everything and nothing all at the same time this week... I will tell you a little about my week. Monday I hung out with Rachel all day just chilling watching movies nothing special. Then Tuesday Rachel and I headed out to Chambery. Even though everything was pretty much closed do to vacation and the fact that it was Tuesday and apparently museums aren't open on Tuesday's in France. We had a good time. 

We ate lunch at a creperie place. 

And got to see the fountain of elephants... Those two things made me pretty happy.

We made it back to Albertville a little afternoon so we headed to the local pool and went swimming. Spending the majority of my past three years at a pool. I was very excited to finally to get to go here. It was just as I thought it was going to be...

France has only a couple of rules but they are pretty funny rules about their pool but when you really think about it they do make sense but they are rather odd. 

1. Guys are only allowed to wear speedo's. (Due to the fact that guys like to wear the swimming trunks out and about making them dirty so when they wear them to the pool they are making the pool dirty also.So naturally you have to wear speedo's to the pool cause nobody wants to wear that out in public.)

2. You have to wear a swim cap. (So your dirty hair stays to yourself and you don't use any hair in the pool.)

No where did I see in the pool area any signs saying no diving in the shallow end or don't run on deck... None of these things seem to worry the french, me being a lifeguard at heart saw tons of kiddos diving in the shallow end and running on deck. I found it rather weird that the french are more worried about the cleanliness of their pool then the safety of the patrons. But who am I to judge...

 Wednesday I had this grand I idea I was going to lay in bed and do absolutely nothing except read a book but so Lydia got sick and was unable to go out with the Stoner's to a friend's house from church. So I stayed with her I still got a lot of nothing and reading done, the poor girl slept all day.  

Then Thursday, yesterday, Rachael and I went out for our morning run and made it to the market on our way back. The people at the market really seem to like Rachael and I. They also make an effort to say bonjour or hello to us. There are certain vendors we just can't avoid on market day. Thursday afternoon we decided that since it was so beautiful we were going to go check out a lake in the mountains. None of us were really thinking that the farther you went up the mountain the more snow there would be.. But oh the more beautiful it was up there. 

We finished out excited day eating fondu and playing settlers with fellow Togo teammates till late into the night. Leaving me completely exhausted this morning and giving me a great reason to blog. ..

France! Oh, France!

Just when I think I am getting use to France and thinking this country might not be as crazy as I thought it was. They seem to prove me wrong. 

Yesterday was my turn to clean so I spend the majority of my Saturday morning cleaning the dorm bathrooms and tidying up my room. So by the time Rachel and I decided to head into to town to get some stamps from the post office and maybe check out the library and the mountain events down town it was two o'clock. ...And of course for living in France for a month now. We should have know that the post office closed at noon on Saturdays and of course the library wasn't going to be open because of the mountain events downtown....Why would we ever think that anything might be open downtown on a Saturday afternoon?! 

After checking out only a couple of tents of the mountain event, we quickly lost interest due to the fact we couldn't understand much cause it was all in french. We decided to head to the grocery which seemed to be a decent idea... you know, buying groceries so we can eat. On our way to the grocery store we decided to stop into Subway to check it out and conpare it to our Subway's back home. So as we stepped the 'Subway' I quickly realized it was actually the Pub right next to Subway they share in entrance. haha. It was a good laugh on Rachel and I as we quickly left with three old men giving us stare looks for us to return around and try the real Subway door to realize Subway wasn't open. Again of course, Why would subway be open at 2:45 in the afternoon?!?

So we headed to the grocery and were having a jolly of a time laughing at ourselves for walking into the Pub until the women at the check out tried to trick Rachel out of 10 euros (which is almost 13 dollars). After Rachel argued with the checkout lady and caused a little scene. The women very unwillingly agreed she would count out the money in money box. After waiting for a good 20 mins, Rachel finally got her 10 euros back. After that we were pretty exhausted and quickly walked back to the school to change into our pj's and watch chick flicks the rest of the night. ..

Nous sommes allés au parc!

The boys and I ventured out to a new park today. It's really unusual for us to go out this many times in one week but we were told this might be one of our last nice days... so we just had to get out! 

I am so close to fall break. I seem to have a lost of words.... So have a good day! I am sure you will be seeing some more post from me real soon. Au revoir! 

The Week Before Fall Break

Only two days till fall break is finally here. And I am as excited for it as everyone else. This week me and the boys have been real energetic. Monday we ventured out to the grocery store. First time me going to the grocery store all by myself let alone with two little babes. But we survived and Josiah loved talking to people in the grocery school and he evidently caught on to everyone's French. It was real cute! 

Then Tuesday me and boys ventured out again to try out a new park. . I think the boys had a lot of fun and it definitely wore the both of then out. They both took three hour naps so it made my day a whole lot easier.

Today we really ventured out. I went up the mountain with the Stoner's and the Miller family to check out the famous Beaufort cheese. Even though we weren't able to tour the place (which might have been a good thing) we all had a good time. 

After our many adventures this week I had an opportunity to meet with my language partner Flore today and now I feel more ready to take on the market in the morning with Rachel . . Hope you all are having a good week! 

Saturday Morning Hike

I started my Saturday morning out right. I headed out bright and early at 7:00am with a group from the school to go hike to a "nearby" fort. Apparently a three hour hike is consider nearby :) hehe. I had a wonderful time and the view was amazing! I hope through my pictures you can get a glimpse of how wonderful my morning was. . 

Had to start the hike out with a picture! Still looking fresh. But that changed quickly. 

Rumor has it this "road" was build before roman times. . . crazy to think about! And I got to hike on this historical trail. So cool. 

Halfway Up! 

Such a cute little road little ways from the fort. Doesn't seem fitting in the french alps. I feel like Anne of Green Gables is just going to come around the corner :) 

Big thumbs up! After our long three hour hike UP the mountain. . 

The fort was used from 1877 to 1881 during the war when Germany had invaded France and they build the fort because they thought Italy was going to invade France too? Interesting facts here. . Albertville is only an hour away from France by car..

I was so happy I got to hiking before winter fully sets in. It was absolutely beautiful and so interesting. Thank God, for wikipedia. So the little things I do pick up throughout the day I can look up on wikipedia when I get home.. hehe. Is that considered an american thing?

So What do you do with your Free Time?

Well, you guys know I spend the majority of the day with these cute kids. And I do love them. 

But in my free time I spend time with these two kids. 

I should be embarrassed by the fact that this is how I spend my free time watching kids that can dance and sing better then me on youtube. It's pretty sad. But I am kinda proud of it. And these kids are pretty darn cute. (And just to make it clear. I really don't dance since I am a baptist and all ;) haha.)

School Field Trips

I am sure you all remember them. How fun and exciting they were and then coming home and feeling absolutely exhausted and wanting to go to straight to bed when you got home. Well that's how I felt yesterday after our little school field trip. Even more tired and exhausted when I got home after helping Dan and Rachael round up four kids all day. I can only imagine how parent chaperons feels after field trips. . . In other words I am still trying to recover from yesterday. Even though it left me exhausted and in a pretty bad mood. I had a great time. And I am so excited to show you my pictures!

Our first stop was at an aquarium, which wasn't anything special but something new to try in France.

We then had lunch by this beautiful Lake. Rumor has it, it is the most beautiful lake in France. Before you ask me what's the name of the lake I will tell you that I have no idea. One of the down falls of me not knowing much french. . 

After lunch we went to this absolutely beautiful little town, that was literally on a mountain to go to a mill. 

Even though the mill wasn't much to see and I didn't understand much from the tour. It was a beautiful and breath taking place to visit. . Days like yesterday make me want to travel all over France till I get to my room and crash & burn from complete exhaustion.

Monday's!

Monday's! Monday's! Monday's! 

Today was definitely a Monday! I walked into the Stoner's apartment this morning and pick up this little guy to maybe feed him some breakfast to realize he had a pretty bad blow out (definition of blow out: pooped so badly it seems to be exploding out of diaper) and needed to be changed! So I am changing his diaper and of course I manage to get poop on my shirt and as I realize I got poop on my shirt, Ethan springs a leak and starts peeing everywhere! Scaring me half to death! And I let out a yell and jump back for him to start crying. It was a pretty dramatic screen this morning! Rachael says it was his way of welcoming me as his nanny. Let's hope that is the case. haha. 

All in all we survived this Monday. 

Syrup

Well I wasn't going to blog today because I didn't think my life was that exciting. Even though I did go into town today to run some errands with Rachel and we did make a stop at the bakery. Which is always a very yummy decision.

But anyway I wasn't going to blog until someone requested that I blog about how I made syrup today. Oh yes, how exciting? Considering when I came to France I couldn't really cook anything and now I am making syrup from scratch. I am just becoming little miss Betty crocker. . . So here is the recipe to the syrup I made.

ingredients:

1 cup sugar

1/8 t salt

2 T flour

1/2 t cinnamon

2/3 cup water

2 T butter

directions:

1. Mix sugar, salt, flour, cinnamon, water in pan

2. Boil till thick then add butter

Okay, Andrea. . . you can try this at home ;)

Happy Birthday!

It was our first birthday celebration in France! It's Rachel's birthday, she turned 19 today! It was so much fun everybody got her flowers and we all pitch in and brought her a french Bible. She loved it. The célibataires threw Rachel a party, Carlan and Sarah cooked a yummy pasta dish requested from Rachel and Marlene baked a fantastic apple crumble pie! I think this is a birthday she will remember the rest of her life. 

Happy Birthday Rachel! 

It's Monday!

. . . Monday's aren't as bad as Thursday. Thursday are the worse cause we get this little break in the middle of the week and you get your hopes all up then you go right back at it on Thursday. So in a sense we have two Monday's. Which makes it double the misery. But today wasn't so bad. Josiah and I made a little fireman craft that I got off of pinterest, It came out so cute and I think Josiah had fun making it too. 

Then at lunch I ventured out into town all by myself and brought a few things. It was a very proud moment for me :) It's a sign of survival in France. haha. jk. but really. . .

Pumpkin Spice Creamer

Even though I am living in France and I was told it was a civilized country. . . jk. It is. . but they do lack on the simple things like fall decorations. I am not much of a fall person but oh how I miss the noise and talk of Friday night football, apple cider, and most of all, everything pumpkin!

So to try to feel more at home I made myself some Pumpkin Spice Creamer. 

Here is the recipe:

ingredients:

1 cup milk 

1 cup of heavy whipping cream

4 Tbsp of organic pumpkin puree

1 tsp of pumpkin pie spice

4 Tbsp Maple Syrup

1 tsp of vanilla extract

1 tsp cinnamon

directions:

Whisk milk, cream, pumpkin, syrup, and pumpkin spice together in a medium saucepan. Heat over medium heat until steamy. Remove from heat and stir in the vanilla. Use a strainer to transfer the cream mixture into a container. Let it cool and then store in the refrigerator.

I found the recipe on pinterest. Pinterest is another thing I love and thank God I can actually use this website in France unlike some of the other websites I used so often in the states. (Lessons learned just because it's called world wide web doesn't mean you can get it any where in the world.Sad truth.) I am trying to get Rachel, the Holland girl here to get a pinterest account but she hasn't bought into it yet. Which is a great shame. 

Anyway so I was so excited to try this recipe out till I realized I haven't seen anything pumpkin at the stores. Slightly freaking out a tell my concern to Rachael who calmly tells me that if we just find a pumpkin we can make our own pumpkin puree. So we ventured out to the market Thurday morning which has became our normal weekly routine and we brought the closest thing we could find to a pumpkin. Which I think was a squash but it's kinda hard for me to know since once again I am reminded I don't know that much french.. Anyway we buy the "pumpkin squash" and baked it till it was nice and soft then smashed it down into puree. Naturally they don't have pumpkin spice here either but we just looked that up on the internet and I was set to make the pumpkin spice creamer. 

For us not having real pumpkin I think it came out pretty good. Now I am getting even more excited for my family to send me some dunkin donuts so I am go all out with my american coffee ways :)

Hello Again

Do you remember me? Yah, I was that girl who pretended to have a life so I could blog. . hehe. Let's admit it all us bloggers do it. It kinda gives us a little hope. 

Well I am back! After taking a little break to get my life together and move to France. I am finally here in France and ready to blog again. And oh how I have missed it! 

So now your all probably thinking how she must live an exciting life living in France. And so I thought too. But as you begin to read my blog a little more you will realize I am just a small town American girl trying to survive in the French Alps. . . as a nanny. 

You might be also wondering why in the world is this girl wasting her time blogging when she should be out exploring the french culture. Well I have a lot of excuses for that one. And it starts with my lack of communication. I have always known I had a problem but it has really became a problem here. Just to give you an example like tonight. . .I am suppose to be at youth group but me being young and forgetful, I forgot. Until Rachel tweeted me via twitter but by the time I finished up at the Stoner's (my wonderful nanny family) and showered I had missed youth group. And as I get on facebook to check up on all my friends back home I am once again reminded that I don't know french because if I did I would have realized what time youth group had started today. 

But before you start feeling sorry for me. I will let you know I love my job here and the experience I get to live in the French alps with the Stoner's and I wouldn't trade it in for anything. (Even though I am sometimes emotional and can't seem to keep the simple things in life together, I like to think it's just a little culture stress and that in a few months. I will have it all figured out.) So please follow me on my journey as I try to survive the french culture as an american nanny. 

If I had a tumbler this is what it would look like. . .

 

A weird arrangement of everything I love.