It's a...

Girl. Yesterday at our ultrasound we found out that baby #4 will be daughter #3! So, Warren's chosen name of "Syndrome" for his unborn sibling is not going to work out. Too bad :) (Abigail's chosen boy name of "Jacque the Little French Pony" won't work either). The only negative reaction we got was Warren's statement, "Now we'll be even more outnumbered--and now it will take 2 baby boys for me and dad to catch up." No tears or fits, though. Truthfully, if Warren hadn't been told by random people about being outnumbered, I'm not sure he would have cared. It does bring back memories of my brother longing for a little brother for so long--and waiting 14 years to get him.
On a more serious note, as fas as can be determined at this point, the baby's heart, brain and spine all look normal. Yeah!

Snow Day

Tonight was the first truly cool evening and night that we have experienced since we returned from Paris almost two months ago. Just after we finished dinner, the kids ran outside to jump on the trampoline in the strong wind. Warren could obviously sense the temperature change because he came in asking, "Is it going to snow tonight?" We couldn't convince him that just because the temperature dipped beneath 90 degrees it wouldn't snow. He came in with Abigail a few moments later asking for a carrot and raisins for the snowman he'd convinced her they were going to make. I gave them to them and when he asked, "Mom, what would you do if it snowed?" I replied, "I would let you stay home from school tomorrow and play in it." I feel entirely safe in my bet on the weather. Anyway, there was no snow, but it was beatifully cool--cool enough that we opened the windows in the kitchen as we baked together. The carrot--Abigail ate that, as you can see. I think Avery got to the raisins.

Practice Your Smile

At our house, we sometimes refer to Avery as "Little Mama," because she is often concered about little details--who has their shoes on, who is coming to family prayer when they are called, if her pajamas are on when Abigail's are, if her teeth are brushed several times a day. When Avery spills something big or small, a grain of rice at dinner or a whole cup of smoothie on the floor, she loudly proclaims, "Look, mama!" or "Uh-oh, mama," over and over again. It was during one of these spill episodes last week that I said, in an effort to let her know it was okay, "Avery, practice your smile." This is the face she pulled. The photo is actually a replica of the original, but just as good. Avery has a great natural smile, but when you ask her to "practice her smile," she cranes her neck out and aligns her teeth and opens her eyes very wide. It is hilarious and entertaining enough to keep my whole family occupied after Sunday dinner for at least 10 mintues.

Spider Bite?

2 nights ago, Abigail came in from our backyard proclaiming she'd been "bit" by a spider. Naturally, we were concerned, but also a bit skeptical since we've never seen anything but daddy long legs in our backyard. So we checked out her "bite" and then asked her to show us the spider that did it. She explained, "The spider got on my leg and scratched my blood-hole open and then it went back to it's web." We headed outside to look under the eave of our playhouse to view the culprit. This is what we found. It didn't look harmful, and Abigail's leg looked like she had itched the scab off of a pre-existing mosquito bite, so we took this picture just in case, made a mental note to check for swelling or fever or whatever it is a real spider bite would cause, and moved on with life. Those were our pre-cautionary measures.

Warren, on the other hand was a bit more inspired. He conceived the mission of killing all the bugs in our (very large and overgrown) backyard. Naturally, his weapon of choice was a custom-made Tinker Toy fly swatter/bug killer.

He made one for Abigail, too.

Well, killing bugs got old really quick, but the hose springs eternally new, so the kids spent the rest of the evening playing in the hose. Now, 2 days later, they've spent each evening doing that. If only they could remember to put their swimsuits on before they turned the hose on, or at least stay in only one set of clothes the entire time...Tomorrow I will post pictures of Warren's water slide creation. Oh, and Abigail is still doing fine. I'm confident she was not bitten by a spider.

To Market, to Market and What is a Gite?

Today we went to the biggest local market around here in Riberac, and it was great! I've been to markets in Paris and Amboise, but I never got that "direct from the grower"-community-sort-of-feel. Here, where the towns are so small, it is easy to see why these traveling markets that spring up on the same day every week are such a vital--and exciting--part of the community. I forgot to bring my camera, but here is an all-inclusive list of what we bought:
-2 toys: balloons that are filled with moonsand or something that lets you sculpt faces with your hands--they will be great on the airplane for Warren and Abigail
-1 hat for Avery
-a jar of locally produced honey that we sampled
-cheese
-dry sausage: ostrich and chevreuil (other availabilities included, but were not limited to: donkey, with nuts, with cheese, with blueberries, pork, beef, American bison...)
-a tin of foie gras de canard--Andy has taken a liking to it
-a bottle of grape juice; the grape juice here is so good, it must be because they are so into wine. I'm excited to open this and drink it, since it is from a grower, and even the stuff we buy at the grocery store is so good.
-Warren bought a toy motorcycle with the euros we paid him to nap last week
It was so neat to see all the people walking around with their baskets or bags to hold their treasures. I loved the huge piles of wheels of cheeses and produce. I loved the man who sold the garlic and shallots and onions with his gnarled hands, I assume from producing his wares. Of course, there were bigger booths with assorted produce, but the ambiance of it all was very nice.
Here is Warren playing badminton at the game area of our gite. BTW, if my posts have you wondering what a "gite" is, it is a vacation rental home, often, but not always, in rural areas. There is government assistance for fixing up old homes that otherwise would be demolished, and that kind of started the whole gite thing, I guess. But not all are old buildings. Like this week, we are in the Dordogne region, just outside a little town called St. Privat-des-Pres, and the Brittish couple who run it operate 3 gites on the property, all of which are pretty new. You generally rent a gite for a week or more and it is--in my observation--cheaper than hotel rooms for a family, plus you have a kitchen and more privacy or space and all that good stuff. Here are the links to the 2 gites we have stayed at thus far.
In Amboise: http://www.troglodytes.fr/
In the Dordogne (southern France): http://www.frenchentree.com/france-holiday-rentals/1977/Aquitaine/Dordogne-24/dordogne-gite-pool-rural
If you ever decide to visit France, I highly recommend both. The owners of each or great people.