BIG BIG NEWS!!!

It is finally time for me to let you all know... 


Our plan was to move this November and due to certain circumstances, our move has been pushed up 7 months to APRIL.

We are a big mix of emotions: excited, scared, stressed, sad, disappointed, overwhelmed, and hopeful all at the same time.

Leaving France is going to be bittersweet.  This is Logan's home and has become my home. We started our little family here and it feels like just yesterday that I put the finishing touches on Stella's precious nursery. 

Because France is such a HUGE part of Logan's life and our family, we are going to make it a goal to come back and visit every other year.  We really want the French culture to be engrained in our children.  We want them to be familiar with the country, the cultures, the people, and the language.  Logan will continue to speak only French with Stella after we move back and we have invested in a lot of French children's books to read to her as well.

Please send your thoughts and prayers our way as we make this transition... Moving back is a leap of faith. We are basically hitting the "reset" button and starting from scratch moving back...WITH a baby! No cars, no place to live, Logan doesn't have a job lined up, and I am starting 2 new side businesses that will hopefully allow me to work from home.  I can't wait to share both of those with you all in the coming weeks.

Although this is bittersweet for us, I am so glad to be closer to my family and all of my best friends. I am happy the language barrier will not be an issue, that I can go get a pedicure whenever I please, there will be a Starbucks on every corner, I can run to Target with Stella, and grab a Friday night movie (IN ENGLISH) with my husband after dropping Stella off at the grandparents for the evening.  

I would never trade this experience for anything, but it sure will feel good to be back home.

A Bientôt Texas! 
XO, Stella Rose

Christmas 2012

Christmas Eve at The Colorado always consists of a huge spread of appetizers! Everything from escargot to foie gras.  We load up on finger foods, take a break to sing some Christmas carols, and then wrap up the evening with an equally impressive spread of homemade desserts.







Christmas morning kicked off with breakfast at Bob & Sheri's...it was delicious! Homemade waffles, bacon, and orange juice- YUM.  Then we met the Isaac kiddos at the "Big House" for presents and the reading of the Christmas story. 


Logan's cousin Jess was in town with his wife Elizabeth and it was so much fun to spend Christmas with them! They live in DC so we don't get to see them very often. 

We all pitched in to help buy the kiddos a Wii for Christmas- they were so surprised and excited! 

Since we have such a big family, we draw names for "Secret Santa"- This year Bob had Logan and I told him that he wanted a guitar case for his electric guitar... 

Bob went the extra mile and got him a NEW GUITAR to go WITH the guitar case- needless to say, we were BOTH surprised and the FIL definitely showed up the wife this year ;) But I'm okay with that! 

Elizabeth had me as "Secret Santa." Her and Jess were in Germany before they came over to spend Christmas with us, so Elizabeth gave me a handmade German Christmas ornament - a stork with a tiny pink parcel :) I will treasure this forever.  She also gave me some other Christmas decorations- apparently Germany is known to do Christmas up right! I love that I will have some authentic items to decorate our home in the years to come.


The obligatory 36 week bump pic... Wow... 1 month to go! 


For lunch/ dinner we started a NEW tradition this year-  A Progressive Dinner.  We started around 2:30pm and it didn't end until almost 9:30pm! It was so much fun to bounce around to the different houses. 

We kicked off Aperitif (Happy Hour) at Chez Caleb.  

He played bartender and even made these little print outs for us to fill out our drink orders.  


I LOVED the Kidgria... so did the Isaac kiddos. 


Upon arriving to the NEXT home, we had to sing a Christmas carol to be allowed entry.  Our house was next for Entree (Appetizers) and these are our carolers. :) 

I had cocktail shrimp, a mixed green salad with homemade vinagrette dressing, and a homemade parnship and leek soup! They were all big hits :) 



We headed to Bob & Sheri's (Who now live in our old Apartment/ Loft) for the main dish of ribs, twice baked potatoes, and broccoli.  It was SO yummy! 


After the main dish, Bob did an activity with the Isaac kiddos that he did with his kids many years ago.  He explained the importance of family sticking together and how an arrow by itself can break easily, but a quiver FULL of arrows is impossible to break.  It was really cute because he had the original arrows from the Misegades family unit and went out to buy arrows for all the in-laws and grandkids.  

Lets just say this quiver is FULL and not over yet!!! There are currently 9 (almost 10) grandkids under the age of 8! Big wonderful family. 



As most of you know, the French have a course entirely dedicated to CHEESE (Fromage) - and this was hosted at Jess and Elizabeth's cabin.  

With some mistletoe thrown in for good measure. 



We capped off the evening at the Isaac's house with a typical French Christmas dessert - La bûche de Noël.  They are delicious (seasonal) ice cream logs!   YUM.






It was SUCH a special Christmas. Hard to believe it was our LAST as a family of 2! Logan and I were reflecting on how out of our 5 Christmases together, we have been in France for 3 of them!!! We will even out the score with a Dallas Christmas next year... it's been awhile and we miss our Texas family during the holidays. AND what are the odds that out of all places DALLAS had a White Christmas while France had an unusually warm and somewhat rainy Christmas!?!? 

Hope you all had a lovely holiday spent with family and friends.  We are so looking forward to the NEW YEAR and what all it has in store :) 

A Bachelorette Party at The Colorado

Two weeks ago, we were tasked with hosting a Bachelorette Party for one of Caleb's friends.  I had a tiny budget, but was able to throw together some cheap decorations.  The bride-to-be wanted it to be "Cowboy" themed with purple (her wedding color).  Seeing as purple isn't the first color that comes to mind when I think COWBOY, I thought it still turned out pretty cute. I put together some simple purple flower arrangements, found purple napkins, a special glass for Fabienne (the Bachelorette) to drink out of, and made some purple confetti to place on top of the doily runner I pieced together.

We started the night with Sangria, followed by dinner, and ending with us teaching the ladies a line dance while Bob, Logan, and Nolan played live music for their entertainment.  Let me just tell you... tipsy French women line dancing is HILARIOUS! They had dressed up the Bachelorette in funky clothes and one woman decided that Caleb would be her dance partner for the evening.  They left The Colorado around 1am and I think they had a great time....apparently we were not the last stop for the party crew!

I had so much fun ... If I could decorate tables for a living, I would! Here's to more party planning in the future :)