Noël 2013

Salut mes amis,

Joyeux Noël! Bonne Année! I'm getting off to a late start posting my holiday photos because life has been pretty tough for my family lately. My parents and my sister were supposed to fly over to spend Christmas in America with me, but something put a damper on their plans. Juliette flew over solo, and Maman and Papa were going to follow her. Before they could, Maman's father - my beloved Grandpère - suffered a sudden heart attack and had to undergo emergency surgery. Of course, Maman really couldn't leave her father's side, and Juliette and I wanted to fly home to join her right away. Maman wouldn't have that. She insisted that we celebrate the holiday with our friends first, and then we could come home. 

Nathalie, Chiara, and Jessa were all too happy to celebrate Christmas with not only me but also Juliette. We scheduled our party for December 21st, the day after classes let out. We got gussied up, had dinner at a fancy Italian place, and munched on cookies and holiday coffee for dessert. Juliette spent much of the night telling us how her ballet rehearsals were going and how pretty Paris looks at Christmas. She tried not to let the news about Grandpère get her spirits down, although I know she is even closer to him than I am. She does get to see him much more than I do. 

Finally, it was present time. Our friends Aimee and Olive had sent us a bag full of presents, but since I had another present to open, I let Juliette open this one.

The first item that Juliette pulled out of the gift bag was a pretty princess wand. She waved it back and forth gleefully, pretending to conjure up some magic. "It'll be perfect for when I play the Sugar Plum Fairy!" she kept saying over and over. Juliette's brain is completely wired for ballet; she never completely stops thinking of tulle costumes and going en pointe!

Next, Juliette unrolled a hand-knit pink scarf. "Oh my, this is lovely! It's sure to keep my neck warm as I'm walking to and from ballet practice!"

"Ooh, this is lovely. It's the Star of Bethlehem that guided the shepherds and the kings to see Baby Jesus! It'll look perfect on our tree this year," Juliette said, gushing over a sparkly ornament.

The last gift Juliette pulled out of the bag changed her spirits completely. "Extra Math practice, oh no! I guess Christmas can't be too happy," Juliette frowned, placing the worksheets out of sight. Though she'd gotten better at the subject since having a tutor, she still did not like Math very much at all.

Next, it was my turn to open presents. The purple dress that I'm wearing is what I received from my parents; isn't it pretty? The gift on my lap is from Juliette; what could it be?

I pulled out a white tank and red shorts edged in lace, the perfect summer outfit! I can't wait to wear this as the weather gets warmer. The shorts have tiny white polka dots on them and real, working pockets - I love them!

Nathalie had a gift from Rowena, a friend in Star Valley. She'd been shaking this gift for the past few days, anxious about what could be inside.

Inside, she found a rag doll with red braided hair who only reminded her of her favorite fictional heroine, Anne Shirley. Isn't she cute?

Chiara and Jessa had some small goodies in their stockings. Chiara got a new notebook that she'll probably use for school, nerd that she is. Jessa got a Yahtzee game! She's already challenged me to a game. (She'll probably win. I suck at games, but whatever.)

And that concluded our holiday party. We took a group photo and promptly headed to bed, as Juliette and I had to catch a flight home. The rest of the holiday pretty much sucked for us, as we spent it in the hospital hoping and praying that Grandpère would make a full recovery. He did make it through surgery, but he's still recovering in the hospital as I speak. I hope he is able to go home soon!

 

I hope you had a better holiday season than we did!  In the comments, please tell me about your favorite Christmas or Hanukkah tradition of the year (or whatever you celebrate). What presents did you get? 

Ton amie,

Sophie

The Post - Christmas Winter Party

Salut mes amis,                                                           

The quints surprised me with yet another gift: a gingerbread house-making kit! Even though the making of gingerbread houses is typically an activity to do around Christmas, I decided to save the kit to do with my friends back at Fair Hollow School for Girls. 

So, last week, I told Jessa, Chiara, and Nathalie to meet me in the school kitchen for our very own 'Post - Christmas Winter Party.' After all, we'd never even gotten to celebrate Christmas together, with me being back in Paris and all! The four of us gathered around the large wooden table where I'd laid out the gingerbread pieces and contemplated how to go about building the houses.

Chiara grabbed the instruction booklet and proceeded to read the step-by-step directions aloud to Jessa, Nathalie, and me. Slowly but surely, the three of us worked together to build two of the four houses included in the kit.


It was really difficult not to lick the icing while we were spreading it onto the edges of the houses, and I'm pretty sure that we all snuck bits of icing into our mouths at some point (I did, I'll admit to it!).

When we'd stuck enough icing on the houses so they'd stay up without falling, it was time for the best part: decorating the exteriors! First, we needed to spread icing on the roofs of the houses. This, I decided, was my job:

Then Nathalie spooned candy onto the roof of the first house. The candy wanted to roll right off of the roof, so she had to be very careful about applying it the right way:

Jessa spooned candy onto the roof of the other house:

Chiara added colorful gummy candy onto the ridge of the rooftops:

We took turns adding jellybeans and conversation hearts to the houses, though you can bet some of those scampered into our mouths in the process!

When we finally decided that we had enough candy on the houses, Nathalie and I added the finishing touch: mint - flavored gummy trees!

Here we are with the finished houses! That's Jessa on the far left, then Chiara, Nathalie, and me! 

Here is a closer look at our finished houses. The one on the left didn't come out as cleanly as we wanted because it fell apart mid-decoration! None of us girls has ever been great at assembling gingerbread houses, but as long as we have fun, perfection doesn't matter . . . right? 

The quintuplets had also baked us a cake roll and a tin full of holiday-themed cookies. So, after we cleaned up a bit, we each pulled up a chair and loaded up a plate full of treats. There were plenty of gingerbread men (and women!), sugar cookies, and slices of strawberry jam-filled cake roll to go around, and we washed it all down with mugs of cold milk (the mugs were also gifts!). 

Here Jessa munches a sugar cookie decorated with red icing while Nathalie sips milk from her adorable new penguin mug:

And here we have Chiara eating a gingerbread (wo)man while I'm sipping milk from my gingerbread (wo)man mug:

These cookies were really too pretty to eat - at least, that's what we thought initially! However, they tasted just as nice, too!

Thank you, Sabina, Violeta, Zipporah, Catalina, and Tatiana! Jessa, Nathalie, Chiara, and I had a great time attempting to build and decorate the gingerbread houses you sent us, and we definitely enjoyed eating the cookies and cake roll you sent, too!

Have you ever made a gingerbread house? What kind of candy did you use to decorate it? 

~Sophie

Une promenade dans la neige!

Salut!

Il y a une grande quantité de la neige à Nouvelle York maintenant. Les écoles et les autres endroits ont fermé.

There is a lot of snow in New York right now, and schools and other places have closed.

J'ai décidé à faire une promenade hivernale mercredi. Je me suis promenée autour du voisinage. Je me suis sentie bien quand j'ai respiré l'air frais.

I decided to take a wintry walk on Wednesday. I felt good when I breathed in the fresh air - especially after being cooped up inside for a while.

Avec ma chemise rouge, je me suis sentie comme un joli oiseau rouge! Maintenant si seulement j'ai eu les ailes...

With my red shirt, I felt like a pretty red bird! Now if only I had wings...

Ton amie,

Sophie

La Neige dans Virginie!

Ciao amiche!

As you probably know from my earlier posts, j'adore la neige - that is, I love snow. It's probably because my school is located in Central Virginia, so we don't get it very often.

But, while I've been chillaxing with the quints in Minnesota - but of course I'd visit somewhere where snowstorms are common! - my friends back in Virginia have had a snowstorm of their own!

And how much do you LOVE this picture of me and Zipporah, Violet, Sora, Lyre Chickadee, and Lorikeet?

Et en Décembre aussi?! I don't know WHEN the last time we got snow in December was - certainly way before I moved here!

Et d'accord, it's not much for those of you who are used to snow in Massachusetts or...or...Minnesota, for crying out loud, but Anya, Nathalie, and Coconut were very excited to play in it.

Bien sûr, they were SUPPOSED to deliver Christmas presents, but...


...they got very distracted...

...but who can blame them really?!

I'm so excited for them that I almost miss them - haha! I'm just having so much fun with Zipporah et al.!

If I don't post before the 25th,

Joyeux Noël à tu et tes amis!!!

Love, Sophie

La Neige: 2ème Jour

Nathalie, Anya, Lindsey, Baby Reagan, and I went a-frolicking in the snow again today. We thought we'd try the giant purple snow dish that Laura got a few years back and has never been able to use (well, outdoors anyway because a few crazy girls DID slide down the stairs in it: see picture).



C'est très amusant, despite not having many hills to go down...until, like clockwork, Lindsey pushed me off the snow dish. Well...I don't know if she did intentionally (and Nathalie might've aided in the process, as her foot was right there), but I sure fell into the snow and was covered in it, lol. I felt like le bonhomme de neige, that is, Frosty the Snowman...and I was DETERMINED to get Lindsey back. So what did I do? Can anyone say, "Snowball Fight?"

So...school will probably start back tomorrow, which means that I won't be writing 10 or so posts in one day, but Spring Break is only a week away. That's kind of ironic, actually, what with this late winter storm we just had.

~Sophie

J'adore la neige (et je suis heureuse)!

D'accord, I'm posting yet AGAIN today, although, to be fair, it's almost midnight and the next day. *shrugs* It's just easier for me to update on weekends, and besides, it's really not all *my* fault for posting so many back entries. Laura, my teacher, just didn't download the pictures off her camera until today, so yeah, not my fault.

But the reason why I'm posting now is that it starting snowing today--that's right, on March 1st--and didn't stop until it accumulated about four inches. D'accord, it's not so much for someone like Violet who is used to snow every winter, but since coming here, I've yet to see anything more than a few flurries. Until now.

I just hope I won't get sick again because the weather here is very indecisive. It's warm, then cold, then warm, then cold again, just like that. I don't know what to wear most of the days, I swear.

'Course I don't care either way because I've got a SNOW DAY tomorrow! Laura says that she's even going to cancel her own classes because there is no way she is traveling on icy roads to go to two classes. So, I'll got an extra day to study (because I didn't spend one moment studying tonight--too excited) AND to play in the snow a a little more--what fun!

All bundled up and playing in LA NEIGE!

Nathalie says that she misses Montréal more than ever, now that she's reminded of snow. Still, she had a lot of fun, even without skis or hockey rinks.

Isabel est retournée!

Mon amie, Isabel, est allée à Rhode Island pendant l'été dernier à visiter son amie Susanna. Les deux filles ont eu beaucoup d'amusement ensemble, mais Isabel s'ennuie de sa soeur Bethany après longtemps. Ainsi Isabel est retournée à l'école sur mercredi avec une excitation à voir Bethany.
My friend, Isabel, went to Rhode Island during the last summer to visit her friend Susanna. The two girls had a lot of fun together, but Isabel misses her sister Bethany after a while. Thus Isabel returned to school on Wednesday with an excitement to see Bethany.




Des jumeaux sont heureuses à se voir encore. Elles sont mignonnes ensembles, non? Isabel porte une nouvelle robe aussi. C'est jolie, mais ce n'est pas mon style.
The (fraternal) twins are happy to see each other again. They are cute together, no? Isabel wears a new dress also. It's pretty, but it's not my style.





Les fleurs en hiver? Isabel a pris au dépourvu quand elle a vu les fleurs dans janvier, spécialement après elle a joué dans la neige à Rhode Island. Mais c'est Virginie, la terre avec pas de neige...

Flowers in winter? Isabel was taken by surprise when she saw flowers in January, especially after she had played in the snow in Rhode Island. But it's Virginia, land with no snow...



Si vous voulez voir l'album de Isabel à Rhode Island, vous pouvez aller le forum du Playthings. C'est appeler "Double Trouble."
If you want to see the album of Isabel in Rhode Island, you can go to the Playthings forum. It's called "Double Trouble."