Tim's Birthday

Lindsay and Rachel had limited funds so they got creative and made some coupons for their dad - he got one for 5 times of collecting the trash and cleaning the kitty litter, and the other for 5 car washes. They also made him his own pan of peanut butter Rice Krispie treats, and included a Snickers dark candy bar, a can of his favorite drink (Enviga), and some Ironman magnets!
Hmmm... I wonder how old Tim is?
The birthday boy with his birthday crown on, and one of his loyal subjects.
Here are the Lou Malnati's pizzas that Mom sent to Tim for his birthday. I took them out of the box they were delivered in and put them in a Target bag in the freezer. Tim is on the phone with Mom here, and I think if you look closely you might be able to see some drooling!

Rachel's Dorm Quilt

You can't really tell, but here it is after it was quilted. I had it machine quilted in a paisley pattern, and now I am in the process of sewing the binding on. Check back here next week and hopefully I will have the finished product to show you. Rachel moves into her dorm on Sept. 2nd, so I don't have a lot more time to finish it!
Here is the top of the quilt all sewn together - we picked out a flannel fabric to back the quilt
Rachel's good friend Larissa's mom made her a quilt for her dorm room, and when Rachel saw it she came home and asked me if I would make her one too. Now, I do not sew, but I did take a beginner's quilting class almost 9 years ago. The quilt I made in the class needs to have the binding put on, and then I made a second top, which was to be for Rachel's bed, but it was never finished. Anyway, since the pattern is really easy, and the dimensions of the quilt are for the extra-long twin beds found in dorm room, I decided to give it a try. It is a sort of crazy quilt, as it requires something like 17 different fabrics. Rachel decided that she really wanted to put together fabrics that might not appear to go together at first blush, but somehow seem to work. Here is the quilt with the pieces cut out, but not sewn together. The white squares are to mark the fabric so as not to confuse the layout!

Rachel's Graduation from Eagan High School - June 12, 2009

Aunt Lisa and Rachel

Grandma, Taylor and Rachel






Rachel had to play her French horn in the Wind Ensemble during graduation, but she has played at the graduation ceremony as a sophomore and a junior, and she said she was glad she was finally the one who was graduating!

Lindsay's Graduation from Drake University

On May 16, 2009 Lindsay received her Bachelor's degree in Elementary Education from Drake!
Aunt Lisa, Kyle and Grandma came to Des Moines to celebrate Lindsay's graduation

Lindsay on the Drake Bulldog in Drake Plaza

I started this blog with Dad in mind. He wanted me to send him pictures and emails from Paris so I thought this would be a good way to let everyone know what we were up to, and it would be a good digital scrapbook for us. When we returned from our trip Dad mentioned several times how much he enjoyed getting on his computer everyday and seeing what we were doing, and he asked me to continue to post things. I told him I thought our daily lives would seem mundane in comparison, but that I would continue to add to it. With Dad's passing less than two weeks after my last post, I haven't been able to bring myself to add anything to it. But, life has gone on, and in a pretty big way, so I feel like adding to it once again.

Lindsay is student teaching!

Lindsay has completed her first week of student teaching! She is teaching Kindergarten at Pleasant Hill Elementary School in Pleasant Hill, Iowa, a suburb of Des Moines. Lindsay has really enjoyed her first week - by the second day she knew all of the kid's names, and a little bit about each of their personalities. We can't wait to hear about her second week - here is a link to the school she is teaching at http://www.pleasanthillpto.org/

Our Last Day in Paris

We came upon this hotel named for Tim while walking in Paris!
Our metro stop!
Trace television station - the girls always had this French music video station on whenever we were in the apartment!
Rachel and Lindsay relaxing in the apartment playing Sims on Lindsay's computer before we headed out for the Eiffel Tower on New Year's Eve.
Les Deux Magots (the namesake of the famed cafe)
One of the streets in "our" neighborhood with its holiday decorations
Rachel and Tim enjoying sandwiches from the Croissanterie.

Needs no introduction!

We decided to spend our last day in Paris by going to the Eiffel Tower and doing a little more shopping! We went to the top of the Eiffel Tower during our last visit, and didn't feel a need to stand in line to go up again, but we did want to go and see the monument (in daylight) once again.

After leaving the Eiffel Tower we returned to the Saint Germain des Pres area for our last shopping opportunity. I mentioned to Tim before we left how much I'd love to buy a new handbag in Paris, but once we got there and saw how expensive everything was (Paris is expensive anyway, but the value of the dollar vs. the euro makes it worse) I decided it would be a bit more extravagant than would be prudent. Tim, however, really wanted to buy one for me (he has been indulging my handbag problem for years now!) so he took me shopping on Saturday while the girls went off to do some shopping of their own. We ended up purchasing a beautiful bag from Longchamp, which will be a daily reminder of our wonderful trip to Paris!

After shopping we met Kim for dinner at a great little restaurant called Chez Janou. It was a charming place, and I wish that I had taken a picture during dinner, but I forgot! After dinner Kim, Lindsay and Rachel left to go and meet some of Kim's friends, and Tim and I took the metro back to the apartment to pack. I have to admit that I was a little nervous leaving the girls at 9:30 p.m. to go off by themselves and navigate the metro back to the apartment after midnight, but Kim and her friend Sophie walked them to the metro station and they got home just fine. The girls had a great time meeting several of Kim's friends, and wished that they had had more time to spend with them!

On Sunday morning (Jan. 4th) Marc Gallice very kindly picked us up at the apartment and drove us to the airport. We had 8 pieces of luggage and 4 carry-on bags, and thought for sure that we wouldn't be able to get it all in Marc's car, but thankfully it fit, and so did we, and off we went! We had a WONDERFUL two weeks in Paris, and we can't wait to go back!

Along with the pictures from the Eiffel Tower I am posting some random pictures from our trip...

Dinner with the Gallice Family (1/2/09)

After leaving the Opera Garnier we walked over to the Galleries Lafayette on Boulevard Haussmann for a little while, then we returned to the Saint Germain des Pres area (where our apartment is located) for a little more shopping. After our afternoon of shopping we went to the Latin Quarter where Marc Gallice's store is located. Marc imports beautiful rugs called kilims (which he also designs and has made), and some furniture, from Turkey and the Middle East. We purchased two small kilims and picked out a beautiful painted box and hat, which Marc very generously refused to allow us to pay for. He also gave us two boxes of delicious Turkish delights candies. Marc made us delicious Turkish tea at the store, and then after closing the store for the evening he took us to the Paris mosque for some of the most delicious tea we've ever had! Then we drove with him to his home where Dominique had prepared a delicious dinner of spinach lasagne, and tarte tatin for dessert. (From the left clockwise around the table - Eliot (Kim's boyfriend), Kim, Marc, Rachel, Lindsay, Tim and Dominique).