December Continues

December was quite the month! Carlos had several meetings for school, the girls had gymnastics every Tuesday, a birthday party early in the month, and then a stretch where both girls were home due to Aimy's chicken pox. And, of course, just before the holidays, Alixe came down with the chicken pox too. Hers was more impressive than Aimy's - more spots, a bit itchier, and with a nice cold on top of everything that made it hard for her to sleep and more uncomfortable overall. Fortunately she was a pretty good sport about it all, especially about taking her medicine. Aimy also had fun at the free skating day for kids under 8, and she went to the local pool with her class for swimming lessons on the last Friday before the holidays. And on my own side of things, I had a concert with my second concert band the first weekend in December, and went to concerts for other concert bands every weekend until Christmas. It was neat to see what other groups were working on and to be inspired to play even better.

I found pictures of Aimy making the reindeer from the last post

Very focused. She loves crafts!

She can make sounds! Looks like
we might have another brass player
in the family

Playing games at one of the outdoor
concerts we went to in December

A snow angel and some trees
playing Christmas tunes

"Houston, we have a Popcorn"
- when I went to see Star Wars

Aimy and her "fiancé" Antoine
at the local tempoarary skating rink.
Those two love hanging out together

Another jazz band, this time made up of snowmen

Alixe wasn't sure if she was happy
about having her picture taken
with a snowwoman

But for me, one of the most exciting things that happened in December was my naturalization ceremony. That's right - I officially have dual citizenship! The ceremony took place at the préfecture in Mont-de-Marsan, and I'll admit to getting a bit choked up more than once. After all this waiting, it feels amazing to officially feel at home.

Me with the deputy mayor of Biscarrosse (whose daughter
is in the orchestra with me! Small world) and the Préfete. I
have just given up my resident card and been
given my official folder with my citizenship papers

Everyone sitting was naturalized - but this is only half
of the room! I think we were about 40 to be naturalized
that day.

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...

The beginning of December brought us an unexpected guest: the chicken pox! Poor Aimy had to stay home from school for a week and was unable to go to her class's first trip to the pool for swimming lessons, but she luckily didn't have that many spots and wasn't that itchy either (though I'm not sure if it was just luck or because of the homeopathic treatment the doctor suggested...). Just around the time she came out with her first spots, it was time to get out the decorations and set up the tree, but Aimy didn't seem to mind much - after all, Christmas is a pretty fun distraction!

Putting decorations on the windows

So much fun

More decorations

Hamming it up for the camera

Decorating the tree is serious business!

But sitting in front of the tree for a
picture is very hard to do!

We did some art projects while Aimy was
at home from school - these are potato reindeer
Alixe had a little help with hers but
Aimy did most of it on her own

We also traced our hands and made butterflies

November

I don't have a lot of pictures of the end of November - the month flew by and I didn't take my camera (or phone) out as much as I usually do. At the end of the month, I had three big concert and one smaller one with the local concert band. (and I don't know if I mentioned it, but I joined the association that runs the administrative side of things for the group. I'm one of the people responsible for communication, so I deal with all social media outlets, our email address, and other things, such as the programme for concerts, posters etc.) The first was on the Saturday following the Paris attacks, where we played "I Dreamed a Dream" from Les Misérables and La Marseillaise. On Sunday the 21st for Saint Cécile Day, we played during Mass at the local church. And finally, on the 28th we had our end-of-the-year concerts. You can see the photo album from the two concerts on Facebook. The photos are not mine so I can't post them here, but normally they are accessible to everyone, even those of you who are not signed up for the site. I love this photo in particular - my trumpet is so shiny! I also recently uploaded a video from the concert of us playing Santana in Concert - check it out here!

The same weekend, I ran my first ever 10K trail race at Biscarrosse Plage. The BiscaTrail race had its tenth edition in 2015, so they added a 10K race (normally it's 18K or 32K). A friend of mine had suggested the race to me at the end of September, and since I didn't think I'd have enough time to really train for an 18K, I thought running the 10 would be fun... especially since the second of the two concerts with the concert band ended at nearly midnight the night before!! You can check out the results here. I'm pretty happy with how I did, though I am determined to do better next year! The path was really nice, though I did get stuck behind someone when the trail was at its narrowest, and I had a bit too much energy at the end, so clearly I didn't do a very good job at pacing myself... oh well. I had a blast, and that's the important part!

Ready to head out!

My friend and I, just minutes before the start of the race

Just metres from the finish line! 

I also have a few photos of the girls from the end of November. Next entry - things get Christmassy!

At another birthday party!

New shirt from Gramma!

Aimy's shirt

All proud to be in tights and pigtails

Halloween and Later

Getting into November now... Still great weather and lots of fun activities for the girls. They started taking Baby Gymnastic classes at the beginning of November, which they both love. The classes take place at the same place as my own fitness classes (Zumba and Body Step) and the woman who runs the sessions is great with the kids. Both of them have made lots of progress since the beginning!

October 31st at the beach

Running away from the waves

The Princess and the Pumpkin

Lots of cuddles

They had so much fun dressing up

Over 20°C in November?! Perfect
day to dry the laundry on the deck
and eat our lunch outside

Birthday party! She was so proud of her hair...

One of the first rainy afternoons, I got out a big roll of paper
and traced the girls' outlines.

Then they spent the rest of the afternoon decorating them

It's too fun to draw on the floor!

October

I'm finally starting to feel like I'm catching up with these blog entries... here are pictures up until the 30th of October. We had some great weather this month too and were able to enjoy quite a bit of outdoor fun. Aimy and Carlos also had two weeks of holidays at the end of the month, and we went to visit Carlos's family for part of that time.

Playing in laundry baskets. Who needs toys?

Checking blood pressure

It's Aimy's turn now

Mani-pedis are a great way of keeping the girls occupied

Goofing around at snack time

Not afraid of her draisienne anymore!

Out for a fall stroll

Beautiful red leaves

One of my good friends is related to someone who co-owns a
winery east of Bordeaux, and they had an open house mid-
October. I was lucky enough to be invited, and to try
Escargots à la Bordelaise for the first time. Yum!

I was also invited to lunch at a very
Canadian restaurant in Bordeaux.
Guess what I ordered?

Mmm poutine. And you can just see my maple apple drink
in the background. My friend even won a bottle of maple syrup
for being the 1000th person to review the restaurant online!