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Makenna had her end of year dance recital after finishing her 2nd year of dance class.  Thankfully this year wasn’t quite as hot as last year, as the venue has no air conditioning and gets VERY hot.  Like last year, the recital started at 8:30pm and we were able to take Makenna home at the intermission (which wasn’t until 10pm!)  Her class performed to “Let it Go” (from Frozen) in French and they wore Princess Elsa dresses.  Her teacher is great and the program was so sweet!

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For Ryan’s birthday this year I gave him a gift certificate to a French cooking class.  While his birthday was in March, he just recently booked the class on a Saturday morning.

The class started at 9am and they learned how to make an entire meal- entrée, plat et dessert (appetizer, entree and dessert) as well as how to cut and bone a fish.  At noon, spouses were allowed to come and eat the meal that they prepared.

When I arrived, I was offered champagne and was able to watch some of the class as they were still cooking.  Then we started with the entrée- a sea bass filet with chorizo and peppers.

As we finished that course, the students went back to the cooking station to prepare the main dish.  We had veal tenderloin with champagne risotto and caramel glazed carrots.

The dessert was simple yet delicious- roasted strawberries with whipped cream.

Ryan loved the class and especially enjoyed learning how to cut fish.

Y’all, what’s an end of year party without a bounce house, food and….beer?!  France really knows how to make school events more enjoyable!

Makenna’s school threw an end of year party on a Friday evening towards the end of June, 2 weeks before school ended.  The last day of school here was July 6th which seems late for our friends back home, but they also start later….usually a few days into September and they have a 2 week vacation about every 6 weeks during the school year.

The evening started out with the different grades performing dances.  Makenna’s class combined with a class of 2nd graders to dance to the French version of “The Muffin Man” (in French it is Le Ramoneur, or the chimney sweep).  They wore shirts the the teacher’s aides painted that said “trés Briand” which was a play on words….Briand is part of the school’s name and it sound like the French word “brillant” which means bright.

There were tables set up with sweet and savory foods made my parents, which the school charged money for to help pay for the event.  There were also hot dogs, slushies and beer!

For the kids, there were bounce houses with slides set up.

Unfortunately Makenna had a fever that afternoon so we only took her for a little while and then had to go home.  It was nice to have such a casual setting to talk to teachers and other parents.

Shoutout to Ryan for making this house frame bed, and my Pinterest dreams, a reality!  We recently moved Reese into this floor bed because my mom will be visiting this summer and staying with us….but now that Reese came along, we don’t have a guest room.  So our plan is to have my mom stay in Makenna’s room, and have the kids share a room while she’s here.  Being that the rooms are small, it made most sense to get rid of the crib and try to get the kids to share a bed.  With this bed being floor level, we don’t have to worry about them falling out of bed and it’s easy for Reese to get in and out of on his own (which is sometimes a curse haha).

Shortly before we moved Reese into this bed, we took away his pacifier and then he started getting his molars…..so the timing of everything wasn’t ideal and the transition was pretty rough for 2 weeks.  Now Reese sleeps in his bed, without a pacifier, with no problems!  Fingers crossed that him and Makenna will be able to sleep in there with no problems while my mom is here.