Holiday trip to the Emergency Room

Amelie had a close encounter with a dog.

She hugged him too tight and he snapped at her.
Sarah took care of her until I met them at the emergency room at Children's.

She got a stitch on her upper lip.

She was a little dopey to say the least...

We had another little scare, but hopefully,

only a tiny scar will be left as a memory.

And no, it hasn't stopped Amelie from loving dogs!

Amelie a eu un petit incident avec un chien.

Elle l'a caline un peu trop fort et il l'a mordu sur la figure.

Elle s'est retrouve aux urgences a l'hopital, ou elle a recu un point

de souture audessu de la levre.

Apres qu'il lui ai donne un relaxant, elle etait toute fofolle!

On a eu un peu peur mais une petite cicatrice sera le seul souvenir...

Et non, cela n'a pas arrete Amelie d'aimer autant les chiens.

Big scare on Christmas day!

We almost lost our little Chloe today!

She fell in the small lake where we went sledding...

She jumped in to go after ducks.

It had ice on it and she couldn't get out.

Justine got her attention lucky for all and she swam to her...

We put her in an electric blanket for 30mn until she stopped shaking!

What a big scare!

Snow Fun on Christmas day

Mike looked so Stylish with Chris's Boots too big for him,

and Sarah's orange coat too small for him!!!

Mike avait la cote avec les bottes de Chris trop grandes,

et le manteau orange de Sarah trop petit!!!!

Christmas Eve at the Johnsons

We kept our tradition and got to sleep and watch Cxmas movies in new Pj's!

Nous avons garde la tradition de dormir et regarder un film de noel avec des pijamas tous neufs!

Surprise!!!!

So I had the scheme all planned out exept the actual surprise. I had made up flight schedules for Alexi and Justine and emailed them to Sarah, so she wouldn't suspect anything.

We first surprised the kids at their house.

The shocked look on their faces: So entertaining

Then the big one; surprising Sarah and Chris.

We decided with Sophie and Ben to pretend Sophie had hit a dog (Chloe)
on their way to meet them at Aldi.

While we (justine, Mike and I) hid behind the store wall and in our car,
Sophie called her parents in a panic to make them come out to the parking lot.
They did and got the surprise of their life.
Our friend's JOY on this Christmas eve: Priceless


Sarah's thoughts as it all enfolded:
Oh... no, we'll fix the dog. it looks like Chloe. Chris won't mind keeping it.
As she sees Justine:
Oh she came a day early? She brought Chloe with her?
Then she sees Mike and I and it dawns on her that we are all there!!!

Road Trip to Ohio for The Holidays!!!

So all the kids wanted for Christmas was to go back to Cincinnati. 

So we decided to make the 17h-road-trip with Chloe of course. 

(Yep, I had vowed not to do that anytime soon after driving from Cinci to Houston in Novemeber!)

We kept it a total Secret so we could Surprise of friends (especially Chris ans Sarah)

only a couple of people knew; Alexi was one of them...

Pour Noel, les enfants voulais retourner a Cincinnati pour les fetes.

Donc apres consideration, nous avons decide de faire le voyage 

de-17-heures-de-voiture, avec Chloe naturellement! 

( Et oui, j'avais promis de ne pas refaire le voyage de Cinci a Houston si tot, apres l'avoir fait en Novembre) 

On a garder notre voyage un secret total! 

On voulais bien Surprendre tout le monde (surtout Sarah et Chris), 

seulement Alexi et une autre personne savait...

Back Yard Cabin

Concert

Emric's first Band Concert in his new School. Notice the new Tux shirt, jacket and bow tie!!!!

Web Cam Fun

A few things our family is thankful for

Amelie
My family, my parents, my friends, Christmas, the Church, Jesus
Emric
For our cat and dog, for mom's cooking.
Justine
That she is going to Ohio during the Christmas break.
Dad
The example of others, my sweet wife
Mom
Morning walks with Chloe, the warm sun, our health, my bed.

Words to remember

So it's Fast Sunday at about 2pm as we are laying in bed...

Me: Mike would you like me to make lunch or walk the dog?
Emric: You go take the dog mom, I'll take care of dad. I'll make him my specialty ramen.
Mike & Me: "laugh"
Emric: no really mom, it's really good, with eggs and an extra packet of flavoring!
Me: Mike would you like Emric's specialty or me to cook?
Mike: I think I would rather have mom's specialty.

Anyone who knows Emric, knows that he could live on a strictly ramen noodle diet! And I must say he's got them down to perfection. That is if you like ramen noodles!
Mike always says that Emric has a 'body by Ramen Noodles'!

The best hour of the day

Watch Chloe run!
While I was looking for places to take chloe on walks, I bumped into 4 ladies that meet every mornings to let their dogs run free in trails and woods in the area.They invited Chloe and I to go with them. So they text me every morning to let me know where they are meeting and i join them with a happy an excited Chloe. It is quite the sight: 5 ladies with 5 to 7 dogs, our own little pack. My favorite place to go is Jones State Forest by my house (literally walking distance).

En cherchant des endroits pour balader Chloe, j'ai rencontrer 4 dames qui se rencontrent tous les matins pour laisser leurs chiens courir. Elles m'ont inviter a aller avec eux. Donc tous les matins, une d'elles m'envoie un text pour me dire ou elles vont, et je les rejoins avec une Chloe qui est bien heureuse.
C'est toute impressionnant; 5 femmes avec 5 a 7 chiens, ont forme notre propre petite meute.
Mon endroit prefere est la foret Jones tout pres de chez nous. 

W. G. Jones State Park

 Here are a few pictures taken with my phone of the forest by our house.
We have been going there to let Chloe run every weekend, and I take her at least once or twice during the week with our walking pack!
Last Sunday we saw about 12 people on horses, we see dears too...

Voici quelques photos du park pres de chez nous. Nous emmenons Chloe la tout les week-end, et j'y vais aussi avec notre petit groupe de femme dans la semaine. Dimanche dernier, on a vu 12 personnes a cheval, on voi aussi des cherfs.

Thanksgiving on the beach

On the spur of the moment, we decided around 1:00pm to go to Galveston, we were on the beach before 3pm! It was 80 degrees here. Amelie and Mike were the only ones that took a swimming suit. The rest of us thought the water would be too cold, well we were wrong! But we had a good time anyway... Like most moms, I was just as happy watching the kids have fun. Chloe was quite entertaining herself, she just had a blast!!!

What a great way to spend Thanksgiving, enjoying this beautiful nature God has provided for us.

I am Grateful...

Le jour de Thanksgiving, nous avons decider vers midi d'aller a la mer a Galveston, on etait sur la plage avant 3 heures. Amelie et Mike sont les seul a avoir emmener un mayot de bain. Nous on pensait que l'eau etait trop froide... ben on avait tord! mais on a passer quand meme du bon temps. Comme toute maman, j'etais contente de voir mes enfants s'ammuser. Chloe etais aussi bien interessante a observer, elle etait comme une fofolle!

Quelle bonne facon de passer Thanksgiving, en apreciant la belle nature que Dieu nous a donne...

Je suis reconnaisante...

1st Beach Adventure for Chloe

I didn't get a lot of good shots of Chloe...

She just ran like a mad dog for 2 1/2 hours!

Beach Play

Justine

Thriller???

Calling Friends back in Cincinnati!

Holidays are hard when we are far away from friends and family...

We do so miss them...

Beached Dolphin

Not very far away, was a dead dolphin... S0 so sad!

Finally back together as a family!!

Our new home!

After 5 months of being separated, we are together again... Well not quite, Alexi stayed behind to go to college. He is staying with the Johnson's. He is doing better, after trying a couple of medications for IBD, he has found one that works! I am so happy for him! It has been a hard few months for him.

We were able to close on our house in Cincinnati on November 4th. A week later, we closed on our little town home here in The woodlands Friday the 12th. Both houses were very hard to close, to say the least! But after feeling like we were on a roller coaster, it is all behind us! Now we can move on...

The kids have all started school. Justine is on the diving team, that is up there, they have Olympic medals! Emric got all caught up with his school work after starting 2 weeks late. And Amelie is making new friends fast. Mike has a new calling at church and I am nesting, unpacking, cleaning and exploring The Woodlands...  

Apres avoir ete separe pour 5 mois, nous sommes enfin ensemble a nouveau. Pas tous en fait, car Alexi est rester a Cincinnati pour aller a l'universite. Il va beaucoup mieux. Apres avoir essaye des medicaments different pour Crones, il en a un qui marche bien. Je suis si contente pour lui! Il a passe des mois tres difficiles dernierement.

Nous avons vendu notre maison a Cincinnati le 4 novembre et une semaine apres on a achete notre petite maison ici vendredi le 12 Novembre. Tout le stress de notre demenagement est enfin deriere nous! Cela n'a pas ete facile! Maintenant on peu continuer avec notre vie...

Les enfants sont dans leurs nouvelles ecoles. Justine a fait l'equipe de plongeon, qui est tres renomee (ils ont des plongeurs et entraineurs qui on des medailles olympics). Emric c'est rattraper a l'ecole, il a commencer 2 semaines en retard. Amelie elle se fait plein de nouveaux copins et copines. Mike a deja un apele a l'eglise, et moi, je m'installe dans notre nouvelle maison ( je deballe les cartons, nettoie etc...) et j'explore les Woodlands.