Bon Week-End (Good Weekend)

We've had a bon week-end which has given us all a much needed break. Friday night Olivia was invited to attend an orchestra re-hersal with her friend from church, Alysee. Olivia was nervous because it was all in French and she hasn't had a lesson since our arrival. She went to the practice at 8:30pm (they start EVERYTHING late here). When she came home I asked how it went and she said, "It was VERY difficult." I'm so proud of her for trying! The girls had sleep-over at our house that night. First thing in the morning they got up and started to practice. It was heavenly to hear them play together.
Alysee spent the entire day with us. She helped us with our French skills and we showed her some of our American favorites like a root beer float. They don't sell root beer here and that is the kids favorite soda. Clara and I found some Friday night in the international aisle of the big grocery store so we bought it and surprised everyone.
Saturday afternoon Taylor suggested we invite Alysee's family for dinner. About an hour later the missionaries from church called to see if they could come visit so we invited them to dinner as well. It was a spontaneous dinner party, especially since I didn't even know what we were going to eat. We had a big raquellette dinner and ended up using two machines because there were so many of us. For dessert we had the gateau de roi (kings cake). During the month of January all of the bakeries in France have this special cake for sale. It is in celebration of the 3 kings and their visit to the Christ child. Baked inside the cake is a little ceramic toy/figurine. Whoever gets the piece of cake with the toy is the king/queen for the day.
We have had several kings cakes in past two weeks, but Clara hasn't won the prize until last night. Boy was she ever excited to be the queen for the day!
Real Royalty: Olivia, Tristan, Spencer, Clara, Alysee, Roman