Elyse's Birthday

Dear Family and Friends,

Tis the season for birthdays at the Onstott household. For Joe's birthday, Julie and Joe ate a nice French restaurant above Manosque. As we get more proficient in the language, we are better able to choose what we want and avoid things we don't. Julie had roast lamb while Joe had a mushroom dish and of course a large dessert.

Elyse recently celebrated her birthday also. As part of our family celbration, she received a camera that she immediately put to use on a short walk in the hills near Montfuron.



Julie was able to gather ingredients for an American-style box cake through mail order, including cake mix, icing, and marshmallows. Surprisingly, many of her European friends liked the cake with frosting!



Julie also gave in and threw a birthday party. Elyse was able to invite about 14 friends from the International School and church. She had friends from Japan, Korea, France, Finland, U.S., Netherlands, Spain, Germany, and England. Elyse chose most of the games and helped a lot with each step of the party, including writing each invitation by hand and decorating it. The girls had a great time.



Lately, Julie has been having a hard time keeping up with all of the house work. As a result, during a vacation week she paid Elyse and Nicolas in books for helping with some of the extra chores. Nicolas and Elyse quickly began devouring their books. Not to be left out, Nathaniel joined in the spirit and "read" one of Nicolas' books. Julie asked him if he understood what he was reading and he laughed and showed her a funny part:" Mmmm,hmm, ohh . . . aaaaaaaaaaghhhhh!," which he acurately read pronouncing each sound with great enthusiasm.

Julie has also been teaching the children about procrastination. As soon as Nathaniel learned the meaning of the word, he started reminding Julie that she is procrastinating when she doesn't do exactly what he wants!

Bonne Semaine!

Joe, Julie, Nicolas, Elyse, and Nathaniel