HELLO!Winter is on the way! It snowed 10 miles South of here... everyone says this is the mildest winter EVER, but I don't know what they mean. I bet we get dumped by next weekend. Meanwhile, we have been raking leaves (a TON of them) - you have to put them on the roadside and the city picks them up. Betty and I have been doing a ton of it. Eliott has promised to do his share... today... and it's dark in 45 minutes. He can always do it when he gets home from school, we have until Friday. We also bought our Winter Equipment - a shovel, markers for the driveway, a sack of salt, a scraper / brush, thick gloves and a huge tarp (that's to cart the leaves out to the street).
We planned to go away for Thanksgiving but it didn't quite work out, so we came back and spent a nice quiet few days at home. I hope all of you had great times with family, friends and pets... speaking of which, WE HAVE A KITTEN! She's about 5 months old and her official name is Jessie (but we might give her a French name...)
School is still fun, very busy and sometimes a little crazy... we're in our second year and have doubled in size from last year, it all takes some getting used to. We just had a Community Service Day and I got to hang out with the seniors and make meals for homeless people - mac & cheese, green bean casserole and brownies. Then after our school lunch, we took them all our left-overs too, that made a ton more (and may have been tastier too!)
Three more weeks until Winter Break and we are going back to Austin for that. Get a little tan maybe :-) and see Gilles & all our old friends (no - not that kind of OLD...).
Let us know what you're doing and what your plans are. Happy Holidays! This year let it be known I was the first to wish you all!!! GO ME!
All our love, stay in touch and stay warm!
Francoise, Eliott, Betty and Jessie
