for ze muzzer

well, dear goodness.

eet haz been tuu long since i haz posteed on ere and mi muzzer *throat nosie* haz noteeced.

(I think that was a rather successful mix of accents, mostly french).
 Technically, I have all sorts to blog about...Germany, Michael being here, Christmas-time, going to France tomorrow,  grandparents being here.... But I just can't find it in me to make a post that sounds like a family post.  So, sometime after we get back from France (or during), I will make a wonderfully informative post that doesn't put you to sleep and includes lots of pictures.

In the meantime, if you're just absolutely dyyyyinnngg to know what's going on, visit these three blogs.  They're side blogs for the three sisters in the lohnerlicious familia and many times, are unrelated to things that are actually happening in real life.  But at least you'll get a sense of what's going on in our heads.

my(corinne's)blog

leetleseester'sblog(chandler)

ashlie's

a trip home

I cannot even tell you how stinking excited I am that Mom decided to post about France and Italy because now,  I can post about Texas.  Not that I was more excited to be in Texas than France and Italy.  That's certainly not what I'm trying to say....

Moving forward.  We got there late on Wednesday night two weeks ago.  Immediately, we took a side trip to Kingcaids (BEST HAMBURGER PLACE IN TEXAS).  Not a single person in this family has had a nice, greasy, half-fast-food hamburger or delicious french fries or a soda with free refills in three and a half months.  It was SO GOOD!  We can pretend like we're adapting to the London ways and all...but really? Let's face it, I'm American.
Then, we went inside to our house.  I swear, that place has either expanded or I've shrunk because it feels HUGE compared to our house in London.  I could even go upstairs and not hear people talking downstairs.  It felt so nice.
The next order of business was, of course, to go to Target.  We got loads of American crap food (i.e. goldfish, chips, salsa, fruit by the foots, lucky charms), and we also managed to do some clothes shopping.  By then, we've been awake for over 24 hours and Mom said that she was "going to fall over dead."  So we headed back to aforementioned mansion.  BUT WAIT!  Mom saw something of mass importance and we made an emergency stop despite our extreme fatigue. It looked a little something like this....a little.

In the next couple of days, The Pregnant Lady arrived (refer to David if confused as to who this is) as well as BOTH big brahs.  And a happy reunion ensued!

tiny dancer? I THINK SO.

 

Note: This photo may or may not be allowed on this site by subject.  He only said no facebook so let's all band together and NOT TELL HIM IT'S HERE.

We did lots and lots and lots of shopping and eating.  Then, our fake Thanksgiving (Sunday) rolled around in which we saw Matt, Liz, Caleb, Will, Jameson, Brooks, and unnamed male fetus.  It was so so so so happy.  We got to prance around with this little fellow--all of us in our underwear.  Or maybe just him.

 more dancing pregnant photos.

And when REAL Thanksgiving rolled around, we took pictures with crocheted mustaches! (courtesy of Ashlie).

Meanwhile, Chandler and I had a friends reunion spectacular. 

And it's true, we're back in London.  Tiny roads, organic food, and rain.  Not sure how
I feel about that.

love,
a texan.

Grandma and grandpa Pearson spent a few glorious days with us in London.  It was really good therapy for us!  We really needed to give them hugs and see their faces.  We had a great time showing them a bit of our lives here:  Covent Garden, Pineapple, Richmond Park and Santa's reindeer.

Corinne giving grandpa kisses...a rare occasion!

Richmond Park

We also went to Blenheim Palace, which is the birth place of Winston Churchill and right up grandpa's alley.  He spent some serious time pouring over Churchill's history.  The girls, grandma and I loved the palace (gorgeous), the gardens (immaculate) and Winston Churchill's velour siren suit and matching slippers!  Nice!  We also drove through a bit of the Cotswolds and Oxford.

Paris is one of the most unbelievable places!  It is so elegant and gorgeous!  Wish we could've stayed indefinitely.

Places we visited:

The Eiffel Tower--all the way to the top
Notre Dame--saw part of a Sunday service and Quasimodo's bell :)
Saint-Chappelle--went to Vivaldi's Four Seasons concert here, absolutely fabulous!
The Louvre'-- FIVE glorious hours of awesomeness
Musee d'Orsay--one of the most incredible collections of impressionistic art ever!
Monmart
Pantheon
Hotel Des Invalides
The Pompidou
Arc de Triomphe
Champs Elysees
Jardin des Tuileries
and the list goes on....

We left Paris with only a small token from Notre Dame in our pockets, but we saw as much as we could possibly see in four days!  Brilliant!

Italy and beyond!

Five days in Italy for my birthday?  Amazing!  Mike definitely wins "best husband" award for taking us to the Amalfi coast for the weekend!  We stayed in Sorrento, which was a perfect place with wonderful little streets full of shops selling leather, inlaid wood (all of the furniture in our hotel room was inlaid wood), and anything lemon--candy, candles, soaps and they are famous for their lemoncello, a lemon flavored liquor.  In the center of the city there is a lemon orchard.  And there are tons of lemon orchards in the surrounding countryside.  We saw lemons as big as canteloupes!

We also visited Capri, Ravello, Amalfi, and Positano.  Capri island--a small island about a 20 minute boat ride away.  Gorgeous, clean, and full of designer shops.  Ravello is a charming city high up on the mountainside known for being a city of music and ceramiche'-handmade ceramics.  We ordered hot chocolate in the square (because we were freezing to death), which was like drinking liquid chocolate.   Divine!   Our driver, who was born in and lived in Amalfi, told us he had to wait TWO years to be married in the cathedral.

My personal favorite was Positano, a gorgeous little city with colorfully painted homes and cathedrals that literally climb up the mountainside.  There was a wedding at the main cathedral in the center of the city as well.

paradise!

Positano is a gorgeous little city that has colorfully painted homes and buildings that literally climb up the mountainside.  It's unbelievable how people were able to build these cities and streets into an extremely steep slope.  There was a pretty good beach there where we watched a group of tanned men (and two adorable little boys) set up a dock by pushing pieces of the dock across two wooden boards, which had to be moved over and over again to get everything down to the ocean.  It was mind boggling how long it took, how many men, and how "old school".  They could've done it in a few minutes with the proper machinery!  There were people setting up for an Italian wedding at the local cathedral.  As we admired the paintings and tombs, a little man was putting together flower arrangements around the church.  Positano was in the movie "Under the Tuscan Sun", and for good reason.  It is paradise!  And one of my favorites.

parmigiano reggiano...divine

Amalfi was the last little city we visited.  The city consists of one square and one main street, with a zillion little alleyways that twist up and around in mazes, hidden behind the stores and restaurants of the main street.  The cathedral is really pretty--there was a wedding here too.  There are steep steps that lead to the main doors of the cathedral---and  flower petals were sprinkled all the way up the steps.   Our driver, who was born in and lived in Amalfi, told us he had to wait TWO years to be married in the cathedral.  Even though it is tiny, Amalfi is my other favorite of the area.  We found the best gelato here!  And the gentelmen serving up the cones were super generous, which made it taste even better!  

We had our fill of gelato and pizza over the weekend--just to make sure we didn't have any regrets!!  After weeks of practicing his driving on the crazy and very crowded streets of London, Mike was amazing on the tiny little jagged streets that literally followed the coast line. We felt like our tires were hanging off the edge of the road as we wove up and down the little streets of the Amalfi coast.  The entire weekend was brilliant!  We had a blast! 

rows and rows of pasta

the hotel key...huge and awesome

i have decided to take initiative...

 ....and copy and paste Chandler's post on her blog.
note: as she said, photos and information on Italy will soon arrive.
note number two: said city in paragraph two is Brighton.

"Since I went on several trips recently and my sister won't write on her blog so I can't just copy and paste what she wrote, I am forced to inform everyone about Italy and such. I honestly didn't take any photos and since I am just feeling way too lazy to go upstairs and get my dad's camera to put all of his pictures on the computer, I will just wait until a later date.

"Two weeks ago on Wednesday we went to a city by the coast of England of which I forgot the name of where it was freezing cold, windy, and rainy. (a very unfortunate combo) We went because dad had a stella and dot event and mom thought it would be fun to go and check out the are. We went for one day (a day that consisted of shopping, going to starbucks, getting our names painted in watercolor by an adorable old man, and checking out their really amazing library, and then thinking about how we should complain to the city of southlake because our library stinks and has more movies than books) and at the end of the day, we got fish and chips, checked out of our hotel, and drove home. This particular drive was really uncomfortable and it started out with me laying down on dad's bag and corinne laying on top of me. Corinne fell asleep and I got a really bad cramp in my neck where her head was and roughly shoved her aside because I was tired and wasn't thinking straight causing my compassion level to be very low. But then when I tried to fall asleep on top of her, I realized that it was much more comfortable than her laying on top of me and tried to move her so she was on top of me again. This was still unsuccessful and I got down from underneath her and decided that maybe the best idea was to just stay awake for the ride. Corinne never once woke up.

"On Friday, dad woke us up at 3 o'clock in the morning and we all left at 3:30 to go to the airport. We got to the car park, took a bus to the airport, checked our bags, got some food, and then took another bus to our plane. In Italy, we stayed at the Almalfi Coast, had gelato every day for both lunch and dinner, and we shopped A LOT. Sunday was mom's birthday and we got her wonderful presents. Corinne and I made a video for her birthday and dressed up.

"I would say it was a very successful and wonderful birthday. And then Monday night we flew home.

"Now I bet you are wondering why in the world I spent more time talking about sleeping in a car than Italy. It is because of the whole picture ordeal. I promise once I stop being lazy I will get my dad's camera and write a long blog full of wonderful pictures.

"And once we got home from Italy on monday, nothing exciting or funny happened.

"you are now up to date."

I have a dream.....

*had

The other night I had this crazy ridiculous dream.  Actually, this one isn't so bad.  Pretty normal comparatively but it's relevant to our family so I'll tell you about it.

Our whole family went to Palo Alto to visit Ashlie because the due date for her tiny dancer to come out had passed by a whole week and we didn't want to miss it--understandably.  When we got there, Ashlie turned off the lights and sat down in a chair that had a spotlight on it. (I think my mind didn't want to try to figure out what Ashlie's new apartment looked like...)  She looked extremely grave.  She told us she had an announcement.  We waited.  And whilst we were waiting, I noticed something odd.  She was wearing Doctor Seuss boxers and a girl's camp T-shirt BUT these items were both Chandler's.  Because she was pregnant this made the shirt more than a little tight and half of her belly.  Only,  the belly didn't look like a pregnant lady's belly.  It looked EXACTLY- MOLE FOR MOLE-like Michael's.  I was confused.  I guess my subconscious tried to explain this discovery by Ashlie saying,  "Family.  I have to admit something.  I'm not actually pregnant.  I've just gained a lot of weight and was embarrassed so I lied." 

UMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM OKAY.  Naturally, following this announcement, panic ensued.  I immediately started sobbing my guts out and Chandler started punching Ashlie's belly (made of fat at this point) without mercy.  Mom started flipping out and repeatedly yelled at Chandler,  "DON'T HURT THE BABY!!"  Then Dad was telling Ashlie that she was grounded from David for an eternity.   I'm not quite sure where David was or whether this would've been news to him or if he was in on the secret.   I woke up.

Upon reflection,  I am pretty darn psyched for this baby!

As for what happened this weekend,  we went to Camden Town and bought some stuff.  Dad made us go off sweets for 5 days of the week and workout 5 days as well.  For a long time.  This really should be easy (the working out part is) but the whole sweet thing is HARD.  One day, I'll be healthy....