I was secretly excited that the kids were required to wear uniforms to school. When I was researching the school in November, I took note of the sweet, deep green uniforms the students were wearing with rounded collars sticking out of their sweater vests.

We had an appointment last week at 5:30 pm to meet with the uniform representative to have the children fitted. I thought to myself "a fitting, these are going to be pretty snazzy."  Dan, in his brilliant wisdom, decided that it would be best to take a taxi since our appointment was on the outskirts of the city and Max and Sophie would be tired from their first days of school. We have a taxi stop a block from our apartment, taxi's line up waiting for you. (Very convenient, especially for trips to the airport).

We grabbed the first taxi in line and what a treasure he was. Henri spoke little english but wanted to speak with us in the worst way. He was a virtual "Frommer's Guide" for our family. I was writing down the different museums he recommended we take the children to at a feverish pace. He loved the children and was trying to teach them French until they eventually fell asleep in our laps. (Good call Dan).

He found our location, in a gorgeous area with large grand apartments. Dan arranged for Henri to wait for us since we were in a quiet residential area. (I assumed we were going to a boutique.)  We woke the kids and dragged them into a beautiful apartment building and rang the bell. A tiny French woman answered the door and led us into her house. (How fun for me!). She welcomed us and her next words were "children, take off your clothes." I wish I had my camera to capture the kids expressions, their jaws dropped ..........." Do I know you and ahhhhh " is what their faces were screaming. 

Can I tell you that I was so disappointed when I looked at the navy pants, sweaters, coats and white shirts. So boring.   What happened to the green? (They changed the uniform in September).

As I was dressing and redressing the children, I was sneaking glances at the  apartment. It was open and fairly modern and her windows were wide and had the original glass.   A housecleaner was cleaning her kitchen in the dark (why didn's she turn the lights on?).  I LOVE looking into peoples homes and seeing how they live.  We finalized childrens sizes at size 8yr. Which is interesting because they still wear a size 5 in the U.S..

After we were finished, our chatterbox Henri drove us back to our apartment. The sky was dark by this time and "The City of Lights" had come alive. We were stuck in traffic right in front of the Eiffel Tower when its hundreds of lights began twinkling all at once for us.  Henri continued to teach the children French and shared "his Paris" with us. When he dropped us off at our apartment, he got out of the taxi and kissed the children on both cheeks. He lives right around the corner from us and told us to look for he and his wife on Sundays at the open market.

You better believe that we will!

Sophie loves her school uniform because it is so comfortable and she can wear pants! I did purchase one skirt for the spring, sorry Sophie.

Oh Max, I could eat you with a spoon!

Max loved his wool coat and he looks quite handsome in it.  Sophie said "I look like a boy".......I don't think that is possible curly girl.