Back to school

With everyone back in school, we're getting into our normal rhythm. But just for one more day--then we go on winter holidays for 2 weeks!

The kids came back from school with postive reports all around. I'm so thankful that our re-entry this time was smooth. We weren't sure until the last moment if Zari would be re-admitted to the same high school but it all worked out.

Eric, Inga, and I all woke up early. Eric in particular was up for several hours before he wanted to be, which meant he took multiple naps throughout the day. I had an involuntary nap after lunch. I just couldn't resist it.

It rained all day. The kids came home soaking wet for lunch and soaking wet after school. I haven't seen the sun since we arrived, which is abnormal for Nice. But I hope the rain down here translates into lots of snow up in the Alps!

We are going through our stuff as we unpack, trying to get rid of unnecessary things. With 6 people living in 65 m2, we can't keep too many things. (Ok, if we add in the attic bedroom that we can't stand up in, it's maybe 75 m2 / 800 sq ft.) We are giving away many of the toys: wooden train set, wood blocks, duplos, brain flakes, marble run, wood play food...crib bedding and baby blankets...a big bag full of clothes Ivy has grown out of....

I had to do some minor bricolage today in our own apartment. With our heat pump system offline, we had to use our old heating system, which consists of one wall-mounted electric radiator and two towel heaters. Yes, that is the entire heating system for our apartment. We don't heat the back two bedrooms except for whatever heat gets thrown off by the dehumiditer and the towel heater.

Our one wall-mounted heater was fritzing out, so I disconnected it entirely and removed it. Where the cable used to come out of the wall, we now have an outlet box installed, which we are using to power a freestanding radiator. I also pulled out an oil-filled radiator from our attic to help heat the living room. We're feeling fairly cozy now.

I also made another shelf in our shoe cupboard because we were out of space. OF COURSE it wasn't just an easy rectangle. It was a complex trapezoid with a rectangle cut out of one corner to go around some electrical conduits. But I got it figured out and it fit perfectly.