Home made Compass

Alexis has been busy this weekend baking his famous jam thumb print biscuits and yummy first time meringues. He also made a compass to find the magnetic north using a wine cork, a needle and a magnet.

Back to school 2011/2012

They really were happy to go back to school, just not happy to have their photo taken

Alexis and Marie-Kate went back to school yesterday. There were some last minute changes with regards to Alexis' class which was supposed to be a mixed level CE2/CM1 class, but three new pupils changed that and his class is now just a CM1 class which I'm pleased about.

Marie-Kate's ce1 class has a couple of new children in it too. In fact there are 21 new pupils in all that have joined the school this year, so many that a new class has been created, amazing.

Gaby went back yesterday, but just for a couple of hours. She's in 5eme 4 with the the same classmates as last year as hers is the only bi-langue class (English/German) and this year she has all the pupils that have chosen Latin as an option which totals 7,( 3 already do German).

Camera shy Charlotte

It's Charlotte's first day at Lycee this morning. She'll find out which class she's in, and which option she's got between here two first choices, either Lab Science or Philosophy.

Oliver started back yesterday too, this year he's in his last year of Lycee and he's in terminale S speciality Math.

TIny bathroom

We have a tiny bathroom on our first half floor landing, it really isn't very nice and has just enough space for a toilet, sink and built-in bookcase. There's a little window high up that you need to use a pulley to open it. This is the one window in our house that stays open virtually all of the time. The room's wallpapered, but I've started stripping it.

Just look at the colour difference between where I took off the wallpaper border and the wallpaper. I can't hardly imagine that this room looked so white before, instead of this dirty grey

I still have no idea what colours to use when it will be ready to paint, but not white.

I've been reading a little about Feng Shui in bathrooms and as this room is in the north east corner of our house we should apparently paint it green...

We are going to change the sink for a new on from Ikea and probably cover over the oak floor for hygiene reasons. Finally the girls have requested another mirror for here, what a surprise, so I'll be visiting our local thrift shop or getting on from Ikea.

Hopefully I'll get the room done by next Thursday (a part from the sink) as on Friday I'm off to the UK for the funeral of my Aunt.

Our Street

We live right in the centre of our village, just a stone's throw from the local primary school. It's really quiet here, apart from when the children are dropped off for school.

You can see on the above photo where Marie-Kate is riding her bike, the village hall (salle des fêtes) , the bottom half is in stone and the top half rendered wood. There's quite a lot that goes on here, from plays to mini opera's and of course the annual Christmas Fair.

The house the children are in-front of here is enormous, and only two people live here! The owner is planning on opening a mini creche in the future some where within there.

The only thing we need now is a boulangerie or a local delivery service that delivers fresh baguettes, croissants, even if it was just once a week it would be wonderful.

Riding a bike at last

Mind that bottom, she still adamantly squeezes into her 6 year old leggings even though they are far to small.

It's been quite a difficult year, with the stress of selling our house in Sanary and moving to the Paris suburbs, then getting the house renovated (still lots to do...).

We managed a short break all together and that was great, now we're back we are trying to make more time for the family. I've been taking Marie-Kate out so she could at last learn to ride her bicycle that she had for her birthday. She had been reticent about riding it, since she didn't want to fall off, but as of this week she can ride her bike and she loves it.

The photo was taken in the Vexin countryside in a little village called Jambville. We were there to pick up Gabrielle from a sleep over at her friends.

Cité des Sciences...unplugged Sunday

We did manage a whole day without connecting to internet, instead we visited the Cité des Sciences in Paris. It was cheaper for us to buy a year pass for the 7 of us (72 euros) that allows you to visit as much as you like, the Palais de la Découverte during the year too, so great value.

Charlotte having a conversation with Mona Lisa

Ok, it's not like a long hike going here, but it's a start, right? And this weekend coming we are going hiking, with the children...(15 kilometers, but they don't know that, yet..)

We have to unplug more often, especially since even Alain has become hooked on his new Apple friend, too.

Center Parcs

For the last holiday weekend in August we went to Center Parks which is a about one hour and a half's drives from here. I have to say, I was surprised how good it was. The kids loves Aqua Mundo, tree trekking and just having the freedom to do as the wished in a safe environment .

I forgot to pack the charger for my camera so I haven't got many photos (however Charlotte has) so this is all for now.

Gaby took a couple of nice photos of ducks that were just outside our cottage.

And Alain turned 37 and we couldn't bake a cake because I can't work with microwaves, so Charlotte made some pancakes

Ok she didn't manage to toss this one perfectly, but she got there in the end and after our awful meal in a center parks restaurant, I much prefer to eat one of her pancakes any day.