7 the 22nd Part three

The idea was to have a cheese cake for lunch and a chocolate strawberry cake in the evening, but MK said later in the afternoon she'd rather wait for her papa to come back the following Saturday for the second cake (he will not be back now).

The cheese cake (with philadelphia) was cut just for papa and we shared to rest later that evening.

Now she doesn't need to steal Alexis' bicycle now, present from Alain and I.

7 the 22nd Part two

MK and her favourite doll called Lola..or is it Lilly..

Marie-Kate was allowed to open some presents in the morning, a couple before lunch and the rest just before her papa left for Angola.

She had some books, a game for her dsi (Gaby's old one, that she sold to us, for MK's birthday), some pencils and Hello Kitty stuff, clothes (thanks mum) and some lovely clothes for her doll that she had at Christmas from her Mamie and Papy.

photo taken before she got all dressed up it her new clothes from Grannie

Be back later with the final installment of Miss MK's birthday.

7 the 22nd Part one

I am a little late but with Alain leaving unexpectedly and still away, I've been busy with the family, which has been a good thing really, I'm even enjoying read a J. Wilson book with Gaby (she's got them all), this one's a little sad though, it's called Whale Song (I think).

Anyway, as Alain had to leave just after lunch on MK's birthday and we knew he wouldn't be back for Easter Monday either, the children, big and small, had their first Easter egg hunt here in the garden before he left.

Of course there's always someone who doesn't find many eggs and goes off in a bad mood, and this year it was Gaby. But in the end, they all say down and I shared the smaller eggs out between them to stop world war three starting (especially as I was the one who'd have to deal with it later).

Since living in France, we've never experienced such hot weather over Easter, and before we lived in the sunny south.

Just time to say hi

Guess what, our bedroom is still in progress and will have to go on hold for this long Easter weekend at least, as Alain has had to leave for Angola. He was supposed to go on Monday, but at the last minute, had to leave today. Today is Marie-Kate's 7th birthday and it's quite sad for her (and all of us) because we weren't prepared.

Alain isn't working on Girassol, although he has done in the past, but from the comfort of his office. This time he has to supervise tests on an anchor system and doesn't come back till Saturday 30th if all goes well. Sometimes life sucks!

He'll miss Easter Monday too. I bought some eggs today so the children could have a Easter garden egg hunt while he was still here. Had to do it early though as the chocolate melted fast when you have temperatures in the high 20's (degrees c). It's been warmer here than in the south of France for about a week (photos to come later).

Birthday girl is happy with her new bicycle, books, clothes and dolls clothes (photo's soon, promise)

11th Birthday

Gaby turned 11 on Tuesday. Poor her, she had to go to school all day (8.30 till 5) and suffer two hours of sport and two tests.

When she got home she discovered that Alexis had gone to a friends house for the "gouter" and that Charlotte preferred to hang-out with her friends and send her boyfriend here instead.

She loved her carrot cake (Breakfast Lunch and Tea recipe) and she received lots of lovely presents including some super headphones, as seen above, plus lots of clothes, manga's and books and a super light for her bedroom that I found in the Conran Shop.

We are going to have another party for her on Saturday, and hopefully everyone will be present this time.

9 Years Old

Alexis came home from school and read two more mangas while waiting for everyone to get home for his party night, especially opening all of his presents.

To eat, he asked for jacket potatoes, his favourite and I made a chocolate brownie cake

He had lots of great presents, from dinosaurs to construction games, a pop-up goal, books, a vintage bus and a remote-controlled car

It took ages to unscrew the car from its box (yes, Alain had to go in the basement and find a screwdriver), Alexis, MK and even Gabrielle waited patiently and guess what? Once out of the box it needed charging for 4 hours..poor Alexis

So Alexis played in the garden with his new goal. I am going to move the goal later today to the big garden, as in the gravel courtyard it's just not going to work, far too noisy.

Les Niniches d'Alexis

A Parcel arrived from Brittany yesterday for birthday boy Alexis who's nine today. He doesn't know about the Niniches yet, nor his presents from his Papy and Mamie, but he obviously knew about some of his other presents, as this morning he said that he'd really like to have one present before school, so we gave him a new watch (this boy is a time control freak). He was happy enough but said he'd like one of his manga's, and I knew exactly where to find them, right under our bed...he's manga mad too.

Back to the Niniches, these lollies are so good, especially the caramel beurre ones, my favourite, lucky the tin's sealed (hard to resist), and there are for Alexis. He'll share them as the girls will insist, bribe him, negotiate, whatever it takes to have a niniche.

9 years old...9 ans

Gabrielle turned nine yesterday. The weather was warm and sunny so we ate our mini hamburgers and chips ( as requested by the Miss), followed by a lemon meringue tart in the garden. She had a lot of books, an ipod docking station with radio (she wants an Ipod for Christmas), a big box of lego, and some painting and craft things. This year she received her 9th Pléiade, Mille et Une Nuits.