Spring and Summer update...and some photos from Amsterdam

Where does the time go?  We have been so busy:

• working a lot 
• trying to balance family time and work
• visting Amsterdam
• watching the children take part in their end of year concert 
• waiting for the visa that never came (A was supposed to go to Angola)
• wrapping up the last term at school before the holiday's.  Alexis enters college in September (he came out top of his class this year and had 98% for national exam all CM2' sit!
• shopping for summer camps
• Seeing Oliver leave for England for an internship...three months without no dirty laundry being left in the middle of the bathroom and a tidy room that smells kind-of fresh for once

                                                                                                                       On a beach a long bike ride              

                                                                                                                       from Haarlem

I could go on but I won't.  Now it's the 12th July.  We have one of five children at home which is weird but ok.  Charlotte is here, she goes to India on a humanitarian holiday (half of the time) and the other half sightseeing.  She will visit the Taj-Mahal, visit the town of the Dalai Lama (meet him if he's there).  Help make a new classroom...she's going to take lots of stationary for the school over there.

                                                In our big house boat in Amsterdam

Where are the other four?  Well you know that Oliver is in the UK getting some work experience. 

Alexis and Marie-Kate left last Sunday for their summer camps.  Alexis is on a "Survivor's" theme camp.  More to come in another post

Marie-Kate is on a "Graine de Veto" camp.  Basically, she's getting a first look at what it's like to be a Vet;  More later on her camp.

                                                      Our house boat at night

Gabrielle left at the crack of dawn yesterday (we were at CDG and 5 in the morning!) She's off on a Scandinavian tour, where she'll visit Denmark, Norway and Sweden). Once again more later.

Finally, us, two parents, with one 17 year old who is capable of looking after herself.  We are off on a hiking holiday, a short one, and we'll leave when the pile of clothes have been ironed, and the house is tidy, the grass has been cut and the plants watered.

Two more photos and then I have to tidy

 We didn't really find the food that great in Amsterdam, however in Haarlem we ate a  small organic café and the children loved the hamburgers they served.

 Bye bye house boat.  Last day before catching the plane to come back home

This is one of two floating house boats that have been transformed into a super playground that the children loved.

Back...Catching up from Easter

I'm really trying to juggle family, work, the house and very occasionally a blog post, but it's not easy.  Alain came back from Congo weeks ago and was supposed to leave weeks ago to Angola.  He's still waiting though, as he has a visa issue, that should be resolved next week.  If he leaves too late, it would mean that we'd have to cancel our long weekend in Amsterdam, four night on a canal boat:(

For the first time, this Easter, only Gaby, Alexis and Marie-Kate hunted for Easter eggs, Oliver and Charlotte chose their comfortable beds and 15 euros each.

 The weather was good and the eggs were fairly easy to fine as our garden was still in mode "winter".

This year, Gaby remembered no to put her big Easter egg on top of her radiator, and got to devour this one in record time.

Catching up with Christmas 2012

For the first time ever, I worked on Christmas Eve.  I was the only one through at work and things were really quiet, so I finished early.  When I arrived home, the children had already written out  menus for everyone

All the cooking was done by Alain, Gaby, Alexis and MK.  Oliver stayed far away from any work, while Charlotte was with her boyfriend.  Alexis is really starting to like helping out in the kitchen.  Above he's preparing salmon canapés.

The girls made lots, including Devils on Horsebacks.

After many tasty aperitifs 

The table was laid

and this year we ate duck, a recipe inspired from a one of MK's cook books. Our  "Magret de Canard en Croûte de Noël" main course was yummy, served with parsnip and carrot chips.

To finish, we had a boulangerie bought Christmas Log.

To finish off, we were treated to a amazing harmonica concert by Alexis.

He's been learning harmonica since the beginning of this school year and he's really good, really, and it was a perfect ending, listening to our nearly 11 year old son, on Christmas Eve.

Charlotte's 17th Birthday

Charlotte turned 17 on the 26th December.  This year has had many ups and even more downs when it comes to Charlotte, but things are settling. 
She requested a cheese cake for her birthday, she's crazy for cheese, even for breakfast. The smeller the cheese the better, however, this cake called for soft cream cheese and it really was delicious.  

After much waiting, we got to meet Charlotte's boyfriend, he's on the photo, well a part of him.  His name is Julien and he's really nice and so very tall too!  We immediately liked him and hope he'll stay around a long time, because as I said at the beginning of this post, things are settling and boy it's about time.

Checking in Christmas Tree Time

                                                 La Defense not far from when I work

Since beginning to work again, it's been hard to find the time do do anything other the essential, family, food, homework, cooking, eating, cleaning, working including transport to and from the office.
We have managed to do some progress in the children's bathroom, but it still not finished, maybe next weekend, as this weekend we are getting all Christmassy around here.

                                                    *Three out of five decorating the tree

Luckily the 1st of December was a Saturday this time, this helped a lot with the planning, especially for the Christmas tree.   
Now the children are older, we just them decorate, we have no colour theme, just mix and match.

 When Charlotte was five, we celebrated our first Christmas in France, and beforehand she made a Angel, using a empty toilet roll a polystyrene ball for her had and so aluminum foil for her wings, her nose is a silver star and she has silver hair.  Who would have thought would have survived all this time, but she has, and who would have thought that every year there would be a fight  debate to see who should be the one to put our little Angel on the top of the tree (like every year).  
It was decided that this year Gaby would have this honor, she needed a strong pair of shoulders(her Papa's) though to reach up high enough.  Voila, we are getting all Christmassy and it feels good.

*Charlotte was too busy with friends in Paris and Oliver too, he went to the Christmas market on the Champs Elysées, or so he said, but my guess if was visiting one of this favourite stores "Abercrombie and Fitch"

Checking in

Still here, just busy, end of school year hectic.  Oliver has his bac, didn't work much if at all this year for it, but still got it, no "mention" quite rightly.  He is happy because he passed some competitive entrance exams for Sesame at came out in the top ten in the country for all for schools (second for Rouen and seventh for Essec), go figure! He's going to Essec in Cergy, happy for him, but not so proud because he just moved his butt for these exams and I worry that he will have problems in September to get down and work with method and some rigor.
Charlotte's going to a new lycee, she's going into STL, which really will suit her, just fingers crossed that she'll think about studying more and certain friends less....complicated to bring up teenagers, small children small problems, big children, big problems, enormous ones when it comes to one of ours in particular.   Charlotte is off for three weeks to America'a West Coast, she'll be visiting Los Angeles, two national parks, a couple of lakes and canyons and San Francisco too, lucky her, hopefully this holiday will help Charlotte break out of the downward spiral she's in.

Gaby finished her year on a high with very high praise from all her teachers.  Proud of her, she deserves to switch off a little, and she has, she's even played a football game on Oliver's X box and this very moment

She had friends to stay over the weekend, went to the cinema, swimming et cetera and had a whale of a time.  Gaby's off to Corsica for two weeks next week, she's less shy now and has grown in maturity and confidence, so she hopefully won't get too homesick this time.

Alexis finished his year like Gaby, with a glowing report, straight A's and he was sad to finish school and said he's going to miss Mr B, who has been awesome, but apparently Mr L is a brilliant teacher too, so I'm not worried in the least.

Alexis found Charlotte's old pyrography pen, this is becoming his new summertime passion. The above sign, for their tree platform is the first thing he did with it.


Hate to repeat myself, but MK did it again, perfect school year, need I say more.  
We are getting set to go to the Auvergne region to trek with a donkey for a week..more later, I have lunch to make.

Charlotte's in Granada

After a weekend of stress due to Charlotte and the fact that she just decided she didn't want to go on holiday to Spain after all(organized via Alain's work). Harsh words were spoken my Miss 16, but the storm blew over and yesterday we took her to Orly to meet the group of 8 girls she would be spending her holiday with.  She was happy to know there were only girls, and felt even better when they were all similar ages (15,16 and 17).  We even bought Miss C a new telephone at the last minute because in her hotel there was going to be wireless internet.  
Charlotte's suitcase was filled with shoes and boots and many unnecessary items that sixteen year olds like Charlotte can't live without, but I did manage to get her to leave her ipod dock/radio at home and her enormous(and expensive) headphones too.  

Silly girl only took one thin jacket though, let's hope that the weather in Granada is better than what we are experiencing here in the Yvelines.


We received a first update from the organizer's website today it seems that all is well, the 6 girls including Charlotte who are staying in an hotel, love it, and they have had their first three hours of Spanish lessons today and all went well.  They should be visiting Granada as I'm typing this and tonight it Flamingo night.

Three day Easter weekend

Alexis arrived back safely Friday evening, he was tired and feeling nostalgic (still was not quite himself this morning).  He bought back some yummy Saint Nectaire cheese, lots of stones, and presents for everyone apart from Oliver.
Saturday we shopped for Easter eggs and Oliver sat an English exam for the university in Nanterre (fingers crossed  that he gets a place..I think there are only 30 places).

 Sunday morning the younger children were up at the crack of dawn to search the garden for Easter eggs, at the last minute, Charlotte managed to join them too.

 To stop world war three beginning, we divide the garden up into zones and give each children a zone in which they have to find their big Easter egg, once found, they can search anywhere for smaller eggs that they "should" share out a bit, if someone doesn't manage to find many.  Marie-Kate was looking for her chocolate rabbit* on this photo, in the middle garden.

 Alexis found his egg quickly in the top garden.  It was quite cold, only 3°c, but at least it didn't rain.

 Charlotte huffed and puffed because her egg was too well hidden. All she had to do is look up.  Alain had placed it on a beam in our old (still falling down) garage.

Here are all the children, minus Oliver (lazy boy) with all the eggs they found.


*as of this morning, Marie-Kate's rabbit is still entire, she wants to keep it that way for a while because it's "beau"


Poor Gaby, put her egg on the radiator before falling to sleep Sunday night, so you can guess what happened....  

Teenager's who can't tidy even on Friday's...Allowance day on Saturday

I have been warning Oliver and Charlotte for days ( like every week) that on Friday their beds need to be made BEFORE going to school and their rooms need to be reasonably tidy too, i.e clothes hung or folded and no major mess.  Normally I end up docking a euro or two from their allowance, but this Friday, just after they left for school, I went and checked and I nearly died, holy cow, they obviously have some form of slovenly bedroom syndrome sickness. Their rooms were awful. Be warned, there are a lot of scary "before" and much better after photos.

Welcome to Oliver's world, the first thing I saw upon entering, looks promising

Turn to the right and what a sight to behold. Lucky for Oliver that he wasn't there, especially after seeing the wrappers from those aperitif cheesy cubes (see evidence below)

I found spoons, forks, one plate and several empty compote pots, but that's nothing new.

One thing that really shocked me though, yes more than this awful mess, was the fact that he had stolen Alexis' brand new fountain pen that Gaby had bought for his homecoming today!!! Now there I blew a fuse, péter les plombs (I like this expression in French) and I texted him and told him how upset and angry I was.  He knew it was for Alexis too.

His desk, no comment. Oh hum, better not dwell on that for the moment, now lets look at the "after" photos.

 Wardrobe tidy. I have to note here, that Oliver only wears  fancy labelled clothes like Ralph Lauren, Abercrombie & Finch et cetera... You'd think he'd take more care of his clothes, really!

Bookcase tidy minus the cheese wrappers

Desk tidy

Bed changed and MADE, windows open (and they'll be staying open all day)

Last look.  I started to tidy this room at 8:30 and finshed it in one hour and ten minutes, I didn't stop, not for a minute and the room is  only about 11m2
Ready for Charlotte's room?

Welcome to "chez Charlotte", nice isn't it?

 This is supposed to be a desk, you know a place to study, but Charlotte uses it for her make-up et cetera.
Now I took Charlotte's before photos before those of Oliver's, so there are just these two above, this is where the majority of the mess and disorder was.  Now for the after photos?

 I swapped the computer a round onto the other end of the desk and put her school workbooks  onto the other end, maybe she feel inspired to work more!

Other end of her desk, near to the window. 

Tidy wardrobe. I put at lease one bag of clothes into storage, stuff she doesn't wear.

Bed made, the room looks more welcoming now, for now!!!

This room took five minutes longer than Oliver's to tidy, but she has more clothes and I had to move all of her make-up over from her desk to her vanity table and boy she has so much make-up it's scary ( I have none)

The last bedroom on this floor is ours, I didn't think it was worth taking before photos because I like to keep our bedroom as uncluttered as possible

The view from where I'm sitting while typing this blog entry.

The view looking towards my Eames chair (where I'm sitting now). I took maxi fifteen minutes to pick up some clothes, clean the floor then hoover and dust, easy peasy.

I am publishing these before and after photos to hopefully shame our messy teenagers  and also, so my mum can see how messy they really are, because I think she feels I exaggerate a lot.

I have got some before photos of Gaby's , MK's and Alexis' room to add later, but they weren't anything as bad as Oliver's and Charlotte's bedrooms and I haven't tidied them yet, nor have I eaten and it's one o'clock already. I have to eat, finish upstairs, pick up Gaby at 3 and grab a little shopping (another fountain pen for Alexis before Gaby knows), the Mk will be back at 16:30 and then hopefully Alexis should be back after about 5, so I have to be ready to pick him up from the bottom of our village.   Oliver and Charlotte will be back at 18h15, hopefully feeling bad about the mess they left and Alain comes back from Monaco late this evening.
I'm ready for a relaxing Easter weekend, and I'm twenty euros richer because there's no allowance for those messy teenagers this week.

The Other Side of the Door

The children have really enjoyed playing in the garden today as the weather has been wonderfully warm, even warmer outside than inside...really.
I took this photo of Charlotte quite by chance, in fact Marie Kate wanted  me to take a photo of her daisy chain (more later about that) just when Charlotte came home...late again. 
Now you can see the iron door in the background, this leads you out onto a village road. There is space at the side for one car, under what will become our sixth bedroom that would be have been our seventh if we weren't going to change Oliver's one in to a large open landing office area...that's another story.  The new room (see older post somewhere on this blog) is big 36m2 and we are getting quotes soon to open up the a door way on a bearing wall leading into this room...oh yes and the whole front of the house needs to be renovated i.e rendered, this is a big job too.  More to follow

Breakfast chez nous

 Breakfast most days starts around 5:30, I wake up first and without an alarm, it's been like this for ages. Alain wakes a little later. We enjoy this time of the day, the house is quiet, we can talk without being interrupted in mid-sentence by one of the children. 
If I'm lucky, Alain will happily prepare a soft boiled egg with soldiers (very Proustian moment for me). He did just that. After, I thought I'd make some Welsh Griddle Cakes that I'd been dreaming about trying for some time (Hairy Bikers cook book...I like these guys)

 Really easy to make and light in texture. Alexis was first up (he always is), he never speaks before he has eaten something, he isn't difficult at breakfast...no, the problem starts after, because Alexis wants to go to school so he spends his time checking the time and that means a lot of checking as he's up about two hours before school starts, it's quite an obsession. 
After it's Gaby, pancake crazy girl, who also liked these little cakes and had three in the end. Gaby is by far the easiest child to please.
Charlotte's next (7:15..bus leaves here at 7;40), sixteen, can't prepare her breakfast herself, eat lots, but not these, not today, after eating her cereal, banana, and bread, she had to have (otherwise she'd throw a hissy fit) a protein chocolate bar (bought my me for me for after a run).
Last but one, nearly always Oliver, never down before he has spent time combing his hair perfectly, sometimes down with minutes to spare, but today he graced me with his company at 7:25, here's another one who's crazy for my protein bars that I actually don't like. He doesn't like breakfast, well he didn't,  not before these bars that is, and won't once they're all gone, but for this week at least, he'll eat some bread just to get one of these...he preferred to eat a bar than eat a yummy Welsh Griddle cake...I won't forget that next time I make some more, which I reckon will be very soon.

Welsh Griddle Cakes with raisons and cranberries

Marie-Kate, the youngest, is always up the last*, she can't live without her daily bowl of cereal and rarely eats anything that's new to her, i.e these cakes, in the morning, so today wasn't any exception, she had a banana instead.  

If she's good, she can have one at lunchtime, there's four left...if not, tomorrow at 5:30, I know what I'll be eating...yummy, can't wait.


*apart from at weekends and during school breaks, now there, Mr 17.5 and Miss 16 can stay under their covers till their stomachs scream out with hunger, so lets say Oliver holds the record, getting up at 12:30!