Mix' Art 2013 and Gaby

Gaby's school is participating in a national competition called "Mix'Art this year.

Gaby and her friend Marjolaine, chose the theme "Fight Against Discriminations", and guess what...

Their art work was chosen to represent the school and it's won 1st prize in this category for our Academy which is Versailles. Now, we have to wait and see if they are chosen for the national prize, which would be fantastic.  If not, just getting this far is just amazing, the girls have really worked hard and we are really proud of Gabrielle.

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.

Sunday in Paris

 On a very cold yet beautiful Sunday, we all bundled ourselves in the car and thirty minutes later ended up here.  Yes, Sunday we played at being tourists, and boy, there were huge amounts of people who were waiting to visit the Eiffel Tower.  Luckily for us, we had bought and printed our tickets in advance, so no waiting

Before reaching the Tower we had  to dodge the many joggers that were out in force despite the near freezing conditions.  What a place to jog, personally I wouldn't like to, but I can see the attraction

After visiting the second floor, we managed to get the children to agree to go to the top, I never took any photos though, too cold.  Back down on the second floor somehow we found ourselves in a tourist trap souvenir store, 2 bracelets, 1 pencil, 1 pen, 1 keyring, 1 giant chocolate euro and a packet of Eiffel tower shaped sweets later, we left, hopped in the car and came back home to a piping hot Chili Choc Carni (Nigella Lawson recipe) made by Alain, and it was delicious.

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"

Monet's Garden...and the children loved it

What started out as a bad day, you know the sort,  a pre-teenager who stamped her feet and moaned and groaned about going to a "stupid" garden, a ten year old who'd rather read Harry Potter 5 and also tried the silent treatment to get his own way. And there was Marie-Kate, well she wanted to go and along with her positive attitude we managed to get the other two in the car.

One hour later (30 minutes drive and 30 minute queue) here they are, and look Gaby is smiling. Ok Alexis looks grumpy, but Alexis is a very serious boy so this look is typical for him.

The garden was spectacular and the children found many plants that they loved.

 We never visited the house, we live fairly close and will be visited again for sure this September. 

I just love this bamboo fence and the plants too, not sure what plant it is though...

There were lots of people, but the atmosphere was calm, no pushing like at Versailles, just no stress.  The village was pretty too, there were lots of places to eat and not all were the tourist trap cafés you tend to get in popular places (like in the south of France in Moustiers Sainte Marie for example)  There was even a place to buy plants and once again, really good value.  Oh yes, and the ice-creams were yummy, especially the melon flavour.

Gaby even bought a plant, not such a stupid garden after all.

La Cité des Sciences Paris

Saturday, we went to La cité des Sciences with Gaby, Alexis and Marie-Kate. 

First up, we visited the exhibition  "Gaulois, une expo renversante or The Incredible Gauls (not my translation)  " and we really enjoyed it.

This is an extract taken from their website, lazy me

In many facets of their daily life and economic or political systems, the Gauls were every bit as advanced as the Greeks and Romans. Contemporary archaeology has provided us with a wealth of new knowledge, following thirty years of discoveries and scientific innovations. The incredible Gauls! is a fascinating exhibition that banishes the cliché of hairy barbarians and shakes up our generally accepted ideas. An excavation site, films, workshops and reconstructions will show you how the Gauls really lived, before the Romans arrived.

As luck had it, we were just passing through when the final children's archeology  workshop was just about to begin. Shy Alexis(first on left) and Marie-Kate(next to Alexis) were pushed in by Alain and that was a good thing...

Time to dig

 Afterwards the children had half an hour to spare, so off we went to LA Cité des Enfants.  Fun place, lots of children and lots of noise.

 And to finish off a wonderful afternoon, we went to watch Ptérodactyles (Flying Monsters) 3D at the Géode (giant screen cinema), great film even if David Attenborough lovely voice was dubbed.

Chocolate factory and trip to Germany

In the town next to our village, there's a chocolate factory.  I've heard lots of great things about this place and sometimes you can actually smell the chocolate wafting up the hill when the wind blows in the right direction.

 With Gaby's impending trip to *Germany coming up, we thought it would be nice to buy some "local" chocolates for the family that she's going (gone now) to stay with.  
The above photo was taken outside their little boutique, cute isn't it?

 We bought a big box of dark chocolate for the family, and these yummy (I know because we bought some for us too) solid chocolate lollipops that are great for dunking in a hot chocolate or coffee...

Finally for her German friend, Lea, I found this small candy cookbook which has some surprisingly delicious sounding recipes and lovely photos to boot, and I just had to get the fraise Tagada's too...

* Gaby left for Germany this morning with most of her classmates from 5eme 4 (year 8) and some 6eme's (year 7) .  She isn't there long, just today, traveling by coach (eta 16:00) plus Tuesday and Wednesday and then back on Thursday, still better a couple of days than nothing at all.

Easter cooking with the children

 We have spent a lovely calm weekend with the children, cooking a lot, talking, reading together, it's been great.  Alain and I managed to run twice (6km and 10km) and with our average pace is above 10km per hour, which for us, was unimaginable for us a couple of months ago.   
Gabrielle and Marie-Kate have been wanting to help more cooking, especially since Alexis went away on school camp.  Saturday night they made some delicious veal cordon bleu's (no photo).  On Sunday they prepared ricotta, strawberry and raspberry trifles.

To finish of the weekend, Alain and Marie-Kate made fresh pasta (dough and all) for their very first time

While they cut more tagliatelle, I made a makeshift rack using a broom stick and tea towels to hang them over and dry a little.  Yes, the lengths vary, but the tagliatelle with mushroom ragu sauce was excellent.  

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....  

Pre teenagers room and seven (nearly eight) bedrooms before and after

Who's the tidiest chez nous? Oliver, nearly 18 years of age? NO chance on earth. Charlotte aged 16? No way

Well it must be one of the pre-teenagers ...pre pre pre teenagers,  Gabrielle, Alexis or Marie-Kate.

Alexis' room before 8 this morning

Alexis' room is tidy because he hasn't been here for twelve days so his room is tidy, nothing to do here.  But to be fair to Oliver and Charlotte I did take a before tidy up photo and just now some after photos.  Guess what the girl's bedrooms plus bathroom and a check on Alexis' room took only thirty minutes, can you believe it.

 Alexis' room this afternoon

 Marie-Kate, she's always has the tidiest room out of the five children, in my opinion anyway.

Marie-Kate can often be found at her desk before school, this is her room in an untidy state, I love it.

She nearly always makes her bed too, this is still a before photo

 I took a couple of minutes to tidy and then clean the furniture and floor, it's good enough for me.
Finally Gabrielle, aged twelve, she can be messy but she has been making an effort, however  still needs to organize her clothes

 Messy but heavenly tidy  when you think about Oliver's and Charlotte's rooms

 Gabrielle's desk before tidying, notice that it only has work related stuff on it.

Gaby's bed before, yes she made it, yippee

``

 Bedroom after a quick tidy

Finally, desk area and book case, she has a large collection of mangas, you only can see a part of the collection here.

Gabrielle is now home and Marie-Kate will soon be back, so I need to finish off the kitchen. Can't wait to see Alexis and for the weekend to begin.

Sweet Art..what happens when I leave my children with a camera and bonbons

Gaby, Alexis and Marie-Kate can be quite imaginative and creative when they a haven't got much to do.  I found these photos on my camera and Gaby told me they were taken when they had a sweet art competition (Alexis and Gaby) and Marie-Kate was the judge.

 This is Alexis' one, looks a bit like the sun, or perhaps it's a flower.

This is Gaby's Oreo biscuit sandwich.

I don't know who won, but I do know that I didn't see any evidence of competition taking place, they ate everything, but still, I've got the pictures.