April fools day, poisson d'avril

Mr B, Alexis' teacher has got a good sense of humor and can you believe that we fell for one of his tall stories yesterday, on April Fools Day.  He send us all (parents) an update titled "Bonne Nouvelle" about what they have been up to and he said that the class and been up in an hot air ballon. When Alain read out the mail, I though, that was a little dangerous, excited ten year olds crowded into a hot air ballon...but as the letter was sent after the supposed flight, I just felt relieved that obviously all had gone well.

It wasn't until Alain scrolled down through his mails and found another email from Mr B titled "Nouvelles" that he (and then I) realized he had played an April fools joke on us and we were duped. I wonder if any other parents fell for it too... 

Alexis' letter from Auvergne

This letter may our day on Saturday.  Alexis is having a great time in the Auvergne and this letter shall be kept safely forever my me.
If you can't read French though, Alexis does mention the fact that the tomato soup wasn't good... now that's the fussy Alexis we know and love.

Alexis' class in Auvergne .....What French children get to eat when on school camp

Ok all is not great when it comes to eldest son at the moment, but will get through it.  What is great though, is to receive a mail from Alexis' teacher telling us all what they have been doing, and eating....There were even some photos and this one is of Alexis.
On the subject of eating, Alexis is a fussy eater, he doesn't like onions, can you imagine that? He's not fond of vegetables (courgette, aubergine ....) but loves salad.  I was a little worried about him going on this school camp, for the sole reason being, would he eat properly, even onions if he had too.  It seems that I didn't need to worry, because this is what they have  eaten so far

Ce midi : c’était salade de tomates et mozzarella , poulet riz safrané et éclair au chocolat

Lunch     tomato and mozzarella salad, chicken and saffron rice and for dessert a chocolate eclair .....Alexis is in food heaven with food like this

Ce soir, nous avons mangé une macédoine de légumes mayonnaise , une délicieuse pizza avec  sa salade verte et en dessert un cône vanille chocolat.  

Evening meal   mixed vegetables with mayonnaise, a delicious pizza with green salad and a vanilla and chocolate ice-cream cone

And last night

Salade composée avec du thon , pâtes à la bolognaise, œuf à la neige 
mixed salad with tuna, pasta bolognese and for dessert île flottante (floating island).....still in heaven


It's 9 am here and I'm  hungry after typing their menus out, I wish I were ten years old again and could eat what they have...yummy.  

Banned from Facebook

 Today as a last resort,  I have blocked access to Facebook on Oliver's computer, in fact, I've blocked him from quite a few sites and he has limited internet and limited computer time.  He can only use his computer between 6 and 7 in the morning and 17h and 19h in the evening (week days) On Saturday he has a little more time and Sunday just a couple of hours early on.  Why would a mum be so cruel?  Well for the simple reason being that Oliver just doesn't work, can't be bothered.  He's in terminale S, last year of high school, like 2nd and last year of sixth form and he doesn't work.  Why?  Because he has decided to put all his eggs in one basket and sit a couple of competitive entrance exams for some (expensive) business schools here in France, ones that don't look at your school reports and just base their choice on how well you do in the written and oral exams.  To be honest I'm furious with him and his attitude towards working hard and I just can't get through to him, and boy we have been trying for years.

He got a warning this term for lack of work, that's an understatement!  He thinks it's unfair, because he is above the average in terms of grades ( a tiny bit) and that's thanks to his English marks.  
Anyhow, we are feeling kind of lost in a thick blanket of fog, never imagining this outcome, he doesn't care, he just wants someone to pay the fees for one of these schools that he'll get into, because that's something he really wants and so what if it's costs someone a hell of a lot of money. Spoilt brat attitude.


Oh yes, there's one term left, Oliver says there's no point in working now, because no-one counts the final school report, unbelievable, I'm just lost for words.
I'm now awaiting Charlotte's teachers remarks on her report, please let this one be more positive, can't possibly be worse.....

The children's bathroom Before...Phase 1 cringe

 This bathroom really makes me cringe with embarrassment. What makes it worse is that the chidren have been slowly pulling the wallpaper off the walls in protest of having to put up with this room since we moved here in October 2010

 The sink is enormous and takes up half of the bathroom. The drawer underneath fell off some time ago. There's no storage space, just a couple of towel bars Mr H left behind, along with a mirror. Gaby hates everything about this bathroom, but especially the tiles, those is loathes.

 Personally, I like them, I like small tiles and I like the colour, but I'm alone on that one, even Alain says that they have to go.

 For a small room, it took me all day to strip it down to this.  The children have decided they want it painted either green or cream and if it's cream, they want green tiles and vice versa if the walls are green.  Oh yes, and orange accessories. 
Shopping list is as follows and changes are possible
New toilet (not suspended like we had in Sanary) possibly square shaped
New sink, taps et cetera from Ikea
NO BIDET
Farrow and Ball paint (cooking apple green or teresa's green or new white or similar) 
Tiles for floor and walls 
Shower or bath?  The children want a bath with shower screen, probably good idea and it would cover up the place when the bidet is right now, but we never have baths here, just showers, so what's the point? Also, to fit in here, it can't be longer than 160cm, unless we moved the radiator and put it under the window.....No no no, not a good idea.

That leaves just the choice of a storage unit.  Ikea have some nice towers with enough space for all their towels and sundries, but just the other day I came across some old lockers, a set of three (three kid bathroom, three lockers) for 35 euros in my local thrift shop, and if there's chance of finding the space which would only be possible with a shower cubicle, I think it would be fun.

Bike riding in the Vexin

We live on the edge of the Vexin National Park, which is great, the countryside is splendid and there's lots of country paths and and hiking trails within walking distance of our house.

 With Alexis away till Friday 6th April, Marie-Kate and I are getting to have some quality time together, just the two of us. She loved it, up here above our little village and cycled more than she she'd ever did before, six kilometers is less than an hour.

 You can see La Defense from up here (not on photo) but as there was quite a lot of air pollution yesterday over l'Ile de France and didn't think it was worth taking a photo with my mobile phone, so instead this is a shot of a freshly ploughed  field taken by Marie-Kate.  I think up here they plant a lot of sweetcorn, but we'll see over the next couple of weeks.

Oh yes, Marie-Kate made a new friend, quite a big one, and yes she was a little scared to stroke him.  
Today, Wednesday, she wants to go back, this time with two apples, one for her and the other for the horse.  We'll go, because the weather going to be amazing again and it's not going to stay like this forever, so let's make the most of it and try and cycle ten kilometers, she'll sleep like a log after that.

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.