"Kermesse"

Kermesse is the French word for the end-of-the-year school show and fair, with games and a bake sale, etc. It is run by the Parent's Association. It was Saturday morning and we were there right on time, with 2 batches of scones.
Waiting to go on "stage".... this was 9:00 a.m. and it was already hot. Estelle is in the back row, up on her knees, pink sleeveless dress and ponytail, not pigtails.



The class after Estelle's had her 3 little friends from Cathy the nanny's , the little Italian Carlo (far right playing picolo)...And Mila and Marie - the two girls below - Marie really does look like Shirley Temple.

That's Patricia, Estelle's teacher in front

A little bittersweet as we know Estelle will change schools in the fall to attend the school in the "district" where we live now since our move in November. I say "district" since it is like 5 blocks from the current school but in a city, 5 blocks = a lot of kids = another school.
No green fields or cows or trees or grass in this playground. Concrete and barred windows. Sometimes I wonder what the heck I am doing raising my kid in a city.
A few videos of Estelle "dancing" for those who have time to kill - 1st one is the "warm-up", 2nd one is the dance, where Estelle seems to be the Pied Piper.

40!!!!!!!!!!!

As they say, 40 is the new 30. Which was the new 20. So really it's like I'm 19. Or something.
Spent the day at C & D's villa where a fan-tabulous brunch was prepared in my honor:
Good friends, good times: Estelle got a lot of attention in the pool from Simon...

And Doug:
And their friend Gail whom I adore and had not seen in 5 years:Léna also had some fun. She went right down in a strange room in a strange Pack-n-Play and took a great nap - Great Kid!
Great husband:
Meanwhile, Simon always had us laughing! British humor.

Citronella candle on my cake!It's been a BUSY weekend. Beaches, Birthday parties (mine and pals of Estelle), School fairs and spectacles, making double-batches of scones for Bake Sales, etc. Hope to catch up on the photos soon.

Pre-Bday & Other Fun

This particular school day, Estelle designed her own hair-do.Last Friday, Thomas biked back and forth to work. A huge feat! 22 kilometers (14 miles with a big hill). Wearing all my Louis Garneau gear from VT.
From the balcony at 7:00 a.m. - Thomas and our English neighbor Richard, starting out - yes Thomas did have a helmet, just had taken it off for the photo.
Last Saturday evening: a visit from Thomas' hockey buddy Stephan and his wife Lillian who is Brazilian and their son Kilian. They enjoyed Léna's bird book from Joanie.
Sunday: Estelle and I went to Villefranche for a swim, just the 2 of us.
Later that day, afternoon tea with Valerie and Xavier, our olive friends. Here's Xavier working on his beehives and Estelle attentively "helping".
Enjoying the pool, Valerie holding Estelle.
Watering the trees:
This week my friend Simon arrived from London. He stayed with other friends for the first part of his week here, but came for lunch on Wednesday. Estelle enjoyed using him as her English Patient.
Then Dr. Simon took over.
Léna thought his accent was funny.
That day Estelle decided to wear one of her old onesies from when she was 6-months old, Ben & Jerry's baby from Uncle Paul.
Wednesday night I had a student come from 7:30 to 8:30, something I never do, but as it is the season of the Bac (International Baccalaureat), student panic is rampant. Thomas had to go to a hockey going away party, was annoyed that my student was coming and couldn't come earlier. Really, though, there was no hockey party - after my student left at 8:30 pm., I went into my kitchen to find 4 friends who whisked me out for a bday bash, having reorganized the original plan for 7:30!
I am between Veronique and Fransiska, and across are Emilie and Marie. We all have 4 year olds (well, they do, Estelle's not quite 4 yet).
So totally a surprise, and so great. We even went to have hamburgers!I got home at midnight and it just about killed me to be out late like that with a full plate of teaching and biking here there and everywhere the next day on Thursday, but it was worth every second. So FUN!
Today, Friday = start of the World Cup, France had a 0-0 game much to my husband's disgust. But I spent the day on the beach near Monaco, my birthday present to myself. heaven.............. photos on that tomorrow!

Wednesday Play Date

Today was gym class as usual, then after Oana came over to visit with Serena, who is now 5 months.Then this afternoon we had 3 of Estelle's classmates over for a playdate, with their moms and one little sister (named Lina, who is 4 months older than Léna).
These photos are from when you could still see the floor in Estelle's room. In the foreground you can see the Lina/Léna show.
Solange in green, Emma in white and Selma in pink.
Julie is Lina/Selma's mom. Missing in my photos (while things were still calm enough to take photos are Celine and Christine, the other moms).
Here's a 2 minute video before the fun began. I should mention that I served fantastic scones that I made in about 12 minutes, rockstar! And a marble-cake that Thomas made at 10 p.m. last night. Also good (even though he forgot to put in the milk!)

Mother's Day in France

Mother's Day is today in France. Our day started with some chocolate croissants from the bakery down the street, then off we went to the beach on the edge of the French border to Monaco.
Above, Estelle in between Eliott and Loup on the water's edge.
Léna loved played with the pebbles while the kids played with Arnaud.
Léna says 'No way am I going in that water'.
The water was a bit chilly so us mothers let Arnaud, Eliott's father, take one for the team! He stayed in a good 30 minutes with all 3 kids.
Meanwhile, everybody's favorite Frenchie raked the beach to get rid of the dead blue jellyfish that you see lining the rocks.
What you don't see is Fransiska, me and Veronique (Loup's mom) laying down drinking tea.
Back at the ranch, it was time to have some fun with France's favorite vegetable, leeks.
And later, playing with a sand project kit from Estelle's godfather Francois. We got this when we saw him a month or so ago, but it was the same day as "The Outbreak" (lice) and so it got thrown into a cupboard and we forgot about it. It's been a hit every since we (I) stumbled on it whilst in a OCD clean-up phase.
I also got a nice card and a new blouse from my family. And lots of kisses! happy French mother's day!
Below: 2 minutes of Léna, her spoon, Estelle....