Estelle's Birthday

I've left my camera at a friend's this wkend so I'm taking advantage of having no "new" photos to catch up on posting "old" photos - still recounting our trip to America this summer!
We left off on July 17th, the eve of Estelle's bday.
We spent the night at my sister Martha's, and here's Estelle when she came out of the bedroom that morning:
Above: Waking up in Alex's room, Estelle's day started with a Dora balloon.
Below: Wearing her new "Birthday Girl" shirt and explaining to everyone what it is:
Bear in mind it is like 7:45 a.m. and we are lighting candles! Martha had bought this little cake for a birthday breakfast extra!
Shy girl as we sing:
The cake was so good, she couldn't talk.

Present #1: A Doctor's Kit! Nurse Martha gets right involved, even in her pj's!
The next thing you know, Nurse M pulls out a real stethoscope and a real blood pressure thingy. I think it's the first, and perhaps only, time I will ever be eating scrambled eggs, bacon, birthday cake, and having my blood pressure taken before 8:00 a.m. I think my husband thinks he married into the loony bin sometimes.
Then Estelle was sujected to wearing one of "The Strawberry Dresses". Any family member needs no explanation. For the rest of you poor folk, suffice to say that my mother either bought 2 of these (or rec'd them as a gift?) for my twin sisters, Nurse M herself and twin Mary B back in 1959. They are still going strong, have weathered many a wear over 5 decades, and are without a doubt my mother's absolute favorite pieces of clothing that any of her 11 offspring ever donned in their life.
Estelle acquiesced to wearing one over her pj's, but she wasn't happy about it. For revenge, she took to giving everyone in the house a shot with her new medical kit. Ouch!
No stone (or piece of flesh, as it were) remained unturned/unshot.

Even Daddy's belly got a shot, whilst Uncle Chris and cousin Eliza's "big dolly" look on....
When you're 17, why sleep late when you can get your shot and play with your 3 year -old cousin with Fisher Price at 8:15 a.m.? Poor Alex.
Finally we pulled up stakes from Richmond and headed north mid-morning. But first, a stop back at the Ben & Jerry's factory in Waterbury to pick up some ice cream cakes for the party that evening.
Above: Our cakes get personalized. Below: We got all the background view of Ben & Jerry's HQ scoop shop on a Saturday in July! Can you imagine the mob scene? Estelle meanwhile, with her Birthday Girl shirt, got treated like a queen by the whole staff while we were waiting for our cakes. We both got free ice cream cones. Poor Thomas, waiting in the car with Léna, got gipped!
After putting the cakes in the trunk in an iced cooler, we headed north, and stopped at a great playground in Morristown.


Then, Shadow Lake. Ah, Shadow. No better place to be.
Lillian surveys the younger crowd at the water's edge.
Joan and the littlest cousin get cosy while the BBQ's get fired up.
After the feast, we got down to business with our 2 B & J cakes.... each one had 2 different flavors. Ah, Ben & Jerry's. Can't beat it.
look at those 4 kids chomping at the bit!
Heather gets in on the action
12 hours after eating cake for breakfast, she is again reduced to silence while stuffing her face:
Pick a little, talk a little, pick a little, talk a little, pick pick pick pick a lot, talk a little more.....
Lillian serves as entertainment for the kids while a serious history discussion happens on the couch.

Stuart & Emilie's camp plays host once again to an Alexander family summer birthday!
She heads to the water for one last look. Think she looks 3? And it was after 4 jam-packed days down in the Burlington area, hosted by Nurse Mart & Co. Thanks to everyone in my family who we enjoyed seeing so much during those 4 days! What a birthday!

Living in the Living Room

Estelle has 3 Advent calendars now - and they are all completely different in style.One French from a children's magazine from Papy & Manou, one in English with the story of Twas the Night Before Chrismtas from aunt Martha, and in the photo above, one with chocolates from Cathy (nanny).
Every day we forget at least one and then get to double up the next day!
Wednesday we have a little "gouter" in the afternoon with Eva and Eliott. To calm them for a few minutes, they watched Teletubbies.
Later they all fell apart, and no snapshots of that, hallelujah! Here's a tower I discovered in Estelle's room the next day, she made it by herself.

And here's Léna who is just starting to hold up all 29 pounds of herself in a sitting position.

Open on December 1st!

Tis the season...to get packages in the mail!
Here's Estelle holding a pkg from Aunt Martha that came 10 days ago and we'd been waiting religiously to open it until yesterday, Dec 1st.
In addition, Estelle got a lovely French advent "book" with 24 little stories, one for each day, from Papy & Manou - she loves it!
Here's the video to show what it was...any born and bred American will recognize what it is....CB himself!

Clothes Pins and Computers

We recently had a little visit from our friend Louise.
There are no photos of her sister Eva because she and Estelle were in hog heaven with Estelle's toys.
Incredibly, I have only one lone photo of my Thanksgiving feast at Craig and Doug's villa - caring for/carrying Léna turned out to be a non-stop job and when I wasn't doing that, I was eating, not taking photos! So here are the boys, hard at work - sorry it's my only shot!
Meanwhile, who needs toys when you have a bucket of clothespins to play with? Here's Estelle blocking the entrance to her sister's room (like the boxes aren't doing that job already).

And lastly, the incredible beauty of the internet and a computer means that I can watch and listen to my nephew and godson Wayne's piano recital, and so can Estelle. This is truly amazing. When I think of my sister Lisa living in England in the 70's and 80's and in so many ways "cut off". I am in constant daily contact, with regular videos. Pretty darn great. So is Wayne's piano playing!

Happy Birthday Elijah!

Elijah Alexander, my youngest nephew, is 2 years old today!
Happy Happy!
And happy belated Thanksgiving to everyone. I just celebrated today (Saturday) as Thursday was just another workday over here. But today I feasted at Craig & Doug's. It's 10:45 p.m., just got back and rolled the girls into bed - am about to do the same as I am full full full!
But had to wish little Elijah a happy #2 from his cousins in France! Here's a photo of us from this summer with Elijah and Sandy. We all look a little younger then....

Toussaint/Halloween in Angers

For lack of energy to take photos of the new apartment (and shame of the disorder and boxes), here's a post with photos of our 6 days in Angers just 3 weeks ago.
Day One: Family time raking leaves:


Estelle LOVED going for a walk with Manou and getting her to run.
Shelling chestnuts from Calvinet was fun for Estelle:
They soak them in water once shelled and if they float, they're no good (or something like that).
This was hilarious for Estelle:
Another stroll.
A visit from good friends Claudine and Roland Saulnier (to my family: their daughter Virginie is the one in Wisconsin with the Cabot connection who came to the VT wedding with no luggage).

At the bakery, choosing bonbons to bring to the Halloween party at the English Library of Angers (which I never knew about until this trip).
See the meringues on the top shelf? Homemade.
Thursday the 29th, we attended a little Halloween celebration at the American/English library. It was for 3-5 yr olds so perfect for Estelle. I got tipped off to it by Tania Romanoff, who was my neighbor growing up in Jericho, VT, and who, after living in Poland and China, has landed in Angers of all places with her husband and 3 kids.
Above: Estelle as Scooby Doo. Below: Agnieska, (Polish version of Agnes), Tania's oldest child. My family will no doubt see the Romanoff resemblance!
Thomas and our little pumpkin, who was the youngest attendee at the party.
Here's Tania and her son Dominic, who was quite a clown.
There were 9 little girls dressed as princesses. And one Scooby Doo.

Dominic read Charlie Brown's Great Pumpkin to Estelle. How bizarre: my kid and Tania Romanoff's kid, together on Halloween in Angers, France. If someone had predicted that 30 years ago........
Here are her 3 - the middle girl's name is Malina (she told me this is Polish for raspberry!)
Back at the ranch, what had been Guy's office (and prior to that his own father's bedroom), was converted back into a bedroom for us. They worked a lot to redo, strip paper, build closets and paint the entire thing and it looks like a magazine!
Lena has her own little corner:
Looking into our room from the back yard:
Outside our bedroom we can see Estelle's swing:

And here's Estelle's room, which is always morphing:
This was Thomas' bed when he was young:
Friday afternoon, there was a little champagne party in Léna's honor. All of the family's good friends came, like Myriam, grandmother to Merlin.

Here's are other good friends and neighbors:
Get out the fine china!
These beautiful roses grow sideways: (sorry, can't make this photo behave!)
A table set for a queen:
Guy's touch with wooden letters:
And of course, CAKE!
One chocolate, the other, berries....

Friday night Agnes arrived from Paris, and Halloween morning we went for a walk along the Maine.
Here's the famous bridge the Americans used to liberate the area during WWII.


A boat on the Maine...
Here's the plaque explaining the history of the bridge.
We had a visit from Celine, good family friend, who had a baby boy Merlin late in August.
Merlin's older sister Lison enjoyed playing with Estelle:


Manou and Léna:
Estelle likes Papi's cozy lap:

Poor Papy didn't get much of a break with Estelle around:
Here I am looking into Estelle's room:
Agnes & Léna:
Like I said, no rest for the weary:
A visit from Anne, good family friend. She had 3 daughters, here are the two older ones, Annaelle and Capucine:
And the youngest, Philomene, trying to grab Léna's foot:
On the plane heading home - she looks happy now but an hour later she was throwing up all over. Ouch!
It was a busy 6 days!