Blog Envy

I'm sure my friend Kelly would not mind if I showed all of you her blog. Now, this is a fellow American mom, living in Alsace with three kids, a foreign hubby and three languages. A few differences; the kids use French only at school and Dad's Estonian. Officially that makes them "OPOL" (one parent, one language) as well as Home vs. Community language people going on at once. Those, by the way, are the two main ways children learn languages.

Anyway, enough linguistic speak. Here's Kelly's blog;
http://www.preciousbabes.blogspot.com/

She's in a village about 14km from here but we used to be neigbors two addresses ago. Our oldest are two months apart and our middles are four. She opted for the Latter Plan with child no. 3. Kelly's a little younger than I am and had the luxury of getting one out of diapers before taking on the next...

As you can see, Kelly is a little more technically computer lit than I am. She showed me how to do the You Tube videos on my own blog. I haven't even figured out how to get rid of the "blogger" part of the address!

Now here's REAL "blog envy". This one is a good read;
http://www.wifeinthenorth.com/index.html

It's not even been going that long. Okay, she writes a lot less about birthdays and vacations. She is yet another Mom of Three, but living in the North of England having moved there from London. It gets a lot of hits and she seems pretty good with the technical end. At least her links work!

I read in the Sunday Times (London's, that is) that she's been offered a 200,000 pound sterling contract with Viking to publish it in book form. That's about $250,000! (At least I can find the dollar key...)

I mean, it's cute, it's interesting, she writes well...but 200,000 pounds well???

And her move didn't even involve a language barrier or crossing a border!!

Cruise! Cruise! Cruise!

It was stressful...

Picture Daniel and I in front of the travel agent. I'm dreaming of Greek islands. He's dreaming of sitting by the pool again in La Baule. Do our travel styles differ? Just a bit.

The agent kept his cool as Daniel tried in vain to find a reason NOT to go. He did protest over the size of the window in the room (he was fishing!!) Finally, under pressure from both of us, he relented and handed over a check for this;

http://www.celebritycruises.com/search/vacationItinerary.do;jsessionid=0000T2B_pahcQT07qzrMsw81Fw8:1051tg60i?packageCode=GL11RMR4&backPageName=Itinerary+Search+Results

Check these out (click on the thumbnail pix to see them in large)

http://www.travelserver.net/travelpage/aspgallery/view_ad.asp?Ad_ID=2512

There is more information than you ever want to know about cruising out there. I'm trying to find a photo of the kids' club.

Fingers crossed that this works for us! I never want to see La Baule again...

Girlies peeling cucumbers

This was a cute video until I realized, while filming, that Davina was eating the dirty peels. Oh well. Thought I'd share it anyway...



Talia is chewing gum and Davina thinks she's "eating". More peeling going on. Watch how Davina covers certain areas quite well while leaving the peel elsewhere.

More Davina present opening

Okay, I'm beating this subject to death but I'm having fun with these videos!





We went to Benfeld and Davina opened her Big Present, a Tickle Me Elmo, which has sat on the shelf ever since. Oh well. Sixty Euros (that I failed to mention to Daniel) well spent. The cyber puppy her cousin had didn't help. Davina is too young for the cyber pet, by the way...

Then, of course, there was another cake, this one ordered from a fancy bakery.

Davina's 3rd Birthday!

Birthday no. 1

Plumy Park!

Mommy was happy because she didn't shut up about it for the three preceeding weeks. Little did I realize that she would then continue to go on about it after the festivities!



Helping their little sister;



When Plumy showed up to give her a present (Plumy is a big stuffed parrot), three toddlers, including the Birthday Girl burst out in tears. We did the photo sans Plumy, needless to say (nearly sans Elodie who actually loves characters and tried to run after him!)



Without going into details, the children total are French, Estonian, Canadian, British, Guatamalan and of course, American. The Slavakian boy's parents wanted to sleep in. Davina has very international friends!



Present opening frenzy (have I sent the thank-you cards yet?? At least I have them!)Notice how Talia takes a moment to hog the limelight;













Birthday no. 2

The actual at-home birthday celebration;





The cake I made appropriately from American frosting on a French ready-made mix and German decorations;



Blowing out the candle (it took a few times!)





Talia is happy with the sweater her "Mémé" made for her. My mom sends presents to all of them!



Birthday no. 3 is tomorrow with the cousins when she gets her "Tickle Me Elmo". Stayed tuned for pictures!

Talia's photo

Too lazy to see if I already posted this. Okay, it's an experiment...

Talia at Guk's wedding;

Moment of Drama

Last week, we went to Benfeld to celebrate my mother-in-law's 73rd birthday. The kids lit the cake and we were about to take a picture. Talia moved and it took me a second to realize...her hair was on fire!



I'll have you know that I didn't mean to take the photo of the potiential disaster. I was taking it anyway and then realized the drama going on.

Luckily, she stayed still, screaming but in place. I managed to wack out the flames. She wasn't hurt and it was convenient that she has curly hair. You couldn't see any difference in her coiffe!

Okay, I finally got fed up!!

There were just too many problems with my old blog. Perhaps this will help things. Let's try that post again;
http://www.spablancafort.com/en/

Is it working? What am I doing wrong if it isn't??

Do you all like the address? I thought it was appropriate, althought technically, I'm French by choice.