Nannou fun

We had a great time with Nannou here. Billie turned up the brattiness for a few days and that was met by no less than 3 gifts per day. Billie: "Jackson! Stop it...you're the rudest boy ever and never touch my new strawberry shortcake doll without asking me!!" Jackson: "Thanks for the power ranger Nannou...can we go get ice cream?" Nannou: "yes!" Billie: "Fine. But I'm having Strawberry and I'm not even going to share any of it with you Jackson...NOT EVEN A BITE!" Nannou: "okay, let's go and then I've got another suprise for you after we have ice cream...I got you each new videos, we can watch them this afternoon while Mom is at her ultrasound." Billie: "Well, we're watching MY choice first!"
Okay...this isn't an exact recorded conversation...but this would not be an exaggeration of the spoiling or of Billie's 'tude.
So, apart from Billie we all had a WONDERFUL time with Nannou visiting. As for my ultrasound...we are not finding out if sprout is a boy or a girl. More motivation to push in the delivery room. But...while we're on the subject...I would put my money on boy...I've got a feeling and I'm putting it in writing. It is important to note here that I thought Sloane was a boy too, but I didn't feel this strongly about it. The ultrasound tech, who said he "could have done my Mom's ultrasound when I was in her tummy" (when I blurted out my age in defense of being 'too young' to have my 4th kid). Really, things are getting silly now...I thought I had a lot of comments when I would go out with the 3 of them. Seriously, the comments are getting a little outrageous...the other day at the library, a man asked me "Are you mormon?"

A Wizarding party

A picture says a thousand words and most of them are 'Wah!" on the subject of Daddy getting on the plane to travel for a week (doing work stuff) and missing my Harry Potter 6th birthdayparty!

These picture says "I love my American Girl Doll- Molly, who I've wanted for a year"

This is us making magic wands at my harry potter party- flick and swish!

In potions class, the drinks were experimental (all juic and non-soda, of course). Using droppers to mix until the flavor was just right...or totally gross...depending on your tastes.
It was magical! I wish you all could have been there!

princess gardening

Well, here i am all dolled up; ballet shoes on, a tu tu over my outift and my tiara is in place...what should i do now? go roller skating & plant seeds in the garden and get very muddy? yes! that sounds good!

travel

so, we're back and thank goodness it's 70 degrees and it was homeschooler park day yesterday or we'd do nothing but sit inside and miss Nanna and France. it's not Paris but the playground is free and full of friends. flights and airports all went smoothly with only one low point in desperate parenting when there were NO children's movies available on the 8 hour flight and we let Jackson watch the Ben Stiller film "A Night in the Museum" and Billie paid attention to every detail of "Marie Antoinette" by Sofia Coppola- which is funny and a great flick by the way. Sloane did cry and call out but not for more than 10 seconds at a time (we've never had to do a crying baby on a plane before but i guess it could have been worse). So, like i said, it was fine...up until the very end when Jackson urped up all of the candy, chips, and other usually-forbidden junk food he'd eaten all that day on the shuttle bus between airport terminals as we returned to DC. blech.
And now we're back and I'm reading The Suprising Power of Family Meals, inspired by Pat and the French way of enjoying your meals (less food shoveling, more talking between bites). Dinner time as a family is going to be my new mission (trimester 2 is 'mission mode' and the only 3 month stretches of time in the last 6 years that I'm actually productive and able to complete a project from start to finish that entails more than slathering on sunscreen and packing snacks for the beach).
well, i've got two kids in a wagon waiting for me outside and one in roller skates. we're heading to the library- maybe over a mile away so we'll have to stop for snacks at a less-than-cool-non-patisserie along the way but it's WAY too nice outside to drive!
Here's some Paris memories: us in Monet's garden, reading about Monet's garden, catching ladybugs in Monet's garden, climbing trees in Monet's garden and at Monet's grave.

Well, a diaper change in the Louvre, break-dancer-veiwing and my belly at the Eiffel tower. things are a little crazy in Paris. There's family drama and fun everywhere. Imagine having Bill, grumpy with an achy back, kids who are sometimes hyper and sometimes whiny, frequently loud and running, sloane who is always wanting to walk when it's a good time to be held, and wanting to be held when our arms are tired, then throw in me, with a baby who has to have a pain au chocolat every fifteen minutes when we're on a walk to stave off being as whiny as billie, and has to fill up a water bottle at each stop, (which then leads to a stop at the W.C. every 10 minutes because the baby is pushing on my bladder)- then throw in jet lag and no one sleeping well. Why would there be any drama? don't you just want to invite us to stay with you?!
Well, how we're having so much fun during all this is beyond me...but we're off to the science park today!

the price of fun

visited the Luxembourg gardens yesterday and the kids played on a superfun playground that had and entrance fee and high gates to keep out the rif-raf...it's like the stay-at-home Mom version of a hot spot. it's a swap from the night club life i imagine one would have living in Paris before having kids. the kids love riding the metro, which is how we get around (we even did it without our resident expert yesterday). Nanna Pat is being very gracious about the cheerios and apple bits all over the floor of her elegant Paris apartment. Here's us at the Louvre pyramid and in the Toulieries garden. we've hit up several patisseries in an effort to find something aside from pain au chocolat that the kids are willing to eat (i'm the only one willing to eat anything containing tomatoes). it's a rainy morning now so we slept in, i'm doing laundry (see above photo for how filthy the kids got yesterday at the playground) and catching up on the blog. trying to survive the morning without a walk to the bakery for fresh baked croissants....
really i'm just mentioning laundry and rain in an effort to make you poor readers who aren't in Paris right now feel not so bad about it.
P.S.- i can't figure out how to switch pictures on the new blogger. Sloane has slept with her head back in the hood through most of the exciting sight-seeing, she likes to wake up for the metro rides and snack time. These are swings with the price for a 5 minute ride!!!

c'est la vie

we're here and it's WONDERFUL. Pat has this amazing apartment and we can walk to cafes and markets. Yesterday we woke past Noon and did the Eiffel Tower. Bill and Pat are noticing fancy scarves on all the men but I can't get past all the coats and boots. Everyone...EVERYONE has a lovely winter coat (except me, Bill, Pat and the kids). I haven't seen one person in sweatshirts and sweatpants- not one. Not one person without gel in their hair, or some form of hair-do!
I'll try to put up a picture.
i wish we had an airport picture. everyone kept wondering what on earth this family with 3 little kids was doing getting on a long-distance flight. those kids are such good travelers and we did make it with one suitcase, plus two backpacks for carry on.