Dinner!

It seems like dinner is always ten minutes later than it should be. Someone is always too hungry to endure another minute. While waiting for dinner to get out of the oven, I was finishing up homework with Elsa and Henry. Ansel couldn't stand the wait any longer. He asked me to make him some toast, and I told him dinner would be ready in just a minute.

Unsatisfied with my answer, he took matters into his own hands.

When I looked up no less than a couple minutes later this is what I found. Notice there is no toaster in this picture.

He asked me for some help. Smearing on butter and jam is still a little difficult for the three year old.

Carrying the toaster to his room, plugging it in and making his own toast apparently isn't. The hot pads are so that he wouldn't burn himself when the toast was done.
The wooden toaster must have been brought in for some extra support.

Ironically when they made toast in nursery the following Sunday, his teacher was quite impressed with his skills.

Thanksgiving

Our friends the Claytons hosted Thanksgiving this year. We gathered on the Saturday after the actual event to eat turkey with all of the trimmings. Finding all of the ingredients can be challenging, but we find ways to get what we need. The local grocery store is beginning to catch on to the needs of their American population. They had turkeys available much earlier than usual, and you could even find fresh cranberries. If we could just convince them how important canned pumpkin is to our diet!

The Creators

Perhaps there was a bit of help from their husbands, but naturally we prepared most of the food. Even more significant. . . five out of six of these women are expecting babies this Spring and Summer! Aimee (the second from the right) is exempt. Only because she has a six month old. Only three of us had announced our upcoming births. The other two were in the throws of a yucky first trimester. Suffering in silence. I'm the only one who looks pregnant-even though Sarah (third from the right) is only three weeks behind me. What?

The Fare

Delicious.

The Children

Two tables were prepared to fit all of the youngsters. Fifteen in all.

Thanks for hosting Claytons!

Halloween revisited

Fascinating how children manage the immense amount of candy they receive Halloween night. I was the one who just plowed through all the good stuff and never ate the rest. My sister ate hers slowly, and tried hiding it under her mattress. Not hiding it from our parents mind you, but yours truly. I knew where it was, duh. I'd check it occasionally if I needed a snack.

Ansel has a system of sorting going on here. We're not sure what that system is, but I'm sure in his three year old brain it is as clear as a bell.

Grandma Bob and Grandpa Wendy

Grandma Bob and Grandpa Wendy came for a couple of days on their way to a medical conference in Italy. The kids always enjoy these short visits with them. They get lots of attention and lots of treats. When I dropped Elsa off at school that morning she said, "Make sure Mr. and Mrs. Clause come and pick me up for lunch." Funny girl.

What she didn't know is that I had asked them to bring over a whole lot of their Christmas presents. They were so kind to oblige.

The day they arrived we stayed home and played. The next day we took them to one of our favorite Swiss villages, Gruyere. We visited the village, the castle and the cheese factory. For lunch we suggested Bob get the Crote de jambon, the Swiss version of a grilled ham and cheese sandwich. Usually there are two slices of bread topped with a slice of ham and smothered in cheese. The restaurant at the cheese factory gave him one slice of bread topped with a slice of ham and no less than a pound of cheese. Wow. That was a lot of cheese, huh Bob?

We had a wonderful visit during their short stay. And, as you can see Grandma Bob is always a good sport.


Thanks for coming!

Barbizon

On our way home we decided to make a final stop in the small village of Barbizon. Barbizon is famous for creating an artist community outside of Paris. Unfortunately we arrived just after the workshops had closed for lunch!

Chris was definitely the most disappointed about our bad timing. Here she is trying to get a glimpse of an artists workshop.

Awww.
We did enjoy a stroll through the village. Elsa entertained herself by gathering leaves.
Ansel entertained himself by balancing rocks on Greg's head.
In spite of some bad timing, it was a wonderful trip. We covered a lot of ground and saw a lot of beautiful places in just a few days. Mostly we had a great time being together and making memories.

Vesaille

After leaving Monet's garden we headed toward Paris to spend the night and visit the palace of Versaille.

We had already had three very busy and exhausting days. The children were such great travellers. They were impressed by the grandeur and immensity of the palace. It is great to be able to tell them the history of Marie Antoinette (it took a few tellings for them to understand her complexities) and then show them where she lived. Definitely what we've enjoyed most about our travels in Europe.

Old building, Modern art

While walking through the gardens, we met a gardener! He cut us each a rose, which brought out Henry's chivalrous side.

Monet's Garden

Do these haystacks look familiar?

How about this bridge?
Maybe the lush trees and a distant shot of the bridge?
We had such an awesome time (Chris and I) walking through these beautiful gardens and visiting Monet's house. I didn't get any pictures of inside the house. Maybe you weren't allowed to take them. I left his house thinking, I can paint any piece of furniture I want and not feel guilty about it. His house was very colorful-french blue (of course), sunshiney yellows, lavendar, green, he used them all.
We were there in October so a lot of the blooming was spent. However, we were still able to recognize most of the flowers and imagine them in full bloom. Plus. . . it wasn't very crowded, or hot, and there weren't any bees swarming around! ha ha.

Omaha Beach

We made a fairly quick stop to visit the WWII Memorial and stroll along Omaha Beach. The kids had heard stories about farmer's finding bullets in their fields many years after the war. They were certain they'd be able to find something as the strolled along the beach. Alas, all they gathered were a bunch of sea shells.

France with Nana-Continued

Mont Saint Michel

The main point of interest for our trip to France was really Mont Saint Michel. We had all been enamored with pictures we had seen of the beautiful castle surrounded by water. I think most of us felt like it was a dream that we were actually going to be there. It was an overcast morning, we set out pretty early so that we could see the castle at high-tide. Here is our first glance of the castle in the distance.

I believe we took this picture on our way out, after the sun had burned off the clouds.
Elsa rejoicing with us that we had finally made it! Yahoo.
Ansel standing in the courtyard of the castle-pretending to be the court jester.
It was like a labrynth climbing to the top. A very high up long labrynth.
These angel wings were set-up on a platform in one of the gardens in the castle. They provided much entertainment for them. They pretended to be prophets heralding the coming of Jesus.

We spent a wonderful day wondering the chapels and gardens of this magnificent castle. Before we left Henry and Ansel posed for one last shot atop of cannon balls.

Helloooo (echo).

I've been away for so long, I've avoided going to my own blog to link to yours. It's sad. The past two weeks I was a total no show for fear of seeing that "No Articles" message come up. It's easy to want to just give up when your last post was an event that happened in October.

Alas, I have survived my second bout of flu for the season.

Elsa is now wearing jeans, and I look forward to the moment she runs in the house and changes into a skirt. The weather got too cold-and she recognized the value of covered legs.

Ski season is well underway and Henry is content. No he's thrilled.

Ansel is cracking us up, and is clothed 90 percent of the time.

Greg is balancing much and entertaining us all.

This week promises much here on thebanshees.