Dancing and singing

Lately Seann has been in to dancing. He wants to dance to everything and he wants me to dance with him. He's very insistent! There are a lot of songs we dance to lately--this one, this one and this one. (you can click on those links if you like)

He also loves "The Car Song" by Woodie Guthrie as do I think all little boys! Woody Guthrie is the father of American folk music and was a huge influence on Bob Dylan and a lot of other great musicians. His music is very appealing to kids and I can remember singing "This Land is Your Land "in the car with my mom about every single day of my young life. (Old habits die hard because we still do this from time to time!).

Woody´s music obviously travels all over because at Seann´s créche last year there was a dad who used to come in and sing the car song to the kids each Friday. He translated it to French--"Dans Ma Vielle Bagnole" The kids loved it and we even got a copy of him singing it on CD.

What songs do you like to sing? What songs do you like to dance to?

The little man

We are at another weekend and it feels good to know that Seb will be here soon. I'm so eager to see him and I know Seann is too. I think Seann is starting to question where the rest of the world is since it's just us all the time and no family or friends. Luckily we see some of our new friends here and we are getting to know them better, but he's really craving that connection with family.

I know he misses everyone in Florida and in France because he talks about everyone all the time and asks me nonstop when we will see them. Yes everyone --there is a little man here who loves you! Isn't that a wonderful thing?

*Seann took the picture of me and Charlotte and he did such a nice job on it. It´s framed so well.

Oklahoma

I chopped up a very ugly suspendered dress with lots of tacky embellishments to make this Oklahoma-esque full skirt for our little sitter girl. I love ginghams amd checked patterns and I thrifted the dress over a year ago knowing I would want to remake it. I could easily make her an entire wardrobe out of all manner of checks! I love them for me too and I get all excited when I see them in the fabric store.

The top/onsie is also thrifted and I will detach the collar in a month when she outgrows it and attach it to another t-shirt, probably a pretty white one or maybe I´ll make something from linen if I´m brave. Baby clothes are fun to make and modify because you have a cute client who doesn´t complain about the results good or bad.

Trampoline park

Seann loves to go to the park to meet up with his buddy Thibaut and the brother of Thibaut, Alexandre (who has a very tough skin let me tell you...he can romp with the big boys and hold his own). Thibaut and his family are French and the boys go to the same school so they see each other nearly every day.

We often go to the trampoline part of the park so the boys can JUMP, JUMP, JUMP. They love it. The rule is for every three jumps you must have five wrestling matches. At least that´s what I think their rule is.

Here´s a video I made of all the action. The boys are in their cute school uniforms by the way.

Ed. Haha I just realized that the date says May 2007 at the end of the video and I am a complete idot. Oh well just add a year in your head. There is no way to edit it now!

She sat up alone

She did it all alone today. She sat up by herself. I think she was very proud, There were lots of goofy baby smiles.

The video version is here: (the video will be up soon I promise so check back tomorrow or check my You Tube account--it´s past my bedtime!)

Bonne fete a vous!

Happy mother´s day to all the French mothers we know and love! This is a flowering bush growing wild everywhere in SLP. Do you know what it is ? It´s a sort of cyclamen.

More flower pictures to come!

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Bonne et heureux fete de meres à toutes les mamans françaises que nous connaissons et nous aimons! C'est un buisson fleurissant s'élevant sauvage presque partout dans le region de slp. Savez-vous le nom ? Cette une sorte de cyclamen je crois.

Plus d'images de fleur à venir !

The weekend

We´re all good

Seann and I took this with the camera timer. He pushed the button! It´s rare for me to get a picture with my kids.

Les photos du jour

We are all tired! Thank goodness the weekend is coming!

It was silly hat day at our house and Seann pulled out all his crazy collection to mug for the camera and dressed his sister in lots of strange headgear that made her cry but that she looked adorable in.

The photo of me was taken by Seann as he was wildly shooting everything in his room. He loves my camera now! He shoots me and Charlotte quite often but I end up with all these headless photos or closeups of my am that remind me to use more lotion (mexico=dry skin!)

Charlotte is a little person now in her Bumbo seat. These are great for little ones like her because they are designed deep in order to support the back. She loves it for short 15 minute stretches.

Jumping

Seann with his little buddy Jada. I think they have their own unique way of saying goodbye.

Farewell

My buddy Hana is leaving this weekend for good and I'm definitely going to miss her warmth and caring and her adorable little family. To thank her for being around so much and inculding me in so much of her life these past few months I made her and her daughter a final farewell Mexican Fiesta!

I know she´s a little tired of Mexican food but I know when she´s back in the northern US she´ll have fond memories of all of the wonderful foods she ate in her year here. I wanted to be a part of that memory!

I hate losing a friend to distance. It is so difficult making them and such a difficult thing seeing them leave.

Home life

These pictures are for my husband. Life goes on without you here but we aren´t the same family with one missing. We are all hoping this time goes by quickly.

Photo guy

Little man of the house, seen here in his dad´s shirt transformed into art smock with elastic cuffs and crazy patchwork embellishments (we will add more no doubt). Crude yes, okay well it was very spur of the moment.

My guy--so full of life and energy. Where does his all this come from? I have no clue. It´s baffling.



Today I very bravely loaned him my camera for 15 minutes to see what he would shoot. He was delighted. I was a little nervous. He immediately started taking pictures of his paintings. He loves his art work and he´s really proud of it.



And he shot some crazy photos that made me realize I think too much in the box. I mean how cool is the light socket photo? I love the three year old mind.




Finally he shot a wonderful picture of me and Charlotte, who is busy chawing her way through a paint brush handle so she can poke her eye out with it.

It was lots of fun seeing things through his eyes. He needs to be given a camera more often.

Fun with photoshop

I love these!

Starting to sit

She's starting to sit up better and just wobbles a little bit. She has more and more muscle control each day. I think by the end of the month we might be there. She will be able to sit up entirely on her own and she'll have gained a lot of confidence in her little world.

She's crying because I'm not supporting her with my hands like I normally do. I felt bad taking the pictures anyway because she was really scared just being held up by my legs and crying, but trust me I took them very fast which is why they are a little blurry. Anyway I thought it was important to document her progress but with there just being me here I have no one to snap photos while I hold the baby up! (Husband we miss you and need you for baby holding...)

Poor sweet thing. She must have been thinking why is she doing this to me!?

The concert boy

Fashionista

As always with her Ikea bear. She always steals it from the changing room.

I made her this little skirt out of an old t-shirt of mine and I plan to make her more but in crazy mixed gypsy colors and I want to make them longer with a ruffle on the bottom. I´m learning more and more after each garment. She's my little dress up doll! I used to like making doll clothes so it´s perfect that I have a real doll now.

The t-shirts are her brother's from when he was a baby so she is looking very boy like in her blue. It's just so hot! I have been cutting up all onsies (baby t-shirts) and cutting off the sleeves and snaps and hemming them. It´s almost too hot to be glamourous!

Six months today!

Our little nanette turns six months old today!

She is so sweet and lovely and we are really blessed to have such a happy little person in our house. We all love her to pieces--especially her brother who begs me to wake her from her naps so he can see her and play with her. This doesn't mean he doesn't torture her from time to time, but for the most part he dotes on her and spends half his day trying to make her laugh. It's so wonderful with two in the house. It was so worth it to go through everything we did to get her here. Not a minute goes by where I don't look at her and say "thank God we didn't give up."

She is still in our bed and still feeding several times a day. I haven't been keeping track of the number of times a day she feeds. I guess it's at least eight times a day or more. It's a lot! She should start solids soon or I guess she could if I felt like she needed to but with her dad away I think we'll wait a little longer. She seems perfectly happy with her feeds and so am I. That's not to say we haven't let her try a few things. She has tasted avocado and I caught her brother feeding her some peach yogurt one afternoon, which I bet she loved. But she hasn't been that enthusiastic about first foods.

She is growing well and her hair is lightening more and more each day and finally growing a little. No sign of teeth yet but I will miss her goofy baby smiles when she gets those first teeth. I love her shameless baring of the gums when she really likes something. It's adorable.

I hate seeing my kids grow up but at the same time it's wonderful seeing them explore their world and evolve in to little people with personalities. Already she seems to have learned how to turn on the charm and she knows what makes people smile.

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Pendant quelque semaines je vous invite de traduire le texte par le traducter AltaVista Babelfish en cliquante le drapeau Francais a droite de ce blog. Desolee mais j'ai pas du temps pour le faire toute suite, mais j'espere d'avoir apres le demanagement cet ete.

Des fois le traduction automatique n'est pas toujours parfait mais cela vous permettez d'avoir au moins le sens du texte. Souvent il trompe le texte et pour ca je suis vraiment desolee.

A tres bientot et gros bious a vous! (et encore desole pour ma manque de accents francais sur ce clavier americain...)

Small trip south

Our weekend started out bad! On Friday morning poor Seb got plowed into from behind by a huge GMC pick-up truck without insurance. He wasn't hurt thanks to his seat belt. The police came to sort out the matter and actually did a pretty good job of it --after being given a generous tip of course. We will get our car fixed thanks to our great insurance but it's painful to see our pretty car all tangled to shreds. It has over 3,000 dollars worth of damage. Seb felt bad for the guy who hit him but not bad enough to accept his offer to "let a buddy of his fix our car." We are selling the car and already kind of have a buyer in mind....uh err had a buyer in mind that is. I think driving without insurance is just asking for trouble. Apparently the guy had a nice truck and it was practically totaled. Not only does he have to reimburse our insurance company but he has to fix or replace his own car.

We tried not to let this spoil our plans though--visiting Queretaro two hours from us. We decided to go as a family the night before and stay in a hotel. I'm glad we did this little trip.

Queretaro is south of us following some really pretty, winding mountain roads so it was a nice drive. The Holiday Inn Centro of Queratero where we stayed the night is gorgeous! It's fashioned after a typical Mexican hacienda and it's all covered in vines. We had the hugest breakfast buffet ever --fresh cut fruits, yogurts, pancakes, cookies, refried beans, chilaquiles, chicken tacos ...and the food was all served on those blue and white floral patterned dishes that are so typically Mexican (and that I so hope to be bringing home with me when we leave). There was also a great children's play area that had a little white stucco playhouse I would have loved to have had as a kid. And the swimming pool was a big attraction for Seann.

We didn't get to see much of the city except for the centro. It seemed like a very nice town but the industry was really overwhelming on the outskirts and I think it ruined the charm. Industry is overtaking many of the towns of Mexico which is I suppose good and bad news for the country--mostly bad because of the pollution. I hope it at least improves the standard of living and the minimum wage for the Mexican people but I doubt it will.

You can click on the picture for a closer look.

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Notre week-end commencé mal ! Vendredi matin Seb a eu un accident et il etait crasser derrière par un camionette GMC sans assurance. Seb a pas eu mal grace a son ceinture. La police est venue pour resolver la probleme. Nous allons avoir nos reparations grace a notre assurance mais il est douloureux de voir notre jolie voiture dans cet etat. Il a plus de 3.000 dollars de valeur des dommages. Seb a senti pour le pauve type qui le frappent mais assez non mauvais d'accepter son offre "laissez un copain reparer notre voiture."

Apres ca nous sommes parti pour notre sejour a Queretaro, un peu sud de nous suivant quelques routes vraiment jolies et dans le montagne. Le Holiday Inn Centro de Queratero où nous sommes restés la nuit est magnifique ! Il est façonné après une Hacienda mexicaine typique et il est tout couvert dans les vignes. Nous avons pris le petit déjeuner le plus énorme jamais vu -- les fruits frais, yogurts, crêpes, biscuits, haricots mache, chilaquiles, le tacos de poulet... et la nourriture ont été tout servis sur ces plats floraux bleus et blancs qui sont tellement typique mexicains (et qui j'espère ainsi apporter à la maison avec moi quand nous partons). Il y avait également un terrain de jeux pour les enfants qui a eu une petite maison blanche que j'aurais ai aimé avoir quand j'etat petite. Et la piscine était une grande attraction pour Seann.

Nous n'avons pas vu une grande partie de la ville excepté le centro. Il a semblé comme une ville interessante mais l'industrie est vraiment sur les périphéries et je pense qu'elle a ruiné le charme. L'industrie rattrape les vieux villes du Mexique -- une bonnes et mauvaises nouvelles pour le pays --mais la plupart du temps mauvais. J'espère qu'elle améliore au moins le niveau de la vie et le salaire minimum pour les mexicains.

Vous pouvez cliquer sur la grille pour un meilleur regard.

Sewing with mom

American girl

We just got back from Monterrey last night. Charlotte got her American citizenship papers approved yesterday afternoon and she is now a full-fledged citizen. The paper she is holding is her American birth certificate.

We will have to wait three weeks for her passport to come in the mail which is a relief because I can't take her to the states without a US passport. People born in Mexico must have an American passport or a visa to enter the US.

Now we have to celebrate with an apple pie or something!

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Nous sommes revenus de Monterrey la nuit passée ou Charlotte a obtenu son nationalité américaine hier après-midi et elle est maintenant une véritable citoyenne. Le papier qu'elle est tiene est son acte de naissance américain. Nous devrons attendre trois semaines pour que son passeport est fait et envoyer et ca c'est un vrai soulagement parce que je ne peux pas l'ammene aux USA sans passeport des USA. Les gens nés au Mexique doivent avoir un passeport américain ou un visa pour entrer dans les USA.

Maintenant nous devons célébrer avec un tarte aux pommes !*

*(gateau qui est représentant des Etats-Unis...on dit "elle est americaine comme un tarte aux pommes!")

Happy to have dad home!

We´re all happy to have Seb home for a few days.

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Nous sommes tous hereux que Seb est la pour quelque jours.

A day´s worth of photos

I love taking pictures, especially black and white. When you have kids it´s wonderful because you have a subject to shoot all the time. Seann is fun to shoot with all his changing moods. Hard to believe but these photos just represent one day of pictures. We do a lot in one day.

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J'aime prendre des photos, particulièrement noires et blanc. Quand vous avez des enfants il est merveilleux parce que vous avez un sujet á photographier tout le temps. Seann est un sujet merveilleux avec tous ses humeurs changeantes. Difficile de croire mais ces photos représentent juste un jour d'images. Nous faisons beaucoup de chose dans un journée!