pictures of last year

I found some pictures we hade made at Sears last years when Frieda was visiting and I never put them on the blog.
Woah, the girls have changed in one year

atchoum

quand Natalie eternue, elle dit "pardon ma bouche".

when Natalie sneezes, she always says: pardon my mouth". I told her she does not need to say that but she must like the sound of it because she keeps saying it.

Storm in Montgomerry Country/ 20 heures sans electricite

dimanche apres-midi: orage/tornade avec des vents a 110kms/h. Dans notre quartier, nous avons perdu l'electricite vers 16h mais n'avons eu aucun degat materiel.
Plusieurs grosses branches et un enorme arbre est tombe dans la rue a cote de la notre et les cables electriques etaient sur la chausee (oui c'est encore un systeme aerien!).
Les enfants du quartier se sont reunis chez Harper (notre baby sitter) et ils se sont amuses avec des jeux projettant de l'eau pendant une bonne heure. Le soir, nous avons tous dormi en bas et avons ouvert le divant lit, Rachel avec papa et Natalie avec moi dans le lit. Lundi matin elles m'ont accompagne au travail et se sont bien amusees.
L'electricite est revenue hier vers midi et les filles ont retrouve leur lit mais elles auraient bien voulu encore dormir en bas.

Sunday afternoon we experienced a bad storm/tornado with winds at 70 miles an hour. A huge tree fell on Cushing Street and crashed 2 cars but nobody got hurt and no house was destroyed. We just lost power for 20 hours.
Our baby sitter invited all the kids from the neighborhood to join and play water games in their front yard. Twenty kids got together and the girls quite shy in the beginning finally joined the crowd and had a great time. We came home around 7pm, had dinner I had cooked earlier in the day and retreated to the basement.
It was 85 degrees in the bedrooms and the 75 degrees in the basement were much better. The girls enjoyed spending the night with us, Rachel slept with her dad on the sofa bed and Natalie with me in the bed. Thank you Yossi for having bought the storm light.

The next day, Rachel and Natalie came to work with me. They behaved very well, said hi to everybody, gave/got hugs and kisses. They colored, cut, glued, played with balloons and of course watched TV. My colleague in IT configured a pc so they could watch their European DVDs. Rachel preferred to stay with my friend Maria and watched TV on the huge screen. They had a good time and were in no rush to go home.

2.5 years old

Natalie ma cherie

you have just turned 2.5 years old 3 days ago. I was watching you last night and I realized that the "baby" in you is fading away slowly. You want to dress alone, play alone, eat alone, help yourself in the fridge, make your sandwich and spread 1 inch high of cream cheese on top, and of course copy your sister in every move/sound she makes...which annoys her tremendously.

But you still like to cuddle, sit on my laps after your bath, and pretend to be a baby, give me kisses and ask me to put the blanket on you before you fall asleep.

You love to play, to paint, to color, to run, and to help me. You sit at the dining table and color or paint or play with the pearls. What are you doing Natalie? I am "playing" without pronouncing the "l" correctly. You used to spend time with your Dora dolls, now you switched to your sister's pet shop and love to spread the Lego cubes on the carpet in the living room (always asking me first - thank you). You enjoy playing on the floor with your Lego cubes and stuff them in our shoes.

You now sleep in your big bed and skip something napping during the week-end. At daycare you do not wear a pull up anymore and we do hope that the night pull-ups will go off soon.

You are in a good mood when you wake up; you like to laugh and giggle and to be tickled. You like to play with Heidi, our 8-year old German Sheppard, and pet her and feed her. You love food (meat, fruit ...) and you are always the first to run to the table when I announce that dinner is ready. You like to try on new food and discovered hummus and shrimp. You favorite vegetable: tomato. I buy the cherry tomatoes and you eat them like a fruit. In a few weeks you will be able to help yourself on the tomato plants in the garden.






This summer you learn to jump in the pool.

longing to be 5

Rachel - maman, when will I turn 5?
- in a few months ma cherie
- why does it take sooooooo long. I want to be 5
- why?
- because I will then be in the new school
- you will start school in a few weeks.
- really, yeahhhh!
- why are you happy to start at the new school
- because I will make real friends
- the friends at the day care are not your real friends
- no they are fake friends

excuse

A few days ago at bath time I reprimanded Rachel for pushing Natalie in the tub, telling her that Natalie could have fallen and hurt herself. She replied: "Maman, I don't know any better, I am just a child".


Lors du bain un jour de la semaine, Rachel avait pousse sa soeur et je l'ai reprimandee et lui ai explique que Natalie etait encore petite et qu'elle pouvait perdre l'equilibre et se faire mal en tombant.
Sur ce, Rachel me repond: "maman, je ne savais pas, je ne suis encore qu'un enfant tu sais".

juste a l'heure le matin/punctuality

Rachel, depuis que tu es toute petite, tu te reveilles toujours a la meme heure que tu te couches a 20h ou a 22h. Recemment, tu as pris l'habitude de venir te refugier dans notre lit le matin et de piquer un petit somme supplementaire sur le petit oreiller pour les genoux. Quel precieux moment.
Le week-end tu m'as a peine rejoint que Natalie arrive (et oui maintenant elle peut descendre de son lit). Alors la il n'est plus question de redormir mais de jouer et de rire et de partager mon oreiller avec Natalie.
Vous nous apportez tellement de joie et de bonheur mes grandes cheries.

In the morning, Rachel joins us in our bedroom and takes an extra nap.
During the week-end as soon as Rachel is with us, Natalie arrives and there is no extra sleep then. We play, we laugh, we cuddle...
You bring us much joy my darling ones.

decision about school

It is now time for you to start school this fall.

Last year we went back and forth so many times with the idea of enrolling you Rachel at 3.5 years old. My family members and our friends insisted that you should start school but we finally decided to leave you and your sister for one more year together at Isabelle's where you had fun and seemed to enjoy so much the new arrival of a baby boy.

Of course I sometimes got annoyed at food and paint stains, bleach spots on a dress, mosquitoes bites, muddy shoes, nails full of dirt, bad words you had learned/heard, not napping and spending time on the computer (4 year old was a little bit too young at our taste).

You are now about to start this wonderful program at a Montesorri school where you will both have a million of activities and will make great friends. I do know that your dad and I made the best decision but I have a little pinch in my heart thinking that you Isabelle's daycare will be part of the past.

I wonder as well that you might miss the daycare and especially Olivia and Kay, the 2 new ladies who gave you much attention and love.
What if you get sick because of a classmate?
What if you learn bad habits being in a bigger group?
What if this is too much stimulation?
What if I get delayed in the traffic on my way to pick you up?
what if...

But at the bottom of my heart I do know that you will be very happy there and that you will both be in a lovely environment surrounded by great teachers and wonderful friends.

We love you and want the best for you.

maman et papa

lipstick please/ rouge a levres

R - maman, could I have a little bit of your lipstick
She looked very nice with a hint of brown lipstick matching her brown and orange dress.

ce matin Rachel voulait mettre un peu de rouge a levres. Je n'ai pas dit non et lui en ai mis un peu. Si j'avais dit non, je suis sure qu'elle aurait trouve un moyen de monter sur la chaise, de le prendre et d'en mettre beaucoup plus que je n'en aurais mis.
elle etait tres contente et tres mignone.

New school announcement

We told the daycare provider Isabelle that Rachel and Natalie would start school this fall. Everybody is quite sad about it but we do know that it is a good thing for them.
When I told Rachel about it, she was upset and said that she did not want to leave her friends CJ, Jackie, Taylor, and babies Rachel and Savannah, but most particularly Lidie, the daughter of the daycare provider (she is 6 years old). My hart sank.
I then told Rachel that she could invite Lidie and it took care of it.

new bed - pictures

Rachel's sleep pattern

Rachel is normally a good sleeper but the last few days she has woken up at night, certainly due to the high outdoor temperatures we experience (100 during the day - 78 at night). I do lower the ac at night but not too much since Natalie kicks her blanket.

J'ai baisse l'air conditionne ces dernieres nuits car il fait extremement chaud a l'exterieur (encore 25 degres la nuit). Rachel qui normallement dort bien se reveille et bien sur vient nous dire bonjour.
2h du matin: maman, il est deja l'heure de se lever?
non ma cherie, viens je vais te remettre au lit.

wake up calls

It is 2 in the morning when I hear Natalie calling me. She now sleeps in her new bed and she can get up on her own. I get up right away .... There she stands near her potty with a big grim on her face.
maman, I did pipi!
- C'est tres bien ma cherie.
I was so proud of her.
yes she woke me up, but so what.
Her sister had done it just 2 hours before to tell me that her "pepette" hurt. By the time I went to get the cream, she was fast asleep.


Natalie s'est eveillee pendant la nuit pour faire pipi et bien sur elle a du appeler maman pour lui faire part de ses exploits.
Bon travail ma cherie.

new bed for Natalie

Last Monday Natalie's "big bed" arrived. She was so thrilled and could wait till we finished assembling it.
We thought it might take her a few days to spend the night in it (as it was the case with Rachel). But no, she slept the whole night in it on the first day. Well done ma cherie!
We have ketp the crib just in case but I think it can go, the dolls are in it for the moment.

Ca y est, Natalie dort dans son nouveau lit - le meme que celui de Rachel. Elle est super exitee lorsque Yossi et moi le montions. Elle a dormi dedans des la premiere.