la piscine

il a fait tellement bon ces dernieres semaines que j'ai sorti la petite piscine de jardin en attendant que la piscine du quartier ouvre le week-end du 30 mai.
Le we passe, j'y ai enmene les filles et elles ont nage avec leur bouee, elles ont adore. Natalie n'a pas voulu que je la tienne et a nage toute seule en battant des pieds. Rachelle aussi s'est lancee et a nage sur le dos et sur le ventre.

We did fill up the small pool in the backyard, waiting the neighborhood pool to open on Memorial day. The girls loved the pool and jumped and swam and had a great time. Rachel takes swimming clases at the end of June and is very exited.

meme gets a manicure/ les ongles

school performances/ fete a l'ecole

March performance
(funambule/ tightrope walker; sirene/ mermaid; )




May performance (lolipop song)

cheveux plus courts/ hair

moi: Rachel, tu as coupe tes cheveux!? (une meche de 5 cms sur le front)
R: non maman
moi: Rachel tu es tres jolie avec ta nouvelle coupe de cheveux. Quand as-tu coupe tes cheveux?
R: hier a l'ecole, cette meche-la arrivait tjs ds mes yeux
moi: c'est tres joli mais la prochaine fois demande a maman et t'enmenerai chez le coiffeur.
R: oh non je ne voulais pas avoir tous les cheveux courts
moi: non il t'aurait simplement coupe la meche

Last evening at dinner time I noticed that rachel had cut her hair some of her hair (some bang of 2 inc vs 4 inches)
Did you cut your hair
no maman
You are lovely with your new hair cut. Where did you cut your hair?
At school yesterday
.....

pas toujours la meilleure/ not always the best

moi: Rachel, s'il te plait assied toi a table
RA: maman tu n'es pas gentille
elle venait de me dire que j'etais la meilleure des mamans
moi: ce n'est pas gentil de dire ca a sa maman. Quand tu auras des enfants tu leur diras aussi de ne pas se mettre debout a table, ce n'est pas pour ca que maman est mechante. Elle vous aime beaucoup et ne voudrait pas que tu tombes et te fasses mal
R: hum je vois

summary:
R: mom you are not nice
I just had told her to sit at the table and not try to stand up
I guess at that moment I was not the best mom ever

WHY: nice and bad people/ les gentils et les mechants

Rachel - maman, pourquoi mami elle est si gentille?
moi - parce qu'elle a eu une gentille maman
R - pourquoi il y a des gens mechants?
moi - hum, peut-etre parce qu'ils n'ont pas eu le bon example de leur maman

R: maman, why is mami so nice? (my mom who was with us at Spring break)
I: because she had a very nice mom
R: why are there bad people?
I: hum... maybe because they did not have a nice mom

new toothbrush

I found an Ariel tooth brush for Rachel and a blinking one for Natalie. No more excuses for not brushing their teeth in the morning.
Rachel - mom you are the best

Yesterday I brushed my teeth with Natalie and guess what I heard
Natalie - maman, you are the best mom ever!


nouvelles brosses a dents pour les filles et elles ont adore
et depuis je suis la meilleure des mamans

change of school is coming/ nouvelle ecole pour Rachel

I was adamant about changing school and having Rachel starting kindergarten with all her friends in the neighborhood, taking the bus in the morning with her friend Alejandra and going through the move transition in January.
She is now registered in the school and we just heard that she has been accepted in the after-school program, which his wonderful. This program is open all year long and even on snow days. It means also an easier entry for Natalie later on.

Last Friday school play event at the Montessori school was wonderful and I felt sad thinking that Rachel is about to leave this wonderful caring and loving environment but she is 5 1/2 already and she will blossom being with her peers I have no doubts about it.

The same doubts crept in after I had registered her at the Montessori school just thinking about leaving the caring family daycare she had been for 2 years.
I want to write how I feel because these feelings will not last I am sure and once again my first instinct will be (I hope) the right one.

Rachel is ready and so exited about starting her "big" school. She had fun at the open school day and at the school fair the week-end afterwards. We will have play dates in June and a final meeting in August.
To make this transition easier, I have registered the family to our community pool and have Rachel starting swimming lessons there at the end of June.

My little girl is growing and it is hard to think that she will be 6 this November.


Rachel commence l'ecole primaire a la fin du mois d'aout qq jours apres notre retour de Belgique. Elle commence deja a lire.
Elle est tres contente et a hate de commencer. J'espere que la transition ne sera pas trop dure pour elle et que la separation avec Natalie ne sera pas penible (elle le sera surement pour Natalie). On parle souvent de la nouvelle ecole et elle s'est bien plue lors de notre visite malgre le fait qu'elle ne voulait pas renter ds l'ecole mais apres avoir vu ses 2 copines pour qq minutes, tout a ete beaucoup mieux.
On a a plante une graine de tournesol qu'elle avait recue a lecole et qd cellle-ci sera en pleine fleuraison et aussi haute qu'elle, il sera temps pour elle de commencer l'ecole.

Le soir ca sera un peu plus diffcile car j'aurai 2 places a faire. De plus jusqu'a la fin de decembre ils occuperont des locaux provisoires en attendant la fin de la construction de la nouvelle ecole - ce qui ajoutera 10 min de plus.
Rachel prendra le bus le matin, ca lui plairait surement bcp.

je croise les doigts

bed reading

Rachel started to read and can now recognize a few words. She was so proud to bring a book from school and read it to us. She was not that keen when I hit the drawing.

At night Natalie wants to read to us now and it is fun to listen to her stories.
Rachel loves to make up songs and they are quite entertaining.

Rachel speaks

mom: Rachel, please do not sit in the sand box without an underwear, it will hurt
Rachel: (not very happy).... when I am old, I will boss you around

[not looking forward to that]

paques avec mami/ spring break 2011 with grandma

Maman a passe 12 jours avec nous. Les filles l'ont gate de bisous et d'attention.
Avant qu'elle ne parte, elle a enregistre des chansons et une histoire que les filles ecoutent chaque soir avant de s'endormir.

Avec son aide, nous avons paint la chambre des filles en rose - couleur de leur choix. La 1ere couche n'a pas recu l'approbation de Rachel "non c'est blanc, ce n'est pas rose clair". Apres 2 doses de couleur supplementaire, nous avons eu le rose parfait. Elles adorent et Natlie est en pleine admiration pour sa chambre.

Le living a recu lui aussi un coup de pinceau et le resultat est merveilleux.
Photos a suivre

Avec les filles mami a plante de jolies fleurs dans le jardin et l'on y a mis de l'engrais maison qui on l'espere fera grandir ces merveilleuses fleurs.

Mami tu nous manques et merci d'avoir redecore notre maison.

-----
We had wonderful days with my mom this past month.
She did get plenty of cuddles and hugs and kisses. Before she left she taped a story for the girls to listen to and they love that.

The big change during this break is the painting work we did. We painted with the help of Rachel and Natalie their bedroom in PINK- their chosen color. The first pink color was too white to Rachel's taste who kept saying "no, it is not pink, it is white".
After a trip to the store, we got the perfect color. They love it.

We did not stop there and painted the living room which is now light orange/apricot at the top and darker, with white trims --bright and just beautiful.

The girls helped us to plant beautiful flowers at the back of the backyard where I had a hard time to fight the weeds in the flower bed.

The house is now back to "pre-children" era. Tks a million mom