Car Crushin'

So yesterday the boys got a special treat. A trip to the junk yard. Eventually our little car will be going to this car paradise and an acquaintance of ours works at the junk yard. So..the men went for a sneak peak to see how the cars get crushed. In my mind it is enormous hydraulic pumps smashing the cars into little cubes. Perfect for a coffee table.

Glad I didn't get a chance to go along. As you can see from the video, french car crushing is more like "tapping". These french....a bit anti-climactic wouldn't you say?

Anyhoo...anti-climactic or not....thought I'd share.

The Weekend.....

Happy third birthday Zoe!

So after a hard day of work in the garden on Saturday we headed off for some birthday festivities. Cake, candles, champagne, warm-up easter egg hunt, sunshine, a devilishly warm pool and trampoline to boot. What more could we have asked for.

And a big thank you to cousin Arnaud, cousin Arnaud, cousin Arnaud for being such a good sport!

Easter Eggs

So for one of my classes we thought we'd color some eggs Uncle Sam style. Here are the results...You can only do so much with brown eggs but the kids had fun. The eggs that Sebastian and I did at home (the blown out hanging ones) turned out pretty nice.

Oh let me count the ways....

I love my little one.

*The fact that Sebastian inherited his father's love of gab. (At times even Stephane cannot believe how much he can talk.)

*That he practiced doing armpit farts for one solid night straight. Thankfully that has passed, but it was pretty hard to watch without cracking up.

*The way he says "bum" for his bum.

*The way he corrects my french (and for the moment is still pretty forgiving about it.)

*And how could I not mention, my personal favorite, makes me want to tear my eyeballs right out of their sockets...the way he rolls his eyes. That he gets from me. No denying it...I still remember my Mother saying, "Don't you roll your eyes at me!" Oh how it all comes back full circle.

And with that my friends, I will leave you. A bit of sentiment before drifting off to sleep. Sweet dreams to you all.

The circus came to town....

and we got invited! Normally, I'm not big into the circus, well OK, I've only been once in like the 3rd grade to Circus World in Baraboo, WI, so I don't have much circus history. But the whole animal circus is pretty much a turn off. Anyhoo...mumbling...we went and had a good time. The human performers made up for the animals, god bless them!

Sebastian and Amelia (doesn't it look like Sebastian's shoulders are dwarfed??? The incredible shrinking boy.)

Sebastian and his once a year cotton candy. (Stay tuned for the cotton candy mustache shot).

A bad shot but had to put it in anyways because it was Sebastian's favorite act. Four motorcycles riding in this sphere...no one died, although I had my eyes shut for most of this performance. Pretty crazy.

This guy was really funny. The video of him for some reason ended up as the last post. I want his costume to go to work.

Couldn't get a better shot but the female clown's costume was amazing...all sequins. Really spectacular. Not to mention she got to play a mini saxophone.

A pretty cool juggler and the below shots of some pretty darn flexible performers.

They were so flexable I was waiting for something to pop.

Reviers....

It's a bird, it's a plane, no it's super gladiator Sebastian!

Waiting for the other kids to show up for the Wed. afternoon art class. There is a theater group on Tuesdays so Seb also gets to try out the latest costumes.

Here's a shot of a charming little stream across the road as well as a shot of the before and after of the chateau where I teach my class.

Creative little guy....

Here are some of Sebastian's latest drawings...in no particular order.

Seb really enjoys coming with me when I teach the Wednesday afternoon art class. He gets to mess around and act like a real important cheese, while still doing the lessons with the rest of the class. Also worth mentioning...the fact that he gets to pal around with the other two "older" boys in the class is also a good selling point.

The one above was made for Nick, but it just never got put in the mail. So it is adorning his door. "A robot for Nicholas".

They are starting to work on cursive at school, hence the fancy autograph.

Self portrait....

And this week we were working on drawing animals at my class.....