You know how a male seahorse carries the babies? #SodoesElPuma #canIgetridofthepram?

The crash and burn #AdventSunday #Wouldntknowitinourhouse #Flu

Oo I love, I love Christmas time. I love the nights drawing in, getting the decorations out, being all cosy and using lamps while outside it's freezing cold. And Advent, that 4-week preparation for Christmas, is magical. I try to find a Christmas market or 4, sometimes even in Germany where they really know how to do Christmas markets, I definitely find glühwein and I love putting up the tree with the kids, hanging decorations, and beginning our evening advent singing and story-telling around the wreath.

So I was very excited about going to Church this morning and being part of the advent rituals. But that hope faded as last night went on. First one and then the other woke with a raging fever, hacking, coughing, and generally moaning in misery. They were neither happy in their beds, nor ours, and I eventually got the miracle calpol out.

That got us through until the morning, but the two of them spent the rest of the day barely moving from the couch. No eating, little drinking, didn't even get dressed, and only watching lots and lots of telly.

So we cancelled everything, including our afternoon meet up with friends. Which left us with a lot of waffles to eat. And no kids who wanted to share them with us.

Nup, nada.

An apple a day #isenough

So there's something I've been saving for since I started this OECD contract. My dream of dreams. An iMac. Sad I know. That I haven't had one before now I mean.

So we headed off to that iconic place. No, not the Louvre, the apple store.

Well, the apple store under the Louvre, which meant that we spent our Saturday morning doing what we have spent 4 years avoiding: spending our morning around tourists.

Which was actually quite pleasant because we got to show Small Fry and Fingerling some parts of the city they don't usually see. And take photographic evidence beside typical Parisian landmarks. In the typical way of 4 year olds of course.

Calling all super heros #partyseason #starwarsISasuperhero

Asher turns 4! Actually only in December but this year school finishes early due to Christmas falling on a Sunday and we've got a lot of partying between now and then to fit in. So Asher celebrated his in November.

When told that this was a superhero party, Small Fry immediately told me he wanted to be Star Wars. Obviously the kid has no clue. None of his classmates clearly do either as they all told him that a) Star Wars is a person (a stormtrooper in fact) and b) Star Wars is a superhero. And there was no arguing with him.

So we found a 'Star Wars' outfit and he was very, very happy. And in any case there was an Elsa there so I think the superhero theme was a little loose.

And then he got his face painted as Darth Vadar. So who knows what's going on there.

Spiderman was there to keep 12 four year olds entertained for 2 hours, but for some reason Fingerling ADORED him. The tight spandex leotard? The mask? The superpowers? (see point above about keeping 12 four year olds entertained for 2 hours). Who knows, but he carried her around like he's been entertaining at children's parties for years....

 Meanwhile, Asher turned 4 and had a kick-ass superhero cake and champagne to prove it. 

Sing to me #thatclassic

Oh it's great when the kids wish their auntie a happy birthday!

At least it makes for an amusing blog post.

Feeling thankful #bigpeoplelittlethings

I suppose it would be only natural that on this thanksgiving day I would remember my dad, and I do. But I am also amazingly thankful for my wonderful family, friends, work, play and the little things*

*especially because M&S will be gone by Christmas from France :( :( :(

Call to arms #birthdaygift #knights #ratherfocusedscottishhistory

Ever since our 2 weeks in Scotland when we visited the Bannockburn Heritage Centre and Small Fry learned about our glorious victory over the English (no offence meant) and how spears and armour and cannons and horses and fighting were required to achieve that, he's been very interested in all things Knights and Castles related.

Good job then that we got so many knight-related things for this birthday. This morning during our time together we made a start on using the birthday gifts. I can definitely see myself getting another week or three out of this theme:

Absence makes the heart grow fonder #Justoneday #Brussels #Goodforeveryone

El Puma spoke at a workshop today in Brussels, but as so many family members joined us for Small Fry's party, and as we had so much fun last week when we were away together, I decided to join El Puma for the day yesterday.

We left at the crack of dawn from Paris (sneaking out just as the kids were waking up) and found the Gare du Nord already dressed for Christmas:

We spent the morning with our dear friends Lucy (ex-flatmate, continual friend) and Mark and their lovely bambinos Joshua and Zak...who seemed to miss our two more than we did.

After lunch we checked into El Puma's hotel and then decided to see the tourist highlights of Brussels, something I haven't done in oo, about 15 years.

It was a cold, crisp and sunny day, perfect for visiting the Grande Place:

 And even better for having waffles and beer in a pub on the Grande Place.

We walked from there all the way to the train station, me reminiscing about a haunt there, a memory there, how things used to be...and El Puma enjoying seeing the city and its changing quarters at a walking pace. I've even missed this little guy:

And the secret of success, I'm now understanding, is that when you haven't seen your kiddies for a day then they are an absolute delight to be with. And when they haven't seen you, that makes you the best thing EVER.

Lifting up my eyes #Onemonth

I wanna hear you roar #turning4 #withallourfriends

Well I think this is the last year we are going to do that: invite Small Fry's new friends from school, his 'old friends' from his garderie, our friends who have kids the same age as ours, AND family. That doth a very large party make.

So that's why I initially planned a let's-play-outside-in-all-weather (- just wear waterproofs) party, but after watching the rain come tumbling down non-stop for a week, we finally booked a room around the corner (a shop that has gone out of business and they now rent out the space for an hour).

Of course we woke up to glorious weather and so quickly scrambled together some indoor activities, like Feed the T-Rex (with balls from a safe distance)... 

 ...pin the tail on the dinosaur...

 ...and races where you can only step on the dinosaur feet...

...and eat lots of sugar paste...

It was, as always, exhausting but brilliant fun, helped by the 'boxes of coffee' that you can buy from Starbucks (think the size of wine boxes with enough cups for the next couple of birthday events).

Roll on the next rip-roaring birthday. And Small Fry will get to choose his invites. I'll get to choose the number.

Teamwork #Fishteam

I have really enjoyed my 15 month OECD contract, and although it will come to an end at Christmas without many tears from me*, I think I will be friends with my colleagues for a long time.

Recently, the whole team each purchased this t-shirt...

 ...and then posed for a team photo.

 In work as in life, team work is crucial!

*the usual politics and management stuff

HB MDRG-K! #Birthdayboy #Dinotastic

And Small Fry turns 4!

He has been wanting to be 4 for weeks, perhaps months. That's the thing with having an end-of-year birthday.

So he is totally over the moon, especially because birthdays means cakes, sweets and other (usually) forbidden foods.

So we spent our Wednesday morning together making dinosaur gingerbread biscuits. 

 And I spent the next two days making his cake.

And this is what awaited him when he woke up this morning:

 4 is the best age! Happy Birthday!

Bite back #Jungleliving #Creche

St Remy-Les Chevreuse #11/11 #TAP #Firstbreakwithoutkids

The 11th of November is a public holiday in France, and normally I would take special care to try and get hold of a poppy, not stab myself with it while actually keeping it attached for longer than 12 hours, and doing some sort of remembrance of some fundamental freedoms and the sacrifice that took.

This time, the past month and the past week are not conducive for reflection, and so we took off. We last came here 6 years ago - before marriage, before kids, before we knew what it was like to really value an uninterrupted night's sleep*.

Instead, pacotio (now known as The Amazing Pacotio or TAP) babysat for a whole 24 hours, and you know what? The kids went to bed when told, they behaved well and they even slept right through the night! Little angels he called them #not fair! #IsoundlikeTrump.

Well, good for us, because it means he'll sign up again ;-)

* I will say though, we must stop going to the middle of the countryside in the dead of autumn/winter. Both times it's been freezing and the place is empty (i.e. the heating is only on in our room and none of the restaurants are open. Hey, we also want to eat well on holiday).

American beats Britain as the most stupidest country ever #Election2016

"A whole new world" is the theme tune from the Disney film Aladdin, and it certainly feels like the carpet has been pulled out from under my feet. In one of the best analyses of the night (I think by TIME), I read that this is the last gasp of the white male majority (yes, still a majority and practically ignored by polls) voter, whose end is nigh (as women and minorities increase in absolute numbers, as well as numbers of educated people and most highly educated) and that the election outcome reflects not just an anti-establishment movement that is gripping western democracies, but is actually rooted in a loss of power and disenfranchisement felt by that great pool of white, less educated, traditionally reliant on manufacturing industries, men. Their jobs have been disappearing, they have less power in the home, in the church, at work...in essence, the things that have traditionally and for hundreds of years made men (feel like) 'men' have changed, and old-style machismo has felt lost, alienated and abandoned. The ugly and latent racism felt by these voters as they've seen women and minorities increase in power has been rubbed raw through the presence of a black commander-in-chief (why else do you think we have had such extraordinary racial conflicts under a black President?). And so now we enter a new world order. But, this world is changing in favour of women, minorities and the educated, albeit perhaps more slowly after yesterday's debacle. Although this is currently not the world I want my children to grow up in, in another generation I believe the tables will be completely turned...even if it's only because the sheer numbers of women and minorities in public life will have commanded a majority, they will still have turned. So, indeed, a whole new world, and as Aladdin goes on to sing: "hold your breath, it gets better".

So, appropriately a rainy day photo for you all:

Post pinching #shewroteitbetterthanme

I might not have everything that she does, but what I have, I am using well. Thanks to the giver that keeps on giving (and to all the cool family history we've found).

Parc life #Publicholiday #AllSaints

I felt very much this year that I wanted to spend the All Saints Day holiday in the calm and peace of nature, without all the stress and rush that going waaaay out into that nature on public transport entails.

So after just a 10 minute ride on the RER C (regional train) we ended up in the Parc des Chanteraines, northwest of Paris. There are five parts to the park and it's big enough to include a sailing lake, a petting zoo, a small train, another little lake, and tons and tons of trees shedding their autumn leaves.

A warm and sunny day made it perfect.

View towards Paris over the boating lake - with the Eiffel Tower to the right and the new Courts to the left that they are building at the end of our local park

Even in Paris proper it was a lovely day.

All Saints #Departures

My sister took this photo as she left Stirling after over 5 weeks. She labelled it departures, which I think sums up that time and this photo beautifully.

Departures

We are very good at 'celebrating' Halloween in the UK, but I prefer other cultures that focus instead on the saints. So as take our leave in all sorts of different ways, I wish you all a Happy All Saints Day.