bits and bobs

After our weekend in Paris, the birthday celebrations continue with a 40th lunch here in Luxembourg for a UK friend.......from which I have to leave 30 minutes early to collect Ruby, race to the airport and catch a flight to London to get up to Harpenden to celebrate Issadora's 40th at the Luton Hoo :-)

It was fun to celebrate and see everyone again!   We stayed at the Luton Hoo which was lovely and a shame we had to leave Saturday but we had to get back for Conor and Millie!!!! 

The rest of the weeks followed the usual routine of activities, french, gym etc etc etc. Of course I'm still having to spend a morning trudging off the the supermarket as internet and delivery of groceries still hasn't made it here :-((

We had the annual trip to Steinsel for "apple picking" which always involves cremant (local version of champagne) and sausages.......and pony rides for the kids!!!   We had great weather and it was a fun afternoon!

I organised an Amazon wives cultural outing to the Mudam museum which you can almost see from our house!   amazing building and structures inside........and obviously followed by lovely lunch in the museum after!!!!  Kind of thought I should do some of this cultural stuff before I leave and there's plenty to see!!!!!!

We spend a Saturday at  the local ice-rink which was hilarious given Shaun and Conor have never done it before!!!!   Millie and I kept our distance from them!!!!!!  daren't take the camera though so no pics :-(

Conor gets a fairly large part in the Grade4/5 school performance.  For all the faults with the school, their musical performances are second to none.......I'll bore you all with the DVD when I'm home......for now a few pics will suffice!!!!!



A few days in Germany.............

Half term arrived and I did not have enough energy to face a journey that involved anything but getting in the car and driving somewhere not too far away!   All you mum's with little ones on the move understand where I'm comnig from (or can remember vividly from last time around!!)

So I plan a trip to Germany to visit a couple of pretty towns - Heidelberg and Baded-Baden......much to Shaun's horror!   not quite the Barcelona or Milan he was hoping for!!!!! 

Anyway - we had a nice relaxing few days away (if that's possible with a 20-month old!!) and enjoyed some sunny strolls and general pottering! 

Stayed in a very central hotel which the kids loved as each room was a city name and it gave you the distance from Heidelnerg to these cities......always some learning to do along the way!!!!!  We were in Paris room :-)

A few autumnal pics..........................

At Heidelberg's historical castle..............

view of the rive from the castle

a tired mum.................

Guess where we went at the weekend?!

Mickey and Minnie....oops I mean Millie :-)

our new house (Millie's princess castle!)

Ruby loved the chipmunks...............she chased them around and ground them down until they posed for the photo!!!!

they just kept coming...........

we hardly had time to eat amidst all the frivolity!!!!

ahhhhhh.......even Conor having fun  :-)

donald as much of a poser as Millie!

Have you worked it out??!!!!
no shaun didn't spend the weekend dressing up in silly outfits!!!!!!

Yes we braved the crowds and eventually succumbed to taking the kids to disneyland paris for the weekend!  A great time had by all :-))   Taking friday off school was a great call as so much quieter - we arrived at 9.30am and did soooo much on the Friday whilst it was quiet!  However.......became a bit complacent on sat and leisurely strolled out expecting more of the same........wow......crowds and queues everywhere!!!! 

Dinner on evening 2 was at cinderellas place!!  here are her little helpers x

 ruby loved it! 

 here is the princess herself!

 oh here we are - this is the one with the real princess!!!!!!!!

 oops sorry Millie - i meant this one!

 conor preferred what was on his plate!!!!!!

A great weekend at Disney - voted best ride by the McCabes (ruby excluded!)
BIG THUNDER MOUNTAIN.........yeahhhhhhh!!!!!!!!

The naughtiest girl in the school............

OMG - my youngest daughter seems to have turned into some kind of rebel!!!!!    She'll be asking to wear hoodies soon!!   So the kids have been back at school for 1 week......I'm already feeling like it should be the end of term..............everyone seemed to be ready for being back at school.........can you believe I was talking to some friends on the first morning back and after asking how the hols were.....her comment was "great - but not long enough!!!!!" I mean come on........how can 10 weeks off possibly not be long enough??!?!?   Does she send her kids off  to camps or something?!    Maybe I'm obviously just too old!!!!!

Anyway - kids happy to see all their friends.......Shaun happy we are back in Lux and he's not home alone...............I'm happy to get some peace and quiet in the day..............and even Ruby seemed to be all laughs and smiles on Monday as if to say "I've got mummy all to myself again"!!!!!   Well if so - she's got a bloody funny way of showing it................so monday all goes swimmingly (until i find out conor already has football starting THAT day and another 2 times that week and for the next however many in the football season................oh great!!!!!)   and then i'm thinking how quiet it is upstairs as Ruby plays in her room and I am preparing dinner (in anticipation of our 6.30pm return after football :-( ).............so i go and investigate.........Nooooooo......so she has a bottle of pink hair conditioner in her hands and is holding it upside down pouring it all over our persian rug................aghhhhhhhh........

what an angel?!!?!?!?!

"I am not moving from here!!!!"

.......and so the week continues in much the same vain,..........washing-up liquid squeezed over her toys, clothes and another rug...............toothpaste squirted out all over the floor, the step and her clothes................sudacrem covered face, hands and clothes.....................and more and more as the days go by.........and her latest trick is to pull all the toilet paper off and soak it in the water of the toilet bowl and then bring out and wipe the floor (or whatever takes her fancy!!!!).................anyone who ever leaves the toilet door open........at their peril!!!!!!!!!!!!!! so an eventful week.........and shaun missed all the joys as he was away in Seattle all week..............did someone tell me once that it would be great moving to lux for more family time and stress-free lifestyle.................they were lying!

BUT.........all that considering......I did have a nice week catching up with friends for coffees and lunch and I did enjoy my day with Ruby at creche :-))))) 

So week 2 begins.......and without hubby again!!!!!  so he managed less than 48 hours at home before flying over to london (and then paris) arriving home friday morning!!!  He promises that's it for a while! 

I manage a girls night out (no great shakes as everyone has to drive!!!).....although it did make me laugh when the drink chosen for the evening was champagne......no problem with that................can you believe though......no half measures here.....straight for the real mccoy..............Veuve Clicquot nothing less!!!!!!   Only in Luxembourg!!!!   wasn't even a special occasion!!!   I had to chuckle to myself :-)

Having moaned endlessly about the customer service here (or lack of!!!!) I was pleasantly surprised last week with some positive service..........wonders never cease!    So it started off as frustrating as ever.......as I was driving home with Ruby (giving it zzzzzzzz's in the back of the car!).........I noticed a space right outside the shoe repair (this NEVER happens and most places are not accessible by car unless you frequent one of the huge shopping centres with parking garages and leave 2 hours later...any shorter is impossible to achieve!!!!)) so I quickly pulled in feeling all smug with shoes ready in the car to drop at repairers!   So it's about 11.30am.........plenty of time to allow these late starters to be open......too early for their 2 hour 12-2 lunch break and definitely not a sunday when everything is shut (or a monday for that matter when shops seems to take it into their own hands as to whether they open or not!!!!).........anyway.................at 11.30 I run across the road to the shop.........and am greeted by a scrawled note on the door saying "back in 10 minutes".....aghhhhhhhhhhhh

anyway..........finally dropping them off later in the day (this time took a chance in disabled parking.....no chance of me getting a space twice on the same day (or same week for that matter!) and when i collected them later in the week (on foot this time!)........he had done a marvellous job and even better had cleaned and polished them for me!   So made up for all previous frustrations and saved me a job..........boots now ready for cold weather to begin!

On the same trip to town I had to search out a jewellers that could take some links out of my watch which is too big.........struck lucky this time..........i had an idea of where i was heading but wasn't sure what i was in for......lady stood chatting in doorway looked a bit rough and almost walked straight past.......how wrong i was.......the lady spoke english, was lovely and helpful and took links out for me there and then and for FREE..........FREE????   i felt like hugging her for the friendly, positive experience!   small things......................:-)

Summer has arrived...........and passed!

So the kids finish school 22nd June and are just going back tomorrow!!!!   Wow - yes a whopping 9 1/2 weeks of hols........forgotten how to get to school it's been so long! 

Won't bore you with all the holiday details as much of it was in the UK but a great and exhausting time had by all!!!!  We were in Brighton and on the beach there....fleeting visit to Harpenden and a great night at Take That!  before a mad dash back to Lux.......unpack, wash and re-pack and in less than 24 hours on a plane to Majorca for our family hol!  This was the relaxing time we needed (probably mostly to do with Ruby going to the baby club for a few hours every morning and then picking her up , quick play and hey presto! it's time for her afternoon nap!   So plenty of time by the pool, playing tennis, swimming etc etc etc.   Good time had by all :-)   Kids loved the entertainment.......bit cheesy for us but we enjoyed the music whilst sipping vino on our patio without having to actually watch the show!!!!!  The mini disco was a great hit with the girls....we couldn't get Ruby past the stage without her strutting her stuff first :-))))

Anyway here are some pics from the summer................
sunshine in Brighton.........

 Ruby driving us through the euro tunnel!!

 Dancing at the mini disco.........and loving it!!!!

 Cool chick x

 and more dancing............

 and yet MORE dancing..........

 beach in Majorca...........hours of fun :-)

 Mermaid Millie

 Millie in the bubble

 Conor's favourite holiday occupation!

 A day out with our new Lux neighbours...........more school lift-sharing this year makes me a happy mummy!!!!!!

 ooooh - we forgot Ruby

 Birthday princess...........

 is 7 today! 

 who's cat is that??!

 testing out the new inliners..........I got some too so we can do it together.........I think I'm loving it even more than Millie.......sssshhhhhh!!!!!

 In Pizza Express in Harpenden...............it's TOO NOISY in here!!!!!!

 dressing up fun......

 aka Millie and Alicia!

 St Albans splash park -

 and having fun!!!

 always time for a day at Woodside farm.............

 Millie's birthday celebrations continue back in Lux...............

 Belles of the Birthday ball!

Back in Lux was surprisingly enjoyable for the week we were there......new neighbours moved in and couldn't have asked for better.....boy conor's age (also into football............or soccer as they would say!)......girl Millie's age and equally as energetic!..........so those 2 were occupied most of the week and Ruby just pleased to be in familiar territory for a bit!

We have spent the past month in the UK mostly in Harpenden and Yorkshire and we had a great time basically just hanging out!   We even squeezed in a weekend camping trip down to WEst Wittering with friends (thankfully they had an extra tent for us and we kindly borrowed the rest of the kit!   Kids had a ball and we made it to the beach both days......although my feet couldn't survive the sea temp so I didn't get very far in ......only enough to chase afer Ruby when required!!!!! )

I arrived back in Lux exhausted and in need of a holiday!!?!!?!?!!?   Instead we have some boring school-prep chores to do and Millies birthday sleepover!!!!!  So a house full of five 7-year olds (and two 9-10 year olds so Conor had a playmate!!!) - still fairly high maintenance at that age.....although it was all fine (apart from getting them finally to sleep at 11pm!!!.....no evening for us then!!!)  and good old Wilkinsons saw us through with loads of art kits i shipped back with us from UK to keep them busy after swimming which meant I could make dinner in relative peace!!  Millie was happy anyway :-)))   Thankfully they didn't surface until after 8am so can't complain too much.....of course I was ready to get rid of everyone in the morning and mums came about 10.30 but the girls insisted we had to watch their "show"!!!!!!  come on.................go go go..............!!!!!!!!!!   Shaun took Conor to football......both girls in bed for a nap....................peace at last :-)