half-term in luxembourg......we survived!!!!!!!!

So after our weekend away to start the half-term hols......we were back in Lux for the rest of the week.........almost everyone else we knew had escaped for their week's skiing......of course we carry on with our "take the kids out of school" policy and plan our ski week for march and hopefully plenty of sun!

Anyway.......the week whizzed by no problem at all............obviously helped in a big way by the arrival of Auntie Stacey on Wednesday (so actually i only had 2 days with all the kids and i managed a couple of gym visits to boot -  planning and organisation skills must still be with me somewhere then!!!!)

Had a great few days with Stacey........although typically we had sunny cold and crisp days early in the week when we were mostly indoors.............and damp days towards the end of the week :-(   didn't stop us getting out and about so we head for the park (absolutely bloody freezing sitting around whilst the kids run around getting hot!!!!.............didn't help that i was didn't have the energy to move and no proper coat on........it looked sunny outside when i was at home!!!!!!!)   we finally succumb to the coldness and head for The Chocolate House which does THE best chocolate and huge selection of huge cakes and gateaux!!! There's about 20 different types of chocolate which are on a stick and they erve you a mug of hot frothy milk with your chosen chocolate stick and it'd a DIY / make-your-own hot chocolate.....very gimmicky but loved by all!!!!!   Kids were already hyper at the thought of all the sugar and chocolate rush before we even walk through the door!!  The place is fairly small and upstairs (spiral staircase!) and i have ruby who has been sleeping for 2 hours + still giving it zzzzzzzzzzzzz in the buggy..........so only one solution......the buggy has to go upstairs!   Great thing about kids being older.....they can help!  Conor did a sterling job :-)   despite a bit of moaning and groaning!
We left there all warm and content (in our tummies!) for the short walk (and downhill!) home.......so probably managed to burn off the chocolate sprinkles on top of the cappuccino at a push!!!  We even had a doggy bag for the leftovers..........well we couldn't leave shaun out!!!!!!

Next couple of days passed swimmingly..............
buggy responsibility........

 look at that perfect scooting path..........

 before the race begins............

 Ruby had enough of sitting......she wants some action..........

 loving every minute..............

 girls together...................

 and a turn with the scooter for me too :-)

 with mummy :-)

 Family McCabe..............a right old brood!

 bandana kids at the pizzeria.............well-deserved treats :-)

 no we haven't converted ruby to karaoke.......yet!!!!

 with plenty of games (Stacey - you're a star!) and swimming and walks and lunches and naps and before we know it it's friday night and Stacey's on her way back to England and it's the weekend again!

Half -term is over.......and we've still got our hols to look forward to .............it's not all bad! 

Skiing for the weekend

No funny stories or happenings really for this one........we just are trying to make the most of being able to drive to places for the weekend!!   So given it was half-term and we weren't going away (shaun off to seattle end of the week!)  I couldn't face 2 weekends and a week with no school here when half the population (or more!) have deserted the place and gone skiing!.......so when original plans for the week fell through we decided to try and book a place for skiing for a couple of days!   what a great weekend it turned out to be :-)   A huge success.

So having only booked it a couple of weeks ago - not much choice on the old hotel front so booked the single one that was available.........only 2-star but actually it turned out great and would go back there next time.....right in the centre of the town - parking opposite and 2 rooms for about £70! 

We set off after school (well that was the intention but although the car was ready packed -we faffed about too much having a drink and a snack and waiting for shaun to come home!) and eventually leaving at gone 4.30pm we seemed to end up being a part of the " Friday escape Luxembourg" after work getaway (oh and it was the start fo half-term too!!!!).......anyway.........the 2.5 hour journey was slightly longer than planned as we ended stopping for dinner en route......and seemed to be going through ome barren part of France as dinner time approached......and I left my map of France at home so we were just relying on the satnav to see the upcoming towns!  Luck was on our side as we opted for a place called Baccarat (apparently some well-known card game??!)  and stopped at the first pizzeria we saw (and as we find out later on sunday....the only one!!!!).........a good choice.....kid-friendly - fair few people in and something for everyone.....although I'm pretty sure my chicken and asparagus both were out of a jar!......but the wine was good :-)   bonus of not driving!!!!!!

Ruby thankfully slept the last part of the journey and we arrived in good spirits just before 9pm......and it was straight to bed for everyone............longest night's sleep we've had in months!!!!!

The 1st part of Saturday morning was spent having breakfast (kids very disappointed not to have buffet style where they can choose and eat as much as they want (and what normally includes those individual packs of cereal ......and the only time they ever get to eat coco pops and frosties!!!!!!)........but hot chocolate and nutella on french bread and croissants seemed to suffice!!!!!   and then finding our way around the town locating the tourist office and finding out where the slopes were and more importantly was there any snow???!   See for yourself...........................................

Blue sky and snow.....................

Here comes Millie.............

Shaun and Conor ready for off.......

Millie ready for the lift..........

Ruby enjoying her new mode of transport..............

Millie making the most of a quick lie-down.......

Sledging.................

Yes we were blessed with enough snow to ski and sledge (just over half the runs were open :-)) and great sun shine to boot!   a great day and shaun and I took turns to wait with ruby and take her sledging in between her naps!   Kids loved it and were out all day.........by 5pm everyone was exhausted and it was time to head back to the hotel for showers and to get out of our wet clothes!

taking the tourist office recommendation for dinner (and it happened to be on the same street as our hotel......bonus!)  we arrived later than planned - 7pm..........but actually it was perfect timing as the place was just opening and we were first in..............20 mins later the place was full!!!!!
By 9pm everyone was bushed and it was going to be a good nights sleep for all........Ruby bless went straight in her cot and we didn't hear a peep out of her until the next morning........Millie had fallen asleep before we had even switched their light off.......and shaun and i again made the most of 9+ hours sleep!!!!!

sunday more of the same but not quite so lucky with the weather.................snowy/drizzle and fog!   we still managed to ski til 4pm......Millie even was going up and down the lift/piste in the resort on her own whilst shaun and conor went further afield (And i sat drinking vin chaud in the restaurant looking out for millie!!!!)

All feeling very damp and wet, we changed into dry clothes (in the toilet facilities there.....yuk!!!!)  and set off back with a plan to stop for dinner en route!  hmmmm...sounded like a good plan.....but being a sunday (nothing open!)  and early-ish for dinner (most places don't open until 7pm!) we were out of luck in the first town we tried!   ruby was definitely starting to feel hungry when we finally found a place in the next larg-ish town and it was a TGI-friday kind of place which looked all kind of closed up......thankfully it was 6pm and they were just opening......again the place was getting chokker soon after.

So with full tummies and tired eyes.........it was the last leg home.........all kids asleep and peace and quiet to end a weekend of fresh air and exercise!!  Feel like we've earned our next 2 days at home now!!!

Ruby's 1st steps.......

.......so ruby has been on her feet now for a few months and has mastered the art of standing unaided very well over the past month or so...............and is an absolute demon with her walker........manouvering around corners/doors/furniture the lot...........and at a significant speed to boot.........so we have finally made progress to a few steps.......of course the usual cheering and clapping that goes with it from her audience leads her to bouncing up and down on her feet and promptly followed by plomping down on her bottom!!!!!   so i think we're up to 4 steps to date........pics to follow when I get my camera in situ quick enough!!!!

She has also just completed a few settling-in sessions at a creche over here.   So the system here is crazy.........everything is so bloody expensive.......but when it comes to stuff like family allowance (equiavalent of!) and creche subsidies.....it is crazily cheap................bizarre old system they have running here!   anyway - a friend was looking for someone to share her week's creche with.....she only wanted 3 days for her baby so i offered to take the other 2 with the plan of putting ruby in a day or 2 half days a week (she has finally got to the age of not wanting to sit still whilst I have my haircut or get my legs waxed or any of those female-necessity "chores" one has to do!!!!!)   I can't remember what the total cost would be (I think from memory something like 450 euros a month!)  which I wouldn't entertain given that i actually like having ruby with me!   Anyway - with the "cheque service" system running here - it actually only costs me 1,10 euro an hour (which means it's cheaper for me to send her to the creche for a day than to take her to the gym's babysitting service for an hour and a half!!!!!!!!   how does that work???!!!!!)   oh yes - and she gets a cooked lunch included and all nappies/wipes are free!!!  this government obviously has too much money (or just charges us way too much for all the other services!!!!!)

Anyway - settling-in sessions going ok but the tears are still running when I hand her over :-(   oh and she didn't eat any lunch today........not sure if that's because they had it at 11am and she wasn't hungry or she's going on hunger strike in protest!!!!!   

Ruby is 1!

i can't believe our little baby is 1 already! where has the time gone!   an eventful year to say the least........but I can't even remember life without her!   She has made the McCabe clan complete and I absolutely love having her around :-)   she's such a sweetie...........a well-travelled one at that when i think back to all her trips over the past 12 months!   good practice in being able to sleep anywhere.........always a good skill to have throughout life!!!!1

anyway - we had to wake the little love up on her birthday so Conor and Millie got to see her before they went to school (and opened her presents for her)!!!!!!

poor love has just woken up!

 the paper's the best bit...........

 and the balloons of course.........

 pjyama day???

finally we get dressed and it's time for the teddy bears picnic birthday tea..........

 Mummy and Millie's cake handiwork!!!!

 no....there's none for you........so there!!!!!!

 We seem to have lost a hand and a leg??!!!?!?

HAPPY BIRTHDAY :-)

We made it to the weekend.........

Blimey - what a week!   So Millie was desperate to make it in to school on Wednesday as it was "space day" and a chance to dress up!  Shaun and her had spent the past couple of weekends on and off conjuring up her space costume of all the planets...........so out came the paints, making papier mache etc etc.....oooh yes......plenty of mess!   but a spectacular result: :-)

Having been so poorly on Monday, I spent a night worrying about her temperature and checking on her regularly throughout the night......only to find in the morning she seemed to have made the most miraculous recovery!   It was amazing...............anyway we finally get ourselves dressed and pop round the corner to pay the doctors bill from the previous evening - on entering the surgery the doctor jsut happened to be at the reception and he seemed so pleased to see us saying he didn't have our phone number and he wanted to call us as he was having nightmares about Millie and I think he thought she was coming down with pneumonia or something equally nasty!  He thought we were coming back in because she was still so poorly!!  On hearing that she seemed to have made a turnaround recovery and we were just there to pay the bill.........he replied "oh yes - pay my bill of course of course"!!!!!!!   i think the poor guy had forgotten all about the bill!   Anyway - it was nice to have a ind of caring sharing kind of experience from the locals!  (Although him telling me we were neighbours and he could see my house from his window and then detailing events like we had a new satellite dish, kids bouncing on the trampoline etc etc made me think I must be more careful a bout what I do with the shutters open in the future if we have a resident spy - his house is above the doctors surgery!!!!!!!!!)

Anyway - i let Millie go to school for her space day and it was the 100th day of being in 1st grade (and there were sweets etc on offer...........when has Millie EVER been one to miss out on anything where sweets are involved!!!!!)  Unfortunately when I went to pick her up (thankfully Wed is a short day and they finish early!) she looked like she could hardly drag her feet along the ground poor love so since then we have been at home watching films (oh yes - i can watch the sound of music as many times as you like!!!), playing games, taking afternoon naps and painting nails!!   all in all quite a ncie week really :-)   Millie has now it seems turned a corner and is on the mend finally!   Think she might even be up for a few mornings of school this week :-)

Amidst all these goings on - of course we had our first book group meeting :-)   Can't remember whether I mentioned in a previous post (sorry to bore you all if I have but too lazy to go back and check!!!!!) but Cathy (a Seattle amazon-wife who also arrived here last summer) and I felt like we wanted to make our own group of kind of down to earth girlies for a bit of a social/chat etc etc etc.  So we formed a group of other waifs and strays who recently arrived and in the end we were 8.  I agreed to host first (bit of a nightmare in the end as Shaun away, girls sick and didn't get back home from picking conor up from cubs until 7.50pm and they were arriving at 8pm!   and I had all kids to get in bed!)  anyway I managed it somehow and everyone got a drink (I hope!!) and it was a huge success (apparently - as I got plenty of mails the next day saying what a great group everyone thought it was!)   so that was a big smiley face for the week....oh yes and we did choose a book for the next meeting (the Other Hand......yes I know you girls from my old book club we read it but a couple of others were really keen and it also means I'm under no pressure to read a book for next meeting - i can just skim read to remind myself!!!!   hee heee)

.......needless to say it was the next night when the lurgey seemed to have got to me too!!!!  By Friday I'm shivering my way through the day (not helped by having to be up 4 times in the night!!) and can't wait to get the kids (and myself!) in bed and for Shaun to finally get home!  Oh yes - and to top it all I have my French lesson on a Friday afternoon and daren't cancel at short notice for risk of losing out (bloody expensive business!!!!!) so i persevere..........for a 1.30pm start......by 1.45pm no show and I'm making my way upstairs to bed instead just as I hear the door go........damn!   anyway - it was a good lesson in the end......even if i was curled up on the sofa trying to recite verbs!

So it's a quiet weekend this end which no-one seems to have been complaining about!! We were meant to be skiing this afternoon with a couple of other families at some mega long indoor snow ski slope in France..... but I'm sort of getting used to spending my days in the house!!!!!  although still haven't managed to get all my gel nails off.....3 to go.................how do you get the bloody things off?!!?!?!?!

Ruby's birthday this week so Millie has been planning her teddy bear's picnic and choosing the cake we are going to make her (which is all fine but she wants to do these building blocks with coloured icing, her name and "1" and the rest........what are the chances of being able to find ready-to-roll icing in this god-forsaken shopping place and coloured stuff at that!!!!!!!)  Think we'll be conjouring up our own little substitute!!!!

Ruby's walking progress?   well to say she had a pot on her leg for 3 weeks I think she's doing great............on her feet constantly and can stand on her own for fairly lengthy periods.........think it'll still be a while before she can catch Conor!!!!!

Can't remember if we ever showed Ruby in her pot..................
nothing stopped her getting around!!!!!

and the day it was taken off!!!!!

Hope you've all had a good weekend!

fire in the kitchen! and the rest........................

It's been a while I know since I last touched base with my blog!   I know I haven't even managed to finish my Christmas adventures yet.........will get to it this week i hope!!!!

Anyway so much as happened in this past week...................they say bad things come in 3's...............more like 6's or 7's this end!!

So as well as the hard drive on my laptop completely not responding to anything and heading for the bin............I then got hit by a bus (in the car with all kids!) but thankfully they just got the wing mirror (and then had the bloody cheek to put in a complaint to the bus service saying it was my fault............bloody typical local miserable luxembourgers!!)..............the computer in the car then temporarily packed up so couldn't listen to any music or more importantly use the sat nav........our lifeline to getting from A to B!......thankfully that seems to have repaired itself!   And yesterday when Shaun was taking Conor to a party (typically bloody miles away!)....he got a puncture!   thank god it wasn't me driving as Iwould have been truly and utterly scuppered.........not even a 2nd car for Shaun to come and rescue me!!!  Anyway top of to do list - check if insurance includes any kind of recovery policy!!!!   as it was conor got the party and shaun drove home at 10 miles an hour on space-saver wheel (which was tiny compared to winter tyres on the wheels and completely shredded.........I now realise having been to the garage today.......there is a screw top to undo and the tyre inflates itself......magic huh?   except we didn't know that so tyre not even inflated!!!!  bet the garage had a real laugh about it at our expense!!!!!!

and then today's events.....................Millie off school sick poor love with what the doctor described as "real flu"............haven't been able to get her temperature down all day.  Anyway - amidst the chaos of trying to get Ruby fed and race off to the doctors after Millie took a turn for the worse (thankfully at the back of us, very friendly and speak english....downside we had to wait over an hour :-( ) I didn't get chance to make poor Conor any tea.......so arriving back at gone 7.30pm it was a quick rush to get dinner ready.......(oh yes forogt to add Shaun is away all week!!) so got the sausages under the grill (a plus point here is the sausages don't have fat running out of them!!) but obviously a big downside is that it seems that tin foil can't be put in the oven/under the grill...........the bloody thing set on fire..........big big flames................bloody scary but managed to stop the whole house catching alight and avoid the fire engine sirens!!!!!

Here's to a calm/peaceful and getting healthy week
adios

No january blues here!

Well no real news or trips or outings to report - but everything pretty good since being back! Either the "feel good factor" from our trip to the uk has not worn off yet - or my expectations are much lower than when we first arrived!!!!

Anyway Conor's gone off to the flicks with his mate Oscar (I know....... week night and film only started at 7pm!!!) Oscar won tickets on radio ara (1 of few part-English speaking stations!) and last night of film tonight (only 1 English speaking viewing a day!!!!) so what could I say! Shaun over with you guys in London and got girls in bed early (Millie had gym last night and swimming tonight so no complaints about going to bed from her!!!) - was downstairs by 7.30 with remote all to myself and no pc (seems to gave died a death and is currently with IT department to see if they can repair!!!) so long and relaxing evening for moi......luxury!!

Apart from having no hot water or heating for 24 hours when we arrived back to lux.......and all kids bring sick for nearly a week - we're all good. In fact I even surprised myself at how much I enjoyed having the kids off school......played plenty of games and no school run/homework to even think about!!!!

Ruby's also been a bit of a star - back in her routine and happy and cheery most of the day! She's a bit of a monkey......loves playing peek a boo and laughs out load :-) and has just started racing off and looking back and waiting for you to chase after her!!!!! And even looks round to see if we're looking at what she's about to do when she knows it's sonething she shouldn't be!!!!! Of course we just laugh.....gonna regret that in later years!!!!

No pics this time as need to wait for laptop to function......

A la semaine prochaine!