skiing and stuff

I can't believe almost a month (and some!!) has passed since my last posting.........MUST DO BETTER!!!!  i don't know where the time is going...........apart from tending to sick children and the usual daily/weekly tasks of a family which most of you know full-well that "free" minutes are hard to come by!!!!!! 

Well we have just got back from a week's holiday down to the French alps skiing.......but before that i'll try and recap on what else has happened..........not much i don't think.........apart from malade......malade.......malade.........yes my french may be coming on very slowly but a word implanted in my brain.........it means sick!!!!   thankfully we got through half term sickness-free......but ruby struggling to get back to any kind of status-quo!!!!!   Feels like I'm running on empty going for weeks turning into months of broken-nights sleep!! 

well my nana turned 103 and I couldn't make her birthday but she sounded well and still swears by her glass of wine every evening.......here's hope for us all!!!!!!  

Shaun went off to Seattle for his usual feb/Mar week of spending the week in morning to evenig meeting (or so he says!!!!!)  and suffering from jetlag the whole week - sonds like he's just about getting over it and back to normaility  (well managing to sleep until 5am anyway if that's normal!!!!) and it's tiem to fly back home and start all over again with the jetlag drain.................completely put me off my original plan for the summer of tagging on holidays in Seattle to his trip.................can see no holiday or sleep for me............majorca for 2 weeks sounds so much more appealing in comparison!!!!!!  Yes we are desperate for some "do nothing" time.........all relative i suppose.........but isntead we have booked 2 city breaks for the easter hols........hmmmmmm - not such great planning!!!!!!!!!

 Anyway - shaun in seattle should mean for me  - early nights / no cooking etc etc etc.........but no - I decide to have a list as long as my arm of things to get done in that time instead......and we al know everything takes FAR longer than planned so i don't think i made it to bed before 1am any night!!!!!   the painting was the start......i decided i needed some colour in all this 80-s style whiteness everywhere!   so a trip to the paint shop and chose a colour (too far away for testers and having to go back so thankfully got lucky and liked the colour..........and no surprise to anyone....but even paint is sooooo bloody expensive.....you think they'd be coming to paint it for you at the price!   So i get t work with moving furniture / masking tape / painting and by the cleaning up stage i'd had enough and this was only evening 1 and the first coat - well to tell the truth i couldn't quite maange the first coat as i ran out of paint!!!!!   yes i know useless women i can hear the men saying!!!!   i'm only painting 1 measly wall - how can i possibly have run out!   so another trip to the shop is infact required and although i'm loathe to shell out for the next size pot (which obviously will mean  i have tons left over and cost a whopping 70€ +)........no it's not the whole house i'm painting jsut 1 wall!!!!!!  i also can't face running out again so the big pot it is!   by night 2 i have lost enthusiasm so leave it until 10.15pm to even start getting the stuff out!   coat 2 goes surprisingly quick and job done :-)   now just hope shaun likes the colour!  I'll deal with the masking tape another day as i start ripping off the paint aswell as the tape.......NOOOOoooooooo!!!!  infact more than a month later the tape is still on  half of 1 side as i can't face getting the paint out again.!!    and you would think that was the end of the saga but in fact the week after when i finally get around to taking most of the masking tape off (standing on a very poorly made plastic chair!!!).....i go flying through the air and land in a crumpled heap on the floor and end up with a huge flippin gash and bruise all down the bottom of my leg!.......chair is obviously broken as is the pc.....so now thinking the wall- painting idea not such a great one!!!!  hey ho......looks much better though - see for yourself.........

To add insult to injury.....ruby still unsettled and waking up every night and then comes down with a stinking cold/chesty cough and sounds dreadful......poor love.......end up at the doctors AGAIN.....aghhhhhhh........and willing her to get better with skiing the following week to look forward to (or not if Ruby is sick!!)   more sleepless nights and enteraining dates cancelled (saves me a job anyway!!!).......another 40th in UK missed :-( but still managed to sneak in a few lunches/coffees, pancake day and finally every one is fit and healthy and we're all packed up and car loaded for skiing!!

Great to be able to set off in our own time and not dicatated by flights etc.....so we travel down to france friday afternoon and stop at the bottom of the mountain for a night - find a pizzeria (although not sure how italian it was as they had never heard of prosecco....who cares - just give me something alcoholic!!!!!) and budet hotel i found online a bonus - end up with interconnecting rooms and manage to fit ruby's cot in the hall area so have a room to ourselves......bliss!!!!!!

We arrive in Morillon about 10am the next morning.......can't see a smidgen of snow ANYWHERE........humpf!!!   are all my great plans going to pot?!!!! anyway we are assured that thenext level up in the cable car (base of ski resort!) there is snow!   we hold our breath!!!!   anyway the chalet is fab.....think te best we have had and the lady oganising was soooo helpful and made our stay kind of home from home!   Our  friends Family THraves arrive frm Bristol and I think that's more or less the last we see of the kids for the week :-))))))  oh and we sent off the boys to do the supermarket runs........RESULT!  thankfully lou had made a list for them otherwsie it would have been beer and pizza all week!!!!

Even though the snow wasn't the best we've ever had -we had a great week with loads of skiing......kids were amazing and just keep getting better and better.........we all managed to ski together on most afternoons.......the little ones legs must have been hanging by the end of the week!   Conor and Eddie's main chant down the piste was "faster...faster......faster!!!!!!"   not going to be long until they are leading us down the pistes! scary thought!  skiing down to the bottom on most afternoons was at best a slushy mush....but always the crepe/beer/wine/ice cream to race back for :-)

the skiing clan (apart from photograher!)....oh yes and ruby who obviously was not on slopes this year!  she was far too busy back at the chalet taking all the books out of the comprehensive library the owners had left .......silly idea anyway to put books starting on bottom shelves......obviously too many years ago of having small children around!!!!!

little gap in the middle for Ruby - bless her she was busy playing elsewhere!

Milli finally got her wish to go ice-skating......not as easy as it looks eh love?!!!  she loved it and i could hardly get her off the flippin rink!   Mentally she's already signed herself up for ice-skating in next autumn's after-school activities!!!!!!

The other two having fun :-)

Everyday lunchtime treat........

posers......................

don't tell me you're already too old for a kiss from mummy??!!!?!?

and what of little ruby??  well she was booked into the local nursery which turned out to be a success......mummy was very nervous after the few settling in sessions so far in Lux which hadn't gone too well......could be a make or break for a good holiday!   anyway it turned out fine........crying in the mornings as was to be expected but the girls were absolutely lovely and same 2 all week which helped :-)   she slept plenty (best way to get through the day quickly poppet!!!!!) and played (as long as one of the girls was there with her......good girl......get our money's worth making them work!!!!!!) and a bit of a bonus for me  - i took her there in the mornings whilst the others went up the cable car to colect skis and get kids ready for ski school......phew....missed all that and had   a relaxing time when they all departed getting ruby ready and enjoying some peace and quiet before taking her to nursery and following them on to meet at the slopes!  

So plenty of ski area covered......my poor legs didn't know what had hit them in the first few days.......too many weeks/months of not going to the gym regularly.......took me until about day 4 to get my ski legs!!!!!  and then i didn't want to stop!!!   we planned to ski an extra half day before we set off home........can you believe it ruby spends all night being sick adn then by the morning millie also sick!   no skiing for us today........oh well - have to wait until next year now!   thankfully sick kids slept much of journey home which made for an easy journy.....phew..........in less than 6 hours!

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