End-of-School-Year Concert

Sorry doesn’t cut it I know. It has been way too long, since I’ve updated the blog. it has been at the back of my mind and nags me every single day. But I’ve just not had the time!! It has been crazy busy at work. And the weekends are also very busy… either cooking for the week, keeping an eye on the kids while Daddy tries to finish up the house or being with friends. It is the end of the quarter and fiscal year for us at work, I thought it would quiet down in August, but no such luck. Anyway, I’m going to attempt to do so now! I’ll try and update as much as possible…. Here goes.


First update on Bibou’s school Concert :In one of the previous posts, I’d posted about Bibou’s end of school concert for her French school. There, she performed with all her French schoolmates with various French songs. Well, not too long ago, it was Bibou’s English school concert. Bibou couldn’t wait for it. It was held on a Saturday afternoon at the American Cathedral in Paris. The children from maternelle section had to wear red, so I chose the reddest dress I could find in her wardrobe – what else, a cheong sum of course, made from red silk. She looked so good in it, especially since she had a bit of color from the sun. Seraphine and I had to wait out for a while while Daddy and Bibou went to practice. Yes, Daddy was also involved with the show as he volunteered to accompany the performance with his guitar. Seraphine and I hung around for a while, exploring the really old Cathedral. After about 45 minutes, the doors to the theatre opened and we went in. A wonderful site greeted us – a sea of little red people on stage! Yah. The maternelle group was going to start first. Bibou’s shiny red cheong sum was easy to spot! And she was dead center of the stage too! Yeah Bibou. Once the room was filled up, the maternelle group kicked off the show. First they started out with a couple of rhythms and finger actions. Bibou was all enthusiastic with her gestures and face expressions! And then they sang the song that she’d been practicing for a long time… doe a deer. Oh made me so very proud. She had all the actions spot on. You can watch her in the video below (if it ever uploads!!). All too soon, her group is finished and off to the side she went while we watched the performances from the other sections. They were quite good, esp the rendition of Romeo and Juliet from the (much) older group. It was funny however, to spot Daddy in the wee corner, struggling hard to match the children’s’ singing that were not in time at all…. At the end of the concert, all the kids from all levels came out on stage to do a farewell song (Bibou at this time was mighty bored, you could tell, but she still stood still, didn’t fidget nor throw tantrums….). At the end, everyone got thanks, especially all the teachers and the fabulous principal. Oh, and Daddy got thanked too “thanks goes out to our very own Mr. D’Arcy”…. Yeah.

After the concert, as we were in Paris, we went on to have lunch at Mirama; the kids just LOVE the food and gobble everything up, no matter that it is really hot. After lunch, we took a stroll back to the carpark, only to realize that they’d blocked off the main road to the Notre Dame. We tried to find out what was happening, only to be told that some VIP was going to visit Notre Dame. We hung around for a while, but the girls were getting edgy so we left. As we exited onto the road, we realized that we were the only car on the road (probably blocked off on the top) with lots of people behind the barricade waiting to see who the VIPs were. Daddy decided to be cheeky and rolled down the windows and the girls started waving pretending to be VIPs. The ‘audience’ all had fun and played along to the kids… clapping and waving back. That was fun. I found out the next day that it was actually the Obamas and their girls that were visiting the Notre Dame.

The following week, Bibou had her end of school fair where there were balloons, candies, games...and Bibou even got her face painted, something she was so very pleased about. That was also the week where the raspberries were all out! It was delicious and the girls love picking the raspberries off the bush, nice and warm from the sun and popping them in their mouth.

The videos

Splashing Good Time!

Finally, the good weather is here! And what great timing too as it was a(nother) long weekend. It is also the last of the super long weekends (we’ve had non-stop long weekends since end of April!!). The ‘traveling’ petting farm was also in town and Daddy took the girls to visit the animals. They were super thrilled to be able to pet the animals!

And then The Ms were also free, so they popped over for some great BBQing for 2 days in a row. We were so lucky! We had great food (Irish sausages yummy!) and great company. On the second day, A even helped Daddy with complete the flooring upstairs (while K and I watched the kids…. While sunbathing too!). and the Kids… oh the kids had a BLAST! Daddy took out the swimming pool (that reminds me, gotta go get another pool as this one has had it already!!). The best part is,…. The slide that I’d bought for Seraphine’s birthday was a PERFECT accessory to the pool (hadn’t intended for it, but perfect!) The kids were all scrambling to use the slide to splash into the pool! I remember the summer when Bibou was two – she liked the pool, but didn’t quite like to have her head wet, and certside of the pool…. Oh but not our Seraphine. ainly didn’t liked to be splashed or have her head under weather. She’d just stand on the She was splashing and kicking in the pool with her head dunked in. She adored the slide and couldn’t wait for her turn again. At first, K or myself would have to lift her onto the slide (the kids were too lazy / impatient to get out of the pool and use the steps and so were just running up the slide to get to the top again) so she can slide down. She kept asking for “encore” (more), lifting her arms up to be carried. The bigger kids sure weren’t waiting for her (though they all tried to help her!). Finally, Seraphine got tired of waiting and decided that she was going to climb up the slide too….. and after one or two attempts, she was able to do it! Both K and I were a bit worried, ready to jump out of our deck chairs, but oh she was good. And soon she was climbing up and sliding down like a pro. In fact she loved it so much that she practically stayed in that pool most of the afternoon (long after the older kids got bored and came out)! She had loads of hilarious actions that made us laugh and laugh: she would sit on top of the slide and (imitating the other kids) try to wave her hand so that the others would clear away from the slide as she came down! Oh something that she loves to do in our room was jump up on our bed and land on her bum…something we do try to discourage of course! And so she was awfully pleased that she could do it over and over again in the pool (repeating 1,2,3 over and over again with us). She even got to jump in sync with Bibou!

Wonderful day! Enjoy these sunny, funny photos and videos!

Videos

Here's Seraphine first time on the slide. I love the way she uses her arm to wave everyone away - clearing the way for her slide down (so she doesn't knock into them).

After watching the bigger kids, she decided that she was also going to climb up the slide herself, without having to wait to be picked up. And she got it!

Jumping in sync with Bibou!!

Learning to kick in the water and then after hearing us say the word "STOP" all day, started saying it too!!.