Easter

And now, our Easter photos. I'll just let the pictures (and captions) speak for themselves.

Very surprised to see that "les cloches" (the bells) had come

LOOK!!

A chocolate bunny!

It was hard to get pictures of Aimy, she
was so excited that she could barely
stand still!

That's one happy kidlet!

Showing off her finds

And there were even surprises in the living room!

Aimy's face just makes this photo.

OMG BEST DAY EVER!!!

What she was so excited about: sparkly barrettes.

Looking in her own bag

Time to eat!

March

I don't have many photos for March - the weather wasn't great and we didn't get out much... and the girls prefer to run around and play than stay still and have their photo taken! I did manage to get a few good ones, though, and hopefully I'll have more for the months to come.

Aimy has been progressing in leaps and bounds at school. Out of nowhere, she came home from school one day and started spelling out words for us. She has learned her numbers from 1 to 10 by heart and began showing them to us too, both as numbers and on her fingers. Alixe started mixing her languages more, especially when she knows a word better in one language than in another. Her little Frenglish sentences crack me up (Maman, maman, j'ai trouvé l'umbrella!! Look Mummy, the escargot outside!)

Alixe helping me wind yarn

Two little cyclists

Aimy trying Alixe's pedal-less bike

Talking on the "phone" at the grocery
store

Fun rainy day activity: Bananagrams

Showing me letters

Sorting into piles. Note the bed head.

Showing me the words she has made (with a little help
from me for the correct spelling)

Carnaval 2016

Aimy's second Carnaval was much more positive than last year. This time she was healthy and happy and had a blast (not that she didn't have fun last time, but the fun of Carnaval last year was overshadowed by her illness). Alixe was much more aware of what was going on too, and for a week afterwards she kept thinking that every time we went to pick up Aimy that it would be Carnaval all over again. She's definitely looking forward to participating in her own Carnaval!

This year's theme was the Forest, and Aimy's class dressed up as trees. She was so proud of her costume, and was more than upset when Alixe managed to rip a few leaves off of it when our backs were turned... good thing Mummy has a glue gun!

Aimy's teacher leading them out of
the preschool

Goofy little tree!

One of the classes came as mushrooms. The woman in the
middle is a good friend and fellow trumpet player in the
local concert band, and her son is holding her left hand.

Parading around the square.

Another good friend, pointing me out - I took pictures
for all the moms and dads who were participating in Carnaval

Aimy's class next to some colourful owls

This year's Monsieur Carnaval

Up in flames! Too bad this year the
warm spring weather didn't arrive right
after... we've had a very cool 2016
so far!

February Holidays

Before I forget, the girls and I did a project for Carlos for Valentine's Day that I wrote about on my Creative Corner blog. Feel free to take a look. Here are a few more photos from that afternoon of crafting.

During the February holiday, we spent the first week in Pau visiting Carlos's family. During that visit, the first cold, wet weather of the season in the Pyrénées meant the ski resorts all opened while we were there, and we decided to go with all of the cousins to one of the family-owned slopes and let the kids have a chance to play in the snow. They had a blast, and have been asking me if we can go make a snowman every time it gets a bit cold outside...

Ready to go out for a walk

Cuties

View from the bottom of the ski hill towards the
western Pyrénées

Fun in the snow

Concentrating hard on making
a snowball

Alixe didn't want to sit for a photo

3 cousins

Snow ball

Making a snowman

Throwing powdery snow

Hockey!

At the end of January, I discovered that Bordeaux has a hockey team! The French hockey league is of course not the same as the NHL, but Bordeaux had (and will continue to have next year) a spot in the Magnus League, the highest league in France. One of my friends here has family working at city hall and we were able to get free passes to the last regular season game, pitting Bordeaux against Briançon. Our tickets were for seats in the nosebleeds, but one Aurélie's friends who has season tickets always grabs a standing spot on the overhang right next to the home goal, so we met him there and spent the game standing mere metres away from the action. Though it was a bit tiring to stand for 3 periods, we had a completely unobstructed view of the ice and we were lucky enough to see two of Bordeaux's three goals up close!

Here are a few photos of the game.

Making a grand entrance

Up close and personal! No need

Faceoff!

Goal!

The winners!

Receiving the 3 stars

Shaking hands

End of season tradition: meeting the public on the ice

It got packed pretty quickly!