Christmas Day

...well this one is Christmas Eve, shortly after Father Christmas has delivered all the presents - the wine (if you look closely) is drank, the carrot and mince pie eaten. The stage is set for Christmas Day!

Tristan opening his stocking (he really has the hang of it this year.

And here we are all dressed with papi and mami (who joined us for Christmas), and Tristan is already wearing one of his new presents - yes the t-short (Fireman Sam made quite a few appearances not only in his traditional form but even as 'Pompier Sam'!).

Papa getting in on the photo and admiring a picture of Tristan. You can see one of Manu's preferred presents - a chestnut roaster (now we just need to get hold of a few chestnuts!)

And here we are, all presents well and truly dispensed with (along with a turkey and all the trimmings, having a bit of a festive sing, ahh!), as the message goes, 'We wish you a merry Christmas' (the can-can is optional!).

The run-up to Christmas

Christmas is coming the goose is getting fat... (as are we!)



We went to the annual lantern parade in Newbury (the first time we have been), our new year's resolution is to attend the workshop the week before so we can make a lantern too (much easier resolution than loosing weight!)

This was followed by an balloon acrobatic display, really beautiful (but I imagine the lady had pneumonia over Christmas!). This was followed by carol singing in our road with all our neighbours which was really magical.

We were very domesticated (i.e., a jar of mince meet and ready-made pastry!) ad made some mince pies on Christmas Eve so that Santa could have a fresh one!

Post the mince-pies we went to an area where they have lots of Christmas lights for charity to get in the mood (this might end up being one of our Christmas Eve traditions - we are still experimenting though!).

All aboard

We have had a manic week of it after our trip to London on Tuesday. We went to the ballet last night to see 'The Snow Queen'. Despite it being family entertainment Tristan was the youngest by far and judging by the amount of people who stopped and complimented him on being so good (he was even though he has got very used to audience interaction, he only asked a few time loudly who such and such was and what they were doing!) they didn't have high expectations of his behaviour!

We went to Didcot to see and ride Thomas the Tank Engine.

Tristan was very excited, but chose to where his Father Christmas hat rather than his Thomas clothes as he was even more excited about where the Thomas ride took us...
...to Father Christmas! He had a really good present (his first Christmas present) which was a racing car and track.I think the Fat Controller was more convincing than Father Christmas though (although he didn't give us a present!).

The presents didn't stop there as that afternoon Evie came round and gave him a dressing up kit when we got back (here they are modelling 2 of the outfits!).

London Pre Christmas outing

We decided we would have a day out in London doing Christmassy things (and potentially make an annual routine of it). This was Tristan's first trip into London. The day started early with us taking the 7.49 train - which was pretty exciting in its own right. Tristan was confused when we explained that we would then be going on another 'underground' train and asked if he would get dirty! Our first stop was Hamleys (we were very restrained, and got one book and a balloon putty kit). I thought Tristan would be the one with the 'I want' list but that was before Manu saw all the helicopters - I suspect that has decided it for 'Tristan's' next Christmas present whether or not he wants one!

Next stop was Stickman. Lots of fun and very interactive

Us in the audience waiting (while Tris decapitates a gingerbread Father Christmas!)
Our favourite bit, when Stickman is joined by Father Christmas (stickman can be seen just behind the reindeer)

(yes we were in the front row!):
Our twin friends had joined us for Stickman and lunch and then did some posing next to the horses...

Before Tristan went straight to sleep and missed out on the whole winter wonderland thing in Hyde Park (that's him sleeping in the foreground in the buggy, with Manu posing under the arch!) - and missed out on the and the nutella crepes - and even slept through 2 underground changes complete with carrying up stairs.

WE all wished we could curl up in there and dose too! A good but tiring day had by all!

Christmas prep

It seems like from October we are in a constant wave of giving and receiving cards and wrapping presents for birthdays and now Christmas. So here is part 2 - the Christmas bit of that.

We did a Tristan-inspired card (Manu was a bit embarrassed by it and refused to use it as anything other than an insert!

Here we are unpacking and rediscovering Christmas and disagreeing on the theme for the year (Manu always wants blue and silver without actually wanting to invest in any new decorations!

And the end result (no blue in sight!). Lots of drama on the way, missing saw to chop the trunk, broken tree stand that we decided to use regardless and leaked everywhere (many sponges and dash to get a new one).

We took a leaf out of many parents books and let Tristan have his own (less coordinated!) tree to showcase his various makings! Here's Jo and Manu trying to work pout where to put the light on Tristan's playhouse to maximise beauty and minimise electrocution!

No food prep yet - my sister did the cake (although we have lost it are only the 2nd feed!), I will start the food planning - the French inlaws arrive on the 22nd next week (one big task a week!).

The good life!

We have decided that our lives are just too calm (!) and what we need is a bit more work to do. So we have decided to get an allotment! Self sufficiency here we come. I had assumed there would have been a really long waiting list (so that the hard work would be at an unspecified date in the future) but apparently not and we will have the keys next week. We are going to share it with some friends (who have decided that we will have to have regular AGMs - allotment general meetings, not sure if there will be minute taking).

This is our plot, no. 87. It is 3.5 poles (this was a new measurement on me - each one = 5m2 apparently).

and a weedy strawberry bed (no the greenhouse is going).

Open wide...

Tristan had his first visit to the dentist (what a way to celebrate being 3 and 1 day old!)

He loved the chair, and quite liked the lady 'counting' his teeth - he has 20.
He got a big sticker which was a bit unfair as my session was much worse, there was no risk of me biting and I got the bill!

Present time

The morning after the night before (the party). Tristan is greeted by his birthday -1 week pile of presents (he is going to be very confused when it is repeated next week!)

He had some great presents. Tristan's favourites are (unsurprisingly) the 3 Fireman Sam branded things he got - umbrella, dominoes and erm 'hoses' and ladders. My personal favourite comes with a health warning not often seen on 3 year old's toys, 'extended play may cause dizziness' (may cause madness would be more accurate!)...

Yes, we are pretending to bees (busy ones) collecting our 'pollen'!

Anniversaire de Tristan

Tristan a bientot 3 ans, et il faut donc célébrer !! On a invité 10 amis de Tristan. Avec les freres et soeurs, on avait donc un total de 15 enfants, et 21 parents.

Beaucoup de preparation.

Helen a fait un superbe gateau qui a eu Tristan en admiration : un camion de pompier, avec echelle et tuyau d'eau !

Manu s'est occupé des biscuits sur lesquels on peut lire " Tristan is 3 " Il a fallu décorer la maison :
Enfin, tout le monde est arrivé , A table !! :

Joyeux anniversaire Tristan !

Et maintenant , il ne reste que le menage ....

pumpkin

Hallowe'en! I got Tris the pumkin outfit for a fancy dress hallowe'en party. He refused to wear it. I only got him into (for 10 secs for the photo/ posterity!) after having pretended to be the voice of the pumpkin and it being lonely at not having any pumpkin friends (yes psycotherapist this is where it all started!).

We had loads of people trick or treating and got through all the sweets we had with Tristan delivering his verdict "they are not scary"/ "why is she dressed as a princess" etc. to all of them.

1 little boy...

We saw lots of Grandma over summer - here they are sharing a trifle together.
More problematic than the calories was that grandma brain-washed Tristan into singing Rolf Harris' 'Two little boys' ... continually! I'm afraid it must be shared if only for embarrassing him with later!

and after the performance (applause please!)

More diy (never ends)

Here we are doing the path. We lifted up the tarmac hoping to find a nice original tile path. As per everything with this house that didn't happen of course (lots of mud and ants)! One side-effect was that we had a week of having a moat/bog to wade through to get to the house between the tarmac coming up (in the dry) and getting to this stage. Nice!

With tools and an understanding of diy like this it's amazing that we haven't got everything finished...

Marseille

We went for a long weekend to Marseille. We nearly didn't make it - Manu was convinced that we flew from Stansted (to the point of booking the carpark there!), and only realised the day before it was Gatwick. In the flight everytime the pilot or crew said the word 'Marseille' Tristan shouted "Marseille" right back at him (funny to begin with!).

Tiphaine's 9th birthday (yes that ages us more than her!)

Tristan's cousins have a swimming pool (rather cold though suprisingly for the tropical Tristan!)

Manu showing the French his English moves (no it wasn't belly dancing just too much good food!).

and a photo for posterity!

Wildlife

A revisit of the donkeys at Blackpool

Tiger! Tristan and his friend Evie (no, not his big sister at all!) with face paint on for the first time. It lasted about 10 minutes then he complaimed about getting all hot and we had to wash it off.

Tristan's second favourite moment from when we went to Woburn safari park with grandma(even pap enjoyed it secretly)..

Tristan's very favourite moment (not well caught here) - when papa "wiped off the monkey" with the windscreen wipers (his patience has limits!)!

Visite de Papi et Mamie

Papi et Mamie sont venus passer une semaine chez nous .

Papi avait tres envie d'aller a la peche , a l'anglaise, avec du saucisson en bout de Ligne. On est revenu brecouille ! Mais on a bien pris l'air.

Ils ont pu s'amuser avec Tristan, ou bien s'amuser sur la pelleteuse tout simplement Et on a fait un plafond en placo, merci bien. Papi , ici avec son outil de prédilection.
Pour finir on est allé faire une ballade en peniche. Mummy etait restée se reposer , avec un gros Ruhme (Atchoum !)