Portugal wins !

Lily: "I'm not sure what happened exactly but we were all happily enjoying ourselves in uncle Paul-Antoine's living room, Alice and I playing with toys on the ground and the others watching something on the television, when suddenly they all yelled and bolted out of the house to go invade the streets on their bicycles! Gabriela was on her new yellow bicycle, wearing a funny flag fixed onto her new helmet... I stayed put, thinking my game looked like more fun than theirs."

Argentina wins !

"Lily is dancing, Lily is a dancer" says Lily every day these days... This particular performance is given for the admiring eyes of aunt Paula and mommy Rachel, while Paul-Antoine and Gabriela are hitting a soccer ball with their heads and daddy is cooking supper on the turkish grill... all in celebration of Argentina's 2-1 victory over Mexico (or maybe in celebration of happy family gatherings).

Summer solstice

"Fun season" is with us again... are you ready for take off? Alice is, anyway, and the big girls are planning an all-nighter in their sleeping bags and in Alex's parents' tent in the back yard. Oh what glee!

School's out! (part 2)

Lily: "Fofo is hosting a supper + all-night-camping-in-a-tent in our backyard garden to celebrate with her best friends the end of their second year of high school, and Alice and I are right in there, not missing a beat. Who says I can't take part in a teenage conversation in French — as a matter of fact, I'm leading it !"

School's out !

Alice: "My big sister Gabriela is showing daddy the new dress she and her mommy made for her graduation ball and I'm making sure everything is spanking clean and perfect, right down to the shine on her shoes!"

Just watch me

A look of determination in her eyes, Alice thinks: "My two older sisters walked at 10 months, my hypercautious third sister Lily walked at a whopping 14 months... I'm only 8 1/2 months old and standing strong already. Just watch me!"

Alice upright

From squatting up and down everywhere she can to standing up aided and unaided, our little Alice is fast aquiring the upright posture of a soon-to-be-walking baby... [Alice seen here in our backyard and at a picnic during the Bal en blanc organized at Lily's daycare.]

Lily's tea parties

"Let's have a tea party", proposes Lily almost every other day. She then whips out her finest plastic china out of the transparent backpack she received for Christmas, and sets the table for many guests, most notably mommy (and sometimes daddy when he's not washing the real dishes or taking pictures like right now). "Would you like some milk in your juice lemonade, mommy?" asks Lily on this one.

p.s. Lily's English has improved immensely since her trip to Meo and Doco's house. To the point where her mastery of the tricky English prepositions is now leaving her dad confounded. She says things like "Lily is serving up some supper"... what's the use of that "up" word, I wonder - I've never used that phrase, yet I sense she's got it right! :-)

p.p.s. the person in pink is just a GC (gate crasher), she's not yet on Lily's official guest list...

Mommy's garden

This is me, Alice, playing with my super high-tech cellphone. It's got great features: it's saliva-resistant and the antenna can handle any amount of pulling and pushing. But let's forget the cellphone, this is all about the GARDEN. This is a wonderful place my mom has created in our backyard where Lily and I can play for hours. To give you an idea of how much space we have to play with, look at this aerial shot my father took from the third floor balcony! Isn't it nice? all this green lawn to roll around in...
and thank you again, Doco, for believing in our lawn and grooming it so well last year... it is really happy now. Just like me 95% of the time. [the other 5% is when my big sister Lily grabs toys away from me, but I don't stay sad for very long... maybe we're talking more like 1% really].

La Fête de Mai

After a very nice day at Taïtaï and Papi's place celebrating Papi's 75th birthday, we accompanied Louis, Louise, Raphaël and Charlotte to the annual May Fair at their Waldorf school. A very hot and sunny and festive affair it was! Lots of games, shows, craftsmen, healthy food and spring rituals, like this dance around the May Pole.

Bonne fête Papi et Vive l'été!

Comme c'était le cas à chaque année durant toute mon enfance, le jour exact de l'anniversaire de mon papa - le 24 mai - annonce invariablement le début de l'été. A l'époque, à St-Bruno, cela coïncidait avec la floraison du pommettier en face de la maison. Ici, dans notre cour sur la rue Fabre, on marque le coup avec un premier souper en plein air après deux semaines de pluie. Youpi, bonne fête Papi! - de la part de Alice, Lily, Gabriela, Flor, Rachel et moi :-)

Se tailler une place...

"Baby Alice come play with Lily" said she. But exactly what Alice was invited to play with once she had joined Lily in her room wasn't altogether clear. "No, don't touch, baby Alice", no to this, no to that, no, no, no. Yet Alice is slowly emerging from her "inert doll" status into a potential playing companion in the eyes of Lily, especially when nobody else is around to play with. In this instance, the nobody was me (daddy), too busy washing the dishes (between camera shots, that is)...

Youpi ! Lily est de retour !

Ma petite princesse est revenue. Elle a oublié tous ses mots de français mais en revanche son anglais est peuplé de nouveaux mots et d'impressionnantes tournures de phrases apprises chez sa Meo adorée. Elle a fait un merveilleux voyage, s'est comportée comme une grande dans tous ces avions, voitures et aéroports. Elle a savouré à plein sa semaine sous le soleil de New Denver et s'est découvert une fascination pour la danse en voyant sa mère performer pour la première fois dans un spectacle! Vive la vie!

Youpi ! Alice est de retour !

Elle a deux petites dents, elle est légèrement bronzée, elle a un peu plus de cheveux, elle mange de tout ou presque, elle se tient debout toute seule ou presque, ma chère Alice est revenu nous enchanter de ses gazouillis joyeux, de son large sourire et de ses "dadada" enthousiastes. Quelle charmante petite boule d'énergie positive elle fait, ma petite cocotte d'amour!

Bonne Fête des (belles) Mères, Rachelou!

Dernier concert de Gabriela

Les 6e années de l'École Le Plateau ont livré leur dernier concert de l'année, et de leur cours primaire, jeudi dernier à l'auditorium de l'école. Gabriela a joué, chanté, flûté, marché sur des échasses et interprété un court numéro humoristique avec ses copines Annie, Delphine et Romy.
L'ambiance était survoltée, à croire que l'école était finie et que tous ces jeunes n'allaient pas entrer en période d'examens du ministère dès lundi... Vive la jeunesse folle et insouciante!

Between two princesses: who gets to decide?

E-mail from Rachel: "Mum, Candy, Molly and Lily went to the park this morning while I was at the chiropractor having my neck worked on (I am amazed to say that she, the chiropractor, did wonders for my neck which is almost not sore anymore!). Lily and molly are doing very well together this year.
Thomson said to me the other day "Molly always gets to decide what they are doing" but Lily is quite happy to charge along in the wake of her big cousin. They were very excited at getting to ride in this wagon together though of course they both wanted to sit on the same end. Good for Lily to be on the receiving end of a bigger person who doesn't want to share. I am hoping that she will be able to understand Alice's frustration better. I may be too hopeful." Maybe... :-)

À Bellingham avec Montréal Danse...

Magnifique photo reçue à l'instant par un courriel de Rachel:
This is a picture of Lily and Annik at the picnik that was held for us at the house of the director of the dance department in Bellingham. The sort of place that reminds me of the Slocan valley with rather ramshackel constructions built here and there in a beautiful spot. Most of the dancers will stay there during the residency with fred and Peter living in the little house that you see on the photo. Lily was thrilled to be at a picnik and to explore around with first her ma and the meo and then Annik. In this picture she had just taken Annik to see the fish and they were heading off in search of flowers. The camera ran out of juice at this point so that was the extent of my picture taking. Alice slept through the party.
Yesterday, April 29th Alice pierced her first tooth though it will be a while before it is big enough to show up in a picture so you will just have to take my word for it.

Les petites voyageuses

Lily, vue ici dans une de ses activités favorites — la peinture — en compagnie de ses cousins Thomson et Molly, est enchantée de son voyage chez Meo et Doco. Tout semble baigner dans l'huile autant pour elle que pour sa soeur Alice et pour sa maman, à ce que Rachel me dit: le voyage en avion avec les deux petites, l'aller-retour Vancouver-Bellingham en voiture, les sorties à la plage au bord de la mer, les dodos, etc... tout se passe dans la joie et la bonne humeur! [soupir de soulagement du papa semi-coupable]
Grand merci à Meo et Doco d'être si disponibles pour encadrer ma petite marmaille! :-)

My name is Naomie...

... and I'm a boy!
I know, I know, my parents don't understand either... mais à force de leur répéter les choses 2-3 fois par jour, ils finissent par accepter mes complexités personnelles telles qu'elles sont! Héhé...
P.S. Excusez la vieille photo, elle date d'au moins 3 semaines, mais mon père n'a plus d'appareil photo parce que la Canon A70 Powershot de ma mère est à l'atelier de réparation pour un mois.

Who needs a crawling lesson?

Thank you very much, sister Lily, but I'm afraid it's too little too late... I already know how to crawl! As Mommy and Daddy are well aware (!) I'm all over the place :-) — more than you ever were, I may add... hihi...

Hang in there Meo!

What a wonderful visit we all had with Meo when she was here last week! I learned how to build huge mountains in my sandbox and even how to dig tunnels right through them! The mountain Meo built was so high that even baby Alice, lying low in her usual crouching position, could see it towering over the side of the sandbox. Meo is amazing: she can handle both my little sister and me by herself, while my mom is off dancing or something with her company and my dad is off renovating or something on the third floor. Awesome!

The Fabre Street Soccer Academy

Spring training is already under way, as early as April 10th, for the valiant soccer players of all ages at the Fabre St Academy. Heads, passes, one-on-one, bends-like-Beckham, all techniques are dissected and mastered by our young devotees of various age groups ranging from U3 to U12!

The rules are simple but very strict: you can only use very small balls because the yard is very small and don't you ever hurt Rachel's garden! :-)

Checking out the new sushi spot on the corner

Great news! The best sushi maker in town has just moved two blocks away from our home. Lily, a great sushi lover, is discussing the latest trends in maki rolls with the chef, Master Tri Du. After two visits, Rachel, Lily, Flor and I have pronounced the food heavenly.

Spring has arrived !

Qu'est-ce que j'aperçois en rentrant chez moi du travail? Une bonne partie de ma chère petite smala réunie sur le balcon avant, en train de goûter les dix degrés Celsius de cette belle journée qui ressemble sérieusement à du printemps.
Definite springtime hints: Roza doesn't wear any coat, and Lily has her sandals on!

Alice à quatre pattes

Aliboo is putting the finishing touches on her "all fours" position and has declared fer intention to be crawling all over the floor very soon. Watch out, lazy parents, you ain't seen nothin' yet!

Bravo les Braves, bravo...!

Lily celebrating with the renowned midfielder from the Braves d'Ahuntsic after their 2-1 victory in the U12F finals over their arch-rivals, the Jets de PAT. More photos of the winter champions here.

Sortie au Jardin Botanique avec Les Ateliers

Don't move, Lily! There is one on your belly!

Visite à la cabane à sucre

Beaucoup de plaisir avec papa et tous les enfants et les parents et les éducatrices de ma garderie Les Ateliers lors du voyage à la cabane à sucre hier: trajet en autobus jaune, traîneau à cheval, marche dans les bois, dégustation de l'eau d'érable, dîner traditionnel, danse au son de l'accordéon joué par le grand-papa d'un des garçons de la garderie, et tire sur la neige bien entendu.

Serious eater

Lily mange comme une défoncée, ces jours-ci. Trois bols de riz au saumon pour le lunch, jusqu'à ce que Roza arrive et qu'elle lui dévalise son propre lunch en plus... Et la voilà au souper qui enfourne sa deuxième assiette de steak+patates+choux de Bruxelles sous le regard incrédule de sa jeune soeur!
Another growth spurt?

Que faire de tous ces cheveux?

— I want to see my ponytail ! asked Lily, after unsuccessfully twisting her head in all directions.
— In the mirror or on a picture?
— On a picture !

Jumping drooling grabbing champion

Even from my jolly jumper, I grab everything that comes within my grasp and I never let go. Especially this particular toy I got from Meo... even when I want to let go of it, I can't... :-)

Mère et fille

La conquête du lavoir

Lily's household chores now include filling and emptying the washing machine and the drying machine. And don't you dare do it without her!

La Fête du travail au bord d'un lac...

Philippe, Alysha et Eva nous invitent ainsi que toute la smala à un BBQ le 2 septembre au bord du lac Orford où ils ont loué un chalet à la fin de l'été. Youpi ! On va bien s'amuser toute la gang et enfin on va faire la connaissance de la jolie petite cousine/nièce !

Rachel and Alice out on the town in Brussels

A picture from Peter, a fellow dancer of Rachel's with Montréal Danse, taken on tour in Europe last month.

Says Rachel: this picture was "taken in Brussels in one of their famous 'mouleries' in the old district. I went there with the boys after an evening rehearsal while that gals all went off to see a puppet show. I decided that Alice probably wouldn't properly appreciate the puppets. It was one of those evenings where I felt a little badly hauling my baby around a strange city at night though she didn't seem to mind. After supper, the boys went out for a beer so I took the metro home alone with Alice and felt that I had curious if not slightly critical eyes on me as I made my way home in the middle of the winter night."

A smile and 3 toes from my two loves in London

A few photographs are starting to trickle in from Europe, as Rachel is struggling to make technology work between a quirky camera at her end and a finnecky email server at mine.
Alibou dans le lit que Philippe a préparé pour Rachel chez lui à Londres. La vie de mes deux amours semble se dérouler dans le calme et la douceur de vivre. Alice est désormais capable de se retourner sur le ventre d'elle-même.

Where's mommy and baby Alice ?

Voilà quatre jours que Rachel et Alice se sont envolées pour l'Europe et la vie se déroule bien malgré tout dans l'univers de Lilyboo. Flor et Gabriela sont là tous les soirs et tous les matins sur semaine pour aider papa à tout faire et pour donner ce qui peut s'approcher le plus d'un amour maternant à notre petit chaton.
Despite a definite void left by the departure of Rachel and Alice, life remains a happy affair for Lily. She sings, sometimes very loudly, every morning and every afternoon on her daddy's bicycle when they go to, or come back from, Roche Papier Ciseaux. Yesterday a nice lady sang along in the street when she heard Lily blaring away from afar.
Today we spent the whole day with Louis and Louise, playing with Raphaël and Charlotte. Gabriela couldn't come because she had a handball tournament but Fofo was there and daddy of course. We visited Charlotte's choir practice in the church basement in the morning, and then had a good visit with the friendly horsies at Raphaël's favourite hangout: the stable where he takes his horseriding lessons.

Young Lily dressed up as young Rachel

Oh, what a joy! A present has arrived in the mail, from Meo! Lily has really taken a liking to receiving and opening presents since this past Christmas+birthday blitz. And imagine opening one that contains pink clothes! She responds very much to pink, for some reason, always pointing to other kids' pink clothes and claiming them as "Lily's"... Now she can genuinely claim these pink clothes from another little girl from far gone days, a cute little girl named Rachel :-) Thank you Meo!

Le crawl de Lily

Big sister Gabriela kept going on and on about going to the Aquadome, but daddy was lazy — "it's too far, let's go to the neighborhood pool instead". Gabriela won. Good thing she did, cause I got to discover this amazing place where dozens and dozens of kids and babies and grown-ups float around in nice lukewarm water, surrounded by huge windows full of the winter and snow and ice and cold outside. I swam for the first time. I really did. I developed my own style by moving around the shallow end using my two hands and letting the rest of my body and legs float behind. Was I ever moving. I called my style "crawl", cause that's exactly what it was.

Hey, bird — I'm talkin' to you

Alice always squeals and cackles a great deal — between naps of course — and all of us encourage her by squealing and cackling back... or at least most of us.

Queen Lily the first

Look at me in the eye and tell me: who do you suppose rules this place?
On a mangé une bonne galette des Rois fournie par le Fromentier, mais avec cinq femmes dans la maison on a décidé de renommer toute l'affaire "la Fête des Reines" ! :-)