Mugshots

No, it's not the Wanted poster from your local police station. This motley crew are in fact our usually charming children, and the poor things will be lumbered with these photos for the next five years. We discovered that they could hold French passports in addition to their UK ones and (the deciding factor for me!) they are issued free of charge for children (take note British Passport Office!). So Bertie is off to Kensington to get these sorted.

As ever, the finished product gives you no idea of the considerable time and trauma taken to get there. Whilst LissaLou was snapped in seconds (with due warning not to do the smile that Tatie Evie doesn't like!!), CassCass had a major tantrum and was finally snapped clinging to Daddy's leg with bonbons as her bribe! Meanwhile, poor Baby JoJo was tickled, washed, undressed, called to, squeaked at...all in vain as he slept on! Finally he managed to open his eyes for a split second in between tears, phew! Our thanks and respect to the lady serving us, who actually comes from a neighbouring island of Guadeloupe. (She got a wine gum too!)

I am so thankful that this won't need to be done again for another five years by which time they will all be co-operative and smiley children. I hope.

The Largo Lassies Reunited

It was great to be able to meet up yesterday with my ex-flatmates from St Andrews, three lovely ladies whom I have now had the pleasure of knowing for nearly 13 years! Their friendship has been so valuable to me, teaching me important things like where milk and meat come from (I was a Londoner born and bred, how was I meant to know such things?!) and how to dry my hands without wetting the toilet seat (270 degree turn if you must know). We have seen each other through studying, relationships, multi-coloured hair, magic pants, phds, weddings, jobs and now have the fun of the kids' stage. This was our last get-together before we set off, so thanks to you all for arranging and making the effort to come, not to mention taking Baby JoJo off my hands for a few hours! Thanks also to the husbands for sitting through the baby talk!

Meet The Family

After all the excitement of the snow yesterday, we managed to get ourselves to the Parents to introduce JoJo to his Uncle MJM (whose fine blog can be found here and who kindly introduced me to tracksy so I can gloat over the number of visitors and try and guess who they could possibly be! Do give me a hand and leave a comment!!) and my Uncle and Aunt over from Canada (yes, they are the guilty party, THEY brought the snow! But kind folk that they are, they brought the girls the proper clothing for it, Canadian style!). Of course, in true JoJo behaviour, he pretty much slept through the whole affair. We almost didn't have any photos as CassCass hid the camera and conveniently forgot where, luckily it turned up again after half an hour of searching!

Thanks to the Parents for hosting us and a jolly fine roast lamb - not to mention somehow squeezing us all around the table! Thanks also to LissaLou and Cousin Oscar for their joint attempt at an apple crumble, umm!

PS Evs I hope these are all close enough for you!

More Snow

The snow has completely disappeared outside and it seems hard to believe the girls and Bertie were making a snowman and throwing snowballs at each other this morning, but here is the proof:

Umm, this sure tastes good!

Here is Bertie's fine attempt at a snowman!Yup, you're right, there was no way I was venturing outside to join these brave souls!

Meeting his UncAl and his cousin

What these pictures can't quite convey were the efforts UncAl made to soothe his wailing nephew whilst being under constant attack from his niece giving him num nums!

BTW Can you more experienced blogspotters tell me if it's possible to put photos in a row rather than one after the other?

Sun and Snow

There are a huge long list of things that I will miss when we leave the country, however, the unpredictability of the weather is probably not one of them. Here we are Friday afternoon, enjoying a blistering 17 degrees and one of Bertie's marvellous barbeques...
And just two days later on Sunday morning, here is the view of that very same barbeque set, with temperatures plummeting by 17 or so degrees and some very pretty but very cold snow!

Jojo and baby Luke

I was inspired by Esther's blog where she follows her daughter's growth with a giraffe. Not having one to hand, I opted for baby Luke instead, who is so similar in size to Jojo at the moment, that I often mistake one for the other! I will try and remember to do this monthly, but feel free to remind me if I don't!

Bertie made this black and white picture board for LissaLou when she was born (using a school maths book for inspiration!), saving us a few pounds on buying the equivalent. The girls loved looking at it and Jojo is following in their footsteps, as he gazes and even touches the different pictures whilst chilling out in his basket.