School Birthday

We debated a little on whether to have Kherington go to school the day after we got back...both kids really needed some quality sleep.  You are supposed to bring treats on the Wednesday after your birthday and she was excited to take cupcakes to class so I whipped some up before we went to bed and did a quick frost and decorate in the morning.  One of my friends picked up some things from commissary for me that made doing all this so much easier...I had wanted to make mickey and Minnie cupcakes with mini oreos, but they didn't look at all like the pinterest pictures...so we switched to mini teddy grahams cupcakes with sprinkles.

When I picked her up from school all she talked about was how all the kids sang happy birthday to her in French and in English and she shared the cupcakes.

Then when we walked in the door she beelined for the pink frosting and teddy grahams.

Kherington's 4th Birthday

Kherington had a pretty awesome birthday and I'm not sure how we'll ever top it.  We woke up extra early to get to Disneyland for magic hours.  The night before Kevin and I had walked down to a cute little French bakery (we were still in Fontainebleau) and got some pastries to leave in the car.  Kherington was so excited about her 'turtle shaped' treat.  I'm not sure why she called it that but she prefers the plain one over chocolate and the bakery had ginormous ones so we got her one of them.

At Disney we changed it up a little bit.  We rode dumbo a couple times, the teacups and small world (and had quite a few potty breaks).  Small world is always a huge hit.  Kherington especially loves this big pink bow found on one of the puppets.  I should probably note that by 9am Kherington wanted to go home (b/c I told her she had presents waiting for her there...big mistake).

We went over to Disney Studios for the Animagic perfomance and when we came out Donald and Daisey were meeting people but there were too many people crowded around so instead we went over to Slinky Dog.  After we had already gotten in line, Kherington decided she wanted to leave...but I'd already promised Kevin we could ride slinky dog.  We ended up staying...and the second we sat down on the ride (before it actually started), Kevin said he wanted to go too...kids.  We hit up McDonalds.  Kevin was asleep before we got there and Kherington was almost out but was in intent on getting apples, apple juice, chicken nuggest, fries and a toy.  This little girl knows her happy meals.  She fell asleep 5 minutes after we got it.  No worries, Kevin woke up and at the nuggest and fries and Kherington finished off the apples and juice.  Team work :).

When we walked in the door to you house, Kherington was so excited.  Her daddy had decorated and piled her presents nice and high :).  She got to pick one to open...the rest had to wait for daddy to get home.

This year she got some little play doll figurines (rapunzel, cinderella, strawberry shortcake), dogs in a purse (she had carried this around all over Target over Christmas...we packed back most the presents from our last US visit), princess mirror, little jeweled containers from Istanbul, a music CD and a couple other items.

We had gotten back around 4pm and I had forgotten about the cake until about 6pm. She had specifically asked for a pink castle cake.  This was my quick version of it.  Lots of flaws but I did it from start to finish in only 1.5 hours (mix, bake, cool, cut, stack, frost) and she thought it was awesome which is all that really matters.  For dinner she had frozen fish sticks and canned corn...so happy she went for it instead of the pizzeria I had promised her before I knew we were going to be out of town.

She got to open up her last present after dinner and cake.  She is such a happy little girl and had an amazing birthday. 

And here's some info about Kherington:
Weight: 36.4 pounds
Height: (need to add later)

(will need to update later)
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She loves playing with friends.  She is speaking more and more French and has quite the accent...it's is very fun to hear her speak.  She will try pretty much any food.  She no longer wears diapers to bed.

Fontainebleau - Fun and Sun!

Sun, fun and friends. That could pretty much sum this trip up.

No trip could be complete without some true excitement though and we started off with some right at the beginning.  I had packed the car the night before and me and the kids were in the car and driving away by 4:30am.  Pretty good.  Well, 20 minutes into our 3h drive Kherington threw up.  U-turn.  We went back home, got the kids out of the car, ran a load of laundry (so happy we have little waterproof seat protectors so I didn't need to wash the whole carseat cover).  I was so sad I had absolutely no motivation to unpack the car.  Kevin had the stomach flu the weekend before so I figured it was Kherington with the same thing.  She was acting completely normal, fighting with her brother, eating normal food and didn't have any temperature.  So I emailed my friend and Ryan and said I was leaving in 30 minutes (as soon as our super long washing machine cycle ended).

We still stopped at Disneyland as we had initially planned.  We did a couple rides, stood in a short (45+ minute) line to see Sleeping Beauty and watching the parade before continuing our drive down to Fontainebleau.

We had a great time with our friends.  One day we took the kids to Disney (they have annual passes also).  The kids did awesome plus the sun makes everything better.  I should comment that 3 little kids per adult is a little more difficult only because most rides only allow an adult plus 2 kids.  We just rode in cycles so it worked out fine.  The teacups was one ride we could have gone all together, but Kherington was dead set on a certain color teacup so it didn't work out.

The first few days of our visit the kids weren't napping well, which made them (and us) a little cranky, but once we all got a good long nap we were back to pure fun.  We spent one afternoon in this huge open field.  It took a little while for the kids to decide they liked it, but they started venturing further and further away.  We also went to the playground a couple times.

Stefan and Ryan are a pretty awesome couple...and have some funny habits.  Here Stefan is multitasking...loading the dishwasher and getting a quick workout in.  Just too funny not to document.  We made the best brownie recipe I have ever had.  You can find it here.  Seriously try it.  I've always been a boxed brownies person but these brownies (after they sit overnight) are amazing (no so much right out of the oven though).

The kids played in the backyard a quite a bit too.

We once again forget to snap a group picture before PJ time.  Kherington and Lily have a love/hate relationship.  I think they both just like to have it their way (they are the big sister after all) and Kevin and Julian were buds by the end.

It was so nice to be able to get away from everyday life for awhile and to have a friend that was willing to let me drop in for a couple days. I seriously think my happiness level would exponentially increase if I had a friend like that living right next door.  Some day maybe.