...because in Kansas they would know what to do with a cupcake. Beth made some cupcakes (white frosting with pink sprinkles) for a friend that just had a baby girl. We decided to take the leftovers to our neighbors on the 6th floor. They are a french family with 5 kids that has been very nice to us. They are basically the only family in our building that talks to us and that we've started getting to know. Alan brought the plate up to them and rang the doorbell. Here's how the conversation went...
Alan: Hi!
Neighbor: Good evening (with perplexed look on her face)
Alan: Beth made a lot of these, so we thought we'd give you the extras
Neighbor: (still perplexed) Oh, how very kind of you...what are they?
Alan: Well, in english, we call them "cupcakes"
Neighbor: Oh, what does that mean exactly?
Alan: I guess they're basically, you know, small cakes
Neighbor: Oh, I see....how do you eat them?
Alan: You can pretty much eat them just the way they are
Neighbor: Should I eat them with yoghurt?
Alan: No, you can pretty much eat them just the way they are
Neighbor: Should I refrigerate them?
Alan: No...you can just keep 'em just the way they are
Neighbor: Oh...well...that's awfully nice of you
Alan: It's our pleasure
Neighbor: Thankyou. Goodnight!
Alan: Goodnight
I suppose it's entirely possible that the family will gather around the cupcakes, look perplexed, and decide it's not worth the risk (or they'll dig in with a fork and knife). Then they'll assure us that the cupcakes were delicious...oh, well. We tried.
E. and I went to a Halloween party today. It was for the 2008 babies in the English speaking parenting group that I am a member of in Paris. We had a great time and met 5 or 6 new moms that live within a couple of blocks of us. E's grandma made her this ballerina costume to go with her slippers. She was certainly a hit. Thanks grandma!
Here is the crew...a mix of american, canadian, italian, french, british and japanese babies. It was amazing to get them all awake and not crying.
well, the corner of my parents' bedroom. We finally hung up the shelf and the picture yesterday.
The beautiful watercolor that Sarah Mueller painted for Eloise.
So, France doesn't do Halloween at all (except maybe the pumpkins painted on the windows
of the McDonalds). Therefore, our church had a Halloween party last night and it's an outreach to the American ex-pat community who are not church goers. There was a great turnout of kids to trick-or-treat. Keep in mind the church has to buy the candy and "plant" it at the restaurant, bakery, and pharmacy near by that are kind enough to participate for us. I'm pretty sure E. was the youngest trick-or-treater and especially the only one that couldn't eat the goodies. Alan and I just ignored all the looks and held out our bag alongside all the other kids. After
wards there was a party at the church with American food (purchased at the Army base in Belgium-delicious) and games. E even played a game to fish for some more candy. Don't worry Mom and Dad will be sure to taste every piece to check for any poisoned candy.
Auntie Claire made E this ring sling, and told us the best 100 uses for it. Now we can add two more, to hang baby from the doorknob and as a swaddler when you don't want to run upstairs to get the real blanket. thanks claire.
It's the middle of Octber and they still haven't turned the heat on in our apartment building. A frenchman at our church says that traditionally the oldest person in the building gets to make the decision of when it's time for heat. I'm not sure that's how it's still done now, but we'll see. Today is actually pretty warm, but it definitely wasn't when I took these pictures.
All bundled up in her stroller as we walked to the grocery store.
Alan invented a swing to get the baby to calm down and fall asleep. Unfortunately, she wakes up as soon as you lay her down though. One of my friends told me that a mother of 11 used to do the same thing, but then she hung the kid over a doorknob so she could get some work done. We haven't tried that yet, but plan to.
thanks to dawn and emma for the outfit and kate for the shoes.
E. absolutely loves being carried in this carrier and even more so in the sling that Auntie Claire made for her.
