Little Lucy

Little Lucy has her own sense of style ... from carrying her baby to special hugs with her friend to cuddles with daddy (wearing a tiara of course). And recently, she got a ballerina outfit which she proudly wore for several days, whether going to school, riding her bike or playing a little baseball with her brothers.

And then the boys got into the action, striking a few poses of their own ...

Charlie's Race Car Party

Yes, it's June and Charlie's birthday party was in April but I've just gotten around to downloading a bunch of pictures so this will be the first of many posts from the last few months. Charlie and I made the birthday cake together and he and his friends had fun decorating their own race cars, running an obstacle course and racing their cars.

Charlie's 7th Birthday

Charlie turned 7 today and had a great day playing with his new toys and eating some of his favorite foods. He's on spring break and was thrilled to not have school on his birthday. On Sunday, he'll be having a race car birthday party with friends. Once I recover from it, I'll post more pictures - we plan to have an obstacle course, scavenger hunt, and of course lots of races with matchbox cars. We went to Charlie's favorite restaurant for dinner - outdoors by the ocean with lots of fresh fish. And finished the day with chocolate cupcakes, of course!

Passover 2013 in Dakar

This year was our first Passover overseas. We went to a friend's seder for the first night and then co-hosted a seder the second night. The kids had a blast helping to get ready - from cleaning to making items for the seder table to helping me cook. It was a fun challenge to find items in Dakar - a few highlights were the fabric matzo cover, Elijah's cup (the kids glued on the jewels), kid wine cups (also made by the kids), and a local maror spice in place of horseradish. We also used a local bissap syrup in place of sweet wine for the charoset. Also pictured below is a candid of Lucy and Oyane seated and ready for the seder to start.

Mardi Gras at the preschool

Lucy's class celebrated mardi gras with costumes and a big party ... here's her class photo ... she was tinker bell/periwinkle of course.

The Lighthouse

Every day we drive by a lighthouse - Phares des Mamelles - and last Monday when the kids were out of school, we drove up the winding steep hill to check it out. My favorite line of the day was from Charlie, after being told how heavy the light was (1000 kilos), he remarked: "it must have been hard getting it all the way up here."

Happy Purim!

We had fun today celebrating Purim in Dakar! Charlie helped bake hamantashen - we made ones filled with nutella, raspberry jelly and apricot jelly. We also dressed up in costumes and went to a party where we listened to the Megillah, exchanged shalach manot baskets, ate, drank, and of course ... went home with more noisemakers! The picture Fred took of us was at the end of the party - when our soccer player, explorer and princess were a bit partied out.

Happy 9th Birthday Max!

Max turned 9 last Thursday - a day off of school (Mahloud) for the kids, so he had lots of time to play with his new toys! He celebrated with brownies and soccer cookies in class on Friday and then a soccer birthday party over the weekend. He's also been learning to ride his new skateboard - and I'm not sure who's having more fun with it - Max or his dad! Over the weekend, Lucy also got in some badminton practice while Charlie tried some new stunts on his bike. Life is good!