NO PRAY, NO PAY

July 22, 2012

A few weeks ago, I mentioned the wood playground that my hubby was building at the backyard. And here there are some pictures of it. It's an amazing Pirate Ship with a lot of accessories and games from a German brand... Ahoy Matey!!
It will hopefully keep the kids actively busy and entertained for a few minutes everyday. Adrien loves his horse swing!  However, it's still missing finish the sand area because we're looking for a way to cover it.
I took these pictures after André's tennis classes. By the way, André is very proud that he helped with the assembly of the pirate ship.

HUSTLE, HIT AND NEVER QUIT

July 15, 2012

André started last week his summer tennis classes for 4 year old kids. So here there are some pics of his first week. I hope he continues with this sport, because you know tennis is all about practice, practice, practice.
I couldn't help but notice that André is a lot taller than his pals of the same age. It seems my secret vitamin is working, isn't it?  ;)

THERE'S DEFINITELY SOME MOM SHOPPING GOING ON HERE

July 11, 2012

Sales season has arrived! And one the best places to go for good shopping is in the near city of Annecy in France. It's just 30 minutes from Geneva and besides of the good brands and bargains you can get in here, it's absolutely a gorgeous city.
People have been asking me which are my favorite French brands for children clothes. Here there are some:
Tartine et Chocolat (preppy and french elegance)
Cyrillus (very chic and preppy)
Grain de Blé (cheap and chic)
Petit Bateau (comfy and stylish)
Interdit de me gronder (stylish... love their tennis collection)
Catimini (not really a fan though, too colorful for my taste)
After a exhausting shopping day we took the children for some ice-cream and playtime... btw André has really with luck with girls  ;)

DON'T STOP THE MUSIC

June 7, 2012

"Music washes away from the soul the dusty of everyday life" said Auerbach.  We can't help but agree while we were dancing with the Putumayo Kids  new cd's that we got for Adrien's Carousel Party. They are great!  But if you don't believe me, check here all the awards they have won over the last years, including the "Best of the Year" lists in the best educational and parenting magazines.
Putumayo Kids are CD's collections with children music from all around the world that introduce children to other cultures. They have child-friendly music with African, Asian, European, American and Latin songs in several languages.
My favorites collections, which I played during Adrien's first birthday party, are (you can click on the links to listen a portion of each song):

• Animal Playground, animal songs from around the world. It's my favorite and a percentage of the sale of this album is donated to preservate the famous Bronx Zoo.
• Sing Along with Putumayo, a selection of classic blues and folks.
• Sesame Street Playground, multilingual songs from Sesame Street.
• World Playground, songs from all around the world.
• Latin Playground, Latin songs. My favorite is a Guantanamera version, sung by children.
• African Playground, African songs.
• French Playground, famous French songs.
• Jazz Playground, cool jazz songs.

And there are a lot more collections...

CAROUSEL PARTY

May 21, 2012

We threw a Carousel Party for the first birthday of Adrien. Most of the decoration and food was hand made by me.  I'll explain in detail below each one of the elements we had.

In addition, we had a real carousel as the main attraction for the children. It was a blast!!

It was also a windy day, so I couldn't take the best pictures. But we were so lucky that in a week full or raindrops, we had the whole day a bright and shiny sun. Thanks God!