Future 3-star Michelin chefs begin at home

And they learn to make pancakes, with Daddy! (Which is just a little odd, since pancakes are American and Daddy is French, but hey.)

Delete Hedge, Insert Potatoes

This week, our neighbor who helped Frédéric cut down the hedge came back to help him pull out the stumps, now that the ground has thawed.

I LOVE being able to see our street, not feeling like I'm hiding behind the giant hedge fortress, and knowing that the hedge roots won't go tear apart our water pipes is appreciable, too.

The neighbor went above and beyond, and removed the stumps from the side of the house that have been waiting for about five years.

AND cut the one in the back of the house that has waited a couple of years now, too, down to the ground.

On the neighbor's advice, Frédéric planted potatoes where the stumps were, to kill weeds, or hedge roots, or something. (Yeah, I'm not the one with the green thumb, don't ask me.) Who has potatoes growing in their front lawn? We do! (Guess who also doesn't have a homeowners' association? Good thing, huh?)

Time to Garden!

It's here, the moment we have been waiting for all winter... sunshine, warmer temperatures, and gardening!

Benjamin and Noah are very happy to help Frédéric prepare the vegetable garden. So far, they have planted lettuce, green beans, snow peas, and strawberries in the garden, and there are tomatoes and marigolds growing on the patio.

But in their opinion, the best part is the digging!

Happy Fourth Birthday to Noah!

It's like the Birthday That Never Ends around here. Noah's been living it up with birthday cards from grandparents and an early birthday celebration Sunday with his friends, and then his "real birthday" celebration today. He is a little disappointed to be only four and not jump straight from three to five, but hopefully he can deal with that letdown until next year. 

He enjoyed his presents (box from Kinder including the lovely glasses pictured below, Thomas birthday train that goes perfectly with his train tracks, game with words/letters)... 

but this was his favorite, the one he's been asking for for months. He was overjoyed with it, and told me that I don't have to vacuum anymore; he will do it. And he has, at least three times a day since he opened it. He would vacuum all day long if it stayed charged up long enough. He's even taught our French neighbors the words "vacuum cleaner" in English, because he always plays with their toy vacuum when we go to their house. 

The last four years have been kind of a blur, but we are hoping 4 is the magic age where Noah wants to start obeying and thinking up fewer crazy things to do. Shhhh, it's his birthday, don't disillusion me!

Slave Labor, Our Favorite!

Or, "Whatever we can do to keep them from fighting with each other." 

Benjamin's gotten very into helping Frédéric cook lately, something that had been Noah's domain for the past year or so. I asked him why the renewed interest. 

He told me, "Because when I am big, like 38, I need to know how to cook!" (It is with great relief that I note he plans to leave home by at least age 38.) 

So we put them both to work cutting up the mozzarella for Noah's birthday pizzas. 

They learn to cook, they don't fight with each other: win-win!