What a summer!

Where do I begin?  We had a fantastic summer visiting friends and family this summer!  It went by so quickly!!  I thought I'd do a better job keeping up with my blog, but that didn't really happen and now I have SO MANY pictures and stories to share, I'm not really sure where to begin!!

I'll do my best to keep it brief and only share the highlights...

The boys did awesome on the 16hr plane ride from Doha direct to Houston.  We stayed with Ken's parents in Houston and the boys loved catching up with their cousins Tiffany and Alex.  Unfortunately we also had to spend a lot of time in doctor's offices - I underestimated how much time that would take ... between primary care, dentists, optometrists, dermatologists, lab work, follow-ups, specialists, etc, etc etc ... we had 23 doctor appointments!!  It wasn't much fun, but we're all healthy and well ... the boys are still too small (especially Nicholas), but otherwise, we're all doing well.

We did squeeze in some fun things in between all the doctor visits ...

Tiffany did awesome in her dance recital! 
I think Nicholas is smiling in his sleep here ...
we couldn't rouse Jaden to get in the picture. 
Jet lag is rough when you're only 4 and 6!!

 We spent one Saturday with our dear friends the Carneys.  It was a beautiful day at their grandparents house.  We had a blast on the bayou ... the kayak, the rope swing, the jet ski, the boat, and water skiing.  It was my first time to ever try to waterski and I must say -- I LOVED IT!!!  Ryan was a great teacher and I got up on my very first try!!!  Next time I want to tackle jumping over the wakes.  I was too nervous to try this time. 

John, Nicholas, Jaden and Evelyn on the kayak

Jaden learning to waterski:

Nicholas on the jet ski

 The Carney's also introduced us to Sky High ... an indoor trampoline park.  The kids loved to jump around!  The foam pit and the dodge ball areas were by far the favorites!!!  So much fun!!



ready for some dodge ball with John

 

in line to jump into the foam pits with Caroline

piggy back rides with Evelyn and John

best buddies!

 We had to take the boys back to one of their favorites Houston spots - Space Center Houston!  They have made quite a few improvements since last year...the exhibits were a ton of fun!  We also had lunch with a real live astronaut!!  The boys thought it was so cool!!  Ken and I enjoyed it too!

at NASA

Lunch with an Astronaut

 The Houston Children's Museum is close to the Medical Center, so we snuck in a visit before one of Nicholas' appointments...

Houston Children's Museum

Nicholas driving

fighting over the fish

Jaden caught his brother

They LOVED the magnets!

fancy puzzles

 After nearly 2 weeks, the boys desperately missed going to the pool, so I took them to the indoor pool in Angleton ... we love the water slides and sprayers and the little lazy river.  Plus it's indoors, so no sunscreen!  Yeah!!

 

 

Our last day in Houston was the first day of Vacation Bible School at our church.  The boys had such a good time with their friends and we hated that we couldn't stay for the entire week. 

 

With Abby and Annabelle at VBS



Driving the go carts at It's Pizza after VBS

Nicholas was so proud to get a prize from one of those claw machines!!

Looking back through our pictures, I realize that I was a terrible photographer this summer!  Shame on me!!!  No pictures with Ken's parents or of all the cousins together.  We also enjoyed several nights out with Erik and Meg, our old neighbors, our church friends, so many other memories not captured on film.  We are truly blessed to have so many friends and family to visit with on our summers!!  The hospitality was so very appreciated!!  We love and miss you all!!

 I'll post again soon with pictures from the St. Louis portion of our summer...

Tomorrow!!!

In 9 hours, our taxi comes to pick us up to take us to the airport!!!  Not super excited about a 16 hr flight, but we can't wait to see everyone!!!

Kensuke's Bday

Nicholas didn't get a chance to say goodbye to his best friend from school because Kensuke and his family were on vacation on Nicholas' last day of school.  (Nicholas' school is technically still in session, but I stopped taking Nicholas when Jaden school let out for the year.  It's a long story, not worth blogging about.)

Any hoo, we found out that Kensuke was going to be celebrating his birthday at school today, so I took Nicholas back to school for the party.  The look on their faces was priceless when we walked in the room!  They were SOOOO happy to see each other!!  They have such a sweet friendship!!  Unfortunately Kensuke and his family are moving back to Japan this summer, so we won't see them next year.  :-( 

Nicholas with best friend Kensuke

Home made "piñata" for the class - goes to show, you don't have to have
a fancy piñata for kids to have a blast!

big swing Nicholas!

Nicholas didn't rip it open, but he did rip a leg off!  Go Nicholas!!

Collecting candy that fell from the piñata

Good bye Kensuke!  We'll miss you next year!!

Summer is here!

This is our first week of summer and our first week of "Secret Agent Summer Missions."  Ken came up with a great idea for the summer - give the boys journals and give them a new "mission" every day.  The intent is to make missions that involve reading, writing, math, science, art, etc, etc.  A fun way to keep up their school skills.  I think it's a fantastic idea, but I'm a little concerned it may become a lot of work to maintain.  We'll see how long it lasts ... don't judge me if it doesn't last more than a few days!  At least we tried to make learning fun this summer!  :-)

So the first assignment was to simply come up with an Agent name and design a cover for their books.  Jaden chose the name "Agent J."  Can you guess what Nicholas chose??  Yes, "Agent N."  I believe the inspiration came from Agent P in the Phineas and Ferb book we just finished reading. 

Ken made up this story about how they were selected by the president to enter training for top secret agents and they ate it up!!  They were so excited to be secret agents, they watched secret agent videos on youtube and then we designed a laser beam obstacle training course down the hallway.  They had a blast making the lasers with yarn and then trying to crawl through it.  Hilarious!!  You should see me and Ken try to navigate through the web of lasers to put the boys to bed at night!!

 

 

Day two, they had to learn how to make and read maps.  We gave them a little treasure that they could hide and then they had to draw maps for each other to find the treasure.  Great creativity!

Tomorrow is day three and their mission is to find things around the house that start with each letter of the alphabet and take a picture.  They love any excuse to take pictures, so I'm sure it will be a hit!

Three more days until we leave for America ...

Jaden's Grasshopper Party

I had so much fun organizing Jaden's end of year party at school!  I even let Nicholas skip school so he could be part of the festivities!  Jaden's class were called the Grasshoppers all year, so I put together a grasshopper themed party for his class.  I wish I had taken pictures during the party, but I was too busy playing with the kids and I completely forgot!  :-(

I made grasshopper party hats for all the kids ...

Jaden models grasshopper hat after I made them at home

grasshopper class listening to story while games are set up

For the party, I set up 4 stations ... I love pinterest for game ideas!!
1.  Bug bingo game - roll the dice and add the 2 numbers, first to get Bingo wins a spoon full of rocks (yes I found chocolate rocks at the Souq!)
2.  Gone buggy game - first to fill their "jar" with 7 plastic bugs wins.  But don't roll a fly swatter / bug spray or you lose 1 bug / your whole jar!
3.  Draw a grasshopper game - add parts of the grasshopper to your drawing depending on what number you roll
4.  Build a grasshopper craft using plastic easter eggs, pipe cleaners, and other odds and ends.  Plus I found LED tea lights to put inside so the bugs glow!  I think the lights were the kids favorite part!!

We ended the stations with a bug movement game (march like and ant, jump like a grasshopper, etc, etc). 

For dessert I made a chocolate mint flavored "grasshopper" cake.

It was crazy fun!!  I'm going to miss Jaden's class and his amazing teacher!!!  It was a fantastic year!!!

Best birthday ever!

We don’t normally do very much for our birthdays … maybe go out for dinner, but that’s usually it.  This year was especially nice.  I’m wondering if everyone got the year wrong and thought this was the big 4-0, but I’m still a couple years shy of that milestone.  Whatever the reason, it was a very nice surprise!

It started the night before, when I checked our mailbox and found not 1 but 2 cards in the mail!  We rarely get mail here … and people have to really plan ahead to get birthday cards to us in time (it takes a couple of weeks to get mail from the states).  The first card was from my parents … handmade by mom of course.  The second was from my in-laws.  A very rare treat as they don’t often send cards and it held a very sweet sentiment.  I love my family!

On my birthday, I got to sleep in while the boys made me breakfast in bed – waffles with strawberries and blueberries on top.  Ken gave me THE COOLEST necklace!!  It has 2 heart shaped charms – one for each of the boys – with their name and fingerprint engraved on it.  The back side has their age engraved.  I love it!!!

 Of course, in typical Ken fashion, it’s not just a beautiful gift, but a sample of what he would like for me to launch as a side business!  I love his entrepreneurial spirit and I’m sure he wishes I had just a fraction of his passion for starting my own business.  This would be cool to do, so I’ll have to at least check it out … maybe you can order from me in the future!  :-)

To top it all off, we got a babysitter and Ken took me to see the show Stomp.  The show was AMAZING!!!!  So much talent and creativity!!  They play the most amazing music with everything from broomsticks to matchsticks to trash cans and paint buckets to newspaper and plastic trash bags!!  I wasn’t expecting humor and audience participation as well!!  If you ever get the chance to see this show – you should!!  

Of course, not everything was perfect for my birthday … we had a terrible sand storm and it felt like you were eating dust when you walked outside (which you most certainly were). There was a ridiculously thick layer of sand on everything outside by the end of the day, so time to spray everything down today.  :-( 

Dinner was also very funny – we don’t always have the best luck with restaurants in Doha.  For our anniversary last year, we went to dinner and a movie, but we couldn’t find a restaurant for the life of us and we ended up eating chocolate fondue for dinner.  I tease Ken that after 8 years of marriage, I don’t even get a proper dinner to celebrate!  Last night was almost as funny … we tried a new restaurant in one of the malls, but they didn’t have many tables left, so we literally sat in the main hallway of the mall.  I felt rather exposed.  I tried the vegetarian option from the menu, but it wasn’t exactly plated the way it was described on the menu.  The menu made it sound like a veggie platter … turned out to be a mashed potato sandwich!  Really??  Can’t say I’ve ever had a mashed potato sandwich before!!  I can check that off my list.  It wasn’t terrible – it actually had a lot of flavor and seasoning, but I can’t say I need carbs on carbs!

All things considered, it was still one really great birthday – maybe even the best birthday ever!  I’m so spoiled – thanks to my boys!!

Nicholas’ End of Year Program

Nicholas’ nursery school held their end of year program this week.  Ken took the day off and we got there early so as not to miss it again (remember I got stuck in traffic and missed his foreign language concert).  Nicholas can definitely be on the shy side around new people and new experiences, but I’m happy to say there is no shyness at all up on stage!!!  There may be some of me in him after all!!!  Not sure if it will be clear in the videos, but he was definitely the loudest singer in his class.  He was smiling and dancing and having a great time!!

Happy family after the program:

The nursery staff did a great job making the background stage:

Nicholas dancing away to the Hokey Pokey:

 

The knee knocking was my favorite move:

Smile for the camera:

 

Nicholas has learned to snap this year and it’s become quite a little habit … he snaps all the time now!

 

And here are the videos…