Staying Busy!

Bare with us as it seems like it has taken us forever to get a new post posted. We don't know where out time has gone, but it seems like since our classes have gotten started again, we have been searching for time again...

But last week, Liz had a great opportunity to take the kids to a local park with some other like-minded friends and some National ladies with their kids. It was fun and unfortunately Liz was not able to practice her Arabic as much as she had hoped because she was chasing Micah all over the park. BUT, got some cute pics in the process...

It is so hard to find "decent" and "safe" swings for kids in the Middle East (at least where we live). It's very unlikely that swings here will have a front bar (so the kids don't fall forward and on to the ground.) But we have discovered this new park, with newer equipment that has safe swings! Yeah!!!

And even though this park toy isn't a horse, Micah still seems to call it "horsey" anyway! Funny how anything that rocks back and forth is automatically considered a "horsey" (according to Morgan and Micah)

Morgan loves these merry-go-round things.. not sure how it doesn't make all of the kids dizzy, but they love them! And of course, any excuse for Morgan to pose for the camera!!

And here's Micah and Lucy... attempting to share but none the less, playing together (what they do best.. next to fighting over the same toy!). Lucy was sweet, holding on to Micah with one hand and on the handle with the other hand, but unfortunately, Micah was trying to bump her off... BOYS!!!???

Will plan to update again... and sooner this time!

Messy but Yummy!

Weekends are the days we look forward to most... Why?...Because we don't have classes to attend and we can spend time together as a family. Sometimes Randall has to run errands or travel a bit, which leaves Liz alone with the kids... What to do???

Sometimes I (Liz) have to think outside the box and get creative with our minimal resources we have in our city and with no car... So this past weekend, I decided to make jello and then let the kids make jigglers out of it. It seemed like a good idea at first...

Here's Morgan really excited (after a long wait for a "fun surprise")... She has been waiting to use our new cookie cutters... And Micah, not sure what he was doing probably eating sprinkles!

Here's the 1st jiggler! Morgan was very proud of her butterfly and the best part was putting the sprinkles on, especially the pink ones!

And then there was Micah... eating part of his flower jiggler!

I guess Morgan decided she needed more sprinkles! She was very precise on where she put her sprinkles...

Morgan and her 2 Big and Very Thick Jello-Jigglers!!! (IF there's a next time, I will use a bigger pan to thin out the jello and allow the kids to make more then 2 jiggler, esp with our huge cookie cutters!!!

Well, I tried to get a picture of the "finished product", but as you can see, "someone" couldn't wait to eat His jiggler and "someone else" couldn't wait to pick Her sprinkles off of her flower!!! Oh well! It was a nice attempt to get creative with the kids... a little messy? YES! But very yummy, according to the 2 artist!

Any other creative ideas we can do inside with minimal supplies is welcomed!!!

Micah's 2nd, 2nd Birthday Party!

Last week, we celebrated Micah's 2nd Birthday with an actual Birthday party with some of our friends. This year we did a joint birthday party with his friend Lucy who turned 2 y/o exactly 2 weeks after Micah. Micah and Lucy have been friends since they were 3 months old and its been fun watching them grow up together. Here are the highlights of their party...

What's a party without yummy food? Although, most of the food was to the adult's liking over the kids... we figure it this way: the kids entertain themselves with balloons and toys and the adults entertain themselves with conversation and food!

This year's "theme" was balloons... we had Toy Story balloons, Lighting McQueen/Cars balloons and of course balloon cupcakes that served as the cake!

And here they are: Birthday Girl and Birthday Boy enjoying their individual star cupcakes! Although, if you look closely, Micah is eating icing with a spoon, not so much the cake... which equaled a Big sugar rush 30 minutes later!

Guilty as charged! It's confirmed: all icing, no cake!

Here's Big Sister, enjoying her yummy cupcake too! No pink cupcakes, so red was the next closest color! If you look closely in this picture, Morgan has a nice red ring of icing around her lips and red teeth as well!

And on to the "real food"... which we parents learned that giving your kids spoonfuls of icing first and then expecting them to eat the "real food" doesn't really work well; hence the full plate!

We had a fun time and Micah and Lucy enjoyed their 2nd Birthday party!