The McQueen's

Family Vacation Part 3

2012-02-13T05:58:00.008-06:00

Here is an attempt to summarize our trip via pictures... We had a great time, visiting dear friends, relaxing at various beaches, exploring new areas, etc... And throughout our many hours spent in the car, our kids were champs!!! They were content (for the most part) with their movies, snacks, etc.. and of course there was the occasional "cat napping"... possibly just out of boredom...

This is a great interpretation of what a "perfect day at the beach" might look like for The McQueen family...

We then went to a local festival and it was divided part amusement park/cultural Bedouin Village set-up... we spent most of our time in the village part... here are some neat things we saw:

We had received previous advice to attending the festival from friends that we should ride the ferris wheel as a family... and so we did... it was an incredible view of the city at night time, despite that I (Liz) had a sick feeling in my stomach the entire ride as I tend to fear heights and it was my first time to ride one. The kids loved it and it was an overall neat experience for all of us!

We then explored outside the city towards the mountains... We came upon a sink hole, which apparently is a hole in the ground, filled with natural rock and water.. there was a stair-well which lead down into the hole, allowing people to explore...it was beautiful!!!

See what's behind us??? Mountains!!!

This was a cool beach! Water on one side, mountains on the other side.

This is how Morgan spent her time at this beach:

This is how Micah spent his time (a.k.a. my heart (Liz) was pounding the entire time Micah was exploring on the rocks):

We then spent a morning at a local market (souq) in the city; of course our kids had to sit down in the middle of the chaos and eat their snack... the crowds didn't seem to bother them...

And our 3rd and final beach of the trip... just put sand and water in front of Morgan and she's content.. Micah on the other hand is our little explorer... from the previous post, this is the beach where he cut his heel and we took him to a clinic to get cleaned up.

All in all it was a great week and a half of rest and quality family time spent together. Happy to have gone and now happy to be home!

Vacation Part 2

2012-02-06T11:10:00.001-06:00

Still posting pics of our vacation away from home...

Here's our view of the awesome beach we went to the other day....

Here's a pic of our little dare devil... Micah was playing at the beach... stepped on some glass or a sharp rock, cut his heel pretty deep and so we found a nearby clinic to clean his foot & bandage him up. Poor Guy!! Like we're discovering everyday...all boy!!!

More pics to come...

The Local Festival

2012-02-02T12:03:00.002-06:00

Just a pic from the ferris wheel More to come... Part 1 of our vacation/road trip.....

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Happy 3rd Birthday Micah!

2012-01-25T23:42:00.003-06:00

Micah's actual Birthday was January 14... so yes this post is belated... But we didn't have his party until this past weekend with our friends. Here are a few pictures of his actual birthday on the 14th... Below is the candle he blew out on top of a piece of cookie; the "real" cake is to come...

A friend gave me the idea of creating your own wrapping paper.. So I took some butcher paper we had, decorated it, then wrapped his presents in it...

As you can see, our 3 y/o is crazy about Trains!!!

The rest of the post is from Micah's Birthday Party...

Since the party was trained themed, we used Micah's train mat to play "pin the train on the track" with all the kids. So each kid colored a cut-out paper train, then was blind-folded, Randall spun them around 3 times and then they pinned their train on the track (or as close as they could get). What was really fun was that some of our Arab friends came to the party and had never played a game like this... Or had ever attended an "American" Birthday Party before!

Here are the kids anxiously awaiting the cake!!!

And here's my 1st attempt to make a train cake for my little Birthday Boy!

I guess Micah liked his cake.. seeing as he is wearing it on his face!

And here's a little video we put together to sum up Micah's party...Enjoy!

HAPPY 3rd BIRTHDAY MICAH! We LOVE You!!!

A Day Without Electricity & Water...

2012-01-13T14:19:00.002-06:00

This past week we received a notice informing us that on Wednesday, the city was turning off our electricity and water from 7:30am-5pm... The first thing that went through my mind was "Did we forget to pay the bills???" But Randall assured me he had taken care of that and after talking to our neighbors, we soon found out that they too received the same notice. So what did we do? The only thing we knew to do: PREPARE... well, sort of....

So we took showers the night before, dried our hair, etc, made sure clothes were ironed if needed, etc. I then got up earlier that morning to make chocolate mill/juice cups for the kids and grabbed some eggs and apples for breakfast; gathered our cooler packs and set everything in our cooler. We knew that if we didn't open the fridge or freezer when the electricity is out, the food had a better chance of staying cool longer...

Thankfully, we have gas stoves in this part of the world, so we were still able to enjoy a "hot" breakfast...

But when the kids woke up and could not watch TV... we found substitutes to keep them entertained while we got ready to leave the house for the day... iPod and iPad (we made sure to charge them the night before)...Thank you Apple!

And to help pass the time, I had set an eye Dr. Appt that morning; went to that and then we headed for the Mall... Another genus idea: A Huge Indoor Play Area for Kids!!!

This definitely kept the kids entertained for a while...

So while the kids played... we caught up on emails, FB, books we are currently reading, etc... Can I just say that we only thought we were prepared to spend a day out of the house (really only to find out, we had prepared for the morning time only)... that is until we realized we had not had our daily caffeine for the day, did not pack snacks/drinks for the kids, etc.. Therefore, we ended up buying what we needed and "survived" the time...

Thankfully they turned everything back on by 2pm, just in time for nap time. Yeah!

Extended "Christmas Break"...

2012-01-05T05:08:00.003-06:00

And the fun continued even after Christmas Day! Our friends Brad, Alison and Lucy had never visited our country before so we took them to explore... First we went out to explore this huge tree in the middle of the desert... with no water resource nearby...not sure how its still alive...

Here we are, attempting to take a Family Pic..although it was super windy that day!

Alison, Lucy, & Brad's Family pic turned out really cute!

Awww...just like when we were dating.. haha! kind of cheesy? Yes we know! (but we have to take advantage when other adults are around to take our pic.. usually it ends up being one of us with the kids in the picture, while the other one is the photographer!)

The Guys...(boys will be boys!)

And The Girls... (notice, we are a little closer to the ground!)

Then we went to a camel farm: Randall and the kids are feeding a 1 week old Camel!!! We considered having a new pet.. but if you know anything about camels on this side of the world... they are SO EXPENSIVE!!!

Our 3 little ones were fearless! They would go up to the camels, feed them straw and be within inches of their faces, which meant they were inches from their mouths too!! It did not even phase the kids how small they were and how big those camels were.

We then spent a day at an indoor watermark! It was a lot of fun!

At this point, Micah and Lucy were just running off of pure adrenaline as they skipped their nap time that day!

We had such a great week with our dear friends. This was our 3rd Christmas spent overseas and our 3rd Christmas spent with our friends. Such a blessing to have friends who are like family to us! Love you guys!

And finally... this was our "official" Family Christmas Picture of 2011. We hope each of you had a blessed Christmas and that 2012 is treating you well thus far!

Our 3rd Christmas in the Desert

2011-12-26T00:49:00.005-06:00

This is yet another long, slightly overdue post... Things have been busy in our household and we have much to share with you... As to be expected, I had another "photo shoot" with the kids... Its tricky taking the pictures and entertaining them, bribing them to smile at the same time!

Love this one of Morgan!!!

Micah is seriously starting to favor Randall... good thing, there are some handsome genes in the family! :)

Santa Clause is kindof a foreign concept on this side of the world... Our kids are not sure what to think of the idea of Santa Clause and the whole chimney thing, stuffing the stockings, naughty or nice, etc... And by the looks of this next picture, you can see why the confusion sets in so deep in our kids... This is a Santa Clause Mannequin at a local grocery store...

What's Christmas without all the fun, holiday sweets? White Chocolate Covered Pretzels...

Gingerbread Men (1st attempt to make these & they were yummy!!!)

And this has become a new tradition: decorating Sugar Christmas Cookies with friends!

I tried to get crafty with the kids this year.. these are Christmas trees with the kid's handprints (in paint) as the tree and their fingerprints (in paint) as the ornaments...

These are homemade ornaments we made with our friends.. involved all the baking goods, cooking in the oven, etc... but then they hardened and the kids painted them and hung them on the tree...

We found green nail polish at a store so I painted Morgan and her friend's fingers red and green!

The best part of Christmas: Spending time with Loved Ones!!!

We were blessed to have our friends fly over and visit us for Christmas! Here are the kids greeting Lucy at the airport!

My sweet friend Alison

Randall and Brad... entertaining the kids at the mall, on a free train ride, while Alison and I hit the shops!

Christmas Morning...Morgan was on cloud 9 because "Santa" brought her a Ken Doll

(her 1st one ever!!!)

Randall and his new pull-up bar!

As you can see, Micah was very busy with his trains!!!

We were then blessed to host a Christmas gathering for 37 people at our house...

20 Adults & 17 kids. One of the Moms put together a Christmas Play for the kids..re-enacting the Nativity Scene... Morgan was an Angel (yes in a pink dress) and Micah was suppose to be a Shepherd but decided playing with his new trains was more important...

This was our 3rd Christmas in the Desert and we continue to be so blessed, surrounded by loved ones. We hope you had a wonderful Christmas as well and look forward to celebrating with you next year in the States! Merry Christmas!!

We received a card in the mail and inside of it was this awesome message we wanted to share with you...

What does it all mean? The symbols in the 12 Days of Christmas Song:

The Partridge in a Pear Tree (Jesus Christ)

2 Turtle Doves (The Old and New Testaments)

3 French Hens (Faith, Hope and Love)

4 Calling Birds (The 4 Gospels: Matthew, Mark, Luke and John)

5 Golden Rings (The 1st 5 Books in the Old Testament)

6 Geese-A-Laying (6 Days of Creation)

7 Swans-A-Swimming (The 7-Fold Gifts of the Holy Spirit: Prophesy, Serving, Teaching, Exhortation, Contribution, Leadership, and Mercy)

8 Maids-A-Milking (The 8 Beatitudes)

9 Ladies Dancing (The 9 Fruits of the Spirit: Love, Joy, Peace, Patience, Kindness, Goodness, Faithfulness, Gentleness, and SelfControl)

10 Lords-A-Leaping (The 10 Commandments)

11 Pipers Piping: (The 11 Faithful Disciples)

12 Drummers Drumming (The 12 Points of Belief in the Apostles' Creed)

Somebody Turned 30!!!

2011-12-13T06:32:00.002-06:00

We celebrated Randall's 30th Birthday yesterday 12/12/2011. It was kindof an all weekend long celebration as we started on Friday the 9th when we were at our House Group. Randall's favorite cake is "Better Then Almost Anything Cake" (although there are many different titles to this cake!!!)... so on our last road trip, we were able to find toffee candy a.k.a. heath bar wannabe candy at IKEA... and the rest of the ingredients I was able to find here on the island.

The actual day of the 9th was Abby's 7th Birthday, so we did a dual celebration! We like to think that each of the candles represents the #10 to equal 30!!!

But the night before Randall's actual birthday, the kids and I got to work in the kitchen while Daddy was at work...

One of Randall's favorite breakfast foods is blueberry muffins... but I totally forgot to look for mix at the store, so I got creative. I took a bag of frozen berries from the freezer and made Berry and Oat Muffins as a substitute... pretty healthy (for muffins); had flaxseed, wheat flour and berries in the mix. Micah's job was to help pour the dry ingredients as well as line the muffin pan with liners! He and Morgan were my Big helpers!!!

Here's the final product!! They were yummy!!!

Next the kids got busy making B-Day cards for Randall... Morgan took her job very seriously!

Birthday Breakfast is served!!! I ended up going out later the night before and bought blueberry muffin mix with the fear that the Birthday Boy might not like the substitute muffins...

Better to play it safe!!! But He liked both kinds!! (Thankfully I married a man who is not picky!!)

And to top off Randall's birthday, our friends took care of the kids while we went out to one of Randall's favorite restaurants: Chili's

We continued our date night back in our own living room where we had rented State of Play(which by the way we recommend to all those who have not see it; great movie!).

Happy 30th Birthday Randall!!! We Love You!

Road Trip!

2011-12-07T02:59:00.004-06:00

Recently we went on a road trip; decided that we would take the family on one of Randall's business trips... (hey, we like to explore as well!) Funny thing, living on an island, we have to pass through one of the most conservative countries in order to travel to any other country by car. Of course the one day we decide to travel... its raining!

And to give you a "hint" of which conservative country we had to travel through; take a guess by my outer appearance:

Once we got through our 1st border of country #1, we thought we would reward the kids with a yummy, although not so healthy of a breakfast! At this point, we had already been traveling 1.5 hrs as the rain seemed to slow everyone down, possibly helped the border workers to feel "unmotivated" to work quickly at the customs booth, seeing as it was a long, waiting process for us... And we knew we had at least 3+ hrs left to travel before we reached our destination.

Happy Kids = Happy Parents, esp cooped up in a car!

At last we made it! And the wait was well worth it!!! Isn't this view amazing? So peaceful.. although very chilly, we enjoyed every second of this view!

It did help that there was a play area on the cornish for the kids; great set-up: Kids played with Daddy while Mommy enjoyed the view, chilly weather and...

A Nice, Warm, Yummy Starbucks!!!

Another incredible view of the outline of the city!

Hence the towers, I'm sure you can guess where we visited!

Another cool tower in the middle of the city!

Of course, we added a morning of fun for the family! Decided a long time ago, the phrase "All Work, No Play" was not a phrase we were going to live by... And So we Played...

If you could only see how happy our little boy was when he saw the train at the zoo! Micah loves trains... he somehow manages to create anything into a train, makes the noises and all... And to be able to ride on a "train"... made his day!

Brave Daddy! He thought it would be funny to entertain the kids by "feeding" a moose or a deer... you decide.. the interesting thing about this zoo is that we were able to get really close to the animals... maybe a little too close!

Isn't this bear sweet? At least that is what our kids kept saying; "Aww, look at that bear, he's so sweet!" (looks like the coca-cola bear in my opinion!)

Black Ducks? Really? This was a first for us!

During our 4 days, we were able to do much research on the living conditions, school costs for the kids, language options, possible job opportunities in the future, etc... Who knows, maybe we'll move countries in the near future??? But we agreed that the most amusing thing we continued to see in all public places was this:

Notice, its a trashcan with an ash tray on top, with freshly used cigarettes in it, reading "Thank you for not Smoking!"

So Much to be Thankful For

2011-11-25T14:23:00.004-06:00

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving this year, spent with our family away from family. It was our 3rd Thanksgiving in the Middle East and we have so much to be thankful for. On the actual Day of Thanksgiving Thursday, Nov 24, we had homemade cinnamon rolls and coffee with our friends, while the Macy's Day Parade from 2010 played in the background. The kids enjoyed making crafts and playing together. Then On Friday November 25, we celebrated with a Traditional Thanksgiving Meal with our family on this side of the world.

Enjoy some of the neat crafts that gave an extra special feel to our Thanksgiving this year:

We made Thankful Turkeys as individual families

The kids made Pilgrims/Indians out of toilet paper rolls and construction paper.. correction, the Moms made the craft while the kids chose the paper color! haha! It was funny after about the 1st 5 mins when we lost the kid's attention span to toys and found ourselves (us Moms) doing the craft!!!

Micah made this turkey with finger paint and his fingerprints

Then we made edible turkeys using homemade popcorn balls as the body and a variety of yummy treats for the feathers, face and feet... You don't see Micah's turkey in this picture because he ate each feather as we strung the food on the tooth picks and then before I could help him start over, he had already taken a huge chunk out of the popcorn ball!

Hey, someone should really feed this kid!!!

Randall's favorite part of Thanksgiving is Pecan Pie. And the "problem" is that Liz doesn't like pies and so she never makes them and always counts on someone else to make "THE PECAN PIE" for the Big Thanksgiving Day for Randall... Well this year, I (Liz) decided to try and make THE Pecan Pie ...First of all, I signed myself to bring pecan pie to the meal with 20 other people (so I was committed!!!), then I researched pie crust recipes... found one, tried it out, made a spinach quiche to taste it.. tasted good! So I made the official pie crust for The Pecan Pie and then found a recipe for Pecan Pie... However, for all you Bakers out there reading this, I found a recipe that did not include Karo Syrup (corn syrup)... thought I'd try it out.. why not? I don't like pies, never made one before, so nothing to compare it to... RIGHT?

WRONG! When I took the pie out of the oven, the look on my surprised Husband's face was not very encouraging for me, who was trying to meet her husband's Thanksgiving "needs"...

A little scared, anxious and somewhat stressed out... awaiting the moment of truth... meal had settled enough.. time for dessert... I watched as Randall dished his pecan pie (The one thing he had been waiting for since last year's Thanksgiving) onto his plate...He took a bite and...

Smirked over at me!!! He said "This is pretty good"

HALLELUJAH! Music to my ears!!!

Then in the car on the way home, I asked him what he really thought and he said (and I quote) "I thought it was really good.. I might even like it better then the traditional pecan pie with Karo syrup"...As the title of this blog reads... so much to be thankful for!

Just a few shots of our family, celebrating Thanksgiving together

We hope you too had a blessed day, remembering all we have to be thankful for!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

Time Away...

2011-11-16T06:29:00.008-06:00

Look at this view!!! Isn't it beautiful??? This is what we woke up to everyday for a week as we spent time away from our country and visited another nearby. It was incredible!!! And oh how we miss seeing mountains everyday!!!

Here's One Tired Boy after traveling all night!!!!

If you notice, there's ice cream in Micah's hand, this helped him to get over exhaustion from traveling!!! Not to mention, another great view!

The Mediterranean Sea on One side of us...

And mountains on the Other side!!! Perfect Combination!

The kids reunited with their close friend, Lucy! And what a sight these 3 were, TOGETHER!

So Sweet! (They held hands most every time they were together)

And we had to share with you Micah's favorite thing to do while on vacation:

Yep! Ice Cream! This kid could live off of Ice Cream alone, if we let him (which by the way, we don't!)

Daddy-Morgan Time!

Couldn't resist a picture with such a gorgeous background!!!

Isn't our God the creator of everything? He truly is an Artist and look at some of His work that we were able to experience....

Asking for Your Prayers...

2011-10-29T14:29:00.003-05:00

We wanted to ask for prayers for Randall's Dad, Doug. He was recently diagnosed with Follicular Cancer, Stage 4 and has just completed his first round of treatment. For those who don't know Doug, we thought we would share just a glimpse of how much he means to us:

Obviously, he has good taste in NBA Teams!!!

March 9, 2007, Doug couldn't take his eyes off of his first grand-daughter!

Then on January 14, 2009, Doug fell in love with his first grand-son!

G.Pa loves his grandkids!!!

And clearly, they love him too!

Its hard for us being on opposite sides of the world but we cherish the moments we are all together as a family.

"Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus." (Philippians 4:6-7)

Preschool & "Pre" Preschool

2011-10-20T08:16:00.004-05:00

We are well into our 1st semester of preschool (homeschool) for the kids. So far, things are working out well and the kids are enjoying a change in our routine. Here is a glimpse of what we have been up to:

Morgan and Micah having breakfast on the 1st day of school

Here's the bright student now.. backpack on, filled with new school supplies (Mom's favorite part)

Since we are doing homeschool in a group setting, we have a carpool system to get the kids to and from their respected homes/classrooms... Here's Morgan and Joseph on the 1st day!

And now introducing: our "pre" preschoolers"! Here's Micah and Faith (both 2 y/o) in the other car

And Karis (6 mos) is a part of our "pre" preschoolers a.k.a. younger siblings of the preschool kids

This is what we do: We Play!

And we Play some more!

2nd day of school:

2nd day: We practice sharing and singing our ABC's!

Of course there's snack time!

Busy, Bright Minds at Work!!!

And Creativity! (notice, Micah and Faith each have a book, a flashlight and are growing smarter as they "study" in our "bed-tent".. princess and brown bear book, what could be more educating???

Morgan in her new school clothes! Proud to be a preschooler!

What a blessing it has been to have kids close in age to Morgan and Micah in our new country. We are very fortunate to have willing Moms who are excited to teach the kids and give of their time and energy to run the homeschool group. On my (Liz) side of things, it is also a blessing for me to have the "pre" preschoolers" and get to love on them while the big kids are in school.

Stay tuned for more pics and projects of our "Pre" & Preschoolers... Check out

http://joseph-faith.blogspot.com/ for more pics of the bigger kids!

Weekend Get-Away!

2011-10-05T01:54:00.002-05:00

This past weekend I (Liz) was able to take a trip to visit some old friends (where we studied in language school), the key part was that I was alone a.k.a. without the kids!!! I will try to sum up my short but refreshing weekend...

Here we are Thursday late afternoon, saying goodbye at the airport... Morgan knew the day before that Mommy was taking a trip and got her tears out then. However, this was a Big surprise for Micah, who didn't like seeing Mommy leave.

I have to admit, it was really weird traveling alone without Randall and the kids... kind of nice because I got to sit and watch all of the other Mom's chase after their kids in the airport, but a little nerve-racking at the same time because it was my first time to fly within the Middle East alone, without my family. So, to pass the time, I enjoyed a yummy smoothie and a great book!!! (Love me some Francine Rivers!!!)

After reuniting with my friends at the airport, closing down a mall (12:30 a.m.), driving to their house, we finally arrived at 3:00 a.m. and went to bed. The next day, we had planned to visit some of our Arab friends and here are the gifts I brought to give them (incense burners) made out of pottery (which they seemed to like after opening)!

Another first: One of my close Arab friends asked me to stay the night at her house; our visit started around 10pm and we stayed up talking until 1:30a.m. and finally said our good-nights! Here is a pic of the room I slept in...

And here is the time I finally went to sleep... talk about 2 late nights in a row!!!

The next day we visited another Arab friend and then headed to Dubai to meet up with some other dear friends... Here is Brit and I on the beach, just before eating lunch..

Happy Birthday Muna! We celebrated her birthday at El Chico, yes there are many Western eating places in Dubai... and in my opinion, what better way to celebrate a birthday then eating Mexican food, but I guess that is the Texan in me!

And following our lunch, we shopped at IKEA (which is a must when coming to Dubai) and then met up with some more dear friends at a mall. I loved seeing my friends and realized how much I had missed them since our move in June. So thankful for email, texting programs, skype, etc...

After saying goodbye to all of our friends, Brittany, her husband Chase and I finally made it to our hotel around 3:30a.m. It was quite an adventure trying to find our place of rest for the night!!! This next picture sums up my trip: Tired (got about 15-16 hrs of sleep within 3 nights) but so Refreshed!!! A much needed time away for me to receive much encouragement and spend quality time with loved ones. As I waited for departure at the airport Sunday morning, I sat once again, observed the other Mom's trying to keep their children happy, running after them, etc, sipped on my Starbucks and reflected on my weekend... Notice: No Book!

And this is what I saw after gathering my bags and stamping back into our country:

Such a sweet reunion I had with Morgan, Micah and Randall. So thankful for time away and a loving family who missed me, yet allowed me to refuel for the weekend. Happy to be Home!

Beautiful View + Creativity

2011-09-29T02:57:00.003-05:00

Yesterday (Wednesday), we decided to go to the beach and play while Randall went on his Wednesday Weekly Bike Ride. Here is our view:

What's neat about this part of the beach is that there is a playground within steps of the water

It was very windy but Morgan still managed to cheese for the camera!

Waiting for Daddy to finish with his bike ride, ready to play in the water!

Since this beach trip was a last minute idea, we forgot our beach toys... so what did the kids decide to do???

Yes, those are bottle caps! They found a bunch of caps at the playground and decided to build stuff in the sand using the bottle caps... guess its never too early to teach the kids to keep the environment clean!!!

At last, Randall finished his bike ride and joined the kids in the water for a nice cool down, enjoying the beautiful sunset!!!

We have to get creative with our family time as we tend to get "Island Fever" every once and a while... but we make the most of the beautiful nature all around us... P.S. This is an informal invitation for all of you needing to get away from your part of the world!!!

Without a Bottom Tooth...

2011-09-20T08:00:00.002-05:00

As of today Morgan is 4 1/2 years old... and as of today Morgan is without 1 tooth!!! She lost her first tooth this morning. It all started a few weeks ago when she was showing us that she could move her tooth with her fingers and thought it was pretty cool. Then this past weekend, we were eating with friends and all of the sudden her tooth became Really loose! So Randall messed with it a bit and loosened it even more. And this morning at breakfast, she bit into her first bite of waffle and started screaming as she immediately saw blood.

"Yikes! It's Time!" thought Randall as he took a tissue, reached in and barely touched it before it came right out. He didn't even know it was out until he looked into the tissue. And this is a really "fresh picture" after the "some what traumatic" event....

Here she is at "her reward lunch"... we decided to eat out for lunch today and Morgan brought along her coins with the intent to spend it.

Here's a little background on that tooth: When Morgan was around 1 y/o and starting to walk, she fell and hit her bottom tooth on the stairs. We watched it closely the following year as it started turning dark (thankfully it was on the bottom, so it didn't effect her smile too much). Then we took her to a Dentist (back in the States) over 2 years ago and she did an x-ray and said that the root was dead and that she would not pull it, but for us to let it fall out naturally, since it was only a baby tooth.

If you look closely in these 2 pics, you can see on the bottom-center row, the dark little tooth.

Today after the tooth came out, we noticed that a new tooth is already coming in, but due to Morgan's age (by the way, the average age is 6 y/o for loosing a 1st tooth), we took her to the Dentist here to check it out and make sure it was not infected, esp since the hole is pretty deep. The Dentist said Morgan looks great and that so far, everything looks good! What a Praise!

And so she waits.... for the "tooth fairy" to add to her collection of coins!

Our Little Rock Star

2011-09-04T07:29:00.002-05:00

Its no secret that Micah takes after Randall in so many ways... his looks, his charm, his need of at least 8 hrs of sleep (haha) and recently, we learned of his love and talent for music (specifically the guitar!!!) I couldnt' help myself but create this video of Micah with Randall's guitar...

Enjoy!!! And for all of you gifted singers reading/watching this, I apologize in advance if Micah wasn't in the right key, but trust me, its a super cute performance!!!

Update from the Kid's Perspective...

2011-08-19T11:25:00.004-05:00

Since we are settled in now, we have made lots of time for play... play with new friends, play with old friends, swimming, watering our bushes, even watering our little patch of grass and riding our new bikes!!!

Our new friends!

Eating, of course.. on the floor with our friends at a friend's surprise B-Day Party!

Hiding in corner... thinking of how we can stir up something!!!

Watering our patch of grass!

Watering our bushes!

Swimming in our neighborhood pool!

Being Silly...What we do best!

And our newest hobby... riding our new bikes!!!

Freedom & Adventures

2011-08-09T02:27:00.002-05:00

After finally getting settled into our new country, new home and potty training Micah, we decided we earned the right to a date night without the kids... not to mention we celebrated our 7th Wedding Anniversary on August 7th, 2011.

Here we are, about to leave for our date...

One last hug from the kids before saying bye for the evening!

"Freedom!" On our way to dinner...no kiddy music, no screaming kids, just us..enjoying our time together!

When we were back in the States, something we used to do on special occasions was to eat out at Hibachi Grills, which means you order and they cook in front of you. Nice surprise to find one here in our new country!

Here we are, hungry and ready to watch our chef cook our meal!

So many yummy smells and such neat techniques our Chef had...

Final product of our Chef's Creation, which was all cooked on the grill in front of us. YUMMY!!

Then we walked around the mall for a while until it was time for our movie to start... a little late, but better then never...

Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides!! So glad they were still playing it here. Just as Awesome as the first 3 Pirate Movies!!! A Must See if you're a Pirate Fan!!!

And last but not least... considering we hardly ever post an update just about Randall and I... A new video of the kids. One of their favorite shows to watch is The Little Einsteins... It comes on the Disney Channel as a regular TV Show, but since we don't have cable, we just buy the episodes from itunes. It's such a fun, interactive show for the kids... and obviously made a BIG impression on our two:

Time, Patience & Consistency...

2011-07-28T08:42:00.002-05:00

As most of you know Micah is 2.5 y/o now and we figured that our time of transition has come to a pause for now... now that we moved countries and set up our new home. So, something I've (Liz) been dreading from the moment I heard "It's a boy!"... POTTY TRAINING!

Morgan was easy, she's a girl, I'm a girl, she was ready, I was ready... I knew what I was doing... haha! But then trying to prepare to train a little boy is a whole another thing! Especially a boy who is (or was) very comfortable in his diaper. But thankfully a good friend decided to start the same process with her daughter and sent me a great ebook: "3 Day Potty Training: Start Friday, Done Sunday!" By Kaylee Collins (3daypottytraining.com)

And here is what our past 3 days have consisted of:

Micah in a shirt only (either Thomas the Train or Lightening McQueen Cars) & Big Boy underwear: Have many pairs on hand! No time to do laundry in the 1st few days!

We even broke out the play dough, which I'm not a fan of.. hate the smell, but he loves it!

Of course, there's always the ipod that keeps his attention!

Lots of Mommy and Me Time!!!

Liquids are a must!!! In various forms: homemade popsicles (Thanks to Joyce for the containers!)

Of course juice in his regular sippy cups... notice the living room furniture is pushed back and we broke out the plastic chairs...and pulled up all rugs (just in case!)

And the things driving Micah's Success: Yummy Rewards! The first day we did 1 jelly bean for just sitting on the potty and 2 jelly beans for going pee; Days 2-3: 2 jelly beans for pee, M&Ms for poo (yes a little too much info, but there may be a parent reading this, preparing to train their little one)...

And the most important part of this post: Rewards for the Trainer!!! A Must Have! Especially after staying in the home at Micah's side for 3 days...But its been totally worth it as Micah has caught on so quickly and after the 1st day, has only had 1 accident and is verbally communicating "Potty!" to us. I guess he really was ready, it was me that wasn't. So if you're reading this feeling anxious or nervous about training your little one, don't be. It takes time, lots of patience and CONSISTENCY!!!

Now all we need to do to test it out, is leave the house! Yikes! Another post for another day!

A Place We Call Home

2011-07-20T03:35:00.003-05:00

Finally... all moved in and mostly set up... It actually feels like a home and we love it!!!

Here are some pics of our new home:

Living Room (view when you walk in from the front door)

Curtains & Rug will be changed soon

View from back side of living room

We found this really cool antique store and bought most of our big furniture there; gotta love those summer sales!!!

Kitchen; eventually we'll put a small table by the window

Love this cabinet (antique store)! Yes, its green but most importantly, its holding my nativity set (also view of front entry way)

Our eating area/living room is one big room

Dinning Table; bench & 4 chairs (from antique store too)

Kids' bathroom

Hallway leading into the bedrooms

Our room; we also have a bathroom connected to our room (but our room & guest room are the least finished rooms as of now)

One of our favorite things about this house: built-in wardrobes! (the closes thing we'll get to closets here)

Another favorite: built-in vanity/drawers as you enter into our room

Kid's room (Morgan's bed)

Micah's bed (notice the awesome artwork on the walls; Thanks to our good friend B who drew and painted them)

View when you walk in kid's room

We are so blessed to have found this house as it sits in a great neighborhood, outside of the downtown area and close to villages where a lot of local people live. It is a great feeling to have a place that you can call home and it also feels like home.

Tickets for 4...

2011-07-17T14:39:00.002-05:00

As a reward to Morgan and Micah for putting up with all of our craziness, living out of suitcases for the last 2 months, traveling, moving countries, making new friends, etc... we decided that they deserved a reward! So we had a family date and went to the movies.

It was our first time to go to the theaters as a family of 4 and somewhat expensive, I might add. Especially since Micah is such a devoted Cars fan, it was only appropriate that we take him to to see Cars 2 as his first official theater movie. (for those who don't remember, Morgan's 1st theater experience was Alvin and The Chipmunks 2). Here is an overview of our family date:

Here we are, kids anxiously waiting in line... as we were 5 mins late, but only missed the previews.

Our 1st (of many more to come) purchase of 4 movie tickets...

If you could have only seen the size of their eyes when they saw a window filled with tons of popcorn!!!

And of course, Morgan had to have her cheesy popcorn... takes after her Daddy!

Micah decided that he needed to hold his own bowl of popcorn too... So what did he do? What he always does best: Make friends with the one who works the popcorn stand.

Finally, in our seats... Someone's eyes were GLUED!!!

Can you believe they make T.V.s this Big???

And a girl's pic, taken in the dark of course! (luckily no one was sitting behind us)

This was one happy little boy!!! He loved his first theater experience!!!

It was a well- needed and long overdue family outing. We all enjoyed ourselves and look forward to the next family movie... that is after we start a savings account to afford the next time. Haha! A real treat for us all! If you haven't seen Cars 2, go see it! Its super cute!

Please continue checking our blog as we have finally moved and are sleeping in our new home now. We are taking pics as we set the rooms up and plan to post pics very soon!!!

New Hiding Place....

2011-07-10T01:43:00.003-05:00

So the other day I got busy doing multiple things at the same time (nothing new; haha!) and I realized that the house was very quiet and that Morgan and Micah were no where in sight.

Yikes! Where could they have gone?

We are new in this country... We don't know our neighbors...Cars drive down residential roads like they do on highways...And the list of possible anxieties go on and on...

Then I heard some giggling at a far distance (was quickly relieved) and this is what I found:

Oh, the 4th!!!

2011-07-05T00:58:00.003-05:00

We just celebrated our 3rd 4th of July on this side of the world. Its hard to believe that we have been here for 2 years now!!! For this 4th of July we got together with friends for an ice cream gathering.... We told our kids that we were going to get ice cream after dinner time...However once you say the word "Ice Cream" around these kids, they suddenly have a 1 track mind and don't want to eat their apples, peanut butter, pretzels, etc... they just wanted their ice cream. So this is a little idea of how our night went:

The wait began... Us Moms actually were early... and so we told the kids that they had to sit and wait until the daddies got there until they could have ice cream...

And they continued to wait... during this time Micah and Eli decided to move the tables and chairs around, run in and out of the near by coffee shop, stand on the rails, etc...

At last! The wait is over and we have happy kids!

If you look closely, you will see that the boys have cones from Mc Donald's and Morgan has pink ice cream with sprinkles from Baskin Robbins (we know who knows how to charm the parents)...

And if you look even closer, you will see that Eli's ice cream cone is eaten in half and dripping down his arm. No worries, after spending more time with Morgan and Micah, Eli will be eating ice cream cones like a champ! So cute that these 3 reunited again!!!

And this topped off our night! The adults decided that we were all hungry for real food, even though ice cream for dinner wan't a bad idea; so we decided to have burgers as a symbol that we were celebrating the 4th of July. We moved our gathering inside to give the kids more space to run around. However, Micah apparently was making eyes with the Baskin Robbins worker and standing at the window and next thing we noticed was him coming out of the store with a pink sample spoon, full of ice cream! Yes, our kid is quite the charmer! Either that or the worker felt sorry for this poor kid whose parents wouldn't buy him ice cream!!!

Transition is the Name of the Game

2011-07-02T06:59:00.002-05:00

As many of you know, our family has been in transition off and on for the last 2 years since we left the states. Currently, we just moved countries and are living in a temporary place until we find a suitable home for us. Since our last update a week ago, much has gone on and we thought we would share our last 48 hrs of our time in country #1 up until our time in the airport, awaiting to travel to country #2...

About 1 week before our moving date (June 30), the A/C in our car went out and thankfully we had our friend's car to drive around while our car sat in the garage... for 6 days! The day before we moved and had to drive ourselves 2 hrs to the airport, Randall was finally able to get our car with running, cold A/C. Then about 6 hrs later, our car battery died and Randall made his 2nd trip to the garage that day to get a new one.

Somewhere in all of the trips to the car repair place, one of the A/Cs in our house went out. It is definitely reaching the mid 110's now in the summer and A/C is a must! So, we had our A/C repair man come and take the window unit out and then bring it back; working about 8 hrs later.

In addition to the broken A/Cs, Randall went to pay our last internet bill and the internet company refused to take our $ and it turned into a big miscommunication. After telling them that we were moving out of country on Thursday, they told Randall to come back and pay on Saturday... "Hello??? We are giving you $, what's the problem? Take it!!!" At least that is what we thought... 1 hr later and after clearing up the communication, Randall was able to get the bill payed.

Here are the kids on the morning of our traveling and Big Move! Empty room, except a bed!

Here we are pulling out of our driveway for the last time... with a new car battery and cold A/C!

Due to border issues, we drove a longer route through the mountains to get to the big city, where the airport is. Along the way, we saw 1 dead dog and 1 dead donkey (just to add to our adventure)...

And here we are at the airport... 4 trunks, 3 duffles, 3 large suitcases, 2 car seats, 5 carry-on bags and a double stroller... I'm sure we were a sight to see!!!

To continue our "excitement" we ate Mc Donald's in the airport for lunch... $25 later... wasn't expecting that.. Guess the airport Mc D's thinks they have the right to double the prices!!!

About 45 mins after eating, Micah was running around with Randall and threw up all over his shirt and filed a duty-free bag 1/2 full!

Then to top everything off, our plane arrived to the airport 45 mins late, which gave us an extra 45 mins of just sitting with 2 tired kids, during nap time, but without their naps! But fortunately, the kids enjoyed the bus ride from the airport to the plane!

Morgan and Micah thought it was fun that there were swings (really handles) to hang from on the bus... In the end, the flight went great, the kids were awesome and we and all of our things made it to country #2. Praise Father for His Humor and for His Grace!

More updates to come as we start the search for our new home. Please bare with us as our internet connection is a temporary set up. And please continue to think of us, esp the kids as we continue playing the Transition Game.

Every Little Space Counts...

2011-06-24T04:42:00.002-05:00

We have not forgotten about all of you blog readers... seeing as it has been nearly 2 weeks since we've posted new pics and updates...just been "slightly" busy around here.

We are officially now living out of suitcases, boxes and trunks. It has been a packing marathon around here and now looking back 1 month ago when we started this process, we are so thankful we decided to pack at least 1 trunk per weekend. Now as we only have 6 more days until we move countries, we are not as stressed as we might have been if we hadn't started 1 month ago. It's amazing how much stuff you can accumulate in 2 yrs. Here are a few glimpses of what we are living in...

Poor Micah, no where to sit!

(just kidding, we still have chairs, just that he likes to climb!)

Pretty impressive, huh?

All of Morgan's clothes fit into 1 medium suitcase and all of Micah's clothes fit into a carry-on

We're even using the stairs (that lead up to the roof) as a place for storage

And last but not least... our what used to be Majilis (sitting room/living room)... But this is not our stuff... we actually are using this room as a storage room for the summer for our friends who will be living here for the next 1.5 yrs as they finish language school. In addition, another set of friends are also using this room to store all of their things for the summer as they travel home.

Its like a "dream" garage sale in my own house, except that none of its for sale... too bad!

Well, next time we update we should be in our new country... be thinking about us as we fly out Thursday June 30th!

Morgan's 1st Ballet Recital

2011-06-14T06:50:00.002-05:00

This past Sunday Morgan participated in her first ballet recital ever! She has discovered a new love and talent for dancing and has been taking ballet classes with a few of the other girls in town over the last 2 months. Our friend, Miss B danced her whole life and shared her love, expertise, and time with our girls. We are so thankful for her and are going to miss her!!!

Here they are after their "Big performance" (Morgan's in black)

Morgan "requested" that the parents throw flowers at the dancers after their performance because "real ballerinas" get flowers thrown at them! (notice the flower behind her ear)

Proud Lil Brother with Big Sissy!!! The funny thing was that after we got home from the recital, Micah started putting his hands over his head and ran around the house yelling "dancing!" Yikes! I think Randall wants his boy to play sports... we'll cross that when we get there!

Proud Mom and Dad with their little Ballerina!

And here is the video of the recital! Enjoy and be sure to tell Morgan how proud you are of her!

Middle Eastern Artwork

2011-06-07T07:49:00.002-05:00

We've posted previously pics of our Henna, but this past time Liz was able to get a step by step of how the henna is applied... Its definitely a process but worth the wait!!! Henna is a traditional type of artwork that the ladies do in celebration of a wedding, a new baby, a party of some type, a holiday, etc. Just as we might get a pedicure or a manicure in the States, they get henna done here.

Morgan wanted to go with Liz and get henna on our her hands... she was straining to smile in this picture because the chemicals in which henna is made from tend to sting a bit and Morgan was not a fan of the minor pain. However, Liz decided to get henna on her feet (for the first time) and it did not hurt at all, but it did have a distinct odor to it!

It feels like they are painting mud on you when they are designing the henna... It's usually a darkish, brown, almost black color at first. After the lady finishes the designs, you sit for nearly an hr so it can dry.

Then you wipe it off with a tissue and underneath, its typically orange! It flakes off...

The longer you allow it to dry, the darker orange it turns...

One happy little girl, free of pain!!! Morgan loved her henna!

And here's the final production of Liz's feet. The first 12 hrs, its an orangish color but it turns into a nice dark red/brown color within the first 24 hrs. Liz and Morgan went to a party with their National friends the following night and it was a lot of fun. Come visit us and we'll take you to get henna too! (total cost for our beauty: $10.89 U.S.) not bad, huh? And it stays on anywhere from 2-3 weeks.

Mini Vacation Part 2

2011-05-20T23:57:00.002-05:00

Here's a continuation of pics from our "mini vacation" we took a week ago...

This was the night of Mother's Day... we headed to a mall to eat at Chili's and this was Liz trying to get a "Happy Mother's Day" pic with the kids... but as you can see, it was just a typical moment as the kids were doing everything but smiling and not cooperating... haha, Happy Mother's Day anyway!!

We were able to stay at an apartment/hotel so we split it with our friends... and here are the kids vegging in front of the TV after a long, hot swim.

Here they are, actually in the pool... I think this was before Micah got brave to swim off on his own, but none the less, we still had fun!

Here he is... on his own and loving the water! Which is such a blessing because we were afraid he was going to have a fear of water from his previous experience in pools, beaches, etc.

Family pic! Trying to contain the kids while they are hungry is never an easy task!

Great pic of the dancing fountains in Dubai... what a sight!

Not very often do we actually get a picture without the kids... or even with both of us in it... but thanks to our friends, we finally captured one!

And what better way to end a trip then to see this awesome sign... Texas Roadhouse is coming to the Middle East! And the funny thing is: everyone in the pic is from Texas!!! What a great vacation, full of laughs, memories, great company, and well-needed rest.

Superman in a Swimsuit

2011-05-12T10:34:00.000-05:00

For anyone who has ever been with a 2 y/o who is afraid of water (except the bathtub) knows it can be scary when you practically force them to play in a big pool. And for anyone who has ever been around our 2 y/o when near a big pool or an ocean, knows that he is perfectly happy anywhere but in the water.

This past weekend we spent a little vacation in the Big City and enjoyed a lot of time of relaxation, yummy American food and lots of water time (at the beach and hotel pool). We eased Micah slowly into the pool and within 20 mins of conquering fears, he was jumping in on his own and couldn't get enough! Here are some pics we captured...

If it weren't for these arm floaties... Micah 110% relied on them and thought he was invincible in the deep end..hence he went all over the pool...without us helping him.

Proof! These floaties held him up the entire time! Isn't the spikey hair cool? Daddy thought he needed to have cool swim hair!

Here he is at the deep end.. fearless I tell you!

We tried letting him play in a raft, but he was not a fan of anything but those arm floaties!

And after the swim Micah refused to take off his arm floaties, so we draped a towel over him to dry him off and this is the result we got = Superman in a Swimsuit!

Stay tuned to more pics of our 4 day trip... we accidently left our camera at our friend's house and these pics are off a differ camera. Will post part 2 of our vacation soon!

Be sure to tell Micah how proud you are of him conquering his fears!

Oh the things you do to "buy time"

2011-05-02T10:05:00.002-05:00

The other day Randall was busy working on the computer and the kids, of course were interested in "helping Daddy" work a.k.a. bother and probably keep him from working. So I (Liz) decided to draw them into the kitchen and get them interested in food. Come on, who isn't interested in food, esp food that involves chocolate (jello pudding)?

So here we are, taking turns stirring the jello mix and milk... really it went like this: Micah would stir, Morgan would lick the chocolate off her spatula... then Morgan would get a new spatula or spoon of some sort and stir, while Micah licked the chocolate off his spatula...

Caught her! (what a great black mail pic)

This was their favorite part!!!

And the most important thing at the end of the night was that Morgan and Micah got to help "cook" the jello!

New Look!

2011-04-29T14:49:00.003-05:00

Hello to all of our Faithful Readers!

We finally decided to give our blog a new look, some new colors and a new, updated pic of the kids. Please let us know what you think... anything you wish we would add, take away or any suggestion(s) that would help us to draw you, as the reader in (even more).

We appreciate your thoughts and your comments! Stay tuned for more updates of our family (mainly the kids) soon!

Love,

The McQueens

Happy Easter!

2011-04-24T06:44:00.007-05:00

Happy Easter!

Today has been quite eventful as we celebrate Easter (a.k.a. Resurrection Day) here in the Middle East. Its interesting because one would never know it were Easter by going to the nearby grocery store because they do not celebrate this very important date in the cultural here. There is no Easter candy, baskets or chocolate bunnies in the stores (you know, all the "important things"). But thankfully, we have a community of Believers in our city to celebrate the real meaning of Easter with. Here is a look at how we spent our Easter Sunday...

We started out by going to a sunrise service in the desert, which started at 5:40 a.m.

As you can see, it was a little chilly in the desert before the sunrise, hince the blankets the kids were bundled up in!

Randall was asked to lead worship through music at the sunrise service and it was an amazing time of worship!

But none the less, just like any other service..Micah was able to turn the area into a "running" and play area! At least there were smiles that early in the morning!

And we hit wall #1! The kids did awesome and hung in there until about 7:20am and then the cranky behaviors came out!!! But we came home and enjoyed a yummy breakfast together!

Liz made cinnamon rolls from scratch (first time to ever work with dried yeast and they turned out great!) After breakfast, the kids squeezed in a nap before heading to a friend's house for lunch.

Here's Micah looking inside the eggs, hoping to find more candy after the first Easter egg hunt!!!

And then there's Morgan, playing with all the colored eggs... which by the way, we did color hard boiled eggs last night, just don't have the pictures on our computer yet.

Finally, all 4 of us awake, tired still as Randall and Liz still hadn't napped; this was wall #2 (for the kids and the parents!)

Today was a reminder of what our Heavenly Father did for us on the cross and how deep the Father's love is for us.. all of us.

Our Little Ballerina!

2011-04-15T07:28:00.002-05:00

As we (Randall and Liz) think about our childhood, we remember the fun activities we used to be involved in, like soccer, girl scouts (Liz), t-ball, pee-wee football, etc and then we think, "How are our kids going to have a "normal" childhood like us, while living in the Middle East???"

We soon realized that its all about the connections you have with people here... This semester we met some other Texans who are studying language in our city and come to find out, she's a dancer! What a connection Morgan and her have made as Morgan has really grown a love for dancing (not sure where she gets it.. haha)

So our friend has decided to start teaching ballet classes to Morgan and 3 other 3-4 y/o girls on the weekends and last weekend was their first class.... take a look at the pics...

Here's Morgan right before class..

And again, doing her "dance posses" for us!

She's already a natural as she has been walking on her tippy toes since she was 1 y/o!

And here's the class (well, minus 1 of the girls) during their snack time. What a blessing for us to have a group of families in our city with kids the same age.

Super cute! Ballet has been the "topic" of discussion this week and the question we hear everyday from Morgan is, "When is my next ballet class?" and "I can't wait til I get bigger and then I will be a real ballerina!"

What a praise for Morgan to have this opportunity to be involved in an activity she loves! We will continue to keep you updated with more pics!

The 4 D's

2011-03-30T07:36:00.002-05:00

Daddy-Daughter Date in Dubai!!!

This past weekend, Randall and Morgan had their first "Daddy Daughter Date in Dubai" and this was just the 1st of many dates to come! They first started off by driving the 2 hours to Dubai in the car and according to Randall, Morgan talked almost the entire way there. He said only in the last 15 minutes did he have to turn on a movie for her. Wow! That's a lot of talking!!!

Then they started their date at the huge Dubai Aquarium in Dubai Mall (over 3 stories high) and went through through the underwater zoo as well as the aquarium.

Here's the cute pair in front of one of the many fish tanks

She looks so grown up!

Here are a few of her favorite fishes and animals they saw...

This was a "bubble" that you go under and up in it so that it feels like you are actually in the tank. Thank you to some nice lady for taking the picture!

This might have been Morgan's first time to see a penguin. Amazing to think they actually have penguins in the Middle East... and ice too!

There was an employee of the underwater zoo who was holding a boa-constricter and allowing the people to hold or touch it.. And Morgan was among those who touched it!!! Brave Soul she is!

All in all, Morgan seemed to really love the aquarium and zoo and wants to take Mommy and Micah back some day!

After the aquarium, the next place they went to was Chili's! What a treat for them! And as they were sharing chips and salsa, the dialogue went something like this...

Morgan: "Daddy, when are we going on our date?

Randall: "We are on our date"

Morgan: "No we're not, we're at the eating place"

Randall: "Well, what do you think a date is?"

Morgan: "Its when 2 people are together and go to a special place by themselves where no other people can go"

Haha! The way her little mind works and the things she thinks of and says makes her sound so old! After eating, they shopped around at the mall and then ended their date by buying ice cream on their way home. How can you top that date???

Happy 4th Birthday Morgan!!!

2011-03-09T11:30:00.003-06:00

It's hard to believe that our Morgan is now 4 y/o! She is getting so big and changing so much! She has been anticipating her birthday for the last month and has been counting down the days until she turned 4 y/o. The funny thing is that when she woke up this morning, we sang Happy Birthday to her and said "Yeah! You're 4 y/o now!" And her answer took us by surprise as she replied, "No! I don't turn 4 y/o until my party today at the park!"

What a stinker! But still super cute!

This was a present from her teachers at school... so thoughtful!

And yes, this is Morgan receiving a manicure from her Daddy!

What a Great Daddy!

A girl has always gotta look her best! Especially for her own party!

We decided to have Morgan's party at the park and set up our princess table under a pavilion. The weather is still cool enough that we can be outside in the sun and not roast (yet)... As you can see, we had pink cupcake with pink icing, cute decorated sugar cookies (thanks to Alison!) and caffeine for the adults! Perfect afternoon snack before dinner time!

And the Birthday Girl is happy playing with her friends!

Caught her blowing out the candle.. it was a bit tough trying to keep the candles lit with the wind, so instead of 4 candles, we did 1.

And here's Micah... a little upset with Mommy because she pulled the paper away from the cupcake.."Oh no, there's cake under the icing! I thought it was just a paper full of icing!"

Morgan had a great birthday and had a lot of fun with her friends. Thank you to all of you who sent her Birthday wishes via email, facebook and texting.

Staying Busy!

2011-02-28T06:56:00.002-06:00

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!

2011-02-14T09:46:00.003-06:00

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!

2011-02-06T11:13:00.002-06:00

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!

Visit with Great Paw Paw

2011-01-27T09:06:00.002-06:00

Hooray! We have completed our 3rd semester of language school and our reward was a visit from Randall's Grandfather, who flew over here to see us this past week. We actually met in a neighboring country and took a "mini vacation" with Great Paw Paw.

Here are some of the pics that captured Great Paw Paw's visit with us:

This is a neat Fort with a lot of history and we think Great Paw Paw enjoyed... despite all the walking!

Of course Morgan loves to take pictures and sat there and posed for the camera! Yes, she is wearing a jacket! As soon as we got off the plane, we had to immediately change Micah from shorts to pants and find all of our jackets; it was at least 10 degrees cooler than our country + wind and for once, we were cold! But we love being cold, at least here!

Paw Paw was trying to keep Micah still for a picture, which is challenging these days! But Micah sure loved having his Great Paw Paw around!

This was a funny moment for Micah as he found a KFC delivery motor scooter without its driver... so what was the most natural thing for him to do?... Climb on board and pretend he was driving himself. Thankfully, Great Paw Paw made sure he didn't actually start up the scooter!

Once again, Morgan posing for the camera... still in her jacket!

Randall enjoying his time with his Grandfather as this is his second time to visit us. He loves to travel and we love having him here with us!

Now Micah cheesing for the camera! Love that smile!

Liz decided to be in a pic rather then just taking all the pics...

We think this was the first time Paw Paw had ever fed a camel... At one point, one of the camels reached its neck over the fence, almost kissed Paw Paw's face... talk about up close and personal!

We've decided that you can't come to the Middle East without having pictures of camels!!!

Thank you Paw Paw for taking the time to visit us. We enjoyed having you here, showing you around and introducing you to our friends! We appreciate all of the encouragement you gave us and all of the love you left us. We love you!

Happy 2nd Birthday Micah!

2011-01-17T12:55:00.003-06:00

This is a must see video! Micah turned 2 y/o last Friday, January 14 and the nursery had a little party for him. This gives some good insight to the cultural in which we live in. In addition, shows how much Arabic our kids understand.

Micah is getting so big, its hard to believe he is already 2 years old. So many changes... he and Morgan are playing together a lot more now which also means, fighting a lot more now; they are now sharing a room and learning to share everything; they often have conversations in which we do not understand but they seem to; and we often see them loving on each other and giving hugs! This is a fun stage Morgan and Micah are in and we are enjoying it while it lasts!

Enjoy the video! Happy 2nd Birthday Micah! We Love You!

Stay tuned for more pics and videos as we're having a Birthday party for Micah at the beginning of next month with his friend Lucy!

Starting on a Good Note...

2011-01-01T11:50:00.003-06:00

So far, so good... our family has started 2011 on a good note! Randall ran his first 1/2 marathon this morning with his good friend B. One of the directors of our school is big time into running and put together a 1/2 marathon for any of the students who wanted to participate... let's just say there were 3 people who participated, which means, Randall placed.. well maybe a tie for second!

Liz, B's wife and the kids jumped in the car, prepared with water, gatorade, bananas and dates and met up with the guys a little over half way through their run. Pit stop #1...

And they're off! (as you can see, its a 1/2 marathon in the desert!)

Pit stop #2... we drove several kilometers down the road and met up with them again (mainly to check up on them and make sure they were still breathing and not cramping up)... about 1 mile left (1.6 kilometer) at this point, which of course is the hardest part of the entire race

And the winner is... Yeah! They finished and are still smiling!

And the best prize of all... hugging the 2 biggest fans! (the kids cheered Randall and B along the way)

As for Micah, he's never really been around dogs much but he loves Daisy (the director's dog)

And Morgan loved this! A Huge Trampoline! Of course both kids now want a dog and a trampoline at our house... Inshallah.. If God Wills.. as they say in the Middle East

A well deserved power nap! What a trooper, after running the 1/2 Randall played with the kids and even read books to them!

And what would a New Years be without cupcakes???

Celebrating the New Year and celebrating Randall's Big accomplishment!!!

We hope each of you had a great start to this new year as well!

Happy New Year!!!

Fruit From Her Labor...

2010-12-26T09:14:00.003-06:00

We've gone back and forth about how to handle the whole "Santa" thing with Morgan, especially since she already has such a big imagination, we don't want to "shatter her world" when she realizes the truth (a few years from now)....

Since she's only 3.5 y/o now, we decided to go ahead and play it out this year... it was actually really fun to watch her anticipation and seriousness about leaving goodies for Santa and his reindeers. (And we think she was scared that if she didn't go to sleep Santa would not come, so guess what? She slept the entire night! Yeah for us!)

Here's Morgan, setting out the milk and cookies for Santa and carrots for the reindeers... we laughed because we thought she would want to set out more cookies for the "animals" but apparently she thinks they needed carrots. It was cute!

If you look closely at the picture Morgan (and Liz) drew for santa, she wrote out a few of the Arabic letters because she thinks Santa needs to know Arabic too.

In the morning, Morgan awoke to crumbs, a half eaten carrot and an almost empty glass of milk and she was so surprised that Santa and his reindeers ate most everything!

And here she is in her new princess chair that Santa left for her! (we think still shocked that there was "fruit from her labor", meaning she set out cookies/milk and a picture for Santa and in return got a few toys and a full stocking!)

Here's Micah, loving his widgets and building away!

And what would Christmas be without a room full of polly pockets and princess things??? + 2 Happy Children, Full of Sugar!

We hope each of you had a blessed Christmas as well!

Merry Christmas!

2010-12-18T00:40:00.002-06:00

This is our Christmas card for this year... we sent it out via email (to view or print out) but if you didn't get one and want one, let us know.

We join you in celebrating the birth of our Savior!

Merry Christmas!

Love,

Randall, Liz, Morgan and Micah

Belated Video...

2010-12-08T06:31:00.003-06:00

Just thought we'd share a fun video of the kids, swimming in November! Its just now starting to cool off in the mornings and evening... somewhere in the 60's... we love it! Although the people here seem to describe the weather as "freezing" but we know freezing; we lived in Illinois for 3 1/2 years! We are quite confident that when we come home to visit, we'll be the ones freezing since we're used to temperatures over 110 degrees 70% of the year. Enjoy the kids!

Goodbyes are so hard...

2010-12-02T06:18:00.003-06:00

Our visit with Liz's family was so refreshing for us. We enjoyed our time with them, loved watching them love on Morgan and Micah and celebrated Thanksgiving with them as well. In between all of our visiting, we showed them around the Big City for a few days and explored new areas of the city we had never seen before.

The guys doing their "guy thing"... Randall had to introduce Liz's Dad and Brother to how the men wear their "hats"on this side of the world...(actually they were gearing up to go hiking with the hopes to keep the flies out of their faces/ears) but still makes for a good picture!

Liz's sister Meghan, brother Chris and Mom enjoying the beautiful view in the midst of the mountains

MiMi loving on the kids! And the kids enjoying their MiMi (hadn't seen each other in almost 1 and a half years)

On the way to the beach... of course we had to take them to the beach in November...surprise! Swimsuits in the Winter! (thanks to Joyce, sporting the Illini hat!) :)

Uncle Chris bonding with Micah and teaching him to play in the sand, not eat it!

And here we all are... on the shuttle, on the way to the airport...

And this about sums it up, their face says it all! Grrr... Goodbyes are so hard these days, but we are so thankful for having time with our loved ones and consider ourselves so blessed to have such a supportive family. Thank you for visiting us and loving on us! We love you Paw Paw, MiMi, Chris and Meghan and miss you already!

Fun, Laughter, and Hugs All Around!

2010-11-21T11:26:00.005-06:00

The wait for family to arrive has been way over due... nearly 1 and a half years since we've seen Liz's family. And they are here now, visiting us. Here is an update of our reunion thus far with our family...

In the car, on the way to the Big City where Paw Paw, Mi Mi, Uncle Chris and Aunt Meghan arrived....

Notice both kids with an electronic device of some sort in hand... Hey! A 2 hr car ride can be long for 2 busy, anxious little ones...

And here's Morgan, awaiting their arrival at the airport...At this time it was after midnight, but she was running on pure adrenaline and excitement to see her Grandparents!

They made it, luggage and all and a happy reunion it was!

What troopers...less then 12 hours upon arriving, after sleeping 6-7 hrs, here we are exploring a mall in the Big city. Of course Morgan is thrilled to have her Mi Mi with her and loving all the attention she is getting!

What? An indoor ski park? Maybe because it doesn't snow in the Middle East. Either way, a cool experience for the family and a great way to celebrate Uncle Chris' 23rd Birthday!

A good attempt to "pretend" there is snow here and that its actually cold. Although we think Morgan would be happy with her Aunt Meghan anywhere, as long as they are together!

And last but not least, real skiing in the Middle East! As they say here, "Ski Dubai, the Coolest thing to do in Dubai!" (haha!) Randall, Paw Paw and Uncle Chris had a great time together, a day full of fun, lots of laughter and many hugs all around!

To Be Continued... Stay tuned for new pictures as we enjoy our time with our family!

Does Something Seem Odd About This???

2010-11-05T04:47:00.002-05:00

Last night we got to go out on a date without the kids...Yeah! We have some new friends in our city who are pregnant with their first baby and offered to take care of Morgan and Micah for a few hours so we could enjoy some time alone. And of course we took them up on their offer!

After we ate dinner, we went to a local store to pick up a few groceries and to our surprise we saw some folding chairs which we have actually been wanting to buy because the weather has gotten cooler and its so nice to sit outside at night time. Anyways, when we went to check these chairs out, to our surprise we found out they are from Dick's Sporting Goods in the States!!!

And the other funny thing is that the Dick's price tag read $9.99 but the store price tag was

R.O. 2.5 which converts to $6.50!!! So we just laughed and laughed with the thought that we were buying 4 chairs from Dick's Sporting Goods in the Middle East and saving $3.5 per chair. Does this sound odd to anyone else???

Go Figure! Stay tuned for new stories and discoveries from our city! (And remember this is the same city that does not have 1 American eating place in it)

Party Favors and Singing

2010-10-31T04:21:00.003-05:00

About a week ago, the kids were invited to a birthday party but unfortunately they were both sick and unable to attend. However, we dropped a present by the house before the party began and wished them a "nice party". The next day, Liz received a call from the mother of the birthday boy and thanked her for the gift; informing Liz that she had some "things for the kids from the party."

When the mother arrived, she handed us this plate, full of cake birthday and a bag full of candy, cookies and toys. Nice party favors, huh?

Here's Micah enjoying some of the cake!

And of course, Morgan Never turns down sweets!

And Micah found this to be a fun game; licking icing off Daddy's finger!

And last but not least, this is a video of Morgan singing "Happy Birthday" in Arabic. She amazes us how she is such a sponge at this stage in her life. She hears something and then is able to spit it back out. Maybe we should start taking lessons from her!

"The Sayings" of Morgan

2010-10-21T22:26:00.002-05:00

Sometimes we have to stop and ask ourselves, how old is Morgan?

Not because our memory is already going... but because she uses such grown-up words and sounds much older then she really is when talking (at least 50% of the time)

The funny thing is she doesn't always use the "grown-up words" in the right context but that's what's so hilarious about listening to her Talk and Talk and Talk... (she falls asleep talking and wakes up talking) haha! And this is the exact truth! Here are some of the "Sayings"we have heard her say:

"Actually, I want pizza for dinner Rather then chicken"

"I love Micah, He's So Good for me!"

"I Hate bugs! God should Disappear them!

"Micah can't play with my polly pockets, Otherwise I will be so mad at him!

Here's how a typical dialogue goes when Liz is trying to accomplish something that involves giving Morgan a decision to make:

(Liz) "Would you rather have noodles or chicken for dinner?"

(Morgan) "Nothing! I want pizza!"

(Liz) "We're not having pizza tonight, would you rather have noodles or chicken?"

(Morgan) "I'm So Angry at Micah for watching Mickey Mouse!"

(Liz) "Sorry, you already watched a show earlier. Let's pick something for dinner..."

(Morgan) "I can't eat chicken, Otherwise I won't like it"

(Liz) "Ok, then I'll make noodles and you can eat that"

(Morgan) "I love Micah, he's so cute! I'm a good big sissy!"

Needless to say, sometimes it takes a while to get things accomplished with Morgan and its really easy and normal for her to switch topics and throw out random things. She is really 3 1/2 years old going on 10 y/o!!! Yikes! What does that mean for the years to come!!!???

A Month in Review...

2010-10-06T10:45:00.004-05:00

Kids Will Be Kids:

This month has been so busy for us as we have started back into school full-time, which means summer is over, no more sleeping in and homework every night! In the midst of us adapting back to our school schedule, the kids have attended birthday parties and we've travelled to a different country. Sorry to all of you faithful blog readers, please don't give up on us, we still have plenty to share, just trying to get use to a different routine.

This is a typical scene in our home, especially since the temperatures are still over 100 degrees and its too hot to play outside (for any lengthy amount of time); Micah sitting in his chair, watching T.V., eating a snack!

Morgan was invited to Princess Birthday party (in which she supplied most of the dress-up dresses..haha!) Here she is with some of the girls, celebrating her friend's 3rd Birthday!

Another typical scene in our home: Morgan and Micah jumping on a bed! This is usually a daily occurrence, even though we always sing about "The 5 Little Monkeys who jumped on the Bed"... fell off and their Momma had to call the Dr. ....Guess the song is just for fun and not a reality in their little minds!

A Cultural Lesson:

Its pretty common for people to cook their meat underground here, which entails a lot of time and work... but the end result is worth it! The meat is so delicious! Liz recently visited a National Friend who had prepared her meat for a special occasion. When Liz was at her home, the family was pulling the meat out of the ground and welcomed Liz to take pictures:

This is the basket/container the meat was cooked in underground

This is the combination of spices/branches, etc that were in the basket with the meat which helped give it the delicious flavor! (pretty interesting to us, seeing as whenever we want our meat to have awesome flavor, we just use our charcoal grill outside)

And here's the end result! Fresh from underground where it had cooked for at least 24 hours!

Kids Will Be Kids (part 2):

When we uploaded pictures from our camera, we found several random pictures of our table, our T.V., our drinking cups, etc... but the funniest picture of all was this really close-up view of Morgan's face. Obviously she is trying to express to us that:

A. She wants to be a photographer when she gets older

B. She is not really drawing at the desk when she says she is and instead playing with Big People toys OR

C. She thinks that we're not taking enough pictures, so she's decided to take them for us!

Another Trip to the Big City:

Every once and a while, we just have to get out of our city and enjoy some "Western Food" and do some "Real Shopping" at "Real Malls". A few weekends ago, we went to the Big City a few hours away and did just that. It was a great time for our family to get away and spend quality time together (it also happened to be the first weekend after our first week back in language school... if that tells you anything!) haha!

Say Cheese!

Perfect, little desks just their size!

Ready for the show to begin! By the way, they just opened a P.F. Changs (which is one of our favorite American-Chinese restaurants in the States) over here in the Middle East. We totally treated ourselves that day, even though the kids didn't care to sit still for that long of a time, we enjoyed every bite! (A little piece of home for us!)

More Traveling Out of Country:

We recently went back to visit some friends in a nearby country this past weekend. After a group meeting, we all went out to eat as a group of about 25 people (including kids). The service was a little slow, but worth the wait. However in the meantime, Micah was going nuts because he was tired and hungry at the same time (not a good combination!) But instead of sitting, he found his own entertainment:

He hung out with one of our waiters; He would lie down on the floor (not sure why) and the waiter would come over to say hi and shake his hand. Micah loved the attention and kept doing funny things to entertain the wait staff.

And of course, when all else fails "Ring Around the Rosey" has become an all time favorite! Here his friends Eli and Hannah joined in! Micah loved it and especially when it was time to "All Fall Down!"

All in all, we've had a great month and hope to start updating with more pictures, stories and videos more often as we now feel like we have our schedule under our belt. Stick with us and keep checking in! We love hearing from you and reading your comments!

A little bit of this, a little bit of that...

2010-09-11T01:00:00.003-05:00

It's been a while since we've updated and yet there's been a lot going on for us to share. For starters, we are back in the swing of things in our city and have welcomed many new friends who have recently moved here. We have been busy helping them to get settled into their new homes and the kids have new friends, close in their age as well.

Morgan and Micah continue to change daily and are starting to really play together and get along (well, 50% of the time!)... It goes like this: Morgan loves to play pretend and so Micah watches her, then we see him imitating her. Morgan loves to jump off furniture and Micah watches her, then he jumps off the furniture (and then they both get in trouble). Morgan loves to dance around, Micah watches her, then joins in and dances with her! ETC...... ETC.....Never a dull moment in our house!

Here they are are, enjoying some yummy popsicles (inside of course)

Morgan is really into "making this silly face" where she turns upside down and sticks out her tongue or does something funny with her face. She does this all the time and shows everyone!

Since we moved on the other side of town earlier this summer, we go to a different park for the kids to play. This park is really neat as it is set in between the mountains and usually filled with lots of families. Until the weather cools off, we will continue going there at night time.

The kids love the swings!

Look closely!!! Our outside thermometer read 134.2 degrees the other day! Of course, its directly in the sunlight, so it may show a little higher then the actual temperature, but its probably pretty close! It was so HOT that day!

And lastly, we are in the middle of celebrating Eid with our friends and here is a little glimpse of what goes on: Lots of food, New clothes, Lots of visiting with family, friends and neighbors...

Its fun for the kids to get to eat on the floor (as this is a norm in this culture), but sometimes can get a little messy and crazy as everything is within reach to them, so you never know what they will eat or do with the food (my kids are known for playing with the food); Imagine that!!!

Four Wheelers & Popsicles

2010-08-28T05:50:00.002-05:00

We have kept busy with creative activities this summer as its always over 100 degrees here during the day and we still sweat when we go outside at night! But thankfully we have good friends nearby and our kids play well together. Earlier this summer, we traveled to another nearby country in the Middle East and had 3 other friends to play with. Now we are back in our city and reconnecting with old friends.

Last week, we drove about 3 hrs away to see our friends in a bigger city and were able to spend time with their local friends as they continue to observe Ramadan (fasting from sunrise to sunset)this month. We were invited to break fast with them at sunset and instead of eating, our kids discovered, new Big Toys to play on!

Morgan and Lucy are sharing this four wheeler and enjoying some girl time together!

Micah on the other hand preferred his own four wheeler!

Again, Morgan and Lucy: Sometimes we think Morgan treats Lucy better then own brother!

Here the 2 girls are: I guess living by the motto, "Girls Rule!, No Boys allowed!" (haha!)

When we returned back to our city, we found an unopened box that had arrived via mail and behold, we have popsicle makers! The kids love them and think its so fun to pick out different juices to make popsicles out of. (Thanks Joyce and Lori!)

Micah showing his popsicle off to the camera!

These 2 together are so funny! Never a dull moment and full of entertainment!

We just call her "Miss Sassy" because that is exactly that she is. Who could she have gotten that from?

And the popsicles keep coming! Nearly everyday the kids are asking for them or trying to open the freezer to get them out! Kids are so funny

Circle Fries

2010-08-19T06:44:00.002-05:00

So last night we were eating out with friends (having one more Western Meal) before we get back to our city where there is not Western Restaurants to eat out at. And Randall decided that Morgan should try some onion rings and in order for her to eat it, we had to tell her they were "circle fries". And to our surprise, she gobbled 3-4 quickly and loved them! So a new, educated name for onion rings... Circle Fries!!! Oh the things we say or do to get our kids to eat "Adult Food"!

6pm Flight Cancelled!

2010-08-15T05:31:00.005-05:00

Yesterday was an interesting day for The McQueen Family. We were scheduled to fly out of one country in the Middle East to another at 6pm. When we arrived to the airport, the man looked at us as if we were crazy and said, "Sorry Sir, we do not have you on this flight." "Oh No, we have to get home!" To make a long story short, the 6pm flight was cancelled and apparently the airlines didn't contact us personally, but expected us to see that update online. So maybe it was 50/50... their fault and our fault, but at the time, it seemed like EVERYTHING was their fault as I was running after Morgan and Micah who thought it was a fun game of chase in the airport, while Randall was trying to figure everything out.

We ended up getting on the 8pm flight, but that was still 3 hours away.... How did we spend our time (you might be thinking)???

Here's Micah as he made a game out of climbing over the chairs...

A reminder, its Ramadan here (which means the local people are fasting from sunrise to sunset; and all food places are closed during these times; its illegal to eat/drink in public). However, all rules are off in an International Airport and all eating places are open.

Here's the Duo, stuffing their mouths with sour skittles (happy and loving the sugar!)

A girl has always gotta look her best: Morgan was applying lipgloss that she secretly found in her backpack...

As we counted down the time until we boarded, we were entertained by all the big airplanes flying in (Micah loved it!)

And out of respect we waited until sunset (Iftar: breaking of the fast) to eat dinner at a tiny Chili's with all the other locals. Again to pass time, we pulled out the electronics for the kids. I think Micah was watching Boz as he "patiently" waited for his food...

And Morgan was glued to the pink ipod (so grateful for technology!)

Here we are, finally on the plane and in our seats! It was definitely past bed time for everyone!

(at this point, we were not sure how the kids were going to be on the plane)

But of course, we couldn't stay in our seats; we had to switch seats because Morgan wanted to sit in between Mommy and Daddy...And to our surprise, the kids were great on the plane!

As soon as we got into the car, Morgan crashed

But this little guy refused to sleep the entire 2 hr ride home! He was full of energy (maybe it was the sour skittles).

Of course Micah couldn't resist the urge to mess with Big Sister as she was sleeping peacefully. Its too much fun when you're close enough to pull her hair! But thankfully, Morgan slept through the pulling and turned over to face the other way. And we finally pulled into our drive way around 1:15a.m and both kids were awake, happy to be home. Then they both crashed within 20 minutes of arriving! Its nice to be home.

Guy Talk

2010-08-10T14:18:00.003-05:00

We were asked the question, "What is the biggest change you have seen in Micah over the summer?" And the only thing that came to our mind was how much he has increased in his vocabulary. Although there are definitely times when we don't have a clue what he is saying, but he knows and also someone else knows...

Take a look at this great video of Micah and his buddy Eli having guy talk...

Happy 6th Wedding Anniversary!

2010-08-07T14:38:00.002-05:00

Today we celebrated our 6th Wedding Anniversary. We had the privilege of going out on a date (alone without the kids), which was so nice for us to enjoy each other's company. We went to see Robin Hood in the theaters (which is a great movie) and realized it was our first time to go to the movies (just the 2 of us) since we moved to the Middle East a year ago. We laughed as we listened to Unchained Melody being played as we awaited the previews (Liz played this on her recorder or clarinet in grade school many years ago).

We then enjoyed a nice romantic dinner at a highly recommended Asian/Thai restaurant. It was fun and somewhat new to us eating a candle lit dinner (not thinking it would have been near as enjoyable or romantic with our 2 kids).

Our waiter was very happy to take our picture for us!

So happy that he suggested we take a picture by one of the buddha statues! We felt a little strange taking a picture by this statue of a 1/2 naked man, but did it anyways for a good laugh! All in all, we had a Great Anniversary and feel so blessed!

A Day of Fun!

2010-08-06T15:35:00.004-05:00

We had a Day of Fun last week and wanted to share it! First we started out our day by going to an indoor/outdoor water park with some good friends. We had never experienced an indoor water park before but I guess when you live in the Middle East and its over 115 degrees outside, you have to be creative!

Here are the kids right before we went inside the park... being all cute and cuddly!

Like Daughter, Like Daddy! Ha Ha! And Morgan learned how to ride the waves in just 3o seconds!

Yes, this is a look of Fear. Micah looked like this most of the time we were there, especially when we took him down slides. He was not too sure about this big, blue life jacket or why we were even at the water park!

However, later that night we treated ourselves to a family date night to Chili's!

Morgan is definitely a Daddy's Girl!

Flash back to 2.5 years ago...

As some of you may remember Morgan around 8 months old... well she had her first french fry at Chili's in the Middle East....So....

We had to get a picture of Micah (1.5 y/o) eating (not his first french fry) but A French Fry in Chili's in the Middle East too!

And Yes, Micah is a Momma's Boy!

But the best part about eating at this Chili's is that it's in a "Restaurant Row," which is within walking distance of the place we are staying. And just about a 50 yards down the road from Chili's is a DAIRY QUEEN!!!

Here we are all sharing a Blizzard with Extra, Extra Butterfinger (somehow the cashier lady got lost in translation so we got double Extra)

And later that evening, still 2 happy kids enjoying time as a Family!

Summer Part 3: Fun with Friends

2010-07-25T07:59:00.002-05:00

It sure makes a difference when we have friends to spend time with... And so far this summer we have had a lot of adventures, outings and play dates with the kids. Here's a little overview of our time with our friends:

Randall and the kids at a BBQ/Pool Party

The Dads and all the kids! The Mom's were preparing the food! (Lucky Moms!)

Morgan and her friend Jo Jo; sneaking a bite of food before all the adults!

Morgan and her new goggles!

Cheese Eli!

Morgan eating; Micah thinking about jumping back into the pool!

Morgan and Jo Jo in their local clothes at a wedding; we were the first ones to arrive and were able to take lots of fun pictures

And last but not least; the kids playing at Pollo Camperro; Its a wanna be Mexican food place, however more of a mix of KFC with the rice/beans from Taco Bell. I guess that's what they consider "Mexican Food" in the Middle East. Not the greatest food, but had a cool indoor play area for the kids!

All in all, our kids are enjoying having kids close to their ages to play with and talk with. Its nice having English speakers around! Keep Checking... we have more pics to share!

Summer Part 2

2010-07-17T07:18:00.004-05:00

We continue to explore more on this island and wanted to share some more pics to show you what all we have been up to this past week...

There are many shopping places to choose from here and as you can see there are several inside play areas for children. Of course our 2 spotted a play area right away and barely finished dinner...

Before we could turn around, Micah had climbed into a Monster Truck with Big Boy wheels!

The kids have been off of their "regular" nap time schedule since summer started and so Morgan tends to fall asleep anywhere! (even in a loud, crowded mall; sitting up in the stroller)

But little brother was there to either love on her or wake her up! haha, not sure what his motivations were, but thought it was a sweet picture!

We have had the joy of spending time with friends this summer as well and Micah and Eli have reunited once again!

We received a phone call from another friend informing us that Barney was coming to town and asked us if we wanted to go. Yes! Of course! Our kids love Barney Songs!

Here's the summer crew we hang out with:

Morgan/Micah; Joseph/Faith; Eli (all eagerly waiting to go inside to watch Barney!)

And Angelina the Ballerina...

And Bob the Builder...

And Thomas the Train...

And after arriving 1 hour early, sitting through 45 minutes of other shows with other characters, a 15 min break... Barney and his friends appeared! Yeah! It was definitely the highlight of the concert and all the kids were glued. It was really fun for the kids to see their favorite characters live and sing along with them too!

Can't wait to see what else this summer will bring!

Summer Part 1

2010-07-10T05:16:00.002-05:00

We are 2 weeks into our summer and so far have had a busy schedule. We finished our second semester of school, moved into a new place, picked up Randall's parents from the airport and have travelled to 2 different countries. Here is just a quick summary of pics of the time we have spent with Grammy and G-Paw so far...

The 4 of us enjoying some yummy American food (in the Big City)

Micah loves his G-Paw and has enjoyed his visit so far!

Its even better when Micah has both his G-Paw and his Grammy by his side!

But Morgan enjoys her time with her Grandparents too! She loves being with her Grammy!

And of course life is better when you have a pool to play in!

We have done some "touristy" things and had the opportunity to visit some Forts on the coast of the island we are visiting now. There is much history and neat places to explore here...

The kids are actually really filthy here from climbing all through the fort and sweating from the high heat... but they had so much fun and also slept really good that night!

Here we all are! This is a popular place to take a pic inside the fort and also a well known site that is framed all over the island

And of course, both kids with their G-Paw and Grammy!

We will post more pics as we continue our visit with them... so stay in touch.

Grammy & G-Paw are visiting us!

2010-07-01T13:23:00.002-05:00

Here's the story of the day that Grammy and G-Paw (Randall's parents) arrived for their first visit to see us:

We started our morning out by driving 25 mins away to complete our first 1/2 of our border run (we have to do this every 30 days due to our visa), then dropped Morgan and Micah off at their day care. We then finished the last bit of moving into our new home, and started cleaning. Then we picked the kids up from the nursery and brought them back to the new place with the hopes they would nap before driving to the airport later that afternoon.

Unfortunately our plan did not work as the kids were really excited about the new house and anticipating the visit with their Grandparents. So they played while we finished setting up the house. We the rushed off to complete the second 1/2 of our border run, drove to the big City and on the way, this is what we saw in the back seat...

Poor kids... so exhausted from all the excitement of the day (thus far), little did they know the best part was yet to come!

We grabbed a bite to eat at the new Wendy's/Arby's in a mall nearby the airport (Yeah for Frosties! First one in over a year!) We then arrived to the airport and waited...

As we waited, the kids discovered that there were little ball looking things in the fake plants, so what next? They dug them out and threw them everywhere! (entertaining the other people who were waiting for their family to arrive as well)

We waited some more... As you can see Micah was ready to jump the wall!

Then we spotted Grammy and G-Paw! We let both kids over the wall and...

Everyone hugged, teared up... It was a great moment! (A whole year has passed as we have been waiting for this moment). Last time Grammy and G-Paw saw the kids Morgan was 2 y/o

Micah was 5 1/2 mos; (now they are 3 y/o and 17 mos)

Happy Grammy and and Happy Morgan!

Happy G-Paw and Happy Micah!

And the last 24 hrs the kids have barely left their Grandparent's sides, esp Morgan (who remembers them the most). Enjoying every minute of our time with family and will share more pictures as our visit with them continues... Stay posted!

Surfing in the Middle East... why not?

2010-06-27T12:35:00.002-05:00

Randall has discovered a new hobby.. SURFING! He has become friends with a guy from school and his friend introduced him to surfing. He tried it out a few months ago (for the first time) and then a few weekends ago, drove down to the coast (about 8 hours away from our city) with his friend to meet up with some other surfer friends. Enjoy the pics!

Here they are with their boards (by the way their shirts are made out of some really cool material that keep them from getting sun burned), remember it is summer time in the Middle East

Here's a view of the waves... reminds us of some scene from the movie, Pirates of the Caribbean

There was a hurricane that hit the coast a few weeks back and they found this boat along the shore (must have been pushed from the high winds to shore).. so of course the guys did some exploring

Again, another photo that reminds us of Pirates of the Caribbean.. none the less, a cool shot of the boat and the ocean

And what's a weekend surf trip without seeing a camel? On the way down to the coast, they saw this camel along the side of the road eating some sort of cassette tape or something with film... Only here would we encounter a camel on the side of the road!

Happy Father's Day!!!

2010-06-20T08:01:00.002-05:00

Randall is celebrating his 3rd Father's Day today and is an awesome Dad to Morgan and Micah, who both adore him! Our kids are always wanting to wrestle with Randall, have him push them higher on the swings, throw them in the air (and catch them of course) and love to hug on him. Happy Father's Day Randall! We love you!

Just thought we'd wish all of you Fathers out there a Happy Father's Day! And especially to our G-Paw (McQueen), Paw Paw (Walker), Great Paw Paw (McQueen) and Great Grandpa (Hoffman)

We love you and miss you!

A Typical "Sunday" Morning...

2010-06-18T13:17:00.006-05:00

(When we say a "typical" Sunday morning, we are talking about Thursday afternoon on our way to house group a.k.a. church)

So picture with us what a typical Sunday morning is like for a family with 2 young kids trying to get ready to go and be on time (for once). Its normal to have a little chaos either in the house or in the car (perhaps you left something at home and are already half way there or you suddenly remembered it was your turn to bring the donuts for Sunday School Class, etc).. you've probably been there, done that... But as soon as you walk in the doors... you immediately turn on the smiles, shake hands with everyone and pretend that you've just had the best morning ever! We've all done this at least once (maybe twice), right?

Well, this past Thursday the kids and I (Liz) had one of those "typical Sunday mornings"....

Randall was gone and therefore I did the "single parent" thing. It was around 4:30 p.m. and we try to leave by 4:50 to be on time. But for some reason, this Thursday was just not my day. Morgan (as usual) needed to use the restroom last minute, but didn't make it to the toilet on time (and you know where this is going).. had an accident all over her legs, the floor, her shoes and the bottom of her dress. And at the same time I was cleaning up the mess, Micah walked in and nearly fell because the floor was wet. So then I had 2 kids who smelled like urine and everyone needed new clothes.

Then after both kids changed clothes and the bathroom was clean "enough" to leave, Micah had his turn to use the restroom, but at least he had a diaper on and that was the only thing that had to be changed. At this time it was nearly 4:45. I was ready to walk out the door when I realized I couldn't find Morgan... She was in the kitchen getting herself some water and of course, half of it spilled on the floor and she tried to clean it up herself (such a big helper). So accident #2, I cleaned up once again.

Round #2 of trying to leave and be "on time" and then Morgan realized that the shoes she wanted to wear were dirty because she had had her first accident on them... so she threw a fit and wanted me to wash them so she could wear them. At this point, I was not sure if it was even a good idea for us to go to house group because my attitude turned from good to not so good.

Finally I talked her into wearing another pair of shoes and so out the door we went (4:55).. not too bad. We got in the car, everyone in their seats, sweating because its over 110 degrees outside and what did we forget? Micah's diaper bag (which is a must)... so being the over protective Mom I am and being alone (without Randall), I did not feel comfortable leaving my kids in the car alone in 110 degree weather. So, I toke everyone out of their seats, drug them upstairs to our apartment, grabbed Micah's bag and we're all in the car again at 5:00.

Thankfully, my kids were in good spirits by this point and we turned up the iPod and jammed to some fun music as we drove to group. And when we walked in, we turned on the smiles, shook hands, and despite the challenging events that took place prior to getting there, we were received by warm smiles and genuine people. We were so thankful we ended up going and were blessed by our time there.

A Typical Sunday Morning!

Playing Dress-Up

2010-06-13T01:13:00.006-05:00

This past weekend our family was invited to a wedding (one of our teacher's uncle's was getting married). It was the first time our entire family was invited and attended. So therefore, it was time to play "dress-up"!

Of course being Westerners, we could have gotten away with wearing our normal clothes but then we would stick out amongst the locals even more then we already do. And as far as our family's concern, we prefer to blend in as much as possible at bigger events such as weddings.

Liz and Morgan have attended a few weddings before and as usual Liz wears her abaya and shayla (black dress/head covering) and Morgan has just worn one of her normal dresses. But this time we decided to buy her a local dress so she could "twirl" around like the other girls.. and of course it had to be pink!

At the wedding, Morgan fit in pretty well with the other girls her age. She loved her "new princess dress" (as she called it) and actually didn't want to take it off when we returned home.

Randall wore a local "man's dress" called a thobe and it was interesting because all 4 of us wore dresses to this wedding!

Micah was hilarious in his little man dress/thobe. He ran all over the tent during the wedding. Who knows what all he ate and at one time, he almost climbed the stairs to get on stage with the bride. He barely sat still, but fortunately was able to stay happy during the entire 2.5 hr wedding (8pm-10:30pm). P.S. He took a 3 hr nap the next day!

Here's Liz with the kids during the wedding. Our tent consisted of all women and children while Randall's tent consisted of all men. From the comparison of stories, it sounds like there was much more food and entertainment in the women's tent. But over all, it was a great first experience for Randall and Micah!