1st Slumber Party!

Finally posting pics from Morgan's 6th Birthday party! Since we moved to a different city a few months ago, we only know a few Western families here, so Morgan decided to have a smaller party, but a much Longer party then usual... We hosted her 1st Slumber Party Ever! And it was a lot of fun!

We set up little stations for the girls... the first one consisted of watercolor painting on canvas' (a pinterest idea)... then we spread glue on top and sprinkled it with salt. Once they dried, they had a sparkle look on them from the salt. Each girl was able to take her's home to hang on her wall.

Next we had a "pamper" station... where the girls got their nails and toes painted. And of course, us Moms pampered ourselves once their girls were watching their movie :) 

We had a 3rd station for making jewelry with beads, but I guess I forgot to take pics. Opps :)

Here's our youngest little princess that attended the party... sweet Lydia

 And the part Morgan had waited for since the day before her party when she helped me make her cake and cupcakes... CAKE TIME!

And what's a slumber party without a movie "Barbie, Princess and a PopStar", popcorn, pajamas and sleeping bags??? So cute!

And after a great night of fun, yummy food and actual sleep... Breakfast time was upon us quickly! 

Is this Randall's child or what? Blueberry muffins and boiled eggs! Randall's favorite breakfast too!

Sweet girls, eating breakfast in their pajamas and watching Princess Diaries (a McQ favorite!)

Then on March 9, 2013 Morgan's actual birthday, we had a great day full of skypes from early in the morning to afternoon and evening chats with family, requesting to talk to the Birthday Girl!

The next best thing to eating cake... opening presents!!! 

It's hard to believe we have a 4 y/o and a 6 y/o now! Where has the time gone? We love these 2 so much and are so thankful to have such great kids! Happy 6th Birthday Morgan! We love you!

Futbol..a.k.a Soccer...a.k.a. Micah's New Love

Who would have thought that our little 4 y/o would have grown such a love (so quickly) for Soccer! We've only been back overseas for 2 months now and Micah has grown such an interest and love to play one of the most popular sports on this side of the world! As most of you know, he definitely has the energy for it, working on the coordination, but who knew he was so bold inside??? 

As I think about both of our kids, Morgan has always been in the spotlight, doing things first, learning new things first, etc... but naturally because she is the oldest and first-born (not to mention, she has always been more talkative). Micah has kindof been in her shadow at times... even at age 2, Micah was slower to communicate verbally, but why? Mostly because Big Sister would talk for him (which I think is pretty normal)... And after our time in the States, Micah really developed his speech and his personality really shone bright as he was able to spend time with us while Morgan attended school for 7 hrs a day/5 days a week.

And now Micah "shares the spotlight" with Morgan and they are growing up so fast! 

And now look at him in these pictures... our family was out at a local park the other day and some Arab boys (2-4 years older then Micah) started kicking the soccer ball around and Micah had a one track mind... He was going to join them! So he timidly walked over and asked the boys if he could play soccer with them. The funny thing is that the locals call soccer "Futbol"... but somehow the communication was clear as Micah took off his sandals like the older boys and started running around, chasing the ball! 

If you look closely, the boy in Red was so sweet to Micah and made sure Micah had plenty of opportunities to kick the ball and even score his first goal!

The picture below is one of my favorites as you can see the intensity of the boys (on their faces) and Micah in the background, all chasing after the ball.

I guess this next pic is another favorite... Morgan so badly wanted to play with the boys, but I think it was a little strange for the Arab boys as they didn't pay any attention to her. So I told her to cheer them on with Randall and I... And that is exactly what she did!!! She fit this role perfectly! (must take after her Aunt Natalie :)

Here's Micah about to score his 1st goal ever!!!

Water Break!

Such a happy boy! And he sure made his Dad and Mom so proud! Our hearts were touched as we watched our little boy embrace this cultural.

Saved the best for last... Micah and his new Soccer...Futbol buddies!

Update...

I can't believe I have allowed almost an entire month go by without posting pics or sharing a story!!!

Well... We're finishing up the 4th week of homeschool & so far, so good! There are definitely challenges in wearing the Mom hat & the Teacher hat at the same time... And I think my Kindergartener is too smart for her own good! Maybe she just needs to be challenged more... Still trying to find the right balance for teaching the material we have but also keeping Morgan engaged into the lessons... Any homeschool Moms or Teachers out there have any suggestions?

Micah is doing well! I have included him on some of the homeschool but his attention span is still growing :)

The pics posted are of the kids playing in our yard, at the park, busy during homeschool & Morgan holding a newborn baby (a local friend of mine).

Trying to post from this blogger app... From my phone.. Will see how it turns out :) I plan to post a funny video soon... Keep checking back! It just takes more effort to get on the Internet on our computer these days... Gotta love Internet in the Desert :)

What We've Been Up To...

It has been a whirl wind over the last few weeks as we have traveled, set up a house, spent time with friends, etc. Despite our busy schedule, we have made our family time a priority. We went to a nearby park (15 mins outside of our city) and decided to hike up the side of a mountain (what we call mountains here, anyway...)  :)

Thankful for the timer on our camera!

We are training Morgan to take pictures.. haha! She did a pretty good job with this one.

 

Here we are, hiking back down... you can see a park below...

 Prior to setting up our house, we spent 10 days in our house without our furniture... camped out on air mattresses... which meant plenty of board games & lots of creativity for entertainment when we were not out in the community meeting local friends.

 

And on day #11... lo and behold... the sight we were waiting to see... the truck with our furniture and stuff to set up our house. And Yes, it was about 8pm at night when they showed up, unloaded, set up our beds and returned the next morning to unpack the rest. Gotta love the "Door to Door" service in this part of the world :)

This is our living room (majilis)... the kids were surrounded by boxes...

This is the front of our house.. its deeper then it looks and wider too... there's actually a 2nd door to the right (not pictured) where the men can enter the house without having contact with women. Such an interesting cultural...

Here are a few pics of our entry way... technically, we think its suppose to be a 2nd sitting area, but its where our dinning room table is for now... plus a few of our book shelves. Its so nice having our house put together and functioning again! (More pics to come) 

And where the majority of our time has been spent... visiting with our local friends. Below Morgan is sitting at a visit prior to the Engagement Party we attended... just an average snack in the afternoon on a visit :)

And breakfast with a different friend.. Love the simplicity of the meals eaten here... sure missed spending time with our Arab friends... 

 

Will post more pics of the house and updates on what we've been up to...