Family fun night

Our lives in the land of limbo have involved a lot of waiting. If you haven't already gathered by the fact that I have time and all this relational capacity to blog daily! :) Most days we are in our one bedroom apartment above the office and it's starting to feel like we are doing the same things over and over and over again. So in attempts to break the monotony we have instigated "Family Fun Night." This last week we had it both on Thursday and Friday night (our equivalent to the Saturday and Sunday night of our week.)

We have figured out a great Elli proof system too. So we can watch either "Barn" (The Andy Griffith Show) or "The Cosby Show" without her little fingers touching the laptop buttons, we've put the laptop on top of a stool on the coffee table.

Our family are all popcorn lovers. We've already bought and packed the bags we'll take with us to our new home. With only 2 teeth, Elli only gets small popcorn pieces pre-approved by mommy in her bowl.

I never would have guessed!

I knew that Ethan would grow and change while we were gone. But I never would have guessed he would change as much as he has. And we are only a little over half of the way through our time. We had visa pictures taken in the US around February 2007. We needed some pictures for our visas recently and could not find our stash. So we had to take some new ones. Lately I've been sorting our suitcases and we happened upon the picture stash. To compare Ethan within just 2 years, man. Where has my little boy gone?

Now, I can't guarantee that they didn't enhance the picture, as the little kiosks are known for their editing. I love the baby picture of him. He had just woken up from a nap and was lined up with the rest of his preschool class to go take a picture without mommy and daddy. If I could guess what he's thinking it would be "where are my parents taking me?" His big boy shot reminds me a whole lot of Uncle Nate a few years back.

"Cut my lip scrapping"

Ethan likes to get ready all by himself. On Friday morning I was getting Elli dressed for church while Austin cleaned up after a very humid game of basketball. Ethan came around the corner with Daddy's razor, blood on his lip and all he could say was "ouch."

As I cleaned up his lip, I assured him that Daddy would teach him how to shave when he got bigger. He proudly reported to all our friends at church that "I cut my lip scrapping."

Our most recent adventure

We had to make a quick visa run to the border and back this last week. Everyone we talked to beforehand told us it would be a pretty simple outing. In Al Ain, the city bordering Oman, there is a hot springs and a fun zoo. So we decided to make a day of it and take in some sights. We left at 10 a.m. and returned by 9 p.m. with a lot of frustration in between. Every set of directions we were given was missing some crucial element. The actual Oman border post is over 45 km from the border. We were told to "drive to the mountain and take a right." It turned out we actually drove past the mountains and took a left.

We never found the hot springs, but graciously stumbled upon an archeological family park with great playground equipment. By the time we made it to the zoo, the sun was going down and we were all very tired. So it was a "breaze through" kind of visit.

Here are some pictures of our time. Though it didn't go according to plan, it was a memory none the less.

Peek-a-Boo

It's her newest game and she will play with anyone who will play along.
We've decided her eyes have settled on dark brown.
And they sure do sparkle!

Grandma Jokes

The newest element of Ethan's personality that is taking shape is his desire to make people laugh. He loves to be silly and make people laugh. We are just working to learn what is appropriate when. As you can imagine, he's a little boy that loves body humor. But he also gets a kick out of telling "Grandma jokes." We aren't quite sure if he has his actual grandmas in mind, though a few of the specifics seem that they could match. So here are the jokes I can recall. I wish I would have been writing them down, as I know I'm missing some and they are so funny!

My grandma cooks a giraffe in a big pot
My grandma was in jail
My grandma has a hippo
My grandma climbs trees
My grandma chased a man out of the ocean and he didn't have any shorts on
My grandma fights bad guys
My grandma has stinky feet

Who knows, we may have the next generation of the "Last Comic Standing."

Girls and their chocolate!

A bag of Valentine's Day Hersey's kisses was included in a package we got from my mom. Ethan doesn't like chocolate, Austin is exercising discipline, so I have been enjoying most of them when it would do me better to share. Savoring a piece on the couch, Elli used her sign to ask to "eat please." So here are mommy and Elli sharing a kiss.

Who knew the "Chocolate Savoring" face was instinctual.



Evidenced by her drool, Elli likes chocolate!

Out with the old, in with the new?

I think I'm changing out my diaper bag. As you can see, my brown bag is starting to show the wear of being lugged ALL OVER tarnation. And even though your bag is supposed to get smaller the older your children get, for some reason I'm finding I need more room. So I've upgraded to this diaper bag backpack. I'm hopeful that it will make International travel a little easier as everything has a place and a handy pocket. It even comes with it's own little insulated lunch box compartment for milk cups and snacks; ideal for long (8 hour plus) road trips without convenient Quick Trips and for those awful red eye flights. I just haven't decided if I like it for the day to day diaper bag. I took it on a trip to the mall Saturday. We were out all day and even had a change of clothes packed inside. But I will be honest that I felt kind of silly in "glamour" UAE back packing through the mall. So the vote is out. I'll let you know what I think as time goes on.

The Challengers of my heart

I thought I would share some of the things that I’ve been reading and thinking about as of late. I am far from an avid reader, often times chalking that up to having young children. But then I have friends who have equally as young of children and they have time for reading. I think a lot of it is the solitary element of the activity. It’s not so conducive to groups. And I tend to almost always pick “togetherness activities.” But for one reason or another, these 3 titles are what I'm working through at my own little pace. And they've been very challenging. It amazes me how God can weave a common theme through such varied titles, but He has been. Tomorrow I'll finish the Esther study and I honestly can't believe I've been able to keep up with it. But it has been so rich and so right where I'm at; all about God's providence despite circumstances that don't seem to make sense and in a timing that often isn't my time frame. I'm only on chapter 4 in the "Emotionally Healthy Church" book. It's one of those I've had to read a little and think about a lot. Being a Family Studies major and someone who just gets a kick out of "analyzing" in a therapy sort of way, in the past I've prided myself in being very self-aware; in having taken good emotional stock of where I am and moved forward. But reading this book, along with the newness of where we are at and what goes before us, has caused me to re-evaluate truly how emotionally aware and healthy I am. And so to push back the pride has required a lot more energy and work. And then in the "Mission of Motherhood" I've decided to read through it like Austin reads through books; grab a chapter here and there. Yet in the patchy order of it all, it has fit right in with the other themes. God has a plan within the circumstances and timing of life. And how I respond to that plan not only impacts the fullness of who I am as His child, but it sets my children up for how they will respond to Him. It's also been a book with some fun, practical ideas for doing family life. I've been challenged by how I lack an awe of God as Creator. And how that lack of awe means I fail to teach my children to be in awe of Him. So that's the good stuff that He's been working within me.

Gearing up to go

With the help of my friend and fellow bargain hunter Lori, I discovered dubizzle.com. It's a site for people to post stuff they are selling ranging from large boats, cars, to cribs and more. There is a huge expatriate population in the UAE, and it is quite transient. So as people come and go, there is a lot that is posted. We had some things (heavy duty) that we needed before we move. And with Dubai as big as it is, we made a day of it and stopped at the IKEA store as well.

This is the Land Rover stroller we bought featuring hardcore tires, shocks and a basket big enough for a good load of groceries. We also bought a crib that will convert to a toddler bed.

We shopped until we dropped. Elli's sorting the IKEA spoils and sporting her new pink crocs. They don't look that big in real life. The playground at IKEA probably also contributed to the fatigue!

Not pictured is the car seat that will restrain Elli on the 8 hour (or longer) car rides to our town. The 3 purchases were less than $315.00. Gotta love a good deal!

We found Nemo!!!

We took a family field trip to Dubai Mall with some friends. This mall recently opened and beyond the ice skating rink inside, it also has it's own 3 story aquarium. And we're not talking just random assortments of goldfish. Rays, sharks, and lots of other fish are featured in the aquarium. And on the 3rd floor there is also a water "zoo" with many little tanks full of more unique fish, crabs, penguins, otters, etc. Ethan and his friend Levi were thrilled to find almost the entire cast of Finding Nemo.

A fun reunion

One benefit to being in the UAE is that a lot of people travel through. And that means we get to see friends we wouldn't get to see otherwise. Friends from our old home just came through. Viks and I were pregnant together and had baby girls within one month of each other. We said goodbye to them in September. So it was really fun to see them again for a couple days.

This was the last time the girls saw eachother. Elli was obviously borrowing the bow!

As all the adults stood by watching and taking pictures, the 2 girls got re-acquainted. It was so funny watching them try and figure one another out.

After they felt comfortable with each other, it was play time. At one point they were both playing with a drawer; opening it, putting stuff in it and then closing it. I love the last picture, both of them bracing for the "bang." It was sure fun to get time with our friends.

Where's the boy?

I looked back over the pictures I had posted lately and Elli has definitely been the one behind the camera lately. Ethan has been down the last 5 days with high fever of over104F and some incredibly watery stool. He also has had a mild case of conjunctivitis in his right eye (I guess not so photogenic as of late). But this recent illness has helped me see deeper into my little 3 1/2 year old's heart and mind. Almost daily he has told me "Mommy, I'm sad. I miss my bed. I miss our house, etc." There's nothing like being sick to make you miss what is comfortable and known. I've gathered a long list of the things Ethan loved about his bunk bed and we've agreed when we get to our new house, Ethan will help Daddy find his new bed. He was excited to find out that his blanket (the comforter cover) I sewed for him is in our trunks downstairs. I'm so glad I packed every little homey piece that I did. And the family is all in agreement, we can't wait to unpack it all and start making a home.

Baby Botox

My active little girl has fallen more times than I can keep track. But lately it has inflicted it's share of pain to her mouth. First, only upon arriving in TJK several hours before, she fell and bashed her face into the little coffee table. It was a pretty bloody wound and for a brief moment I thought she had done some serious damage to the roof of her mouth. The bleeding stopped and all was fine. This is her most recent wipe out. It swelled up instantly, as she split her lip. She already has what I call "juicy lips," but this just made them all the juicier! :) It's been several days and all is back to normal. It's probably about time for another minor accident.

Print Worthy!

Some cuddle time on the couch yielded some great pictures I thought were good enough to share. One has now become my background wallpaper on my desktop and everytime I start up my computer I can't help but say "I LOVE my kids!" They bring my heart such great joy. (Reality is they also bring my body great exhaustion, but it's all easily forgotten by the day's end).

Mission "Plumpify"

I just took Elli in for her 1 year check-up. She weighed in at 19 pounds and a little over 29 inches long. She is around the 30%, a dip since December when she weighed in closer to 50%. Granted we were eating American food and celebrated how many different Christmas meals. After charting her height and weight the Dr. informed me: "She is petite. Is her father petite? You must feed her more solids." I assured him that her father was average and that she was a very active little girl. So we are working hard to make her sit still long enough to "eat more solids." Granted her determination to feed herself everything definitely slows down the process.
Yet, petite as she is, this little girl has managed to develop a fungal rash in her neck that we are trying to get rid. Probably from all the changes back and forth from summer to winter. I guess she carries all her weight in her "chins."

Related or what?

There have been several times as of late that a little facial expression has come over Elli's face and I've thought "she looks a lot like her cousin." Now there is no doubt that she has the beautiful bald little Amershek head! I wish I had digital pictures to show you how similar she looks to Emily, Lauren and especially her Daddy. But I thought this little grin was fun, as I remember seeing it on Malia's face when she was just a little bit older than Elli is now. A lot more hair, I realize, but do you see the resemblance?

Jammin' at the Music table

Ethan and Elli singing and dancing their hearts out at the new music table. Ethan has already found his favorite song and loves to belt it out into the microphone. Elli loves to sway and dance along with the music. May they grow to sing His praise!

Happy Birthday!

Even though we have celebrated her birthday 2 other times, while we were on our trip, it didn't feel right as a mama not to make her cake or birthday dinner. And we had waited to do her birthday presents until we were in our "home" (more loosely defined now than ever before).

This was my attempt at a bunch of balloons. Being in a temporary housing situation, meant that I borrowed cupcake pans from 3 different locations to make the cake.

But Elli was excited! After sampling 2 other cakes, she new what to expect.

This was Elli's little visitor for her birthday. All the other guests were 5 and older. This little gal is 2 months younger than Elli and was staying next door. We did their baby dedication together in July and got to celebrate a birthday together. A fun gift!

Ethan found a fun beauty set for Elli including sunglasses, a compact and lipstick all to go in her little purse. We found her a little interactive music table that big brother is as equally interested in playing with.


But the winner gift was her baby doll and stroller. Mommy helped put baby in the stroller and soon Elli was determined to figure it out on her own.