ONLY 9 DAYS LEFT....WE ARE IN THE SINGLE DIGITS...

Sam's Class Play - How Does Your Garden Grow?

Cairo's Class Play - Stone Soup

Cairo with Ms. Brooks the music teacher at ACS. She was the official director of the play but of course Cairo did her share at letting all the actors know where they should be on the stage. Ms. Brooks is one of my pilates buddies after school on Tuesdays at ACS.

Finished!

I am so proud of myself. I set a goal in November to finish the Book of Mormon before we left Abu Dhabi. Today was the day. I will have to remember it. It should be easy to remember because it's my brother Dave's birthday.
This B of M has been with me in the tub, the pool, the car, my purse, the playground and generally knocked around the house and car. You can see by the tattered pages it has been "used". It is great to feel such a sense of accomplishment.

Goodbye Brunch at Liz' Home

We said goodbye to 4 women who won't be back in the fall and also said goodbye for the summer to many others. It is the end of the year and everyone is packing up to head to cooler climates to visit loved ones and relax for the summer.
As you all know by now...Only 12 more days for us and time is going so quickly. We are going to have to find a way to slow it down once we get home.

All the women pictured are great and fun and interesting. Life brings great people to us if we open our hearts and minds to it...

The three women in this photo are three of the four who I met at the Hilton during the interview almost a year ago now. They are responsible for my level of comfort in moving here and for making this year one full of fun with new friends.

Shari's Grandbabies Come for a Visit

Jack and Charlie were such cute babysitters with Aubrey and Isabel. It was fun to see how excited the boys were to feed them food and try to help them learn to kick in the pool. The best photo was watching Jack take the two of them by the hand and help them back to the house after swimming.

Cairo Bridges on to the Next Level of Brownie Scouts

It was a ceremony I am unfamiliar with as I was never a Brownie or Girl Scout but I am learning fast. It was a big event. Each girl received a star for their banner and helped a younger girl cross the bridge to her next level. Cairo, of course, loved every minute of it. Just like her Mom once did at a young age, she got on stage in front of a large crowd and needed to tinkle...Fortunately, unlike her Mom, she ran from the stage and made it to the bathroom and back before her turn. It is evident in one of the photos that she was very uncomfortable..

End of Year Open House at ACS

Sam and Cairo had an open house to show their work in each of their classes. Cairo was a tour guide. After the event we spent a few minutes on the playground. After dark is really the only time cool enough now to be on the playground

Twins Graduate from Miss Neeta's Class

Jack, the family clown just cannot handle being in front of a big audience. As the photo shows, he spent the graduation ceremony sitting between my legs. After he was happy to pose with Miss Neeta. When saying his prayers that night he said he was thankful for graduation. I asked him what graduation meant. He said it meant an end of year concert at school...These kids are so much fun I hate to see them get older and bigger!

Charlie managed to make it through his first of many graduation ceremonies. He say with the group and received a diploma graduating him from Miss Neeta's class. She is pictured with him. Unfortunately, he was waving at the camera during the shot.

The War of the Rims

Sam was complaining of frequent headaches so we took him to the eye doctor. He was diagnosed with a very minor sight problem. The doctor said without the headache complaints he would not even have prescribed glasses. Sam is so excited about his glasses. This morning he claimed to feel a headache coming on simply through the realization that he had left his glasses at home.
He only needs to wear them for reading or computer work so it's not serious but he is happy to have them. The following are the final choice. He claims to be even better at PE with them. When he told me that I put a stop to him wearing them in PE. We don't need them broken.
The following photos are of the options we considered before settling on the final "rims". I have to admit he does look really cute with (or without) glasses.

The morning of the twins birthday they announced that the previous plan of Dunkin Donuts for the class treat just wasn't going to be good enough. They wanted a Power Ranger birthday cake to serve to their classmates. Apparently Noah, a boy in their class had served a great cake like that and they wanted one too. Luckily they sprung this on me at 6am giving me time to make a cake. I dropped all 4 kids at school and came home to decorate the cake. It ended up being a bundt cake wishing Jack and Charlie a happy birthday and had a Power Ranger toy standing in the hole in the middle of it. I quickly got back in the car and drove it to their class. Then ran to hear Cairo give and oral report on a goal she had set at the first of the school year. Her goal had been to improve her swimming. I got to her school just in time to here her give a great presentation then rushed back to the twins school to see their classmates wish them a happy birthday and eat the Power Ranger cake that I had whipped up. After all this running around I brought the twins home to have a little down time before the next party around the pool at 4:30.
We decided to go out and relax at the pool right then. Just as we were ready to come inside and start making another cake, Jack jumped into the pool, a little too close to the edge and caught his chin on the side of the pool. So, after a quick phone call to a great doctor we found ourselves in the backseat of Shari's car headed to a plastic surgeon to get stitches as an unplanned part of Jack's birthday celebration...The photos follow...What a crazy day in the life...

The birthday began with cake served at school. It evolved into a crazy day including a trip to the doctor to get stitches in Jack's chin, another celebration around the pool and lots of great presents. What a day!


On the twins birthday I always feel like celebrating simply because I am so happy that it isn't the day of their birth in 2003. It's still quite fresh in my memory the pain of the c-section and the sleepless nights that followed. Now it is worth every bit of it. These sweet boys are such a blessing and are so cute as each other's best friend. I am really grateful we were blessed with two on that 7th of May 2003

An unexpected part of the birthday was Jack taking a fall at the pool and splitting open his chin. With Brad being out of town, I was so grateful Shari was here. She drove us to Dr. Smith's office where he stitched up the deep gash. This was a part of the birthday I certainly could have done without. Jack was so brave and handled the whole thing so well. On our way to see the doctor, Jack spoke to Brad on the phone and I know it was tearing Brad's heart out not only to be missing the twins birthday but to hear Jack crying about his bleeding chin.

Charlie got some great dinosaur toys as gifts.

Cairo's 7th Birthday

Cairo's party included musical chairs, painting arabic clay pots, and of course, too many presents. She had a great day and all the girls had a blast painting their pots. Thanks to Marilyn and Shari the day was well handled with no long term damage done to the Fortress Compound clubhouse

We had dinner at Chilis with Sam and Shari to celebrate on the actual day. Then we kept celebrating for a week after...Her party was on the 28th.