Pancake Wishes and Maple Syrup Dreams...

A family favorite is pancakes with homemade maple syrup.  The pancakes we all love are easily made with Red Rose Flour.  The difficult part is getting the flour.  It comes from my home town of Logan, Utah.  Even when we lived in Utah we would have to remember to ask Bobbi to bring some to us in Provo whenever we were running low.  A tradition whenever we stay at Bobbi's house is to have wonderful buttermilk pancakes for breakfast in the mornings.  Living here makes getting the flour nearly impossible.  I always bring back one bag after each summer so we really use it sparingly...I have to admit, I even forget about it.

The other day Jack asked if we could have pancakes for breakfast the next morning.  When I said we could if I had time to make them he suggested I just make them while I am still in my jammies because that's what Bobbi does.  He made it sound so easy I thought I would even wear my jammies that remind him of Bobbi and make sure I woke early enough to make his pancake wishes come true.  He was thrilled..and he even noticed I had my "Bobbi jammies" on.

Sam even included his Commander Cody in the pancake breakfast..I think he looooved the special breakfast too.

Valentine's Day 2009

Field Day at ACS

6 Weeks to Recovery

6 weeks after his accident Charlie finally got his cast removed.  He still walks with quite a limp but we are hoping all is normal and he will soon be running around again.  He got the cast off the same day as field day at school so he didn't really participate but had lots of fun watching the other kids.

It felt so good for him to get into a bath and get his leg scrubbed.  He has never been so excited to get into the tub.

100 Days and Counting

Tomorrow is the 100th day of this school year at ACS. It is hard to believe the kids have helped pack their lunches and backpacks, brushed their teeth and spiked their hair 100 times since summer ended. They have laughed, argued and listened to their favorite songs in Big Red as we have made our way across the island we call home: Abu Dhabi.
The school will celebrate by having the kids enter the gate through a big 100 with one of the "0's" serving as the opening. The kids are each supposed to bring 100 pieces of something to class. This is a BIG DEAL.
Cairo is taking 100 m&m's and Jack and Charlie are each taking 100 Craisins. Sam's 4th grade class must have outgrown the 100 items thing because he isn't taking anything but his spaghetti sandwich (his lunch everyday) and his homework, like always.
I've been slacking on the blog lately in spite of the many things that have happened in our lives since the last post on February 1st..Charlie's cast is off. He is wearing his Heely's (without the wheels for two more weeks!). The kids had field day at school. It is held in February here, before the weather gets too hot. We had a great Valentine's day dinner as a family and I received the best gift I could ask for from my valentine, a love letter. All is good here...The camels are training for the big final races that begin on the 22nd of March..Come one, come all. This day will be one to remember...AND that same week...ColdPlay, in concert at the Emirate's Palace outside on the beach..We do lead a great life. I'm happy everyday and couldn't ask for more fun, better friends or a more incredible family..

Oh, AND SHARI IS FINALLY BACK FROM HER CHRISTMAS BREAK.  (What month is it???)

Just kidding, she has been freezing in Montana, taking care of her ailing mother.  We are so happy she was able to come back and spend some time in the sun, having fun with us!

Salalah

Brad returned with some great photos and good memories of Salalah, Oman.  

Charlie Graduates to a Short Cast

Charlie's leg is getting better all the time.  We went 2 weeks between appointments this time and the bones had made progress.  He had too.  Charlie had nearly worn holes in the bottom of his cast because he was walking all over the place in that thigh-high green monster.  Two weeks was pushing the limit on foot odor for a cast so we were happy to get it off, have and x-ray and move into a shorter, walking cast.  They also threw in a boot to protect the bottom of the cast this time.

Jack has been such a great helper for Charlie.  He is anxious to help push him around the school in the borrowed stroller that takes him from building to building.  As a celebration for the new walking cast we went to the mall and got Charlie the Heely's he has been longing for.  He still cannot wear them but he can now look and them and dream of weeks to come.  He has returned Jack's kindness by allowing Jack to wear the NEW Heely's, even before he gets to break them in.  What a generous guy!  He wins the award in the family this week for being SELFLESS.

HAPPY CHINESE NEW YEAR

The Chinese are brilliant! I love it that I have another chance to resolve my resolutions. Perhaps if I put them out publicly I will have a greater resolve and commitment to seeing them through.

• Be a more responsible, discriminating custodian of material goods. Sounds kind of cerebral, huh? Anyway, in my native tongue I would say: I want to accumulate less STUFF. The STUFF I do accumulate I have be willing to care for. Simplify all the little THINGS that find their way into my world and clutter it up leading to more to launder, more to clean, more to store, etc...The kids don't realize this will have an effect on their lives to. Hopefully, through my example they will learn to take less STUFF into their/our lives. And, the STUFF we do have will be better cared for, see more love and attention and will be disposed of responsibly when it has served it's purpose. MINIMIZE
• Expect the best of people and assume that's what you get from them. I don't really have a problem with "Expecting the best" but sometimes I have a problem with feeling disappointed or hurt when I get from people less than I think they are capable of. I don't even have a good example of this but I just want to remember that people are good and are doing the best they can and to focus on doing MY BEST for others.

That's it. There is always the details of living a healthier life and getting into better shape and cooking healthier meals and being more conscious of our carbon footprint..Those are ongoing and probably fall somewhere under the umbrella of the above mentioned. I'm exposed..feel free to help out if you notice me straying.

Remember This Guy??

Sri, he was my hero for an entire week last year when he caught the birds that were loose in our house..Remember that? It was last March and I came home and thought someone was in the house because I could hear weird stuff upstairs. When I went upstairs to check it out, I interrupted a bird party going on in Sam's room. They, of course, were surprised by me so flew into my face. Sri came and caught the birds and gently set them free to resume their lives OUTSIDE our home.

Mr. Sri just got back from Sri Lanka where he went to visit his family 8 weeks ago. If you can believe it, it was the 1st time in 4 years he has seen his wife and 4 kids.

(Now I feel like a real baby for feeling lonely with Brad gone for 2 nights.)

I asked him about his trip and he couldn't stop smiling. He was grinning from ear to ear speaking in his broken English about his healthy and happy family back home and the good food he had..(he rubbed his tummy). He even smiled through the part about not going back again now for 4 MORE YEARS. I made a sad face and he was quick to console me..He said, "It's OK madame..It's too difficult for money if I go more." People like Sri I will really miss when we leave this place. I love the constant reality checks that slap me upside the head and let me know how good life is to me and my family. My little problems seem soooo insignificant.

Sri is my hero again this week...minus the birds!

A Lot Going On In My Little Brain

Is it just me?..I know I have a problem with keeping things neat and organized.

I close my eyes and try to channel my good friend and PROFESSIONAL ORGANIZER Vicki Winterton in Provo.

Any solutions for this one Vicki?

Lately, I am more acutely aware of little things that are adding little bits of stress to my day...Such as: Containers and lids that have lost their spouses..single socks...a small Hello Kitty pencil sharpener that keeps falling into my bathroom sink when I brush my teeth and I just keep absent-mindedly putting back up on the edge of the sink. Does anyone else carry these pitiful burdens around, getting grumpy, sweating the small stuff?

(My version of speed-dating for lids and containers as I make lunches early in the a.m. Please notice the environmentally conscious jute bag I keep them all in. Is my insanity bad for the environment?)

My instincts tell me to just throw all of it in the garbage..get it out of my home and off my mind. Then I remember the reason I bought the containers with their lids was to eliminate zip-lock bags from our lives because that's NOT ENVIRONMENTALLY SOUND. Throwing away bigger, more imposing pieces of plastic that will then need to be replaced by something else to hold the kid's sandwiches, etc..doesn't make any sense at all.

Anyone else getting stressed out by this?

Then, the single socks..well, there is an abundance of them around now because cute little Charlie wears only 1 sock everyday to school..How do I solve that. I don't for another 5 weeks, then maybe I throw away the single socks..what a waste. Then, the pencil sharpener. I know now, as write this, that I should just go find a place to put it. But when I'm brushing my teeth I'm not thinking of putting away a pencil sharpener that somehow wound up on my bathroom sink. I'm thinking of either:

a) getting to bed

or

b) getting into Big Red to get the kids to school on time

..Now, I think I will go upstairs and toss out that sharpener.

Where do things like that come from? And, how do they get into my bathroom?

Jack the sicko..Jack Heely'd around with me for two days because he had a terrible fever and cough that reared its ugly head on Saturday night. So, Sunday, no school, Monday no school. He is really an easy sick person because when he's sick..he just wants to lay around and when he's well he wants to be on the move. He loved using those Heely's in Spinneys. The tile floors with no carpets to interrupt long glides were his idea of paradise. Then he saw his favorite yogurt and muesli on the salad bar and life was good to old Jack-a-Roo. We came home, Mom napped, and Jack watched Clone Wars.

(Good indication that Jack is back in the pink and my life is quiet today.)

The Cooks at Atlantis..again. I love that place. (Picture from our time in Dubai with Joleen) Brad, Dr. Hotpants, is off on a solitary pilgrimage to Salalah, Oman. He has always wanted to go there. It is likely the place where the Land of Bountiful was during Book of Mormon times. I totally encouraged him to go and check it off of his list of things to do before we leave this region. While I would have loved to join him (because I never want him to go and have fun without me) their were 4 young reasons I felt I was needed back in Abu Dhabi. So, the kids and I have been lonely for Brad since Sunday afternoon when the driver picked him up to take him to the airport in Dubai. Lucky for me and Jack, Brad spent the morning at home, taking his time packing and getting ready to go and hanging out with us. In Dubai he was able to see Sargon and Habib, in town from Kabul, so his life is quite charmed, wouldn't you say?

He gets home tonight and we are so happy.

Can't wait to:

1st: Give big hug and let him know how much we missed him

2nd: Hear about his adventures

3rd: Have him around to keep things balanced