Sunday, May 24, 2009

Playing Games

Alayna's new favorite thing to do is to play games. Her favorite is Candy Land.
From 2009-05-23

I can't even tell you how many games of Candy Land have been played in this house in the past few weeks.
From 2009-05-23

Thankfully Candy Land is not the only game she wants to play. We have also been playing some Green Eggs and Ham. In this game one player is the Chef,
From 2009-05-23

and tells the other players what person wants which food. As you can see it requires a lot of concentration.
From 2009-05-23

The best part is that since she has an older brother, he will often play with her so it is not just me playing endless rounds of games. Thankfully they usually play very nicely together.

This weekend Ryan had to work and it was VERY hot outside so the kids and I pretty much spent 2 days at home. To keep them busy and out of trouble I invented a little Treasure Hunt for them. I wrote down a list of 10 things for them to find. The rules were that the item had to be small enough to fit in there back pack and they couldn't move on to the next item until both have them completed the current one.

Calvin would read the item they were looking for. (eg something pink)
From 2009-05-23

Then they would both find an item to put in there bag.
From 2009-05-23

Here they were finding "a ball".
From 2009-05-23

They did it two times through before they lost interest. They worked together and had fun, what more can a Mom ask for?

A sudden change of plans

Last Sunday the 17th the kids had off of school. It wasn't a holiday, so I am not really sure why they were off, but they were. Anyways our plan was to meet up with Marcelle and Sarah and their kids at a local park that has good shade. (It's getting hot these days)

We had just arrived at the park and the kids had been playing for all of 3 minutes when a Mom comes over to us and informs us that her kid has Chicken Pox and we might want to keep our kids away from him!

Seriously! Are you kidding me??

Clearly we left the park immediately and needed a plan B. I told everyone to just come to my house and we could play there. When we got there I knew that the 6 kids really needed to run around a bit, and in the house that was just going to cause problems. The other problem was that it was HOT outside.

Solution: get out the splash pool and find enough swimming suits for all 6 kids!
From 2009-05-23

For such and unplanned play date the kids had a blast! We just let them have at it and they slid down the slide countless times,
From 2009-05-23

and sprayed each other in the face with the hose.
From 2009-05-23

They had so much fun, and so did we just watching them. It was way better than a morning at the park! Sometimes a sudden change of plans is just what we need.

Alayna at the Stables

Alayna's class had a field trip to the horse stables last week. This came at a very opportune time for Alayna, she has been talking about horses for about a month now. She says "My Daddy is going to get me a horsey for my birthday!" HAHAHA! Poor girl.
I thought that once we got to the stables and she saw how big horses are in real life she might change her mind......ummm NO! My brave girl was one of the only kids going right up to the horse and trying to pet them.
From 2009-05-23

And she did this with every horse we looked at.
From 2009-05-23

She was so happy!
From 2009-05-23

Look at this picture. Do you see her in the background?
From 2009-05-23

The woman from the stables is trying to talk to the children about horses and what they eat and Alayna could care less. She is back there just talking to that horse. He had his head way up so she was saying "Can I please pet you?" and wouldn't you know it, but that horse moved his whole neck up and down! Alayna was so excited. She said "He said Yes Mommy he said Yes!" And the horse did lower his head to allow her to pet him. It was so cool.

After we walked through the stables they had the class all go sit down in a grassy area.
From 2009-05-23

And then the woman brought a horse out to show the kids.
From 2009-05-23

She talked to them about saddling and brushing the horse. The horse was a little restless so she ran him around a bit. What a beautiful animal.
From 2009-05-23

To end it she let each of the kids come up and give him a little pet.
From 2009-05-23

And then the horse sneezed all over Alayna and Miss Suzie!
From 2009-05-23

Alayna loved seeing all the horses, but was very disappointed that she wasn't allowed to ride. Hopefully we will be able to get her a pony ride this summer when we are back in the states. That will have to do for now, cause I don't think Daddy is buying her a horse anytime soon!

Thursday, May 14, 2009

Hangin' at the Pool

Now that the weather is nice and hot we try to hit the pool every Saturday morning. We usually meet our friends Hanneke, Jim and their three girls there.
From birthday week

Jim works down at the base with Ryan (meaning they have the same privileges as we do) so they are our Embassy and Pool buddies. Unfortunately they are moving in June and we are really going to miss them.

This week Calvin was really being brave. He is swimming at school twice a week now and you can just see his confidence growing. He must have jumped in a hundred times that morning!
From birthday week

From birthday week

And the live action version:

I can't wait to get him up to the cottage this summer!

Embassy Birthday

My birthday was last Thursday the 7th and we went to the Embassy as we do most Thursdays for Happy Hour. This week they were having a Cinco de Mayo celebration which just added to the fun! Ok, I have been craving a margarita since like March, but they never had the mix to make one. Well low and behold this week they were able to get the mix and the drink special of the night was Margaritas! Yay Me! (did they know it was my birthday?)
From birthday week

Hanneke was there of course to help me celebrate and she bought me the cutest gift: a US Embassy Kuwait shot glass! She and I are both moms of young children and we very much look forward to our Thursday night drink together.

Of course there was still the usual fun things for the kids; like ice cream.
From birthday week

From birthday week

But the night had even more fun ahead! There is always a DJ there playing music and this week he was setting the Cinco de Mayo mood! The Embassy even brought in Salsa dance instructors to teach everyone how to Salsa. You know I was right out there learning the steps.
From birthday week

But when they broke into partner dancing, I drew the line. I don't think Ryan would have wanted me shakin' my groove thang with some strange guy. But here are the pros doing there thang....
From birthday week

The DJ really got the dance floor full when he played the Macarena! (remember that?!)
From birthday week

All the kids loved it, so we tried to teach them how.
From birthday week

From birthday week

Oh my gosh were we all having fun! After the Macarena all the kids stayed out on the dance floor doing there little dances to the latin groove.
From birthday week

How cute is this?
From birthday week

After awhile Calvin got tired of following Alayna's lead (read getting viciously pulled around by his little sister), and came up to me saying he had no one to dance with. I told him I would dance with him again and he politely declined. I said his friend Katherine would dance with him if he asked, and he politely declined. At this point I am getting somewhat irritated with the boy and say "Ok Calvin, if you could dance with anyone here who would you want to dance with?" He responds by pointing across the dance floor to one of the Salsa dance instructors, who was sitting at a table catching her breath. I told him to go ask her, and he got a little shy. I made him a deal that I would walk him over there, but if he wanted to dance with her he was going to have to ask her himself. He agreed! And he did it!
From birthday week

Do you see him looking at her? He was so proud of himself and completely taken with her. After a little while Alayna saw what was happening and wanted in. Here is a little video of both kids dancing with her.

After Calvin was done dancing with her he came over to his Dad and said "Dad, did you see me dancing with that hubba hubba?"

That's my boy!!!
From birthday week

Monday, May 11, 2009

Birthday Week

In the Bakazan house birthdays are not just a day; you get a whole week to celebrate! This year I had a very good 'birthday week'. It started last Saturday with a nice steak dinner Ryan grilled for us.
From birthday week

And then on Tuesday I spoiled myself with a hair cut and a mani/pedi. Now that I was all polished, I was ready for our night out Wednesday night.
From birthday week

We went to Macaroni Grill, and yes they actually have a Macaroni Grill in Kuwait!
From birthday week

Our meal was delicious and we were both stuffed, but since Ryan had mentioned it was my birthday when he made the reservation we were treated with Free dessert!
From birthday week

(thankfully they didn't sing and force me to crawl under the table)

Thursday was my actual birthday and I spent the morning having coffee with a bunch of girlfriends.
From birthday week

from L-R: Nena, Me, Caroline, and Anita. Unfortunately I didn't remember to pull out my camera until after a couple of my friends had already left, but Sarah and Edna were also there!

And those silly girls all bought me gifts! I tried to tell them I am too old for all that, but they wouldn't listen. Three of them bought me purses! Do they know me or what?!

Thursday night is our Embassy night so I actually got to have a drink on my birthday!
From birthday week

That night was so much fun I am actually going to tell you about it in a separate post. Stay Tuned!

The grand finale of the week was having my friends Marcelle and Sarah along with their husbands over on Saturday night.
From birthday week

We just ate and chatted and the guys smoked some cigars. It was a total blast and we were up way to late and all paid for it the next morning. (remember Sunday is the start of our work/school week)

And I just have to show you what my talented and amazing friend Marcelle made for me....
From birthday week

Isn't it beautiful?! We have a shared love of Tuscany so she decoupaged pictures of Tuscany onto this tray and painted it and everything. It is so cool!

Thank you to all my friends and family who called, emailed and left notes on Facebook on my birthday. I am so blessed!

Sunday, May 3, 2009

Reaching the Century Mark

From 2009-05-03

Yup, it is officially HOT here now. We reached 100*F by 9am on Saturday morning!

And by mid-day........
From 2009-05-03

And there is only 1 thing to do on a day that hot....
From 2009-05-03

go to the pool!

One Happy Boy

Thursday nights equals Happy Hour at the Embassy for the Bakazan family. The kids always have fun, but this week Calvin had a complete blast! He was running around with a few boys about a year or 2 older than him playing soccer and just chasing each other around. When he came back to our table this is what he looked like:
From 2009-05-03

Red in the face and hair soaked with sweat!

You see, when we are at the Embassy it's a very controlled environment and Calvin knows his boundaries so he basically gets the freedom to run around and play without Mom and Dad right there watching his every move. He can go to the kids room and watch the movie that's playing or go run around with his friends and he always knows where we are if he needs us. We bring our maid Lorna with us, and her job is to basically follow Alayna around and make sure she stays out of trouble. The fact that this is the only time all week they are allowed to have popcorn, soda, ice cream and the freedom to run unsupervised makes Happy Hour one of my kids favorite things to do.
From 2009-05-03


And the ice cream is always a highlight.
From 2009-05-03

Apparently it's good to the last drop!
From 2009-05-03

Calvin was just so happy and care free, I can only hope he will remember this.
From 2009-05-03

And if not, at least he can look at the pictures and see the joy in his little face.