Friday, January 22, 2010

DC Recon

After Ryan's fun in Wisconsin he headed back to DC and did some recon for our upcoming move. He met with our realtor Irene and checked out the housing situation.
From Ryan's trip to the States
I have 3 words to describe the situation: old, small, and expensive! We will make the best of it though.

He also checked out the church and met with the pastor.
From Ryan's trip to the States
The most important thing he did was to visit the school and meet with the principal there.
From Ryan's trip to the States
It is a very small Lutheran school with grades K - 8. Alayna will be in Kindergarten there.
From Ryan's trip to the States
And Calvin will be in 1st grade. First and second grades are combined into one classroom there.
From Ryan's trip to the States
And still the class size is small as you can see.

We are so excited about the school there. The housing.....not so much!

Ryan's Weekend in Wisconsin

Well I am now catching up on some photos Ryan took when he was back in the States over the Thanksgiving weekend. He was suppose to leave Kuwait Thanksgiving night and go right to Wisconsin to go deer hunting. Due to some snow in DC he left an entire day late and only ended up having one night at the cottage. They made the most of it though.

Here are the men! My Dad, Bob B., Ryan, and his Dad
From Ryan's trip to the States
(photo courtesy of Jake V. age 4)

Ryan got to turn the key of our cottage for the first time as the owner!
From Ryan's trip to the States
And see our name on the sign.
From Ryan's trip to the States
They stayed at my parents cottage though, as they have central heat and we don't.

Ryan was able to hunt Sunday morning, and unfortunately didn't get one. But they still had a good time. They played some cards,
From Ryan's trip to the States
and visited the local bar the Trading Post.
From Ryan's trip to the States
And check this out.....A toddler behind the bar!!
From Ryan's trip to the States
Only in Wisconsin!

It wasn't all play though, they did a lot of hard work too. They raked the lawn at our cottage.
From Ryan's trip to the States
And they cleaned out the garage.
From Ryan's trip to the States
They worked hard and played hard and Ryan really enjoyed getting to see our cottage now that he owns the place!

Thursday, January 14, 2010

Calvin's First Tennis Lesson

Last week Wednesday Calvin started Tennis lessons at the Embassy. Ryan has been playing almost every week now, and Calvin had shown some interest in learning.

FYI:Calvin shows interest in just about everything his Daddy does!

Anyways....since he is not doing swimming right now, we thought it would be a good time to let him try something else.

It is a group lesson for ages 3 - 5. They work on basics like hand-eye coordination and footwork and getting used to how the ball bounces.
From 2010-01-12
Coach Joe does a great job with the little ones. He is firm and direct but also patient and understanding of their age.

They do get a chance to hit the ball a few times during the 30 minute lesson. Calvin is doing great and hits it over the net every time!
From 2010-01-12
Apparently that takes a little concentration!
From 2010-01-12
He has had 3 lessons now and is doing great! He really loves it. Next month he will turn 6, so he will be in the "big kids group" for ages 6-12. It is so fun to see him participating in his first sport! Hopefully he will be able to volley with his Dad soon!

Saturday, January 9, 2010

Christmas Dinner with Friends

One of the highlights of this Christmas was being able to share it with my friends Sarah and Marcelle and their families.
From Christmas 2009
Unfortunately my camera was set on some funny setting and only a few photos turned out :(

Anyways everyone had a wonderful time and we got to share some of our different Christmas traditions. I made a turkey and some good old American sweet potatoes and green bean casserole! Sarah and Mark are British and they brought minced pies, Scottish shortbread, trifle, English Christmas pudding. Sarah and Marcelle both brought Christmas crackers that we opened. (click on Christmas Cracker if you don't know what that is)
Marcelle brought two amazing side dishes one with grilled Halumi cheese on top that was to die for! She is South African so her traditional Christmas dinner would involve BBQing by the pool since it would be the middle of summer for them!

The kids had a blast playing together. Here is a picture of the girls:
From Christmas 2009
(from L to R Chloe, Abby, and Alayna)

After the dinner the guys even escaped outside for a cigar.
From Christmas 2009
(from L to R Mazen, Mark, and Ryan)

It really was an amazing day, one that we will remember forever. We feel so blessed to have such amazing friends here. We will miss them dearly.

Christmas Morning 2009

The kids were up bright and early at about 5:30 on Christmas morning, and they were so excited to see all the gifts under the tree.
From Christmas 2009
Calvin said "Wow, I must have been good this year!"

And without delay we got down to the business of opening presents. Santa brought Alayna a "Mommy make me better doll".
From Christmas 2009
And Calvin got a Zero Gravity car from Nana.
From Christmas 2009
This year the kids were very much about the presents and the joy of opening and ripping the paper was no more. Therefore, I have very few pictures of the opening this year. It just all happened so quickly! I did get a picture of Calvin opening his most favorite gift though.....his Super Mario Brothers Wii game from Grandma and Grandpa.
From Christmas 2009
Alayna had a very Mulan Christmas. She got a Mulan costume,
From Christmas 2009
(I have no idea what she is doing there, but thought it was too funny to leave out)

She also got the Mulan movie and a Mulan doll. She watched the Mulan movie twice on Christmas day!
From Christmas 2009
Thanks Auntie Brooke!

Here are a few of the other highlights: Calvin in his Superman costume and his very cool sword with his name on it!
From Christmas 2009
Alayna with the Magic Light Brush.
From Christmas 2009


Here is Ryan and Calvin putting together his "King's Castle"
From Christmas 2009
and the finished product.
From Christmas 2009
And we ended the morning with a little birthday party for Jesus.
From Christmas 2009

Christmas Eve 2009

We had a wonderful Christmas Eve again this year. Like last year we got dressed up and headed to our friends house for their open house.

The kids looked so cute!
From Christmas 2009
And we even managed to grab a family photo before we left.
From Christmas 2009
For some reason I failed to take ANY photos while we were at Anita and Stew's house. But we all had a great time and ate some great food.

When we got home it was on to the business of preparing for Santa's visit. First though we had to open our "one present you can open on Christmas Eve" present from Nana. Somehow Calvin must have remembered last Christmas and already knew it was going to be PJ's! He LOVED his new Mario Kart PJ's!
From Christmas 2009
And Alayna loved her nightgown with matching nightgown for her baby doll.
From Christmas 2009
Aren't they cute?
From Christmas 2009
As soon as the kids had their new PJs on we got the cookies and milk ready for Santa.
From Christmas 2009
And then outside to leave some apples and carrots for the reindeer.
From Christmas 2009
Then it was off to bed, because we all know Santa won't come unless everyone is asleep.

Friday, January 1, 2010

Incident Report #2

On Friday,December 18th we had a birthday party at a friends house. It was a circus themed party, for Alayna's friend Scarlett. It was very much a family event and there were lots people there that I knew. One of the fun circus themed things they had to play with were these "body boppers". This is important, but I will get to that in a minute.

All was going well and everyone was having a good time. We had played some games and eaten some pizza, and now it was craft time. Calvin says he wants to do his craft at home and goes over to play with the "body boppers" some more. Now it is important for me to note that in Kuwait most homes have beautiful marble floors. This is important, but I will get to that in a minute.

I was chatting with some other parents while keeping an eye on the kids. Calvin had wandered into one of the living areas with the bopper so I went over and told him he needed to stay on the marble floors and not on the carpeted areas, as those were the living areas, and were full of things to break and people to hurt. I will question this logic in a few minutes.

Next thing I know Calvin is screaming and crying. I turn around and see that his body is in the bopper, parallel to the ground and he is using his hands to hold his upper body off the floor. I immediately think "Great he's knocked out another tooth." I run over and scoop him up comforting him.

After a few seconds I pulled his face away from me to try and see where he is hurt, teeth - all there, tongue - not bleeding, hmmmm

"Calvin you have to tell me what hurts."

Back to holding him while he is still crying very hard. By this time the mother of the birthday girl is standing over us and I pull Calvin away from me again to try and see what is wrong. She says "oh, there's blood". I now pick him up and take him into the kitchen so we can get some paper towel or something to stop the bleeding. Keep in mind, I still don't know where or why he is bleeding. Once I sat down on a chair I pull him away from me again, and finally see that he has split open his chin pretty good. "Yeah, we are going to the hospital today."

Those of you who know me well know that I only looked at it for half a second, and that it was taking all I had to stay conscious. Thankfully I was surrounded by friends who helped me make the phone calls I need to make, drove us to the hospital, and took care of Alayna so she could stay at the party. And another helpful Mom I know who handed Calvin and me some miracle-over-the-counter-no-prescription-necessary-pediatric-homeopathic-dose-look-my-kid-takes-them-all-the-time-calming pill. And they actually worked!

Calvin ended up with 4 stitches, and he was very brave getting them. The good news about being in Kuwait is that we literally were with a Doctor in less than 5 minutes from the time we walked in the building. Here is the little bruiser when we got home that day:
From 2009-12-24
and a few days later:
From 2009-12-24
The stitches came out on Christmas eve. It healed pretty nicely, but he is definitely going to have a scar.

They say these things come in 3's, so I guess 2 down and one to go. Yikes!