Halloween 2007

Halloween here in Doha is just about the same as in the states. The kids had Haloween parties at school, and we trick-or-treated on our compound. We loaded up the wagons and strollers and hit the streets!





Isaac was a skunk



Jonathan Gabriel and Lukas were characters from Pirates of the Carribean.


Annelise was a ballerina kitty and Aliyah was a ballerina chick!

Pool Fun!

What a week! The boys started baseball, and this year we are fortunate enough to be on 3 different teams! Our Friday's are going to be spent at the baseball field with 3 games!

Jonathan has a Multi Culture Project tomorrow so we just got done baking "treacle tarts" for him to share with his class. He did the whole thing on Power Point by himself and I was so impressed! He kept telling me "mom, it's really not a big deal" I told him when I was his age I had to cut, paste, glue, and write everything for my projects. Wow, it's amazing how things change!

I am including some pictures that I took at the pool a couple days ago. Can you believe that it is still over 100 F here during the day? We are still enjoying our "fall" season. We have scarecrows, pumpkins, gourds, bats, spiders and even a hay bale on the porch!

The Bike...

Lorna Linn is my good friend's live in maid. She also cleans for us twice a week and is an absolute angel! She has a cute 3 wheel bike that she puts the little ones in and rides around the compound. The kids also like to ride around with each other in the basket... very cute!

Happy Birthday Aliyah!

Aliyah is 2!!

We celebrated Aliyah's birthday tonight. We had Quiche and muffins. For dessert we had Baskin Robbins ice cream cake (yes we have REAL BR here!) Aliyah opened her gifts and she was so excited about her pink vespa and baby doll stroller. We also bought her a potty chair and she has pottied in it twice on her own already! We love our goofy girl and can hardly believe that she is 2 already!!

Our Eid Holiday

Eid is the 5 day holiday celebration following the holy month of Ramadan. We went to the beach and had planned a nice evening of grilling hot dogs, kebobs and smores, and playing in the tide pools. What actually happend was we got stuck in the "sand" Okay, it was actually MUD! We can normally take our SUV almost anywhere in the desert and not get stuck. But last night was a different story! Some guys from a camp at Ras Laffan came and tried to help us dig out, but we just kept sinking. The police ended up bringing a winch and a tow truck. We were in so deep that the tow truck ended up stuck! When it was all said and done, we had been stuck for 6 hours and finally got home at about midnight! The kids were great though and thought it was an adventure! So even though we did not go out of town for holiday, the kiddos still have a good story to tell!
Today we went back out to the beach, but we went to the beach club where the roads were paved! The kids went kayaking and played at the park with their friends!

Homade Rootbeer

For October, Lukas and Ryan made Rootbeer. We actually got the "kit" for the kids for Christmas last year but we are just now getting around to it. Lukas had a great time helping dad mix the ingredients and creating the labels. After botttling it, we let it sit for about 10 days to 2 weeks. This weekend we finally got a chance to sample it! The first bach we tried was a bit to "yeasty" but after letting it sit a few more days it was yummy!
We also had a good time playing outside in our nice cool fall weather! It is in the 90's now and much more tolerable. Our wind even has a little cooling effect! The kids are looking foward to Halloween and can't wait to put on their costumes! I got a few pictures of Annelise and Aliyah dressing up in their fairy costumes at the park yesterday!

Isaac is 8 months old!

Okay it seems I have been a little obsessed with birthday milestones these days, but I do have to mention that Isaac is 8 months old now! He "scoots" around the room, and has been for a while. He doesn't crawl, but pulls himself all over the house. He loves our dog Oliver, although I am not sure Oliver appreciates Isaac's attention! He is an absolute joy to our family and we can't imagine life without him!