Halloween Cookie Party

My mom has given me all kids of cute Halloween cookie cutters and Davey wanted to celebrate Halloween with all his little buddies, so we decided to have a low-key Halloween cookie-decorating party.

Davey decided who he wanted to invite from his class at school and helped me make the invitations...

I think they turned out cute and had to laugh at the

grumpy pumpkin he wanted to make.

Charlie, Davey and his two best buddies Jordan and Logan

I laugh at how Davey really looks like a ghost in this one

Shannon and Bryden intent on their decorating

Davey getting into decorating

Logan and Monica

Abi and Connor

Davey and I

The kids had lots of fun playing Hullabaloo

Super Stretchy ABC is always a hoot!

Thanks to Monica for bringing the sacks for sack races.

The kids couldn't get enough!

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Dalia joined us a little late but we are so glad she came.

Davey really enjoys her friendship.

My cute boys getting ready for a race

Oxy Halloween Party

I worked with my friend, Donna, to put on a Halloween party for the Oxy families this year. Donna is a mega-planner so I let her lead and it turned into a pretty complicated party with all kinds of games and activity stations needing volunteers for every 30 minutes. Luckily a lot of people were willing to help. We had a chili and cornbread dinner along with a beautifully decorated Halloween cake.

Our boys had lots of fun as I think all the kids did. But next year we'll simplify... by the time we got everything going and tended to our own families a bit, everyone seemed to forget about their volunteering and the games didn't all run as planned but it was still a success.

When you first walked in was the "Guess how many spiders" game.

I think it was the favorite.

Leslie, me and Donna

We have a H'ween grinch in our family...

Our scary little ghost and cute little pumpkin ready to play!

We held the party in the clubhouse of a compound with all Oxy people so we were able to go trick-or-treating... yea!

The first house

Charlie was really into the candy. It was his first year going.

Last year he was already sleeping by the time we went out.

It was quite a warm night and we were all sweating by the time we finished trick-or-treating.

Birthday Time

For some reason, turning 31 was harder this year than turning 30 was last year. Perhaps because turning 30 was a celebration and didn't seem like very far out of my twenties but turning 31 means I am officially in my thirties... and I am seeing signs of age now. Ugh, that really can't be true! But, despite these feelings, I had a really great birthday.

We have a group of couples we know through Dave's work who we go to dinner with once or twice a month and they planned a surprise dinner for me on Thursday night, which was lovely. Its always fun to hang out with Donna, Karen, Zeila and their husbands.

Karen and I with the delicious birthday cheesecake she made

Friday, on my actual birthday, Carol stopped by with a treat and a gift and we had a nice day at church and home as a family.

Trying to capture a family picture after church

Then on Saturday, the Boyetts invited us to dinner and it was a little surprise birthday dinner. We had such a nice time visiting with them. All of my friends here in Bahrain made me feel so loved! I am so grateful to have great friends.

And my family and friends from "home" (all the different homes I've had in the past 10 years) also made me feel loved with all of their calls and messages and some gorgeous flowers sent by my friend, Mendy.

Back to Real Life

The rest of September and October went by rather quickly. It took quite a while to feel back into a routine and adjust to Davey being gone so much. Charlie and I spent a lot of quiet mornings at home. I kept busy with my calling in the Young Women and helping to plan a Halloween party for the Oxy families.

A few other things that filled our time...

Long before we left, we got a letter stating that our home's one-year warranty work needed to be done and we were to make a list of anything that needed repair. It wasn't until we returned from our trip, several months later, that they began the work. I was quite upset that this work hadn't been scheduled for while we were gone. The people involved in scheduling this were well aware that we were going to be gone and there is no reason it shouldn't have taken place when we were. This is what the house looked like for days...

They chipped out and re-filled cracks in the wall that we had never seen and brought up an unbelievable amount of tiles which apparently sounded hollow (not properly filled underneath) and the work went on day after day, coating everything with dust and preventing naps and just general living. Not to mention filling the house with stench. And, some of the tiles - even ones that they "fixed" - still sound hollow. But I'll never tell a soul. Or at least one who might do something about it.

On a more fun note, while the kids and I were in the States, Dave wandered around Muharraq Island and found the Sheikh Isa House we'd been looking for... The Sheikh Isa House was built around 1800 and was originally the residence of Isa Bin Ali al Khalifa before he turned it into the building from which he later ruled the country.

Inside a main courtyard

One of the wind tunnels - the original form of air conditioning. You could really feel it working even on the calm day we were there. Not that it compares to current A/C.

Looking up the wind tunnel

Beautifully carved doors

And beautifully carved walls

Cute pic of my guys

Pretty stained glass

One of the local malls created an indoor ice skating rink and offered its use for free, along with the skates and helmets for kids. The day we went it was deserted and all the equipment seemed brand new. What a deal!

Davey LOVED it, though he definitely needed support all along the way

View of the rink. Not really large but perfect for us.

We also went through another transition period with our maid since when we got back home I couldn't find my diamond necklace that Dave gave me when Davey was born. I am quite sure the maid (or her "husband" rather) stole it. Needless to say we let her go. I'm trying to forget about the whole ordeal so I'm not going to include all the crazy details of what happened.