A Couple Firsts

One of these firsts is fun, the other not...

Even though I know Davey has been working on his writing a lot at school, he never wants to do it at home. So I was very pleasantly surprised to see how well he could write his name...

Nice work, Davey!

Both of them!

The other first is when cheeky little Charlie...

colored on the wall...

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.

First Day of School

Thanks to a sleepy reaction to Benadryl, Davey adjusts well to the 8 hour time change between the East Coast of the US and Bahrain. So he was all adjusted and ready for his first day of school (pre-kindergarten) on September 15th.

I had had a really hard time choosing a school for him to go to, mostly having a hard time just with sending him to school for such a long day (8:00-1:45) every week day. When was I going to have time to spend with my darling Davey? After each school tour, I left emotional and teary. Before that experience, I never thought I'd be emotional for my children's first day of school. And - I was right. I guess by the time school finally started I was resigned to the idea and my usual non-emotional self was in control

Dave was very excited for his first day. Both Dave and I accompanied him and his teacher had advised us that we should stay in the room with him until he was comfortable. Well, the second we all stepped in the door, Davey was shooing us out of the room. He was ready to be independent and has never looked back. He absolutely loves school.

Davey in his uniform in front of the school.

Davey and his teachers. There are 11 children in his class.

Davey's school picture

I will always think Davey is so adorable and handsome but I think this picture is terrible. Seriously, could someone not have combed his hair and straightened his shirt? He had just had a nice hair cut (I made sure it wasn't too short) and it was nicely combed when he left the house. So much for "professional" services.

Anyway, Davey still loves school (4 months later as I write this) though he does get tired by the end of the week. He gets up at 6:30 in order to leave the house with Dave at 7:30. I am so glad the school is less than 5 minutes from Dave's work and that he's not an early-to-work guy so he can take him since the school is 20 minutes away. I just pick him up in the afternoon.

Davey's teacher is a lovely lady with lots of teaching experience and gushes about Davey every time I see her. He gets along well with everyone and will never pick a favorite friend. They are all his friends. I miss him during the week but he is always so excited to go that I don't regret putting him in.

One More Summer Post

Now that I'm feeling motivated to get caught up on blogging again, I found some hidden summer pictures and I can't resist posting them. I end up taking so many pictures when we're at the cottage I guess because there aren't many distractions. Just focusing on the here and now :)

Davey really got into playing croquet and is pretty decent at it for a four year old. We now have a set in Bahrain and it gets pretty regular use.

Touring the recently de-comissioned Ice Breaker Mackinac was really impressive!

We took a lake tour of Harbor Springs on a beautiful old wooden boat, the Pointer. The boys loved playing with Hot Wheels cars around this table. Luckily the captain didn't mind.

A lighthouse on the lake

It was a gorgeous day and wonderful ride until Davey lost his favorite car in the depths of the lake. He cried for hours.

Carrie and Katie are so fun and always trying to make the kids laugh.

The boys had no trouble joining in the silly fun.

Pretty view from the cottage window

A family picture after lunch with GiGi Featherly at the Midland Country Club

And that's all folks! (Until I find that download cord... :)