Exercise is Fun!

Well, at least Lil N thinks it's fun....

Oman Trip

We had a wonderful time in Oman. The resort was fabulous. We had fun at the pool, the lazy river and the beach. We also went dolphin watching one day. That was a neat experience. Oman is a pretty country. Nice and green, and even has mountains which we had no idea about. So that was a nice surprise.

Quotes from the trip:
"Mom, I'm not sleeping in that bed. It's not my bed." (Lil N)
"This isn't our house. We have to go to our house." (Lil H)
And we had this conversation every night....

We also found out that both girls grind their teeth while they sleep. Ouch! And they aren't very good bed partners at all. Mr. D and I were happy to get back home so that we could have our bed back to ourselves again. Here are some pics:

Mr. D and Mr. P(a friend that happened to be there the same day we arrived) and the girls floating down the lazy river

Mr. D, Lil H, Lil N and me on the hotel terrace

Mr. D just had to have a pic of this

Lil N, Mr. D and Lil H hanging out in the kiddie pool

The girls having a conversation....my favorite pic

On the boat dolphin watching

There go some...

A resort that we saw from the boat

The girls and I on the beach picking up sea shells

The girls and a new friend they made at the airport

HAPPY BIRTHDAY !!!

Happy Birthday sweet girls! I can't believe you are already 3.

Today we took cookies to school, then went to CircusLand and rode the carousel, the airplanes and other fun things. We then went home and waited on Mr. D to show up with dinner. We sang Happy Birthday one more time, ate cake and opened presents. It was the perfect day!

Lil H and Lil N riding the horses

Up in the airplanes --- whee!!
Lil N driving with a bear
Lil H driving a puppy dog

Catching Up

Time to play catch up. I know....it's been a while since my last post. I'm not exactly sure where the time went. I'm sure there was some sickness in there somewhere. And then my new found freedom on Monday and Wednesday has allowed me to venture out more and that keeps me off the computer.
So let's start with Easter. It was a great day. We started off the day with Easter baskets which included all sorts of stuff.... singing Easter eggs, My Little Pony's, books, loads of candy, and a nice cuddly lamb with an Easter story to go along with it. :-) We then went to church for a lovely service and then had a late lunch at a friend's house. The girls also got to hunt Easter eggs which is definitely a highlight for them. And I'm happy to report that the Easter bunny has already hopped away with his eggs so there will not be any more egg hunts until next year. Last year I think we hunted Easter eggs for about 3 months after Easter. This year, it only lasted about 3 weeks so that's great news for me. Some pics from Easter:

Lil N and Lil H before church

Lil H and Lil N hunting eggs

The girls are really enjoying school and they now tell me they want to go every day. It looks like they will get their chance next year as a 5 day program is all that is offered at the school they are at now. I was hoping for a 3 day program.... but we'll take what's given to us I guess. There is one other school that is closer to our house that we may check out, but I think we are all leaning towards staying at the same school next year.

The girls will soon be 3. We had their birthday party this past weekend. We had 7 little girls in attendance. It was a Hello Kitty birthday party. We colored Hello Kitty sheets, played Hello Kitty Bingo (I know Grandma is proud!!) and snacked on rainbow-colored goldfish, graham cracker butterflies and strawberry birthday cake. Everyone seemed to have a great time. And the girls got some really neat presents. Here are some pics:

Lil H before the party

Lil N before the party

Everybody coloring their Hello Kitty sheets

Everybody playing Hello Kitty Bingo

All the little girls eating cake

Lil H and Lil N with one of their new presents

Lil H with a present

Lil N with her new best friend

This week we leave for our vacation to Oman. We are staying at a beach resort for 4 nights. We are all very excited and will share pictures when we get back.

Off to Preschool!

The day finally arrived. We had been trying to get the girls into a preschool program. We had been on the waiting list since December. But the problem was that we were having to wait on 2 spots to come open. We had passed up a few single spots and finally 2 opened up last week. So we are off to school!

It was slim pickins' in Doha for school supplies this time of the year. But the girls were happy with what we were able to find. The backpacks are almost as big as them, but they don't seem to mind.

They will only be going 2 days a week, Monday and Wednesday. But it's a start! Here are pics from their first day.

(Lil H and Lil N)

(Lil N)
(Lil H)
(Lil H and Lil N in the school lobby)

They were excited about going to school, but not about Mom and Dad leaving them there alone. There were a few tears shed when we left them, but when we went to pick them up, they were all smiles and happy playing with the other kids and not ready to leave. So that's a good sign!

A Whirlwind of a Week

Where do I begin??? We've been busy. My dad and step-mom came to visit at the end of February. They were here for a little over a week. I saw more of Doha in that week then I had in a whole year. Here is a list of what all we did and some pics too.

Mr. D and I attended the Women's Tennis Tournament that came to Doha. Mr. D actually attended two matches. He got to see Venus Williams play. And then we both went and watched Maria Sharapova play. It was pretty incredible. We were like 3 rows from the court. They are magnificent players. Sharapova ended up winning the tournament. She's definitely got talent to go with those looks.

Here is a pic of Sharapova playing:

The next day we ventured out to the zoo. Last year the girls and I went. But we found new things this year. There is a whole section of tunnels that have all of the scary animals as the girls like to call them. Snakes, bats, lizards and such. But there were cute owls too. We had a good time. I think we were literally the only visitors there that day. We packed a picnic and made an afternoon out of it.

(Lil N, Lil H, GranCee and GranDad)

That night we went out for some authentic Arabic food. We went to a restaurant called Al Majlis. Mr. D has been a few times, but it was a first for me and the girls, and of course for our guests. It was a lot of food. And the girls ate like crazy. We don't know what got into them. Here are some pics:

(Mr. D, Lil H and Lil N)

(all the food we ate!)

Other things that we did during the week: went to Jungle Zone at Hyatt Plaza, went to the Russian circus, toured Villagio mall and went on the gondola ride (again), visited the souqs and shopped, walked along the corniche, went to Sea Line beach and finally saw the sand dunes, had an early birthday celebration for the girls since GranDad and GranCee were in town and finally...we topped it off with the Doha Aggie Boot Scoot. Here are a few pics:

(Lil N and Lil H at Jungle Zone)

(Lil N, Mr. D and Lil H looking at the falcons at the souq)

(Lil H riding a donkey at the souq)

(all of us at The Pearl on the corniche)

(Lil N and Lil H blowing out their birthday candles)

( Mr. D and me at the boot scoot.)

It was definitely a great time!

Happy Valentine's Day!

(Lil N, Lil H)

Okay...so I'm a week late. But I wanted to post these pics anyway. Remember last year's Valentine's Day?? Mr. D was in a wreck...didn't get to see his girls all day long, and I think even missed out on a hot dinner. Well, this year's Valentine's Day was much better. Mr. D got home from work with 3 anxious females waiting on him and ready to go. I was hungry myself, but the girls had other plans. See on a shopping trip they made with me to the mall, they spotted the Gondola ride. It's all they talked about for a week. So we promised them we would go ride on it for Valentine's Day. Here's some footage:

After the ride, we went to Macaroni Grill for dinner. It just opened up a few weeks ago. We are thrilled by the way!! Does College Station have one yet? If not, maybe by the time we get back.... Being able to color on the paper covered table was a plus! We did have one small incident at the mall. The mall had a Valentine station set up near the food court. The girls of course wanted balloons. (We have about 20 balloons in our house at the moment. They apparently collect them.) Anyway, the girls were in there looking around...we were talking to some friends that we ran into, and Lil N comes running out of the Valentine station with a big, plush red and white Valentine bear. We thought she had stole it. I immediately took it from her and went to put it back. But our friends said that a man had given it to her. She of course was hysterically crying... Mommy took her bear from her -- so now I'm the bad guy. Our friends pointed out the man who gave it to her.. I assumed he was the owner of the Valentine station. I went over to confirm that she could have it, and before I could get over there, he started walking off. He was just another customer!! Apparently he just picked it up and gave it to her to get a smile from her. How dare he!!! Does he know he has now crushed my child's spirits? I inquired about the cost of the bear, but at $20, which would soon turn into $40 since I would have to buy 2, and the fact that we already have about 40 stuffed animals (apparently something else they collect), I decided that this would just have to be one of those life lessons. So 20 mins later, after much consoling and explaining, Lil N finally calmed down. And after dinner, we treated them to 2 white heart-shaped balloons. So they were happy....Happy Valentine's Day Sweeties!