Sad Saturday

We are sad to see one of our dear friends leave Doha today. She is headed back home to work for Texas A&M in College Station. She's been a wonderful friend to us for many years. And I know she'll be a wonderful friend for many more years to come. The girls just adore her. We are sad to see her go but know we will see her again -- hopefully real soon. Her husband is still here two doors down from us so that will be one of the ways we will keep up with her.

We'll miss you Les!

Wordless Wednesday

Little Swimmers

The past few weeks the girls have been experimenting with what they can do in the pool. It used to be that they would just hang out in their little floatie ring, or hang on to one of us. But at the kiddie pool, we noticed them starting to go under the water a little bit. Of course, they would quickly pop right back up since they could stand in the kiddie pool. Then suddenly they seemed to have no fear of the pool. At our friend's pool -- which is not a kiddie pool -- one second they would be sitting on the step in the pool, and the next second they would just calmly slip off the step and under the water they went. But they would never panic (unlike Mom)... they would just hang out under the water a little bit. This went on for a few days and you could tell that they were basically practicing holding their breath and just trying to figure out what the pool was all about. Well, finally they figured out that they can do something under the water. Now, they will go under the water and either push off from the side or the bottom of the pool and then start moving their arms and kicking their feet. They are swimming!!

It was like the light bulb just went off. Neither Mr. D nor I thought they would even understand the concept of swimming so we haven't really been trying to teach them. But they figured it out themselves. Smart little boogers.... Of course, they have a long way to go until they become junior life guards or anything. But we were just amazed that all of a sudden they started doing it. Here are a few pictures. Check these girls out!!







Every swimmer needs some goggles. So off to Toys R Us we went. Here are the only ones that would fit them. The girls took a break from swimming just long enough for me to take a pic. Lil H is in the dolphin goggles and Lil N in the ducks.

Shhhh! Don't tell anybody...

Last night, we went to a dinner party and dined on something we aren't supposed to be able to get here. It had a head and a curly tail and was threaded on a stick propped up over a fire. Imagine a Hawaiian luau if you will. The meat was so good. I wasn't even a big fan of "this meat" back home, but as it always seems to be, once you're told you can't have something, you suddenly end up really wanting it.

The dinner party was lots of fun, and we had a good time with all of our friends. Although it kept us all out a little too late... 9:30 p.m. That may not sound late to some, but usually our girls are in bed between 7:30 - 8:00 p.m. They went into delirious mode about 9:00 p.m. and were acting so silly, deliriously silly!

And again, we heard from everyone "Oh, they will sleep well for you tonight." and "They will sleep late in the morning." WRONG! WRONG! WRONG! I keep telling everyone that they are going to wake up by 7:30 a.m. no matter what. They will either wake up well rested or cranky. Throughout the night, Haley woke up crying around 1:30 a.m. and Natalie followed around 5:30 a.m. So we are all a little tired this morning. And the poor maids were out on my front porch waiting on us when I got up at 7:20 a.m. At least they looked well rested! I opened the door and they both chuckled -- most likely because I was in my PJ's with my sleep mask pulled up on my head. I chuckled later too when I looked at myself in the mirror.

So a nap is definitely in order today. We will probably all have sweet dreams about the next time we will get "that meat." Boy, it was good!

Friday Funny

You can take the girl out of Texas, but not the Texas out of the girl.

Yes, we are still here....

For some reason, I'm finding it very hard to post to the blog. The girls are transitioning into a new nap schedule. Actually, I think they are trying to transition out of taking a nap, but I'm fighting it. So anyway, I'm a bit off schedule so my blogging is apparently taking the hit.

Nothing too much to report.... Lil N and me caught a stomach bug this past weekend so we are getting over that. Mr. D and Lil H escaped its wrath somehow.

Bye Bye Binkies! The girls have gone without pacifiers for about 3 weeks now. We tried snipping the ends off of the pacifier a little each night, but they still were using them as if they weren't snipped. I finally told them that they were broken, and that they should go throw them in the trash. So they did! The first night when Lil N realized there was no pacifier and I reminded her that it was broken and that she had thrown it away -- the look of sheer panic on her face was priceless, but a little sad too.:-( And now naptime and bedtime are much more challenging without them. It used to be that the girls would lay right down when we put them in the bed, but now they scream bloody murder -- a lot of "MOMMY! MOMMY!" like something is really wrong. I think there was even a "DADDY! DADDY!" thrown in last night. Hopefully, it will get better soon.

I got my hair cut for the first time in almost 6 months a couple of weeks ago. The lady actually came to my house and we cut it in the kitchen. How convenient is that!! Probably around 5 to 6 inches gone. My head feels much lighter now. :-)

That's all for now. Happy 4th Birthday to my sweet niece, Brooke! Love you!!

Friday Funny

Not exactly something you see in Texas everyday....