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!

Internet and a Virus, but not an Internet Virus

Here's an update on what's going on with us. Thanks Nicole for the gentle nudge. ;-) I promise I have 2 good reasons for not posting lately, and unfortunately there will not be any pictures on this post as you'll soon read why.

First reason -- have you heard about the undersea internet cables that are "accidentally" being cut in our area? I think they are up to 4 cables now. Not sure how much coverage that news story is getting back home. But it has made internet life miserable here. The first few days it was completely down, and since then it has been painstakingly slow. I've had problems posting pics on the blog before when the internet was just fine so I'm not even going to try and attempt it today. There is no telling how long just posting this text will take. The funny side to it has been the conspiracy theories that have popped up on why the cables have been cut. The latest one that we read last night posed the question "What news story is America trying to conceal from the Arabic countries?" Of course, it's America's fault.

Second, Mr. D brought home a virus from work and shared it with all of us. We are blaming him since the girls and I hardly get out and go anywhere. Anyway, we've all had it once, and now Mr. D and Lil N are on their second round of it. Lil N finally went to the doctor yesterday and they told us she also has strep. So things have been chaotic here lately and posting is usually the last thing on my list for the day --especially when the internet is iffy.

But on a happier note... a note that I thought about blogging about before the internet problems and sickness struck was that the girls have been doing really great health-wise. (present sickness excluded of course) Lil N's 1 year anniversary for the steroid injections was back in December. We are very happy that she's been arthritis free for over a year now. And neither of them have showed any signs of joint pain or of slowing down. One of their favorite activities lately is riding around the compound on their trikes looking for new treasures (ie. flowers on the ground, plastic bb balls, rocks) -- basically anything they can collect and put in their little trike trunk.

So a BIG thanks to all of you that continue to pray for the girls' health and for our family in general. I truly believe it's made a difference.

More stories and pics to follow at a later date.

The Three Letter Word

It's happened....

I guess I knew that it would, but I thought I had more time. I thought I had protected them enough, sheltered them enough, picked their friends wisely.....but it still happened.

My sweet little angel, Lil N was the culprit. How could she have learned that word? Who did she hear it from? How does she know how to use it in a sentence correctly?

When she was uttering it out, I just looked at her in disbelief. She said it over and over and over again. I wanted to put my hands over my ears......

No!! This can't be happening already.

The word.......






WHY?


Why Mom why? Why? Why? Why?

And so it begins....

:-)

A Little Bit of Rain....A Little Bit of Crazy

Here's a taste of Doha for you....

It seldom rains here, but when it finally does, the crazies come out to play. The following videos show a common occurrence on the road behind our house once a little rain falls. It's rained the last 2 days and the crazies have been out there in full force. They usually do this for about 15 -20 minutes each time they pay us a visit. I guess a little bit of rain for us means a whole lot of fun for them.

Happy New Year!

(Lil N)

Happy New Year!!

We rang in the New Year at a party that the compound hosted. It was lots of fun. And we ALL made it through midnight! Luckily we were only a few houses away so we were able to make it home shortly thereafter. Here is a pic of the girls looking at the swirling lights up on the ceiling. They were fascinated by them.

Here is a clip of the girls on the dance floor. They met a little friend who had much better moves than they did. Lil H let loose a little, but Lil N wasn't very comfortable with it.

But by the end of the night, Lil N was ready to dance.

And finally, here is proof that there can be too much of a good thing. As fun as Christmas was this year, we ended up exhausted from all of the activities. Let's just say we are glad the new year is finally here. This is Mr. D singing "We Wish You a Merry Christmas" one last time to the girls and them letting him know how they feel about it.