Yook at me! I'm two!

She can't quite pronounce the "l" in look correctly, but it's awfully cute the way she says it. And she's definitely proud to be two!

I'm a little late with this post. We celebrated Sarah Claire's birthday just two days after her big sister's, but I'm just now getting around to sharing a few of the pictures. She was still feeling a bit under the weather on the big day, so she got to spend all of her second birthday at home. We did have some friends join us for dinner, which she loved!

She might not have felt good all day, but she perked up when it was present time. She still needs a lot of help with our traditional hot-and-cold birthday present game, but the big kids were happy to oblige.

She got so excited about every single present. She wanted to put on her new pink tennis shoes from Mimi right away, and she also wanted me to take her other gifts out of their packaging RIGHT NOW. In two-year-old speech, her request for me to "Open it" sounds something like "Ommit, Mama! Ommit!"

I know all moms say this, but I really can't believe she's two already!

She wanted to wear her crown when it was cake time...

...and had lots of help blowing out the candles. Happy Birthday, Sweet Princess!

And this pic isn't actually from her birthday, but I wanted to include it. I got this sweet shot on Father's Day. I sure do love those four.

It's that time again...

All the little girls in our house are having birthdays this week! We started on Monday with Lee Anna. We had originally planned a fun outing for that day, but because of a sick little sister, we had to postpone it. Instead, we had a fun day celebrating at home, which is really very appropriate because there is nowhere this girl would rather be. She's definitely our little homebody!

She took it upon herself to plan our entire menu for the day, starting with butterscotch pancakes.

Hers had a candle, of course. Mimi brought her the cute crown, which she decorated herself. She's been saving it to wear on the big day!

For some reason, Lee Anna decided several months ago that she really, really wanted a piggy bank. Well, her dreams finaly came true when she opened this present from G.G.! She was thrilled. 

Instead of a cake, she requested gingerbread cookies, so that's what we made. She picked out the cookie cutters, too--flowers, butterflies, stars, and snowmen. Because, really, what June birthday in the desert is complete without a good snowman cookie?

She loves her new My Twinn doll and their matching pjs.

For her final birthday meal, she chose hot dogs and hamburgers, and for dessert--marshmallows roasted over the grill! We had a fun day celebrating our oldest, growing-up-way-too-fast princess.

Happy Birthday, Lee Anna Belle! We love you.

Two Down, Eleven to Go

Today is a happy day for our Lee Anna Belle. After winding down over the last few weeks, she has officially completed first grade! First she finished up her handwriting book (see her showing off the finished product above), and earlier this week we read our last chapter of history for the year. We've covered creation all the way to the fall of Rome in 476 A.D. Not bad for one year, if you ask me. I know I've learned a ton!

The only lingering subject was math, and today she finally completed the last section in her workbook. Below she's texting her daddy to tell him the good news. The text read: Done with math:)
We let her choose where to go for a special celebration dessert after lunch today, and she chose ice cream, "with sprinkles," of course.

I am so proud of Lee Anna and all that she has done this year. I will forever cherish the memories of her first grade year: laughing together about Mr. Popper and his funny penguins, wiping away many a tear (from my eyes, not hers!) as we read heartwarming stories about people around the globe, watching her learn to do the math even when she's convinced she can't, listening to her sweet voice reading to me and to her siblings, seeing her really get excited about playing the piano, and just having lots of fun living lots of life together. I am so grateful for the chance homeschooling has given us to share these moments. It's a special gift to be her mom--and her teacher! I can't wait to see what adventures are in store for second grade.

Fun With English

Now that we've spent half a decade trying to function in a language that's not really ours, you'd think we'd have a lot of patience with people who are trying to master the language that really is ours. And we do have a lot of patience, but sometimes we just have to laugh a little.

This first example was so far from meaningful that we had to read the Arabic above it to even see where they were going. It's on the bottom of a menu at one of our favorite local restaurants. Any guesses what they mean by "Adide one pount for pepole Prid." ? I might have written, "there will be a one pound per person charge for bread." But they didn't ask me to write it. Click on any of the pictures to enlarge them.

There's a new restaurant next to McDonald's. We're not sure what they have. Their sign proclaims "Hot, Chilly and More." Do you think they mean "Hot Chili?" or are they just telling us the various temperatures their foods can be served?

This taxi made us laugh with some unintentional humor (we think). It says "The Transporter," which almost sounds like a pro wrestler's nickname. But it's a taxi, a real-live transporter. That's not funny, is it?

Lee Anna saw this sign and said, "Hey! If we rent the whole continent, we can have our own empire!" Our home-school curriculum seems to be pretty strong in world history.

And we had to study this one a while to see what they meant by coiffeur for Ledas. What's a Leda? The opposite of a followa? No, based on the picture and the Arabic text, we're pretty sure they were aiming for "Ladies." Yeah, it's not that close.

And we just tried to imagine how fast the American lawyers would be lined up to go after this one if Walmart or Target tried to hang this sign over a checkout line. If you haven't clicked on this one yet, it says "priority for ladies and disabled." It really does. I guess the English is okay, but as they often tell me about things I say in Arabic, we just wouldn't really say that.

Little Princess

Just Some Beach Pics

We got to take a short beach getaway with a few friends earlier this month. Here are some pictures of the fun we had!

Happy Birthday, Sawyer!

Our sweet boy is no longer four. He had a birthday earlier this month and is now "a whole hand"!
It is so hard to believe it's been five years since we welcomed this sweet but not-so-small, 9 lb., 4 oz., baby into our family. He has been such a joy!
He had his birthday dinner on the special plate--chicken panee, mac n cheese, and rice. Not so healthy, but it made him happy!

He decided months before his birthday that he wanted this bear-shaped ice cream cake. Nevermind that he's really not a big ice cream fan, he had seen it at the ice cream store and was sure that was the one he wanted. He said, "Mama, after we get it, you can take it in the kitchen and write a 5 on it." So I did. (the blue smeared spots are where the candles were)

Then we played our traditional "Hot and Cold" game for him to find his presents. Lee Anna helped him read the big words in the birthday cards.

She also gave him the card she had handmade for him.

He loved his gifts...

and got busy playing with them right away!

Happy Birthday, Brother Bear! We love you and can't imagine
our family without you!

GG Visits

Okay, so it took most of a month to get around to posting about it, but G. G. came to visit us! She had been on a choir trip in Greece, and arranged to come see us while she was "in the neighborhood." She was here for just four days, but we packed a lot into those days. We taught her a little history, from things thousands of years old to the Arab Spring.

Of course, she was much more interested in the little ones than in the ancients! We had a fun time, all around.

In the background of the above picture is a fairly recent mosque. It was finished in the 1870s. There has been a mosque in that location for most of 1000 years, though.

I had to include this one so you'd really understand what this visit was like. This spring, our kids have learned the "Punch Buggy" game, in which everyone in the car looks for Beetles and punches his neighbor when he sees one, proclaiming "Punch Buggy" and the color of said car. So G. G. got to experience this with us. Only she was frequently confused about what she was supposed to call out. We got "Bumper bunny" one time, and several other similar variations.

And this last picture is one of my favorites. G. G. asked Sawyer to pose by the donkey cart in the market because, well, there just aren't that many donkey carts in the grocery areas in the States these days. While he was standing there, a local guy passed by and asked in Arabic "What? You don't have garlic and onions where you come from?"