The Very Hungry Caterpillar

This story has a sad ending, but it was a nice experience for us nonetheless.  For about a week we had a little caterpillar friend stay with us.  Casey found him in a bell pepper.  The little guy must have entered the pepper while it was still in another continent- maybe North America!  Anyways, we found the tiny whole it had made to get inside.  Luckily he was not damaged during the food prep stage so we placed him in a clear plastic container and enjoyed him for about a week.  He ate lettuce and bell pepper quite heartily during this time but then one morning he was dead.  Our assumption is that one of the vegetables we placed inside the container was contaminated, although we had rinsed them first.  We were all a little sad to have to bury him, but it was fun watching him while we could.

IKEA Bus Trip

Well, we finally made it to IKEA in Jeddah.  We decided to take the bus over the girls' Spring Break.  The store here is just like IKEAs elsewhere except on the particular day we went they were out of meatballs and only had chicken nuggets for the kids.  This was a little bummer because I has been looking forward to the Swedish meatballs.  The coffee was fantastic and we got free refills!  The girls loved looking at all the setups.  We let each child select one item- Marcella chose a mat for the base of her bunkbed ladder, Theresa chose some artificial zinnias, and Eben and Eleanor got a little red fox music box.  We had a nice time but most likely will not need to return- it's much more pleasant visiting the IKEA in Austin if we feel the IKEA urge again.  Jeddah is like Juarez, MX with an Aston Martin dealership.

Easter Tute

Over the girls' Spring Break we made their Easter Tutes.  (pronounced too-tah) This is a new Easter craft for our family.  In the past we have always made Easter Nests from flowers and other nature, but this year I thought we would make Tutes.  This idea comes from a German tradition for school children on their first day of school.  The children receive Schultute, which are cones filled with goodies and school supplies. 

Our kids will hang their tutes the night before Easter from their chairs and see what goodies the Easter Bunny brings them in the morning.  The whole family took part in the tute making and when all was done we hand some beautiful, though rather large, Easter Tutes!

A Belated St. Patrick's Day

I was just perusing my pictures and realized I have not yet written about our St. Patrick's Day.  The day before the 17th I invited the moms over for a St. Patrick's Day tea which was a lot of fun.  I was most impressed by the twins- they had no problems sharing their toys.  I had prepared zucchini bread muffins and green dyed rice krispie treats as well as grapes and kiwis.  It was a lovely morning and most everybody wore green.  Next year I need to remember to take a group kid picture because all the kids looked adorable in their green outfits.  One mother had brought the most refreshing lemonade.  It was a blended mixture of lemonade made from concentrate and mint.  We all loved it and the best part was she gave me a bottle to share with my family.  I'll definitely be making the drink in Texas this summer. Our dinner on St. Patrick's Day was Oma's scrumptious Shepherd's Pie and Oatmeal Bread with Shamrock Cookies for dessert.

Here are the twins waiting for their guests:

March Madness

It has been ages since Theresa has made one of her "piles."  Well, the other day she was at it constructing one we labeled "The Dollie Tower."  Note the 18" doll base- clever girl!

The picture of the twins was amazing.  Marcella practices her facts each morning on the couch using Flashmaster.  Earlier this week the twins were playing with their play kitchen and kept saying what I thought was "fats, fats..."  I had no idea what they were meaning.  Then they both ran into the living room and got up on the couch and both said "I'm doing my fats."  They had taken the little play burners (there are two sets) and were pretending these were their flashmasters.  They made all the right sounds and everything.  It was the cutest thing.

The last picture is after Marcella and Theresa got their Fancy Nancy Manicures.  I decided to treat Theresa to a manicure with Marcella.  They both received a full manicure and beautiful, flowery nail polishing.  Afterwards I took them out to lunch - Ladies Morning Out. 

She's Seven!!!

Enjoy these pictures from Marcella's official birthday.  Marcella received her first dangle ring from Granny and Grandpa- a butterfly!  I think we all had the most fun with the headbands from the Nuckels.  My favorite gift was the Pride and Prejudice paper doll book from Aunt Rita- I love Jane Austen!



Party Time!

Marcella's official birthday is on March 8 but we celebrated with her school friends this past weekend.  This is the first time we have had a "friend party" and I was quite pleased with how smoothly it all went.  We reserved a room at our Island Oasis Rec Center, ordered pizzas, brought drink boxes and bottled water, had clementines and plums, and ordered two beautiful cakes from our friendly Tamimi grocery store.

The party's theme was "Fancy Nancy" and went from 10-1.  We spent the first hour doing crafts: making fancy bracelets, fancy critters, and fancy clips.  Then everyone played outside on the playground adjacent to the room, came in and ate, played some party games, and had cake.  About half of her class showed up including two very sweet boys, as well as Ms. Mary, her teacher.  We had specified there by no gifts but her teacher gave her the neatest gift cerftificate- a fancy manicure.  Ms. Mary said her daughter had received one as a gift and could not resist giving one to Marcella since the party was a Fancy Nancy party.  We will have so much fun at our local salon. 

I had planned for us to play about five different party games but we only played three: pop the balloons, red rover, and a game we called the Dress Up Relay.  The kids' favorite game was actually one we came up with before we popped the balloons.  Casey just made it up right then; it was basically making a balloon volcano and they wanted to do this over and over.  It was a very sweet bunch of children and everyone seemed to really enjoy themselves.