Weekend in Traverse City

It felt like summer officially began this past weekend as Justin and I drove up to Traverse City with our good friends, Dave and Helen, for an adults-only weekend.  We stayed in a rental house in downtown Traverse where we could walk to many restaurants, breweries, trails, and the big lake.  On our first full day, we went wine tasting and enjoyed lots of tasty samples as well as the ambiance of each place.  To top off the day, we went on a biking/kayaking/brewery tour.  It was a lot of fun!  First we biked to two different breweries to try out some of their best beers and then hopped in kayaks to paddle to the last three places.

The next day, we went to the sand dunes and hiked a couple of miles to view the water.  Afterward, we went to Glen Arbor to visit Cherry Republic for lunch.  We loved the cherry-themed food and then took advantage of their cherry beverage tasting building where they had cherry sodas and wines.

Other highlights from the weekend were a game of mini golf and Pirate's Cove, a midnight game of wiffle ball in the street outside our house, and Helen won the game of Farkle for the first time!  Justin and I also celebrated our 12th wedding anniversary on Sunday.  Overall, we had a fantastic weekend of good friends, exercise, food, and drink.

Kaelia's New Look

Look who just got her ears pierced!  Kaelia made the decision a few months ago to get her ears pierced at Claire's this summer, so we decided to get the job done right away this summer.  Kaelia was really nervous leading up to the piercing.  When it actually happened, though she scrunched her face and said a simple, "It hurts," but after about 10 seconds of holding her in my arms, she already saw Taelyn looking at lots of fun toys and earrings in the store and asked me to put her down to look around too.  She was back to herself instantly, forgetting that her ears were just poked with a needle.  Fortunately, she was able to get both ears pierced at once, so the pain was not drawn out.

Here is Kaelia's new look.  She chose My Little Pony Rainbow Dash earrings which was no surprise to any of us and even matches her shirt in the picture!

Goodbye Qatar

After months and months of preparing for our next move, the time has finally come to say good by to Qatar.  Although we won't miss much about the country, we will miss the people that we have formed close relationships with during our time here.  He said our goodbyes to everyone over the last couple of days and had an especially hard time during our final moments with our nanny, Jen, and our Doha best friends and next door neighbors, the McInnis family.

Final Farewell to Jen

Goodbye McInnis Family

Now we are off for a quick but jam-packed summer in the US and then on to India.  It truly does feel liberating to be moving on, and we are so grateful for our next adventure!

Waiting for the Driver to Take Us to the Airport!

School Year Recap

The girls both had a very successful school year this year in kindergarten and 1st grade.  Here are some highlights for each.

Taelyn:
Taelyn really excelled in her reading, writing, and public speaking this year.  She loves to write her own stories and illustrate the pictures for them.  She is very creative in both her storytelling and drawings.  One of our favorite stories is Dog vs. Pig where the two animals prepare to fight head to head and we never find out who wins.  She even wrote a sequel to this story, but the readers are still left with a cliffhanger about who will win.

In reading, Taelyn is at a PM reader score of 21 which is an end of 2nd grade/beginning of 3rd grade reading level.  She has been trying out different chapter books throughout the year but struggles to find the perfect book that meets both her interests and reading level.  She often brings home books that are a bit too hard but is passionate to read them.

Taelyn has also been a key speaker in her class, delivering several speeches and often leading small groups.  Her best work in this area was when she had to research thunder and lightning, create a poster, and deliver a speech to a 2nd grade class.  This was supposed to be a project with a partner, but her partner was absent for most of the time, so Taelyn stepped up her responsibility and did the entire project on her own.

In math, Taelyn has learned single digit addition and subtraction and moved on to basic single + double digit addition.  She was very motivated to try out speed tests to see how fast she could complete some math problems.

Taelyn really did well in all of her academics this year.  At the end of the year awards ceremony, she was recognized for being one of only three students in the school to complete the library reading bingo challenge.  She even won the Academic Excellence Award as the top student in her class!  We are so proud of her.

Taelyn's favorite classes this year were Music, Art and Cultural Studies.  Her best friend was still Dana from last year while she also was close friends with Sonia.

Kaelia:
Kaelia did very well with her reading and analysis skills this year.  She is now reading at a PM level 15 which is at the end of a 1st grade reading level.  She does especially well using reading strategies and phonics with words that she doesn't know.  She often surprises us by reading

words and sentences that we would never expect her to be able to read.  Halfway through the school year, Kaelia was pulled out of her class during reading time to meet with other students that are at a higher reading level to help her continue to grow.  She even ended up winning the Class Reader award at the end of the year!

During her units, Kaelia was very descriptive and observant in dissecting and analyzing class content.  She did particularly well in her art unit where she interpreted art in multiple unique ways.  She is also quick to answer questions and help other students when they don't understand concepts.

Perhaps Kaelia's favorite part of school, however, is the social side.  She loves hanging out with her friends in class and on the playground and feels like she belongs with her peers, teachers, and all staff members.  She knows all of the teacher helpers and cleaning ladies and is quick to include them when thinking about the adults that she is thankful for at school.  It is a beautiful trait that she has developed!

Kaelia's favorite time of day was recess where she could play with her friends.  Her best friends were Ghalia and Maren while she also played with Mesim, Nada, and Alya.  She frequently draws pictures of herself with Ghalia and Maren and writes down BFF on the paper.

Below is a photo recap of the school year.

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Kaelia 5-6 Years Old

Kaelia has grown into a very particular individual during this past year with very specific tastes in activities.  She enjoys playing with dolls, ponies, and PlayDoh and likes real-life dress up with make-up, dresses, and high heels.  Kaelia and her best friend, Ghalia, have been "fashion girls" all school year as they talk about their favorite outfits and accessories.  The best way to describe Kaelia, however, is through the things and she absolutely loves and things that she absolutely hates.  Here are some examples.

She LOVES the idea of being a big kid but HATES being alone from friends or family.

She LOVES watching Kids' Youtube but HATES playing Wii.

She LOVES singing, dancing, and acting but HATES performing in front of an audience.

She LOVES her scooter but HATES riding a bike.

She LOVES doing tricks in the pool but HATES to work on her swimming form.

She LOVES school but HATES talking about what she learned.

She LOVES playing with the pieces of board games but HATES to play the actual games.

She LOVES her "workout" but HATES playing physical sports.  (For her workout, she likes to sit in a plank positive while watching TV or playing on the iPad.  She made up this exercise and when we ask her what she's doing, she replies, "Oh, I'm just doing my workout."  It's very cute.)

Kaelia is definitely a girl who knows what she wants and doesn't like to stray away from that!  She is also very social and forms close relationships with friends.  She  is very sweet and sentimental and cares about everyone around her.  In fact, she often will get sad, cry, or close her eyes during books or movies when the bad guy gets knocked down because she doesn't want to see anyone get hurt - even if it is a bad guy.  Kaelia has such a kind heard and gives the best hugs and kisses too!

At 6 years old, Kaelia is now 42.5 inches tall and 45 lbs.  She is fairly coordinated at physical activities as well as gross and fine motor skills.  Intellectually, she loves to read and to write her name in fancy ways.  It has been a joy watching her grow this year, and in Kaelia's own words, we love her to our hearts and back!

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Funny Faces

Throughout the entire school year, the girls have periodically been taking pictures of themselves in my classroom.  iPhoto is set up on one of my student classroom computers, so when the girls had to kill some time after school, waiting for Justin and I to finish up with work, they would stand in front of the computer, make funny poses, and take pictures of each other.  One day my students came across the collection and showed me just how funny the pictures were all together.  At one point, it almost looks like a little story that I like to call the "Battle of the Sisters."  Now that the school year is coming to a close, here is the entire collection.

Birthday Celebrations

This weekend we had a couple of planned activities for Kaelia's 6th birthday.  We had to celebrate early this year because her actual birthday is during Ramadan which means we wouldn't be able to order food or cake on the day and most places will be closed.

Goodbye, Maren!

So we started the festivities by bringing in cupcakes to Kaelia's class on Thursday.  All of her classmates presented her with birthday cards, and Kaelia passed out her treats to everyone.  She was so excited to celebrate with everyone.  It was also a sad day, however, because one of her best friends, Maren, is moving out of Doha over the weekend.  So the day was filled with laughter and tears.

On Saturday, Kaelia then had a little birthday playdate with her other best friend (or super BFF, as she likes to say), Ghalia.  We all went to the outdoor water park in Doha to splash, swim, and slide in the water while it was over 100 degrees in the hot desert.  The girls were so tired on the drive back home, that all three of them fell asleep in the car.  

Once we got home, we all had Papa John's pizza and Coldstone oreo ice cream cake, although they were all still trying to find their energy after the water park.  Then Kaelia opened up her presents.  She got a cute dress from Ghalia, a Lego kit and big-eyed guy from Taelyn, and high heels and make-up from Justin and I.  She loved them all!  Then the rest of the day was spent upstairs in the playroom where all three girls played for hours; by this time the pizza and ice cream had its affect on the girls, and they were fired up once again.  It was the perfect way for Kaelia to spend her birthday party!

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