Good-bye Braces!

After almost two years and orthodontists from three different countries, I finally got my braces off tonight!

Happy Easter!

Since we have to work on Sunday, we celebrated Easter today and had a great time.  Beforehand the girls and I made bunny and egg-shaped Rice Krispy treats.  Then we went to Kaelia's friend's birthday party where the girls got their faces painted into butterflies to honor spring time.  Next, they drew pictures for the Easter Bunny last night and woke up to find baskets and eggs scattered throughout our house and back yard.  Taelyn woke up first, went downstairs to see if the Easter Bunny had come, and then ran up to our room to tell us the good news.  Then the girls headed downstairs to find their Easter baskets hidden somewhere in the living room.  They were both excited to find their baskets full of candy, arts and craft supplies, a My Little Pony, and a big-eyed guy stuffed animal!  

Next, the girls emptied their baskets in preparation for the egg hunt.  Taelyn spent some time discussing where she already saw eggs and where she wanted to look next while Kaelia just started running around, grabbing all the eggs in sight.  Once Taelyn realized that Kaelia got the jump start, she followed suit until all of the eggs were found.

To top it all off, the girls also found a treat for Meeka from the Easter Bunny and a new Wii game (Mini Golf).  It was a great morning!

Dust Bowl 2015

Last night, we awoke on three separate occasions to fire alarms going off in our complex.  There was no fire, but something was going on.  As the night wore on, I could smell something in the air, but it wasn't smoke.  By the time I woke up at 4:30am to workout, I walked downstairs to find the entire house completely covered in dust, despite the fact that all of the windows and doors were closed.  As I looked outside, I found dust everywhere!  What appeared to be fog was really a tremendous amount of dust in the air, and the sky was completely orange.  Overnight the dust had actually seeped in through cracks around doors and windows.

Orange sky and dusty fog all around the complex

Dusty kitchen table

The back patio

I suffered through an indoor workout of Insanity, finding it very difficult to breathe through all of the dust in the house.  Shortly after, my neighbor came over to compare houses, and we got the message that we were in a severe dust storm and that school was cancelled.

The girls were thrilled to have a day off of school, but we soon realized that it would not be much fun.  We stayed in lock-down in the playroom where there was the least amount of dust and continued to struggle breathing throughout the day.  Finally, we decided to head to the mall, hoping that it wasn't as bad there.  During our drive, the girls pointed out the Torch building by the mall and how it looked like it was covered in mud.

Our View of the Torch

What the Torch Normally Looks Like

Once we got to the mall, we found that it had been hit by the dust inside as well.  No stores or restaurants were ready to open because they were cleaning up the dust.  We attempted to go watch a movie then, but so did everybody else in Doha that were trying to escape the dust.  We took one look at the long line and decided to leave.  Finally, we drove to another mall and were able to eat at Chili's.  Then we walked around the toy stores to kill time and breathe fresh air.

By time we got back home, the dust had settled, and the air was breathable again.  All that was left was a huge mess to clean up, but at least we survived our first Middle East dust storm!

Easter Party

A friend just hosted an Easter party for all of the kids in the community.  It was very sweet, and the girls had a great time.  Before we went, Taelyn even designed her own bunny costume to wear!  At the party, all the kids had a chance to decorate eggs, make Easter crafts, and of course, go on an Easter egg hunt.  Now we are jazzed and ready for Easter, and it's just around the corner!






Taelyn's bunny costume











Kaelia finds an egg ...

... and so does Taelyn

 Kaelia and Eli (one of her favorite friends from school)

The kids enjoy their baskets full of goodies

Advanced Vocabulary

Taelyn has been using much bigger vocabulary and phrases lately.  Here are some of our favorites.

Apparently
Eventually
Speaking of ...
Prekitchen (prediction)
Seriously
That's impressive
Compliment

Kaelia, on the other hand, is frequently coming up with her own phrases as she tries to figure out what is an expression and what is not.  Here is what she has come up with lately.

Ins and Ans (her version of "ins and outs" for when I asked her what was in her purse)
You're so inception! (we're not really sure what this means)
When I was in another world ... (world means country)

School Photos

We just got the girls' school photos in.  I had to take a picture of the original photos, so the quality isn't great, but here is the idea of what our kiddos look like during the year of Pre-K and Kindergarten!

Happy Birthday, Meeka!

Today was Meeka's honorary 3rd birthday because she was actually born on Leap Day.  The girls insisted on having a small party for her, so we let them organize a special evening when they got home from school.  When we picked the girls up, Taelyn even told me that she has been so excited all day for Meeka's birthday.

The party ended up including a party hat for the birthday dog along with presents and Meeka's best friend, Molly - the next door neighbor's dog.  Meeka got some bones and dog treats for her gifts and shared them with Molly, although she was hesitant to do so.

At bedtime, the girls each chose a book to read to Meeka that they knew she would like.  Taelyn brought home a book from school about a dog's birthday to read out loud, and Kaelia read a book about cats because Meeka likes to chase them.  It was very sweet!