Thank you Grandma

This summer has been HOT. We have always used fans and that has been perfectly fine. The weather here is really quite lovely for the most part but this summer was just tough. We had a hard time sleeping night after night...kids were sick. We are so thankful to Grandma who bought us an Air Conditioning unit for our bedroom and the living room. It cools down these two areas really well. What a blessing and what a difference it has made. Thank you from the bottom of our hearts! We are all sleeping much better now.

The latest in hat fashion

We have 'Fan Head', 'Underwear Head' and 'Little Princess'

New Bikes

'Family Day' this week was fun. We bought the girls some bikes and then headed to the park so they could ride them around. 4 yr old amazed us with how fast she could go when given a bigger area to ride. 2 yr old enjoyed the swings and seesaw and baby was so excited to be walking around on her own. She was however quite disgusted by the sand in her shoes and kept trying to take them off. Daddy attempted to put all three on his knee and swing. :) All in all a fun day together!

Daddy and his girls

Cute sayings

Four yr old "Mommy can you heal my paper it's torn"
"Mommy can we please stay up early tonight?"
"We can't go out to play today it's so hot, it's 1,1,1,4, degrees!"

Two yr old "Mommy I got a sore on my back can you itch it?"
"It's wind-ing outside today..watch out you don't get winded and go boom"
"I can't clean up Momma it's all just way too heavy for me to pick up...my back is sore and I'm little"

Best one was today from four yr old "I know what to do Daddy... I'll go get my best toys from my room and give them to that little girl because she does not have any and that will make her happy"

Papa and Nana/Mom and Dad

We love you very much and want to wish you a very Happy Anniversary!
Aug 19th!
Lots of love from us xo

White BBQ Chicken

Maybe it's the Canadian in us but we love to BBQ. A few years ago we found a North American style BBQ, got a gas tank hooked up that matched the ones over here and it's been going strong ever since. So thought I'd share a new sauce we like.
We enjoyed this chicken with a dear friend on our balcony last week.

WHITE BBQ SAUCE
3 pds boneless,skinless chicken breasts
1 1/2 cups mayo
1/3 cups cider vinegar
1/4 cup lemon juice
2Tbs. sugar
2Tbs. cracked pepper
2Tbs. worcestershire sauce
Marinate for an hour before you grill...a sweet and yummy taste.

Mommy Group

Every Monday morning I get together with other young Mom's from the city and our kids play while we have good conversation. Here are a few pictures of when we last got together. The kids really enjoyed the play area.

Feminine Appeal

This is the third time I have read this book. It's excellent. I recommend this to wives and mothers of all ages. I am thankful that God is not finished with me yet as I seek daily to be a better wife and mother. I am also thankful for the Godly mother I have that has always been an example to me.

Happy Anniversary

Wishing you a very Happy Anniversary Barclee and Stu
Love you guys

Please grow up slowly

Baby and dear husband are enjoying a late night cuddle.

It's a wonderful thing to be a parent. Yes it takes a lot of work,patience,love and prayers. Lately it's been hitting me how fast four yr old is growing...almost in Kindergarten! I have some days when I think about when the day will end but many others when I want it all to go slow so I can take it all in. I want to enjoy them at this age right now. The late night cuddle with one of the little ones who wakes upset about something is one of those moments we are savouring.

Mansef

Ramadan, the month of fasting, began on Wednesday. People don't eat or drink anything from sunrise to sunset. At the end of the day people break the fast with a meal they call "Iftar". I am gearing up for a busy month as we host many friends for these meals. The other night Dear Husband had some friends over and they had the national meal Mansef. It's boiled lamb over rice with pine nuts and jameed. Jameed is a boiled sour yogurt sauce. Yes, an aquired taste!

The Bidet

Oh that Bidet!
15 mth old's favourite place is the washroom because of the Bidet. The girls call it the foot washer and use it to clean all the summer dusty/sandy feet before bedtime. The Bidet is perfect fun and right at 15 mth olds level. We went through this stage with the older girls but 15 mth old is the only one that has figured out how to fill it with water and put the plug in. Her other talent is getting the Kleenex (or Fine as they call it over here) off the shelf and pulling one tissue out at a time. On any given day you can find this little one getting into one of these situations while I'm busy....big surprise. Today she was really quick. By the time I found her at the Bidet...the water was running over the side thank goodness it was water tank filling day. Then while I was cleaning that up she crawled in the girls bedroom and started with the tissues and baby wipes. Yes Mom I can hear you "just shut the washroom door"...well I can't because two yr old is still young and when she's gotta go if that doors shut then I'll be cleaning up more than water :)

Third Culture Kids

We were invited to join a very small VBS group of Third Culture Kids. It only ran three days but it was fun! This was put on by the parents. It was a real joy for my four year old. Singing,B.stories,Crafts,Verses and fun games. This type of event is not common over here as you guessed so this was a real treat to go to. Little sisters sat and cheered on Big Sister as they were too little for the activites. Four yr old said her fav. thing was the water balloon toss and the craft time.

Thankful

I have many things to be thankful for and one of them is a car and three carseats. Our car is small for three carseats infact it's quite a chore to get the doors to both shut but they do and we just fit. :) You see we have many friends over here who do not have a car or would never think to put their kids in a carseat....they would never have the money for a car, carseat or even have the money to take a taxi....but in another part of the city there are more Mercedies and BMW's than I have ever seen in Canada.

When we first moved over here we took taxi's everywhere and it was just fine but now with three little ones it sure is a sweet blessing to strap all my girls in and be able get around town on my own with out having to wait on the corner in the heat.
So thankful!

Family

Living overseas is a blessing in many ways it is also hard to be far away from family. We are blessed to have skype and many wonderful memories and pictures of our times at home to help the girls feel close. No it's not like being there but they talk about family and pray for their family every day.

Tonight at bedtime sweet four yr old prayed this...
"Thank you God for all your blessings and thank you for my family and for airplanes and skype and all the fun we have in Canada. Please help my family to be happy and for us to have fun in Canada soon"

Sweet two yr old prayed this...
"Thanks God for my family and for my cousins AND for the fluffy fluffy fluffy clouds" :)

Enough with the critters

Not sure if it's just the bottom floor apartment or the garden close to us but we have had many little critters this summer. Just when I had enough of them I found 'Black Sprinkles' as my brother likes to call them :) from a new critter in my kitchen. Now because I am not back home in North America I was a wee bit nervous of the size of this thing...could it be the largest 'Antroacher in the world' as the girls say coming to get me or a huge rat with teeth that will bite me and give me some dreaded disease.



Well turns out it was just a little wee mouse caught in the 'sticky mat mouse catcher'. It only took about two hours until we heard the pathetic sound of a mouse on his side stuck in glue with the bait in his mouth. I got down from the chair I was standing on you know me always fearless. :) I was ready too see what was causing all the grief. Is that it? Just a little Canadian looking mouse. Now we are critter free I hope!

Qatieyaaf

Not sure how to spell this word in English but 'Qatieyaaf' is like a small pancake that they make everywhere at Ramadan. They fill it with a sweet cream and it tastes quite yummy. They eat it like a dessert after they break the fast at night.
Ramadan is not for a few days but we enjoyed watching these being made in bulk at the mall while we were waiting to meet Daddy for supper. Can you tell the girls and I seem to be finding areas to go where there is A/C. :)

My Gym

We don't do this too often do to the price but thought this would be a nice treat for the girls and I. The other day we were so hot and we were longing for a place with A/C so I put the kids in the car and we went to 'My Gym'. I had some free tickets to the open gym time. As you can see the kids had a blast and let out their energy all in A/C room! I am so thankful. Four years ago when we first moved here I wasn't too sure what my kids could do to get out of the apartment and let off energy...but I am blessed to have a few options now and our garden play area is one of the biggest gifts. Thank you God for making life a little easier for a Mommy and her three kids four and under. He always knows just what we need wherever we are.