H says Goodbye

This is a big buddy of H's, Benjamin.

He recently had to say goodbye to him (for a couple years).

*sad*



This is another big buddy, Ezra, that we had to say goodbye to.

My boy has a lot of big buddies.

I like that.

Anyway...

Sometimes my boy says: "I feel sick Mommy." And I ask "What hurts baby?" and he says: "I miss my fwend Ezra."

And then I feel sad.

Goodbyes are a part of our lifestyle... we say a lot of them around here. But it has started to hurt more recently because now my boy is understanding more and he can feel the pain too.



This was their goodbye hug.

Does it make you hurt?

Just look at 'em.

And there are more goodbyes to come this week. Lord have mercy.

All this goodbye-ing makes me excited for Glory when goodbyes will literally be a thing of the past...

The Royal Wedding

I had great fun watching all the coverage on the Royal Wedding today.



It was like visiting another place in time... (does that phrase even make sense? Ah... you know what I mean).



Love.

It's a beautiful thing.

Nursery School Graduation

Who knew I would be watching my son graduate at age three?

Alas... it happened tonight!

We arrived on time, and therefore... WAY TOO early. What were we thinking? There was a lot of waiting until all the families arrived.

Here is H with his fav teacher, Miss Yusra.



Isn't she gorgeous?

The answer is yes.



H was getting a feel for the stage.



And N was getting her first juice box ever.



She loved it.



Photo op.

Love this boy.



And this girlie.

Have I ever told you that before?

Can't remember...



Look! Here they come! So cute...



And the singing begins!! And I'm so proud to say that H did actually sing, unlike his 'performance' in church on Sunday. He loved the microphone and hung onto it most of the time.

I'll take the microphone-hogging over him having his finger in his nose... which is what he did most of the time on Sunday.



Um... this is 'Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes'.

Someone was a bit behind...



They ended the set of songs, I believe, with a nice round of Barney's "I Love you, You love me" while the teacher tried to get them to all hug each other.

Cute.



Then came the 'When I grow up' part. A few kids came up in costumes and said "My name is Robin and I want to be a doctor when I grow up" or something similar. You get the idea.

Cute, right?

Right.

Well, my boy came up with his Daddy's sunglasses on and was supposed to say "My name is H and when I grow up I want to be a Daddy!" (This is how he regularly answers the question "What do you want to be when you grow up?") BUT... he just played with the sunglasses and refused to say a word.

Oh well.



Then came the part when three kids demonstrated what they had learned this year. Miss Yusra told them things like "Can you pick up the blue car?" and "Can you show me the yellow ball?"

Funny! And pretty simple for the kids and would have been especially simple for H, whose first language is English (duh). But I think we had the only one of those...



Then came the part where these two cuties came out dressed up as a bride and groom.

I'm really not sure... but they were darn cute.



Then came the graduation part! This is the point when my boy was called "The King of the Nursery." I'm really not sure what that was all about...



And can you believe the gowns and caps?

Where am I?



He's cute!!

How many times can I use the word cute in this post?

A lot. Apparently. Way too much, I admit. But I'm too tired to care.



Miss Yusra loves him. They had to say goodbye. Boo hoo.



But not before she forced him to give her a kiss.

*smile*

I think we'll miss Miss Yusra, the other teachers and Little Hands Nursery... it's been a great play school for H!

Treats

H and I walked around our part of town today to get a couple errands done.

And he came back with some serious loot for a three year old. Loot, as in, FREE stuff from shopkeepers, etc.



He'd like to show you...



Here we have a toothbrush (?!), Chiclets, a sucker and a toffee.

Not pictured (because they were immediately consumed upon receipt) are a taffy and a cup of local lemonade.

So much for my 'no treats today' rule that I explained as we left.

The boy gets totally spoiled! Six things?!! Oh dear! I really do appreciate the toothbrush though. Kudos to you, pharmacy man, for not giving my kid MORE sugar, but providing him with a way to wash it off his teeth.

I think they like him around here...

Tent Training - Part 2

This week we continued tent training.

Remember steps 1 and 2?

Step 1: Get her familiar with the tent. That was easy.

and

Step 2: Get her to sleep in the tent. Done! Did that a month or more ago.



Easy peazy. And silly looking.

Then came...

Step 3: Get her to nap in the tent on the floor and not crawl out when she wakes up. This is by far, the most difficult step.



It wasn't without a small battle but she did fall asleep in the tent on the floor this week!



And the biggest victory was that she learned NOT to open the velcro door even after she wakes up!

My girlie is so clever!

And now we're one more step to being ready to travel for the summer! Waaahoooo!

The Story

Planning.

Anticipation.

Prayers.

The Story shared.

Many distracted. Many not understanding. Many indifferent.

Then...

The soul of one, inquiring.

The heart of one, softened.

My heart soars... if just one more could know Him as I know Him...

OH the joy that would ring through the Universe!

Busted

My baby has her first busted lip.



Yeah. I know.

You should see the other baby...

First and Last

The first was in August.

The last is today.

Today is my boy's last day of school.



Look at him! He's so grown up and so happy!

Just for the sake of reminiscing and crying and being kinda sad at how much my boy has grown in the last nine months...



(First day and last day)

Okay... so I admit he hasn't grown a whole foot taller or anything...



But I do believe he lost his baby face.

Could someone PLEASE help me find it?

I've been looking everywhere...



Awww. But even if his face isn't so baby-ish anymore... it's still one of the most beautiful things I've ever seen in my life.

I love my boy.

And I do delight in watching him grow...

... so so much!

A Horse

Ever heard of those crazy people who see images of things or people in their toast or grilled cheese sandwiches or chex-mix or whatever and then try to sell it on eBay?

Yeah. That could have been me. Actually, as L so smartly noted... it's not the crazy people who sell the stuff (they're actually quite astute, wouldn't you say?).. but it's the crazy people who BUY the stuff.

Aaanyway...

I think I could have sold this on eBay... that is, if I could somehow find some reason to say that this image of a horse that H found in his cow cheese cracker is directly related to the Royal Wedding of William and Kate coming up on Friday.



It's really quite a remarkable looking horse, don't you agree?

Wait! Look! This looks just like one of the horses that is gonna pull the carriage down The Mall after the couple ties the knot!! See... it's the spittin' image of, erm... that one horse named Colonel who is the newest in a long line of royal-horse-lineage that has served Buckingham Palace for five hundred years.

Have you ever heard about the Buckingham Palace royal-horse-lineage?

Well... you're really missing out!!

Click below to place a bid for the cheese and cracker on eBay.



Just kiddin'.

He actually ate it.

So, I guess he only has himself to blame for gobbling up (literally) his college education fund.

Next time H spots something in his processed cheese cracker I'll try to encase it in glass a bit faster...

Easter Day in Pictures

This morning we watched the sun rise over the Nile.

What a special service.

What a special day.



Special people.

No, not that kind of special.

;)



Why don't we always have sandboxes in the middle of church? Works wonders to keep the kids quiet and happy.

Just somethin' to think about.



One of N's favs.



More sand. She's not sure this time.



Oh, but HE'S sure.



H + the Beach = Happy forever and ever amen.



She made a break for it.

(I caught her)



The location.



Later, egg dying!



And basket finding!



And introductions.

Sweet N, meet jellybean.

Jellybean, meet Sweet N.



Aaah. ForGET the jellybean... I could eat HER!



But she gave it a try.



And she tucked it away in those irresistible cheekies of hers, drooled jellybean goo on her Easter dress (not pictured), watched her Mama freak out that she was getting her Easter dress all dirty before we even left the house (not pictured), got her Easter dress all wet from the dishrag (not pictured) and wasn't given any more jellybeans.

That was just in case you were wondering how the jellybean thing panned out.

And while we're on the topic of things from today that are not pictured.... another not-pictured thing is that Mikey failed to see a ginormous speed bump at 5:30am (could happen to anyone that silly speed bump is so incredibly invisible and so incredibly huge) and must have gotten us some significant air between our tires and the road.

And no, it was not fun. Thanks for asking.

I realize that this side-note has little to no relevance to Easter or the relevant proceedings thereof (?!), other than it happened today on Easter and that I suppose it could be one (five) more reason(s) to praise God (for seatbelts, carseats, that we always use our seatbelts, usually put the kids in the carseats and that now we got our yearly chiropractic adjustments that we never get already out of the way... and for free!)

I'm done now. Done with the side-note, that is.

I'm not done with this though.

Or should I say her...



Strike a pose.



I can't take it.

Her cuteness is almost unbearable.



I said 'I CAN'T TAKE IT!'

Oh, what is that you say?

Speak up.

You say I'm the one who keeps posting more and more pictures of the girlie in her sweet dress?

Right.

I suppose I am.

I'll stop then.

After just one more.



Okay. Now I'm done.

She was just so darn cute with those eggies.

Eggies?

Oh dear.

Someone has to stop me.

Let's move on.

CHURCH! (Yes, twice in one day... Glory Halleluiah!)



It was the kiddos turn to 'lead' the service.



And this was our big moment.



My (and Leah's) class (the 3-6 year olds of which only about half showed up today The Big Day but that all seem to show up when I need to be closed in a VERY small room with them for forty-five minutes with no tranquilizers or snacks) had their big solo song. That means they sang without the big kids.

Cool, huh?

I know that I was out of breath at the end of the song but I'm not sure how much singing they actually did.

But they did far surpass me in cuteness.

Now, the fact that H has a microphone in front of him might make you think he uttered a peep.

Let me please inform you that he, in fact, did not utter a peep. Nor did he move a muscle to join in any of the movements.

But he did stand there.

*High five H!* "Great job!" (We try to stay positive and encouraging, you know).



Sweet N stayed busy eating Corn Flakes and eating Craisins and jingling her Pakistani bangles that were gifted to her upon arrival.

Watch out! They're made of glass! (I know, who'd a-thunk they'd make baby bracelets out of glass?!)

And for my dear Mother-in-Law and also for the record at social services... there were no injuries.

*smile*



Aaaanyway... then the big kids performed a powerful drama...



...and the little kids were enthralled.

And that was about the end.



So here we are...

...Thankful for each other, the life God has given us here and most of all...



...that He is alive!!!

Happy Easter Everyone!