Coucou!

2 Months!

Yeah... It's been two months now since my last post!

I can assure you I’m still alive... the overall "me" is still alive

And we are doing great...kicking away "the Bad" and embracing the "good" life surprises...

My posts are 2 months late but a LOT has been happening since late September.

I will not shower you now with photos or news..well, I will not resist posting the famous 2013-wrap-up-trillion-photos-post, but now I will just skip those couple months and prepare myself to the leap...not only to the New Year, but to many daring decisions I am about to take and that may shape our life, to the best or to the worse? I can't tell.. A dear friend sent me the proverb: “how would you know it's the right decision if you never take it?"... and it helped me get over that question!

Life is weird, I know that for now...but I would repeat what I say and feel at the end of every year:

I am grateful, grateful and so grateful for everything I have, for everyone I have, for every guidance and support I got, for every nice word I received, and for every laugh I heard...

The immense joy of all of the above cannot leave space in the heart for any despair or sadness

It simply shouldn't.

Breathe deep my friends, hold hug and kiss your beloved ones and spread love and positive energy...

Try your best to step out of the routines, the daily rhythms, the same breakfast ;) 

Some craziness is healthy...

try it out yourselves :)

Wishing the usual wishes, everyone! 

Daddy is 44!

Last Month we celebrated Jamil's 44th Birthday!

we went to our favorite restaurant with the kids,

and we enjoyed the food, the cake and the boys'company!  

Then we showered Jamil with the funny gifts I prepared with Ghadi the day before!

Al Fitr Eid 2013 - Day 3

On this day, Ghadi went to the movies with his cousin Labib, they watched Despickable Me2 (I So wanted to accompany them...but...)

he came back excited and didn't stop talking about the movie (and the Caramelized Popcorn!)

Afternoon we took kids to the theme park, they enjoyed it and teh best part was that it became late while we were there, so kids experienced the night lights and how it feels like to be there without day light!

 

Al Fitr 2013- Day 2

On the second Day, Ghadi went to "horsh el Eid" with his dad, that is a place where kids can play carnival games and win prizes and so...

well, he came back with two guns and a sheriff hat (not the Eid Spirit at all! I know) 

but we made fun of that..

Day one- Al Fitr 2013

More on Eid al Fitr celebrated 2 months ago!

the Eid Morning - Al Fitr 2013

I know it's been two months now but I'm getting lazy and Suddenly I found out the next Eid is in one week so I should post these photos from the August Eid celebrations before it's (like really really) late!

Phantom of the House!

Sary has got that extra habit of wearing our stuff!

he searches for my t-shirt, daddy's shorts, mommy's shoes, whatever he finds, 

he wears it, or puts it on his neck 

and hangs around proudly!

 

  

Sary is a cute little parrot now, repeating our words and sentences

he expresses himslef in his own way, which Ghadi can understand better than we do!

we often stand confused about what is Sary asking for, saying things like:

" shahobbaaaaaaattt"

"shahobaaaaaaaaaaatttttttttt"

then about to cry: "SHAHOBAAATTTTTTTTTTTT"

and me like: "what do u want my dear? badda trouh buy??" -you want to go out?

then Ghadi shouts from his bedroom: 

"mommy, he wants you ta take his shoes off!!! - shala7 sobbatt"

in his free time (HA, I mean all the time evidently) Sary loves to jump

he jumps.. and jumps..on my bed, on his bed, on the sofa, on the cushions...

well, this is actually not allowed but whenever we turn our eyes he hurries and starts jumping..

I am thinking about getting him a Trampoline, a real one! but the question is: where would I put it!

till then, i will keep on holding his hands while he jumps on my pillow...yes..

one little monkey, jumping on my bed!

Grade 1 and dragon tattoo!

Last month, on the 7th of September, Ghadi went to school, as a first grader!

It's fair to say, I was way more excited than him!

 buying books,

tagging names,

preparing supplies...

 and here we are!

yes, starting now we have no school uniform!

no, it's not a nightmare,

I prepared 5 pants and 5 t-shirts, and had all that agreed by Ghadi, and now we have a dressing plan!

we also have our meal plan,

so no morning debates about "what sandwich am I having today? who says I want Labneh?"

plus, Ghadi is now allowed to take money and buy from the kiosk once a week!

and we can say, this is the GREATEST hit about being in elementary school (according to him!)

in addition to the fact that the bookcase is just under the desk (that comes next in the list of the most exciting things about CP -that is grade 1)

settled in class,

and extremely happy, cuz he and his best friends happen to be at the same section!

at the end of the day, still radiant face and happy at heart,

  don't wonder what he is trying to say here... he was reminding me to buy him a tattoo...

yes..

It's been couple days he mentioned he wanted a tattoo..that his friend at summer camp had one...and I promised him i'd get it when we start school... (yeah, just procrastinating...)

and here we are..AT SCHOOL..what are waiting for mom?

 --> that evening at home:

ehh..a Dragon!

hope this year will bring you the best my beloved.

when I saw how his friends were fighting upon the seat next to him, while another mom, persuaded the boy sitting facing him to move to another table, so that her daughter would sit facing Ghadi, 

my heart went so big and I knew...it's not because I'm his mom, no.. 

this boy is simply so sweet...

Ghadi is 6!

yes, 6 years old!
we are celebrating it at our house, with a small crazy bunch of friends!

will post photos soon...
and will post my yearly letter to this [add all positive adjectives u may find in the whole dictionary] boy!
the 5 to 6 transition year was amazing!
and to all moms of 5 years old: prepare yourselves for an awesome year, for a helpful peaceful cooperative child, who would be ready to do anything to please you!
not only you, but everybody will be amazed by the calm yet crazy kid who would jump and dance and shout and fill your house with police cries and monsters voices and alien invasions, but at the same time who would be super easy and so happy at bedtimes... and always ready to answer you and give you a hand whenever needed!
oh there is so much love in my heart it would simply not fit inside, or here...

Summer Camp Festival 2013 (On va s'aimer) & some other stuff~!

During August we celebrated three consecutive lovely events:
 1- Zeina's 4th Birthday
kids were amazing... Ghadi participated to all games and was adorable.

 Sary behaved so well during meal time that I was able to sit and chat with my friends while he had his dinner like a big boy!

2- Last trip to the beach: it was windy, we chilled and said good bye to the pool without regret ;)

Ghadi showed great courage and  now he can jump and splash in the big pool and swim to reach the pool edge without any help

I was so proud of him!

Sary will learn swimming without any effort next year,I am sure about that!  

3- and of course, just like every summer we attended the entertaining end of summer camp festival 2013  (check previous years here: 2012, 2011)  and it was nice as usual, Ghadi performed a lovely dance and this time, we took Sary who enjoyed it so much that he is still talking about "colonie" and apparently dreams about going there next summer!

back to Ramadan 2013!

The holy month of Ramadan has always a special Charm, and this year as usual we cherished all the gifts and blessings we had...

we celebrated it during the whole month of August...
and Ghadi started to learn about the meaning of this month... we decorated his room...
and we even crafted a card at the start of the month!

Looking back at Summer 2013!

Today starts Autumn 2013...
It's hard to believe summer is over!
It's harder to believe I still didn't post any photos about this crazy summer... I was about to say peaceful, but no, it doesn't fit now.
I don't talk politics here and I will not start now. I just have to say that this summer was uneasy and brought moments of disbelief that I could raise my kids in this country without having to worry and to endure unbearable stress because of the unstable political situation here and around.

Back to our life and to my little monsters, the more they grow up the lovelier they get and parenthood seems way more exciting and challenging than before!

maybe we spent a lot of time at home during this summer, but I am proud to say that kids adore time spent at home!
they never complain or get bored!
they always have something to do! they transform the tiny little toys into flying characters and play for hours... (and fight and scream and pull each others hair but it's all part of the fun)
I learned now not to run every time I hear them scream (I can tell from the scream itself if I shall run to them or not, if it's only Ghadi taking his toy back from Sary's hands or if Sary is having his leg stuck between the toys :)

Many posts will follow, trying to sum up all events and to close the summer posts series, getting prepared for our second favorite season, hoping it will bring planet earth peace and awareness.

now these are some blurred spontaneous photos taken from my phone about our daily life at home!

No I couldn't answer this one!

While hugging Ghadi the other day he looked at me and asked:
"mom, why do people close their eyes while hugging each others?"
silence...
I just looked at him and hugged him more...and more.. and more
closing my eyes...
 feeling all his love deep in my heart...

Typical Conversation with a 6 year old?

Sary's nursery and Ghadi's summer camp happen to be at the same location, so I drove them both every morning for one whole month f July and I can say I really had great company while driving.

We opened all kinds of conversations,
we talk often about road signs and Ghadi was helping me control speed limit spotting all the different signs on our way.

He asked me the other day:

- can we drive on the speed of 4?

- You mean 40?

- No 4

I said yes we can but that would be driving like a turtle

He gazed then asked:

- If we remove the turtle shell then it would walk much quicker?

- That makes sense

- And it could climb trees

- Ehm..we can’t be pretty sure they could

- but how do turtles speak with each others?

- They definitely have their own language, every animal has its own communication method

- But we can’t understand it

 - Aaah, but you know, long time ago, there was a king, he was a very good person obeying Allah and so he was granted the ability to understand animal languages!

He could talk with birds and listen to ants

- Did he die?

- Well sure he did, that was really long time ago

- Like 200 ago?

- No, it was before 200, maybe 1000 years ago

- In what country?

- In Palestine

- Was there many people back then?

- Yes but not as much as now

- How many people were there in Lebanon?

- Maybe 10,000

- And now?

- around 4 million!

- Waw that’s too much! But china has the highest number of people

- Yes true

- And china is the biggest country

- No, we agreed before when we looked at the map that Canada and Russia are bigger

- Yeah

- but why there are more people in China than in Russia or Canada?
- It’s because of the weather..It’s very cold and lands are mostly covered in ice all year long

- Why?

- Ah because that part of earth is far from the sun and stays cold.. just like the Antarctic

- Mom but why the Antarctic is that far? And why is it always icy?

- Ah my beloved, here we are...(dropping him at destination)...have a nice day!!!!!! 
surreal...that conversation was just surreal ...

Our Home-made Racing Track: update

I have posted many times before about our hand-made racing tracks... Ghadi adore them

and he never gets enough cars to play the different scenarios.

and my heart goes big whenever I see him creating events and new ways to enjoy it.

Theme Park, a second visit during the same week!

During our mini-vacation we decided we shall make it a real one, i.e. we were not allowed to stay at home, then we ran out of ideas, what to do?

easy...we took kids to another theme park...

not a bad idea at all... (said the kids ;)

are these real smiles>>?

Theme park!

yes, events that shall have been posted long ago are still popping.. and here is a visit we did to a nearby theme park during the month of July... 

I was surprised by Sary  who was super excited and insisted on trying everything.. 

and never showed any sign of hesitation or scare...

He proved to be as daring as his bro (even a bit more maybe) which makes my heart fly :)

Photos on the go!

Here are few Photos taken by mobile camera (hence the bad quality) but which summarize kids development and interests and relationship in a spontaneous way!

 yes,  he is playing dead... he may stay there, still for minutes...

 enjoying home-made crepes!

Ghadi is showing so much interest in everything related to cooking 

he loves to help, to stir, and surely, to taste ;)

 Sary's latest obsession (which is going to last forever i think) are motorcycles, or ATVs or anything related...

 AND wearing mom's and dad's shoes of course!

 he is playing with his brother more often now, the laugh loud and  they spend beautiful time together!

 and Sary doesn't hesitate to show his affection for his brother... this makes my heart melt and it kills me every time I see them hugging!

Summer Camp 2013!

July started in an awesome way with our mini-vacation...

as I posted before, we all had the time of our life, away from the city hectic life...

and back to reality, by the end of that week, Sary had another stomach discomfort and we dealt with it..the hard way... we had to bear all the nagging and the painful cramps...but it didn't last long...

we had one day left in our leave so Ghadi went to attend the first day in summer camp... I am so satisfied with Les Jeunes Amis Du Sport, it's well organized and Ghadi is moving to a higher category this year (ages 6-7), therefore he is having more interesting activities and much more fun!

our traditional Photo!

on the way to the movies to watch "Monsters University"!

he came back home extremely happy 

looking forward to next events there and I will be posting later about the unexpected positive personality development during this summer camp!