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!

The first in a series of recap posts!

so it's August...

but woooosh...let's go back in time just to recap the summer 2013 and all the major events until now!

this is the first of couple posts just to revive the previous months and to ensure all is documented in this little diary of ours!

and starting by June, the end of month marked the end of school and by school we mean Kindergarten... next year Ghadi will be in Grade 1 which is a huge milestone!

Last day at school we had a little fiesta at their class, 

their art works were displayed, 

 kids offered us some class-made lemonade and treats.

 

no, nothing is wrong with his mouth, he just had a large piece of cake that he won't let go for a photo! 

  

we are very excited for the next year, hope it will be the first step in a life full of success my big boy!