Adventures in: March 2012

Saturday, March 31, 2012

Kristen's Birthday

Megan's Birthday Sign for me!

I had a wonderful birthday! Dan arrived home the morning of my birthday from a trip, so I'm very thankful he was home for it! Megan made me a sign to celebrate my birthday, which I LOVED and was so thankful for! Turquoise stripes and a fancy flower - it was PERFECT!!! We had picked up Dunkin Donuts the day before for my birthday breakfast - and Dan put candles on it so he and the kids could sing to me :) I got to open my birthday presents and beautiful cards! Each of the kids made their own cards for me! Dan gave me a beautiful pashmina that is currently hanging on our bamboo ladder and a great t-shirt that I LOVE (and then wore the rest of the day)!!! We watched "The Love Bug" with the kids - the original Herbie movie, I think? We all loved it. Then that afternoon we drove to a mall that we had never been to - with beautiful water fountains outside! We walked around, went to the Starbucks there because it's so cool right on the marina (but didn't get anything) and then went to a store I've wanted to go in since we moved here! I found a sparkly camel and a great candle there that I was so excited for! Then we headed to dinner at a place I had never been, but Dan had been for lunch a few times - with Ranch dressing that I want to drink with a straw! Such a fun day - I'm so thankful it was a Saturday with the kids home and that Dan was able to be here! I had a great day and loved being with my family!!!

Kiddos and I in front of our pillar of birthday signs!

The cards Dan and the kids made for me!

My yummy birthday donut with 3 candles

All my birthday loot :)

New beautiful pashmina

My cool new shirt :)

Me and my kiddos in front of some traditional Kuwaiti "dhows" the brown fishing boats in the back right - and the normal boats they use now in the front!

Fun Starbucks on the water

My kiddos in front of the water fountains!

Me and my Tweeter

Yummy chips for dinner!

Friday, March 23, 2012

Hi, My Name is Kristen, vol. 4

...and I'm the Birthday Girl because today I turn 34!!!

Job: A stay-at-home-mom with kiddos in school! I love being at home, helping in Kylie's classroom 1x a week, being in a Bible Study with ladies from around the world, occasionally having lunch with Dan and getting whatever needs to get done mostly done before Kylie gets home around 1pm and the big kids get home around 2:30pm! I LOVE being the one that's home with them when they get home, get a snack, relax and watch a show for a little bit and then work on homework before we start making dinner! I love that I get to be the one who answers their questions and finds out about their day and teases them and gives advice and checks their homework.

Interests: Reading, blogging, reading blogs and getting ideas, keeping up with friends on facebook, painting, making yummy food for my family, catching up with friends, having Dan play with my hair, getting hugs from Jack, cooking with Megan and chatting in the kitchen and snuggling Kylie.

Favorite TV Shows: How I Met your Mother, The Sing Off, Top Shot, American Pickers, Sons, Lots of shows on Food Network, Mad Men.

Books I've loved this year: The Wild Rose by Jennifer Donnelly, The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger, Blink by Malcolm Gladwell, The Warrior Elite by Dick Couch, Water for Elephants by Sarah Guen, The Help by Kathryn Stockett, The Faraday Girls by Monica McInerney, Thirty-nothing by Lisa Jewell, American Wife by Curtis Sittenfield, Love Finds you in Sunset Beach by Robin Jones Gunn, Before Green Gables by Budge Wilson, Because of Winn Dixie by Kate DiCamillo, a handful of Magic Treehouse and Who Was/Is books :)

Favorite Foods in Kuwait: Smashed Chicken for their chicken tikka, fatoosh, hummus and amazing mini pitas! Taco Bell because we couldn't get it in Thailand :) Jacket Potato because a baked potato with mozzarella cheese, fajita chicken, green peppers, mushrooms, onions, corn and more cheese is amazing! Green curry, Som Tam and Tom Kha Gai at Oriental Cuisine because it tastes like Thailand. PF Changs for their amazing Crispy Fried Green Beans. Paul for their amazing brioche bread, turkey and brie sandwich with caramelized onions! Onion Pakora from the Fabric Souk! Ruby Tuesdays for their Minis and fries. Copious amounts of cucumbers and feta and red peppers and carrots!

Current favorite meals I make: Crockpot chicken which I love and then make homemade chicken broth with it to make soup, Sweet Potato Soup, Chicken Alfredo Soup, Cheddar Chowder, Chili, Shrimp scampi and orzo pasta salad with olive oil, garlic, feta and red pepper, lasagna, Stir fried chicken and loads of veggies, Roasted baby potatoes with garlic, french toast casserole.

Favorite Apps on the iPad/iPod: Oregon Settler, Mystery Manor, DragonVale, Tiny Village, Pet Hotel, Tap Zoo 2, Drawn, Whirly Word, Scramble, Facetime.

Current music on my playlist: How to Love by Delilah, The Cave by Mumford & Sons, All Your Life by The Band Perry, Airplanes by Urban Method, This Life by Curtis Stigers and The Forest Rangers, Mean by Taylor Swift, Get to Know Me Better by Jackopierce, Made in America by Toby Keith, Go - God is Great - Take it All by Hillsong United, Great are You by Downhere.

What I love about Kuwait: Living on the beach - seeing the waves outside our house every day! Shopping at the Fabric Souk. Dan's group and how great they are. My 2 Bible studies and the wonderful ladies in them. Friends that we are slowly getting to know! Yummy food. Our children's teachers. Dan's morning schedule since he gets to say goodbye with me to the kids in the morning, then we get breakfast and read the Word before he jumps in the shower and heads out to work!

Things I Love: Anything Turquoise, Polka dots and Stripes, My hoop earrings, my Jim Thompson turquoise blanket, Pictures with words (one of the first things I remember about my friend Amy was her coming to our house for a playdate and remarking, "Huh, you must like words a lot." I only have a few pictures or frames without words on them - and the words that are in our house on the walls are very important), my pink blanket (still - Kylie has 1 and I have the other), palm trees, swimming at the beach, flip flops, having my toenails painted, tinsel in my hair, cotton fun colored purses!

Me and my Tweeter

Cooking in the kitchen with my kiddos! One of my favorite things to do!

Debbie, Me, Nver, Marci, Nike, Gabby, Cheri and Shirley
My Bible Study Ladies

Dan's Birthday

Dan had a good day celebrating his birthday! He was crazy busy at work, so we patiently waited for him to get home so we could jump right in the car to head out to dinner. Kylie was home sick and I had to pick up Megan from school because she was sick, otherwise I probably would have tried to go meet him for lunch. Dan's choice for dinner was PF Chang's :) We had a super yummy meal and the girls and I had stopped at Baskin Robbins to pick up an ice cream birthday cake for him on the way home from the doctors! Super busy traffic out after dinner made it take us over an hour to get home...and in the meantime all 3 kids had fallen asleep in the car. We woke them up for Dan to open his presents and to sing him Happy Birthday and then send them up to bed! He had a good birthday!

Dan got to open Uncle Matt and Aunt Tiff's present in the morning before work :)

The beautiful coin holder that Uncle Matt made for Dan for his birthday to hold all his coins he's collected from his trips!

The Birthday Boy and his kiddos

Me and my Birthday Tweeter

The gathering of the presents!

A birthday note on the mirror!

The Birthday Boy with his Birthday Cake :) I'm not sure why there are 4 candles...but that's what was left in the package, so I used them!

Being silly with the chocolate from on top

Opening presents from all of us

And a new Hokie jacket to smoke a stogie outside!

Monday, March 19, 2012

Hi, My Name is Dan, vol. 4

...and I'm the Birthday Boy because today I turn 36!!!

Interests: Expensive Hobbies (I think this covers all my interests). Xbox 360 and the iPad, wrestling the kiddos, vegging with my Tweeter, my soon-to-be RC car (my birthday present if the customs strike in country is resolved and we eventually get mail), technology gadgets, Cuban cigars (which are legal here).

Favorite TV Shows/Movies: How I Met your Mother, Top Shot, Sing Off, Star Wars Clone Wars with kiddos, Sons, Thor, Captain America and looking forward to Avengers coming out this year.

Latest Reads: Dancing on the Heads of Snakes, Ranger's Apprentice Series, Six Frigates, The Warrior Elite (courtesy of Uncle Bri), Hunger Games (book 1), Against All Enemies.

Favorite Foods: Papa John's Pizza, Any pork I can get while traveling, Smashed Chicken, Taco Bell's Volcano Nachos and Volcano Burrito, Cracker Barrel Biscuits and Gravy, PF Changs Cashew Chicken.

What I like about Kuwait: Our house and living on the Gulf. Waiting for the kids bus with the sun rise and waves. My group I work with.

Countries I've traveled to: 24 - of those, 4 are new since we've lived in Kuwait!

Favorite Sayings: "Crank a quick one", "Cause I'm a MAN", "I'll be home at 5:30 (which rarely happens)", "Tap into the reserves", "This show is Insane!", "Jack, did you check Dragonvale?".

Scariest dream I've had in a while: I had a dream that Kristen sold our TV (a 42 inch nice one). I told her that was okay, that we'd go buy a new one. She told me we couldn't...until September when football season started back up! I woke up and told Kristen, she laughed. I said, "It's not funny, it was really terrible!" She laughed harder :)

Why my Tweeter loves me (written by Kristen): Because you an amazing man of God and a wonderful father and husband. You spend time with us, patiently answer questions from all of us and take an interest in all of us. You do things - but include us in it! i.e. playing the guitar with Megan singing, playing the xbox or iPad with Jack, make coffee and have Kylie help you, sit out back and smoke a cigar and talk with me...you encourage me in my walk with Jesus and hold me accountable to spending time daily with Him, you love us and love on us by hugging us, snuggling us, wrestling us and twirling our hair, you try your hardest to schedule trips around important events in our lives and you love the work you do! We are so thankful to God for you Tweeter!!! Happy 36th Birthday my Tweeter!!! I love you!!!

Me and my Tweeter

Dan and his 3 favorite kiddos

Our family in silhouette at the Aquarium

Dan with his longest, bushiest beard yet!

And his '95 GMC Jimmy he bought here and drives!

Megan's Cooking Party

Megan had a Cooking Party for her birthday on Friday! We had 8 girls here and the plan was for them to make their own dinner! We gave each of the girls an apron when they arrived! They each made their own lasagnas in their own little pan - I had the beef cooked and ready, the ricotta mix ready and some zucchini and carrots cut up for anyone who didn't want beef :) Megan and I had a veggie platter already cut up and rolls waiting to be eaten. The girls made their own Shirley Temples and also their own Warm Gooey Chocolate Chip Cookie Ice Cream Sundaes! They played Pass the Parcel with Jelly Bellys being the small prize and we also did a funny cooking Mad Libs :) They had a great time and enjoyed all the food and the wonderful creations they made! It was a great Cooking Party!