Crazy Hair Day and Spring Dress Day

 Thursday was Crazy Hair Day and Spring Free Dress Day - meaning do something fun and wild with your hair and wear Spring colors!  

 I got to do Megan's fun hair ala 1997?  She looked adorable and LOVED it!  The only other time these clips have been used was on my roommate A's hair for Leadership one Sunday night our Sophomore year of college :)

 While looking handsome, Jack opted out of crazy hair.  We have colored hair gels he would normally use, but he was having a playdate directly after school and didn't want to look crazy for the whole afternoon, too. 

 Kylie had no desire to look crazy.  It's not in her.  Given her normal fashion choices, you would think she would be daring with it, but no.  It took a lot of convincing to wear it up in 2 half up piggy tails ala me - most of college.  Are you sensing a theme?  Oh, and her bows are courtesy of a late night Walmart run with HEO to pick up supplies our sophomore year at VT to get items for the Young Life Fall weekend for our girls :)  Yes, I still own it 14ish years later and used it on my youngest child's hair for Kindergarten.

 A birds eye view of Megan's hair and her sparkly butterfly clips

And Kylie's fun polk-a-dot rainbow bows :)

Spring Break

 Last week was Spring Break here in Kuwait!  The kids were home for the week, which was great.  We got to do a lot of things that I hadn’t planned on, but the week turned out great!  

We ate at our favorite cheap restaurant with super yummy food – Smashed Chicken!  I think the real name is Yourmouk Sports Club Restaurant, but Dan calls it Smashed Chicken because he gets a dish there where they take a whole chicken and smash it down and grill it.  The kids and I prefer chicken tikka, the most amazing fatoosh ever, their hummus, their white garlic sauce and the best freshly baked small pita breads EVER!!!  And the waiter teases the kids – even though we don’t really speak Arabic and he doesn’t really speak English :) 

We swam 2x’s at Dan’s work – once on Easter and another time during the week with friends and ate lunch there!  

We hosted an impromptu brunch at our house – we had planned on going out for brunch with 5 other Moms and 5 other 8 other kids, but it was really dusty that day, so we offered up our house!  It worked out perfectly – we made pancakes and 2 batches of muffins.  Ladies brought fresh biscuits, more muffins, beet pizza (homemade and super yummy), scrambled eggs, blueberry bread and smoothies!  We had more than enough food and it was great just to hang out, let the kids play and talk! 

We went on a date and ended up at an Indian restaurant! 

It was officially my first Indian in a real restaurant.  I've done fast food Indian and take out Indian, but have never eaten in a nice restaurant - it was so beautiful inside!  I should taken pictures.  We decided the appetizers didn't really taste like much, but we loved the murgh makhani (butter chicken), garlic naan and basmati rice!  

I love him and going on dates with him!

We had lunch with our favoritest person in the whole wide world!!! 

We made it to the fabric souk to purchase a length of solid navy blue fabric to make Megan a scarf she can wear and comply with her dress code for school.  A friend met us there and she bought out a whole lot of fun fabric to make wonderful things with!  We also got a sundress tailored for Megan and a pair of pants fixed for Dan!  Then we went back to our friends’ house to have a play/lunch date!

We trekked out to Ikea with that same friend and her little one – mostly so we could help her out some in her quest to find a small wooden bistro outdoor set – and had a great time playing through Ikea and getting the kids frozen yogurt for the first time ever!  Kylie didn’t like it – I can’t blame her.  I don’t like it either.  She feels like I do – why waste time on frozen yogurt and it’s sour taste when you can have ice cream instead?  

We went and cheered on another softball game, but didn’t take any pictures.

We went to the Scientific Center and then to the pool to swim yet again! 

It was a busy, but great week!  None of us wanted it to end :)

Catching Up

 Our kids were sick for a long time from before Megan's birthday until after my birthday.  Jack was out for 2 days, Kylie for 6 and Megan for 2.  We finally found out that it was the first case of Influenza B this year at Dan's work.  I didn't get a chance to bring in cupcakes for Megan's birthday, so I finally brought them in the end of March :)  Turquoise cupcakes with purple and blue cake inside - not too shabby! 

Megan eating lunch and getting ready to enjoy her cupcake!

 

 Kylie finally lost her first Tooth!  

 

 Granted, the other one behind it had already fully came in, but she was so scared that it would hurt to have her tooth come out, she refused to let us touch it.  I finally made her take it out before we were headed out to dinner - because I was afraid she would swallow it if not!  

 The other week Dan headed out on a trip - we dropped him off for his flight and went to McDonald's for breakfast!  

Me and Bugga

 

 The new camel I got on my birthday - it's only maybe 4 inches high, but so cute!

 And this beautiful egg Dan brought me back - beautifully painted and so fun!

 Megan had a special 4th Grade Recorder Concert - they played all the songs they knew, sang some and she also played a middle drum!

 They had a 10am performance for the kids in the Elementary school and then a 1pm performance for parents - but Kylie came with me because she was done with school for the day!

 Beautiful Megan :)

 Dan's been playing softball with people from work - he was on a trip this week, but we came to cheer them on anyway and help out with little kiddos while their parents were in the infield!  Jack had a buddy there and brought a soccer ball, so they played kickball!

And this little one helped cheer Jack on!  Go Jack Go!  Go Kids Go!

And then cheered on her parents!

Easter Weekend

 

So far on our Easter Weekend (i.e. Friday and Saturday) we've gone to church, hosted a dinner for 18 adults and 13 kids and attended an Easter Party at Dan's work!  It's been great!  We had wanted to do something fun for Easter, but as of last week hadn't planned anything.  I knew that I couldn't get to a Military base to get a ham and I had no desire to try my hand at lamb...so we hadn't figured anything out.  Our friend Erin mentioned that they had purchased a ham, but felt like their place was maybe a bit to small to host so many people - we have a huge house, so it worked out great!  Everyone brought a side dish (or 3 or 4), Erin roasted 2 chickens, too, so we had a ton of wonderful yummy food!  From green bean casserole to amazing sweet potatoes to homemade risotto to a homemade pizza with nectarines and a balsamic glaze!  Great food and a great night with good friends!  The kids had a blast, too :)  


Then today we went to the Easter Party at work!  They did a great job with it - tons of fun kids crafts, a bouncy house, an inflatable slide, Easter Egg hunts for the kids, candy out, water bottles, snack bags with goldfish and animal crackers, the Easter Bunny and a balloon guy!  It was a great time and so fun to see everyone in fun Easter dresses :)  

 

Megan, Jack and Kylie made mini pb&j and also cheese sandwiches for the kiddos to have along with everything else for dinner!  

 

 This is what the inside of our "drink" fridge normally looks like.  Crazy, no?

 

 Cucumbers chopped by Jack, Celery prepared by Megan and homemade hummus made by me (with red pepper, cucumber, feta and dill on top)!

 

The kiddos ready for the Easter Party

 Making Easter crafts

 Kylie and her friend Jordyn...they are two peas in a pod - and both 3rd girls :)

 Me and my boy Jack

 Me and the Budge

 

 The Ladies

Amber, Myriah, Kylie, Me, Megan, Jill, Elizabeth, Erin, Charley, Stephanie and AJ (the only boy)

Jack was playing on the inflatable slide :)

 

The Gentlemen (with kids)

Josh, Charley, Tony, AJ, Mat, Elizabeth, Joel and Myriah

 

Kylie posing after finding her eggs

 And in the middle of the egg hunt!

 Jack, Megan and Ava taking a much needed break from the sun

 Me and my Moopert

 

 

Megan after her egg hunt

 Jack after his egg hunt

 Finding the eggs

 

Finding her eggs!

 Picture with the inflatable Easter Bunny

 Playing on the tire swing after the party

And posing with this little cutie!

Dust Storm on St. Patrick's Day

Our cute family ready for St. Patrick's Day

Trying to catch up on posts - we had a fun St. Patrick's Day here!  Everyone dressed in green, we made Orange Cinnamon Rolls for breakfast and I surprised the kiddos with green icing :)  They thought it was so fun!  Then we headed out to the mall to get lunch at Pot Belly's.  It had been pretty dusty...and it just got worse on the drive there!  It was even dusty in the middle of the mall, which was crazy! 

 

 Green Orange Cinnamon Rolls

 Driving to the Mall

 Getting even worse!

3 kiddos quickly in the dust storm before heading into the mall!