Welcome to Fort Worth

We are having a great time in Fort Worth. So far, all we have done is pick up my mom from the airport, get our hotel and go to the mall for dinner but the kids are having a blast. Here are a few of our pics:

Tomorrow, Kamal and I will attend the convention for a few hours and then we will do some more family things together. Right now, we are tentatively scheduled to go to the Fort Worth Zoo on Saturday. We toured a little bit through downtown Fort Worth and I absolutely loved it! Beautiful buildings and everything was so nice and clean. I can't wait to go again tomorrow to take pictures (I forgot to take my camera). The above pictures were of Dallas' downtown as we were driving on the freeway.

Boys II Men

Okay, I LOVE Boys II Men! I haven't been to too many concerts in my life, basically I can count them on one hand, but I would have LOVED to attend one of Boys II Men's concerts. All their songs are such great love songs. I was packing for our trip today and was listening to my faves on YouTube (since I finally started making a play list) and I just had to keep listening to their songs. They put me in such a lovey mood. Here are a few of my favorites:

This first one has very special meaning to me because when I was a senior in high school, I was the editor of the school newspaper. We had a song request section and my sister requested this song be dedicated to me. The title "End of the Road" signified the end of our living together as sisters as I was headed to college that fall and she would then become a senior in high school. Every time I think of this song, I end up crying just for the sake of that one memory, of how much we were going to miss each other.

END OF THE ROAD
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XZcG0NBMcDA

THE COLOR OF LOVE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GvBpGF8huGY

I'LL MAKE LOVE TO YOU
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PqU2WXKcUb0

ON BENDED KNEE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8giTjtNX3qk

WATER RUNS DRY
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hxCiAXJpk_4

I hope you enjoy them. If you enjoy them a lot, you can make them a part of your own playlist.

Getting Ready for Fort Worth

Today was spent trying to get the car ready for the trip to Fort Worth. The air conditioning isn't the coolest so Kamal worked on trying to get it just right for the trip. I am excited as my mom will be joining us for the few days we are there. We are planning on going to the zoo and maybe Six Flags while we are there. It should be fun. We will hopefully be meeting my Aunt Sherry, Cousin Angie, Cousin Matthew and Cousin Gabe with his daughter Zoe (age 6). My Uncle Johnny is currently in Doha, Qatar for two months so it would be really nice to see my Aunt Sherry for the time being and I think my mom would really enjoy it too.

On our way back, we are hoping to see my dad and step mom. Then, it would be a perfect little weekend trip. Tomorrow will be my packing day and then we will leave first thing Thursday morning so that we can pick up my mom from the airport at 1:20pm in Dallas.

I can't wait. This is the first vacation since April 2007. It's been way too long and even though it is only for 4 days, that is perfect for me.

Austin as Buzz with the Roses

Austin can't get enough of his Buzz Lightyear outfit lately. He's worn it all week. So I had to get some pictures of the beautiful roses and thought that while I was at it, I'd get a few pictures with a beautiful child as well. He's such a poser and did exactly what I told him too, which is not normal for him. We enjoyed this little photo session so much. He enjoyed it because there was no yelling and I enjoyed it because he actually listened to me.

Baby Shower Balooza!

So this week, I attended 3 baby showers. It was a lot of fun and I enjoyed each of them so much. There were lots of games, lots of friends and lots of food... great combinations!

The first shower was for my friend Tristan on Thursday. Melissa and Donetta hosted at Melissa's lovely home and it was wonderful. We started out with a game and this particular game I had never played before. There was a little tiny baby frozen in an ice cube. We were given a cup full of ice cubes along with the baby ice cube and the person with the baby that was released first won. The winner of that game was my friend Michelle's mom, Ruby.

Next, we had a word search game, which I won. I received a small, beautiful notepad. Then, we had an unscramble the words game which Michelle and I tied on but I told them to give Michelle the prize since I had just won the previous game. The final game was a multiple choice, hilarious game that Melissa had made up and Tristan decided the answers. Shirley won this game.

We were served muffins, coffee and cake. It was a great shower and I was so thrilled to get to be there for it.

Today was the shower for two more of my friends, Amanda and Amanda. Amanda R. is having a boy and Amanda M. is having a girl. It was held at Bethany's lovely home and it was a potluck event so everyone brought an item. All the food was awesome and the punch was out of this world! We finished eating and went to the living room to play some games.

1. The first one was a word scramble (winner - Daphne).
2. The second was a baby animal names game (winner - Rachel).
3. The third was a poopy diaper game with candy bars (winner - Rachel).
4. The fourth was baby bingo (winner - Ledda).
5. The final game was jelly bean bottle where you had to guess the amount of jelly beans in the bottle (winner - Belinda).

Next, we sat Amanda and Amanda down to open gifts and what was really fun is that they took turns opening their gifts. It worked out that most of the time, they were opening a gift from the same person at the same time, for example, Amanda R. opened her gift from me and then Amanda M. opened her gift from me. It was a lot of fun.

The cutting of the cake was next. Daphne had made the cutest little baby cake that was shaped like a baby. One part was chocolate, one part was coconut. It was so delicious!

I had a great time this week being with friends who will be having babies here soon. Good luck ladies, we wish you and your families the best during this blessed time in your lives. And thanks for allowing me to be a part of your shower.

Fun Time at The Mall

We went to the mall around 2:30pm this afternoon and had a really good time as a family. We went to Sears for a bit of shopping and then went on to let the kids play at the playground. From there we went to Borders where I saw "Conversation Hearts" for the Twilight series that had cute sayings from the book. Austin just had to have a chocolate bunny from there as well.

Next we went to Subway and shared a footlong sandwich and then went back to Sears to finish our shopping. Once outside the mall, we went to Barnes & Noble, had a coffe at Starbucks (hot chocolates for the kids) and then walked to Petco. The kids just had to go to Toys R Us so we made it there as well and the kids got a Narnia Castle that they just adore.

Overall, a really great day! Here is a picture that Danny took of himself on my cell phone.

Midnight Sun

Midnight Sun by Stephenie Meyer

My review

rating: 3 of 5 stars
I liked this point of view to Twilight a lot because you finally get to know what the mysterious Edward was thinking. I really enjoyed reading it and while I'm upset that it isn't complete, it was a quick read, even with all the typos.

I'm glad that Stephenie Meyer was procrastinating and created this as character development. I'm looking forward to finishing it when it is completed.


View all my reviews.

Facebook

Don't you just love facebook? At first, because I was so used to the myspace layout, it was very hard for me to make the transition into facebook. But once I figured everything out, man, there is no stopping me now!

How much fun can one person have keeping in touch with friends and family? And what I love about it is a lot of my friends and family have found me using facebook. You never know who all is on there. Thanks to facebook, I'm nothing but a click away from instant messaging my sister, my father, my step mother, several of my aunts, uncles and in-laws.

If you haven't joined facebook, you need to. You'll have a blast!

Great Accomplishments

I got so much done today; a lot of house cleaning, dishes, laundry, bills, design work, etc... now I'm suffering with a MAJOR headache.

This made me ponder the question: Why is it that when you try to do good, bad always has a way of creeping in? I know the answer. Call it Yin-Yang, but what it boils down to is balance. Balance in our work schedules, balance in our play times, balance with house work, and balance with life in general. Lately, I've had a very hard time with this and realize that I've got to try a little bit harder (or a little bit less, as the case may be).

Last night, I was hurt very deeply by a comment that was made about the way I keep house (which was not meant to ever get back to me - which made it even worse). Mind you, it is based on different cultural references, so this particular woman has nothing to compare me to except for exceptional arab women. After I cried my eyes out, I vowed that the next day, I would work twice as hard while still trying not to let her comment get to me and get me down (which is the last thing I need). But working twice as hard today as I do every day still hasn't made that much of a difference. The boys still dirty the house every 10 minutes, there is ALWAYS dishes to do, CONSTANT laundry and will FOREVER be something more I could do.

I've decided that I will take each day at a time and balance it as much as possible. That means, to get what you can done, take 15 minute breaks every four hours (just like at the work place), don't over extend yourself and find time to relax so you don't work yourself into pain, like I'm in right now.

Just be happy and don't let other people get you down.

Family Tree Fun Time

Yesterday, we went to take a few pictures at the giant spooky tree just down the road from my house, as Najib and Margo are returning to Bethlehem soon and wanted video and pictures to take back with them. The boys always love this adventure as we have to cross the bridge and then cross the creek in order to get there. They love throwing a few rocks in the water and then once we get to the tree, they enjoy climbing all over it and pretending that it is their new house.

We had such a good time and I wanted to share a few photos but there were too many, so again, I've included another slideshow with all the photos as well as two videos I took along the way. Enjoy!

Fun In The U-Haul

We used a U-haul about a week or so ago in order to haul some fixtures. The kids wanted so badly to play in it so while Kamal was getting ready to leave, we let them have their fun. They were pretending to drive it and had a great time.

Here is a quick slideshow of their playtime in the U-haul.

Flea Market and Family Barbeque

Today, we went to the flea market, accompanied by Najib, Margo and Rajaa, and had such a great time. The boys enjoyed it so much and it felt very much like an amusement park to them. We went and got them some semi-automatic play guns that they love, some bouncy yo-yos, had hot dogs, a giant pickle, chips and a coke and then made our way to the food section where we got them lots of candy, gum and other fun things. They truly thought that this was the best it gets.

After we got back home, Najib and Margo invited us over for a barbeque. We decided to let them have a head start to get things ready and I went and took a nap for almost two hours. Then, we headed to their place.

We had grilled chicken, smoked sausages, baked potatoes, a wonderful salad and bean dip with pita bread and pineapple juice. It was really good. Afterward, we had pecan praline ice cream cones with hot coffee. Delicious! The boys had a great time running around outside because the temperature was perfect. Cool enough without being too cold. I played with them hide and go seek and also let them race quite a bit. It was a lovely family day today.

Firestation 2007

Archiving photos again. I came across these and since it was before I was blogging, I thought I would share. The boys were so cute and so young that it brings back fond memories. They sure grow up quickly and I'm so glad now that I went crazy and took pictures almost every day when they were born up to when they were over a year old and now beyond. I can look back and reminisce about those days. My little baby boys are now big boys. Austin enrolls for Pre-K in two weeks and Danny registers for Kindergarten. I wish time would slow down.

Please view the slide show at:

http://www.kodakgallery.com/ShareLanding.action?c=8ygqf1q7.530sblyb&x=0&y=ifhfpi&localeid=en_US&cm_mmc=site_email-_-site_share-_-core-_-view_photos_button

I Love My Husband!

Sometimes, I don't say it enough, but I am so in love with my husband. The little things he does, with such caring, compassion and understanding, make me feel very blessed for ever finding him. I love so much that he reads the bible every day and tries as hard as he can to push our family forward toward the future. I love that even with all the hard times we've had this year, we've been able to work through it, although I'll admit, at times it has been tough.

The kids are sleeping, I'm currently watching my favorite show (Friends) and my husband just brought me a glass of my favorite wine (White Zinfandel). I love that he tries so hard to make me happy and I only hope that I can do the same for him. I would like to thank God for putting such a wonderful man in my life.

Twilight Book Club

Tonight, we had book club night at Vino 100 and it was a blast! The girls had me laughing so hard that I swear, I was sweating like I was working out. Just kidding, but close. There were over 14 women and one 12 year old boy in attendance. Great turnout for a book club as most of the book club meetings we have range between 4-7 people.

The topic of our discussion tonight was mainly Twilight (the book) and Twilight (the movie) even though a lot of us had finished the whole saga. We all seemed to enjoy the book more than the movie and a lot of us enjoyed the movie as well, however, we are all looking forward to a better movie experience in New Moon, when it is released.

One of the women brought up a good point that the character Bella seemed to contradict herself throughout the book but another woman pointed out that she was almost exactly like her mother in that way.

Here is a picture from my friend Kim of me and my friend Belinda at the book club meeting. It was a great night!