Traffic Jam

It's not uncommon in our part of the world to blow the horn of your car... for anything. And, well being from the American south and all, we always show our southern hospitality and wait for you to go, pass, or move in your own sweet time. We might complain behind your back while we wait... but we'd have a smile on our face the entire time.
;-)
In this part of the world, we've learned it can be a means of courtesy to let you know "they are coming"... and I'm not sure why else I get honked at... but it seems to be a daily occurrence. We also live on the 2nd floor where we are more apt to hearing horns on the street below our balcony. A few days ago we heard horns out our balcony doors that were seeming to last longer and louder than normal. I went out and had to grab my camera for this picture!! You gotta LOVE the horse causing the traffic jam on our street. He was jack-knifed into a parking space and the approaching cars wanted him to move... The guy in the bottom got really tired of waiting and moved the horse so the others could pass! Oh wow... what a culture!

Welcoming in 2010!

On New Year's Eve we decided to head to the park for an afternoon adventure. We played and had lots of fun with friends who also came. Here are some highlights from our day. After that we enjoyed my personal favorite, Chili's!!, and then fireworks from all the neighbors! It was a fun New Year's! Crazy to be think that we will be heading back to the States late this year!! But, it's fun to finally be able to say, "THIS YEAR"!! Anywho... HAPPY 2010!!!

Playing ball!

Whewww... after all that running around, I'm pooped... but lonely.

Yay!! Nice to have a friend to pass the time with.

Snack time... sharing of course!

And topped off the day by picking the flowers!

World's Greatest Friends!

We undoubtedly have the World's Greatest Friends! When we were living in NC we had some friends who, whenever we got together we always had Mexican night... we loved tacos, fajitas, nacho cheese dip, refried beans... the works! When we did it... we went all out! Well, about a week ago, we received "Mexican Night in a box"!!! Our wonderful friends mailed us all the goodies and some random other fun favorites, so we could have it all while we are far, far from home! We love you guys and are sooo thankful!!! Sadie Mac loved the chicken tacos we made... as you can see! She even pitched a fit when Stephen took it back to eat after he shared with her! (Of course, he gave her more... but didn't want to!!)

All smiles for Mexican Night!!


Some other friends were living here with us and sadly had to move right before Thanksgiving. We were excited for them, but sad for us! While they were here, they let us take pics of Sadie in their daughters tutu and she loved it! Well, right after we received the Mexican Night in a box... our friends mailed our little princess her very own tutu! They said they saw it and thought of her... and knew she needed her very own! It was so precious and she has loved it... and wants to wear it all the time!! For Stephen and I... mint M&M's!!! Tasty!!! Thanks to you all too... love you all and miss you tons!

Little Missy in her very own tutu!


This is Sadie Mac proclaiming (in a deep-drawn sweet southern voice:) I (!!!) mama am the Princess... I have the tutu!

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas!! We hope you and your family enjoyed a very Merry Christmas together! We did for the most part, due to sickness that plagued some of our family members for most of the week of Christmas. But, we were thankful to have Grandmommie and Poppie here with us and they did a great job of spoiling Sadie Mac! I think she had 4 stockings, just for her! We all enjoyed time together in the morning and then headed over to a friends house for lunch. We enjoyed HAM(!!!!) along with all the sides of a usual Christmas dinner. Everyone chipped in much like Thanksgiving and we made it a meal fit for kings and queens. The kids exchanged gifts and the adults played "Dirty Santa" where you can steal gifts. It was great! We missed the snow that was falling back in the States along with family and friends there. But, what a gift to celebrate the true meaning of Christmas with both family from the States and family found overseas!! We love you all!


Poppie and Sadie Mac cuddling her first Cabbage Patch Doll

Grandmommie getting me ready for bed on Christmas Eve

Sadie and her two friends that are all about the same age. "Toddler Trio" is what we call them!

The Perfect Photo

It's that season for taking magical and memorable photos of your child. While some are dreaming of sugar plums dancing in the heads, I am a mom who was dreaming of the perfect Christmas card photo to send family and friends back home when my inlaws leave. When we were walking around the mall last week, we saw this little Santa and his house and large Christmas tree decorated with lights and I thought my dreams were about to come true!
So, I waited until just after Sadie napped (when she is most full of holiday (or just regular) cheer and set off to the mall with Grandma Jannie. Decked out in her holiday best with fancy new shoes and a fancy new dress. She was the queen of the mall with all the Arabs kissing her and saing how beautiful she was. Surely we were going to get the perfect photo!
We head down the escalator and "impressed" she was not. The little old man wearing red, who was about her size couldn't make her smile or even entertain her to sit still long enough to get a good pic. Or... if she wasn't getting distracted by a passer by or a larger billboard than the Santa and his house, my camera was either malfunctioning or taking 3+ seconds longer than Sadie wanted! Ugh! So... here are our "out-takes" or basically our "best takes". It was a memory... with no PERFECT pics to be found! But... we'll keep the cute little girl in them! Oh well... Merry Christmas!!!



A 3 second delay on the camera was just long enough for her to get distracted and turn her head! (UGH!)

Hey little girl, did you just find out you were on the naughty list or something? Where's the holiday cheer!?!

Good pic... bad background!

Here mommy... here are my holiday panties!!

More of the Tourist thing...

We are continuing our adventures here with the family in town and are seeing lots of places. A few days ago, we went to the WWII monument at "El Alamain" which means two flags in Arabic. This is a site where the British and Germans fought and lost several hundred of their soldiers. The Italians also had a monument there as they were helping advance the German efforts. There was a really nice museum in their honor and Charlie loved it. Sadie Mac enjoyed the flowers and tanks.



On Saturday, we decided to give them a taste of the town by taking them to The Fish Market, an upscale seafood restaurant where you pick your own fresh fish. Charlie choose a red snapper and the rest of us ate shrimp! It was tasty. We loved the view of all the boats and the beautiful Med.

Seeing the Sites

We are having a great time with family visiting and we are seeing sites and things we never have before. Last time they were here Sadie Mac was only a week old! So, this time we are going, going... going! Earlier this week we went to the Roman Ampitheatre and enjoyed seeing some excavating going on. We walked around and Sadie was climbing on everything. We are having a great time and thankful for their company! Charlie was trying to make a speech, but as usual, no one was listening... haha!!! (He knows we love him!)

Family photo opp. back behind the theatre

Stephen and Charlie in front of the amphitheater

Walking with Grandma down the ancient Roman Road

Sadie Mac trying to climb onto the sphinx!

Charlie and his speech!

Family is here... and we're EXCITED!

Well, "E-ma" Jannie and "Poppie" Charlie have arrived and we are soaking it in!! Sadie Mac is thoroughly excited (as you can see!!) We LOVE having family here in this season and are thrilled they will be here through Christmas. We have lots planned They have brought us lots of goodies from family back home and are enjoying slowly giving them to us. We are literally enjoying the 12 Days of Christmas. (It's killing us!) But, Sadie Mac is enjoying and thrilled at every little thing! Uncle Matthew and Aunt Jennifer gave us the book "Night Before Christmas" and recorded their voices... she loved it!! She also loved the little window stickers too! Oh what a Christmas it is going to be!!



Thank you Aunt Nikki and Uncle Daniel!! (as I cheer, "GO HEELS!!")

Sweet Reunion at the airport

Riding the train back and enjoying a new book!

Holiday Fun!

Snuggling up to daddy while he mixes the good stuff!

It's CHRISTMAS TIME (!!!) and we are loving this most wonderful time of the year!! We have been busy getting ready and just wanted to show you a few pics of what we've been up to. A family favorite of course every year is making our secret eggnog!! It is tasty!! Sadie Mac was loving the ice cream and milk as we started making it. (Notice, I didn't post these pics until after our friends enjoyed the eggnog... little did they know that SM fingers had dipped in!!!) ;-) We also love making Christmas cookies and enjoyed making several dozen of those with friends who came over tonight. Last week, we went over to a friends house and made our very first ornaments of the year!! Sadie Mac did the star and I made the tree. We LOVE this season!!

Cookie Crazinesssssss!

Christmas Ornaments

Happy Thanksgiving... and Eid!

We hope you all enjoyed a wonderful Thanksgiving with family and friends... we know we did! We woke up that morning to delicious pancakes and Sadie Mac was thankful that we let her lick the spoon! We have so many things to be thankful for this year... family, good health, safety, and good friends! Living overseas can always be a challenge during the holiday season, but we feel so blessed to have a handful of friends here to celebrate with. We had wonderful turkey, stuffing, baked potato casserole, green bean casserole, deviled eggs, pineapple (or just apple as some around here say) casserole(!!), coconut, pecan AND pumpkin pies. We were stuffed and satisfied! We played games, cross stitched, and watched movies! What a blessing to have "family" when we are so far from family. It's hard to believe this is our 3rd holiday away from home... but God has been good!!

Thanksgiving was also a holiday weekend for our friends here... (Viewer discretion advised for the below pics!!)
Muslims around the world celebrated their holiday (Eid) where they believed that Abraham went to make a sacrifice and therefore they make sacrifices. What a bloody day it was. On Black Friday... we had Red Friday where the streets literally had blood running in them. The past two years in the sandbox we weren't able to see it like we did here. Blood doesn't run as easily on dirt roads! It was pretty crazy... but... it's our culture!

Blood literally running in the streets!

Poor animals, just waiting for their turn... (the board is going from the street to the sidewalk so people don't have to walk in the blood... and yes, that is blood.)