The Gingerbread Train

Tonight was our first attempt at a Gingerbread Model. My youngest is currently loving trains, so we chose a Gingerbread Train to decorate. This is a picture of the train on the box.

The Box Image

The boys were very anxious to get started and really excited to get to work on their train.  Here are the pictures of how our train turned out.

The train is now in pieces with candy and icing everywhere (LOL) as all members of my household are picking off of the train and eating it.  Fun times.  Perhaps we have started a new tradition to bring in the New Year.

My 4 year old has no scruples

I need to write some things down about my Thu-Thu (prounounced two two).  He is four years old and is like NO other child I have ever met.  Though, through the magic of genetics, he is ALOT like my sister, except as a boy.  I get to enjoy this personality twice in my life. JOY!   As the title of this post suggests, my Thu has no scruples.  Let me share with you some of his scrupleless comments over the past 5 days.  He has had many more in his short life span, but these are the most recent.

On Monday, we were taking family pictures at Sears.  The photographer was trying to get everyone to smile, with my stepson being the biggest culprit of the non-smiling clan (he is a sophomore in college and thinks that not smiling makes him look like he should be on the cover of GQ magazine *insert eyeroll here*).  My dad doesn’t do a lot of smiling in pictures, and Thu decided to call him out on it.  My dad has a personality that commands attention and respect and people don’t just “say” things to him……except for Thu.  He decided to take his little pointer finger, and reaching as high as he could, right in front of my dad, tell him, “You aren’t smiling!”.  We all collectively gasped, and then my dad just looked at him and laughed.  Afterwards, there was a slight smile in the pics from my dad. 🙂

On Tuesday, he was having a great time, unwrapping Christmas presents from under the tree.  My Father In Law arrived for dinner with his presents for the boys.  Thu took one look at his present and said “Grandad, I don’t like your present, because its not wrapped.”  OMG!  Who says that???  My kid.  BTW, those unwrapped presents were sleeping bags. The kids got to spend the night sleeping in the playroom in their new sleeping bags.  While Thu was getting tucked in, he told my husband, that the sleeping bag was the best present ever.  If only Thu had said that when he first saw the sleeping bag.  No scruples.

Tuesday evening, we were eating Christmas dinner.  As I was serving the kids, I told them that I hoped they enjoy their Christmas dinner.  Leave it up to Thu….halfway through dinner he proceeds to make a statement. “Mom, I don’t like your Christmas dinner.”  Well, everyone else thought dinner was great….

On Thursday, I went back to work.  Before I left, Zay was playing his new coronet and Thu was upset and whining that he didn’t have a coronet to play.  We have an electronic keyboard, and decided to let him plunk around on it, while Z was practicing.  I wanted to show him some keys on the keyboard, while he just wanted to press a bunch of keys at once and make “music”.  It was obvious that this was not the right time to show him when he looked at me and said, “Mom, when are you leaving?” Really kid?  Really?  No scruples.

My husband says that Thu is going to live to be 100, because he won’t be holding anything on his chest…he will probably be right.  LOL!

 

Abu Dhabi: Day 4

Eid Mubarak!
Today is Saturday, October 27th.  We drove to Sharjah and visited the Sharjah Aquarium and History Museum.  We got lost on the way to the aquarium, but once we were in the city, a Sharjah taxi driver (who was paid 30 AED) helped us get there.  The aquarium was interesting, and we took lots of pictures.  The admission price to the aquarium also paid for admission to the History Museum.  There we learned quite a bit about the history of Sharjah.  They started off as a fishing and pearling industry, because of their proximity to the sea.  We learned about how they handmade their nets and boats and how they traded for goods.  Of course, we took pictures at the musuem too.
Once we left Sharjah, we hit traffic coming back through Dubai, due to Eid celebrations.  We were going to go to the Dubai Mall, and eat dinner at The Cheesecake Factory in the mall, but traffic was so bad that we skipped it.  Mom and I will be visiting Dubai on Monday and Tuesday, so we can go see it then.  Once we got back to Abu Dhabi, mom and I ate dinner at La Fontina.  It was sheesha/hooka city in there! LOL!  Almost every occupied table had at least 1 if not 2 of them. Dinner was good and we ate outside on the rooftop overlooking part of Abu Dhabi.
I didn’t get a chance to talk to my hubby and the boys tonight, but I did learn from my dad that NC A&T won their homecoming game! AGGIE PRIDE! #GHOE<—-Greatest Homecoming On Earth. 😀
Up on tomorrow’s schedule….Marina Mall again! But this time, we will have time to look around and shop. I’m excited! Make sure you subscribe to the blog for updates!

Again – the pics will be coming soon!

Abu Dhabi: Day 2

Today, is Thursday, October 25th and on the agenda today is Marina Mall and Heritage Village. I realized that yesterday’s post did not state our total flight time of 14 hours. It wasn’t as bad as I thought it was going to be. The movies definitely helped!
On to the day.

We went to Starbucks for breakfast (just like I said we would) and it was good. I had the Low Fat Apple Cake. Unfortunately, it is not available in the U.S. *sad face*

After Starbucks, we went to Heritage Village. All of the vending shops inside were closed, due to Eid Al Adha, but the village itself was open to visitors. We used this opportunity to take pictures and have a little fun. Click on the thumbnail to see the full picture, then click back to return.

Heritage Village Front Entrance	My sis’s bldg – the middle coral one	He looks hungry and tired	He gave me his best side
Me and sis	Playing on the swing	Too funny!	That is a good pic!
Mom on the swing	We’re having fun	Always posing!	Oops! LOL!

After Heritage Village, we had “Afternoon Tea” at Tiara, a revolving restaurant in Marina Mall. We bumped into one of my sister’s coworkers from Wales. She has been teaching in Abu Dhabi for over 10 years! The best part of Afternoon Tea was the mini desserts. Yum!
Next we went to the Exhibition Center

. Vendors were selling their products and clothing. I came away with three dresses and 2 rings. My mom bought a bracelet and my sister purchased 3 bracelets. It was a good experience and we love our new things!
We were hungry after spending almost 3 hours in the Exhibition Center, and on the way back to the apt we got McDonalds. They have Chicken Big Macs here! You know that I had to try one. It was pretty good, and it is yet another thing we don’t have in NC. 😦

I have more pics to upload from the Heritage Village and our Afternoon Tea, but I am currently having technical difficulties. Those pictures will have to be posted later. Appearing on soon on the blog……Abu Dhabi: Day 3. Please stay tuned for more exciting adventures!

Abu Dhabi: Day 3

Eid Mubarak!
Today is Friday, October 26th.  We visited a part of Abu Dhabi named Al Ain and went to the Al Ain Zoo and a gigantic mountain called Jebel Hafeet.

Jebel Hafeet had gorgeous views and there were lots of people at the mountain, from different nationalities.  The drive up the mountain will test your car.  Luckily, we had a brand new rental car, and it did well.  There were lots of stranded people and cars up and down the road on the mountain.  The mountain had about 7 look out points. We went to 6 oof them. At the very top lookout point , there was a huge traffic jam caused by people that had parked their cars in the road and gotten out of their cars. This prevented other cars from traveling through, so everyone started doing the same. Once we got to the top, it was a great view, and took even more pictures.

Next we went to the Al Ain Zoo. The sun was setting, but since the zoo was open late, we decided to have a dark zoo adventure. The thing that made this interesting was seeing the zoo in the dark. They had lights on some of the animals so it was interesting to see them in a different light, but others were asleep or already put up for the night. We did get to see part of a bird show featuring falcons and vultures, but by the time the show was over, I was starting to miss the concept of personal space. I have noticed that here, people bump into you and each other, without a care in the world. I am so used to people saying excuse me and vice versa, that bumping into someone and not saying “excuse me” seems inconsiderate. But, my sis explained, that is just the way it is here…..okay.

After the zoo, we headed back to Abu Dhabi and ate from the fresh foods counter at Spinney’s. I had Tandoori chicken, a punjabi samosa and a little bit of a pasta dish. It was a nice change of flavors.
I got a chance to talk to my husband and the boys on Skype as well. They were excited to see their souveniers from the zoo. Stuffed monkeys and camel plates purchased by their auntie.

Tomorrow we are going to the Sharjah Aquarium. Sharjah is another emirate in the UAE. Stay tuned for Abu Dhabi: Day 4. Coming soon!

The pics from Day 3 will be up soon.  I am having issues!  I will create an update post just for the pics when I get it all situated.

Abu Dhabi: Day 1

We are going to Abu Dhabi!!!

My sister is a private school teacher in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates (UAE).  The school, in American terms, is an English immersion school and she has been teaching there for 2 1/2 years. Armed with a camera, 3/4 length shirts, long skirts, pants and my MBT’s (my most comfortable sandals), my mom and I are visiting her for 10 days.  I am going to blog about our trip, so that I don’t forget any details and others can read about our trip too. 🙂 Let’s get ready for our adventure!

Day 1 – Tuesday, October 23, 2012

I started my day by singing Happy Birthday to my youngest son (Tu), who turned 4 today.  It was important to me, not to miss his birthdsay, so travel plans were made to leave town the evening of his birthday, so I wouldn’t miss the day, entirely.

I got up, totally not prepared for the trip the way I should be.  Typical me.  Abu Dhabi and all of the places we are visiting, are Muslim, so my attire needs to be respectful to the culture and their way of life.  I researched appropriate dress for Abu Dhabi, and found various sources of information.  Did you know there is even a twitter campaign #UAEDressCode started by two female Emirati nationals to bring attention to proper clothing for tourists? Here is one of many articles on how and why this campaign was started. I decided to go with the information booklet supplied by the Abu Dhabi Tourism Police.

With that decision made, I needed longer sleeve tops, that were not outfitted for a North Carolina fall or winter season forecast, but an Abu Dhabi October forecast of 95 degrees Farenheit.  A tough one when you are shopping the same day as you are leaving.  Luckily, I found what I needed at Lane Bryant.  I love that place.  One day, very soon, I will size out of their clothes, but I will always need and love with their bras. 🙂  Also, their employees are wonderful, helpful and always nice to me. Shout out to LB!

I made and took strawberry cupcakes with cream cheese frosting for Tu’s party at his preschool school using this recipe.  They were great!  I love shortcuts, especially the ones that taste good too!  Why strawberry?  Because they are Tu’s fav (for the moment).  The mini birthday party was great, and he was a trooper saying good bye to me.  I was the one trying not to be seen falling apart because I was about to be away for almost 2 weeks (I am going to miss my men).

My Mom and Dad arrived in town and my Dad took us to the airport for our departure.  We were running a little behind schedule (see above) but we made it to the airport with time to spare. Whew!

Our flight left at 6:20pm going to Heathrow in London.  They fed us well on the plane and I watched two movies (Darling Companion and The Vow).  I also watched an excerpt on the capuchin (Dr. Rizzo) from Animal Practice, an episode of Tia and Tamara, Guys With Kids, Top Chef, and Go On.  I didn’t sleep at all going to London.  I was too wired.

We arrived in London, at 7:30am Wednesday morning (London time).  We didn’t get to see the splendor of the airport though.  I was disappointed.  It was a lot of hallways with a few advertisements for HSBC throughout them.  After walking what felt like half a mile, we arrived at a door that took us to another terminal via bus.  That was interesting.  I saw what happens on the ground at the airport, because we were traveling through it all, going to our next terminal.  Once we arrived there, our bags had to be checked again.  My bag had to be hand searched.  That delayed us almost 45 minutes.  Afterwards, we still had to take a tram to our gate (a small bit of panic was starting to set in).  Once we reached the gate to board our plane to Abu Dhabi, they were already boarding seats 1-15,  but we made it!  The plane left London headed for Abu Dhabi at 9:30 am.

It arrived in Abu Dhabi at 7:30pm on Wednesday night. While on the plane to Abu Dhabi, we ate two more times, and I watched even more movies! I watched Magic Mike (it wasn’t as good as I thought it was going to be), slept for about 2 hours, and then watched about half of Dark Shadows before the in-flight entertainment was turned off. 😦 I will be finishing that one up on the way back home.

When we arrived in Abu Dhabi, my sister was waiting for us. She rented a car, and we got our first taste of driving in Abu Dhabi. It was quite an experience. Let’s just say that, the driving here is almost the exact opposite of what you see in North Carolina, and leave it there for now. My sister’s apartment is huge and she lives within walking distance to a Starbucks and a Subway! In the morning, we are going to visit that Starbucks for sure!

I did get a chance to talk with my husband and the boys through Skype. It was about 3am here, and 7pm at home in North Carolina. It was good to see everyone’s faces and I miss them terribly, already.

FMSPhotoaday Challenge Days 2 – 4

See HERE to refresh where this challenge comes from.
And we continue with the photos from days 2 – 4:

Day 2 – Lunchtime. Noodles & Company. I love their food.
Day 3 – This happened today. I went shopping for a new pair of jeans.
The picture speaks for itself. 🙂
Day 4 – What I read. This is a magnet on the back of my van that I read almost every day.
I am a member and volunteer for a national organization named The Mommies Network. TriangleMommies is my local chapter.

Photo A Day Challenge

I have decided to do a Photo A Day Challenge.

I sat back for a few months and watched friends’ pictures roll in, and finally decided to do it myself. I hope to enjoy the challenge and it gives me something to blog about too. LOL! Since I haven’t posted a blog post since January.

Day 1 – Where You Stood. It is the rug that is at the front door of my home. It is a favorite piece of mine.

A product review of Softsoap Pomegranate and Mango Infusions

The image is from Softsoap’s website

I want to share my review on one of Softsoap’s new bar soaps, Juicy Pomegranate and Mango Infusions.

I was in my local grocery store, and noticed this new line of bar soap from Softsoap. I love bar soap, and the knowledge that Softsoap had created these excited me! They make great smelling liquid hand soaps, so I decided on the Pomegranate and Mango bar soap, because I liked its smell the best.

I was eager to get into the shower to try out my new soap. I was pleased with the scent of the soap as I used it. It was fruity and it lathered really well. I felt clean after I used it, but not very moisturized. Don’t get me wrong. My skin wasn’t about to crack, but it was a little dry to me.

After using it for a few days (I wanted to give this product a few chances), I started reading online reviews for this product. Lots of people, really like the soap, but for me, this one was just not a winner.

Also, I like for the scent to linger on my skin after I get out of the shower. Once I dried off, the scent was gone. That saddened me, because I wanted to go around smelling like this soap.

I now have 3 NIP (new in package) bars left of this soap. I guess that I will be donating these bars to a local charity for others to use.

Pumpkins after Halloween

Tonight, after we got home from watching The Wiz it was finally time to carve our pumpkins. We only had small ones, and Z was the retriever of both. He got one from Farmer Brown during their school field trip and he got another one from the Pumpkin Fun Run yesterday. Here are their creations. Everyone pitched in to get out the innards, the boys decided what they wanted the faces to look like, and James and I carved them. I think they look great! Z’s is on the left and Tu’s is on the right.