Grandma Sue is Here and Jordanian Mother's Day

I have fallen way behind on blogging, and have lots to share over the last month. My mom came to visit for the month, and we made it a surprise for the boys. They were surprised and so happy to see her! We did lots of life and took a couple of fun trips too. The first week, we hung around. During the day she would spend time with Eliza, then do stuff with the boys when they were home from school. They did lots of reading, board game playing, and having fun!

The boys have Tae Kwan Do twice a week, and my mom enjoyed watching class several times.

It was Jordanian Mother's Day a couple days after she arrived, and she came to the boys's school for a Mothers's Day event in Benjamin's class. The kids sang a few songs and made us some sweet gifts.

I am so thankful to be a mom to these sweet three, and for my mom to be with us for the month!

Hiking with Daddy

The weather has been beautiful lately, and we are seeing lots of signs of springtime! Nathan is such a great dad and challenges the boys to do hard things, and this weekend he took them on a hike close to home. He said they did a great job hiking to the top of the hill and of course enjoyed playing around!

Can you see the little speck of Caleb at the top of the hill!

Enjoying the view from the top, overlooking our neighborhood.

What a beautiful day and fun way for Nathan and the boys to spend part of the day!

Eliza Rose: Six Months Old

Happy 6 months Eliza Rose (a week late)! She is so happy, has such an easy going disposition, and loves watching the world around her. This month, she found her toes, can roll easily from back to tummy, started sitting with support, started eating food, and she loves 'singing' and babbling at us. 

Eliza is growing fast! At her 6 month appointment earlier this week she weighed almost 18.75 lbs in the 90%, she is 26'' long in the 50%, and her head is in the 50%. She wears 6/9 month clothes and is barely squeezing into her size 2 diapers that we are trying to finish using.

Proud to be sitting! She loves being upright and checking things out.

Eliza loves bath time with daddy, and she likes to kick the water and play with little toys.

Eliza eats 5/6 times a day, and she loves her milk! It's been an exciting couple of weeks introducing her to solid foods. So far, she has had rice cereal, oatmeal, bananas, carrots, and pears! 

Unfortunately, she has not been the awesome sleeper that she was initially. She used to sleep 10-12 hours straight at night, but then began waking several times a night this past month. We started sleep training earlier this week and it is going really well. She gets tired easy and the last few nights have been much better. But with a sweet face like this, she makes the wake ups a little easier :)

Eliza is getting right into the groove with the boys....or shall I say they are roping her in. They like dressing her up in their costumes, playing peek-a-boo, reading books, and singing to her. They truly adore their little sister, and we are so thankful for the love they are developing for her.

Happy 6 months Eliza Rose, we love you sweet girl!

Missing Teeth and Writing Celebration

Exciting times, Caleb lost his top front tooth! It's been loose for a while and one evening while we had friends over, he just pulled it out :).

He wrote a very sweet letter to the tooth fairy. Dear tooth faree, I love you. My sistr had her frst food today. Love, Caleb (in English in Arabic). Before bed, he also added to his note, asking the tooth fairy to please let him keep the letter he wrote her. And of course, he was super excited in the morning when she wrote him a letter, kept his to her letter there, and gave him 1 JD. We tried explaining he makes out better losing teeth in Jordan because of the favorable exchange rate :).

Benjamin had his writing celebration at school last week. We have been so impressed with how much he is learning this year in Kindergarten. He is already doing basic reading and a great job writing. He wrote a how-to-book on how to decorate cookies, step-by-step, and we made the cookie together...and then a few more that he wanted to bring home for Caleb, Tes, and us. He is such a sweet boy and always thinking of others.

And this was Benjamin's first day back at school without his cast. He wanted to surprise everyone and they were happy to see him cast-free!

Happy Sunday!

Fancy Dance

Nathan and I got dressed up and went to the Black and White Gala a couple of weeks ago, in honor of Black History month.  We had fun getting dressed up for the night ;).

It was a really nice setup! The place was well decorated, food was delicious, and dance floor was large. Nathan even danced by the end of the night :).

The ladies in the office.

Leaving to head home around what I thought was midnight....turns out it was an hour earlier and I was fooled into thinking it was that late, haha!

Here's our fancy professional picture :) It was a fun night out!

Fun at School on the Weekend

We are thankful that the boys go to such a nice school. We really like the education they are receiving, they both have wonderful teachers, and they are making nice friends. The school has great facilities, to include a pool, large soccer field, multiple playgrounds, basketball court, and rock wall. And, it is open on the weekend to play, which is what we did last weekend. This first picture was from Caleb's Spring show the week before.

Caleb and Nathan playing basketball, yes, that is Benjamin climbing the rock wall with his cast, and Eliza and I watching from the sidelines.

Races on the soccer field. These boys are fast, like their dad.

View of the field.

Caleb practicing his pull-ups on the soccer goal.

It was a nice day to be outside and play for a couple of hours!

Our Loves

Love, love, love these 3. We had a week of fevers and coughs, but everyone is on the mend and feeling pretty good now.

Benjamin is doing great with his cast and he only has 2 weeks left. We are amazed with how well he has adapted to using his right hand to do everything, including writing, and it looks just about as good with this right as his left hand. He has had such a great attitude, despite some of the limitations, and this has definitely challenged him in new ways. We asked him which hand he plans to use when he gets his cast off and he said, "I'm not sure?" Maybe we have a truly ambidextrous kid. 

Caleb loves being around Eliza, reading to her, and especially dressing her up! He wants to see her all the time and give her kisses. She in turn is a great sport about it, and she gets a big smile pretty much any time her brothers are around.

Our love ;). He is such an incredible husband and father, and so engaged with the kids. Nathan and the boys have been enjoying a book written by a Navy Seal, on how to be a Warrior Kid. 

Sweet Valentine's Day flowers :)

Just a girl and her cat. Eliza keeps a good eye on Twix, and Twix is very patient with her. 

This past weekend, we went to a furniture workshop to look at a piece of Syrian style buffet table we are having built. They boys enjoyed wandering around the workshop looking at antique furniture and seeing where they do the work. Benjamin may have stayed if we let him!

Later that day, we took the boys to a trampoline jump park. I didn't get any pictures inside, but here's the view from where it is located, looking down into our neighborhood area.

Afterwards we went to this really large home goods store that I've been wanting to check out, and they had a lot of random life-size dinosaurs and other zoo animals around the store for kids to climb on. I really love that about this part of the world, it's so kid-friendly!

Hope you all had a Valentine's Day full of love and sweetness :).

Caleb's Writing Celebration

Last week, Caleb had a writing celebration at school, which is when the kids showcase stories that they have been working on. Caleb wrote two stories, one about virtual reality and another about maps. They had to create a table of contents and write on each topic. He did a great job and was proud to read his stories.

Caleb has such a great imagination and is very creative in the things he thinks and writes about, and we are glad he has a teacher that embraces and encourages him in his work.

And one day during rest time, where he was supposed to be laying in bed reading a book, I came to find this goofy kid. Magic merlin hat, snorkel mask, sheriff's badge, baseball mits, Christmas necklace, and night slippers. We truly love Caleb's imaginative and fun spirit.

Eliza Rose: Five Months Old

Eliza Rose turned 5 months old last week. She lights up our days, and is full of smiles.

This month she has learned to do a lot of new things. She reaches and grabs for toys and brings them to her mouth, and still intently studies her hands. She is getting strong on her tummy and can now easily roll from back to front and occasionally from front to back.

Eliza is enjoying her bumbo seat, and recently began sitting in her high chair. No food yet, but she likes being part of the crew at meal times.

She loves bath time with daddy, and even cuts him a break by not pooping in the tub as often these days. And she has found her voice and loves to use it!

She eats 5-6 times and loves her milk! She continues to be a great sleeper and will sleep 10-11 hour stretches at night, though as I write this about a week later, she began waking at night but I think it's a growth spurt because she is starving and has outgrown some clothes this past week! She takes between 2-3 naps a day, and is usually awake from the mid-afternoon until bedtime. It's hard to miss out when there is so much excitement around her. Eliza weighs somewhere between 16-17 lbs, she is in a size 2 diaper, and 6/9 month clothes.

Eliza adores her brothers and the feeling is mutual. They love seeing her first thing in the morning when she wakes up, playing with her and reading her books. We have no doubt that she will get right into the mix as soon as she is able!

The boys can make Eliza laugh better than anyone. We can tell she will look up to her big brothers, and pray for them to have a strong bond as they grow up.

Happy five months sweet girl, we love you!