The Adventures of Bunsy and her Tumbleweeds

take a break! take a break!

2012-02-13T15:40:00.001-08:00

So tired...so tired. I'm just exhausted. My goal this week is to get to bed by 10:30 every night. Unfortunately, its all my other goals that keep me from doing just that. Crafts... those evil crafts. I really need to just let go. Let them slip away on the breeze and float gently away. Or perhaps drop each one from a tall bridge into a swirling river and watch each one drift down and out of sight. It would do me good to go to that beautiful place I remember on the border of Idaho and Wyoming that I passed on my way to Jackson Hole last fall. Gorgeous yellow and brown leaves rustling under the sun. Crispy air and a clear deep blue sky. Yellow fields and a dark blue snake river. I could just sit in my comfy camp chair under that sun and sit and listen to the wind. Listen to the scurrying of the critters in the tall yellow grasses. Listen to the lack of human chatter. Ohhhh. I groan! A break. . . a break. I think I need to take another road trip.

A tribe

2012-01-21T03:39:00.000-08:00

A boy needs a tribe. I read that in a book about raising boys. Fortunately, my kids have their own tribe. They've got their tribe that right now consists of male members of their family. Dad, uncles, grandfathers, and older cousins. We even have some friends and teachers that I would include in this tribe. These are all people that my boys look up to whether those people want to be looked up to or not. I'm so grateful my boys have good men to learn from. I'm even grateful my boys have good men to just look at and watch.

So here is my eight year old shooting his first gun. Well, its not actually his gun, but its his first time shooting one. My husband and I have decided that none of our kids can shoot a gun until they are eight, nor own one until they are 12. So Atticus was pretty excited to turn eight. He'd gone shooting with his two older cousins and just watched, which I'm sure was a little hard to do. But now that he's eight he can go whenever Dad goes.

Judge me if you want to. I know there are strong views about guns out there. I believe that if a responsible parent is present and involved in teaching their child about guns it can become an important skill for that child in the future. I wish I knew how to shoot a gun. I took my four kids on a road trip without my husband a few months back. I would have felt a lot more protected if I had any knowledge of shooting and even holding a gun properly. Fortunately, nothing scary happened. I just think that if we don't teach our children about guns, they may find out for themselves somewhere else. At a friends house, on the street, etc. The same thing goes for sex and drugs and all those other things that we don't want to have to talk about. As parents we have to confront those topics head on and make sure our child hears about them from us first. Blah, blah, blah.

Anyway, Atticus was a pretty good shot for his first time. I think I'll go next time and learn how to shoot myself.

Hair cuts

2012-01-14T21:14:00.000-08:00

The words just don't flow anymore. I used to blog all the time. Now I rarely sit down at the computer unless I'm shopping for something specific. When I do sit down to blog, I stare at the screen and think too much about what I should write. Most of the time I give up after a few minutes. Tonight I should go up to my room and read Wuthering Heights and sip my cold apple juice. Not yet. I have to write about something I did today. I got a haircut at one of those hairstyling schools for "cute young gals" as my father-in-law would say. And, I correct myself, sometimes there are men who study there, and there are even young gals who aren't so cute just because they are either too colorful, too metallic, or both. My hair is very long and its getting really boring, and since I hardly ever do anything with it, I figured I should have it cut. I had the young lady trim it, give it tons of layers, and even cut some bangs. I haven't had bangs since I was in high school and that was bad. I should have remembered my elementary school years and how my bangs took the form of the northwestern quadrant of the globe. Well, I did it again except this time my bangs are all spikey and I look like a witch. There's nothing wrong with my hair. It's my face, I think. I'm not young anymore, so after this experience I have decided that next time I go in for a haircut, I'm going to chop quite a bit off. And I'm letting the bangs grow out! I don't need to look like a witch to be one. My kids know that. My back is starting to ache from sitting down so long in that salon chair. Part of it had to do with the fact that my pants are way too tight. I've still got 15 lbs. of baby weight to lose. And part of it had to do with the fact that I was sitting there for 3 and a half hours! Never again! I'm going to read my book and then fall asleep. Good night! And hopefully I won't cry literal tears during nightmares of rear-ending a car in front of me at a stoplight in Newport Beach. Very weird.

What's going on?

2011-11-25T04:30:00.000-08:00

I guess when your children are young, everything is soooooo busy. There is so much to do in life. There are so many things I want my children to experience, and a lot of these things they can and should only do when they are children. Really, can they go trick or treating when they are big teenage boys? Would they really be interested in starting piano lessons when they are teenagers? Maybe, but will we have money for the lessons in ten years. Maybe, maybe not. Anyway, I feel like I'm racing against the clock to make sure my kids do all they can while they can. I try to not be overly stressed about it though. There is only so much we can afford, and only so much we have time for. We took the kids out past Delta, Utah to dig for trilobites. We were quite successful but we found out that one of our children didn't like it. He wasn't too good at perservering, especially when he saw that other people were finding more than he was. I was so mad that we'd drivin so far so he could have this experience and he ended up hating it. But of course my husband talked some sense to me and reminded me that our job as parents is to expose them to things. If they like it, great. If they don't, they don't. There's nothing we can do to force them to like something. I hate shrimp! There's nothing anyone can do to make me like it. I wish my son liked hunting for trilobites, but he doesn't. Oh well. I'll live.

This particular child received a rock tumbler last Christmas. A really nice rock tumbler. He finally pulled it out and threw some dusty rocks into it. You can see them at the beginning of this post. I couldn't figure out how to move the picture down to this part. Anyway, I was really impressed with how they turned out. At least he likes to tumble rocks. Who wouldn't? They turned out so nice and smooth and pretty. I remember the yearly road trips my family and I would take from California to Utah every year. We'd have to stop for gas several times throughout the trip. In the Sierra Nevadas and in Nevada. In the gas stations and casinos, where my dad would sometimes stop to throw away his money, there would almost always be a big box of gems and geodes and things of that nature. You could fill a little leather bag full of the "treasure" and feel like you owned a bit of the Old West. I saw my kids burying their hands in piles and piles of polished rocks at the "This is the Place" monument in Salt Lake City. I understand that desire. I used to love the feel of smooth, polished rocks.

Halloween came finally. After four years out of the country, we were finally able to celebrate this holiday in the USA. My husband told me, "If you go into labor on Halloween, I'll be so mad!" I was a bit worried that I might screw it up for everyone. Fortunately, our baby stayed put and I was able to experience the stress only a mother feels, the day before Halloween. I think I should now be grateful that I've been out of the country for four years. It's saved me from having to scramble around finding costumes for my kids who become more demanding every day. I think I bought my first Halloween costume this year because I didn't want to "deal with it". I did, however, make my four year old's costume because he wanted to be R2D2 and I saw a really cool R2D2 helmet that a girl made online. I copied it and he was very pleased. They got tons of candy and I guess in the end I was happy for them. I remember the day after Halloween when I was a kid. My brothers and I would always get together and have a big trading time in front of the TV. I'm sure most American kids whose parents let them eat candy did too. Why keep a Baby Ruth if your brother wants to give you his skittles?

Our baby girl finally came on the 2nd of November. I won't bore anyone with the whole story. In short, she came on her own, she came quickly, and we have all adjusted nicely to this new addition. Her name is Helen Kleio McCollum. I know, it's not unique enough. But for us, it is. Helen of Troy is pretty unique, and Kleio is the Muse of History. Google it.

Plus, Helen of Troy and Hector of Troy were brother and sister in law (if you consider Helen and Paris husband and wife, which they weren't really) Hector, as you see above, is growing nicely. Especially in the chin area. He and his little sister will get along wonderfully we hope. Here he is reading train books with daddy. His favorite word is "Choo choo".

What a pair! Atticus and Sherman started piano lessons back in September and they are learning so much. They had their first piano recital last week and did great.

Helen made her first friend around her three week mark. What she likes about R2D2 is that he's soft, he likes to beep, and he stays in one place. Cinci is nice enough to share him with her.

Here's my nephew eating by himself at Thanksgiving. All the other kids were running around the church playing games and trying not to scream too loud. For the last four years we've celebrated Thanksgiving abroad. I think while we were in Turkey we didn't even celebrate it once. We were so poor I didn't have the energy nor means to do anything different than we normally did which was make a meal with what we already had in the little fridge. I don't even think a bird the size of a turkey would have fit in the fridge we had at the time. In Qatar the first year we celebrated famously. I remember I was pregnant with Hector, the kids wove placemats, and we bought orange plastic chalices to drink from. I made two whole chickens instead of a turkey and we drank shirley temples. It was very fun and the kids enjoyed it a lot. We actually talked about what we were grateful for before we took our first bites. Then last year in Qatar I made our family eat only the things they had to eat on the Mayflower for three days before Thanksgiving. Then we went to the meal that the church planned and had Thanksgiving dinner there. My kids didn't enjoy it as much as the previous year but I think they were grateful they could eat whatever they wanted again. This year there were so many festivities going on that I couldn't arrange to have the three days before Thanksgiving be devoted only to the Mayflower diet. We only did one day and that was enough. I made up another batch of hard tack, we ate our oatmeal made with water (yuck), and instead of frying fish fillets for everyone, most of us had fish sticks. I even splurged and let those who wanted lemon have it on their fish. We enjoyed Thanksgiving with our family. Aunt Wendy, who isn't really my aunt but my sister in law, went all out as usual. She loves to cook and try new recipes. Every obscure word involved with cooking or names of foods that are rarely eaten in the United States I learned from her. I suppose she deserves a special nickname. Perhaps "Sunset Lady" would be okay. I'll have to consult my husband for more ideas. Anyway, because of Sunset Lady, we did not have to slave away in the kitchen that day. We arrived at the church, which is where we had our meal, and everything was already there. Perfect! It was nice to be around family for a change.

Here's Great Grandma Hill with little Helen. There are 92 years in between these two ladies. Words can't express what thoughts come to mind when I look at this picture (and I'm not trying to be sappy). I guess I'll let the picture speak for itself.

Mr. McCollum, May your notches be plenty!

2011-10-11T20:45:00.000-07:00

Latest photo of Mr. McCollum, sacrificing his beliefs for his very stubborn third son.

Mr. McCollum got older yesterday. Mr. McCollum is a very talented man. On the outside he's just a regular guy. Very common. Very normal. Very average. But on the inside he's quite impressive. He's managed to accomplish every goal he's ever had. Ever since he was 9 years old he's managed, against any odds, to get what he's wanted. Not by being unpleasant or forceful, but by being tactful and patient. When he was 9 years old he wanted a toy called a Dino Rider. I guess they were popular when we were kids. I didn't know about them because my brothers and I weren't into dinosaurs. I guess it was a pretty expensive toy because he had to do a lot of work to earn enough money to buy one. But he did it. Thanks to his father, I know this story. It's in The Archives of John McCollum, right up there with the chapter on Wendy and the Oranges.
I didn't know Mr. McCollum until he was 18 years old. When we met, he decided that I was the one for him. I didn't agree. But he waited. And waited. For four years he waited, patiently. He kept our acquaintance/friendship in good standing until he worked his magic powers and won me over. He didn't win me over by being outstanding at anything or impressing me with his coolness or knowledge. As far as I knew, he had neither of these qualities. His magic powers had a lot to do with him being himself. Not the average guy that everyone else sees. But the guy who likes all the holiday candies, who likes Porsches because he likes to fix them up, who likes to paint model tanks, who feels for people when they make a fools of themselves, who wishes he had taken piano lessons when he was young, who likes to wear polo shirts, who likes to go shopping with his mom, who knows what he likes and why he likes it and can't be swayed.
So, we got married. We've been married for almost 10 years. He's still managed to have energy to reach for goals and attain them. He's always wanted to be a fake Marcus Brody. You know the part in Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Arc where Indiana tells the enemy that they'll never find Marcus Brody because he speaks however many different languages and he'll blend in? Well, that's who Mr. McCollum has become. I don't know about the blending in part, but he has certainly accomplished his goal of learning how to speak plenty of languages. He leads our family to all these strange places and situations. He manages to mold our families' life around his goals without even realizing it. Or maybe he does realize it. I don't know. I just know that he's in charge without being bossy. So, if you ever end up working with Mr. McCollum, watch out! You may end up doing something you never dreamed of, and ten years down the road you will look back and ask yourself, "How did I get here?"
So, here I am in life, married to Mr. McCollum. Hoping that his dreams won't tax me too much. Glad that he still includes me in them. Grateful that he has thus far. Fortunate to have an ample knowlegde of the world and its people and to have rich memories and good friends collected from each episode of our lives.
Mr. McCollum will never stop taking classes. Mr. McCollum will never stop being interested in new things. He will never stop learning. He will never relax too long. I'm grateful I stumbled upon such a man, and that this man chose me, because I know for certain that my eye would not have been keen enough to notice his unique traits and exciting approach to life and the world around him. I love Mr. McCollum. I wish him another successful year of accomplishments. May your notches be plenty, my love!

How to motivate yourself to take a roadtrip with your kids when you're 8 months pregnant.

2011-10-09T14:17:00.000-07:00

All you have to do is buy an 80 dollar America the Beautiful 2011: National Parks & Federal Recreational Lands Annual Pass. We bought ours back in May and ever since, I have been determined to make it worth it. I was sure we would be visiting every national park in the western United States ever since we set foot on US soil this year. Oh, the dreams we have! The plans we make! How is it that life never really turns out like you think it will? I knew Jonathan would be busy this year with school and work but I didn't really think I would be so hesitant to venture out on my own with the kids. I didn't realize how the US really gives me the creeps. There really are a lot of wackos here. Despite that fact, I do believe in regrets and I do realize how I can only force my kids to do what I want for just a little while longer. That is one of the reasons I'm homeschooling this year. Soon they will look at me just like Jennifer Connely looked at David Bowie in the movie Labyrinth and say, "You have no power over me." Then they will venture out on their own and make all their own choices and say, "Homeschooling sucks Mom!" and wear strange clothes that cost way too much and spend more time on their hair than I've spent in my lifetime. So, to Grand Teton National Park and Yellowstone we went! So what that I was 8 months pregnant! So what that I'm a horrible driver in the sense that I have trouble staying alert at the wheel for more than an hour! So what that my kids tend toward the spazzy side and that the youngest is not yet 2!

I prefer Grand Teton National Park over Yellowstone. Check out those peaks! Gorgeous! I realized even before I left that we wouldn't be doing a lot of hiking on this trip. I love to hike. But wearing a Kelty and being 8 months pregnant doesn't really work. So, we had to do short walks with Hector. He's a pretty good walker for his age thank goodness. There were a few times he just stood there and screamed at me, waiting for me to give in and pick him up. Of course, I gave in. Those were the moments when I had to tell myself, "You chose this Christine." So I really couldn't get mad at him. He's just one and he never asked for this kind of adventure.

On the days that we drove a lot, especially in Yellowstone, I was reminded of the trip my father took me on. Two foreign exchange boys from Spain were with us as well as my brother Clayton. We were all teenagers. I remember my father getting mad that we weren't looking out the window. At the time I thought, "Man, what's he getting mad about!" Now, I realize how cool Yellowstone really is. There is a lot of wildlife there. To get my kids to notice and care about it I bribed them with money. Atticus is 7, a prime age for bribing. Here is our price list:

Bear, buffalo, moose, elk, wolf, or deer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25 cents

The only catch was that they had to see the animal before me. Since I was driving and concentrating more on the road, I thought they would have a chance. It worked. They each made a handful of change. Cinci only saw one thing first. Sherman had troubles, but he always has troubles. His vision is very bad. Atticus saw the most. They were all pretty attentive throughout the whole trip. No iPads, no iPods, no car DVD players. Only Mommy screaming a few times. Sometimes Hector did that for me. And the rest of the time we listened to books on tape or cd or really annoying songs that the kids like.

My favorite moment of the trip was when we got to see the elk come out in the evening for their mating rituals. The big bull would do his mating call. He was grand and majestic. I have a picture of one above but the one I'm speaking of was different. He and his female friends were grazing in a river valley by our campsite on the third night of our trip. We heard him calling out all night long. I was happy to hear Atticus talking about it the next morning.

My most unfavorite moment of the trip was when I noticed that the coolant was a bit low and I couldn't get the cap off. Fortunately, I was able to drive three more days until I got home safely. I still haven't been able to get that dang cap off!

Here are my two favorite items I bought for the trip. The first one was individual premeasured cups of instant oatmeal. All you had to do was heat the water, dump it in the cup and stir. All ready! No pouring into bowls needed. The other thing I really liked for the trip were those small powder packets that you just add to a bottle of water. The kids think they're great. That way you just pack a crate of bottled water and you don't have to bring extra special drinks for the kids. My kids know that when we go camping we bring lots of junky things that we usually don't have. Like soda, junky cereal, candy, licorice, marshmallows, chocolate, etc. Well, I usually have chocolate, but they only get it sometimes. A lady told me about disposable toothbrushes that come with the toothpaste already applied. I'll have to look into those for my next trip.

As for sleeping at night, we wouldn't have made it without our Pop Top Super Adventure Volkswagen Eurovan. We just slept in that on the nights that we camped. I can't say that it was comfortable. With my large belly and Hector drop kicking me all night, I can say that it was just okay. Not great, but okay. Comparing it to the few nights before I actually left on the trip, it was better actually. Hector had these strange canker sores that wouldn't permit him to sleep well. But they started to disappear as our trip progressed. Instead of screaming in the middle of the night, he just screamed for about thirty minutes after he woke up every morning. I kind of felt sorry for all those old timers in their cushy RV's having to listen to my baby screaming at 7 in the morning. I hope they consoled themselves by thinking, "I'm glad I'm not that lady." Unfortunately, Cinci started to get the canker sores too but his were worse. They were the size of dimes. Two dimes on each side of his tongue. He comforted himself by holding my small binoculars the rest of the trip. I think he liked them so much because they made him look like Wall-e when he put them on his eyes.

Atticus and Sherman really helped me out a lot during the trip. I couldn't have done all the lifting stuff and watching of Hector by myself. I don't think they learned as much as I would have wanted them to but I have to remind myself to chill out. Throwing rocks in the Snake River with Hector will probably be a more pleasant memory to them than having their over- stressed and unattractive mother repeating questions to them about the volcanic activity in and around Yellowstone.

So, there you have it. My trip in a nutshell. We survived. We had fun. We didn't spend too much money. I didn't fall asleep at the wheel. Jonathan got a lot of work done while we were gone. We have some pictures and plenty of memories.

A Blister

2011-09-20T12:30:00.000-07:00

"I'm turning it into a blister!" screamed Sherman gleefully.
Last night we went to Jamba Juice and got the kids some smoothies for our Family Home Evening treat. We used some coupons they'd earned for the summer reading program and ended up with a lot of smoothies. It was late so they all saved their smoothies in the freezer last night. So right now, after lunch, the kids are hacking at the iced smoothies with metal knives and spoons. Sherman made the comment about the "blister", meaning "blizzard" I think. Atticus just said, "Look Sherman, I'm turning it into an even more shakey thing!"
That leaves Cinci, but he hasn't come up with anything original yet. I guess his choice of smoothie was original enough. For a kid who gags at the sight of a PB & J sandwich, he's pretty brave to try out Jamba Juice's latest flavor, "Pumpkin Smash".
Jonathan is at work, I'm at home with the bears, Hector is napping, the baby is growing. Things are good. I've still got to do History and Grammar with the kids today and then we're done with the schooly stuff. Guess I'd better stop blogging, lift my large rear end off this chair and hobble downstairs to the school room.

I should be giving my kids haircuts but instead I'm . . .

2011-09-14T20:57:00.000-07:00

The above pictures just prove that I need to give the kids haircuts and that they are having fun. Atticus loves soccer, Cinci loves r2d2, Hector likes fruit snacks, and Sherman loves soccer too.

I should be preparing some sort of fun game for the kids tomorrow to help them solidify their math facts, but on my internet search I instead got caught up in some other exciting thing to do with the kids. Instead of having them do worksheet after worksheet, why not start a coin collection? They are getting really into money now. They do their chores knowing that they will get paid for them at the end of the week. They save up for their little things that they want. At first they just bought candy, which really pissed me off, but now after a few months of that, they've moved on to saving for particular items like Nerf guns and airplane models. It pleases me to see them envision something they want and save for it. It also pleases me to see them have ownership over something. They are so cute. They know Michael's by name and love it even though it is a craft store for women. They don't care. Last week they found these wooden models for 79 cents each. Sherman bought two and Cinci even bought one for himself. It was so cute to see them in the model isle deciding what they would get. And it just takes a load off my shopping trips to not have them hanging on me saying, "Mommy, can you get this for me? Pleeeeeeeeese!" I haven't heard that once. Sometimes they do forget their wallets and ask me for a loan which I sometimes agree to. But if its for a toy I know will break or for something I hate, I refuse.

Well, I'd better get back to my math preparations for tomorrow.

Pears

2011-08-17T22:57:00.000-07:00

There was a lady in Buy Low Foods today at the pear bins with her parents and her little daughter. I was getting pears too. They were very ripe pears. Just the way I like them. Just the way my kids like them. Who wants a crunchy pear? One that hurts your gums when you bite into it. Yuck!
This woman's father looked at the pears, grabbed one, looked it over, and said with a smug look,"They're bruised." He was an elderly gentleman who probably had some experience with fruit. He wasn't dressed in khaki's and a polo. He was wearing jeans and a plaid button up shirt and suspenders if I remember correctly. Maybe he grew up in Utah and had his own garden every year from his childhood. Maybe when he looked at the pears, he only looked at them to see if they were worth canning. Do you really want to can overripe pears? Don't ask me, I don't know much about canning. Anyway, the woman responded with a firm,"I don't care." Then she continued to fill her bags with pears. They were going for 3 lbs. for a dollar. After that her mother and father began to help her select the best pears. Even her daughter tried to help. They walked away with three or four bags full.
I've been thinking about that all day today. Why? I find it very fascinating that people are different. I find it even more fascinating that the same person can become a different person over time. There are so many fascinating things that I think that I sometimes have to get a piece of chocolate to calm myself down. Whether I have the chocolate or not, I think the combination of people with time and then you add the environment in which they grew up to it, the possibilities are endless. All sorts of people that think differently and are really really different.
The father didn't like ripe pears. Why? Doesn't he know that they're a great snack for young children? They're soft and sweet and because of that, your child might have a better outlook towards eating fruit. Wouldn't it be nice if when your child asked for a snack, they were thinking of something along the lines of an object that comes from a tree or out of the ground? Maybe the father didn't like ripe pears because his wife bought so many pears in the past and no one ate them so their kitchen was swarming with fruit flies. Gross! Sometimes that happens with our bananas.
The woman liked the pears. Maybe she liked the price. Maybe she didn't know that a bruise was bad on fruit. Maybe she figured she would peel them anyway and could get rid of the bruised section. That's what I did when I made pear sauce and dehydrated pears today. I just cut those bruises right off. Then Cinci came by every five minutes and grabbed a pear out of the bowl of cleaned pears and munched away.
That's why I took a very thorough shower this evening after tackling the bathroom that Cinci used. Poor kid. Perhaps I should have monitered how many he ate. I was just so happy that he was voluntarily eating a fruit. I wonder what Cinc's preference will be in 20 years at the pear bins when they're going 3 lbs. for a dollar?

Can Sentimentality ever = Practicality?

2011-08-15T21:00:00.000-07:00

Today I spent a good chunk of time going through the storage area I have in my in-laws house, which we happen to be living in right now. We've thrown all our toys, bedding, and clothes, and other sentimental documents and items into this small room. Since I found out about two months ago that I'm pregnant with a little girl, I've come to the realization that I will have to get rid of a lot of the boy clothes we've accumulated over these past 7 years. We have four boys. So, I went through them. I looked at each outfit and remembered who wore it the most. Some of the things we've barely used. Bibs, for example. There are a pile of unused bibs in my to-go box. I made four piles of keepers. One for each of my children. They included the outfit they came home from the hospital in and a few other select outfits that I can't bear to part with. I even kept a 18 month bomber jacket that my in-laws bought for my first born, which he hardly wore. The thing is he's really into airplanes and I thought I'd keep it, just in case he has a little boy someday. I can't believe I'm thinking that far ahead. Is this unhealthy? Me, saving clothes for my grandkids? Am I turning into my mother?

Here's a photo of Sherman on his 2nd birthday at Oakmeadow Park in Los Gatos, California. My home town and one of the most popular parks in the area. The sweater he is wearing was purchased one winter day when Jonathan, who actually had to dress the kids one morning, realized, "These kids don't have any clothes to wear!" So he packed them up and took them down to Wal-Mart for a shopping spree. No doubt a skill he learned from his mother, one of the best shoppers I know. When I came home from school that day I found the children decked out in Sesame Street and Mickey Mouse sweatsuits. That is why I'm sad to see this little sweatsuit go. Whenever I see it, I remember the days when Jonathan and I were both in school still and Atticus and Sherman dealt with our crazy schedules. Our luxuries were going to IHOP with cousins and actually buying something frivolous at Wal-Mart instead of just groceries. This little sweatsuit was one of those frivolities. Life was simple and good, very good. Sigh.

Anyway, I'm trying to think of a way to use these little outfits in a practical way. Is it possible to make something sentimental practical? Can it be done? Well, my husband is gone for a few more days and my creative juices are flowing. Maybe I'll think of an idea.

I got rid of a massive box of clothes. Actually, I haven't gotten rid of them yet. They are sitting in a box outside the storage room right now. But it is a step in the right direction. All those little clothes covered the sweet, chunky bodies of my little boys. Atticus, who is now a walking bunch of angles, used to have creases. Those clothes bring such sweet memories I feel like I'm about to cry. I know, I'm pregnant. Lately, I've cried at about everything I've read the kids. Cecily's Summer and Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet just to name a couple. I bawled my eyes out watching White Fang last night.

Well, instead of crying over little clothes, I'm going to spend the rest of this evening putting clean sheets on my bed. Then I'm going to lay on it and think about either health insurance or the next step on my chalkboard project for the schoolroom. Good night!

Lazy summer days

2011-08-07T20:24:00.000-07:00

Do I have anything interesting to write? No. Today is Sunday. Jonathan woke up with the kids to give Hector a milk and get him out of his crib. Then he timbered back into bed next to me. We both slept a little longer. The kids thankfully got themselves their own cereal for breakfast. I cooked some steel cut oats and pulled out the orange juicer that I borrowed from Aunt Robyn. There is nothing like fresh squeezed orange juice. So sweet! I rarely drink any other kind unless I know it's freshly squeezed. It seems like every other country has got it right. They've got their heavy duty orange juicers visible and filled with oranges ready for you to buy a glass. Affordable too. Here you've got to pay multiple dollars at least to buy yourself a glass of liquid sweetness. I had each of the boys get up on a chair and squeeze their own glass. It's one of those pull the handle kind and it presses the orange half against the mold with holes in it. It got them using those muscles. Grandmom, who is in town for the week, added some sausage links to the meal and it was mighty tasty. Even Jonathan ate some oatmeal and sausage and basically everything I fixed. He never eats breakfast!

Then we went to church only to be reminded that it was Fast Sunday! We are indeed slackers and truly unholy! For anyone who is asking themselves, "What is Fast Sunday?" I will indulge your inquiry. In the LDS church we designate one Sunday where we refrain from eating or drinking for a period of 24 hours. It's a sacrifice we do to help others and to become closer to God. Because we aren't spending money on meals during this time, we donate the money we would have spent to a fund to help those less fortunate than ourselves. That way when they need food or clothing the fast offerings from the members are available to help them. I think it's a great way to spread the wealth!

Then for the rest of the day we just chilled at the house. We ate lunch. We tidied up. We napped. I tried to wear some clothes that didn't squeeze my baby belly too much. I organized the baby stuff I got from the baby shower that I had last week. I thought about health insurance and what a hassle it is to worry about it if you don't have it through your job. Then I thought about the people in this book I just read "A Gathering of Days", where a girl dies. It takes place in the 1830's. They lived in New Hampshire and they didn't have health insurance. They just went with the flow. Death was more common. They still mourned the loss of their teenage daughter big time but it wasn't like it never happened to families around them. Perhaps they comforted themselves with the thought that others had gone through that experience as well. How much comfort can you really get if your family member dies before their time? Anyway, it's in my thoughts. We are searching for a solution to that one.

The Morkels stopped by and we visited a while. Jonathan made pot stickers and warmed up leftover buckwheat soup for dinner for everyone. He's much more hosty that I am. The kids played together.

Life is good. The garden is growing. The kids are growing. Jonathan has one more week in summer term of school. Everyone is healthy. What more can I write? Until something noteworthy occurs, goodbye!

Truth vs. Price

2011-07-19T07:07:00.000-07:00

Yesterday Jonathan and I dropped off Atticus and Sherman with some family members for a few days. We stopped at the grocery store on our way home. It was the easiest shopping trip we'd made in a very long time. We decided that since the two older kids got to stay with cousins, which is a super special treat for them, that we would indulge our third son, who felt a bit left out. He saw Mater on the back of a cereal box and really wanted to buy it. It was Apple Jacks. We've actually never bought Apple Jacks before. Well, actually I bought one box once for a friend who absolutely loves them. So, Cinci was extatic! Really eager to have some special cereal to himself the next morning.

So this morning while I'm eating my Raisin Bran and he's enjoying his Apple Jacks I'm looking at this special Cars 2 offer. You get prizes for collecting codes from participating Kellog's products. Of course they don't tell which are the participating products. I decide to check the internet site they list on the box.

Here is a list of some of their participating products: Frosted Flakes, Frosted Mini Wheats, Cocoa Crispies, Pops, Eggo, Nutri-Grain Bars, Town House Crackers, Graham Crackers, Crispix, and a few more.

As I look at this list of products sliding across the screen, here, I answer the question that a lot of foreigners have asked me. Foreigners that have never spent "real" life here. Life where they have to go grocery shopping every week and manage a budget here.

The question is, "Why are Americans so fat?"

I know why they, I mean, we are so fat. Because of these flashy offers that announce themselves so attractively at every corner. This is a country where it is cheaper to be fat than thin. This is a country where most of the population thinks that a Nutri-Grain Bar is a healthy breakfast option. It must be, right? It includes two key words. Nutri which must mean it's nutritious. And Grain, which must mean it actually came from something that grew out of the ground at one time.

As I slowly adjust to life in the States once more, I try to remind myself not to buy into the tricky sales they have here. Buy five cereal boxes for 10 dollars. What a deal! Well, it is a deal, I agree. We used to pay 28 riyal, which is about 7 dollars, in Qatar to get a box of Cheerios. What kind of deal is it really? It's a deal of endoctrination. If I feed my kids cereal every day for breakfast, they grow up thinking that it is healthy and "the" way to live.

So, off to the store I go, wary of those tricky sales. Will I be the one to teach my kids what's healthy, or will the prices do the teaching?

*This post is coming from a woman who enjoys a bowl of Lucky Charms with her husband almost every night after the kids go to bed. Please do not be offended.

Beets and Arrows

2011-07-13T20:43:00.000-07:00

It's been way too long since my last post and since I do not keep a journal, I feel guilty that I haven't written. I need to write more often. I like remembering. My third son, Cinci, has an excellent memory and lately has been telling me the minute details of events in the past and then asking, "Do you remember? Do you remember?" Of course I don't. I'm Christine. The woman who can't remember the plot of a romantic comedy seen in the last year. It's kind of sad that my memory is so very bad. That's why this blog is so important to me. I must press on.
Our summer came and went too quickly! We left Doha the very same day Jonathan finished work, stayed with friends in London for five days, Jonathan took Atticus and Sherman to Paris on the TGV, and then we flew to San Francisco. We stayed with the parents for ten days in California and then drove to Utah to finally settle in a home. Not our home, but a home that will be ours for the next year. We camped as soon as we could and then on the 20th of June real life started. Jonathan is at school and work and I am home with the kiddos trying to make life interesting.
This evening while Jonathan put the kids to bed I went outside and shot some arrows at our stack of straw that we hauled home for just that purpose. When it got too dark to aim decently, I decided to weed our small vegetable garden. Then I became inspired to plant some more seeds in the empty spots where nothing was growing. Beets. I needed beets. I will definitely have to make some borscht this fall. This is actually my first vegetable garden and I know I'm not supposed to plant seeds in the ground this late in the summer. But hey! I had them and I had some empty spots. If they don't grow, oh well. If they grow and then get frozen, oh well. You live, you learn. Who knows if I'll ever have a chance to plant a vegetable garden ever again in my life? Jonathan and I could go anywhere next summer. Anywhere! What if I'm living in a high rise apartment building in the middle of Dubai? What are my chances of gardening there? As I look at my small garden I feel pretty satisfied that its still alive. I drive by neighbors who have massive, very symmetrical gardens, with rows and rows of crops. It's intimidating! When I see them just growing under the sun I think that I should be trying harder. But something that I've learned in my life that may only apply to me, Christine McCollum, is that I should never, absolutely never, NEVER, bite off more than I can chew. For the sake of my own sanity, and especially the sake of my dear husband and children. Things never turn out right if I try to do too much stuff. I think that's one reason why I never do my hair in the morning, rarely wear make up, make very simple meals, spend no time decorating my home, and am a lamoid when it comes to fashion. None of those things would factor into a Christine sized bite.
So, just for the record, Sherman lost his first tooth sometime between June 2 and now (I have a bad memory), Cinci got his first set of stitches last week because he walked into a wooden balcony support at the neighbors house, and we found out that we are having a baby girl in late October.

Our lives passed away . . .

2011-05-06T09:54:00.000-07:00

The blowing out of Sherman's 6 candles.

I believe the Book of Mormon is a true record of the people that lived on the American continent centuries before the arrival of Christopher Columbus. One of the men that wrote in the book was named Jacob and he states very beautifully, "And it came to pass that I, Jacob, began to be old; and the record of this people being kept on the other plates of Nephi, wherefore I conclude this record, declaring that I have written according to the best of my knowledge, by saying that the time passed away with us, and also our lives passed away like as it were unto us a dream, we being a lonesome and a solemn people, wanderers, cast out from Jerusalem, born in tribulation, in a wilderness, and hated of our brethren, which caused wars and contentions; wherefore, we did mourn out our days."
Being married to a man that is probably more passionate about history than he is about me, I have gained an appreciation for primary sources. This gorgeous writing above has always been on my list of 'poetic' verses from the scriptures. Only now has it started flashing in my memory as we prepare to move from Qatar and start afresh again. Especially the part where he mentions that his life and the lives of his people have passed like a dream. Even though six days still remain before we get on the plane, I am already starting to close my little book of Qatar 2009-11 and go to look for a place to store it on the shelves of memory. I know that whenever I pull out that book to look back, it will be "like unto me as a dream". Just like my childhood is, or my episode in Spain as a teenager, or the mission I served for 18 months in Toronto. All dreams. All shelved away.

"Time passed away," also has made me think about how time keeps moving. Last night Back to the Future was on. Michael J. Fox is a great runner, by the way, and I love the 'life preserver' vest he wears. Anyway, the playing with time that Hollywood does, and also many authors have done, really is pleasant and fascinating because time is something that we all value. Who wouldn't want just a little more time? A little more time in that moment? A little more time with that person? To see what it was like to live in that time? Etc. So, my time and your time is passing away as I write and you read this post. It will never come back and I ask myself, "What should I be doing with my time?" Jacob still speaks today for many Mormons through this record he left. Do you have a record? What would you like to leave behind after you pass on out of this world?

I keep no record. I keep a few papers here and there of my kids' drawings and writings and a few tangible memories. A written record? I guess this blog will have to qualify until I settle down in a house to call my own. And maybe my kids won't care about my record. But maybe others will. I love hearing about how my mother could buy doughnuts for a nickel when she was a kid, how she ran barefoot all day through the orchards, and how her father taught her how to plant sweet corn.

All this while, as I ponder the mysteries of time and the universe, I still enjoy these moments and try to really enjoy my children as they are. Sherman turned 6 years old today. He is a fine, generous, young man who certainly does his name justice.

All I wanna do is blog.

2011-05-03T10:39:00.001-07:00

I can't believe I'm admitting such a shameless thing. I'm so completely exhausted right now that it feels so good to just slouch here, gulping down an icy peach juice, and type words. Knowing that in a matter of seconds they will float out into cyberspace and mesh with all the other feelings and expressions of people all over the world feels so satisfying. Maybe no one will read mine, maybe no one will read other people's words, but at least all those words will exist peacefully together. I should be making a chocolate cake from scratch and a pinata for my son's birthday party tomorrow but I can't. I just can't. My legs won't move and today was a non stop day. It was a good day, but it was non stop and I have to sit still for a while. It feels so good to sit still. I'm grateful that we are all home safe and the kids are in bed after a busy day. They went to school, learned stuff, came home and had to listen to me nag them for a while, did homework, did gymnastics tricks in the living room, went swimming at a friends house, got treated to dinner and dessert, got to watch eye glazing cartoons in Arabic while mom and dad chatted with friend, and got stuffed in the backseat with eachother while mom and dad complained about how so and so needs to stop doing this and that, etc., etc., etc. It's exhausting to be a kid. I have big plans for my kids this coming year. Some life altering plans. Plans that involve more choice and more freedom and hopefully more fun. We'll see how that goes. I feel bits of energy coming back so I'll stop blah blah blahing.

Cooking Classes 3: Baked Ukranian Dumplings (Cabbage Filling)

2011-05-02T03:40:00.000-07:00

I asked my neighbor and cooking instructor if we could make perogies, she looked at me and smiled. The smile that says,"What are you trying to say?" or "What a funny accent you have." She told me that the word perogi means pie. So she came over one morning and we made "pies". She started with the dough. She first added 1 tablespoon of yeast to a cup of warm water. She told me that using hot water would ruin the yeast. Warm water. Let it sit for 10 minutes or so.

3 tablespoons of oil

2 1/2 tbsp. sugar

1tbsp of salt

500 ml of warm water

Meanwhile she mixed the above ingredients until dissolved. Then she added the yeasty water. After, she added flour. Don't ask me how much. She just added it until it made a nice dough. She kneaded it and then put it in a bowl, covered it, and let it rise. My yeast was refrigerated and also old. Over a year. Apparently that matters. I'm not an experienced cook so that must be old news to all of you out there. She buys her yeast fresh and keeps it in the freezer. It works faster. My dough took over an hour to rise sufficiently.

Hector was a good little boy during our cooking session. He likes having other people in the house. I can tell because he doesn't whine as much.
Next, you make the filling. You can fill these "pies" with anything. Apples, potatoes, cottage cheese, bottled cherries, meat, and cabbage. Of course I chose cabbage because I am very interested in any recipe that uses a vegetable. Especially a vegetable that I'm not used to cooking with. So, here are the ingredients for the filling:

2 grated carrots

1 green cabbage shredded

1 yellow onion chopped

handful of chopped dill

1/3 tbsp. salt

1 tbsp. of tomato paste

First, fry your onions in a large frying pan that has a lid. Then, mix grated carrot and shredded cabbage in a large bowl and put salt on it. Mix it all together with your hands. Crunch it up as you mix it. While onions are still frying cut up the dill and mix it with the carrots and cabbage. Finally, once onions are browned add the cabbage mixture to the pan and fry all together. Add the tomato paste and fry until everything is soft. Once done, transfer to a wide bowl or tray to let cool.

Once the dough is risen, roll into balls a bit bigger than golf balls. Let them sit for 10 minutes. Then roll them slightly flat like in the above photo.
Once the cabbage is cool enough take two spoonfuls of it and put them on one of the dough circles in your hand. I hope that makes sense. It all must be done in your hand. Then you carefully try to seal up the sides. The dough is very stretchy and sticky enough. The key is to not let your fingers touch the oily cabbage mixture. If your fingers are oily it makes it hard to seal the dough over the top of the cabbage. Have a bag of flour close by to flour your fingers in so you can seal the "pie".
You make the little ridge on the top. Then you flip it over and smooth it out so it is a perfect oval like in the photo below.

You prepare a cooking tray with tons of oil on the bottom. She is used to using very heavy and thick trays and pots and pans. So she heavily oiled my cookie sheet because everything I have to bake with is light and thin. Arrange the "pies" in rows close together. Once the tray is full let them sit for 10 to 15 mintues. Then put them in a cold oven and turn the temperature to 330F. Bake for 30 minutes. Actually, these really took a lot longer than that. I had to keep checking them to make sure they weren't burning on the bottom. I think if you upped the temperature it would be fine and they would turn out great.
Mine eventually came out of the oven looking beautiful! My kids all went crazy when they came home from school. They each wanted to grab one and stuff it in their mouths.

The Verdict:

All my kids hated them. My husband liked them and I liked them. They were fresh and delicious for about one day. So if you are going to make a lot, make sure you have guests that day. The filling is delicious! I think the idea of putting things inside a perfectly oval bread is a wonderful idea. Next time I'm going to try a meat or a fruit filling so my kids will eat them.

Dragonflies

2011-04-25T20:31:00.001-07:00

This is one of the many dragonflies I saw while I was in Thailand last fall.

I went to a Qatar Natural History Group meeting last October where a professor came and spoke to everyone about the dragonflies and damselflies of Qatar. I've never been "into" bugs before, but during this meeting I felt a spark. I little one. I took detailed notes. I even wrote down all the places I could go to search for these mysterious creatures. I've seen a dragonfly before. I've seen them here, there, and everywhere throughout my life! But I've never really paid much attention to them. I never once pondered the colors they were, whether they were migratory, how they mate, how they grow, or what they eat. Now, I think about those things pretty often. Especially when I see a dragonfly. It doesn't happen very often in Qatar. There are 12 species of dragonfly/damselflies here. Ever since the meeting I've been keeping my eyes open. I've seen them at our clubhouse pool a few times, skimming the water, which surprised me. Then I saw them a few days ago when I took my kids to the Sheikh Faisal museum forest. In their irrigation water storage tank, there were several kinds speeding by. I was only able to get photos of one kind. The kids kept scaring them off. What do you expect? They aren't as interested as I am yet.

The one above is a very distant shot. Sorry. I was not prepared to see dragonflies just outside of Sealine Resort. We were on our way to go dune bashing. I hadn't expected this wonderful surprise. There were loads of them. They were all a greenish color and I wondered why they were so abundant there because they are only supposed to live near fresh water. I guess I'm not familiar enough with that area.

So, I'm pretty excited to go back to the US in a few weeks. I'm going to go dragonfly hunting as soon as I get off the plane. There are some nice nature preserve areas just outside San Francisco International Airport. So, to keep ourselves awake for the remainder of the day, I am dragging my whole family on this hunt whether they like it or not. Even my mother in law. I'd better remind her to wear her walking shoes.

Pink cheeked at Al-Zubara Fort

2011-04-24T02:00:00.001-07:00

"Atticus, why are you putting a cheese stick down your pants!?!?"

My plans were foiled last time I planned an adventure, but we still adventured. This time my husband joined our adventure so if we broke down I wouldn't be all alone out in the boonies with my "battery" of boys. Plus, I think he enjoys spending time with us.

We drove north, stopped in Al-Khor, got lunch (the first time we actually encouraged Hector to eat McDonald's chicken nuggets. Ugh!), and then set out on the open road. Free from all cares, free from all life, free from everything except the sound of Atticus saying things like, "Why do we have to go to this place?", "When we get there can we just look at it for one second and then go home?", "Are we half-way there yet?" Knowing that once we got there, we would have plenty of fun, I tried to stay positive and just wait for him to get tired of complaining.

The first time we stopped the car was for me to go out to some nearby sidra trees and have my picture taken. OK, I don't know if they were real sidra trees. I just had my picture taken with them just in case they were and then I would have my own picture of real live sidra trees from Qatar. The fact that anything grows out there is a miracle to me. What also was a miracle was that when I told Jonathan to stop the car so I could have my picture taken with the trees, I said,"Anyone want to come with me to see the trees?", Atticus and Sherman came with me. No coaxing, not even waiting to see if they would answer. They both followed me. Atticus kept saying that he saw a scorpion. I looked around and saw no life except for the trees. I thought I would see something when I flung into the air a plank of wood that was sitting there crisping in the sun. I said, "OK kids, watch and be amazed! When this wood moves, you will see little animals scurrying out from underneath!" The suspense was high and I'm sure the kids believed me, but we were all disappointed when there was nothing nestled under the wood. We did find some cool rocks on the way back to the car. Cooler than anything else (rubble from old cement houses) we've ever found in Qatar. These were real sedimentary rocks.
Then we drove on a little ways and saw a massive fort on the right. Except it looked newish. It was actually a sports club. The style was quite fitting for Qatar, however, I wondered why such a huge sports club would be built out on the northern tip of the peninsula when hardly anyone lives out there. We finally got to Al-Zubara Fort. It looked a lot like the sports club but smaller. It was safe enough for little Pink-cheeked Hector to waltz around in. We looked through every little hole in that fort. Some of them had lizards in them, others had birds' nests. There was a nice room for my kids to imagine was theirs. My favorite part about the fort was that we basically had it to ourselves. Some other visitors came and left while we were there but they didn't seem to mind how loud we were. Jonathan just had to play his favorite game with the kids. Hide and seek.
On our way back we saw a caravan of camels in the distance. We got a picture but I'm too lazy to add it now. If you go to Al-Zubara take lots of water and pray you don't have to go to the bathroom! It's worth it since it's one of the only places that I've felt that sticky dryness in my mouth from lack of water. You can partly imagine what you would feel like living (I mean really living) in the desert and appreciating every drop of water you feel on your lips. You can sit in the entryway of the fort and feel the slight breeze cool your skin. Cinci is letting the breeze skim his pink cheeks while shreiks and screams echo off the walls of the fort. It's a pleasant place.

Mommy trying to make things "cool". Can she succeed?

2011-04-21T01:16:00.000-07:00

Look at us in our breathtaking surroundings! Here I am trying to convince Atticus of how "cool" Qatar can be. "Look! A crane! When will you actually be able to see a crane up close again?"

Atticus took this nice picture of the old fort we walked around.

We have exactly three weeks until we leave Qatar on the airplane for good! Well, maybe not for good but for now. Have I finished packing up the boxes we need shipped? No. All four boys are home for a two week holiday which means I'd rather do other things than pack up all the toys and books they are currently playing with. Because of this realization that we are leaving really soon, I've started to feel a bit guilty for not seeing the "sights" here in Qatar. "Sights?" you ask. "Isn't that why every expat you know leaves the country every chance they get? So they can see some sights?" Ha! Very funny! Actually, no matter how barren a country may be or seem, there is always something to see. Always. It may not be beautiful like we want it to be, but you will remember it. And your kids will too, if you spend time looking at things with them. They might even show you a few things you wouldn't have noticed otherwise.

So yesterday I was on the internet researching where I should go today. I found this website that lists the notable "sights" to see in this country. At first I was going to go to the north of the peninsula and see some forts and old fishing villages but the friend I had invited got sick, and I didn't want to get stuck out there without any support. My husband said,"Well, if the car breaks down, plenty of nice Sudanese men will stop in their already filled cars to give you a ride." Yeah, I can imagine my kids going for that. Squeezing my four kids and myself into the backseat of some sedan with three other adult men. Fun! I guess that would be an experience of how charity really should work. Many times we see a hitcher on the side of the road and because there is not an extra seat belt in the car we don't even consider stopping. Think what you will, but I think this law abiding attitude taking precedence over true charity is sometimes just a crutch we use to not "go out of our way". It's sad. It feels as though my ways are set and to change them would be painful. But, I am optomistic, and this next year when I am comfortable in my "home" country, I will set out to break this "set in my ways" mindset. But for now, I am not at "home". I don't know the territory. Since my friend wasn't coming, I chose a closer sight, just 45 mintues away in Al Wakra. We never found the house of Sheikh Ghanim nor the Abu Manaratain Mosque. I did find the area and a whole section of it was blocked and under severe repair. So, what do you do when you're out of town and what you planned to see isn't there? This is what I do:

1. Since the kids are bummed, you drive around and say that there is another place you want them to see. You drive and drive until you see something you think they'll like. Even if they say,"I want to go home" just say, "Do you want to get out and walk around or sit in the car for another hour driving home?" They will most likely choose to get out and walk (unless your kids have video game devices or MP3 players, which mine don't.)

2. Once you're out and walking around, let them take pictures of what you're looking at. Atticus got real excited about doing that. He was real proud of his pictures. Try to find something to talk to them about. If you sound like you know something, they will like it. "This fort is made of stones and it's really old," I said to Sherman. He said,"Look it's cracking right there. Maybe it will fall!"

3. Then when you put your baby down finally because you're so tired of carrying his chubby buns because you forgot to bring his shoes, he finds all sorts of interesting things. He picks up garbage which makes the other kids happy because big beetles start crawling out from their hiding places. More pictures.

4. When you get back in the car you take them to get a snack at the closest hole in the wall store. This boosts their spirits and makes them willing to go with you again should you find something else to explore. That's why you don't break out the snacks or drinks at the first sign of disaster. Save your big guns for later to keep them going.

5. We found a mosque, not the one we initially wanted to see, but hey, it was a mosque and there was no one around. So we walked around that one. The kids took more pictures. They wanted to go inside but I explained that we weren't allowed to go in these mosques. "Why?" "Well, because the Qatari's want their mosques to be respected because they value their religion. They are holy places to them." Well, that was the answer I invented. I hope I wasn't too off. When we lived in Turkey, mosques were all open to the public. You would see kids running around inside them with no reverence and no idea where they were and why it was different than being in a mall. My kids included. We did try to explain to them that they were like churches, that they had to be quiet in them so other people could pray and meditate. I must admit that my kids weren't perfect. I was kind of happy that Qatari mosques were off limits to us. That way I wouldn't have to stress out about my kids being loud in them.

Gosh that was a long post! If you move to Qatar, don't be influenced by the opinions of 95% of other expats. Most people hate it here and can't wait to go home. When you come, join the Qatar Natural History Group. They organize some great outings and have some real interesting meetings.

The Lone Baby

2011-04-18T02:28:00.000-07:00

I just love them. I love to be with them. Even at the end of the day when my head is aching and each step I take shakes my brain in pain, I love them. My plans revolve around them, the projects I tackle are them-centered, my personal interests get put on hold because they are more interesting right now, and I make new meals for them (even though they don't like new foods.) There's my lone baby standing out in the water at Al Wakra.

After school

2011-04-15T04:44:00.000-07:00

After school the kids tumble through the door, but I always know when they're coming. I can hear them once they drive up. Once the van door slides open I can hear their voices blasting free as if I'd unclicked the unmute button on my computer. I urge them strongly, maybe too strongly, for them to "Do the list!" The "list" is my method of relieving myself of my nagging duty. It doesn't really work. Instead of saying "Change your clothes!" or "Unpack your lunchbox!" I just say "Do the list!" Of course, I say it several times to every child. But at least I don't have to remember what I've already told them to do. The List is all inclusive. 5 tasks they must complete upon arrival from school. Then they are free! Free! Free!

When Jonathan comes home from school, work, he has a list too. It includes one thing, which is going straight for the snack cupboard for some Pepperidge Farm fishy crackers or some Pringles, unless I've made some baked goods. Today we had an abundance of "Gruffalo Crumble" left over. He's enjoying it!

After the list Cinci sat down and narrated the storyline of the movie Wall-E to me. He watched it the night before and that's all he talks about now. In the above picture we are reenacting the last scene where Eva tries to fix Wall-E and she tries to help him remember her by holding his hand and saying "Wall-E, Wall-E" over and over again. Cinci thought it was pretty cool that we could hold hands like Wall-E and Eva too. Kids are great!

Costa Rica is calling!

2011-04-13T02:22:00.000-07:00

I'm feeling full from the two Ukranian dumplings I just ate. The weather is great. It was great last night too. Skies were grey and cloudy, wind blew, even thunder sounded (once), and the palm trees swayed back and forth. Gorgeous! It took me back in time to another place and I told my husband who was pushing the stroller next to me, "I want to go back to Costa Rica so bad!" When I was 19 years old I got it into my head that I was going to go and work in Costa Rica. It was a bit strange because I didn't know anyone there, nor was there anything in particular that I wanted to see there. I had traveled a lot (de mi propia cuenta) before that time and I had the travel bug. I was itching to leave my boring life in the Bay Area of California. It really wasn't that boring, but young people are never satisfied. I mean, people in general are never satisfied. I flew to San Jose, stayed in a hostel, met a girl at church, moved in with her, found a job teaching English to little kids, hated it, quit, and traveled around the country looking for an exotic job at a beach resort or something like that. All the men gave me greedy looks and the managers were slimy so I went back to San Jose and moved back in with my friend, Zuhayla. We had some good times together. She was practical, I was ditzy and naive. A perfect match. I met one of her good friends and fell in love. You know, that kind of young love that you think is real and could be if you really tried to make it work. Well, it didn't work, and I returned to the US resolute to serve an LDS mission. Costa Rica knocked the ditziness right out of me. I wanted something real, substantial, worthwhile, rewarding, and self-sacrificing. But the whole point of my post was to express the draw Costa Rica has on me. I haven't been to any other country south of the US border except Mexico. Not real Mexico mind you. I guess you could call it it's own little place. Tijuana. But anyway, Costa Rica is pulling on me. The life in the streets. The chaos, the interaction, the smells, the moisture, the attitudes, the loudness of the ladies, the spunkiness of the mothers, the bravado of the men, the tastes, the language. So many things. I remember I took a road trip with this friend of mine to Guanacaste, the hottest part of the country up on the Pacific coast. We stayed in Brasilito. It was so hot and the mosquitos were so thick I barely slept. But it didn't matter, I had no kids at the time. Sleep only becomes precious when you are a mother. We walked one day to the next beach over, Playa Conchal. To describe it would seem cliche. All those words they use to describe your dream beach destination. My vocabulary isn't extensive enough to outdo those descriptions. But what I really remember was the contrast between Brasilito and Conchal. Both beaches were great. But in Brasilito there was a community of native Ticos (Costa Ricans) living in shabby houses. The kids ran around shirtless. I wondered if and where they went to school. There weren't that many structures around. There was one little shop where you could buy a few food items but nothing substantial enough to feed a family with unless you were going to feed them gummy candies and soda pop for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. The sand was light brown, the structures were brown, the people were brown, everything was brown. I liked the feeling there. The freedom. The price of the water. In Conchal everything turned white. The sand and the people. There was a resort that was built about 1000 feet inland, just inside the trees, that was full of slow moving westerners. White people, turned pink from laying out too much. They were all lounging about in their paradisiacal swimming pools. They would bob over to the poolside bar and order their mind numbing cocktails and look around and be relaxed. We tried to buy some water there, but the price was crazy! Of course, I could afford it, but I wasn't willing to waste my money on water when I could buy it in Brasilito for much less. So I walked back and did. That was my very first glimpse of a luxurious lifestyle. I'd never seen such behavior in my life. Even growing up in a well to do area of California, I'd never seen such contrast. Anyway, I remember thinking about how it would be fun to live in Brasilito with my kids someday and have them run around shirtless all day. Of course, it wasn't a sure thing that I would ever get married or have kids at that time. But my life has moved forward and I do indeed have kids and a husband. If we moved to Brasilito they could be free, not worry about traffic, and I wouldn't have to do laundry very much because they could wear the same pair of shorts every day. We could eat fruit all day and every day. I guess the mosquitos would be the problem. And in my free time I could teach the local urchins to read in English and Spanish in exchange for some home made Gallo Pinto, my most favorite food in the whole wide world!

Cuando tenga mi casita, when someday I have my house

cana dulce y buen amor, cana dulce and good love

una vida noble y buena, una vida noble y buena, a noble and good life, a noble and good life

pasare sin un rencor. I will pass without a grudge

The above is a Costa Rican song that my Tican friend taught me. We sang it together back in 2008. You can check it out on YouTube if you want. Just type in Cana Dulce and it will come up.

Cooking Classes 2: Borscht

2011-04-11T22:48:00.000-07:00

A Ukrainian soup. Beet soup. I had never really tried it until today. Since it holds a prominent place in Ukranian culinary history I figured of all the things I could choose to learn, this would be the most important. If you think about it, it really was a wise decision to learn how to make such a healthy, delicious, and useful sort of soup. It's a meal in itself. Not a soup for a starter. A hearty repast! Do you see the enormous pot I made it all in? I was a bit worried that we had made too much since I wasn't sure if my family would help me out in eating it. Here are the ingredients:

2 small beets, julienned

2 carrots, julienned

1 large onion, julienned

6 medium potatoes, chunks

a quarter head of green cabbage, shredded thinly

a handful of parsley, chopped

tomato paste, 1/8 to 1/4 cup

meat (whatever you have) I used a 1/4 lb. of australian beef cubes that were sitting in my fridge

1 small pepper chopped

5 bay leaves

1/4 to 1/2 cup of sunflower oil (she used my canola oil because that's all I had)

1/2 cup of already cooked white beans or some sort of brown bean (she brought over a small can of baked beans)

salt

*important note: Borscht developed in the Ukraine out of a lack of other foods to eat in the winter time. Beets were one of the things they could count on having throughout the winter. On Wikipedia it says they kept vegetable peelings outside in a covered pot. When there was nothing else to eat, they'd bring it to a boil, and Voila! Borscht! So, my point is, if you don't have all the ingredients such as meat or beans or some of the vegetables, you can still make borscht. The only real necessities are beets and water.

First, you put beans and meat in a half full pot of water to boil until meat is soft. The pot that I used holds 5 quarts. Then add carrots and beets. Meanwhile, cut potatoes into chunks and add. Add salt, then shredded cabbage, onions, and tomato paste. Add chopped pepper, parsley, 5 bay leaves, and oil. Let simmer for 30 minutes to an hour until beets are soft. It sounds so easy. What happens during the making of it is she adds groups of things in spurts. While they're boiling she hurries and prepares the next batch of things. So really, you're adding things every 5 to 7 minutes depending on how fast you chop or shred vegetables.

The Verdict:

Jonathan loved it with a plop of yogurt. Sherman loved it and asks for it often now. Hector loved it but especially the purple color of the potatoes. He won't touch white ones, but he'll feed himself the purple colored ones. I loved it because it's a meal in a bowl. Those are my favorite kinds of meals to prepare. Atticus and Cinci ate it out of duty without any complaints or vomiting.
So this recipe will find itself on my future two week menu plan when I return to the states and have no time for cooking. The Ukranians use a very natural, very rich sounding sour cream as a topping for the borscht. I don't know if any sour cream in the US would compare. Probably not. Jonathan and I throw plain (full fat) yogurt on everything that could use a topping. It was a nice touch. But someday I'll visit the Ukraine and have a real taste of that sour cream Luba's talking about.

If you give a man a fish . . .

2011-04-08T20:20:00.001-07:00

It's all so exciting I think I'm going to burst!!!!!!!! Do you ever feel like that about life and where you can make it take you? There are so many beliefs out there about life and who is in control of it. Fate. The Gods. God. You. The Government. Other people. Hollywood. I'm sure there are a million beliefs out there about it. I know I'm in charge of my own life. Yeah, God is there, he knows what is going on, and most of the time he just let's us little people figure things out on our own. That's pretty obvious if you watch the news. I'm a firm believer in choice. Free agency. Use it right, and you will be happy. You may not become a millionaire but if you keep choosing from what's available to you and choose right, you can find happiness and make others happy in the process.
Jonathan is in the US right now to present his study at a TESOL conference. I can't remember what the title of his study is, but it sounds something like "teacher modeled language learning", which means he's learned Arabic during our stay here in Doha for the purpose of helping his students understand and stop making common errors in English that stem from being a native Arabic speaker. Also, every assignment that he has assigned the students in English, he has done the same one in Arabic. I think it's a smart study and could be useful for many teachers. But will many teachers go to the effort of learning a particular second language? Obviously it's only for those teachers that teach a class that has one native language in common.
I wish language learning was more of a priority in America. I think it promotes understanding of other cultures. I think the US needs that. You may ask why since the US is very multi-cultural already. If you want to learn about any culture, you could find someone from any country in the world and talk to them about their culture. Let me rephrase, I think the world needs that. Understanding. I have trouble understanding other ladies from my own background, let alone people from another country that speak a different language.
I've been listening to some talks that were given by the leadership in the LDS church and one in particular stood out to me and has been poking at my brain throughout the day. In it, Elder Henry B. Eyring lists some principles on how to help people in need. Here is the first one:

First, all people are happier and feel more self-respect when they can provide for themselves and their family and then reach out to take care of others.

How true! It's always humbling when you know you need to take what someone is offering you or your family will suffer. But you feel grateful, and you say to yourself, when I am financially able, I will find a way to repay this good deed, either to the same person, or to someone else in need.
So, I've always wanted to volunteer to help people. So, I've thought of how I'm going to do this. Yes, I know, I know, I'm raising my own kids and if I raise them right they can contribute good things to this world and help people too. But, I want to help people.

"Give a man a fish, you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish, you feed him for a lifetime."

Yeah, I can go down to the soup kitchen and ladle out some soup to the homeless people. But, I want to give someone a skill. What do I know how to do? Well, not much when it comes to teachable skills. But I can read. And that is a skill that some people don't have. So, when I move back to Provo/Orem I am going to volunteer with Project Read. It's a big commitment of time for a mother of four, but its a skill I want to share and learn. Really, teaching reading might sound easy but I'm sure it isn't. Getting someone to understand and enjoy written text must be difficult or more people would be doing it.
This desire of mine to teach people to read leads back into my earlier thoughts about the lack of understanding in the world. If people don't know how to read, they are limited on what they can understand about the world. If they are single mothers and don't know how to read, they will most likely raise children who care nothing for reading. If I can help stop this pattern in at least one family or help just one person feel better about themselves and become more marketable it will make me happy. Sounds kind of selfish, but I can get something out of it too, right?
If you could choose how to help people, what would you choose to do?

Arabian Nights

2011-03-30T22:00:00.000-07:00

We've got six more weeks until we leave Qatar. It's kind of sad that I have let so much time pass without learning enough about this place. Last night our children's school hosted an Arabian Night event. It was all planned out by the Qatari sponsor of the school which makes sense. You don't want to go to an Arabian Night extravaganza planned by a westerner. That would suck! So, we donned our Arab dress and caravaned down to our school. Unfortunately, Atticus has grown out of his thobe that he received when we first arrived here almost two years ago. We've got to buy him another one before we go.

They had camel rides, pony rides, henna, sweet booths where the ladies made the delicacies right in front of you, qatari handicrafts made by the beduins, an arabian dance put on by the girls of the school, and finally a dinner. They made these huge platters of biryani rice with chicken and lamb and plopped them on the ground. People just sat down around them and started eating. It was so tasty!

I don't understand Qatari culture fully even though I've lived here for a little while now. There are some things that have come to light though. Things I think differently about and opinions I've formed. And, call me human, comparisons I've made between the culture I grew up in and this one. For example, Qatari's don't use silverware. They plough into those platters of rice and meat with their bare hands. Barbaric you may say, but stop for a minute and think. How long would it take you to eat a bowl of rice with your hands? If you're western, you'd be sloppy and inefficient not only with your time but with your method. The Qatari's have a technique, honed over years of nomadic living. Who had room, and whose camel had energy to haul heavy knives and forks across the desert? As I was going back to the platters for seconds, looking for pieces of meat, I couldn't find nicely separated legs or breasts of chicken just sitting there waiting for me to pick them up. There were no cuts of lamb meat laying out. I had to pull up my ornately embroidered abaya sleeves and pull pieces of juicy flesh from an almost bare rib cage. Later on I heard complaints from some of the families, "This isn't sanitary!" (Pause while I swear under my breath.) That may be so. Sometimes when you enter another persons culture, you have to forego some of your habits and procedures. If you can't handle it, don't go out of your house. Whose country are you in anyway?

Qatari's love their children. Love, love, love. They spend time with their families. Each person has their place in the family. No questions asked. Kids don't boss their parents around. Parents are in charge. Mother has tremendous power within her household. All this talk of women being "supressed" because they have to wear an abaya or a burka. Have you ever worn an abaya, or a burka? I wore an abaya last night. The only thing supressive about it was how the sleeves wouldn't let me get the food I wanted. I should have designed the sleeves differently like the nice girl who took me to the souq to get my abaya. I didn't know. Just like no one knows, until they actually live the life of someone else. It's all about understanding. Trying to understand someone else. It's a tough thing to do. When I lived in Turkey sometimes I would see ladies wearing burkas and my initial reaction was shock and fear. A black ghost coming toward me on the street! "Don't look at her in the eyes!" I would think. Why not? I think now of why I used to think that. It's such a silly thing to me now.

When I arrived at the airport in Doha for the first time, I was scared of the men's dress. Their thobes, but especially their head gear. It was intimidating. It reminded me of a cobra snake. Powerful and so high up. Ready to strike. I guess I thought that there would be visible animosity toward the western mercenaries that came to their country to earn money. What I found was indifference. Complete indifference. They have what they need. They live the way they choose. Laws are such that we are subordinate to them. Should it not be so? We are living in their country. Now, the way they dress has become everyday for me. I admire a nicely pressed and tailored thobe. I admire a beautifully designed abaya. When I'm walking in public, I meet the eyes of some ladies. They crinkle at me and I smile back. Just like anywhere, a smile brings a smile, even if you can't see their mouth. It is true "Eyes are a window to the soul."

Up on the soapbox . . .

2011-03-28T21:59:00.001-07:00

The three youngest of my battery

What do I want to teach my kiddos? Of course they'll never live the life I lived. They'll never have a dad who, when he wasn't at work, was in the kitchen cooking. They'll never have a mom who was happy and laughing all the time. They'll never have an honest job at age 11 where they make their own money and take full responsibility for it. They'll never live in the same house for their entire childhood and youth. Things will be different for them. The world will be different. Not just because we move from place to place. Even if we stayed and settled in one house, in one neighborhood, in one city, things would be different for them. This world changes as well. It feels like there isn't a place in the world where calm and serenity reign. With the uprisings in North Africa and basically all over the middle East, except the UAE and Qatar, and the natural disasters spotting the globe, there is chaos everywhere. How can I prepare my children for such a world? What do you do the prepare your children? Do you tell them, "When you grow up, get yourself a good education, a nice money making job, and stay in the USA where its safe."? Will a university education be worth anything in 20 years? What will be the money making jobs be in 20 years? Will the USA be a safe place to live in 20 years?

Both Jonathan and I are university graduates. Jonathan is going back for more. He loves it. I love it. If I were available I would go back too. And I will, when the time is right. But learning and acquiring knowledge won't always make you any money. I think we will encourage our children to go to university. I don't think I'll say anything about what job they should choose. (I know it will be hard to keep my mouth shut. But I'm going to try.) And about living in the USA, I don't want to tell them to stay there. I hope that the way we are raising them will help them to want to experience the world. To mingle with their fellow Earthlings no matter what part of the globe they live on. I hope so many things for them. I worry about this world for them. I wonder where to focus my time with them. Should I sign them up for sports, or should I teach them how to grow a garden? Should I push them to read earlier, or should I show them how to trap a squirrel? Should I show them how to maneuver a computer program, or should I teach them how to cook a meal? This world is telling me so many things to do with my kids that would prepare them for life if they were going to be adults about 5 years ago. The problem is that they are going to be adults in 15 years. The people of this world can't predict what skills are going to be essential for life in 15 years. So my inclinations lead me to a different path. A path that will prepare them for the world I can see. The patterns I see. Basically, a path that would help them survive a life amid chaos if it were to befall them. I will feel so much better as a parent if I prepare them for the worst rather than for a life of ease and consumerism. So, I'll let the schools go on teaching early reading, computer skills, and sports, and I'll take care of the rest.

So, off my soapbox now, I'm happy that there is some good news in the world every once in a while. Last night I woke up in the middle of the night and read CNN about the little Danish 3 year old who went missing for almost a whole day. I cried with happiness and cried with understanding for that mother. She'd argued with her little boy about not taking off his jacket because it was too cold. He stalked off angrily. I don't know the details but when she went to look for him he was nowhere to be found. I refuse to judge her. There are so many times I have a "moment" with my children. When they step out of sight I pray, "Please don't let this be my last moment with them." I think you reach a point in motherhood where you stop judging other moms. I admit, before I had kids I did plenty of quiet judging. Quiet planning on how my family and children would be. Well, that planning and judging has gotten quieter and quieter as the years have gone by. I have no place to judge. Yeah, I'm Christian. Judge not! is the council given, right? Sometimes, having a gaggle of children will punch that judging tendency right out of you. Did you know that a group of barracuda is called a battery? Well, maybe I shouldn't call my boys a gaggle. How about a battery of boys? That sounds better.

Cooking Classes 1: Buckwheat

2011-03-28T00:34:00.000-07:00

purple cabbage, lentil soup, yogurt soup (the extent of my turkish cooking)

Cinci loves my cooking. Do you see him in the background?

Some people can learn to cook from a book. Some take cooking classes. Some can watch a cooking show and duplicate the recipe perfectly. Some don't learn, they just experiment and have the knack. I am none of these. Sure, I can follow a recipe. But I rarely am satisfied with the results. Maybe I'm doing something wrong. That is why I love to have someone teach me individually. Not just write down the recipe for me and give me a few tips. I mean being right there and doing it in front of me while I ask questions and try doing some of it myself.

When I was in Turkey I had a neighbor who was an excellent cook. I should have taken all the instruction she would give me. The only thing I really learned to make was red lentil soup. From another friend I learned to make yogurt and rice soup. I've found a few blogs that give wonderful turkish recipes. I think they are great because the people who write the blogs are turkish. Who can really be an expert in cooking unless they've cooked and eaten something over and over and over in their lives? I kick myself for not taking advantage of my turkish friends and neighbors' cooking skills more often.

Now I'm in Qatar. Who are my neighbors? Well, during the day almost no one. But now my next door neighbor's sister has come to visit for three months from the Ukraine. Now's my chance to learn to make the infamous "buckwheat" and maybe some borsch.

Today I took my jar of dry buckwheat that my neighbor had given me long ago over to this sister of hers. She showed me how to make it.

Wash it.

Boil it in water with some salt.

It takes about 45 minutes. When I asked, "How long does it take? 10 minutes?" She said, "Maybe longer, 15 minutes maybe." Well, really it took 45.

When it's done you add butter and more salt if it needs it.

Ever since we moved to Qatar, our neighbor, Christian, who is 5, would never eat anything we offered him. "Well, what do you like to eat then?" we asked. "Buckwheat," was always his answer. Buckwheat for breakfast, buckwheat for lunch, even buckwheat for dinner if mom was in a bind. The other two menu items he happens to eat are borsch and chicken nuggets. (His father is American.) Isn't it sad that all we American's have to offer world cuisine is a measly chicken nugget? After talking to his mom we discovered the health benefits of buckwheat. Of course Ukranians are partial to their main staple. But really, it is! Ukraine comes in third place for production of such crop.

So for my first Ukranian cooking lesson, I'd say it was a success. Luba, my teacher, not only taught me how to make buckwheat porridge the "real" way, but sent me home with some honey straight from the Ukraine. Her husband is a beekeeper. The buckwheat porridge was savory and the texture was a lot like oatmeal. Something I love, and if I can get my hands on some in the States at a reasonable price, it will be on my breakfast menu once or twice a week.

Stage Fright!

2011-03-23T02:42:00.000-07:00

The above picture is of Jonathan and I teaching his Turkish class about Halloween.
Were you deathly afraid of getting up in front of an audience when you were young? I was. Terrified! In our church, the children give short talks in front of sunday school every once in a while. Well, I remember once when my mom had helped me prepare a very cool visual aide for one of these talks. I was all prepared to give the talk but when I got up there, my mom even accompanied me, I started to cry and couldn't even give my talk. I was so embarrassed. I never gave a talk again in Sunday school. I actually avoided giving talks in church until I was 21 years old. Can you believe that? Public speaking, or teaching, or entertaining an audience is a skill. Something learned. Something I eventually learned through practice. Now I don't mind teaching or speaking in front of groups anymore. I don't want my kids to have that problem growing up. It's terrifying when you're anxious about performing all day long. The performance lasts 20 minutes and then you feel fine afterwards. What a waste of a day!

About three weeks ago the school sent out an announcement that they would be hosting a Poetry Night on the 21st of March. Immediately, I thought, "My kids have to do this!" Well, they did. For Atticus, this was quite a feat. Getting him to perform isn't easy. But he prepared a short poem, The Purple Cow by Gelet Burgess, and recited it with some expression. I was so proud of him. Plus, I think he enjoyed watching all the other poems being performed too. Sherman also performed. I didn't have to convince him that it would be fun. He loves putting on a show. He chose "The Star" by Jane Taylor. He wore a paper star that framed his face. The audience clapped even before he spoke a word.

Here they are after everything was over. We went to the clubhouse for dinner and shakes. That's why Sherman's face is chocolatey. Atticus said his favorite poem was Sherman's. Sweet!

Fear and Destruction

2011-03-16T02:45:00.000-07:00

A few nights ago when I was watching the news with Jonathan, I imagined what I would do if I were in Japan when the tsunami hit. What would I do if I happened to be walking outside with my children and a massive wave hit, taking everything out with it, never to return? My eyes glaze over as I imagine the feeling of the wet air on my face, the wind whipping my jacket back and forth, and the sound of the speeding wind making it impossible for me to talk to my children. I hold my youngest in my arms and hold my second youngest's hand. I encourage all of them to walk faster so we can get out of this wind before disaster strikes. Then we see the humungous wave coming, so fast that there's no way that we could possibly escape. But time slows. It stops almost as my eyes dart from one child to another thinking what to do. Keep the baby and keep the hand I have. Scream in the other two's ears to hold on to eachother as tight as they could. What else could a mother do? Knowing that none of us could possibly survive being whipped around in that water, under and down and around. For who knows how long? Our bodies being slammed into underwater structures and big things that have already come loose in the disaster. There's no way! Jonathan said, "There's a chance in a million that anyone could survive being in the water."
The worst part about it all would be trying to make my children's last moments on earth not so fearful. The fear. The pain. The unknown. Being alone. A mother's hope that their child's suffering would be minimal.
Then there are those who have survived. Survived but have nothing material left. Or perhaps not even a family member left alive. What must their thoughts be?
I'm so grateful for the safety I've enjoyed and that I do enjoy every day. Someday perhaps I will be right in the middle of a natural disaster. Will I be prepared? Where will my children be? I hope that I can comfort someone in a time like that even if it isn't my own child. I hope someone else will do the same for mine.

Anything can happen!

2011-03-12T09:45:00.000-08:00

I've been thinking a lot about the time I spend with my kids. What is it spent doing? This weekend my husband traveled to a TESOL conference and left me alone to fend for myself. Of course, two days is nothing compared to a couple of weeks, or months, or even years. I know there's a lot of wives out there that send their husbands away for extended periods of time and manage everything on their own without complaint. And that's not why I'm writing. To complain, that is. I'm just looking at my life and trying to see us from a different point of view. My poor children had to help me out a lot more than usual. They had to listen to a lot more negative talk from me. They didn't get to have as much positive attention from me. I didn't get to have as much "alone" time. There was a lot more stress surrounding Hector's nap times. I didn't get to feed them as well. I had to rely on other people to help me out at church with Hector. And that's not easy for me to do. I hate panning my kids out. Everything felt a lot more fragile. My interactions with my children should have been more special and happy since they were some of the only interactions they were getting this weekend. I could make a huge list but to sum it all up, I wasn't prepared for what was required of me. However, I was able to realize at the end of the day how special and helpful and understanding my children are to me. If Jonathan were to have a job that took him away from us for days on end, we would be okay. I would work on being a better person. I've got great kids. They are just fine. I guess I'm just writing because I feel like expressing this satisfaction I feel knowing that they are healthy and happy and are able to perceive my feelings. I'm grateful that we can work together and grow together. We are all becoming less selfish together. You'd think that a mother of four would be beyond selfish at that point, but no. If you have a helpful husband, I think the "Me, me , me!" tendencies creep back in and only in looking back at times of trial do you realize, "I was being pretty selfish!"
Sherman prayed the other night. "Please bless Dad so his plane won't crash into the Burj Khalifa and so he can come home safely to Doha" To which Atticus responded "That can't happen. It would be too hard." I think he meant that a pilot would have to be stupid to do such a precise thing. I think that we've spoken to our kids a handful of times about the events of September 11th. I reminded Atticus of that and he realized that something like that could happen. Anything can happen.
Anything can happen. Next thing I know, Jonathan will come home tonight and tell me he wants to make TESOL his career. Who would have guessed?

Creative Criminals

2011-03-03T19:39:00.001-08:00

I am a bit frustrated right now. Last night was a shocker for me. I'll spare everyone the details but one of my boys did something horrible to his brother. The word "horrible" could be interpreted in many different ways. Weird, strange, mean, disgusting, disturbing, etc. Anyway, the event left me and my husband on our knees. Even now I'm still asking myself, "Is this a foreshadowing of coming things?", "Have I done something entirely wrong in my parenting?", "Why do our kids fail to show love for one another?", and "Is my child a freak of nature?".

Talking it over afterward with my husband we knew that Guilty just didn't think things through before he acted. He's not a freak of nature. He's just a kid who fails to think about what will happen after. What kid does? But aren't there limits? I would think that there would be some things that wouldn't even enter our kids minds. Well, I guess there aren't limits. I guess children think they can do anything. They are curious. They are imaginative. They are creative, even in their crimes.

So, I'm completely at a loss on how to guide my children in a direction that will lead to more appropriate forms of expression. We came up with a few ideas.

It's been at least a week since I've written the above. We've been emphasizing "service" in our household big time. The boys are encouraged to serve each other breakfast. We expect Atticus and Sherman to do it, but Cinci of course sits back and enjoys the service rendered without even thinking of doing his part. At least Hector exists! For the sole purpose of teaching Cinci that he is not the next Prince and heir to the thrones of the world, I'm glad we have a yet younger child that will eventually put him in his place.

Our family home evening's theme was, of course, Service. I'm so grateful I've had a bunch of kids because now when we draw names out of a hat, there's actually mystery and excitement about whose name you get. The kids are old enough to not immediately divulge the name they draw and we can actually enjoy secretly serving someone else. It's really hard to get kids into a mindset of service. However, I do have one child who is going above and beyond what I expected. He will be receiving the "Service Award" next week for his excellent performance. He's subjected himself quietly to the meanness and mistreatment of his brothers every day since we started this service thing. I hope that everyone in my family will get a wake up call when they see him receive this "award". I'm not sure what to make the award be. Any ideas?

The 2 year plan

2011-03-01T18:43:00.000-08:00

Time keeps moving along. I'm so grateful that my children continue to grow and thrive wherever they may be. The above picture was taken exactly two years ago when we were living in Turkey. It seems that we might be somewhere new every two years of our lives. It's almost impossible for me to acquire a mindset which permits me to think that we will live in one place or in one country forever. But it may happen. Our two years in Qatar are almost up and Jonathan has chosen to not sign on for next year. We will move forward somewhere else. We are returning to the United States for a spell, though not sure of what duration. It seems our family has a three fold mission:

1. Jonathan works.
2. Christine tries to raise the kids.
3. We pursue our dreams wherever we can also do 1 & 2.

I guess it seems like a simple mission but looking at the world today it is a lofty one for many. Work has become a blessing and very few are truly satisfied with the work they do. Raising kids can be done in many ways and the word "raising" is often taken very loosely to mean, providing for. "Raising" requires so much more. As for dreams, we follow them. Even if we can't reach them we are still moving in our efforts as we try.

So off we move in search of our dreams. In two years I'm sure we'll be somewhere else with new dreams, or perhaps the same ones.

Compound living = freedom and space

2011-02-28T11:04:00.001-08:00

It's the last day of February. The temperature outside is moving up, slowly. Really slowly. But I know that by the end of March it will be hot outside. So, today while Jonathan was away with Sherman and Cinci at Playball, Atticus, Hector and I planted some more seeds. I've been thinking about this hot weather that is on it's way. Whenever it's hot, I don't eat anything good. By good, I mean healthy. I just stuff bread in my mouth, or eat a bowl of cereal. I have no desire to cook anything. Why cook when its cooking outside? So, on my summer menu for this year are two dishes: lebanese tabouleh and italian bruschetta. I planted a few pots of basil for my bruschetta, and just one pot of parsley for tabouleh. I can get nice parsley anytime, anywhere in this city. No need for more than one pot. Atticus planted himself three small rows of radishes. For some reason he's been bugging me to buy some. Well, they sell them in a large box at Carrefour. I'm not buying a large box of something that he probably won't finish. He can grow them outside his window if he wants them so bad. Hector ran around with the old dried basil plants I just uprooted. It was a bit windy and I could smell the basil in the air. I love our compound so much. OK, maybe most people would complain if they were in my shoes, "But you don't have a yard!" I know, I don't have a yard, but the streets are wide, there are sidewalks there are large communal areas spread throughout the compound, and I'm happy. But the moment some punk kid decides to pick Sherman's tomatoes maybe I'll change my mind. Well, no, I won't. I'd just ask if I can move to a two bedroom villa that comes with a small yard.

I know the tomatoes look pretty dismal in the above photo but if you get closer you can see 14 tomatoes growing on those plants. Yay for Sherms!Fridays we don't watch TV so that means one of us has to get up in the morning and do something with the kids. Jonathan usually teaches them how to cook eggs. Sometimes I go on a walk with Atticus and Sherman to some less familiar area of our Lot or the other Lot. Since they arise quite early, there usually isn't anyone outside, which is great. I don't even get dressed in clothes. We just all wear our pajamas and traipse around the compound chatting about whatever they want. Every time we are out strolling on Friday mornings we admire the desert sun. There is so much dust in the air on some mornings that you can look straight at the sun and it doesn't hurt your eyes. It's fascinating and beautiful. I tell the kids that it is beautiful because I want them to know what "beautiful" is. There are so many things that are beautiful that most people just overlook or don't even mention. If mothers, who are with their children the most, don't point out what is beautiful to their children, how will they know what is? Yes, children will eventually form their own opinions, but at least they will know what you, their mother, thought was beautiful. And perhaps because of that simple reason, they will appreciate it too.
So now, all the people that go to church with me know why we are always late for church. We're too busy running around outside in our tattered pajamas or reading about the Greco-Persian Wars to get there on time.

I'm grateful for the spaciousness of our living accomodations. At first I thought compound living would be uncomfortable and intrusive. However, there is plenty of room for everyone to live as they please, and surprisingly, most people spend their time indoors leaving the beautiful grounds to us McCollums and our Tumbleweeds.

Perceptions

2011-02-22T06:42:00.000-08:00

How do you perceive yourself? Are you "cool"? Do other people think you're "cool"? Do you think other people think you're "cool"? Do you even think about how other people might perceive you? I guess there are some people in this world that are either so busy with their jobs or so obsessed about things to notice what they must look like to others. Like Josie Grossie for example. She was so in love with Billy Prince she didn't even realize what she might look like to him. Then there are people that worry too much about what other people think to the opposite extreme. People that take monthly shopping sprees to the mall just after reading, I mean, "going through" the most recent Vogue or whatever fashion magazines there are out there. Do people really care what some lady in the supermarket is wearing? Do people really comment or make fun of people because of what they're wearing? OK, maybe in high school. But I'm talking about after high school. Well. . . . . . . . . I did have one experience in college where I was still wearing pajamas to school on a day I only had one class. I'd just had my first baby and my life revolved around him. Did I really need to get fully dressed to go to one class? Well, as I was walking in the parking lot out to my car, two handsome young men walked by and said "Good night!" to me. I didn't respond but I thought about it for a second and realized that they were actually paying attention to what I was wearing. You'd think that university students would have more on their minds than apparel! And it wasn't like I was wearing those turn of the century flannel nightgowns with the lace around the neck. Or ladybug pajamas. Not even silky sexy pajamas. It was just flannel pants and a fleece jacket. Anyway, you can tell that experience really affected me because I still remember it. Has anyone ever made fun of you or just commented on what you were wearing in a way other than, "Oh, I love what you're wearing!"? I'd love to hear the stories and the circumstances. Do share!

Anyway, the point of my post is that it is impossible for my husband and myself to brag about ourselves. It's even difficult for us to tell the truth about ourselves. Well, for me it is. Job interviews are pointless for me. I'd never get a job if it were based solely on an interview. Anyway, the other day when I was with some friends I ventured a little and did the impossible. I bragged. I felt so uncomfortable afterward that I have vowed never to do it again. Ever. It's just not my way. I told my husband about it and he stated that we have a problem on our hands. How will our children ever be self confident if they don't know how to brag? Especially boys. They love to brag. Isn't that how boys get through high school? Bragging about themselves and making themselves feel like they're better than all their friends?

So, we feel like we would be doing our children a disservice if they didn't excel in the art of boasting and bragging. Tonight we practiced doing the lame 'stir the pot' victory dance thing. (See, I'm so lame I don't even know what it's called!) I guess tomorrow we'll watch some sports and have the kids copy the athletes after they get a goal. We'll see how that goes. Wish us luck!

Growing up. . . slowing down

2011-02-15T23:52:00.000-08:00

Late morning, Hector's in bed, I should be preparing my group guitar lesson for this afternoon, but I'm really weighing the pro's and con's of enjoying a piece of chocolate cake as a snack. You know, the mid-morning snack you feel you deserve because you woke up at 4:45 in the morning to browse math curricula? Well, I came up with no conclusion. But I still feel that I deserve that piece of chocolate cake. I did clean all three of my bathrooms till they were sparkling AND they smell like disinfectant. That's my favorite part. The smell. That clean smell that tells you that there is no trace of poo or pee left in there. I'm so tired of poo and pee popping up everywhere in my life. But I can't complain.

I love being a mom. Especially a stay at home mom. And to top it all off, I love being a stay at home mom with a husband who is a teacher. He helps me out so much with the kids. He teaches them when they are having troubles with any type of school work. And an added bonus to that is that he gets two and a half months off to spend as he likes. Here is a list of what my husband dreams of doing in the summer months:

1. Go to Iran to learn Farsi (without his family)

2. Go to Lebanon to learn Arabic (without his family)

3. Go on several hunting trips with his friend Eric (without his family)

4. Wake up in the morning, forget to brush his teeth, jump in his Porsche and drive to the local university library and spend a few hours there, get lunch out, then return to the library and read until nightfall, go to a movie and dinner with friends, and then read in bed until he falls asleep.

Here is what he'll really do:

1. Take some summer courses at the local university
2. Lie about taking courses at the local university just so he can spend some alone time in the library reading.

3. Fix broken sprinkler systems and fix other house problems

4. Watch the kids for mommy when she wants to get together with friends

5. Indulge mommy when she wants to go canoeing and boating on various lakes

6. Basically indulge mommy every day when she gets a frown on her face

7. Eat some tasty fast food

8. Go on one hunting trip with Eric (without the fam)

9. Act like he likes lollipops when he really detests them.

So, I've been maidless for a few weeks now. As I've been picking up things around the house, I've really enjoyed just being around Hector. He's said his first word. "Arbol" which means tree in Spanish. There is a nice tall tree outside our kitchen window that he enjoys looking at while he eats his meals. He also said "Mas" this morning and made the sign for it. I'm hoping to get Hector going on Spanish, then the others will at least hear it around the house. Yesterday he dragged a basketful of toys and little things out of my room and into the hallway where it was left until the present. I've left it there on purpose. It's not dirty or messy. It's just in the hallway. I like to look at it every time I walk past it and think "My little guy is growing up. I need to slow down."

So, as I eat this chocolate cake, I'll slow down and only take on a few things each day, chocolate cake being one of them.

AAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1

2011-02-08T09:51:00.000-08:00

I am soooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo frustrated right now. I want to throw my computer out the window along with my new IPod Touch. Well, I've had it since Christmas and I still haven't been able to get any songs I want onto it. Gosh, I feel like a cave woman! I can't even get any songs onto my computer. I do have a natural aversion to plastic devices that take people's attention away. But I've made a sort of goal to myself to dedicate some of my time each week to figuring out how to use such things. I'm at my wits end. I just want to crochet! I just want to smock! I just want to feel something real within my fingers and have some control! Electronic devices are so stubborn. They refuse to compromise! I hate them!

Cinci is 4

2011-02-05T09:08:00.001-08:00

Man, Cinci is so heavy when I pick him up. He's one solid kid. But he is soooooooo sweet. He's got these perfect freckles on his nose and cheeks. His eyes are chocolatey. Yum! And his hair, so smooth! It sways from side to side when he runs, or gallops, or romps, or pedals on his bike. His little friends in sunday school even caress his hair during singing time. It's just too straight and smooth. He's a cutie and he's four now. He's decided to grow older and he is developing on his own terms. With our other two, it was completely different. With Cinci, he is in charge! I suppose he could live up to his name. Cincinnatus. General Cincinnatus.

For his birthday we had a party for him. I'm breathing easy now because it's over. But I must say that I had a lot of fun planning it out. Atticus, Sherman, and Daddy put on a puppet show for the guests.Then a neighbor of ours did some magic tricks for the kids. I invited the right people. Actually, Cinci invited the right people. You see, I don't particularly like to be the hostess. Talking and chatting are not my fortes. But my neighbor, Erika, is excellent at this skill AND her son just happens to be one of Cinci's buddies at school! She could talk to anyone anywhere about anything. She's great. I've decided that if I can arrange to have her at every party I host, she can step in as the hostess and talk to everyone.

My children are so special to me. I love to do birthday parties for them. Love, love, love it! Happy Birthday my little chocolatey boy!

The Bear went over the Mountain!

2011-01-31T08:46:00.000-08:00

I know a lot of people complain about living in Qatar but I must scream out over those complainers that "Qatar is cool!!!!!". Last Saturday we went to the Sheikh Faisal Museum with some friends of ours from school. The museum is actually the personal collection of Sheikh Faisal, a near family member of the Emir of Qatar. It's a very large museum, it must be to be able to contain all the boats and cars, and even an airplane, he's collected. My favorite collectible of his was this torture device that was left out front. The boys had a fun time sticking their feet in and pretending they were trapped.

After enjoying the museum and saying farewell to our friends we went to explore the grounds. If you must know something about me it is that I love to explore. I must discover what that cluster of trees is hiding. I must know where that road leads. I must find a way to that mosque that looks like an LDS temple. I must walk through the desert just as the bear went over the mountain, just to see what he could see. It's reassuring to see things for myself. So many people see things so differently than me, that I find it difficult to take their words for it. The kids ran around inside those huge barrels and no one came to complain. Back and forth, back and forth. Then we entered the forest. There were irrigation ditches that the kids sent bark and sticks down. Atticus and I hunted the peacocks. Well, not really hunted. But we chased them so abruptly that they flew up into the trees. I'd never seen a peacock fly until then. They are gorgeous! We chased them over and over again. On our way out of the forest we walked along a row of eucalyptus trees, the trees of my childhood. I used to make forts in them with my friends. The smell of the leaves brought it all back. I try to share the smells with my kids. It's so strange how a smell can mean so much to me, but for them it has no meaning. Just a smell and that's it. As we chased our last peacocks we discovered hundreds of grasshoppers jumping through the fields. Now I know where to go with my glass jar before we go fishing. I've made these hats. The ugly red and green one was my first crocheted hat. I'm too embarrassed to wear it in public because my neighbor made fun of me when she saw me put it on. Red and green? Well, those were the only colors I had at the time. I'm becoming obsessed with crochet.

Hector helps me carry my watering jug. We've got 9 tomatoes growing on our plants. The plants look sickly but the tomatoes continue to grow. We'll see how big they get.

And lastly, in our great endeavors to raise these boys of ours, we are beginning a stuctured education towards manhood. Our first lesson:

How to make a "man with hat"(which is basically and egg cooked inside a piece of toast, with a toast circle on the top.)

Next lessons: all the other types of eggs and how to tie shoelaces

Happy Birthday Hector!

2011-01-21T09:17:00.000-08:00

It was Hector's first birthday. I've been very bad about taking pictures of my kids on their birthdays. I didn't take one picture of Atticus' 7th birthday party, and it was really cool. He would have liked to have remembered the friends that came and the fun time they had. Oh well. This was the best I could get of Hector. He got a haircut for his birthday. And a cupcake. Here's Jonathan lugging Hector up a sand dune. This picture doesn't do the dune justice. Just know that it's really big and really steep. You wouldn't want to go down this dune in your car.

Here are our four bears outside the Museum of Islamic Art. We just went to see the exhibition they had of "A Journey into the World of the Ottomans". Fortunately, they displayed very little modern art so I didn't walk out of there frustrated from spending the money on the exhibit. Please forgive me for not being cultured enough to enjoy modern art. I just don't have that quality. We showed the kids the paintings, which they actually enjoyed. They really want to go to Turkey again. They love the Bosphorus. They love the mosques. I know they couldn't describe why they love those places but I know why they do. They spent so much time on the Bosphorus when we lived there. We didn't have a car. We were crossing on those ferries at least twice a week and more often on some weekends. We'd see dolphins. We'd see massive tankers. We'd see people throwing bread to the seagulls. We'd see jellyfish. So many of them. The fresh, coolness of the sea spray on their faces. Of course they loved it. The mosques were great because they were beautiful buildings. Beautifully constructed. They were tranquil. They were open. That was the best part. My children were welcome inside. Here in Doha, infidels are not welcome inside. Anyway, it's Jonathan's turn to post. Send him a few comments if you get a chance, that way he'll post more often. I hope he'll post every two weeks. I love to read his writing. I wish he'd write more.

The inevitable snuck in today

2011-01-10T06:52:00.000-08:00

Today was the day that Atticus brought home the seven year old version of "Mom, I'm dropping out of school and moving in with my girlfriend!" news. Many of you think that what I'm about to tell you is not that bad, but if you really knew me and my husband you would realize that for us, this is it. The worst news that a seven year old could possibly bring home. Well, maybe not the worst. There is always worse stuff than what you think is the worst.

He said that he wants to go back to America and never leave again. We asked him why, because he's never said that before. He's always been excited to know where we would go next. He responded, " I just like America better because I hate, hate, hate living in a place where people speak Arabic!" And he didn't say it like he meant it either. The worst thing about his statement is that it was totally rehearsed. After he said it I said,"Now tell me who really thinks that because I know you heard it from someone at school." He said, "Michael". Should I be grateful that my child doesn't really think these things? Or should I be devastated that he tricks himself into thinking that he is the same as these other kids at school. Up until now, Atticus has never told us he hated anything. I have noticed that a lot of his friends complain a lot and use the word "hate" a lot. Well, I hate it! Because it's rubbing off on my wonderful boy who used to never complain.

He then added this. "Arabic is stupid! And you know what I hate most about it? The writing. It's just black and white and black and white." Whatever that means. I know the writing is difficult. I've taken a class myself. But again, I know he's been listening to the other Western boys in his class.

And to top it all off, guess where he goes next. "Mom, I want an X box. I mean an Indiana Jones game thing." He doesn't even know the terminology. I know he means to say "I want a Wii" but again, he's just repeating the other kids. "I also want a phone just for me to put my own games on." Does my son ever talk on the phone? I asked him that. "Yeah. I talk to Grandma and Isaiah," he responded. We had to drag him to the phone both times.(no offense to the family)

How can my son go down this path?!!!!!! Well, I wasn't really that distraught over it because I knew in my heart that he isn't that person. Later on in the day he came into our bedroom while Jonathan and I were laying on the bed, lifeless, without a speck of energy left in our bodies, and wanted to pounce on us, which is always the case when Mom and Dad are on the bed. I said, "Atticus, what would you rather have, a Wii, or a canoe and a fishing rod?" His response was, "Well, I don't want to fall in the water, so I'd rather have a boat like the one Steve has to go to the mangroves in." Whew! That was what I wanted to hear. He didn't even give the question a second thought.

I know I'm so silly for worrying about this. It's just hard to transition from being completely in charge of someone's decisions to letting them make their own choices, whether they're choosing something just to be like everybody else or not. It's a shame Atticus has to put up with all the mistakes we make as parents. Poor kiddo! I hope he pulls through okay.

Footprints in the sand

2011-01-06T08:46:00.000-08:00

Well, maybe my family is treading too much on the earth by existing, but I still believe that this world was made to be lived on by humans. Humans that reproduce and continue existing. Sure, the world can use a few of those humans that sport North Face jackets and eat beef from grass fed cows, if any beef at all. But what if the whole world were that way? (I have a North Face hat.)

Today I took Cinci to the doctor to take a look at a nasty cut he got falling off his bike/trike. They had to cut off some excess skin and give him a tetanus shot. Not fun. But anyway, they gave me a prescription for some antibiotic cream which I did not have the pharmacist fill.

"I already have some," I thought to myself.

I'm pretty proud of the antibiotic cream that I do have. It was given to me by my sister in law, Tara. She gave it to me as a shower gift before the birth of my first baby. That was over seven years ago. I still have the same tube of Triple Anti-Biotic Ointment, Western Family brand. Can it be possible that I have given birth to four boys and have not even gone through one tube of Antibiotic ointment?

This evening Hector had diarreah for the first time. Time to pull out the Desitin. Did I have any? Nope. I've gone through my share of diaper rash cream. I can't boast that I've used less than one tube. But I was able to find this half used tube of cream that my Aunt gave me at that same shower.

It really pays to save knick knacks if you remember that you have them. It's actually a waste of money and matter to buy something that you already have somewhere else in the world. Our youngest boy, Hector, has worn pants about four times in his life. He just turned one on the 4th. I didn't plan on him growing so fast when I was packing clothes for this school year. So I left most of my 18 months pants and warm weather clothes packed away in storage back in Utah. It's kind of cold here some days. I regret not bringing a little bit of every size. But the silly thing is that I refuse to buy new pants for him. I'd rather sew him a pair of pants from scrap material than buy something that I already have (granted it's not on the same side of the world as me.)

The whole point of this post was to explain that I try to do what little I can to keep this world nice. I try to remember the reusable grocery bags that I have when I go shopping. In fact, I try to avoid shopping at all costs. But it can't be done. I save milk lids. I save cereal boxes. I save bones, shells, and feathers. I save old, holey clothes. I save a lot of stuff. Like creams found in tubes. As my children grow and depending on where I live, we'll recycle even more because I'll have some helpers.

Many problems in the world can be solved slowly by proper education. Parents can teach their children so many things if they so desire. So, instead of bashing people for having lots of kids, why don't you just encourage parents to teach their children the proper way to care for this world. Sometimes parents need a little boost, a little encouragement. They are exhausted in their role. (Don't say something stupid like, "Well, why did they have kids in the first place?) If you green people want to help the world so badly, step out of your backpacking reverie and talk to some parents about what they think would make it easier to teach their kids about saving the environment.

Hey out there! I'm a mom of four little boys. I'm tired almost all of the time. What would help me teach my kids about saving the environment would be some inexpensive ways to get my kids out in nature. If they loved nature and animals, they would want to assist in this cause. Recycling is non existent here in Qatar. Why doesn't someone who has more time than me figure out a way to provide that service? Maybe in ten years I can. If I'm still living here. For now we'll just have to be a bunch of footprints in the sand.

When silence comes

2011-01-03T08:36:00.000-08:00

Yesterday afternoon Atticus went with Uncle Steve, who is really our next door neighbor, to play soccer at the clubhouse. He was gone from 4:30 to 6:15. While he was gone I fed the other kids dinner and got them ready for bed. It was much too easy. When Atticus walked in the door I was in the back room reading to the others. He came back to see what we were up to, I told him his food was in the microwave. Can you believe it? I told him his food was in the microwave! Atticus is seven years old now. He can heat up his own food. He can eat dinner on his own. He can spoon out a portion of Arroz con Leche all by himself. He can even bring his bowl to the bedroom and be with us while I gave my specially prepared Spanish lesson to everyone. Which he did. He did join us voluntarily. I thought it was so sweet that he wanted to be with us even though he'd been with cool Uncle Steve that evening.
What will life be like in five years? I'm almost positive that Atticus will walk in the door and eat his own dinner just fine, but I'm sure he won't join us little guys voluntarily. There will be other things to do. Funner, more interesting things. In ten years, he'll walk in the door, grab his food, go to his room and slam the door and I won't see him until he walks out the door the next morning. Maybe. In fifteen years he'll be gone, out of the house and doing his own thing. Hopefully.
I'll have the other youngins. But they'll go through the same process of growing up and moving on. I'm sure I will cry. I won't have any cute little people that want to be near me. I won't hear the pitter patter of bare feet walking up to the side of my bed and climbing in next to me. I won't hear the chatter of their really loud voices down the hallway as they talk about who's airplane has better capabilities. I won't have chocolaty fingerprints to clean of the light switches anymore.
I want their lives to go on. It would be more devastating to me if they hung around me too long. I would blame myself. What can I do to prepare myself for that day when there is silence all around me and no more chaos to put in order? The simple answer to that is, I'll do all those crafts and hobbies that I wasn't able to do while the kids were around. But that isn't fulfilling when I really think about it. It's only a time filler. Something that I do to have a contrast against the crazy disasters that surround me constantly. Crafts and creating things bring me pleasure right now because I can control them.
So, I'm planning my distant future right now. I know the only way to feel fulfilled is to be around other people. I really like people. I really like to teach. Especially children. So I guess I'll go in that direction. Slowly. Meanwhile, I'll chase my little tumbleweeds around and giggle.

Day number 2

2011-01-02T08:33:00.000-08:00

There are three important days in a man's life, my husband says. First, the day he learns to crawl. Second, the day he learns to ride a bike. Third, the day he gets his driver's license. Well, Cinci hasn't quite hit number 2, but he thinks he has. It doesn't matter to him that his "bike" has an extra wheel. He was so excited about it on Christmas morning. Actually, everyone was excited about it on Christmas morning. Atticus could barely keep his mouth shut when he saw it first. Cinci was pleased. He knew it was just for him since he did request a basket in the back and a basket in the front. He didn't request a sign that had happy dolphins swimming on it with the word "FAMILY" written on top. But that's okay. I think it's dorkily cute. On Christmas morning he piled all his presents into his back basket, along with the delicious caramel popcorn that we bought in Dubai, and went out for a ride. He stopped periodically to grab a handful of treat. As you can see, he was grinning widely.The next morning we went down to the Corniche, the seaside, and rode bikes. It was windy and cold. Cinci was not pleased. He's not smiling anymore.

Then yesterday we went over to Education City where Jonathan works. The place was ghostlike. The only humans we saw there were the maintenance workers. The kids had a blast. This open, paved, space is priceless.

We definitely chose the right gift this year. Perhaps I should be sad to see my little guy growing up so fast, but I couldn't be more happy about the darling smiles he shows me every time he rides by on his "bike".

Gingerbread Train Station 2010

2011-01-01T10:22:00.000-08:00

We've been working on establishing holiday traditions since we've been living overseas. Making and decorating a gingerbread house was one of them. Last year we did our first one.

This year we vowed to do something a little more extravagant. I found an idea online for a gingerbread train station. "That's it!" I thought. Plus I already had the train cake pan. So I designed this one myself. What usually happens is I start out with grand ideas but they diminish as time goes by. So I got started with what you see in the photo below.Then I finished up the top triangular part with sugar cookies because I did not want to make a whole other batch of gingerbread. My husband is not partial to gingerbread. We had kids over to decorate on Christmas day. "One for me, one for the station, one for me, one for the station," I could hear them thinking as they popped the candy into their mouths.

As you can see below, I never bothered to finish the other half of the roof. I figured that it had enough candy and it looked good so I considered it done.

We ate it last night with our faithful neighbors Sophia and Christian for our New Year's celebration. We exploded some party poppers and ran around in circles screaming. Then we dumped all the candyless gingerbread in the garbage can. I am quite grateful for the clear counter space again.

Happy New Year to you all!

Thucydides on my mind . . .

2010-12-28T16:51:00.000-08:00

While we were in Dubai Jonathan stocked up on books for the next stretch of time in Doha. Three of them were on Greek history and one on some Arab conflict. On the flight home, which is only 45 minutes, Atticus was getting really antsy. I don't blame him. He didn't get the window seat this time. Anyway, I entertained him by drawing my version of the hoplites on the cover of Jonathan's book. There was a lot of nudity in Greek culture. I took a class in college about Greek culture. Ancient Greece of course. Anyway, one of the few things I remembered from the class was that the athletes used to train naked, that's why we use the word gymnasium. Gymnos means naked. The idea grossed me out at the time. But now that I'm older and much more mature, I can see the wisdom in such a practice. If you're going to get sweaty, why get your clothes all sweaty too? I'm sure those greek women had plenty of work to do without their husbands coming home with sweatstained clothes. As for the depiction on the cover of Jonathan's book, I don't think they were completely naked during warfare. I think they just loved nudity so they put naked men all over their vases and pottery.

I don't know why I took that class in college. I guess I was just fascinated with Greek myths and was inspired to learn more. Jonathan and I were dating while I was taking this class. We took the train up to San Francisco to find some examples of Greek architecture. I took lots of photos of Greek columns and capitals. Then for our honeymoon we went to Athens. We got a nice taste of Greece, not a real taste mind you. That would take a few months at least. We went back a year later for our first anniversary since we were living in Barcelona at the time. I was pregnant, and wouldn't it be fitting to name our first child Atticus, after the region where Athens lies? Attica. So you can imagine my surprise and amusement when Atticus came home from school a few days after arriving home from Dubai with several drawings like the one below. I was impressed with his attention to details that he didn't have before him as he drew. He drew all this from memory. The helmet, the "boobs" as he calls them, the penis, and, what I think is quite easily forgotten is, the butt. He remembered the butt. I think most people would have forgotten that little round shape he stuck on the back of the leg. I chuckle as I think about him drawing this in class. I wonder what his teacher thought.

The human body is such a silly thing for a seven year old. Giggle, giggle, giggle. Look at his penis! Why does he have boobs Mom? My philosophy so far is to act like the naked human body is normal and nothing to laugh at. My mother was extremely modest and my father was the opposite. I remember looking for pictures of naked people in the anatomy books in the library when I was a kid. There was a curiosity there that I thought was wrong. Well, it's not wrong, and I want my kids to know that. I hope that if they understand the human body, what it's for, and why it's special, they won't abuse theirs or anyone elses. And they sure aren't going to learn about it by Mommy shielding them from it like it's something to be embarrassed about. Does anyone else have any ideas on how to treat this aspect of learning with their children?

Tradition

2010-12-22T09:29:00.000-08:00

The tips of my pointer fingers hurt from pushing cloves into oranges all day. I love the smell of cloves and oranges at Christmas time. My neck is killing me for some reason. I can't turn my head to the left. The kids are happy because when the whole family is piled in the car, I can't turn around and scream at them. There's no point in screaming at the windshield. My throat is revving up for the yearly sickness. Thankfully, I've been able to let go of my big plans to finish Sherman's quilt, which has been waiting for over a year to be finished. Each of the kids has a marvelous gift waiting for them. Jonathan and I are so excited to see them open their presents this year. We've been able to get them exactly what they've wanted. Fortunately, what they've wanted has not been in conflict with what we've wanted for them. I'm sure those times will come soon enough. Even Hector will be pleased with his assortment of prisms which I will hang in the kitchen window. Every day around 1 o'clock he'll be chasing those rainbows scittering around on the floor. Shhhh! Don't tell him what he's getting.

We think of our family often this time of year. One of these days we'll be back with them to celebrate the holidays. For now, we are enjoying our time together establishing our own Christmas traditions. Just a few days ago we said goodbye to my mother. She was with us in for over a month helping me out with the kids and getting some new material for her next romance novel "Dunes of Passion". She even found the face for the cover of the novel. Issa Al Kabisi, a popular Qatari singer and boy is he hot!!!! Anyway, she mentioned that one of the things her mother used to do during Christmas time was read The Little Match Girl to her three daughters. I'd never heard the story, and when she told it to me I was shocked! What a horrible story to read young children at Christmas time. But, hey, it was a tradition. So I encouraged Grandma to read it to my kids before she left. I don't think they got it. Another one of our traditions, well . . . actually we started it this year, is doing puzzles. Here's Jonathan with the train puzzle we finished. He wanted me to take a picture of him with it before we put it away. He thought we should have at least left it out for 24 hours, but I disagree. As you can see in the photo, there's a lot going on at that table. Lego's and paper crafts. Add to that a space hogging puzzle and that's way too much. It had to go.

Here's us atop the Burj Khalifa. Hector and the Burj are officially the same age, did you know? They were both presented to the world on January 4, 2010. If I had to choose between the two, I'd obviously choose Hector. He's a lot cuter. However, I think this competition deserves a post of its own. Either way, it was impressive to be on the tallest observation deck in the world.

Merry Christmas from the Tumbleweeds!

Mayflower Menu

2010-11-21T14:05:00.000-08:00

Oats for breakfast. Hardtack or ship's biscuit for lunch. Peas porridge and fish for dinner. Sound good?

Mixed responses all around the table. Let me just tell you right now, I am sooooo sick of cheese. Shermy wouldn't finish his oatmeal this morning but he's wolfing down the hardtack. Probably because they are in the shape of hearts. No one would touch the peas porridge willingly except for Grandma and me. Jonathan looked like he was going to gag. He thinks mushy peas have the consistency of p@*(. Gosh I'm glad I wasn't on the Mayflower. Gosh I'm glad I don't have to eat bread full of maggots and weevils. Atticus said he was grateful for that too.

"It's working!" I scream in my head. My kids will be so grateful at Thanksgiving dinner this year. I am so grateful now. I'm having a hard time sticking to my goal of not eating anything they didn't have on the Mayflower. Jonathan and Grandma went out shopping tonight and left me home alone. Aaaaahhh! The sweets, or even a cup of yogurt sounds so delicious right now. Will I resist? Would you?

Thailand

2010-11-21T07:11:00.000-08:00

Who: Jonathan and Christine

When: November 11-18th

Where: Thailand

Why: Because we need a break from the Tumbleweeds

How: Divine providence

A few months ago I won two return tickets to anywhere that Qatar Airways flies. When my family and I found out, we looked exactly like Drew Barrymore jumping up and down in the library with her friend saying"I'm the most popular girl in school and Billy Prince is asking me to the prom!"

After procrastinating the booking of the tickets, we finally went in and told them we wanted to go to Thailand. There were obstacles to that decision which had to do with dates and the type of ticket we had won. We almost went to London, Kuala Lumpur, the Maldives, and Istanbul. But in the end we stuck with my desire to go to Thailand. Even though we had to fly stand by on the worst possible night in Doha International Airport, we still managed to get on that plane. Gosh! That plane ride was fantastic! I watched movies like a giddy school girl. And some of the movies were really lame too. After flying with a load of kids for so long, a nice 7 hour flight was no problem! A breeze! A delight! A luxury! A pleasure!

On our taxi ride from the airport we quickly quizzed the driver on what kinds of wildlife we could find there. Tigers? Snakes? Sharks? Crocodiles? I didn't understand much. He did manage to tell us that we could go see James Bond Island if we wanted to. Cool, but not my kind of cool.

Sorry, I'm not going to give you detailed info on my trip because I can assure you, I am not the same kind of traveller as you are. And I'm not trying to sound superior. I admit, I'm a bit hermitesque and more interested in animals and books than people, food, and sights. Here is what we did in Thailand in no particular order:

1. Read, read, and read. Our hotel room had a "nook" in it. I am absolutely enamored with the idea of a "nook" in my future home someday. Some women dream of what kind of furniture they will have, what molding they will choose, what art they will hang and where, or how many rooms they will have. Well, I will have my "nook"! A "nook" and a front porch. A "nook" is exclusively used for reading. Reading only. Not the reading of silly magazines and such, but the reading of books. Paper books. Not those electronic screens that are a blasphemy to my tactile sense. (Forgive me friends) We read in the nook with a silent candle burning. What pleasure! Even when we were out on a tour we had our noses in our books. I'm sure people thought we were the biggest nerds ever.

2. Mangoes. I love mangoes. The first time I ever tasted a mango was when I was 21 and a friend of mine made some mango salsa. That didn't do it for me. I think my sister in law got me into eating mangoes. She loves to read Sunset magazine and Better Homes and Gardens and make the recipes that you find in them. They almost always include a fruit or vegetable that could not be found in your backyard. Or even in your country. So, thanks to her, I love mangoes. Especially Thai mangoes. I ate about two every night. I peeled off the skin, then I cut off the fruit from the pit (if you would call it that). Then I would clean off the pit, getting all the flesh possible while scraping it with my teeth and the juice would flow down my forearm onto the napkin leaving me sticky. But that fruit was oh so good! So sweet. Never any bruises. Never green. Always perfect. I'll miss that.

3. We enjoyed the animals. Jellyfish, crabs, sandcrabs, crocodiles, tigers, monkeys, mudskippers, and dragonflies. I know you can find dragonflies everywhere, but I've recently become quite intrigued with them. Sadly, you will find no snakes on my list. We saw some massive red jellyfish on our island tour. We also got our fill of Sieamese crocodiles at the crocodile farm in Phuket. You always hear about crocodiles being endangered. Well, the wild siamese crocodile is endangered. There are a few hundred of them left out there in the jungles. Then you go to a farm where there are hundreds and hundreds of these crocodiles. There were about 5 or 6 of them that were tremendous. The rest of them were in huge pens ( if you would call them that) according to thier size. Right down to the 1 to 2 year old crocs. We tried to find babies but they must keep them somewhere else. It was really fun to observe these practical animals. So frugal with their energy, so deliberate in their movements, so patient for their meals. They must be really smart or have done something pretty special to have outlived the dinosaurs. I'm glad we have them around to be in awe of.

Here's a mudskipper. What a funny creature! It's like he's caught between two worlds. So wanting to hop and jump like a frog, but swimming with those huge bulbous eyes and lacking that steamlined figure.

Here is my precious dragonfly picture. Did you know that all dragonflies are carnivores and how they catch their prey is by catching tiny flies on their wings while in flight or while perched on a stick in the wind? I still haven't figured out how they get the prey from their wings to their mouths though.
Is there only one?

We thought about our next getaway. When will it be? Maybe in 5 years, maybe 10? Maybe when all our kids are old enough for us to leave them? Who knows? I sure am grateful for my Mom who came and stayed with the kids while we were away. She really is a trooper. I hope I can keep myself in good enough health so I can do the same for my kids someday. Hooray for Grandmas!

Lately. . .

2010-11-05T15:10:00.000-07:00

I've been busy filling my life up with a little bit of everything. Whatever happens, you always seem to fill your life up with something right? What have you filled your life up with? I remember this lesson I had in Sunday school when I was a child. The lady brought a big glass jar that was empty. She then filled it with large stones up to the top. Those represented the big things that we do, like sleep, go to school, eating time, etc. (I guess eating time is one of those biggies for me. Maybe not for you.) Then she filled up the rest of the jar with sand, and it filled up all the little nooks and crannies that were in between those large stones. Basically, she said that there is a lot of time in our lives. If we want to find time to do something, there is always time somewhere. We just have to schedule it in to those little nooks and crannies. That's how I feel me and Jonathan are working right now. Pulling bits of time out of nowhere and making things happen. I'm happy about it because this school year I've been able to delve into a lot of things that I wasn't able to last year because I was too busy growing a baby, and then keeping a baby alive. Now our baby is soooooo chunky and full of life that he is somewhat self sustaining. Here are a few things I've initiated this year.

1. I started to teach group guitar classes to children.

This has been a big learning experience for me. I love being around children. I find them easier to connect with than adults simply because they don't have any layers. They aren't hiding anything or trying to be something that they're not. I can be myself with them and teach them something that I really love. Unfortunately, it's guitar I'm teaching them and they are from ages 6-10. 10 is an ideal age, 6 is not. So a lot of them get discouraged early on. But, I'm having fun and so are they. Get them singing a little Elvis and we're all having loads of fun!

2. I began an Arabic class.

Jonathan began learning arabic last year and continues this year too. A nearby class opened up at a good time so I decided I would start also. Not to master it. I've found that such a lofty goal is unattainable right now. But, I can at least start now and learn how to read their words. I think their calligraphy and writing are so beautiful. I would love to learn how to write in arabic. Anyway, since I've begun, a whole new world has opened up to me. As we're driving along I notice the store names now. Here in Doha, the signs are written in English and Arabic so there is no need for us lazy expats to learn their alphabet. But now that I have begun to learn, I'm getting a whole new feeling about this place and these people. They are not as lazy as we might think. The Qatari's know both English and Arabic. They can function in both worlds. That is a skill that I cannot boast, yet. So, when I come home for the summer, don't think "Oh, Doha, that sounds so exotic. I wonder what its like there." Most westerners that live here don't live a life that is much different from their lives in their home countries. They find friends from their home countries. Their children go to school with other westerners. If their kids do go to school with Qatari's, they are very westernized Qatari's that don't cling strongly to their culture and let some distinct practices fall by the wayside. But, back to my point, arabic has been enriching to my life.

3. I began a crochet class.

I just started it last week. There are four other ladies in my class. One American, one Kiwi, one Lebanese, and one Qatari. I think that this class is so pleasant. Five ladies from different backgrounds getting together to learn a skill that is purely for enjoyment. I'm really excited to make some things for my smallest bear to wear. I know it seems silly to make hats and sweaters for him since we live in Qatar. It will never be cold enough for him to need such things. But, maybe at the malls? They sure do keep it chilly there.

4. I joined the Qatar Natural History Group.

They meet once a month and give a discussion on something relating to Qatar. Last month an expert came and spoke about the desert hedgehogs. This month a very nerdy and inspiring teacher gave an enlightening presentation on dragonflies and damselflies that are found in Qatar and showed us pictures he had managed to take of each kind. I'm really excited to go out and find some in this barren looking place. Next month a scholar from a UK university will come and speak about old Islamic boats. Kind of cool. I went by myself. Excepting the handful of preteens that attended with their parents, I was the only person under 50 there. Not that being 50 is bad, but I felt quite weird like I was at a senior citizens get together. Next time Jonathan will be able to attend with me, so we can feel young together. :)

The only way I can continue with these extra curricular activities is if I can maintain the basic curriculum of a stay at home mom. What is my curriculum?

Cleaning, cooking, remembering everything for everybody, giving love, wiping pee covered toilet seats (I know that should figure under the cleaning section, but I do it so often that it needs it's own category.), laundry, taxi service, making friends so that my kids have other kids to play with (otherwise I wouldn't go to the effort), closing my mouth 50% of the time I have something to say, looking attractive for my husband so he won't cheat on me, and having a positive attitude. If I slip in my duties, then my outside fun gets the boot. So, I guess I'd better stop blogging and get busy checking those toilet seats!

A Day in the Life of Ali

2010-10-24T11:18:00.000-07:00

Would you like a little glimpse into the life of an 18 year old Qatari boy. Here is an excerpt from an essay he wrote for his English class.

"I go to my room and prepare my clothes for ABP. Like my thobe, my scarf, then I prepare the little things like my watch and the rings for my thobe and pen and "Which glasses?"

How cute! He deliberates about which glasses to wear. When I see these boys, who look like men in their thobes, I don't see them as young boys who worry about such trivial things as sunglasses or pens to wear in their pockets. But they are. They grow up just as any other young boy grows up. Trying to define who they are by their appearance, by the things they own, by things that don't really matter in the long run. What else do these Qatari boys have besides things? I don't know. Their lives are secret and unknown to me. I am a woman and can't seem to get into their circles. My husband gets a little closer because he is their teacher.

Here is Ali's bedtime ritual:

"I go to bed and open my IPhone and choose a comedy to play on YouTube and open my Blackberry to chat with anybody. Finally, when my eyes close I close everything and sleep and wake up at 4 AM to pray. Then I return to sleep and get up at 7 AM to return to ABP."

I think about the typical American teenager. What does he do? Does he prepare himself before he goes to school? or does he just throw on dirty clothes and get to school late? Perhaps he is an overachiever and excells at everything. At night, where is he? At a party getting stoned? Out playing video games with his buddies way too late? Doing homework? There are all kinds of American boys. How many kinds of Qatari boys are there? I only know one kind. The kind that comes to school in a Land Cruiser dressed in a pressed, white thobe with their school books in their hands.

So much to learn. So much to understand.

Banana Island

2010-10-17T12:33:00.000-07:00

Lots of bones,
hermit crabs,

strange shaped jellyfish,

but the most impressive of all was this massive blue crab we found upon arrival.

Halloween stories

2010-10-12T11:43:00.000-07:00

Halloween is coming. I try not to read other people's blogs during this time of year. It makes me sad. I miss Halloween and Fall in the USA. While Jonathan cleans the kitchen and mutters "I'm just keepin it real, " to himself I mentally plan out all my kids' Halloween costumes. I may have my priorities really screwed up. What takes precendence? Putting my kids to bed or sewing some spider legs on the sewing machine? Clean my house or focus on my church responsibilities? Plan a decent meal or go to a playgroup? (Hector is only 9 months. Does he really need to go to a playgroup? or is it me?)
I try to do a little something for the kids each day. Today I went to the kids' school and read their classes some stories. I felt really good about it because a lot of those kids have no idea what Halloween is. So I did my duty and brought in a Halloween book. Atticus' teacher very convincingly ignored the obvious fact that I had brought in my own book to read the children. Since I was in her classroom I just read the story she gave me to read. But Sherman's teacher didn't seem to mind a little indoctrination. Maybe because she's from the USA too and probably loves Halloween too. All the children just ate up the story. Oh No! Not Ghosts! was a hit. They wanted me to read it again. Poor little Halloweenless children. I read a different story to Cinci's class. Mainly because I was afraid he would come up to me and tell me about each monster on each page. He likes to do that a lot. I didn't think it would work out too well if the other children were trying to understand the story. I really love going to their classes. My favorite part is seeing Cinci in his uniform with all the other tiny children. They are so cute!
Well, Jonathan is done with the dishes. I guess that's my cue to look like I'm doing something useful, like eat some of the delicious chocolate chip cookies he just baked. Excuse me while I go help him feel useful!
By the way, Jonathan says that Muslims in the USA believe Halloween is a holiday of Satan. So does my brother-in-law, Peter. But he still puts on his pumpkin hat every year. At least the Qataris hereprovide us a festive Halloween party every year.

2010-10-05T10:11:00.000-07:00

We had Jonathan's birthday celebration extravaganza yesterday. All Jonathan really likes is getting a hotel room where he and I can be together alone. No kids. No noise. And plenty of junk food we don't have to share with anyone. At home when we have our alone time after the kids are in bed I konk out after I've sat in one place for five minutes. But last night I ate a small bag of chocolates during the first movie we watched in the hotel room. I was getting a bit drowsy, then I got myself a cherry 7up that I picked out at Carrefour and put it in a glass with ice. Oh goodness me! The whole sensation of a frosty glass with beads of condensation forming on the outside surface coupled with the sound of the cubes tinkling against the edges of the glass. It sounded so luxurious. I felt rich! So, I sipped that for a while during that Diane Keaton and Jack Nicholsen movie. The I decided I would eat some peanut M'n'M's. I'm sure Jonathan was really surprised at how I was holding up. He was drifting off before me. I watched the ends of a few more movies. Then I finally fell asleep. I woke up uncomfortable. Too much junk! I am aware that I'm not as young as I used to be. I can't just eat whatever I want and expect to sleep well. Who cares about the calories! All I care about is the sleep. So I need to remember to eat my chocolate earlier in the day.

The next day we went back home to pick up the kids. You can't just go to the Four Seasons Hotel in Doha and not bring the kids to the pools. They love it there. We had a blast. These pools will always have a special place in my heart. Hector had his first swimming experience here. So Jonathan is 31 years old. Well, he will be in two days. He felt pretty good about himself this year. He's in better shape at least. Last year he fainted while working out in the hotel's gym. We got to talk about what kind of boys we're going to raise. None of those effeminate boys that the world is creating nowadays. All they know how to do is push buttons, pay for other people to do things they should know how to do themselves, and lay out. Gag me! I don't care how good vitamin D is for you. There are ways to get it without having to rip your clothes off and prostrate yourself in idle stillness. Anyway, Jonathan and I made a list of things we need to teach our boys before they are 14. Wish us luck considering we have to learn how to do half of the things on that list too.

I love Jonathan. He's too intelligent, lacks social skills, and isn't a snappy dresser, but I love him and I'm happy he loves me too. I'm happy we can love eachother and work toward our goals together in this life.

McCollum, not McClane

2010-10-03T03:36:00.001-07:00

Last night we went to Dairy Queen for dinner. Everyone had a regular meal but me. I had a Chocolate Extreme blizzard for mine. I know, I'm bad. Anyway, they have a cool play place at the Doha Dairy Queen. Relatively. I was enjoying my blizzard while the kids played. So relaxing as I shoveled the cold chocolate into my mouth. The kids are yelling happily and running and crawling through the tunnels chasing each other. I shovel in another spoonful. I look. I see Sherman at the very top of the play place about two and a half feet from the ceiling holding a ceiling panel in his arms. I could see the open space in the square hole above his head. "What are you doing Shermy?" I thought. Jonathan said, "You're not John McClane, Sherms!" I saw the look on his face as he tried to replace the panel. He looked really worried. So worried that he agreed to leaving immediately, which he never agrees to normally.
My mother would be so proud because she loves the Die Hard movies.

Weeds and Plants

2010-09-28T00:57:00.000-07:00

When you fly into Doha, what you see out the window right before you land is not impressive. It's brown, dusty, flat, yucky. Not exciting at all. So last year I occupied myself with growing a baby. This year we have a small moving baby that makes noise and acts cute for us. We are so grateful for the cute baby we have.

But I need another project. So I decided to plant a garden. A very small one. In my windowsill. Another reason I decided to plant some plants was because I was inspired by this book I'm reading. Last Child in the Woods by Richard Louv. Whenever I read it, I feel the guilty push to do something to connect my children with nature. Of course, it's really really easy to rationalize my way out of it because HELLO EVERYBODY, I LIVE IN DOHA! How could I possibly connect my children with nature here?

I actually have two answers to my lame question. Desert=nature. Ocean=nature. It's not like I have nothing to work with here. But, for the days that I can't go traipsing around in the desert or run off to the beach, I needed a reminder that I do live on a planet that can give life. So I bought all the supplies I needed down at the plant souqs. Potting soil, a planter box, and seeds. The kids were excited about the seeds. They each chose what they wanted to grow. Atticus chose cabbage, Sherman chose tomatoes, and Cinci chose peppers. Something they each like to eat. I chose radishes because I knew they wouldn't take much time or effort to grow. And I was right. They were the first to sprout.

Since we started our garden two weeks ago, Sherman has managed to dump Cinci's plant out on purpose, and even with two tries at planting, Cinci's plant hasn't sprouted. I think he's got the habit of over watering. Don't most kids?

I've planted some flowers. Can you believe that I planted some outdoors on my windowsill and they sprouted in two days. Two days! Doha is a magical land of wonderful sunlight, all year round.

So now I have several plants to care for. It's nice to have living things growing up around you. Living things like vegetables or flowers, not those four very large weeds we have tumbling around our house. Just kidding. They are nice too. But they tumble a lot and sometimes I get tired of the constant tumbling. Oh well. These little plants that are growing on my window are quiet and still and green. They make me smile.

Hectoracitus

2010-09-21T10:10:00.000-07:00

What a monster of a name! Good thing that's not his real name, right? The Qatari's have decided to join his first and middle names. It's on his health insurance card. His real name is Hector Tacitus. Hector of Troy, of course. And Tacitus because he was our first quiet baby. Our first baby to pop out of me without screaming his head off. The first Tacitus that we know of was a senator and historian of the Roman Empire born in 56 AD. He loved hunting. So does our Tacitus.

Life in Doha

2010-09-17T06:48:00.000-07:00

We have a family tradition here in Doha. How many times do you have to do it for it to become a tradition? I don't know. We've only done this once before. We woke up early and went down to the Corniche, which is the walkway by the sea, and took the bikes for the kids. Cinci brought a scooter, and Hector brought his stroller. Anyway we went early enough so it wouldn't be so hot. They rode down the Corniche and then afterwards we went to Ric's Kountry Kitchen, which is a place to get an American style breakfast. Lots of grease, with the option of food. The kids love grease cuz I never give it to them. So we walked by some men fishing and we saw them catch a silvery fish wiggling for its life as he pulled it out of the water. It had teeth. I asked him what bait he used. He pulled some bloody fish heads out of his bag. So the fish is a meat eater. I will not go swimming in the Corniche waters now. I saw a whole school of these fish a little while later rippling the surface of the water as they moved about. I was quite satisfied to see what wildlife came out of the coastal waters here. Sometimes I feel like I live in a dead place where nothing could possibly survive. But it's not true. The desert is full of life. Just not life that I'm used to looking for.

A Little P & P

2010-08-31T23:05:00.000-07:00

Look at that mirage. Doesn't it look like its flooded under that overpass? I think it's very interesting that when you're walking out in a desert such as this one, the only thing you can think about is cool water falling on your head. The very sound of a water trickle gives me pleasure. Even the sound of pee trickling onto a mound of sand when Cinci can't hold it any longer is nice. Why is it that something that you think is the thing you desire most, appears before you? I know there is a scientific explanation for this. I'm not scientific so I won't give you the explanation. There are things that have passed before me and lingered for a while waiting to see if I would reach for them or not. Some things come and go quickly. Some things speed by but then they return again years later. Sometimes the same things come in different forms. Maybe I'm not old enough to see the patterns yet. Maybe I'm not alert enough to see what things really are. Sometimes I see things in front of me and I know what they will do to me, and I know they are bad. They linger, and I try to see them differently so that they won't go away. I try to make them good. But they will never be good for me.

Can you believe there is a forest in Doha? A real live forest where trees grow and where birds live and thrive. I was outside the forest in the desert. The searing heat was weighing down on my eyelids. I thought the furrow in my brow would be baked in place. I really need to buy myself some sunglasses, but I abhor accessories. Anyway, I stepped into the forest and I was in a whole new world. Suddenely, I felt a magic carpet of leaves crunching under my feet. I almost needed a lamp to see, it was so dark. Anyway, I'm so uplifted by this new discovery of mine. Finally, a place I can take my kids to run around in. A place for them to climb trees in and be just as crazy as their insane cousins. A place for them to get dirty instead of sandy. Gosh, I am so tired of sweeping up the sand. I much prefer the dirt because I can see it.

Atticus helps me with baby Hector. An excellent big brother. His big brotherly kindness has really blossomed this time around. He could care less about Sherman's well being. Cinci is just "annoying". But Hector has "fat thighs" and fluffy hair and "looks at me the most" Atticus says.

Every night Jonathan and I look forward to the time when the kids are in bed, sound asleep. We love them so much, don't get me wrong. But it's so nice to talk to eachother without having to be interrupted a million times. I'm sure every parent looks forward to that time of day. When there is nothing good to watch on TV we put on our usual backup movie. Pride and Prejudice, the BBC version. Sometimes Hector will want to watch it with us, which pleases me because every boy should be raised on a healthy dose of Jane Austen, don't you think? I'm a firm believer that a boy raised on P & P, as we call it, will be able to communicate better with women. My brothers love it and my husband loves it. I asked my neighbor, who is an american man of 40 years, if he knew what Pride and Prejudice was. No was his reply. I must be firm in my conclusion then that there is something greatly amiss in todays world. Don't all men wish to communicate better with their women? Well, a little P & P will certainly remedy those troubles. So, mothers of boys, please do your sons a service, and start them young. They will thank you for it later. And, mothers of girls, in 20 years or so, four of the silliest boys in whatever city we live in at that time, may be calling on your daughters in a something like a barouche. As for the above photo, don't Lydia's boobs look huge from this angle?

The Holy and Exciting month of Ramadan!

2010-08-29T15:55:00.000-07:00

The baby woke up tonight so I figured I'd do my monthly post.

I'm alive everyone. Here's a picture. That way I won't have to write so much.

What do Qatari's do during the holy month of Ramadan? Well, they fast during daylight hours and pray too. But they also host these very cool events that we get to go to because my husband works for Qatar Foundation.

I'm not fully satisfied here with the amount of culture we've been able to experience first hand, but going to the events during Ramadan are about the closest I've gotten to their culture. The kids donned their thobes and took their token camel ride. Last year the camel was in a bad mood so I didn't encourage the kids to try. But this year he looked nice enough. The local pet store brought their lizards and snakes for the kids to see. And they had a raffle with some pretty cool prizes. Really cool prizes! And I won the grand prize! I'm not kidding. I won two return tickets to anywhere Qatar Airways flies. When we found out, we all happened to be in the kids' bedroom and the news threw us into a jumping and screaming frenzy that lasted 5 minutes. The kids didn't really get what was going on. At first they just stared at Jonathan and me as we acted like fools. But it wasn't long before they all joined in. So there were 5 crazy people bouncing all around in that room. Hector just laid there staring. Sometimes I wonder what he thinks about this world.

Sweat

2010-08-10T11:23:00.000-07:00

It's sweaty hot here. Tonight we walked over to the new grocery store located across the street from our compound. It's called Lulu's. The kids brought the money they'd been saving and blew it all on chocolate and chocolate milk. The cashiers and baggers all thought it was cute that they each had their own money and were each choosing their own treats. I thought it was cute too but next time I'm going to go through the line with each of them individually so they know what's going on. I don't think they'd know how to pay for their own treats if they were on their own.
Right now Cinci is learning how to be a big boy. He's getting potty trained seriously now. That means that during the day I get to see lots of buttcheeks and during the night I get to mop the floors with Clorox. Especially the bathroom floors. Other than that I've been getting my older boys used to regular chores. We have a month and a half before school starts and I don't want to be introducing new responsibilities while they're getting used to school again. It really has helped out. The kitchen looks clean every night. One of them wipes the table and sweeps the floor after every meal and the other one puts away all the clean dishes. For some reason Jonathan (yes, he's great!) and I always do the dishes by hand. We probably do about four drying rackfulls of dishes each day, so that one of our kids has dishes to put away throughout the day.
Even more than the help it provides, I think I like the peacefulness it brings to the household. If at least one of my older kids is occupied with something, then the house is a lot quieter.
I have to go take a shower now or all this sweat will dry off on me and I'll have a false sense of cleanliness about me. I am thankful for running water inside my apartment. I'm thankful for multiple bathrooms too. What luxury!

What's wrong with this picture?

2010-08-05T00:29:00.000-07:00

Blasts!

2010-08-01T12:32:00.000-07:00

The summer just flew by. We walked into our apartment here in Doha last night and the first thing we did was sweep the floors, vacuum carpets, and wash sheets. Dead flies were everywhere. Every surface was dotted with the carcasses of small little flies. I guess if the apartment goes untouched for 2.5 months and flies breed in our humid shower it's bound to happen. We even found a little white lizard scurrying around our front room floor. When we first came here last year there was a lizard too. It took us a few days to catch it but eventually we did. We have yet to catch this one.

Our summer was a series of blasts. One blast after another until the blasts kind of blended in with real life and started to seem ordinary. Jonathan and I are blasted out and I think the kids are too. We did so many fun things this summer that we'll remember forever but it sure is nice to sit down and breathe for a while. It's so nice to put clothes away and know that they will be in and out of there for at least 9.5 months. It's so nice to cook the same old meals in "your" kitchen. It's also really nice to know that no one will knock on your door for at least 45 days so you don't really have to move the unpacked suitcases out of the entry way for another few weeks. You can just be messy and never get out of your pajamas for a really long time. sigh.

Our life has sort of formed itself now. We go away during the school year and then return for the summers. I think it's the perfect way to live. Our family and friends don't get bored or annoyed with us in the states and abroad we can focus on our goals and work our butts off doing all the unfun stuff. It presents sort of a problem for our family though. When we come to the states for the summer not everyone is in "vacation" mode like we are. It's like we're standing on the starting line of a race waiting for the shot to go off. Once we hit American soil we start running and we don't stop until we leave again. This year that meant that I ate way too much Baja Fresh. So much that I don't know if I will ever eat there again. I got my fill of See's chocolates. I spent just enough time outdoors doing outdoorsy things with the kids. I saw way too much of my childhood and felt "nostalgia" for the first time. Well, maybe not the first time. But the first time that I realized that I'm getting old.

Hector is the only one up right now and I don't think he has any intentions of falling asleep soon. I guess I'll go check what's on TV. Bye!

Facing Time

2010-07-21T02:26:00.000-07:00

What happened to my somewhat regular blogging habit? Well, I guess summer happened. That wonderful thing that happens every year where children are freed from school and extra curricular activities and are forced to face time and learn to use it as they please. Well, somewhat as they please. Not with a mom like me they don't. I'm pretty schedule oriented and my kids know it. Every day Atticus asks me, "So Mom, what are we going to do today?" I always have fifty things I would like to accomplish but by experience have learned to be happy with getting maybe three done per day. I list off my ideas to him to which he responds with his opinion of whether or not it is fun. Thanks Atticus. I appreciate your input.

I used to feel a little uncertain about whether there was something wrong with me if my kids didn't like what I had planned for the day, but now I'm not uncertain at all. I come up with some pretty cool ideas. My kids are really lucky to have me. And I am so lucky to have them. All four of them, and all four of them boys. So when Atticus says, "That doesn't sound very fun Mom, " I say, "Well, you make your own fun, Atticus." And that is something everyone has to learn eventually. Whether it be by reading a book, or looking around you and thinking, or texting your friends constantly, or spending your time on Facebook, or cleaning your house, or planning out a vacation, or watching TV, or building something, or working, or whatever.

So my tumbleweeds and I have managed to mold eachother a little. Because of me, my children expect something new out of my sleeve every day. Because of them, I try to stuff my sleeves full the night before. Once we step off that plane in Doha though, I think the contents of my sleeves are going to empty out pretty fast. What would you do inside an apartment for a month and a half with four loud energetic boys?

Who? Me?

2010-05-01T16:37:00.000-07:00

That's right Hector. You. He's getting so cute and cuddly. It won't be long before his grandma's get to hold him for the first time and talk to him all about what he's been up to these past four months. Just 6 more days.

Dukhan 1

2010-04-28T16:04:00.000-07:00

Our adventures in Doha have been pretty exciting. Ever since Atticus saw one of his friends using flippers he's wanted to buy some for himself. So with his allowance for last month and for the next three months he got some finally. Sherman got some too and so did Daddy. So we thought it our duty to go somewhere to use them. Where to go? Where to go?

For those of you who aren't familiar with Qatar, it is a small peninsula on the Arabian Gulf about the size of Connecticut. You'd think there would be plenty of places to go snorkeling on a peninsula. Our neighbors had just made a trip to Dukhan and seen quite a bit of sealife. So we embarked on our journey across the country. Fortunately, we live out in the boonies of Doha anyway so we were halfway there. It's true! Looking at the map it shows Doha on one side and Dukhan on the other. It takes just as long to get from the coast of Doha to Education City (where I live) as it takes to get from Education City to Dukhan's coast. There is so much traffic congestion in Doha that it makes me never want to go out. Well, not really. But sometimes. Anyway, the picture below shows you the scenic drive we had while driving west. Going west! Ahh! It felt great to be out in the open. The nice four lane highway, completely empty the whole way there. We saw some wild camels out chomping away at the shrubbery. Then we saw a herd of them running along. It was great. I was just too slow to get a photo. I was too taken in by the beauty of the drive. Ha! I never thought I would consider Nevada's desert beautiful. Well, it is. I'd take Nevada's desert over this one any day. At least you get some color in the sky. On some days it's so dusty you don't even want to breathe. The photo below is of the Emir's palace. This is a photo of it from a distance. I've heard of people trying to get photo's of it up close but were asked to leave by the gaurds. You can't see the palace. It's inside this massive wall surrounding his household. It is literally a walled city with streets inside it. He must have hundreds of servants. Hundreds!

So I have only two photos of our trip to Dukhan. One on the road there, and one on the way back. Sorry people. No good shots. We got there, the sky cleared up. It was sort of blue. We got to the beach and it was empty! Not one person could we find on that beach. It was a bit windy! What's a little wind? Wimps! So we drove out there and followed the instructions of our neighbor on how to get to the part of beach that has the reef. We got our van stuck in the sand. It sucked! Getting your van stuck in the sand at a secluded beach that no one is likely to go to until the next day is a little bit nerve racking. Especially for Jonathan I'm sure. For some strange reason I don't panic when he's around because I notice that he does it for me. I got out of the van and encouraged the kids to also. Why sit inside and worry? We tried to push it. We tried putting stuff under the wheels for them to catch on. We tried going forward, then backward. No luck. Then we prayed. Then this really nice Qatari man and his family drove by and helped us. He and Jonathan managed to get our car out of the sandpit while his cute, half naked little boy galloped in the sand with my boys. A godsend!

Hector was pretty pissed off that he had to stay in the van the whole time. The wind outside was strong but it also started to rain a little. We managed to keep our kids outside playing for a good 45 minutes before it was too painful. Painful because the wind blew up sand, but sand mixed with rain hurts. Small pellets of wet sand pitter pattering all over your skin starts to sting after a while. We didn't even try out the snorkeling gear we bought. The waves were too strong. I know, it sounds unreal. Waves in Qatar. The beaches are unusually calm in Qatar normally. We just picked the wrong day.

So that was the latest adventure of Bunsy and her Tumbleweeds. And to top it off, we saw a real ball of tumbleweed roll across the highway in front of us on our drive home.

P.S. I realize that the revealing nature of these photos may destroy any hope I might have had in getting at least one visitor out to Doha during our life here. Doha does have some beauties and from now on I will try my best to capture them. Hopefully, someone will change their mind and want to visit.

Does anyone know how to get a picture to fit in the frame at the top of my blog?

Bubble Party

2010-04-19T22:32:00.000-07:00

From the adventures of bunsy and her tumbleweeds

I woke up to the song "Silver Bells". Of course it wasn't playing on the radio. It was just in my head. Then as I was holding my chunky warm baby and playing with him and Cinci on the ground, I thought of Christmas. I'm so glad I have kids in my life. They are such a great addition to Christmas! Anyway, my husband came home from dropping the kids off at school and I immediately told him that I had Christmas in my head to which he responded, "Well, it is the 20th of April, which is 5 days until April 25th, which is 4 months after Christmas!"

How could I have forgotten? I'm so lame. So to celebrate, I went to the library with my friend Melany. Then we had a brief bubble party at Melany's house during which we laughed and giggled, blew bubbles with Cinci, fed Hector, and spoke of knee replacements. It was delightful to enjoy the shade beneath the trees in her backyard. Trees! Such great majestic trees (for the likes of Doha). And she is such jolly company. A 20th of April to you all! I'd better get ready for the 4 months after Christmas Day celebrations! Bye

From the adventures of bunsy and her tumbleweeds

Spring Break 2010

2010-04-11T01:42:00.000-07:00

Last week was Spring break for my kids so Jonathan sent Atticus, Sherman, and me off to Dubai for three days. Yeah, I know. We already went there 6 weeks ago. If you haven't heard much about Dubai, I'll tell you all you need to know about it. It's the Vegas/Disneyland of the Middle East! Fortunately, it's only a 45 minute plane flight from Doha, which is the Elko of the Middle East.

I just finished the whole post but then something went wrong with the computer and it didn't save. So much for thoughtful posts. In a nutshell, we had a lot of fun in Dubai. I didn't miss my plane flight home and I was able to stock up on a lot of Thomas the Tank Engine pasta to motivate Cinci to use the potty.

Crabs

2010-03-21T16:55:00.000-07:00

It's starting to get hot here. It's not that blasting burning heat that was here when we arrived in July last year, but we can easily foresee it coming soon so we are trying to get out and do a few more outdoor things before it's impossible. Last weekend we went to Al Wakra beach. Definitely not the most beautiful beach in Qatar but it's close by. As you can see in the photo below, the water has gone down considerably since our last time here. It was Hector's first time to the beach. He didn't like it very much. He preferred the car. We are so grateful we got a minivan. So most of the time Jonathan or I just sat in the car with him. He didn't like the wind.
Jonathan is a mighty crab hunter. Every time we go to the beach I get out my trusty bucket and go look for wildlife. We've graduated from hunting little hermit crabs to bigger ones. I'm too scared to even touch a crab. I scream like a girl. My boys think its hilarious that I can scream uncontrollably when I see a crab scurry across the sand in front of me. Here's a picture of me. I think it describes my life perfectly right now. Poopy diapers, spit up all over my shirt, and a comb in hand trying to untangle my boys' hair.
If I don't post this soon, I never will. So much for writing something profound and witty.

Options = Wonder

2010-03-09T21:37:00.000-08:00

I know I know I know! Breast is best! But, why is breast best if the day I start giving my baby exclusively formula (just to see what will happen) he is happier, considerably less gassy, begins sleeping nine hour nights, and has begun to awe me with that smooth baby face that every baby should have.
So if formula is making my baby happier, why in the world did I make myself a slave to the pump for so many months of my life? I've pumped for all of my children when they were babies. All of them were gassy and colicky for the first few months of their lives. Strangely, they were gassy and colicky for all the months they were receiving breast milk from me. Can there be a connection?
I'm so tired of wondering what I should be doing. If he is happy, I am happy. If he is happier with formula, I am happier with formula. So, even if my freezer is filled to the brim with bags of frozen breast milk, I'm debating whether I will give it to him if it makes him so uncomfortable. I'm just so glad we have options in this day and age. I suppose that long ago there wasn't much wondering going on. There was only one way to feed your baby. So, I guess we wonder a lot more when there are so many options out there.

Windy day at the park

2010-03-06T21:21:00.000-08:00

From the adventures of bunsy and her tumbleweedsWe went to the park yesterday. It was Jonathan's last day of his week long vacation. I decided to get some use out of my "new" lens. It really makes a difference in the expressions I can catch on my kids faces. If they can't see me taking their picture, I can get a real genuine look on their face. This is Shermy with his intense look. He has many looks though.

From the adventures of bunsy and her tumbleweeds

Here is Atticus crooning a song as he glides past.

From the adventures of bunsy and her tumbleweeds

Cinci and Daddy together all the time. They're pals.

From the adventures of bunsy and her tumbleweeds

Hector gets to glide along too, in his stroller. Everyone's got wheels!

Blah blah blah blah . . . .

2010-02-28T20:24:00.000-08:00

Sometimes I just feel the need to write and let things out. Today is one of those days where I'd rather write than do something useful or productive. Do you ever feel like that? Right now I feel like there are hundreds of little sprouts of ideas and thoughts whizzing around in my brain but very few of them ever find a place to take root. I suppose that part of my problem is that I'm not the kind of person that just lets things take root. Last week I went over to a neighbors house just to chat because I need that right now. She told me that years ago she had a visiting teacher who told her of a lady she used to visit. The lady's house was always a disaster but during the visits the two ladies had such wonderful conversations. The "messy" lady always had something interesting to talk about or was lately trying out something unique or fun. The visiting teacher asked her "How do you find time to do all this stuff and know about all these things?" The "messy" lady responded, "Look at my house!" I feel exactly the opposite. My house is not decorated, nor is it spic and span, but it is clean. And sometimes I'm afraid that I'll look back on my life and ask myself why I spent so much time on having a clean house. It seems silly. I actually walk down the hallway and if I notice one of my hairs on the tile floor I make a note of it to pick it up either on my way back down the hall. My mental to do list goes something like this:

1. Feed the baby
2. Calm the baby down
3. Pick up the toys off the carpets (Oh, there are hairs and popcorn kernels on the carpets.)
4. Pull out the vacuum and leave it on the carpet so that when I get a chance I can vacuum.
5. Think about quilting
6. Wash and put lotion on my feet because they are gross and the heels are cracked.
7. Play with the baby. Change the baby. Oh there are hairs in the hallway!
8. Get some hershey kisses from the kitchen and eat them.
9. Play with baby some more.
10. Try to sweep up the hairs in the hallway.
11. Put the bag of quilting stuff on the table so I'll remember that I want to do that.
12. Oh, I'm in the living room and the vacuum is still there. Forget about quilting, and vacuum the floor.
13. Comfort the baby.
14. Pop some more hershey kisses in my mouth while I think about the next time I'll be able to work out. When can Daddy watch the kids?
15. Lug the vacuum back to the closet. Oh! There is sand on the closet floor. Proceed to pull everything out of the closet and. . .
16. Play with baby. Put him down for a nap.
17. Blog
18. Go to the bathroom. Ooops, forgot to sweep the sand out of the closet. Better do that. Sweep it up. Put everything back in the closet. Gotta go to the bathroom real bad.
19. Put the broom back and race to the potty.
20. Go to the kitchen thinking that I should nap while the baby naps.
21. What's going to be for lunch? as I eat more chocolate.
22. Stroll into the living room. What's that on the table? Oh, quilting.

Am I a wacko? Does anyone else work like this? So now, looking back on what I have to show for myself for this part of the morning. Um . . . . . . basically nothing except that I love my baby and I may have a few more pounds to lose and a few more cavities to pay for. But hey! The house is clean!

Now that I've written all this out I think I need to be more focused. I should really ignore that hair issue. It's a little obsessive don't you think?

What I'd really like to do is be a cool mom. That's my greatest desire. Not cool meaning thin, attractive, has a nicely decorated house, has well dressed kids, and makes unique sounding dishes for dinner that don't really taste good but thinks they do, and has time to go to the gym. What I mean by a cool mom is one that isn't afraid to make a mess every once in a while, makes time to read aloud to the kids, runs with them, does cartwheels, sets a good example by praying daily, sets a good example in diet and exersize, talks about the news with them, plants a garden with them, travels with them, makes them walk places, feeds them chocolate every once in a while, and talks about her goals with her kids so they know she has a life that involves other things besides them.

Totally off the topic, I've been thinking about how lucky I am to be safe here in Doha. No earthquakes, storms, or job trials for us right now. But I keep thinking about how unprepared we are if something were to happen to us. A few days ago I heard a rumble and thought I felt movement under my feet while I was standing in my kitchen. I said "Oh crap!" aloud and Jonathan looked at me and asked me, "Why?" The rumble turned out to be the people upstairs moving some furniture or something big. I thought an earthquake had struck Doha. With Haiti and Chile so fresh in my mind I've been slightly thinking about how those situations would affect me and my family. As members of the LDS church, we are told and told again and reminded and reminded again to prepare our emergency kits and food storage for our own good. Many of us don't do it, or do a crappy job of it. Some of us do it and do a wonderful job of it. I personally haven't done it and I find it ironic that I still get angry at my children every day for not listening to me, when I don't even have the respect to listen to God half the time. He doesn't get mad at me. Of course, I am not God, but I should be trying to be like him. Good, patient, generous, loving, kind, etc. Bla, bla, bla. I could go on and on but I won't.

So here's to being more focused! I'm going to go get all my important documents in order so that if we have to flee the country we'll have everything in one place. Yay!

Valentine's Day

2010-02-24T16:28:00.000-08:00

Our Valentine's Day was typical, which is nice since we're in a country where people don't really do anything to celebrate it. The morning was rushed having the kids fill out Sponge Bob Valentine's for their friends in their classes. Of course, they would be the only children passing out Valentines. But hey! A reason for candy is always welcome. Atticus' teacher just giggled like a school girl when she saw the Valentine's.

The afternoon was filled with sugar cookie making. Atticus and Sherms helped and have thankfully improved over the months since the last time I tried to enlist their help.

Miss Leah

We made sure to give our lovliest people Valentine's, like our nanny, Miss Leah/Mary Poppins, and Shermy's latest girlfriend, Gennette. He fell in love with her at the Christmas party we went to a couple of months ago. She's an excellent dancer and a jolly lady. I understand why he loves her. Unfortunately, she's already married and a handful of decades his senior.

Gennette and her husband dancing together.

Then a few days ago we got a package in the mail from my sis-in-law, brother and their kids. Oh what a treat it was! Especially the Twilight themed sweetarts. My favorite message was "Bite Me!" Here are pictures of the kids when they received their candy.

Thanks guys! We love you and we really loved the messages and drawings.

So, where did you learn to ski?

2010-02-22T09:16:00.000-08:00

Atticus and Sherman in the airplane.

My husband is the bestest! He took care of Cinci and baby Hector while Atticus, Sherman, and I went off to Dubai for a three day vacation. I stayed with a friend, Tiffani, and I am so thankful she doesn't put a lot of effort into decorating her home. I was a little scared because my boys can get pretty rowdy sometimes, but there weren't any glass coffee tables, fancy vases or porcelain statues for them to break. She put up with my kids lack of manners and my lack of preparedness, and did it all with a sick child and a 7 month fetus in her belly.

My main reason for taking the kids was to get them started on skiing. In Dubai they have a big snow dome where they have ski lessons, snowboarding lessons, and all that other fun snow stuff. But Dubai not only has the snow dome, but it has the tallest building in the world and the craziest malls too. If I were to go back to Dubai this is what I would have done differently.

1. Not rented a car. Taxis are abundant and cheap.

2. Not stepped foot in any of the malls without a knowledgable friend (AKA Tiffani Bates) to direct me.

3. Taken my husband with me.

4. Not missed my flight home.

5. Not cried so much. I'm such a baby.

This was the very first time that I've ever been in unfamiliar surroundings without my husband (since we've been married.) It was hard. At least when we were together one of us was taking care of the kids and the other could deal with getting us where we had to go. I missed him a lot. I've taken for granted how fun it is to discover things together. He's a wonderful travel companion with a lot of passion for the unknown. Atticus and Sherman were really excited about the Burj Khalifa, the tallest building in the world, though. As we exited the airport and got on the freeway we saw it towering above everything else. It almost doubles the height of the next tallest building near it. It really is a sight to see. Very shimmery and sharp. The kids just giggled as they looked at it.

Ski Dubai, the snow dome place, is an excellent place to go to have your kids learn to ski. Not that I've taken my kids to the real slopes. I really don't know anything besides Ski Dubai. But I think its great, and I'll keep coming back every time I can. You don't have to worry about any equiptment, clothing, or driving up a snowy mountain. You don't even have to bring a jacket for yourself. Atticus and Shermy just wore shorts and a T-shirt under the suits they rented. Their classes only lasted an hour, which is perfect for their ages. They loved it and did really well. Last year I was thinking about taking them to Austria or Germany to ski, but I'm so glad I chose Dubai. Much more affordable and comfortable. I remember the days when I would go skiing at Brighton in Utah. I just don't like having cold toes. I'm a wimp about being cold. But I won't let that keep my kids from learning to ski. What if they love it and are really good at it? What if they like being cold?

Atticus in his ski class.

We are home in little old Doha now. It really is little. Little, stark, dusty, and perfect. Perfect for me and my family right now. Our trip to Dubai was great though. I'm hoping Jonathan will take a trip there during his vacation because not only do they have Taco Bell there, but they also have a Baja Fresh!

For Cameron

2010-02-15T15:58:00.000-08:00

I'm so excited to tell my big brother that yesterday Hillary Clinton visited Doha. She did a question and answer meeting in Education City where Jonathan works. I wish he could have been here with us. Though we're not huge fans of our secretary of state, we know he is, we thought this visit to little old Doha was pretty cool. Who knows? Maybe she'll be our president someday and Jonathan can say he saw her in person.

Another big reason why yesterday is memorable is that my muffin/jubba lubba made it to the six week mark. He weighs 13 pounds and doesn't like to fall asleep until at least 11 pm at night. He also loves to bathe with his big brothers. The first time I bathed him in the big bath tub I had Atticus help me. Then Sherman got a turn. Unfortunately, Hector decided to poop while Sherman was holding him. Sherman freaked out and started screaming. It was so funny. Hector just looked around and was calm as can be and Sherman was standing up with a look of horror on his face. Here's a picture of the second bath, after the poo.
For all you families that are graduating from a five seater car to a seven seater to accomodate your growing family, I have a nugget of knowledge for you. Just because there is more space does not mean that the contention will stop. Atticus still opts to sit right next to Sherman in the back row of seats instead of having his own window seat. You can see why in the photo above. On Valentine's Day we decided to give our kids a small token of our love. Candy. Candy in the form of gummy hearts. The really cute kind with text messages on them. Atticus decided to stick about 15 of them in his mouth at once and then spit them back out into his hand just to see how pretty they looked all shiny and glistening in the afternoon sun. When I saw this I yelled, "Put those back in your mouth!" and he got about 5 minutes of lecture from Dad and I about not taking food out of his mouth ever! While we weren't looking, which is most of the time, he proceeds to style Shermans hair with his sticky hands. I looked back when I heard the Sherm giggles. That's the tell tale sign for our family that something naughty is going on. The Sherm giggle. I looked and was immediately reminded of my days as a child growing up in the 80's. This picture doesn't do Sherman's hair justice. You can't feel the crispiness of the hair from the photo. Also, this photo was taken after Atticus de- furred his sticky hands. At least they looked like they were covered with fur. Nice long yellow fur. Yuck! Thank goodness for baby wipes!!!

Tomorrow, Atticus and Sherman and I are taking a trip somewhere. Can you guess where?

Still going.

2010-02-10T04:20:00.000-08:00

From the adventures of bunsy and her tumbleweeds

Mr. Jubba Lubba is still alive and kicking. He has a slight case of baby acne. My theory is that since I eat tons of chocolate, he gets the acne through drinking my milk. I could give up chocolate for the time being but I'm not strong enough. Even with the acne, we still love him and think he's adorable.

Cinci is still alive too. He's finally three and he requested a "Patty Cake" for his birthday. "No problem Cinci!"

See how happy he is.

He also got to go on a bike ride with Mommy. I haven't ridden a bike in years. I felt like I was flying. I'm sure all the Indian workers in the compound thought I was crazy because I was screaming "I'm flying, I'm flying!" as I sped along after Atticus and Sherman. That poor bike though. A neighbor of ours has quite the collection of bikes. This particular one has the main seat for the pedaler, then one right in front and one right behind. I tried riding with Cinci in front and Sherman in back but the poor tires weren't taking it so well, probably more due to my size than theirs. I still have a few pounds to lose so maybe we'll try that bike again in a few months.

From the adventures of bunsy and her tumbleweeds

Cinci, since turning three, now sports a small cut right between the eyes. He's quite proud of it. This is the cut that produced blood out of it, out of his nose, and out of his mouth. It doesn't look that bad, does it?

When it rains. . . it pours.

2010-01-31T23:30:00.000-08:00

I'm still alive after the events of yesterday. But I sure felt awful this morning as I hid under my covers debating on whether to get out of bed or not. I did get out. Jonathan had an important meeting yesterday afternoon and couldn't come home like he usually does to take Atticus to his ice skating lessons. So, I was going to do it. Why not? Other moms venture out of their houses with four kids, one of them being a four week old baby. Why can't I? Everything went okay and by the time we were done with the lessons and walking back through the mall towards the exit things were going great. I was walking happily along with my gaggle of ducklings around me. I could even hear music accompanying me as we moved along. Happy jolly music. My almost three year old was even kind enough to push the stoller for me. Bad idea? Yeah, really bad one. In a split second I was snatched from my beautiful daydream and forced to move quickly (not easy because of my largeness) to collect my newborn baby from the floor. Yep, Cinci tripped, pulled on the stroller handles bringing them to the floor, and flipping the poor baby onto his face. I scooped him up and ignored everything else. He was alive, breathing, crying, and farting non stop. Poor baby, poor baby. After I calmed him down he seemed okay. But do you really ever know? I'm sure my mother is worrying about him as she reads this. (Mom, no need. I'm sure you're reading this post three weeks after the fact anyway.) So, there I am in the middle of the malls food court making a huge scene. I'll spare you the details.

In a nutshell we got home to even more drama. I spent the next two hours trying to be that successful mother I'm always striving to be. Cooking a nice dinner of scrambled eggs and frozen peas. Then the bedtime routine. I can't believe I pulled this one off. Four things at once.

1. Acting interested in my 6 year olds reading homework.

2. Rooting for my almost 3 year old as he struggles to poop on the potty.

3. Hold a screaming baby who wants all my attention.

4. Scrape off excess skin from my 4 year olds feet and apply the medicine. He's got planters warts.

After making it through that, they are finally all in bed and I can focus on the baby. But 15 minutes later Cinci calls to me and wants me to "fix his bed" because he destroyed it while I was working on Sherman's feet. Talk about OCD. I told him he'd have to wait until Daddy got home. I continue feeding the baby and I hear a thump and then wailing and I think to myself, "I'll bet there's blood. I'll bet there's blood so don't be surprised." I round the corner of the hallway and sure enough there's blood, all over Cinci, just like in a horror film. Blood streaming down his face, from his nose, and from his mouth, and dripping all over the floor.

He's okay. Everyone is okay. I'm okay. It was just one of those days. Life goes on. I learned so much from the events of the day though. During these moments where time slows down and you have to act fast and prioritize fast, that's when your true colors show through. And so far, my colors are pretty. During these scary moments I never find time to yell or scream, I just move forward calmly. I wish I could be like that all the time. Why can't I get through the days normal events without yelling and screaming? I have no idea. Weird. When the baby fell I got to see my 6 year old turn into a man for a second. He didn't stand there and laugh or act silly like he had been a moment earlier. He starting picking up all the stuff that had fallen from the stroller to try to help me out. I'm so glad that his true colors are pretty too.

Bertha Sanchez Dryg

2010-01-22T22:05:00.000-08:00

As of this month, all my grandparents are dead. It's hard to believe that I'm not the third generation anymore in family photos. Jonathan and I are getting older and find ourselves one step closer to grandparenthood, which is pretty exciting to me. My father's mother, Bertha Dryg (Sanchez) passed away earlier this month. She was 98 years old and lived a very colorful and adventurous life. Despite the many years that I lived just a few blocks from her, I have very few memories of her. Sadly, I can sum them up on one hand.

1. When I was 5 or 6 years old my grandparents were taking care of me for an evening and they took me to the mall. As we walked past a toy store, there I saw her in the window. "Dream Dancer, she turns herself around!" was how the commercial song went. It turns out that I cried and whined for them to buy my this toy, and they actually gave in! I couldn't believe it. I never would have tried this method on my parents. That's why when my grandparents commented on my spoiled behavior to my parents, they were puzzled. That was the only time I remember my grandparents watching me.

2. My grandmother gave the biggest parties on Thanksgiving and Easter. These were almost the only times I mingled with my fathers side of the family.

3. She always wore earrings with a ball on them, or a big stone. Not dangly ones. And she has given me a few jewelry boxes over the years.

4. She told me a story once. Her mother was a midwife in Bolivia and sometimes she went with her to help out. After helping a woman give birth to a premature child, a very premature one, my grandmother was to run the child to the priest before it died. She said the baby was no bigger than a matchbox. She ran as fast as she could, checking every so often to see if it's heart was still beating. She made it to the priest's house and the child was blessed, but died minutes after. Years after hearing that story I learned that my grandmother gave birth to one of her children all alone on the floor of a small shop she ran. I'm sure what she learned from her mother helped her out in that situation.

I guess I can only think of four memories. The rest I know about my grandmother comes from stories or things I've heard about her from other family members. She did tell me what her favorite song was. "Wayward Wind" by Gogi Grant.

I wish I had a recent picture of her with me in Qatar so I could post it along with this, but I don't. Thankfully my sister in law, Tara, just posted one on her blog. She's great about pictures. There is this one picture that I saw of my grandparents when they were married and when I saw it I thought, "Wow! My grandmother was a beautiul woman!" Anyway, I am sorry I didn't make the trip to see her before she died.

Lately. . .

2010-01-13T20:23:00.000-08:00

From the adventures of bunsy and her tumbleweeds

Atticus has been enjoying his ice skating lessons. He won a sticker yesterday for winning a race in his class. Hopefully he'll be ready for hockey in the Fall. We think it'll be the perfect sport for him. Lots of physical contact and speed along with rules.

From the adventures of bunsy and her tumbleweeds

Our littlest baby is growing fast, regaining his birthweight in a week. Not a surprise since Mommy has turned into a cow, stuck at the pumps several times a day. I've really been able to enjoy this baby. I find myself sitting and looking at him and not feeling rushed to do anything else. This has never happened before and I owe it to the wonderful lady we hired. Miss Leah. She's our Mary Poppins. So, if you want to enjoy a baby rather than just make it grow and survive, find yourselves a Mary Poppins. It's really been the best thing for me and my family.

From the adventures of bunsy and her tumbleweeds

Atticus comes home from school or his lessons and wants to know where the baby is. He has to hold him at least once a day. He's a wonderful big brother.

Hector Tacitus McCollum

2010-01-06T22:53:00.000-08:00

From the adventures of bunsy and her tumbleweeds

My baby finally came. Not on his own, however. I spent almost two days waiting in the hospital to get admitted to the labor and delivery unit. I was 11 days overdue and this baby was just getting bigger and bigger and I was getting scared. To make a long story short, Hector Tacitus McCollum was born on January 4, 2010 at 7:47 PM. He weighed 4.1 kilos and I don't know how long he was. It's written down somewhere. I didn't have to have a C-section and now I'm home and the real rough stuff is starting.

We're so grateful to have a healthy baby who doesn't make a lot of noise yet. I'm also grateful for the time I got to spend in the hospital this time. That's one thing we really screwed up on when our other babies were born. For our family, it's so much more worth it for Mommy to get extra sleep before she gets home. Jonathan really picked up the slack. He packed lunches for the kids, made sure they had uniforms to wear, drove everyone everywhere, took Atticus to ice skating class, gymnastics, and took care of Cinci each morning, and is at

Barney's Musical Castle right now with Cinci. What a trooper!

From the adventures of bunsy and her tumbleweeds

All the other boys have been so friendly and excited about baby Hector. Sherman insists that Hector is his new best friend. Cinci loves to kiss him. When I ask Atticus to change into his PJ's he has to change them in the same room as Hector. So things are good for now.

From the adventures of bunsy and her tumbleweeds

Goodbye 2009!

2010-01-01T17:00:00.000-08:00

From the adventures of bunsy and her tumbleweeds

On New Years Eve I watched as my children and some friends galloped through a mist of sparkling confetti screaming at the tops of their lungs. Then I joined in the frenzy that took place shortly after as they devoured our small gingerbread house. Just seeing their glee made me float back in time to moments of similar happiness that I experienced with my siblings and friends and cousins as a child. Never did I experience these moments alone. There was always someone else there. People are so important in life. My children have eachother, thank goodness, they have me and Jonathan as parents, thank goodness, and they have a wonderful extended family that we get to play with every summer. Occasionally they have good friends to play with too. When I look back at this year that has just passed I find myself focusing more on the people we've met or visited than the places we've been or things that we've accomplished. Really, I haven't accomplished much. My

resolutions for last year were not fulfilled. In fact, I had to read last year's post to remember what they were. I just had one. To love my husband better. The only thing I did better this year than in previous years is give him a really good birthday surprise. I'm going to repeat the same resolution again this year. Without him, our family life sucks. If he's not happy I'm not. I know that everyone says, "If Mom's not happy, no one is." Well, I disagree. I think the saying can go for Mom and Dad. If the head of your family is not happy, no one in the family can really experience true happiness. You may feel like you're happy but it isn't real. It's just a cover and the truth will jump out and scare you when you least expect it. I want true, real, happiness in my family this year so that's my resolution, to help my husband be happy and feel my love.

As for the year that has passed, what can I say?

"God has been good to us!. . ." -Mrs. Bennet

Just as Jane and Elizabeth Bennet were married off and brought such satisfaction to their family, God too has made my pathway bright and beautiful. All the hardships that I thought were so horrible at the time, weren't so bad. I don't even remember them right now so I can't tell you what they were. Well, I remember one now. My sewing machine broke and I cried about it. I know, lame. The point is, that happened a few days ago, and today everything is great again. So here I go, onto another year with hopes that I can see life from different perspectives other than my own. Happy New Year!

Christmas still happens in an empty compound

2009-12-29T09:21:00.000-08:00

From the adventures of bunsy and her tumbleweeds

Christmas morning. Atticus is excited to show Sherman the present he helped Dad pick out yesterday.

From the adventures of bunsy and her tumbleweeds

Our family Christmas photo for the year. I know, it's flattering. Tigger is sitting in for our absent baby who has decided to remain inside me for a little longer.

From the adventures of bunsy and her tumbleweeds

Mike and Paula, a couple of the funnest people in our compound, graced us with their company for Christmas dinner. The kids adore them.So do we.

From the adventures of bunsy and her tumbleweeds

After Christmas what's there to do besides go to the beach and catch some crabs? Cinci was the only one of our kids that would dare touch them. Atticus helped me hunt for them, Shermy didn't care that they existed, and Cinci loved to tickle them. We managed to catch four of them. I was very excited about it. Last time we focused more on the little hermit crabs, but this time we got some bigger ones.
I hope my next post will include some pictures of our little baby. We are hoping for a 2009 baby, but in the end it won't matter. Just as long as he's a healthy, happy baby.

False alarm

2009-12-22T09:13:00.000-08:00

From the adventures of bunsy and her tumbleweeds

Here's a photo of the kids in their thobes in celebration of the Qatari Independence Day. Don't they look adorable!
Christmas is coming in just a few days. We've been on vacation for a week almost and it feels great! Sleeping in, looking for a new car, and just spending time together has been nice. Today we went to test drive a minivan. The kids moaned and groaned that they had to come with us. Especially Atticus. He loves doing stuff at home. But in the end they thought it was great that they were being included in the choice of car we were going to get. For the last four months we've been driving a basic 5 seater car. A Mitsubishi Lancer to be exact. The kids have to sit next to eachother whether they like it or not. Atticus and Sherman have their system down. Anytime we stop the car and park it constitutes a "turn" at the window seat and they quickly switch seats. But strangely in the last few days the middle seat has become the greatly sought after seat of choice. ??? So for the last month we've been talking seriously about what we're going to do about a new car. The kids have picked up on it and now define every car they see as either a 7 seater or not a 7 seater.

Porsche=not a 7 seater

Lamborghini=not a 7 seater

Tahoe=7 seater

Kia Carnaval=7 seater

December 22, 2009
Today was the first of the many due dates I've been given over the course of my pregnancy. I didn't really expect to go into labor on an actual due date. But I spent most of today wondering if this was the real thing. I had contractions all day long. I tried not to get too excited thinking they would go away and by 4 PM they kind of died down and left me to the realization that we would not be having a Christmas baby. It would have been a perfect time to have a baby. Go to the hospital on the 22nd and be home on the 24th just in time for Christmas. Oh well. At least I can eat chocolate with Jonathan again tonight as we flip through channels together always searching for the perfect movie.

Another vacation

2009-12-09T19:35:00.001-08:00

From the adventures of bunsy and her tumbleweeds

We've been really lucky here in Doha this year. Thanksgiving has fallen during the Muslim sacrificial holiday and in arabic they call it Eid (pronounced eed). So the kids learn about it in school and I think Sherman is a little confused. On the last day before the holiday break he asked me
-Mom? Is Christmas Eid tomorrow?

Christmas Eid or not, we had a wonderful holiday. Our compound emptied out as most people go to lush, faraway destinations to get their fill of excitement. Doha is a little sparse when it comes to excitement. With me being 8 months pregnant we weren't going to go anywhere too far away.

Thanksgiving day and my birthday celebration were the highlights of the week but we did some other things too.

Jonathan's favorite thing to do during a vacation is to eat out at restaurants. So we did that a few times. We also got doughnuts for the first time at Krispy Kremes.
We went to the beach twice which was really fun. The kids just ran wild

From the adventures of bunsy and her tumbleweeds

Which character from the hit movie "Goonies" does Shermy resemble? From the adventures of bunsy and her tumbleweeds

and I really felt that they got some good quality nature time. There was more wildlife at the beach than I thought there would be. The last time I went to the beach up in the northern part of the peninsula there was nothing. Just squishy sand. Well, in Al Wakra, where we went, there were tons and tons of hermit crabs, sea snails, some regular crabs, fish, birds, and an abundance of sea shells. Atticus and I like to collect them. The sand there wasn't so squishy either.

We also woke up really early one morning to go see the sunrise by the water.

From the adventures of bunsy and her tumbleweeds

It didn't turn out to be one of those days that are spectacular but we still had fun. We brought all the kids' bikes and they rode along the Corniche at the crack of dawn while I took pictures.

From the adventures of bunsy and her tumbleweeds

Then, on December 13th, the culmination of six years of joy, work, and love. Atticus turned six years old. Above is a picture of him trying not to smile to big with his school teachers Ms. Elena and Ms. Reeva. A few great things about Atticus.

-He's self motivated.

-He's very precise and detailed with the work that he does.
-He's very observant.

-He's energetic beyond normal levels.

-He's getting strong enough to lift things for me.

-He's very sensitive.

-He's resilient.

-He loves to eat stuffed green olives and macaroni and cheese.

I just love him. He's not so snuggly anymore but I know he has a sweet heart inside him. Instead of hugs he prefers to be hung upside down by his feet.

It's my Mom's birthday!

2009-12-03T07:25:00.000-08:00

My 30th birthday while we were in Turkey.2008

The table we eat on in our kitchen is almost always dirty. It's one of those chores that is never complete. We are always using the table for something. Eating, computer work, crafts, etc. It's a wonderful and useful place. But that's not my point. My point is that I am 31 years old now and I feel like I am like that table. The activities I occupy myself with come and go, sometimes I'm clean, sometimes I'm dirty, but in the end all I really am is a tool. A tool to be used often and definitely worth the maintenance.

So in my life I've done a lot of things, seen a lot of places, and met a lot of people, etc. Sometimes I find myself measuring myself that way, by the things, places, and people I can manage to accumulate on some sort of list. But really none of that matters. What matters to me right now, what is on my table right now, is that what I'm doing right now is bringing me happiness and perhaps bringing someone else some happiness at the same time.

I'm so happy being a mom to my boys, being a wife to Jonathan, being physically healthy, having a very easy life (so easy that its scary to think what's in store for me in the future), being American, etc. It's a great time of life for me. I'm 31! My kids drew me some very thoughtful pictures. Atticus even made me a little gift and wrapped it up himself. I sort of had to force this to happen but hey! How will they ever learn to think of others on their birthdays if I don't make them think of me? "So, what did you boys do for me for my birthday?" Jonathan topped off the artwork with a bag full of chocolates. You just can't go wrong with chocolate. Then we went to church and I was asked to sit with Sherman's class during the Sunday School time in Primary. When the Primary President was welcoming visitors he stood up and walked up to her and started trying to tell her that it was my birthday. Of course, it was really hard for her to understand him because he stutters a little and his pronunciation is unique but he got it out finally, and the whole time I was just sitting there feeling really uncomfortable. I was torn between forcing him to sit down and shut up, and letting him share the news. I just didn't want people to think that I put him up to it. Oh, that Sherman! Always willing to share the latest news with everyone! Another reason I didn't stop him was because I would want him to do that for someone else if they were too shy to announce it. There are a lot of people that need Shermans to talk for them so I just couldn't stifle him this time. The children sang me the Happy Birthday song and then I was able to sit down next to my Shermy and strangle, I mean, hug him.

After church Jonathan surprised me really good. We were hoping that New Moon, the movie, would be coming out here in Doha but it didn't. So he told me that there was this movie about Hugo Chavezs' life and a party type thing going on at the Venezuelan consulate and we would go to that. So he got a babysitter and we went but of course we didn't go to the Venezuelan consulate. We went instead this awesome hotel!

It's the Four Seasons Hotel in Doha. I'd never heard of the Four Seasons Hotel before coming here. It's a really classy five star hotel and its 20 minutes from our home! I took Jonathan there for his birthday just a month and a half ago but we decided that we probably couldn't afford another night there until next year. What a surprise! I was so excited. I love the cake they give you on your birthday. Not only did they have one cake waiting in the room on arrival but they also brought another one after our dinner in the evening. Boy did I eat a lot of cake! We had to take the second one home. So we relaxed, went to the mall and walked around, watched TV, etc. In the morning after our buffet breakfast, which I couldn't really enjoy because of all the cake I stuffed myself with the night before, I decided that we should go get the kids. I swore last time we were at this hotel that we would bring the kids because their swimming pools are so nice. So Jonathan got a five o'clock check out and went to get the kids around 12. Plus, I'm sure the babysitter needed some relief too. Here are the boys all ready to jump in the pool! Atticus is really wired. Can you see him in the back

From the adventures of bunsy and her tumbleweeds

The kids had so much fun going down the slides together. Jonathan must have worn himself out with all the picking up and throwing and carrying he had to do in those pools. It was so great. The kids had so much fun and I had so much fun watching them. Of course, I just sat around most of the time like a beached whale. Thankfully this post will not be graced with a picture of me in my bathing suit although Jonathan did get a few.

Here is a faithful picture of Doha's city center. Lots of tall buildings, lots of construction, nice big roads all next to the Persian Gulf.

Thanksgiving 2009- Doha

2009-11-30T13:47:00.000-08:00

From the adventures of bunsy and her tumbleweeds

Our Thanksgiving table. Blue is just the right color, don't you think?

Thanksgiving was non-existant last year while we were in Turkey. No turkey in Turkey. Ha! But this year since we have a spacious kitchen, a dining table big enough for our family, and a car to transport groceries home in, I decided it would be a good year to celebrate this wholesome and very American holiday. We are American, and the more time I spend outside of the country, the more I am aware of how grateful I am for those brave pilgrims who managed to survive and eventually thrive in America. Many of their ways make me who I am today.

I had the kids make their own placemats for Thanksgiving this year. Of course, I let things go till the last minute but Atticus and Shermy pulled through. They made placemats for the whole family. I only had to make one. We had chicken this year instead of turkey. They sold turkeys down at the Megamart, but we just decided we would taste a little at the church Thanksgiving extravaganza and that would be enough for us. Chicken was much more manageable for me. There I am with little baby snaps in the oven. He's 8 months along and growing strong. Hopefully he'll come before Christmas this year just so Jonathan can be around a few more days before he has to go back to work. Newsflash: We will not be naming our baby Ignatius because I just found out that Cate Blanchett, the actress, named her third son that. I was a little sad about finding that out. Jonathan and I liked that name a lot but in the end we are still undecided. There are still a lot of good names out there and who knows what we will come up with. ? ? ? ? Any suggestions?

From the adventures of bunsy and her tumbleweeds

Jonathan enjoying his crab dip. He loves his dips and crackers on holiday occasions. No one else wanted any so he had to finish it up by himself. It's taken him a few days, but its finally gone.

Atticus picked out the plastic wine glasses this year. We made shirley temples for the occasion. The kids love em. So do I.

From the adventures of bunsy and her tumbleweeds

Cinci was a little serious for the meal. We forced Cinci and Sherman to have a nap before the meal. It proved to be the right decision. No need to have a hyper baby around when you want kids in their seats. He actually ate his food.

I was really happy with the outcome this year. We all talked about what we were grateful for before we ate. We snuck a prayer in. The kids understood that it was a special day and were eager and anxious about it. We really missed Grandma Hill's rolls and raspberry jelly she brings to Thanksgiving dinner in the states but we managed without. Someday we will celebrate again with extended family but for now I'm enjoying this time with my little family.

The Mayflower or the Nina, the Pinta, and the Santa Maria?

2009-11-23T00:12:00.000-08:00

I love crafts. Arts and crafts of all sorts. I can't get enough of them. I'm sure my two kids who attend school think that I spend all the time that they're gone doing crafts. Well, if I decided to neglect my other duties as wife and mother, I guess I would be doing crafts or going to school again. Since we've been in Qatar, my social life has dwindled. I talk to ladies at church, I go to a quilting class, a playgroup with Cinci, and I probably get together with someone once during the week whether it be to have Cinci play with someone or for some other reason. I just don't get out much, nor do I feel the need to. It's just so much easier to stay home. . . with my crafts. I know, it's not healthy. Today while I was grocery shopping we were walking down the chip isle and Cinci exclaimed, "These aren't healthy!" I was so proud that he knew. But then when we got home I encouraged him to smell the lovely scented candle on my counter top, and he did. He then said "This isn't healthy!" Well, maybe it'll take a little longer for him to understand.
Back to my point, I love crafts. What I don't like is the expense of most of the materials. I'm cheap. I recently made a salt dough turkey.

I had the ingredients for the salt dough in my kitchen, I had the acrylic paint, I had the paintbrushes, but I didn't have the Mod Podge that you're supposed to finish it off with. I found some this morning at Jareer's Bookstore for 23 qatari riyals, which is $6.30. Not too bad since I just did the conversion. But 23 just sounds like so much, and the cheapskate in me just screamed out, "Don't buy it! It has double digits!"
I find myself browsing craft ideas on the internet. There are so many blogs and websites with great ideas on how to do things. It seems like a trend, in this past decade, to be crafty. Do it yourself! is also something that has gained popularity, however, I've found it to be very American. There is value in America when you can do it yourself. That value doesn't seem to have crossed any oceans yet.
Anyway, doing it yourself is sometimes more expensive than buying it done, or having it done for you. Who can afford organic fabrics when the other ones are so much cheaper? Or the wooden toy craze? I agree that wooden toys are much nicer, more real, feel better, last longer, etc. But there are times when the budget does not allow. I guess I just get frustrated that I'm not rich like the rest of the internet world out there. (Really I'm not mad about not being rich.) I know that everyone out there isn't rich. There are all kinds of people out there. You just aren't going to find blogs that post about how they've turned literal trash into something artistic and wonderful. If you know of any, please send their links this way. I'd love to see their converted trash.
So enough of my complaining and musing. Thanksgiving is coming up. I've been having fun making turkeys of all kinds. Yesterday Atticus and Shermy made little turkeys for their teachers at school. I was very impressed with their sewing skills. Atticus managed to complete one of his turkeys while watching TV which shows that he really can concentrate on something. Yay! I was looking for a fun way to fold napkins. I found this website which was quite useful except the authors assume you have linen napkins. Maybe there is something wrong with me. Should every family have linen napkins? Or even cloth napkins for that matter? All I've got is paper napkins. The cheapest kind. So I tried making a centerpiece turkey with cheap paper napkins. What do you think? Not bad, I say

From the adventures of bunsy and her tumbleweeds

Here are my felt turkeys. A big family turkey for our family. Then I made two finger puppet turkeys for Cinci and a friend who ended up not coming over today.

From the adventures of bunsy and her tumbleweeds

Thanksgiving is a wonderful time of year that has been very much neglected in our family. I told the kids the story of the first Thanksgiving. Gosh, I'm thankful my husband is a historian. Well, I don't think your husband needs to be a historian to correct these simple blunders I made. I told my kids that the pilgrims sailed over to America on the Nina, the Pinta, and the Santa Maria. Ha! Well, thank goodness he heard me talking to the kids about it because if he hadn't they would never know the truth. Who knows how many other blunders I've made in the past. I suppose we all do.

Weekend

2009-11-15T11:39:00.000-08:00

From the adventures of bunsy and her tumbleweeds

One thing I love about life here in Doha is that we go to church on Friday and have Saturday off. For me this means I can be lazy the first day of the weekend and then on the second day get all the stuff that needs to be done, done. Like shopping. I hate grocery shopping. I always feel rushed in the states. Maybe that's an ongoing thing about living there. Maybe not. Anyway, this Friday we had Stake Conference, which is a regional church meeting of sorts, where we watched the meeting that took place in Dubai. We only got to see half of it because something about the connection stopped working. The rest of the day was spent around the house puttering. Jonathan made some nasty cookies. Lots of them. So now we have tons of sugary nasty things to feed to the kids for after school snacks. I take them in the car with me when I go pick up the kids from school. Believe me, if you're debating on whether or not to have kids, there is one thing they are surely good for. Whenever you screw up a batch of cookies, they are always there to eat them up for you and say, "Dad, these are great!" I know it won't be long before Atticus develops a finer taste in things. He already doesn't like that gross flimsy milk-filled american cheese, aka Kraft singles, on his sandwiches. Yay! I don't like it either. That's why I never get cheese on my burgers at restaurants because they almost always put that cheese on them. I guess I'm a cheese snob. Forgive me if you love Kraft singles. I consider Hershey's chocolate of fine quality. I think everyone is allowed to be a snob about something. My sister and brother in law are haircut snobs. My husband is an ice cream snob. My brother is a method-of-eating-a-burger snob.

From the adventures of bunsy and her tumbleweeds

Anyway, we puttered around the house all afternoon. Sherman managed to bump his forehead on the edge of the table and I miraculously was able to act sympathetic. I told him about the wonders of ice and prepared him a special ice pack for his head. He applied it faithfully while lying on the couch and absorbing all the attention.

From the adventures of bunsy and her tumbleweeds

Atticus did the usual, which means grabbing a cereal box from our stash, the scissors, the tape,the crayons or pens, and a book as a source of reference and "did a craft". Instead of an airplane this time, he made a chocolate bar with a yellow wrapper. Yum !

From the adventures of bunsy and her tumbleweeds

What's interesting about my life? Well, not much. Tomorrow I will attend a baby shower for myself, I'll go to the doctor this week, and I'll attend the Christmas bazaar they're having this weekend and hopefully not spend too much money on stuff we don't need. I continue with my little projects and my ongoing quilt project which will hopefully be finished in two days at Sherman's request. I told him it would be more like 7 or 8 weeks if he's lucky. We'll see.