Feet, part 1

So, I have this GREAT idea. (Franklin LOVES when he hears me say that.) I want to put a footprint of Ellie's small foot on top of a foot print of my medium foot on top of a footprint of Franklin's large foot.
One afternoon my wonderful husband let me take his footprint.


While we were doing that, Ellie was busy in another part of the house. Seriously, who taught her how to take lids off things?!


Someday, I'd like to get part 2 and 3 done. Tell me, though, when does a mommy have time to dip her own foot in paint?

Going out

Whenever Ellie hears that Daddy is going out shopping we hear, "Can I go?" Sometimes the answer is yes, and sometimes it's no.

A Tea Party

You are cordially invited to come and join Ellie and her stuffed animals and dolls for a tea party anytime. Play dough cookies will be included. :)

Capital city fun

When we go to the capital, I like to take Ellie to a restaurant that has a play area. She doesn't get to run around and climb like that in our town.


I used to tell Ellie not to climb up the slide, but all the kids here do it, so I decided not to complain anymore.
One of Ellie's favorite things to do now, not just at the play area, but ALL the time is to jump. Here she's jumping off the slide onto a floor of balls.


This play area has a lady who is often there to supervise the kids. I think Ellie isn't too fond of her. The lady is a bit over-loving. She wants to help Ellie so much that I think it annoys her.


The last time we were in the capital we stayed with some friends, and they have a cat. Ellie had a love-hate relationship with it; love most of the time, hate when the cat got tired of Ellie poking it and scratched her.

Trains and play dough

It takes us 6 hours on the train to get to the capital. On our last train trip, this is what FSL did to keep Ellie busy.


Eventually, I think all 10 fingers were covered.

Us

A little girl and the mommy who loves her.

Sugar Cookies

Almost a month ago we had some friends over to make cookies. Yum.






We kept track of whose cookies were whose... happy girls about to get sugar highs.

Imitating Ingrid.

It was one of the greatest ladies on earth's birthday last week. I offered to make the cake for the celebration... only because I was armed with Ingrid's recipe for cake and icing... as well as my recent experience of making Ellie's cake.
This time, I decided to be more creative, so I put the batter into three pie pans... cooked them separately, put icing between the layers and then on the outside. Candles made the cake look really nice. :)


Elias was willing to help Karin blow the candles out.


And all the kids were willing to help eat the cake.

Puzzling. Can that be a verb about puzzles?

Ellie received a box with several two piece puzzles as a gift, and she loves them. And she's good at them. So fun.

A busy girl

My extremely energetic little girl plays dress up (with no clothes on!) and makes pretend mango smoothies to keep busy.

Eid

Eid seems like it was a million years ago... in reality, though, it was about three weeks ago. Because of illness, we didn't do the travelling we had planned to do. The night before Eid, our neighbors came down with gifts for us. Ellie got a cute little outfit (which she wore for her birthday party the next week), Franklin got a shirt, and I got an orna. They asked Franklin to sing and play his guitar for them. Then the daughters from upstairs put henna on Ellie's and my hands. So fun.


The next day, on the actual Eid day, I made cinnamon rolls for us and our neighbors, even though that isn't the traditional Eid breakfast food here. :) Then for lunch we dressed up and went upstairs and had lunch with them. Then they had us over for tea later and we ate the most delicious shemai (a sweet dessert-type food made with vermacelli noodles) ever created on the face of the earth! Yum.