Kaden's Birthday Dessert

Because we already celebrated Kaden's birthday and had cake this past weekend, we decided a dessert would be good instead of doing cake again. We received two packages from Aunt Mo yesterday, so here is Kaden enjoying his dessert! Thanks, Aunt Mo! :)

Kaden's Second Birthday Party!

We had a long and fun-filled weekend! We started it out by going out to eat at Cantina Laredo. My meal was great, but poor Stu’s was dry (chicken) and not very good. We had fun anyway though and we got home early to relax before Kaden’s big second birthday party the next day.

Kaden was pretty confused about what having a birthday party meant. He seemed cautiously optimistic when I assured him that Mike would be coming over to play with him. He passed the morning singing Happy Birthday to no one in particular.

The party was a pretty good time. Kaden enjoyed having so many people around, which is good because I wasn’t sure how he would react to it. After Rama arrived first, he accepted everyone else without any freaking out. Hehe.

Kaden got SOOOOO many cool toys for his birthday from all of our (his) friends. I thought his room was crowded before, NOW it’s just crazy in there! Lol. But he is actually playing with his toys again, which is great for Mommy (and giving me time to write this blog!).

Let’s see, he got a fun little sling-shot chicken that he alternates between being terrified of and in love with, and two Paddington bear books from Lindsay and Hilal, which we’ve read at LEAST ten times already! :) His card from them also included some Cars stickers, which is his favorite movie, so he keeps “reading” the card! Haha.

Charmaine and Chi Wai got him this totally awesome play gym thing that has 4 different games in one. It pops open like a tent and then you can play soccer, knock down some cans, play cornhole, or basketball! He loves it and has also found new uses for it, like holding his cars (in the basketball hoop) and pretending to sleep in it! Haha Charmaine was also a dear and came bearing cupcakes that she slaved over on her poor pregnant feet! But Stu in particular loved them and decided one was an appropriate before dinner snack last night! Lol

Lisa, Austin and Myla got him a Mega Blocks train set, which is really cool because we already have a bunch of Mega Blocks, so this morning we made a “train station” out of them and set up the track (which he decided can accommodate other cars and not just trains). He’s still playing with that as I write this.

He got a bowling set and shopping cart and cooking stuff/groceries from Mommy and Daddy. He especially loves the shopping cart!

Matt got him a set of race cars that wind up and Zoooom and Budda got him a remote control Spiderman Hummer. He uses both of those in place of the bowling ball to knock down the pins now and they explode everywhere! Clever kid. Lol

Mike got him a cute little piano that has numbers on it and comes with a book of songs by number so he can learn his numbers and coordinate them to a song! (And it’s travel-sized!)

Dan got him the hit toy of the day with a Winnie the Pooh stand-up piano with a honey pot seat and microphone. It sure is loud, but he LOVES it. I don’t think it’s been off other than sleeping times for the past two days. Haha

We ordered pizza and had snacks and Rama brought a dessert from the Lebanese Flower Bakery that was yummy! Kaden was WAY too busy having fun to stop and have some food though.

After the festivities, we headed up to the common area upstairs and played poker on the pool table (hey, it’s felted! Pretty close to a poker table). Kaden was pooped and went to bed early and Kyle cleaned us all out at poker (and then caught a flight back to the States bright and early the next morning out of Dubai!)

All-in-all, it was a great time and Kaden absolutely loves all his new toys! After hanging out with so many people I’m even more excited to share him with the family in a couple of weeks, now that I know he won’t be too freaked out by a bunch of people around.

Only 16 days till vacation now! Yay!

Kaden expressing his glee about his birthday party!

Daddy playing with his favorite toy before the guests arrived.

The snacks (sans pizza). See the sneaky little hand eating all of the goodies before his friends arrived???

Mommy and a carrot-eating baby.

VERY excited kid! :)

Hanging out with Mike and his new Burger King car.

Opening his presents! He loved the Mickey Mouse bag from Lindsay and Hilal. He is still carrying it around.

Getting Myla to read to him from his new Paddington Bear books!

Cool new cars from Matt!

So excited about his new piano from Mike!

Learning how to use the new piano

Cake #1 of two!

Kaden was not thrilled when we all sang Happy Birthday to him and he ran to Mike for comfort (or was just trying to get to the highest place in the room... Mike's like 6'9" or something!) He did blow out his candle all by himself though and I didn't let him burn himself this year! :)

Excited he has even MORE presents to open when Budda and Dan and Kyle finally made it.

Showing off his new remote control car to Lindsay.

Opening up Dan's present!

Oh my gosh! Can't contain his glee!

Thanks Dan!

Getting some assistance with unwrapping his microphone from Rama.

Serenading the crowd.

Clapping for himself when he finished playing. Lol.

Poker time! Matt and Mike.

Dan decided not to play but showed his support anyway. :)

Budda. Haha

Kyle, the champ himself. (Maybe it was whatever was in that sippy cup that gave him the edge...)

Stu dealing the cards

outside the camera flash is super bright

Planning Time!

Ok, I've decided that our vacation is getting close enough that I can start planning it! Stu and I both love get out and about when we vacation/travel so I would like to know if you have any "must-see" attractions in or around the Raleigh area.

My cousin, Sarah, has been infinitely helpful in giving us suggestions, and I can't wait to take it all in. One thing we do want to make sure we do is eat traditional North Carolina barbeque while we're there. So, if you know of a place, let me know!

Anyway, so far on the list are the North Carolina Art Museum and Pullen Park. Send your thoughts our way! :) We're only going to be in Raleigh for 4 days, so if you've got something around the Rocky Mount or Topsail Island areas, let us know too! Thanks!

Cut Some Hairs.

So, I haven't had a hair cut (and color, which, let's face it, is the most important part) since December before Mimi and Papa came for two reasons. First, a cut and highlights here cost an arm and a leg. Second, because of the first reason, I can hardly justify spending said arm and leg on a cut which only my son and husband, and the occassional work buddy will ever see. I stay inside most of the time, why pay to have my hair look decent when no one sees it anyway?

Anyway, but I was due. It was getting to the point where I was actually changing my make-up to fit a brunette look instead of claiming I was a "blonde". So, off I went yesterday to Le Meridien hotel to try out their salon (or "saloon" if you ask the bell hop) for the first time. Up until yesterday, I'd gone to The Beauty Spot, but they keep raising their prices and it's killing me.

I do like the Le Meridien salon much better though, both because the hairdressers don't chatter on about nonsense and because they are super fast. (Less than two hours, which takes 4 hours at the Beauty Spot and 3 hours back home) I only saved about 50 Dirham (it was 500 Dirham total, about $140) but it was a nice experience. I think I'll go back there again instead of The Beauty Spot. Throughout the course of the color and cut, 5 different people cycled through the process of getting my hair done (the two Lebanese guys, who are the hairdressers, and 3 Filipino helpers) and every single one of them told both that I had "a lot of hair" and that my hair was "beautiful", or "exquisite" (which sounds far more awesome in a French accent). I typically hate my hair until it's getting done because hairdressers love it (probably because they don't have to deal with it daily, haha).

This salon was cool on another realm because I got a 15-minute scalp massage too while getting my hair washed after the color. I almost fell asleep and had to focus more on not drooling than on enjoying myself after a bit. Very nice.

So, here's a pic. Excuse the no-make-up. I left right after breakfast to go get it done and I was wearing only yesterday's mascara. (See how my freckles are back though? Haha. I'm a-working on my tan for vacay!) The end result included a bit more than 4 inches off the whole thing and then layers as usual. Pretty basic. :)

Bathtime Extravaganza!

Kaden loves the bath and he normally takes one after we play on the roof because he comes down all wet and sweaty, but I am sunburned and it's just freaking hot out so I decided again roof time today. He took advantage of not being tuckered out from roof playing and proceeded to create a masterpiece in the bathtub instead of working on his outdoor mural. Here are the results and the happy artist hard at work!

He wanted a high-five.

UAE's Road Safety.

Hopefully the dangerous roads here can become a thing of the past. Doubtful, but what's the harm in hoping?

http://www.thenational.ae/article/20090705/NATIONAL/707049842/1182/enewsletter

4th of July Weekend

We started out our weekend with a package from Aunt Marcia, which had my new Kindle sleeve (yay!), some candy and magazines, and Kaden's new favorite toy:

And here's Kaden with his cool new Cars jammies! He loves them!

This thing is SO cool! It is a microphone that has so many settings that sometimes he'll set it to one I haven't heard before. It echos when you sing into it, and our little American Idol sure does love singing! Awesome toy. Thanks, Aunt Marcia and Uncle Deven!

Then yesterday was the 4th of July (American Independence Day, for those who don't know... if that's possible) and we celebrated by having Mike, Matt, Dan, and Kyle over to grill out on the roof. It was nice, though hot (check out the sheen on everyone... it was sweaty). Kyle brought his famous baked beans (with pork) and we made hotdogs (all-American as it gets, eh?) and I made Mimi's Macaroni Salad. We finished off the night by watching The Blue Collar Comedy Tour (which is certainly strictly redneck American!)

Stu with his favorite beer: Miller Light :)

Dan and Kaden chatting

Mike striking a pose.

Matt tending grill.

Kaden with Kyle (they have the same color eyes).

Watching Blue Collar Comedy Tour

All-in-all, a very nice night, although I did finish a bottle of wine by myself since Stu found Miller Light at the store (which happens to be more expensive than the imported Irish beers, lol), so getting up with Kaden this morning was a struggle for my head and my stomach. But it really was a good time.