And she's off!

Caitlin decided that Easter Sunday would be a great day to start walking with no help! She has been cruising and taking a few small steps for a while, but always made sure there was a hand or table nearby. Yesterday, she just took off. First it was a short distance but by the end of the day she was walking all over the house and was so happy about it. It was pretty exciting because its rare that Rich, Gloria and I would all be around at the same time to watch this happening.

I managed to get a video of her this afternoon while we were outside playing. She gets really frustrated at the end because she has reached the steps - and she knows that she isn't allowed on the steps. She also gets really frustrated everytime she falls down because she isn't very good about getting back up on her own - but I'm sure she will master that in no time at all.

The link to the video is below - I even captured Ang as she ran around with a monkey on her back.







In case the imbedded version above does not work, here is the link : http://youtu.be/aETXCCSCJ6U

Happy Easter

We had a really nice day celebrating Easter yesterday. Although it was a work day for Rich, he took the day off and spent it with us at home. We woke up to surprises from the Easter bunny, went on an egg hunt in the afternoon, and then had a really nice roast lamb dinner with some friends. The girls really enjoyed it. The best part was when Ang realized that the Easter Bunny had hidden eggs in the back yard - she could see them through the window and was so excited to get outside and find out what was inside them.

Swimming swimming....

It was so hot yesterday and Rich was stuck in the office all day. I normally spend a lot of time with the girls at the park on the weekends but yesterday it was just too hot. After 15 minutes we were all pink and sweaty. I decided it was time to set up the swimming pool that Angela got for her birthday. It was great, I watched two little faces light up as they saw the pool filling with water. They both loved it, and then were thrilled when mommy jumped in too!

I have a feeling we will be spending a lot of time in this little swimming pool. We can't wait for daddy to get home from work today as I'm sure he will be lots of fun in the pool!

Happy Birthday Angela!

I'm a little late with this, but we recently celebrated a 3rd birthday for a very special little girl. Despite having traveled quite a bit just prior to the big day, I managed to pull together a very fun Minnie Mouse party. It was just a small group of friends but all of my Minnie touches were a big hit.

The special birthday banner that I made

A very happy birthday girl. I made the shirt and found the skirt at Target!

Little sister modeling the Minnie ears hats that I made

She was so excited to blow the candles out (and to eat the bow & ears)

HOT DIGGITY DOGS!

Oh Toodles Noodles

Mickey's clubhouse sandwiches

What Happened??

My post count this year is depressingly small despite all the exciting things we have had going on. I have so much to share!

I'm using jet lag to my advantage now and am trying to get caught up on a long list of projects. Caitlin and I flew to the US last week to see my dad after his hip replacement surgery (which was a huge success!!) and arrived back in Dubai on Friday night. I feel like I've adjusted back to this time zone ok but Caitlin is not doing so well. This was after having almost no issues with jet lag on the way to the states (despite cutting a molar at the same time!).

Anyways, to get caught up here I thought I'd share some of my favorite photos from the past month or so. Hope you enjoy and hopefully I'll be back soon with more posts! I'm not giving up on my blog :).

Now I'm off to plan a Minnie Mouse birthday party for a very special little girl who will be turning three on Friday! Can't wait to celebrate her special day.

Happy Birthday Caitlin

We celebrated Caitlin's 1st birthday yesterday with a small party at our house. She wasn't so excited about sharing all of her toys with the big kids from the neighborhood but she loved the cake & attention.

A weekend in Ras al Khaimah

We spent the past weekend at the beach in Ras al Khaimah which is another Emirate in the UAE. It takes about 90 minutes to get there - passing through lots of desert on the way. It was a very quick trip, just one night away. The girls both loved the beach even though it was pretty cold outside. We learned that Caitlin doesn't do so well sharing a room - she kept us all up for a good portion of the night. I've attached some of the photos here - there are plenty more on Facebook!

The girls

Since I always seem to be short on time, I figured I'd just post some recent photos of the girls. Most of these are from a recent day at the park. We had so much fun on the slide and feeding the fish!

A ballerina!

I'm always looking for new activities to keep the girls busy. We have done music class, soccer, mummy & me groups and all sorts of play centers. I recently noticed an ad for toddler ballet classes and decided to give it a try with Angela. She really enjoyed it so we are now signed up for five more weeks! We need to go get her some proper ballet clothes - a lot of the girls were really decked out. I managed to get her shoes but wanted to make sure she would enjoy it before investing in tutu's and what not. She even let me give her 'ballet hair' which is a miracle since he hates having it in a pony tail!