Daddy Update...

So Matt's season is coming to an end and thankfully so are his travels. We haven't been able to spend but a handful of days with him since arriving so we are very excited to have him home more! Since we arrived he spent about over 2 weeks in Egypt and now about a week in Yemin. I will add some pics of these places if he took any.

Ella (and I) were excited by our souvenir of Egypt - GIANT clam shells. They are huge and beautiful! Not sure that we will be getting any souvenirs from Yemin as it is quite dangerous for Americans there currently. He has been going to practice and games & eating in the hotel. I'm very glad he is being cautious as we want him home safe & sound. We can do without souvenirs or he can pick up a little something at the airport. :)

Oops! Forgot one! The Fair with Friends!

The weekend before we left we decided to have one last great weekend together with friends. So the Mommies (Me, Beth & Becky) went out to dinner & to see "Eat, Pray, Love" which I was about 2/3 done reading as was Becky (but we were running out of time!!). We had a great Girls Only evening & made plans for the next night.

We got us girls, Scott and the kids together for pizza and then to the fair. Ella thought this was the coolest thing ever because she hasn't ever been to a fair. We rode all kinds of rides & had a great time. The kids really enjoyed the last of their time together and it was a great send-off.

1st day of Kindergarten already!!!

Our baby is growing up! It is official! She is now in big girl school! In the U.S. she is in Kindergarten but here it is called Year 1 as we don't want to say that she is in Kindergarten as that is like pre-school here.

She is going to an international school (private-British). She absolutely loves it! For now, she really likes wearing a uniform but I can see that wearing off as she loves to be herself and loves fashion. She was most disappointed that she can't wear nail polish. :( But I promised her that she'd have the prettiest painted toes and during breaks we would paint her fingernails!

She has a teacher from the U.K. and she started speaking "fancy English" the first day. I knew that was coming. Really, her teacher is very sweet and we feel blessed that Ella got her!

The pics are of us taking her to school. We were very excited that WE were able to take her since Matt was in Egypt with the team & wasn't supposed to be back until the night of her 1st day...but...he worked it out so he could leave early & surprise her that morning. Problem was that I knew about it & expected him by 12:30 am and instead he arrived about 3:30 am due to some issue with the plane that had them grounded on the runway for 3 hours. Neither of us slept and with school starting at 7 am...we were both exhausted. But...boy was she excited to have us both there for her big day!!

The other pic is of her after her 1st day! Nice hair! :) They had said hair pulled back so I tried a ponytail. Now I know that "pulled back" has many interpretations so she has had her old hairstyles...minus the flashy headbands & barrettes. Our pretty, grown-up girl!

We are so excited about not only our new adventure in Doha but now her new adventure in school!! So exciting!

New Friends!

Since we have been here, we have been making friends left & right. It has been so great meeting people from all different countries and ages!

Since we have been here, we have met people from South Africa, France, Italy, Venezuela, Morroco, Indonesia, Turkey and the U.S. What a great experience.

There is a huge group of Texans here in the towers starting a community college. We literally ran into one of the couples at the grocery store and started talking (when we were both happy to hear English) and realized that we lived in the same complex. They invited us to their big BBQ and we met the other 25 or so Texans. Now Richard & Heather and all of their coworkers are our friends.

There is also an aviation school group here that all speak English and are very sweet. We have made friends with them as well.

Ella's pool buddies - Matthew & Caleb (and their Mommy & Daddy of course) invited us to a BBQ to introduce us to their friends and we had a great time. Ella really hit it off with one of their friends, Zahraa. It just so happened that her birthday party was that weekend and Ella was invited! She had a wonderful time and so did I! It felt great to be social again! Now we are planning get-togethers with the kids and having a great time!

It's great to have friends!!

Toes in the Ocean

Years ago when Ella was born, I made a list of things I want us to do with Ella before she grows up. Over the years we have checked some off and now we can check Putting her toes in the Ocean off the list (along with traveling to a foreign country!). Ella, the girl who LOVES mermaids and the sea, was recently introduced to the ocean. She loved it!

We had several things to do that day as Matt was leaving for a few weeks & we were only in Doha for a few days so he was trying to get us settled but she was SO excited about going to a beach. We squeezed it into our hectic day but will be doing it the right way in the near future as we want a day at the beach. We are waiting for Daddy to come back from basketball travels and then we will spend an awesome day at the beach.

We did get some pretty pics of our girl and a check on the list!

Ella the Mermaid!

Ella will be starting swim lessons in the near future but for now she decided to teach herself! We have been going to the pool every afternoon to meet some kids. They are Matthew 7 and Caleb 4 and they are fearless in the water. Ella would watch them & still be nervous about the water. She wouldn't put her head under. She was just nervous about the whole deal. Then one day she was super excited because she put her head under. Then she was excited when she touched the bottom with her hand. Then she started kicking. Then moving her arms and before we knew it, she is swimming. Is there room for improvement? Absolutely. Has she improved since I recorded this? Yep. So we are very proud of her & really look forward to her lessons now!

Our 2nd Home - The Pool!

There is one feature of our new home that Ella is just plain crazy about...the pool! There is a big pool (that we rarely go to ) and a kiddie pool that has become our 2nd home! She can reach the bottom and that has done wonders for her confidence in the pool! She went from not wanting to put her head under water to spending most of her time under the water. We are looking into swimming lessons for her but since we have been here she is now swimming - not in proper form - but getting from point A to point B under the water.

Pretty awesome what spending time at the pool each day has done for her confidence. We are really looking forward to swim lessons now! :)

Our New Home - What a view!

So...we are here!! It is more beautiful than we could've imagined! Now we understand why Matt didn't want to take any pictures of our new apartment...to revel in our shock of it! The view is incredible! We are on the 15th floor & have more windows than I could have imagined. Of course when you have such a beautiful view..why not fill the place with windows! We have 2 balconies that I rarely go on b/c of my issue with heights...but love having when I do decide to go out there. I like to look out...not down!

The apartment is surprisingly spacious with giant rooms including the guest room...hint, hint!

We are trying to settle in & make it home. That will take time but at least we have a great starting point!

More fun with friends

This really was the summer of friendship for me & Ella. Not only was I getting to spend time with my friends, she was able to reconnect with their kids who of course are her friends too! Fun with friends included time with Becky (Evan & Eli), Beth (Sam & MaryBeth), Melissa (Breighen & Sydnee) and Debbie (Paige & Peyton).

We met up with Debbie and the girls for dinner at Burger King so we could catch up and the girls could play. Hours later we reluctantly parted ways. So good to reconnect!!

We headed towards St. Louis to see Papa & decided to go a day early so we could spend time with Melissa & the girls. Wow! The time went way too fast! The girls acted as if no time had passed! They were best pals like before. The girls are all grown up - I couldn't believe it! The 3 Amigas hung out in the booth together at dinner & played & sang Justin Bieber songs & fell asleep watching a Disney Channel movie. What a great time!!

Glad that my friends' kids can turn into friends for Ella. We are all like family! I love it! We miss them already!

Girls Night with Mary-Beth

Being away from home for a long time definitely has its downfalls! Not only have I been away from my friends for way too long, I have not gotten to know the younger siblings of the 1st borns. Becky had Evan & Beth had Sam first. I just fell in love with those kids & we would get them together with Ella any chance we got. Then each of them had another younger sibling for the boys. Becky had Eli and Beth had MaryBeth. Problem is that they are so little & we've missed most all of their lives. Well, this summer was going to right that wrong!

We spent time with all of the kids or different variations of the kids as much as we could. Then, in talking with Beth, we realized that MaryBeth has a big brother that she usually plays with. What does that mean? It means that she doesn't get much girly play time. So Ella - the girliest girl on earth - wanted to have MaryBeth over to do girly stuff. So we did.

The girls had their nails painted, played dress up and watched princess movies. Then with the move coming up, we sent her home with some dress up & a tea set. They had the best time and truly became friends. Their giggles were contagious! :)

We will NOT stay away so long anymore!

Ella's Karate-Dancing Moves!

Our Crazy daughter decided to show us her karate moves except it actually looked more like something out of West Side Story or a scene from Michael Jackson's Beat It video. She was all over the place in what looked more like a dance sequence than karate. I had to share! Enjoy! She'll hate me for these videos when she grows up! Haha!

Could it really have been 15 years...already?

Reunion time! It is still unbelievable that 15 years have passed since our high school graduation! Time is passing by so quickly! I was thankful that I was able to spend such a great night with friends before moving SO far away from home. The timing of it just worked out well for me. We left for Doha a few weeks later.

We had a dinner at a new restaurant in town & everyone laughed & talked & really enjoyed each other's company. It was so nice to see everyone...some I had seen earlier in the summer or kept up with on Facebook but others it was the 1st time seeing since high school! What a great surprise!

We had a great dinner & then several of us went out. We had a great time! I especially missed (and do again) Becky & Beth. We really reconnected over the summer & made me realize how much I missed such great friends.

See everyone in 5 more years for our 20th...what!....20th! We look too good to be talking about 20th reunion! Haha!