Halloween 2010 Doha Style

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Halloween Fun with Friends!

She had a great time and enjoyed sharing Halloween with our South African friends and with her British teacher and her kids as it was their first time Trick or Treating. Everyone had a great time and it was a little bit of home for all of the American kids and also for the people in the flats that decided to participate and hand out candy. So much fun!

In the pics are the ladies at the reception desk in our tower that just adore Ella and vice versa! They were so looking forward to seeing her dressed up as she had told them about it all week! Also in the pics are Hayley (her beloved teacher) and her kids Will (Ella's future husband) and Amelia (ADORABLE!) and another is the group (what was left of it by the last towers). We started off with about 30 and this was the last tower. Lastly are some of our friends from Texas that we speak so fondly of. We have all become family especially Ella with some of the older Texans who have left grandkids behind in the states. Ella has become the designated granddaughter to a several! She is glad to help! Of course they have helped her out because she misses her family so much too!

Turned out to be a great Halloween after all!! :)

A Night as a Mermaid!!

On to actual Halloween and Trick or Treating! Ella was Merliah and much to our surprise, her dress-up dress shrunk...actually our daughter has grown by leaps & bounds! She had some growing pains recently and I can see why! She has outgrown a lot of her clothes and now her Merliah dress was a tiny little dress...so...Mommy still let her wear it b/c I promised. But - she wore little shorts under it!

A Night as Hannah Montana!

So, my search paid off. Not only did I find the Pumpkin Carving, but we were also invited to a Halloween party thrown by fellow Americans and also worked out trick or treating with another American with some of the local towers. So we went from worried about having no plans to having lots!!

Next step...what could she be??? Costumes are hard to find here and when you do, they are expensive (compared to home) so the dress-up queen was told that I would buy a wig but not a costume. So she had said that she wanted to be Merliah the Barbie surfer turned Mermaid (from her favorite movie Barbie and a Mermaid Tale) and she has long blond hair. I had heard about a party store (yes, one in the whole city) and found it. The only one I found was a Hannah Montana one. She was excited to have the wig and then I could see the wheels turning...maybe she wanted to be Hannah instead. Well, she decided that she had 2 events to go to and she could dress up as 2 different people. So as hard as it might be to believe - the only thing I bought was the wig! This outfit and accessories are all from her closet. She had a blast being Hannah and the only time she took off the wig was while eating because it was getting in her food!! So we called her Miley during dinner...then she put it right back on! :) We made lots of new friends and had a great time!

And Other Fun Stuff While at The Ritz...

So...we didn't just carve pumpkins while there. Ella also decorated cupcakes & cookies. While there she also made some friends with kids from all over the world that have all relocated to Doha. We even wandered around the property and we amazed at how beautiful it was. With all of the grass,trees and ocean views, it was easy to forget that we were in the desert!

Learning the Art of Pumpkin Carving!

I had the challenge of finding a way to celebrate Halloween so that Ella wasn't missing out on anything from home. That is always my thought. She is missing her family & friends back home and I don't want her to miss out on anything else! So luckily I joined the Doha Mums group who all want to help each other and are actually able to accomplish things with over 800 expat mommies working together. So they had this event and I signed us up!

I took Ella to the Pumpkin Carving at the Ritz Carlton in Doha. The kids got a pumpkin to carve, lessons on to how to do that from the chef and his assistants, lunch and treat decorating stations. We had a great time and Ella got a bit of home. Sure, we are missing out on football (not soccer) games, bonfires, pumpkin patches and such but we found a way to get some fall over here....even if it was about 100 degrees that day!!

Ella's Cool Bracelet from the Soque

From the time that Matt arrived in Doha and took his first trip to the traditional outdoor market, he knew that there was a stand that Ella would love. He was right! There is a jewelry-maker who will make your bracelet right in front of you. He is most definitely an artist and watching him do his work is mesmerizing! Ella picked her colors (black base with pink, gold and sparkles) and then watched in amazement. She wears her bracelet every chance she gets!

R.I.P. Sweet Girl

The sad day has come for us to say goodbye to a wonderful dog. Our Maggie had to be put down. Her health had deteriorated over time and keeping her alive was being selfish and unfair to her. We went through that years ago with Mack and still feel bad for keeping him alive for so long with him suffering.

We got Maggie years ago, just about a year after we got Mack and she has given us so many years of wonderful memories. You couldn't find a kinder, more loving dog with a tongue that could drag the floor (if it wasn't licking someone!). She was such a great dog to Ella and she especially will miss her. We really hate that we weren't there to say goodbye (although when we left for Doha, we did say our goodbyes knowing that we may not ever see her again). It is probably a blessing that we weren't there to see her in so much pain. We can remember her the way she is shown above. With that smile and tongue hanging out so excited to share her love with anyone that would let her.

Maggie we love you so much and miss you already!!!

The Loss of our Beloved Maggie

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King Triton's 1st Bath!

I was preparing for the worst...he is a cat after all! But I put him in the sink, made the water as comfortable as I could and washed him with baby shampoo (per the vet) and he didn't mind it one bit. He even played with the water as it came down swatting his paw at it. Of course, as soon as I dried him, the licking began. He gave himself an hour long bath which kinda defeated the purpose BUT at least he was all fluffy and clean. The shoe pic is to put into perspective his size. That is Ella's little kid shoe size 13...she is moving into size 1 of bigger kids shoes. So he is pretty tiny!!!

Welcome King Triton!!!

We were very lonely with Matt being gone so much and missing family, friends and Maggie so much so we started talking about possibly getting a pet here. Dogs are not very popular here - neither are cats really- but we wanted something. So I looked at the classifieds on the Doha Mums site and found a mom that already had 3 cats of her own (along with her 3 small children) and was feeding 2 kittens outside. So, we gave her a call and were amazed when we saw that the "street cat" was a Siamese! He was SO tiny and beautiful! We were surprised that after that first night of being skittish towards us, he was fine. He wasn't a scaredy cat and was so sweet and cuddly. He did eat like every meal was his last and filled into his body over the course of a few weeks. He was 2.5 lbs at his first vet visit and we are sure he has gained since. :) Ella adores him and I have to say that he has really helped me with my feelings of loneliness. Of course Ella picked the name and named him after Ariel (the Little Mermaid)'s dad. King Triton is now part of the family!!

Our Big Girl Is Reading!!!

SO proud of Ella!!! She has been working very hard at school and the British curriculum is pretty tough. It has been very trying for all of us but we are working through it. Along with spelling tests each week that include 5 words and 2 sentences, she is also learning to read!! This was her 2nd book sent home (the 1st went back the next day & I didn't have a chance to record her). We are so proud of her and she is SO excited to be learning to read!

Big News for Daddy!

As we were welcoming Matt home from his travels and starting to plan our time with him around, he got a very important call. He would be taking the senior team to the Asian Games! This is like Dream Come True for Matt so he was so excited then he went into preparation mode. And I did as well....for Ella. We were so excited about our time together and in an instant that all changed. So Matt left a few days later for Istanbul (Turkey) for training camp with the team and 2/day practices. We got him back for 4 very stressful, trying days of us running around getting things ready for the next trip...the BIG trip...to the BIG show!!! So now he is gone to China for almost the entire month! They will be preparing with lots of practice and then will be moving into athletes village to start the games...the 16th (I believe). Those of you that have satelites or lots of sports channels, keep an eye out for the Asian Games around that time and cheer for the Qatar team!!! Once Matt finds out where you can watch, I will gladly pass it on. Good luck team!!