NARRATING THE CAMERA ROLL...

 ^^^  I was so excited when The Threenagers decided to have a "movie afternoon".  NOT SURPRISINGLY, mine only lasted about two minutes before she wanted to get up and play again!

^^^  Juliet has been teething the past couple of weeks.  On this particular day, she was only happy if she was pushing an imaginary baby in the stroller.  #WhateverWorks

 ^^^  First of all, Nory is OBSESSED with this Minnie Mouse onesie which she calls, "HER COZY ONE."  She insists on wearing it everywhere, including outside in the courtyard.  Secondly, these two are so cute together.  Sometimes.  Like......maybe 25% of my camera roll.

^^^  Water is the best invention ever.  I have a feeling we will be spending many hours doing this exact thing on our back deck in Canada.  

^^^  A picture of all four of us that's not a selfie!  Thank you for capturing this, Steve!  I love it even though none of us are looking :)

 ^^^  Left Side:  Nory "helping" make rainbow pancakes.  Right Side:  Jettie seriously upset about coming inside from the courtyard.  We keep telling her that she's going to practically LIVE OUTSIDE this summer :)

^^^  MY MINI-ME!!!!  She's a going concern, I tell you!  :)

^^^  It's POPSICLE WEATHER and Juliet and I love to make Daddy and Nory cringe with our messes ;)  

^^^  Is it possible to go insane singing "Old McDonald Had a Farm"???  If it is, we are well on our way because that's Jettie's favourite tune and it's been on repeat in the Parkinson House.  #HelpUs

^^^  The Glue is going better than we ever could have anticipated!  If you haven't yet had the chance, please check our Facebook Page and Instagram Account :)  We'd love to share our business journey with you!!! :)

So, we started a business.

Just the two of us - Emily and I.  Which makes us ENTREPRENEURS.  BUSINESS LADIES!  And THE PROUD OWNERS OF A NEW COMPANY!

I'm sure none of this is surprising to you in the least.  (Ha!  Yeah right.  I'm not sure about Emily, but I am visually picking up every family member's jaw from the floor.  Love you guys!)

I think it will make a lot more sense to you when I tell you that it happened BY ACCIDENT.... #MoreLikeLindsay #ButIsSheForReal?

At our very first business meeting :)

You see, we have a serious, unnecessary, HONESTLY EMBARRASSING obsession with mugs.  And not mugs of the standard variety, but of the large, trendy, and ADORABLE SAYINGS variety.  The kind you might find on Etsy or in the world's sweetest boutique.  Ones that you would order online in Canada, only to bring them across an ocean to where you live for 10 months a year.  The ones you HAVE TO HAVE because your coffee and tea will taste so much better in their SUPER-SUPER-CUTE presence.

It was our plan to divide and conquer the BEST MUGS world, with each of us purchasing our faves from the Interweb and then having them delivered to our homes in Canada (and eventually flown back to our kitchens in Kuwait.)  Alas, our grande plan was KIBOSHED by the cost of mug delivery, making it a totally unrealistic feat to pursue.

Bummed out at Costa Coffee one afternoon, re-living the failure of our BRILLIANT IDEA, Em made a remark about having to make our own mugs.  To which I replied, "Okay, so we're starting a business?"  To which SHE replied, "I GUESS SO!"

BAM!

The Glue was born.....

The Glue designs the mugs we've always dreamed of, showcasing memorable text in either black or white font.  Please follow us on Instagram @thegluekw to follow our journey and take a peak at our very first (GASP!) mugs!  You can also follow The Original Basket Boutique @obb_kuwait, where our mugs will be sold exclusively :)

As for the reason behind our company name,  we believe that tea time or coffee time is the simplest bonding ritual of all......
Truly.....how many times have you sat down to read my blog with a hot drink in hand?  NAN?!  MOM?!  DAD?!  SARA?!  EVERYBODY?! 

Thank you to everyone who has supported The Glue this far.  We couldn't have asked for a better response to our product!  By the end of this week, our customers should be enjoying a conversation with their new favourite mug in hand :)

Happy Sipping!

Love, Emily and Lindsay
XOXO

Hey! Yep, Still Kickin'

But, it's MAY.  So.................BARELY.  #teacherlife

I MISS YOU, GUYS!  Here's what's new:

1)  Two weekends ago, Nory was knocked out with a fever.  Like, KNOCKED OUT.  Not asleep, but not moving.  On the couch.  For an extended period of time.  (Who needs a thermometer when your child becomes NOT YOUR CHILD?  Ha.)  Jettie also battled a bit of a cold/teething/both/we-have-no-idea and went through a few days of needing extra cuddles and attention.  Then Phil and I took a turn with something stubborn and I ended up on antibiotics with a sinus infection.  We're all (I THINK, YET SCARED TO TOTALLY ADMIT) on the mend and hoping to fly home healthy on June 10th!  

2)   Did you see that last sentence?  JUNE 10th!!!!  We will be done school and HOME SWEET CANADA in less than a month and we can't wait to put on our glam for the Fairy Festival June 11th.  Watch out Lakefield!  The oldest one is as fierce as ever and the littlest one is RUNNING AROUND!

3)  Phil went to a conference in Dubai for a few days last week.  It coincided perfectly with 50% of the family feeling ill.  That's HOW WE ROLL when we give up man-to-man defense ;)  Phil enjoyed the opportunity to meet with Activities Directors in the region, although we were all so excited for him to return just in time for the long weekend in Kuwait.  Here's a picture that Nory and Phil sent me during their Daddy/Daughter date at the Hello Kitty Cafe....

4)  Zach and Sarah had their baby!!!  Little Liesel Ada (TEAM GIRL!!!!!!) was born on May 3rd.  She is as cute as a button and so loved already :)

5)  I've always wanted to write for the Huffington Post and so a couple of weeks ago, I decided to email Arianna Huffington directly.  Well, she wrote me back.  The same day.  And then an editor of hers wrote me the following day.  And now..........I have access to the contributor platform and I've written two articles for the site!  I'm still in disbelief!  You can read my articles HERE and HERE! 

6)  Since the start of this week, Jet seems to have turned a corner in the "EVERYONE I DON'T KNOW IS SCARY" department.  Not only has she been smiling at others, but she has approached them without encouragement OR bribery!!!  This is HUGE news and I wonder if it's something that will stick.  Either way, it's fun to see a different side of her sneak out of nowhere :)

7)  Mother's Day was FANTASTIC (even though we had to work)!  The girls gave me a beautiful silver bracelet with the latitude and longitude of where I became a Mama (I LOVE IT!) and we spent the evening splashing around in the courtyard.  Or rather, THEY splashed around, while I GOT SPLASHED ;) 

8)  Yesterday, Phil and I visited Nory's teacher for next year and got to see her classroom.  It was a serious "IS THIS REALLY HAPPENING?!" moment, but I actually think Nory's going to have the best time.  Her teacher radiates enthusiasm like no other and the classroom has everything you could possibly imagine.  We took some pictures to show Nory all the fun activities and she demanded that we go to school "RIGHT NOW".  She can't wait to start school and she'll tell everyone who will listen that she's going to go to school in August :)  Check out these two parents with an almost-school-aged child:

Ahhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

There's also the fact that Emily and I are entrepreneurs, but I think that will have to wait until another post. 

LOVE YOU GUYS!

XOXO

Juliet's First Haircut.

SPOILER ALERT:  It was TERRIBLE.  But perhaps a bit funny in retrospect....

So, I'm against child mullets.  Nory had one for the longest time as a baby because Phil seemed to be pro-child-mullets.  Or, as he claims, pro "I-want-my-daughter-to-have-long-hair!!!!!!"  Anyways, I finally convinced Phil (with the help of Gem) to get Nory's mullet chopped off way back when and I just recently re-convinced him that Juliet's needed to go too. 

Well.

Nory, being the social butterfly that she is, soaked up the haircut experience when she was small.  All eyes on her, being pampered and photographed like a mini-celeb.  Alas, as their personalities would suggest, Juliet's "first haircut" experience was not nearly as fabulous.

A visual for you on this rainy Saturday morning:

Now, to describe the various elements of this photo:

1)  Juliet is visibly freaking out.  She sees her Daddy in front of her, but is unable to be in his arms.  A nightmare situation as the shadow of another.

2)  Phil is pulling out every funny/silly/happy sound in the book to turn Juliet's mood around. 

3)  The hairdresser is panicking and working as quickly as possible whilst saying "ALMOST DONE, BABY!!!  ALMOST DONE, BABY!!!"

4)  Nory is using Phil's phone to capture the milestone and all we could hear from that area of the scene was "CHHH!  CHHH!!!  CHHH!!!!  Because you know how kids take pictures.  Red button!  Red button!  Red button!  Red button!!!

5)  And then there was me - trying to capture the perfect picture of Juliet....optimistically believing that the MILESTONE SMILE I was hoping for would finally come through as a result of Phil's circus performance. 

Haaaaa!!!!!!!!!!!

I think we were only moderately annoying to the people who were waiting their turn.

So sorry, Baby Jet.  But your mullet-less hair is ON POINT! :)

WE LOVE YOU, JETTIE!
xoxo

This mom went on a date and now she's my superhero.

***  Note:  You may also enjoy this very post on The Huffington Post.  (Insert jumping up and down HERE!!!)

While doing my usual HuffPo scan yesterday, I learned that one of the world's most beautiful people, Chrissy Teigen, went on a dinner date with her husband.

Pretty normal, right?

Well, the Internet world went crazy about it.  Like, crazy, crazy, MEAN about it.  Reason being, she left her 10 day old baby at home for the outing.

Sigh.

Are these people FOR REAL?!  

I automatically had two thoughts:

1)  Is Chrissy Teigen like me?  Did she have to be ENCOURAGED, CONVINCED, and REMINDED that time away from your kids is a HEALTHY THING?  Did she feel guilty for leaving the house, and more and more guilty with every passing moment?  Did she actually enjoy her food or did feelings of worry take her appetite away?  Did she embrace the child-free conversations with her husband or was she too distracted checking her phone for possible updates from the nanny?

2)  Is Chrissy Teigen unlike me?  Did she get excited while choosing a restaurant for her first date post-baby?  Did she shower and get dressed up with a smile on her face?  Did she giggle throughout dinner and get lost in conversation with her best friend?  Did she peruse the dessert menu and order a tea or a coffee too?  Did she feel like, "YES!  THIS IS JUST WHAT I NEEDED!!!" on the drive back to the house?

If Chrissy is my first thought, LIKE ME, these online critics are making her feel EVEN WORSE than she already does.  And if Chrissy is more like my second thought, UNLIKE ME, she's the person I've been striving to become.

Before this sentence, there were only three people in the world who knew that, since having Juliet, I've been dealing with post-partum anxiety.  The guilt and worry has been a constant battle and I just wish that one day I will wake up and have a little more CHRISSY in me.

Thank you, CHRISSY TEIGEN for going on a date with your husband 10 days post-partum.  In doing that, you've become a Mama I look up to.  

Remember our Bunny Brunch? Well, after that we DOG-WALKED.

In what seems to be the middle of nowhere in Kuwait, there is an animal shelter that hosts open days for families.  On these days, visitors can pay a small fee to watch, feed, cuddle, or walk the animals.  We hadn't been to one before, so Spring Break seemed like the perfect opportunity to take the plunge.  (Or rather, the long drive to the desert, while Juliet is napping back home and Nory is having quiet time in the car.)  

TO K'S PATH WE WENT!!!!!!!

After walking around and seeing some of the other animals, Nory was thrilled to learn that she could walk a dog on her own and was matched up with a sweet puppy that had as much energy as she did (GASP!!!!!).  We had to keep telling the two of them to take breaks, since we had to keep a certain distance between our group and the next group of dog-walkers.  "Sandy" and Nory were TEAM SUPER-SPEEDY :) 

Here's Nory at one of the resting points we had to enforce:

Notice her big smile, rosy red cheeks and the scary dinosaur shirt that she NEEDED TO WEAR to the animal shelter.  Alas, this is actually the last smile we saw this day because, after what had been the most perfect Easter outing, Nory took a tumble, skinned both knees, and was in full-blown hysterics for an amount of time that even the most patient of parents would struggle with....

Luckily, our crew took two vehicles to the shelter and everyone who wasn't a Parkinson kindly offered to take the other vehicle back home.  HAAAAA!!!!!!!!!  Also LUCKILY, wounds heal and you only have to hear the story about the epic ANIMAL SHELTER FALL OF 2016 until the scabs are totally gone and there's not a single mark left as a reminder ;)

Outings with CHILDREN.  There aren't too many I can think of that go off without a hitch :)

SPRINKLED WITH LOVE!

This year, the most genuine couple was recruited to work at our school.  Their names are Zach and Sarah, and we bonded quickly over parenting, Survivor fandom, and jigsaw puzzles.  Their first baby (ahhh!!!!!!) is due the first week of May (YIPPEE!!!!!) and Emily and I called dibs on planning their baby shower :)  #partyplanningcentral   

When we had our pre-shower planning session, Sarah said she is a fan of two things:  COLOUR and SPRINKLES.  With Pinterest being only a click away, a "Sprinkled With Love" theme was born almost instantly.  Em arranged for a massive Bulk Barn bag of sprinkles to be picked up in Amsterdam over Spring Break and the rest was.................HISTORICALLY DELICIOUS :)

Here are some pictures from the party!  In retrospect, we should have called Guinness to set a new "MOST SPRINKLES CONSUMED AT A PARTY" title.  Oh well.  Next baby ;) 

 ^^^  You have no idea how many circles sprinkles are STILL taped to the wall.  Juliet took care of removing the lower ones.  I did the mid-section.  And I think I need to recruit all of the tall people in the building to remove the rest ;)

 

^^^  Water bottle labels are part of our signature party package.  This party was no exception :) 

 

^^^  Sprinkle center pieces.  Because....it was a SPRINKLES PAR-TAYYYYYY :)

^^^  Shower favours.  I wonder which day we will be lighting these candles.....

^^^  There were also sprinkles inside the batter, just in case you were curious. 

^^^  Gluten free, chocolate chip cookies dipped in white chocolate and sprinkles :)

^^^  Sprinkle popcorn!  Drizzled with melted white chocolate and.....SPRINKLES!!!!!!!  Vigorous shaking was required, but worth it :)

^^^  Lastly, a sprinkled table top.  Because.....IT WAS A SPRINKLE PARTY, you guys! :)  #WhereWasGuinness? 

And because I'm a total nerd and I can't find a picture of Emily and I with the Mama-To-Be (WHAT?!!!), this post-shower picture of Juliet being obsessed with me (in Phil's absence, of course) will have to do.....

^^^  I love the very rare moments when I get to be the FAVOURITE! :)

Thank you, Zach and Sarah, for giving us the JOY of planning your baby shower!  We can't wait to welcome Baby Timothy into this world.  He or She is so loved already and.....although we are far away from the place we call "home"....remember that there is such a thing as a "Kuwait Family" and you THREE will always be apart of ours.

XOXO

NARRATING the CAMERA ROLL...

 ^^^  There is this random place in the corner of our courtyard where the kids love to run and hide.  Given the bugs back there, it's really weird how it appeals to them.  Alas, I have yet to see a child NOT enjoy this hiding spot. 

 ^^^  Last week, I surprised Phil by going from a bazillion, overlapping icons on my desktop to SIX!  I figured this called for an impressive desktop background too and I found the perfect "BOOM SHAKA LAKA" on this lady's blog.

 ^^^  This wild one will run around until she's literally dripping with sweat and red in the face.  And even then, there's effort required on our part to insist on water breaks and down time.  She loves keeping up with the older kids :)

 ^^^  If you need an activity that keeps kids (of all ages!) engaged and quiet, this is the activity you need!  I saw it on Pinterest and decided to try it out on Spring Break.  You simply freeze some plastic figures in a block of ice, give the kids some "tools", salt, and water, and let them go to town on trying to "rescue" the trapped characters.  They loved it! :)

 ^^^  If you look closely, you'll see the pink sparkle on Winka's cheek.  There is still glitter EVERYWHERE around the house.  I don't think I will be living this one down anytime soon....

^^^  Our quiet explorer :)  This little one is easily drawn into the simplest of things.

^^^  Wearing freebie flip-flops through the mall, post-pedicure.  Thank you COCO for wearing them alongside me.  I give you a GOLD STAR for supporting me through my "AHHH, I AM WEARING FLATS!!!" crisis ;) 

^^^  Emily sent this to me and I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE IT!!!!!!!!!!!!

 ^^^  Left Side:  Nory playing the guitar.  She started up a FAMILY BAND / DANCE CREW that same evening.  Right Side:  Jettie goes straight to Daddy when she sees him come home from work.  They are inseparable, those two :)

^^^  What to do?  You can either spend the whole time keeping your child away from the random stream of water in the courtyard OR embrace the fact that it's there.  And, given that she rarely gets to experience puddles, we said YES!!!!!! :) 

 ^^^  National McDonald's Day happened recently and two of us decided to celebrate.   The two of us that didn't celebrate shopped the mall with Auntie Gem :)

 ^^^  Sometimes you bake a heart cake JUST CUZ and invite your friends over to help :)

 ^^^  Quiet mornings are my favourite.  Having coffee and playing alongside these two is something I look forward to every single weekend!