IF YOU WERE HERE FOR TEA.

*  I have SO MANY videos that I want to load to the blog, but it seems that ever since I updated my iPhone, I haven't been able to do it through blogger or youtube!  FRUSTRATING!!!!!  Please if you have a solution, send it my way!

*  As of Thursday night, Nory can clap her hands.  All she needs is a little bit of "yay!!!!!!" encouragement, and her new trick can go on for minutes on end. 

*  Not sure I mentioned this before, but Phil and I are keeping our options open in terms of next year.  We love Kuwait and our jobs are good ones, but it's important we find a school that will look after Nory (sooner rather than later!).  We're talking airfare, health insurance, and tuition.  Some schools do offer these benefits to their teachers and it's a real bummer that ours doesn't.  Time will tell what the future holds. 

*  The house has been de-Halloween-ified.  (You know what this means.  Pictures to follow!)

*  Parent-teacher conferences went great.  Phil and I are lucky to have so many positive interactions with our parents and because we have been at our school for 4 years now, we've gotten the pleasure of dealing with some of the same parents again.  Hooray for great parents with younger siblings!  Many of our former parents also popped in to say their hello's and to ask about Nory.  So, so sweet.

*  Ever since I was pregnant, I've had these weird short hairs that look like mini-alfalfa's near my hairline.  Let me tell you - it's not a cute look when I pull my locks back into a ponytail.  Alas, to keep my sanity, I have to consider these shorties as another reminder to be appreciative of the things that I have.  They are just another souvenir from the WELCOME BABY process :)

*  Ford Schmord.  When I see that he has more headlines than the Philippines, I get ENRAGED.  He's lame.  So is CNN. 

*  Today Phil and I happened upon MY NEW FAVOURITE STORE (kind of a lie - it took me many days to nail down this location).   It's all arts & crafts supplies and I was FINALLY able to find some FELT in this country!!!!  Wait until you see the fun we get up to with this purchase :)

*  Remember how the Olympics are happening in the new year?!!! AHHHH!!!!! 

*  We've entered the latter half of November.  BRING IT ON!!!!!  Only two weeks until the best month of the year is here!!!!!!

Tonight it was pouring rain in Kuwait.

This happens rarely, which is why my night was completely MADE when one of my boy students remarked, "IT IS RAINING CATS AND DOGS OUT THERE, MISS!" Ahhhh - his excitement was so genuine and amazing.  Not even in a MILLION YEARS could I forget that face.

Parent Teacher Conferences.

Always a joy!  We will be back at school from 6-8 tonight and then we have a full day of it tomorrow!  YAHOOO!!!!!!  Depending on the student, the conference can be somewhat of a show and tell ;)  Check out what one of the boys did during bellwork yesterday:

Funny, yes.  But appropriate during science class?  NEVER!  This is only one of the gems I've tucked away this year.  One Direction love notes are another popular item ;)

The fun begins (or continues?) in 1.5 hours.....

If this doesn't warm your heart, I'm afraid that nothing will!

GIRLIE is 9 MONTHS OLD TODAY!

And all 8.9 kilos of her is so GROWN UP.  She's a moving, grooving, chatty little person who wants to be on the ground, exploring, and free to do as she pleases.  I suppose this is what makes our two-second, morning snuggles so extra-special.  Once she's AWAKE-AWAKE, it's all OVER!

Playing the coffee table drum!

She's officially a super-crawler and can get over anything that gets in her way.  We used to be able to build a "Kuwait Wall" in the living room (construction materials:  blankets + pillows) which was semi-effective at keeping her in somewhat of an assigned area.  Well, times are a changin' and this strategy is no longer as effective as it once was ;)  She's a big fan of couch/coffee table cruising and loves to be in a standing position as much as possible.  Sometimes I wonder how her little legs keep up with all of the up-and-down motion that happens throughout the day. 

She has started to wave "bye-bye" which is a real heart breaker in the morning.  Leaving for work is THE WORST.  But coming home is awesome.  She knows the routine: we come home, she crawls over to us as fast as possible, asks to be picked up and then waves goodbye to Kumari.  That part feels nice - like she misses us.

She has also started to do this thing where we practice "relaxing".  I put pillows down and then I lay my head on one of them and say "I'm just relaxing."  Nory smiles, comes over to the pillows, lays her head down and "relaxes" too.  This game has gone on for at least 20 minutes at its peak!  It's super fun.  And it gives me moments where hugging and kissing her are possible.  

The calculator - another favourite :)

Of course, she continues to LOVE remote controls, computer cords, my mobile, etc.  The other day I left her for only a few seconds and I returned to the living room to find her surfing People.com on my laptop.  And my laptop was at the very back of the couch!  Phil uses this evidence as a sure sign she's my daughter.  Can't live without the interweb ;)  

Screaming in the hallway - where it echoes - is another fun past time of hers.  Anytime we take her out, you can bet she's woken up all 13 floors of the apartment building.  Is this an appropriate time to thank her Grandpa for teaching her that trick?  THANKS GRANDPA (from all of the tenants in our building).    

At the hospital waiting for her appointment.  Acting like she OWNS the place ;)

She is such a HAPPY WEE THING - so smiley and "too much happy joking" as Shani and Kumari put it.   She still goes to all kinds of different people - students, neighbours, maids, cashiers, friends, etc.  At her last pediatrician appointment (Saturday night), the doctor was SURE she would cry with the nurses and then with himself, but she just kept smiling and tried to steal the various tools that were brought near her (good luck using that stethoscope, Doc!).  I wonder if/when the stranger anxiety will kick in....

Discovering circles :)

Today we got her two new books from the KG book fair at school.  One of them is Hello Kitty and it teaches different shapes.  The other is called "That's not my polar bear..." and it teaches textures.  Both were a BIG HIT after school today and we read through each one multiple times before the boredom kicked in.  I love reading to her.  This is one of the rare instances when she sits in my lap and somewhat snuggles.  She's also starting to get the hang of turning the pages!  YAHOO!

Every day just gets more and more fun with Nory around.  Tonight Phil and I looked at each other in disbelief at HOW MUCH we love this little girl of ours.  It is truly unexplainable, as I'm sure all you parents know ;)  I can't wait to watch her grow some more this month!

Family picture in the posh part of the mall :)

HAPPY 9 MONTHS, Our Darling.  WE LOVE YOU SO, SO MUCH!

XOXO

Screenshots and BFF's

I think it's clear that Gem and I are attached for life.  We met in Cairo, became sisters at the ole ELK Lodge, and have been texting side by side (admittedly quite obnoxiously) ever since.  I really can't go a whole day without talking to her and I really hate the fact that we work at the same school and go days at a time without even catching a glimpse of one another.  Perhaps this is why we do the things we do.  The ridiculous things, like sending screenshots of instagram items over WhatsApp.

I feel it is only fitting to indulge in this ridiculousness and show you exactly HOW RIDICULOUS  AMAZING we are.  Attention please........

Pictures I sent to her this week (so far):

Sadly it only comes in Nory size.  And although that was the person I had in mind when I first saw it, I'm reconsidering the placement of a custom order.........

Personalized PINK Uggs.  OMG.  For this product, I envisioned Gem, Nory and I all cute and personalized and cozy warm in Europe this winter.

Pictures Emily has sent me this week (keep in mind that the caption of each photo was something along the lines of "URGENT"....and I agree with her):

I LOVE THE RANCIC'S!!!!!  LOVE, LOVE!  And apparently Bill is coming to speak about business stuff at the university in Kuwait.  I could care less about the talk he's giving.  But I couldn't care MORE about trying to secure tickets....

I NEED A RED CUP!!!!!  Can you believe I've gone 12 days of November without one?!  (Okay, so they weren't debuted here on November 1st...but still)!!!

So there you go.  A little glimpse into the everyday life of two insta-obsessed BFF's.  What - OH WHAT - would I do without her?!  I suppose I will find out when she is in Oman this weekend!

Love you GEM!
xoxo

Things that ROCK about being a teacher:

1)  Making massive pieces of "artwork" to display in the hallways....

2)  Students that march into the classroom and ever so dramatically say, "__________ the Fabulous is OFF today!  I am OFF!  I am done!"  Students such as these ones then continue to say that they will go home immediately after school, put some "fairytale soap" into the bathtub (to make the water pink, of course), and then light candles so they can "finally RELAX". 

Thursday, Friday, Saturday.

Thursday night: 

We had clubs right after school.  The treasure hunt club girls decided to take a break from treasure-hunting and started to prepare a flash mob to some weird song about a fox.  Phil is the club coordinator and got to pop-in to see some of the action.  Then he had basketball.  Steve came over to watch X Factor after practice and I almost made it through the whole episode without falling asleep!

Friday:

We started the day with a lovely drive to what we like to call "Mahboula Oblongata".  It's 20 minutes away from our part of the country which seems not-so-far in Canadian terms, but is REALLY DARN FAR in Kuwaiti terms.  We aren't used to road trips like this one.  Yes, I declare this 20 minute journey a ROAD TRIP.  We met our friend Colleen for breakfast muffins (SHE IS THE BEST BAKER!) and we enjoyed catching up after months without seeing her (because she lives so far away...).

Playing in the kid's room at Colleen's apartment complex!

In the afternoon, Phil had a basketball friend over for lunch.  They talked sports.  Nory and I visited Grandma Cathy, ate lunch, and had a nap.  In the evening, we watched some more X Factor and an episode of Parenthood.  I went to bed earlier (as usual), while Phil stayed up to watch Survivor.

Saturday:

I had to work this morning and then the three of us headed to a U14 girls soccer game at 11 o'clock.  We went for coffee afterwards and picked up groceries before heading home to do meal prep for the week.  Unfortunately, our plans to cook went out the window when the oven decided to break mid-pasta/cookie/vegetable-cooking.  After a momentary freak-out, we blared the Christmas music and had a family dance party in the living room.  That made everything SIGNIFICANTLY superior :)  We are supposed to have maintenance men coming to fix the oven tomorrow.  The superintendent of the building believes the oven is a GONE-ER....

At Costa Coffee.  The happiest little chicken around :)

Nory is now asleep and we are chilling on the couch.  This week is going to be a long one at school, with parent-teacher conferences Wednesday night and Thursday.  Always an exhausting couple of days when you teach 80+ students!        

Hope your weekend is moving along HAPPILY!  XOXO

AY AY AY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

While studying biology.......

Me:  List some differences between mitosis and meiosis.

Student:  In my opinion....

Me:  (interrupts) NO.  It's not an opinion.  You've got to tell me the facts.

Student:  Okay, sorry Miss.  In my facts........