Cote Kids: slow week---Ramadan begins (08.07-08.13)

Sat, 8/7- Tina and Kamal let me tag along at night on one of their shopping excursions. We went to a few stores...I was mainly looking for a light fixture for our dining room b/c the one Aramco installed only has one bulb and it's so dark in that room, it was just bugging me! You can make those minor cosmetic changes to the house as long as you leave things as they were when you leave. They took me to a street where there was nothing but lighting stores in Downtown Khobar, some really beautiful, but just not my style. I was happy to finally found one I liked! I was also shopping for the kids upcoming birthday gifts and bath toys. They def need some new bath toys, but I wasn't so lucky, only found an alphabet foam toys where they can stick it on the walls. Kids really enjoy their baths, they actually look forward to it and say "bath bath bath" as they're walking to the bathroom. I bought them a new shower curtain, the theme is "travel", it has cars, planes, suitcases and travel stuff on it. Everytime Hudson would point to the cars and airplanes. BTW, he says "airplane" in a really deep voice, it's so funny how he changes the tone of his voice to say that. We're still doing baths on Sat, Tues & Thurs. Maybe when the weather is nice and we'll be outdoors, we'll prolly do baths more.

Mon, 8/9- We went to a Dharhan Women's Group (DWG) meeting. It's a place where women get together to socialize. They have meetings where you can learn about different things like a country, culture, etc. There's also a playroom for the kids where you can drop the kids off while you're in the "meeting" and babysitters are available to watch your kids for 10 SR or $2.67 US per kid. I have Semira so I don't need to pay for any babysitters. The topic that day was Ramadam, which started 8/11 and ends 9/8. They had a Muslim lady explained what Ramadam is, what to expect, certain changes during this time. It's a religious time for Muslims where they still pray 5 times a day and have extra prayers after the night prayers. They also are required to fast, from sun rise to sun set. No food, water, gum, basically anything that involves putting things in the mouth. Semira is a Muslim and I was a little worried about her taking care of the kids while she was fasting, but so far nothing has been different. She told me she started doing this at 15 years old so she's used to it. And the previous family she was with, she had to take care of the kids while feeding them and preparing meals so it doesn't phase her. The first few days she was a little light headed b/c she didn't have her coffee and was feeling the caffeine withdrawal, but other than that she's been able to maintain taking care of the kids and the house while fasting. It's really amazing b/c she still plays chase w/them and is not able to drink any water.

I was able to be in the meeting while Semira watched the kids in the playroom. Since it was a new place for them, they didn't even mind that I sneaked out. I kept checking on them every 15 minutes, but everyone was fine.

Afterwards we went to Tina/Ismael's house for our playdate. Met Leanne and Isak there, they had came from the DWG meeting too.

Later that day, Dan and I did our weekly shopping trip and Semira watched the kids by herself after their nap. When we came home, we were so shocked!!! We looked through the front window and saw ALL the kids sitting at the table eating dinner! We didn't want to come in and interupt them. Usually at meal time, they would eat some then run and play and come back and eat some more. We were watching them for almost 15 minutes and they were still at the table...unbeliveable, why are they always on their best behavior for someone else?

Some pictures for the week:

My new chandelier---LOVE LOVE LOVE it!!!

Hudson and his backpack. We waved "bye bye" and tell them to have a safe trip. They just get a kick out of it!

He's here w/Skyler dancing. I'm able to find ONE American station on the radio. It plays different genre of music each day and time so you never know if you'll get rock, classic, 80's, alternative, rap, it's kinda cool not knowing. They're getting good w/the dancing moves, they like to groove and move their head to music--- love it when they dance!

And Tobin joins them...BTW, this is our room.

Daddy and his boys: Hudson w/his backpack again.

Hudson- had his first real "boo boo" here. He was walking up the stairs and forgot a toy so he quickly turned back and somehow fell and hit the metal gate at the bottom. It happend so quick, and when it happened he didn't even cry until a few seconds later. His "boo boo" lasted a few days.

The kids love to kiss "boo boo" and get kisses for them. Sometimes they will call something a "boo boo" even when it's not one.

I love it when they all sit together, they've been doing that a lot.