Cote Kids: flu shots---playdates---EID holiday---lasagne night---Paden---date night (11.13-11.19)

Sat, 11/13- Kids had their 2nd set of flu shots. I also got one too. Thank goodness no one had a reaction to it. Dan met us at the hospital, I'm so glad that he's able to met me there b/c the kids really LOVE him and nothing's better than Daddy's arm after getting poked! We came home and Bee invited us over for lunch. I love going there b/c Susan, her housemaid, makes some yummy Asian dishes. I can't help it, food's my weakness!

Sun, 11/14- Playdate at Nadia's. Our normal playdate group was merged w/the 3 yr old group this week since it's EID week, a Muslim holiday. A lot of people usually leave for EID, we were supposed to go too. We had somewhat planned for our first trip to Bahrain, a nearby country that is more liberal than KSA, but had issues w/our visas b/c someone at the passport office messed up one of the boy's paperwork. Dan's trying to resolve this before our trip back to Houston in December. Anyways, this playgroup was pretty huge, Nadia said about 50 people. Met some new moms, I can't believe all the new people I have met so far since coming here. I think Dan said there are about 250 new expat hires for this year...amazing!

Went to Julie's house for dinner, pot roast night. YUM!!! Julie lives down the street from us. They have 3 kids also, all different ages though. We've found that usually families with 3 kids like us are more open to hanging out w/us, I think they are used to the noise level...there are a few exceptions.

Clud's last day. Yes that's right, I let Clud go. I know it's 3 more weeks til Semira gets back, but I can't take it anymore. She is just not a fit for us (me and the kids) and it drives me nuts having her in the house! All this negative energy in the house was too much! Most important is that she is not very interactive w/the kids and wanted to do everything in the house except watch the kids, I'm talking about excessive cleaning (even though she doesn't do a good job), dog walking, you name it, anything but kids. So it was time for her to be gone, we took her to the Murphys before we headed to the Fosters for dinner. Yes I have to take care of 3 kids, cook, clean, etc. all the stuff in a household for the next 3 weeks by myself, but it is what it is. C'est le vie!

Mon, 11/15- play at Tina's. Leanne and her family came as well. Dan's off this whole week forhte EID holiday and stayed at home b/c I needed a few things done before we have company over the next night. He spent the morning covering up the exposed cords we have for the cable tv. Over here, when you get cable, they just drill a hole through the walls from the outside and run the cord through, nothing's done inside the walls like the States...so with triplets and furries, now's the time to tiddy it up before more kids come tomorrow evening.

Tues, 11/16- Paden at our house in the morning. Bee and her family left for Istanbul for the EID holiday and they left Paden, their 18 month old ish boy w/Susan. Bee asked if I could let the kids play so he wouldn't be bored. We alternated days, two days Susan came over and the other two we came to their house. My kids really like him and I think it's
mutual for him, he already has instant buddies.

While they played, I started cooking lasagne and getting ready for (9) families to come over that evening. Thanks to my amazing hubby for taking care of our kids so I can do what I need to do. Our first party in Saudi and it went quite well! I made 2 lasagne w/meat sauce and one w/meat & veggie sauce. I also made 2 salads. Other families brought salads, breads, desserts and kid snacks. We had a lovely time getting to know our new friends and the kids enjoyed playing w/A LOT of kids. There were kids of so many different age group and they all played well, I couldn't believe there were no meltdowns or fights. By the end of the night I was exhausted, but it was so worth it! Didn't even mind sweeping up the many layers of sand on our floors!!!

Tues, 11/16- Fri, 11/19- hang out w/Paden and his nanny Susan in the morning time. We alternated homes.

Wed, 11/17- We went to the EID celebration on camp, similar to the one in Sept. Nothing new this time, looks like they had the same setup w/food, bounce house and an entertainment stage. We didn't stay too long, just enough for them to run around and get some fresh air.

Thurs, 11/18- We hired Joy who babies sat for us so we could shop at night. We shopped in Khobar at the big Centerpoint store, a garden store, and Tamini, a grocery store I keep hearing people talk about that has a lot of the American brands. The hunt was on for canned pumpkin to make Thanksgiving pies...no such luck! We even tried to find Zamil's, an arts & craft store like Michael's but was unsuccessful in finding it. We ended up coming home w/a curtain rod for our bedroom and three cushions for the dining room chairs. Since the kids sit on our regular dining chairs, they get really dirty more like disgusting and there's no point in getting them upholstered now so I figure I could just get by w/putting a cushion on it. Or like Dan says that's my "quick fix". Anyways that's our date night in Saudi... shopping, not much else

to do here (night life wise).

Fri, 11/19- After the kids went down for bedtime, I tagged along w/Kamal on his shopping trip to Lulu's. I think this is my third time there. Stocked up on a lot of stuff now that we have our second fridge and freezer. It's my favorite grocery store! Thanks to Kamal for letting me tag along and I could take my time, didn't have to rush one bit! Ismi was really good throughout the trip too, I think it helped he had his cartoons to watch and snacks.

Pictures of the week:

Play at Tina's. Skyler picked out this outfit herself. I couldn't believe she picked out a skirt.