Ian the Instagramer ~Part 28

Beautiful flower I found at a friend's house.Not sure how I got such a clean shot with my iPhone.

 Through my eyes. 

 My gorgeous little girl enjoying a beautiful sunset. 

The flowers on our front porch.

Corban painted his own face at Victoria's birthday party. He is a salamander.

 

Ian the Instagrammer ~Part 27

Gazebo ceiling in old Cairo.

Merry Christmas! Kids are in bed, the turkey is deboned, Santa (aka me) brought the presents out and my little elf ( aka the tooth fairy, aka Kristin) arraigned them under the tree. We'll se how late the kids let us sleep.

  The kiddos hamming it up in their Christmas PJs. We had a good day.

Happy New Year!

Ahmed during the festivities at his engagement party.

Rainbow Toast

Yesterday the kids went back to school, they had from the 22nd of Dec to the 6th of Jan off. During their break from school we had lots of fun playing at home and doing special fun things. We went for bus rides (which they think are fun) to go get Popsicles, we went to the library to check out a couple DVDs, and we had a few playdates.

We also had rainbow toast for lunch. Marin had done this in her class at school and had wanted to show Corban and Jeriah. They liked it so much we did it 2 days in a row, one day I took pictures while they painted, and the other while they ate it.
This is Marin's rainbow toast Canadian flag.

I also enjoyed some time to play with my new camera. :)

This little sunflower is growing in our garden.

Also growing in our garden are beans, and Jeriah likes to eat them, he prefers them raw. He was helping me the other day, by holding the bowl, I looked down to see him sitting there with his mouth full, so I ran to get the camera.

I am sure you have noticed that he has a bandage on his hand. Right after Christmas he and Corban got bad coughs so we had the humidifiers in their bedroom. On about the 3rd night he got a steam burn on the back of his hand below his ring and pinky finger knuckles. We ran cold water over it right away, and he settled down and didn't seem bothered by it anymore. We all woke up the next morning though to see that it had blistered badly and he and rubbed part of it open in his sleep. It is healing well now though and it hasn't slowed him down. He has been really good about getting the bandages put on, during one of the first time I was putting on a bandage, he asked me "what are you tempting (attempting) to do?" He has also learned a lesson and knows now that steam can hurt you. He talks often about how you need to be careful by "seam", how "I got a seam burn on my hand". Cute kid.

On Thursday we took a trip into Jeddah and bought Marin a new bike. She had outgrown her first one, and even though the training wheels are on it still she can ride without them. Her new bike is cute and I think suits her very well. She has the training wheels on it too, she wanted to keep them on, it is giving her confidence, she'll want them off when she is ready.

We also got Corban a bike, he had gone back and forth on wanting one, but without one he can't learn to ride so... On Friday afternoon we took the bikes down to a big empty parking lot so Corban could start learning. He was having a hard time with it, but also wasn't that into it. We got him to ride a bit, but he really just wanted to run around and explore. Oh well eventually he will want to learn.

Pictures were taken though. :)

Happy 2012!

Happy New Year Everyone! 

This post is brought to you by pictures from Christmas Day and Boxing Day. :)

Ian took 3 days off, the 24th, 25th, and 26th, and with the way our week works here the weekend was on the 22nd and 23rd so we had a wonderful 5 days together. We relaxed, played, went for bike rides, listened to Christmas music and enjoyed the Christmas feel. On the 24th there was an evening "candle lit" service on the beach. There ended up being no candles though it was so windy, those of us who attended though still enjoyed the time to sing carols and read the Christmas story together. We also had our traditional sweet and sour meat balls dinner.
On Christmas morning we had fresh cinnamon buns for breakfast and then we dug into our presents. Before that though I had the kids sit on the couch to take pictures of them in their festive pj's (which were purchased here in Jeddah).
Darn cutes kids! And looking so grown up!

I took about 10 pictures the rest all looked pretty much like this. :)

We then moved on to opening our gifts. The kids were all very pleased with their presents, they got quite a few books and wanted to read them all as they opened them, so we did. :) Well except for Marin's chapter book, last year she got the Rainbow Fairies, and this year she got the Weather Fairies. We are reading through that together she reads 2 pages, then I read 3. She is very pleased with herself, that she can read it, we are of course very proud of her!
Here she is with her new Barbie, and looking more like she is going to be 16 not 6 soon!

After lunch, and putting the turkey in the oven, we opened the stockings. We had kind of forgotten about them, but Marin reminded us.
Corban was pleased with his magnifying glass.

Here is Jeriah with Ian's peppermint sticks.

My dear husband also bought for me a new camera! The picture of Corban and Jeriah(above) were taken with it. I am excited to learn to use it! :)
The afternoon was spent relaxing and enjoying our new gifts. We then had a very tasty turkey dinner together. It was a really nice Christmas, just the 5 of us.
On Boxing day (the 26th), which when we call it Boxing day we get funny looks from most people as it is not something celebrated in all countries, we headed to the beach. Jeriah had been asking to go, he wanted to play with trucks in the sand and water. While we were there we walked out to the little island that is off the shore of our beach, on the way out there we saw a small stingray. Jeriah is still talking about it. " You have to be careful not to step on the tiny stingray" he will tell you as he points his little finger at you.
See how happy he was to be at the beach.

Corban always loves a trip to the beach, and never really pauses to look at the camera...

Marin of course had fun at the beach too, it is where they have her favorite slushy drinks. :)

We got back from the beach at about 2pm, and after a shower and a snack we watched a movie. Beach days are always fun relaxing days. :)

Here are some more pictures. I have plans to post about the rest of our "winter break", so more pictures are on the way.

Ian the Instagramer ~Part 26

The Foulds clan making cookies at a "seasonal party".

The wall and ceiling that I stared at while waiting for the graduation ceremony to start. Can you believe this was the only picture I took all day? 

Pyramid between pillars at sunset. From my trip to Khaled's wedding. 

Silhouette of a pyramid at sunset - got this shot last summer when I went to Cairo for Khaled's wedding.

Arabic coffee and Dates at Ahmed Alfadhel's engagement party.

 

 

Christmas Greeting!

Merry Christmas from the crazy Foulds 5!

Such Boys.

I have a two videos to share. :) The first is of Jeriah, I took it at the end of November when I was just starting to bring out the Christmas decorations. He had found the train set that (Great) Uncle Don & (Great) Auntie Marjorie had given Marin and Corban, before he was born. I took the video for Auntie Marjorie to show her how excited and happy it made him. He was very impressed by it and spent quite a bit of time that morning watching it go round and round.

The second video is of Corban playing with playdoh 3 days ago. I was eating lunch a the table with him as he was playing. He was just getting started and I had a feeling it was going to be entertaining so I ran to get the camera. Sure enough he didn't disappoint me. :) I set the camera on a container full of cookies, and I don't think he realized I was taking a video (until the very end as you will see). He knew I was watching him, but with out the camera in my hands, I think that made a difference and so his behavior was totally natural.

He is such a funny kid, and his video is so him!

Ian the Instagrammer ~Part 25

Corban flying in the sunset.

Marin the sailor. 

Sunset over the KAUST marina.

 Marin looking for pirates. 

 Old Saint Nick - Marin decided to turn her cat and sheep into Santa and Rudolph with construction paper and tape.

A missing tooth!

5 years, 3 months and 1 week after getting her first tooth, Marin has lost her first tooth. On Dec 7th it fell out during dinner. She was very pleased and began to wonder if the tooth fairy would come.

During the rest of the evening before bed she talked about the possibility and that she was going to do an experiment to find out. She figured the tooth fairy was going to turn the tooth into a coin.

So as I was tucking her into bed she was talking to me about it and I asked her what kind of coin, from what country the tooth fairy might bring her. She thought and said, Canada, India, Germany... I gave her a small little jar to put the tooth in and tucked her into bed.

That night before I went to bed I found her a Canadian quarter and a penny. I put them in the place of the small jar with the tooth in it. The next morning she came to tell us, the tooth fairy was real and that she had received 2 coins.

At breakfast she began asking, Mom are you the tooth fairy? So I asked her, well what do you think? The more she asked the more she became convinced that I was in fact the tooth fairy. At bath time that night she was talking with Ian and the truth was revealed that I was indeed the tooth fairy. She is not at all disappointed and is already wondering from what country the coin will come from when she looses her next tooth.

And a little recent quote.
I: "Well done sweetie you figured that one out. You asked the question and then figured it out!"
M: "I am a scientist, but when someone calls for help, I am a superhero."

This Corban boy of ours... he is a complicated boy. So full of energy, and an imagination bursting with ideas. He is wild and unruly, but a minute later can be sweet and snugly.  He is loving, caring, and gives wonderful encouraging words. He can play for hours at something he likes, like playdoh or in the sandbox, but if it is something he is not interested in, then good luck getting him to participate. If you know Corban then you love him, he is Corban.

 A few Corban stories.
After being told to stop talking about toots, farts and all things related, because it often gets out of hand...Corban says: "Hey dad speaking of toots, maybe we should plant one in the garden and see what happens."

C: "Blood tastes like boogers."

I: "Blood tastes like boogers?"

C: "Umm, like boogers and fire!"
(What a handsome dude!)

This ones from a while back, but it's cute so...

While playing playdoh with Marin one afternoon, they were making "eggs".

C: "My eggs will hatch into caterpillars, and then one day they will go to raccoon's house and become beautiful butterflies."
This picture will explain all the sand on his face in the pictures above, and it is very much "Corban".

And not to be left out, the tiny one... Jeriahkins.

He is such a funny little kid. He is totally cute too, and he knows it. The other day Ian was going to take him for a ride in the bike trailer. He climbed in and put on Corban's bike helmet. After getting it on he looked up and Ian and announced "I'm so cute."

The grin, oh the grin, I love it!

The other night while playing on the playground, he bumped his head, it wasn't a hard bump at all, but he told me, "Uh I bumped my noggin." I asked him if he was okay he said very matter of factually, "Yeah I just bumped my noggin."

He likes to sing, and has a knack for remember the lyrics of songs. Right now one of his favorites is  Feliz Navidad or "Feliz Navidaddy-dat" as he calls it.

He is squeezing the rocks in this pictures, hence the accompanying facial expression.

Along with knowing that he is cute, he also knows he is our "baby". If he is feeling sorry for himself, or if something has happened to him, that is not really all that serious, but makes him a little sad, he will of course some for cuddles and comfort. I will of course give him cuddles and will say something like, "oh you poor little boy", he will then reply sometimes with "ya I just a baby" and give a little pouty lip.

He has begun to play really well on his own recently, and I can see that he will be just like Marin and Corban when it comes to a big imagination. He was playing with the Fischer Price nativity set last week and had connected the 4 pieces of fence together and then put a animal or person on each post of the fence. He then picked it up and pretended it was a boat and sailed it around on the waves of the water, while the little characters had dialog about how it was a bumpy ride.

Well my post is at an end an I have no clever way of finishing it off. It's been a long week, it took me all week to put this post together so...