Happy 10, Juju!

Born in Beirut, Lebanon, June 28, 1996.

Happy Birthday!

Heading West

I'm way behind in keeping up with birthdays and this blog! The gang visited me the weekend before last... time is just flying, I wish it could slow down a bit! The kids were very excited and puzzled by the apartment. Tala asked "Where's the upstairs?" many times, and Moody kept asking about the basement. It eventually sunk in that there was no upstairs and no basement.

This past weekend I drove to Columbus and "chilled" out with them... but not enough. I still cry every time I leave or they leave! Damn, it's not easy! To add to this, Sol and I are not on the same page... come the weekend and I want to do all the things I missed with the family, while he wants a break from all the handling and the hustle and the bustle of the week. At least, we both see that and recognize it. Hopefully we'll figure the point to meet in the middle before we go nuts, or nutter should I say!

Magda M., here is your request!

Next weekend is a long one, extended till the 4th of July. The gang is coming to Ft. Wayne on Fri. and we're heading to Chicago! Chicago has been on our list for a while, since the Sharks moved there... Well, here we come! We all can't wait... Sol and I are looking forward to the wonderful company Meem and T offer; the kids, who knows what the real reason is... Moody confuses khwaila Meem with the Toothfairy... lol. Is it because she's his Godmother or because of the gifts she sends him by mail?

Happy Birthday, Nuha!

Born in Benghazi, June 26, 1972.

Happy Birthday!

I miss you... Hope to see you soon, and the girls!

Happy Birthday... and Mabrook!

Happy Birthday!

Lui Elmagri, my nephew of Fairouz. Born in Benghazi, June 19, 1987--first grandchild to my parents!

Mabrook... Mabrook!

Shadda, Lui's sister, graduated from middle school (an important milestone in the Libyan education system) with an impressive score of 90.08%. Here she is, page 6, ID 264. Way to go Shushu!

Happy Father's Day!

Today is Father's Day in the US. We celebrated it, kind of, in the dead town of Fort Wayne. We got Sol two books, a Pulitzer Prize finalist, The First American: The Life and Times of Benjamin Franklin by H. W. Brands; and a book that's pertinent to our current times, American Gospel: God, the Founding Fathers, and the Making of a Nation by Jon Meacham (the managing editor of Newsweek.)

Here's to Dad: A very happy Father's Day... Enjoy reliving your childhood!

Wisdom of the day

Background: Hana's job is in the state of Indiana, and in discussing work with me, she has mentioned working with people based in India and also having coworkers from there. Moody overheard all of that.

Now, the exchange...

Dr. Donaldson: "So, what are you going to see in Indiana, Moody?"

Moody: "Indians!"

I bet he thinks Mom's coworkers ride on horses and wear feathered head dress! I am not going to say anything, just to see how far we'll drive into Indiana tomorrow before he asks,"Where are all the Indians?"

Happy Birthday, Walid!

My bro! Born in Tripoli, June 13, 1970.

Happy Birthday!

Here and There...

I drove back to Columbus on Friday evening. Saturday morning, I had two exams from 8:30 till 1 pm. Back home and we all went to Panera for lunch, picked up the party balloons and stuff, stopped for some more party supplies from Kroger's, and picked the cake--a Harry Potter one.

At the party place, we waited and waited and jumped and bounced, but nobody showed up. Moody kept saying, "It'll be sad if no one comes!" Well no one did, but we had fun nonetheless. The four of us jumped and bounced away for a full hour; it was hilarious and Moody was happy. At cake time, Moody asked Rachel, the girl they befriedned, to join us with her parents. They did, and we had a VERY interesting conversation with Rachel's parents.

When we got home, I opened one of the extra invitations sitting on the desk... It read "Date: Saturday, June 13!" What a mistake! Apparently, Barbi was absentminded when she filled them out. We explained to Moody why his friends didn't show up; he was not happy with Barbi and made it clear to her on Monday. Now we need to call everyone and make plans for ice cream outing this Saturday... gotta make up for Moody!

Finally, we got to work on the yard! Sunday morning we went to Oakland nursery got flowers, veggies, and herbs. The kids enjoyed it and helped choose flowers, most of which were red because it's my "favorite color," they kept saying. Moody helped Sol with the veggies and Tala was helping me using her "shovel," taking the topsoil the I put in the flowerpots. Shed did plant the white flowers she's posing proudly next to.

Sol in the picture in the middle of my perennial garden... I'm so proud of it! It was nothing like this when we got the house; was all a bed of weeds and three rose bushes we got rid of. I kept planting and rearranging perennial flowers every season and quite happy with the way it developed.

While Tala, Moody and I were working on the flowerpots, Sol spotted a tiny creature moving in the grass. To me it looked like a mouse, but sure was not when we had a close look at it. It was a tiny tiny baby that had no apparent eyes, an offspring of some animal... could be a mole.

I'm leaving to Louisville with the rest of the team in 30 minutes. I'm following the rest on my own car since it makes more sense for me to drive back to Columbus from there instead of coming all the way back here. Saturday will be Moody's makeup get together and then we'll head to Ashland for Moody's camp orientation. He'll be gone for a week starting July 31... sounds scary!

The graduate birthday boy!

Happy Birthday!

Today, June 2nd, 2006 is Moody's birthday and graduation day. Being born in 2000 made him a Y2K kid, and a Dragon Boy on the Chinese calendar. Not only was it a Friday, but a rainy Friday morning, just like today! Soon, I will post the story of Ahmed's birth and his name(s). [Aisha: stay tuned!] For now I just want to record this special day and wish my wonderful son "a thousand-thousand" happy birthdays!