Aquarium in the mall

We went to Dubai for the day and had a great time in the Aquarium at the mall.  It is the largest viewing window in the world.  On the way there we also saw the tallest building in the world.  When it cools down we look forward to going to the fastest roller coaster in the world.  It was a lot of fun!  Apparently the Mall that it is in is the largest mall in the world also.  That made me even more excited to exit it once we were done with the aquarium, way to many people.  It took us an hour and a half just to exit the parking garage which is frustrating since we only live an hour and half away.

Landed and getting settled

Our trip here was full of tears, excitement, exhaustion, throw up, more exhaustion, relief and joy.  Leaving my parents was very sad, knowing it will be some time before we see them again (I am hoping they come for Madison's baptism in a year) it was very hard to leave them.  The kids were having such a great time there but it was time to leave.  We were also sad to leave our sweet Aussie Yoshi but we are looking forward to him joining us soon.  Then there was the long plane ride, I mean really, really long.  We arrived though and we were happy to be reunited with Carl and start the transition to our new home.  It has been quite a bit of work but we have unpacked and there are only a few boxes left (I am staying out of the study, the room where all random boxes and items have gone).  We had a great first week of spending our days at the pool and relaxing.  The kids met the other children in the compound and there seems to be someone for everyone.  Church is great, our ward reminds me of the branch in Bahrain, diverse, loving, caring and friendly, I am looking forward to getting to know everyone better.  Carl is really happy with his job and we love our new place.  We have hit up IKEA quite a bit and still need to get some things.

This last week we went to go to the pool and it was green, I mean slimy green.  We were all very dissapointed and were even more so a couple of days later when the problem still wasn't fixed.  Apparently the part that is needed is coming from Saudi and seeing how it is Ramadan where everything has odd hours and goes slower here I am not sure when the pool will be up and running again so this week we have been a little more stir crazy.  I have not yet ventured out on my own, that is something I am looking forward to doing without the kids in tow.  I think they are looking forward to school starting more than I am, they are ready to meet some new friends.  The kids also talked us into getting two kittens which I was surprised that I actually kind of like as long as they stay out of my couches.  They found a tear in the lining under one of the sections of my couch and climbed up in it to nap, I am not ok with this.  Carl bought fabric and we will be fixing it tonight. 

For the first time we have actually bought curtains!  I am so excited!  Carl had picked out the ones for the bedrooms but he left the living room for me and I had so much fun picking out the fabric and style.  I will post pictures when they are finished. 

Other than that we are hanging out and enjoying being together shile trying to arrange things in the villa and really hoping the pool gets fixed soon!  The plan is to post once a week and I will include pictures and videow of all the crazy, fun adventures of the agren family.... 

The things kids say

Yesterday at church a lovely sister stopped me in the hall and said she just had to tell me something that happened last year.

She said "It was a day when it was raining really hard and you were taking Ha-Na out to the car with the umbrella and left the other two in the church to wait for you to take them out. After you left the little one (Madison) began screaming. Carl turned to her and asked her why she was doing that. She replied, looking at me "I am scared of old people." Carl then replied "well, so am I but you don't need to make that noise""

This sweet sister then says, with laughter in her eyes, that she hadn't realized she had reached the age where she was so old that she was scary to children.

My first reaction was mortification. I was speechless (and you know for me that is something). All I could do was thank her for sharing it with me so I could put this story in the journal.

I later told Carl this story and he was in tears laughing. I am going to have a talk with the kids to try to figure out what is so scary about old people and especially this sister who is the sweet and definitely not at all scary!

Summer is here!!!

I am so happy that the kids are out of school. Lately I have been feeling that the kids are growing up so fast that I am missing out on really being with them. Life has become about day to day and week to week as we fly through the madness. Madison is going to school next year and it is breaking my heart. I am haunted by the fear that I haven't done all that I could have with my time at home with her. I am looking forward to having this summer with them, enjoying who they are and relishing in their uniqueness.

Three months in one Post

After the kids started school I thought "wow, I will have time to do so many things with just Madison home." Yeah, not so much. We have been running and going like crazy. Doing what you ask? Hmm, just life I guess. I have been selling my baked goods which keeps me busy during the day when I am not entertaining Madison and trying to keep the house kept up.
Madison is having a great time doing Ballet although she has been asking to do gymnastics also. She loves to climb and jump off things. As soon as we live near mountains again we can definitely take her climbing and repelling with us. She loves to paint and dress up. She is so independent, if she wants something she figures out how to get it. Madison just turned five and had a super time at her first friend birthday party. I am panicking that she will be leaving me for school next year, I will miss my buddy during the day!
Ha-Na has seemed to grow up in the past three months. She is really maturing and it breaks my heart a little, I want my kids to stay as they are forever. I am enjoying her being able to have discussions with me. She really enjoys reading and she is doing great in school. She is in ballet and she is so beautiful dancing. She has an incredible teacher and she is so graceful when dancing. Until she looses concentration and then she starts to laugh hysterically and makes silly faces. She also started piano and she is learning super fast. She gets very tired and gets lots of headaches so she gets home from school and sleeps for a couple of hours some days but I think some kids just need more rest than others.
Carl is great, he is learning everyday and is a constant source of random facts. He is playing piano and has improved so much, he can outplay me now (which isn't hard for anyone). He and Ha-Na have a great teacher and had a Holiday recital. They did awesome and all the kids there were soo talented. He is also in chorus at school which he really loves. He loves to belt out and sing, at church I can hear him above everyone.
We have continued to have a steady stream of guests. It is so much fun to have company. Carl's sister Stacy and her family came for Thanksgiving, it is becoming a tradition and we love for them to come. Carl's little brother CJ came for Christmas break and while he was here my brother came with his kids. We had such a great time!
The new year has started and I am already starting new projects. I still have rooms which need to be painted in the house so I started taping off yesterday and I think I will jump in and start with a bathroom today and move on from there. I hate unfinished things.

Company

We had a really busy summer which ended with having a steady stream of company. My brother Andy and his kids came fora weekend and we had a great time playing games and going to the beach. I love it when we get together!
Then, Carls brothers Austin and CJ came, we had such a good time that they extended their stay and ended up being here for over two weeks. They were so helpful while I was finishing up school and the kids had a blast with them. We also went diving with them. It definitely was not the best diving in fact some of the worst (we went out of Myrtle Beach) but we enjoyed being together. I told the boys that if they can dive in those conditions they can dive anywhere. I hope we can do a dive trip with them some time with pristine conditions. We were sad to see them go, we look forward to their coming back.
The boys left in the morning and my parents came that night. It really helped to keep the kids from being too distraught about the boys leaving. They have a really hard time when people leave. We had a lot of fun! Mom and Dad took the kids for us so we could go away for the weekend. We had thought about going to a resort of the beach but the both Carl and I decided we would rather take the opportunity to go to the temple. We went to Columbia and had much needed time together and at the temple. I had fun going to the beach with mom and dad and playing games with them and the kids. We took them crabbing and that was a blast. We played cards and had to even fish a card out of the water with a net.
School started, my parents left and now life is back to normal. Well, as normal as it gets.

Supposed to be studying

I find that when I have something I really need to do I coast around on the computer finding things to read and posts that I need to do since it has been a few months. Really I am just being lazy and procrastinating. Today is what I call a free day which means that I have no scheduled lessons or activities for the kids and I don't have class. It is the perfect time to study, take tests, write papers that are due this Sunday but I am finding other things that I just need to do first. Things like laundry which I hate more than anything and really can wait, everyone has enough clean underwear to last them a few more days at least, but because I should use this time to study I find myself thinking that the laundry is really needing to get done and that I will start my schoolwork as soon as I get that done. Of course the house will get clean and the laundry will get done but I will then stay up all night doing what I should have just buckled down and done today. Then my impending migraine that started last night, was subdued but I can feel the dull ache of its slow return coming back will be in full force while I am in class tomorrow. At least if I am going to blow off school it should be for something of value like playing and reading to the kids, not laundry.

We had a fun fourth although our fireworks were quite piddly the kids did enjoy them (Madison was scared of everything because of the sparks but she wanted to be involved so she would come over to help and then run crying back to Kathy). Nothing compares to what Joe does at my parents house. Most major cities shows would be in awe of what they put in the skies there. We grilled and had our friends over for dinner and then played Rook all night. The kids asked me all week if we could make apple pie for the fourth of July, something from a commercial I am sure. They walked around singing it. I get the apples out and all the stuff, they begged to help, peeled one apple each (I have an easy peeler where you just turn the handle so it isn't any work at all) and they were done. Of course they kept running back and picking up the peels and eating them, my kids are super. Then Carl had this idea that if the kids liked eating them raw he could cook them and what better way to do that then fry them. He put together some flour spices and sugar and a flavored egg wash and began frying them. I was really dubious and thought it unnecessary since we were trying to get everything else ready for our guests. He fried them up served them with whip cream with our appetizers and it was a HUGE hit. They were so good, who would've thought fried apple peel. We are thinking of plating and application of what they would be good on although by themselves they were great. I had to admit to Carl that I was wrong in doubting him (which I think made his day, maybe even his week), I was also really proud of having such a creative husband who thinks outside the box.

We also went on a camping trip before the fourth but I will tell more about that in another post with pictures.

Now I will procrastinate more by hanging out with the kids, at least that has value.