Family Days!

Tala graduated in Girl Scouts from Daisy to a Brownie! The bridging ceremony took place on Thursday, at Innis Woods--on the bridge! They served them brownies for dessert. Here she is eating her brownie.

On Friday, Tala and I had a sleepover. We kicked Sol out of our room, to sleep in Tala's, and Tala slept in my room. It was really nice; the first time we do that since she was a baby! The next morning, the kids ran with the camera into Tala's room while Sol was sleeping and shot a picture of him in Tala's bed. They think it was really funny that he was sleeping in a girlie room on a girlie bed--kids!

Yesterday was Family Day at my work. It was the first time the kids and Sol visit my place of work. The occasion was to celebrate the recent $33m investment in Mount Vernon, the Energy headquarters. There was also a ceremony on Thursday that was attended by Ted Strickland, governor of Ohio, and the mayor of Mount Vernon. The Family Day was full of fun--face painting, petting zoo, pony and wagon rides, bouncy inflatables, baton twirlers, plant tours, etc. The kids liked my office, and they were happily pleased to see that I have their artwork on display. There's been a lot going on at work lately. Too many changes, all to the better, and I'm loving it. My responsibilities have increased tremendously, and I'm enjoying every ounce of what I'm doing.

I'm trying to get into a Sunday routine where I do cooking for the week, laundry, and some cleaning around the house. It hasn't been easy though. I had planned to cook beans stew (طبيخة فاصوليا), lasagna, and Tebahaj. On top of that, we had a lot of peppers in the garden that needed picked up and turned into emsayer (امصير). I started cooking around 9 am. Of course, the kids were all over me. Tala was starving to death, and wanted some hash browns--whining! Moody wanted to go to the movies and see Toy Story 2 in 3D, nagging non-stop! I made Tala hash browns, of course she didn't eat them, and came complaining after a short while that she is starving to death! And Moody couldn't stop nagging about the movie. ألهم طولك ياروح!

Finally, the kids gave up and started helping instead. Moody cleaned out the basement, and picked some of the peppers from the garden. Tala picked the rest of the peppers and helped me wipe the countertops in the kitchen. I finished cooking, did the bills, and emsayer (my hands are burning!), but couldn't get to the tebahaj! Oh well, next time. And all in between all of that, I was taking care of my farm, in farmville, with help from the kids, harvesting, plowing and planting... oh, what fun!

Now that the kids realized I'm done with cooking and cleaning, whining and nagging is at its best again! I'll let them be; I have to fold the laundry, then do some work I brought home with me.