WHAT??!!

Since when did my childhood toys become vintage??



And I have that chime ball in my kids toy chest right now!!

Go here to see more "vintage" toys.


http://www.aliviastoys.com/fisherpricevintagetoys/fisherpricevintagetoys.html

Bang, Bang, Bang On the Wall, Baby!

So, all day we have been subject to our downstairs neighbor's (our landlord) construction noise. These walls are cement. I had no idea how well sound carries through cement walls. It sounds like they are banging on the other side of the wall and not downstairs. Bang, Bang, Bang. Oh wait, you didn't want an audio description of what the soundtrack of my day sounded like? Well, too bad, you can listen here below. It started up at about 10 am, when all respectable working Egyptians begin work. (actually, that's pretty early for them seeing as how most shops, etc, don't open until 11 or 12) I got back from the gym and it was reverberating throughout the house. The epicenter of it all was in my bathroom. So, I started the shower and got in. Then, I felt the banging right under my feet. It felt like he was going to break right through my tub!! With me standing in it!! I could live with that, but then it started affecting the water. Bang, bang, bang, hot, cold, hot, cold **(yes, no, in, out, up, down)** I could not live with that, so I began some banging of my own with the shaving cream can on the bottom of the tub. And yelling incoherent rants to the imbeciles below. Hey, they can't understand me! They stopped for a few minutes, then began again. I have no idea whether my banging had any effect on their "work". I had other errands to run and so was out from noon to 2. When I got back, it was still going. I had taken Jacqui with me and it was time for her nap. Oh, I had hoped that they would be done by now. But no. I put her down for her nap and BLESS HER LITTLE HEART she's still sleeping 2 hours later. ^^big smile^^ I am marching down there to protest if this continues past 5pm. Anyone got a big fat Advil?

**If you know what I'm referring to, I will send you the best flair that Facebook has to offer!**

Sunday Quotations

I'm looking for a weekly theme. I've come up with a few ideas, but I'm going to try this out. Maybe 'Sunday Sayings'? Sabbath Sayings? I don't know. I do know that I won't always be in Egypt where the Sabbath is observed on a Friday. Anyway, this quote is one that I hold near and dear to my heart.

"Take your children when they yet lisp and have them kneel down by your knee or by their cribs or beds in the evening when they go to bed. Lead them in their prayers until they get big enough and know enough that they can pray by themselves.... I don't know a thing in my life that I owe more to, for not being worse than I am, than the practice my mother trained me to when I was a child. To this day, my conscience won't let me go to bed at night or leave my room in the morning without saying my prayers on my knees, if I am where I can get on my knees. If I am where I can't get on my knees, I say them as I lie in my bed. If your children will always do this, they will not go far astray." --Marion G. Romney, 52nd Annual Primary Conference, April 3, 1958

Day 1: Spencer is gone.

Ok, I won't label all the posts like that while Spencer is gone, but this is the beginning of it. Jacqueline has already managed to make 2 messes and he's only been gone half an hour. She really hates her diapers which means it's time to potty train. Won't wear them or have anything to do with them. (of course, b/c i just bought a truckload of diapers this week) So she strips off her diaper first thing in the morning as usual. She got to the potty this morning, no problem. 10 minutes after Spencer leaves, she perches herself atop the folded jogging stroller and unleashes a gallon of pee on the fabric seat. Great. While I clean that up, she decorates herself with another Sharpie marker that she seems to have found. We have confiscated all markers in the house, but they still show up. I swear she has a secret hidey-hole full of sharpie markers and bananas.

We got him off this morning without a hitch. The driver was a half hour late, but hey, ma'alish. See, there is this awful regulation that if you are taking an international flight (leaving Egypt) you have to be at the airport 3 hours in advance. The travel company makes sure this is clear and won't let a driver arrive any later than 4 hours in advance of when you have to be at the airport. They scheduled the driver to arrive at 9:30am. (one hour for traffic, although I just talked to Spencer and he got there in 30 minutes. But in Egypt, you never know) His flight doesn't leave until stinkin' 1:30pm! So of course the car doesn't arrive until 10am. And then he's worried that Spencer won't make his flight, oh sir, you have to hurry, we told you that check-in for international flights is 3 hours in advance, never you mind that I arrived 30 minutes late. I had envisioned a last breakfast together at Maadi House, the kids playing, etc our usual Saturday morning routine and then him catching the car to the airport, ma'asalama! .

Let's rewind to the last time we were at the airport for an international departure. The travel agency gets us there right on time, 3 hours in advance. We go up to the desk to check in for our flight to Frankfurt.

"Yes, we need to check-in for the 5:30am (it is 2:30am) flight to Frankfurt."

"Oh, I'm sorry ma'am, you cannot check-in for that flight for another hour."

"But it's listed above the desk here as being open for check-in."

"Sorry ma'am, not for one hour or so."

"But our travel agency said that for international flights, we have to check in 3 hours in advance."

"Sorry, ma'am, check-in is in one hour."

This happens every time. The airport and the travel agencies need to have a pow-wow and decide on a policy. But wait, that would be applying logic and for all you who have forgotten, don't try and do that in Egypt. Although, when we were leaving the States a year or so ago, we got to the airport exactly 2 hours before the flight took off. The lady at the desk said that we would have to gate check our baggage because we are going on an international flight and baggage needs to be checked 2 hours before take-off. Never mind that this was a little banana plane with 30 passengers going from Idaho Falls to Denver THEN we would go Denver to Frankfurt, then Frankfurt to Cairo. (long day, but that's another story) So, there is some policy out there that requires something of international fliers. Whenever you find out what it is, let us know!

My Mairyn

I think it's time for Mairyn to get some attention in the spotlight. She is one great girl. She brings such life and spirit to our family. Mairyn is quite a special name. I knew I was having a girl before we found out on the ultrasound. I was having a hard time picking names. Spencer was studiously searching for boys names. I was looking for both boy and girl and I stumbled upon Maren. I remembered having heard the name before in high school. So I looked up the meaning of the name. I found so many different spellings, but only one meaning that wasn't a derivative of something else. Mairin is Irish Gaelic and means 'wished for child'. I told Spencer that this was this baby's name. Spencer wanted to change the last "i" to a "y" and there you have it. Mairyn, our wished for child!

Grant's Halloween

Grant's school was the only one that did a class Halloween Party. They let them dress up for the day. This video is Grant showing me how fast Dash can run. (if you can't tell, he's Dash from The Incredibles) I regret that I didn't catch the beginning of the demonstration. When he says he's going to run like Dash, he does this little wind up thing with his feet like running in place, then he can take off!

Awesomeness

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