Valentine's Day 2021

I will be the first to admit that my Valentine's decorations were up and around the house right before the month of February. I even got around to finally making a burlap wreath (I have only been carrying the supplies for about five years and three countries 😆). 

The girls decided they wanted to throw a Valentine's party for their guy friends. We setup to decorate planters and then plant some heart-shaped seeds we had (hopefully they grow - they are from a couple summers ago, haha). The kids decorated heart-shaped cookies, and had brunch (including the grown ups!). It was so much fun!

The girls also helped design their Valentine's Day shirts with me! They loved wearing them to school along with their heart-pattern masks. (Oh, Covid 🙄).

Happy Valentine's Day from these cuties! ❤️

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Staycation and Banana Island

The girls had a school break in February and since travel outside of Qatar still isn't an option we decided to do a small staycation. We'd seen an ad for a night hotel in Souq Waqif and then day access and transport to Banana Island (a hotel resort just off the coast of Qatar near the airport - and yes it is shaped like a banana 😂). 

We ordered takeout and spent the evening in our hotel room playing games (Spot It and Monopoly are the favorites currently) and also did some face masks. It was a super fun pajama party with lots of laughter. 

The Monopoly mogul

The next morning we had breakfast in the hotel and then headed out to catch the ferry boat over to Banana Island. We spent the day rotating between the water park, beach swings, pool and hot tub across the resort. We played games over lunch and had an amazing time! 

Such a fun way to finish their week off school and do something different together. ❤️

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January Happenings

 After spending New Year's Eve camping, the rest of the month seemed to fly by quickly with lots of fun things happening. We headed back out towards Sealine for the Marmi festival and ATV fun and stayed busy with activities around the house and with friends. 

1. We took the metro over to Souq Waqif for an adventure with the kids on a Thursday evening. They still have not been out to many restaurants so it was a treat plus they always love taking the metro. 
2. A sweet friend's husband brought this book to me when he headed to Doha. ❤️
3. These girls planned and executed a picnic for all their siblings and us moms. It was the sweetest!
4. Jason's 3D printer/CNC machine/engraver/whatever it's called (I am probably using all the wrong terms) got setup and calibrated. 
5. The first print - a tugboat. However, one should never call it a tugboat (even though that's what it is). It's called a benchy because it's the benchmark print test when you first get a 3D printer 🤷🏻‍♀️
6. Printing again - toy airplanes launched via rubber bands
7. On a day when all the kids were in school we headed to the earliest showing possible of Wonder Woman before pickup. It was amazing and also weird since we hadn't been to the movies for close to two years.
8. Dinner out with some of Evelyn's classmates' moms
9. We bought SUPs (paddle boards) from from friends leaving and I got a chance to take it out for the first time (albeit in a bit too windy conditions)

1. I hosted book club this month (we read The Midnight Library) and we enjoyed a charcuterie board (my first ever!) and wine outside. 
2. Zoey attending Grade 2 classes again 🙄
3. Twins being silly while waiting in the car
4. We braved taking the crew out again for dinner at Cut by Wolfgang Puck because our friend Chef Justin promised to babysit the kids 😉
5. Family photo!
6. We hung Lego shelves and the girls setup their growing collection of builds
7. The go kart track re opened and Jason setup a guy's night to go check it out. Needless to say he will be back 😆
8. I started a new Prayer Journal book and am really enjoying it so far!
9. We celebrated my sweet friend Marli's birthday with a lovely evening out. 

1. My friend Brenda and I headed to a favorite spot for a girls night at Nobu before she left Doha 😢
2. We also had a day in the desert with Brenda and her husband to see some sights still left on their bucket list
3. Hitting the bike path - Madi signed up for a desert bike race in February so we started doing some training rides.
4. Jason built this bookshelf to close up one side of our playroom and give us more storage. He did amazing!
5. We headed up to the Mangroves for a short kayak trip with friends. 
6. These two asked to go out on their own and loved paddling!
7. Lunch with friends was the perfect mid-week encouragement.
8. Jason printed a cat pencil holder for the girls. 😊
9. And also personalized unicorn bookmarks 

It's been a great start to 2021 thus far and we are thankful for some of the experiences and activities we've been able to do as things have continued to slowly normalize here. The weather has also been fabulous and we are grateful for the chance to be outdoors as much as possible!

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