Grammy's Visit - Part 1

We really had a fabulous time with Grammy. We're so glad that she was able to visit us for a few days and the boys loved having her around and wished that she could stay longer. I wish we didn't live so far away from our families, from both sides. And yet, I think that's what makes each and every visit so special. We don't get to see each other that often and it makes those short moments that we spend with our loved ones more memorable.

Day 2 - Dec 21 2011

We were lucky to have a few sunny days while Grammy was here, especially since right after she flew back home to Oklahoma, we had one whole week of non- stop rainy days. This is Island Lake Park which is only a few minutes away from our house. Grammy and the boys decided to walk to the park while enjoying the sun. Daniel and I drove there instead and met with them a few minutes later.

Grammy was having fun riding the scooter.

After the park, we went to downtown Poulsbo to walk in the park and around the quaint little town.

The boardwalk that you see in the pictures connects two parks: American Legion Park and Liberty Bay Park, which leads us to the downtown and the marina. 

'Nice to meet you sir'. This bronze statue was created to honour former Poulsbo Mayor, Maurice Lindvig that served the town from 1969 - 1976.

Hanging out at the park before heading towards the town.

Our last stop, the Sluys' Bakery for some sweet treats.

Almost there and Happy New Year!

I am 36 weeks pregnant and that explains the tummy, in case some of you don't know.  Not that we made a big announcement about it either! Time flies. I'm not sure I am emotionally ready for the baby but she's coming out anyways, soon!

 Ezzat read a book about Egypt and pharaohs and asked me to take some pictures of him in action pretending to be one. Silly boy! I love that sometimes he still looks babyish.

Btw, Happy New Year! Our new year's eve night was pretty quiet. We didn't even watch any TV about the new year celebration. The kids popped their poppers and then went to bed. They were kind of scared to pop them, but they had fun. 

You can tell from their faces, their were not very convinced about how much fun the poppers were.

Aftermath of the party poppers. Our living room was covered with rainbows of confetti. Pretty, yes. Cleaning up, not so much. Especially when our dear old vacuum decided to retire from service on the last day of 2011.

New Look for A New Year!

I've been playing around with my new blog template that actually took a lot of my time. I don't know how to read or use either CSS or HTML but I wanted to make some changes to the template and it drove me nuts trying to figure things out. I did go through line by line of the template' s HTML to see if I could make any changes and I did actually manage to make some adjustments to it. Although I am still not satisfied with the whole look, there is nothing much I can do and I am done with it for the moment. 

Daniel said the layout is a bit confusing. So I figured perhaps I could give you guys some tips on how to browse the blog.

This is how the full post looks like. I like the one-column idea. It gives me ample space to post larger pictures.

On to the backdated posts, I have quite a few to share with you guys. Daniel's mom flew from Oklahoma to spend some days with us until Christmas. And we had a really great time with her. The boys loved having her around. That will be in a few separate entries though. But check this one out first.

Daniel had to wear some kind of Halloween costume for one of his gigs so he decided to make one on his own. Here's Ezzat wearing the costume.I think it looks like Felix the Cat.

Enjoying Fall

This year's fall season is so much better compared to last year. Last year, most trees stayed green and just lost their leaves during winter. But this year, autumn seems to be more alive and colorful. It still rains once in a while, but not as much as last year. I love waking up to a sunny, cool weather, enjoying colorful foliage outside my windows.

Soccer

Last Saturday was the second last soccer game for the season. It's a challenge for us, well for me at least to take Emir to his practices, twice a week and then to his games on weekends, one game each on Saturday and Sunday. I love going to the games, cheering for him and for his team. The practices though, not so much. They have had great games and Emir scored two goals so far. He has a wonderful coach and he gets along very well with his teammates.