It's almost summer!

The boys will be having their summer break in 2 weeks time. Can't wait to find out what exciting adventures await us this summer. Plus Ramadan is just around the corner and my parents are coming in August to celebrate Eid-ul Fitr with us. Fun! How is it going to be for you guys? 

Oh Hi!

***This was actually a post from a few weeks ago. I didn't get to finish it until today. A lot has been going on lately, keeping me pretty busy and I haven't posted in awhile. My sister was pestering me to update the blog so here I am! Sometimes I just need someone to give me a good hard push to do something that I know I need to do. So do feel free to drop by to remind me :-). 

May 12 2012

Sarah is 14 weeks old now. She has been sleeping through the night since a couple weeks ago! She sucks her right thumb to sooth herself to sleep most of the time. And she's pretty consistent about her daily schedule. I think she's about to flip over soon since she's been rolling from her back to her side. Tonight I tried to play "peek-a-boo" with her. It startled her a little bit at first, her eyes were so wide opened and she paused for a few seconds that I thought she was going to cry. But then she started to laugh that I kept doing it for a few more times. FUN!

We have a stretch of pleasant, dry weather this week with mostly sunny skies in the low 70s. It sure is nice to be able to enjoy some spring weather as opposed to jumping straight into summer-like weather. Daniel had to work today so I took the kids out to this tiny town called Port Gamble, which is around 20 minutes drive from our house. It's a touristy kind of place which used to be a bustling logging town back in the 1850s. It has these well preserved original New England Victorian style houses which I love. 

These are views of the backyard of some of the buildings here, which is a huge field with a playground at the side of it. Some of these buildings which used to be houses have been turned into shops and a restaurant. 

I was actually craving for some scones (which I can just buy instead of making them myself as I normally do) and there is a little tea room place here that serves delicious scones and some other stuff that are pretty good too. But once we arrived there the boys wanted to play some soccer in that big field instead of heading straight to the tea room so Sarah and I hanged out on the side of the field near this wooden playground area. The boys made some new friends and they played kick ball for a little while before I got hungry and decided that it was time to indulge myself with some sweet stuff. 

The first time we were here was when Grammy visited us last December. I didn't post any pictures from that time since I lost all the pictures when the hard drive crashed. Since this is actually a house converted into a business place, it doesn't have much space. I'm so glad that we were seated in this room instead of the main room (which was full btw). There was nobody else in this room so it was perfect, especially when it involved a baby with three sweat smelling boys.

There are only two types of scones serve there, cranberry pecan and lemon. I ordered two of each. Unfortunately the scones were pretty dry that day. The tea was great though. Ezzat and I drank almost the whole pot. 

While waiting for me to feed Sarah, the boys went back to the field to play for a little bit more. 

The kids wanted to go to the beach and since we are living in Puget Sound, there's never a shortage of finding one within a short distance. We went to Shine Tidelands State Park which is just a few minutes away from the tea house.

Hood Canal Floating Bridge

Digging for some clams

Spring Break

This is what the boys had for breakfast this morning. I made three batches of these waffle sticks, which yielded 40 sticks and they finished them all. Tomorrow we're going to drop them off at Christa Camp at 6am (which is really near our house by the way) for them to attend Kid's Deployment Day Camp organized by the Navy. It's a one day camp where they get to pretend like they are in the Navy. They are very excited about it, asking us whether or not they need to go to bed early tonight so that they can wake up super early for tomorrow.

I took the kids out for lunch last Sunday. It was actually our first time going out together on our own since Sarah was born. Daniel is usually with us but this time he had to stay home to finish some work. I fed Sarah before we left, made sure she was cleaned and that baby was all happy and ready to go.

The kids wanted to have sushi so that's where we went. I remember the first time I introduced them to sushi, it was back in Hawaii 2 years ago. Daniel and I took them out for dinner that very night we arrived in Honolulu. They hated it and one almost threw up. But as they grow up, I guess their palates have developed over time. The great thing about last Sunday's lunch was they offered to pay their portion with their own money. Of course I said YES! But since each of them brought only a certain amount, they kept asking the waitress how much the food cost so that they won't go over budget. Sarah slept throughout the entire time we were at the restaurant.

 Pretty daffodils at the road side near the sushi place.

I stopped by at the waterfront park at Old Town Silverdale so the boys could play for a little bit and I could take Sarah out for a stroll at the beach. It was a great day sunny day but unfortunately it was too windy and chilly and the boys didn't want to stay out that long.

Our next stop, Target. Sarah needs some more diapers and I promised the boys they could check out the toy section as long as they didn't ask me to buy them anything. They're smart though.They brought extra money 'just in case', so Emir and Farhan did get some stuff from the store. Ezzat, on the hand was too worried that new toys would just clutter our garage so he is planning to have a garage sale first to get rid some of his old toys. I'm not sure if that's going to happen any time soon but we'll see.

Sarah was still sleeping.

We got home after spending almost 4 hours outside. Sarah was still sleeping when we got back. And we got some great stuff from Granny Gretchen! I love the dress Granny! Thank you so much! 

Tok's visit

Here are some pictures from when my mom came to visit us back in February. Well actually she arrived in late January before I gave birth to Sarah. She stayed for over a month and we really enjoyed her company, especially after not seeing each other for nearly two years. These pictures were actually lost when my hard drive decided to stop working but Daniel managed to salvage some of them. 

Feb 23 2012 - I love this picture because it seems like Sarah was looking straight at the camera.

Feb 24 2012 - Despite the smiles, the boys were all pretty much in a grumpy mood. Farhan spilled some ice cream on his shirt which explains that big spot, in which I did not think would appear too obvious in the photo but it did! And our little bean was all squirmy and making all sorts of faces. 

Sarah with Tok, the night before Tok left for Malaysia. Thank you Aunt Barbara for Sarah's cute outfit!

We took Tok out for dinner on her last night here. Unfortunately the food wasn't that great. 

 Sarah slept the whole time we were there.

 What Ezzat wrote in his planner.

Feb 25 2012 -  Sarah at 3 weeks (+1 day) old

Baby Pictures Overload

Sarah is 5 weeks old today. She has almost outgrown her newborn outfit although to me, she still looks like a tiny little bean. Her sleep cycle is getting better. She begins to sleep for shorter periods during the day and and wakes up twice at night to feed. Her neck muscles are getting stronger. She can hold her head for quite some time while laying on her tummy, turning it from side to side. And she loves to look around when we hold her up right. She does smiles and makes cooing sound from time to time. I'm not sure if those are real just yet but I can't wait for the true deal to happen!

Sarah at 16 days old. She just came back from an appointment with an audiologist.

At exactly 3 weeks

 With her daddy

With her big brothers before they went off to school

 Her 0-3 month pj is getting too small

Sarah at 4 weeks ( and 1 day) old, with brother Ezzat before her bath time.

Ezzat : "Can I pet her?"

For now it is so much easier to bathe her in the sink

The boys are getting used to having a little sister

Totally sound asleep after her warm bath

She loves to be held upright