Karen and Crew: December 2015

Welcome to the photo dump of December, 2015.

Isaac and I left REALLY early in the morning to drive to Abu Dhabi for the SAT. I stopped when we were nearly there to take a picture of the sunrise.

After he was done, we drove straight to Makenna's dance class. Matt dropped her off before leaving for work. The last 1/2 hour was open for families to come watch. Unfortunately I sat on the opposite side of where she was dancing so I have zero good pictures. I will include a couple to help us remember her dancing days here.

This is from a performance they had out in Silicon Oasis.

A Christmas Party at the Arabian Ranches Golf Course.

Decorating Christmas ornaments.

We had a Winter Party for the 1st graders at the Little Flower Indian school where we volunteer each week. Our family ran the cookie decorating. We tried to keep the chaos to a minimum....but it escalated. Good thing I took a few good pictures during the first group. It got crazier as the morning went on!

Cool art project.

Time for our semiannual trip to Ikea. We left Isaac at home so we wouldn't feel rushed. We had fun with these weird costumes they had right at the front. Does Sweden have a Halloween-ish holiday early in the year?

Early Christmas present. She found an Emmy at IKEA. Cuddles on the way home, then she moved to Makenna's room until Christmas morning, you know, for a surprise!

Some weird produce. We've tried some, but not all. It's still fun to look.

These look and feel like eggs with scales.

These are Jessica's brainstorms for grandparents for Christmas. I love that she wants to paint her grandmas' nails!

A cute note to her future self. She's looking forward to the day when she finishes the pink and plus pages and moves on to GREEN!

Keffers had a death in the family. Stephanie and Grace were flying back to Colorado for a funeral. We helped by loaning Grace a bunch of winter clothes so she wouldn't freeze. Good thing too, because they got snowed in while there. Really. The airport got closed and their flight postponed. Going through the clothes made the girls impatient for our March ski trip. It seems so far!

I don't know exactly where this idea originally came from, but it was brilliant and executed perfectly. Jess took some of the big puff balls we have, matched their colors to a few dry erase markers and created built-in erasers for them!

Bonus: she got to use her hot glue gun.

Now that Makenna is closer to 14 than her 13th birthday, it was time to take her to the outdoor karting track. We had tried a few times after her birthday back in March, but there were corporate events, someone got sick, then it got too hot. Well, it happened. She enjoyed it and she'll be back.

One of the things on Jessica's wish list for Christmas and or birthday was a whoopee cushion. We have now gone to 1/2 a dozen stores without success, though it's always entertaining to try and explain to the normally Filipino workers what you are looking for. "I'm looking for a 'whoopee cushion'. It is like a flat balloon that makes a fart noise." Then you hear them discuss and laugh with their co-workers. Yeah. We looked at a gag store in the mall? no. Creative Minds? no. Creative Minds party store? no. Costume store? no. But we had fun looking at and trying all sorts of costumes.

We were getting down to the wire for the Allams to move. Ever since we all got back from summer trips, we have been hanging out with them multiple times per week. Jess and Isaac were always friends with their kids, and of course Michele and I are close. But Makenna and Zaid didn't hit it off until recently. Now she, Jack and Zaid are like the three amigos and get on famously. They play music, card games, build card towers as they discuss Star Wars/Dr. Who/superheroes.... But Zaid is moving. They had plans to go see the new Star Wars movie together. A plan was hatched to make a cardboard Zaid and bring him along. Here is the picture we used for his face. This became a long running joke as he accompanied us on several outings.

Some pictures of the moms.

The younger crew.

Primary colored cars.

Ohio. The Allam's dog loves Jessica. He knows when she comes, it's playtime. He's so excited every time she comes!

The middle kids.

Well, these kids had so much fun that night, they wanted to continue the fun as long as they could and arranged a last minute Ski Dubai trip.

A few days later was a proud, but sad day. At the Court of Honor, Tarek earned his Eagle, Michele got a recognition plaque, Isaac got a Bronze Palm and we had to say good-bye.

A week or so later....

A week later, Makenna prepares to cut Zaid out and put him on a stick.

At dinner before the movie.

With their tickets

In their seats. The rest of us (well, mom and the kids. We took Matt a few days later) were there too. It was a Keffer and Martin family day. The movie was just fantastic. We saw it on the IMAX screen and it met all our hopes and dreams. Tears, yes. But it rekindled the magic for another generation. Rey is so great.

He even came along to build our Christmas Eve sandman. He wasn't much help, so he got buried.

A pot of Borscht, Kim's recipe modified for crockpot cooking. This is one of Makenna's favorite meals.

Dragonmart: what?

Window display for the bedroom of the ultimate Star Wars fan (parent or child). Pottery Barn kids.

Sunset

I don't remember what was so funny. Sure wish I did. It looks hilarious! I do not have pictures, but there were 2 competitions for December. One was in Abu Dhabi. Isaac had the ACT test that morning, early. And Makenna had a dance performance. So I dropped Jess off with Alexis's family and she got to go with them. I thought they would be back an hour or so after Makenna was done with the two shows, but it turned into the world's slowest competition. She didn't get back till 10PM! I could have driven down, seen the end and brought her home. Grrr. Little Stars, blah!

Makenna planted her garden. David sent her some seeds for Christmas with instructions to open them early. They are sprouted and doing well. We will have squash and pumpkins by her birthday!

A sight I saw coming back from a run. A security guard helping a guy push a fancy old car. Not sure where they are going. It's a long way and many speed bumps to the next neighborhood.

Makenna made these on a whim. They turned out so well!

The kids snapped a picture of us not lasting through the football game.

Rain! It's so rare that each occurrence is like a holiday!

A Christmas box came a few days late. Jess is thrilled to paint more rocks!

And Makenna is loving the yarn and syrup!

Between Christmas and New Years, we had a craft day at the Keffers. Makenna taught Grace to make PJ pants. We had gone on a field trip to Satwa to pick fabric. Now it's time to sew! Makenna altered Jess's monkey pants to gather the bottoms. Jess and Grace ended up making matching pj shorts.