Amanda's 10 B'Day Party

We had a great time last weekend celebrating Amanda's 10th Birthday!  Check out these pictures from the party.  Cameron was so eager to help Amanda celebrate her birthday, we were the first to arrive.  So, we played around on the stairs for a bit as I tried to snap a few photos.

Emmersyn was so happy....Look at that SMILE!

Nicole was trying to help me figure out my camera.....can you tell the colouring was off???  But, I thought this was a super cute picture of Gabby!  What a great smile she has, too.

Nicole snapped  a picture of me with Emmersyn.

Here was my attempt at the cousin picture... Only Nicholas was being compliant!  I love that Gabby is checking out to see what Emmersyn is doing!

And then, of course, when I have more of them looking at the camera....I cut out Emmersyn!

I always have to show off the fabulous job that Nicole does on her baking treats.  Doesn't the cake look amazing?

And the yummy cookies.  She is threatening not to make cookies for Gabby's party!  I am sooooooo SAD!

Amanda got a few new Wii games for her birthday and everyone had lots of fun trying them out. 

Tyler found Mickey and Minnie to hang out with.

At this point, Emmersyn got possession of the camera.  Get ready for some interesting photos.  Here we go....

This was her attempt at taking a picture of herself....

Grampie....

Wow!  This one looks like I could have taken it.

Not so good....

With a little help from Grammie, Emmersyn didn't chop off her head.

That's Justin's mouth....

Take 2....At least Justin is all there....

Crystal....

And, of course, she needed a picture of Mommy...

She was trying to snap one last picture of Brad, however, it was taking her so long to press the button to take a picture....Brad had fallen asleep on the table.

Isn't this little brownie that Nicole got for me cute?  So thoughtful!  We ended celebrating Amanda's birthday on my actual birthday.

Here is the birthday girl with her cool cake and candles.

Now the fun part for the birthday girl.  Opening up all of the presents!

After presents, it was time to cut the cake.  Look at how cool this 6 layer cake was!  Only Nicole would think up something like this.  Mohamed was soooooo disappointed that I did not bring him home a piece!

This was crazy!

Happy Birthday to me....

I've been slacking on keeping up on my blogging.  Need to catch up.  Here we go....  These were pictures from my birthday.  The kids were so excited to open up my birthday gifts.  And, Cameron was AWESOME at keeping a secret.  He wouldn't give me a single clue, and didn't slip over the days leading up to my birthday.  

I love the way Emmersyn is looking at Cameron in this photo.  They were so excited that as soon as they woke up they were ready to open the birthday gifts.  There was no way Mohamed would forget it was my birthday this year! (Just a side note, a few years back......Mohamed had forgotten it was my birthday.  I didn't say anything because I was wondering when he might say something.  About a week later he was looking through my pictures on the camera and saw pictures of Cameron and me at mom and dad's and a birthday cake.....Whoops.....) No big deal!

You better believe I was getting into a picture with the kids on my birthday!

And one more....

Emmersyn was soooo excited to open up one of the packages.  Hmmmm, what could it be???

A bag of Jelly Bellies from Costco!  My favourite.  Emmersyn picked these out all by herself.  

Next, Cameron got to open up the gift he picked out.....Hmmmmm, what could this be?

A toothbrush, of course.  So, after I eat my jelly bellies, I can brush my teeth!  There were two toothbrushes in this package....one for Cameron and one for Mohamed!  I LOVE it!

And here was my birthday video...

Happy Birthday Amanda

Happy Birthday Amanda!

And here is Emmersyn's attempt...

Hope you had a GREAT Birthday, AMANDA!!!!

Valentine's Day

I'm a few days behind...Simply a lack of motivation....

These first few pictures I think Mohamed was acting a little kookie!

Cameron......what can I say?????

Time to open gifts....

Here Cameron is showing off his new green bathing suit.  This is his favorite color and probably his 10th bathing suit.

Emmersyn is all smiles with her I LOVE Minnie DVD.

And her Pinkalicious sticker book.

Cameron showing off his new, too big, hoodie.

And his new DS Backyardigans game.

After all of that excitement, I found Emmersyn passed out on the couch.  I had to get a picture.

I'll try to catch up with the rest of the pictures in the next day or two.  I need to give myself a pep talk for a little motivation.

Just a quick Cameron quote...

"Mom, look I have Mr. Potato Head's mustache in my booger holes."  

I had to laugh.  So, I said, "What are they called?"  

Cameron, "Booger holes."  

I then proceeded to inform Cameron that they are called "nostrils."  

Cameron said, "Oh, yeah, nostrils."

Gabby and me!

If you are having a bad day, stop by Nicole's and spend a little time with Gabby.  She will surely lift your spirits.  I was able to spend a little time with her this morning while Nicole ran to the grocery store.  Gabby and I had some pretty interesting conversations and she loves to give you kisses.  You can do puzzles, play dolls, trace your hands on the doodle pad, fill up and empty purses, watch Mickey Mouse Clubhouse.  Isn't that the life!  I'm telling you, it is a great break from reality playing with this little girl!

It was quite funny when Nicole returned home I commented to her how talented her ambidextrous daughter was.  Nicole's first comment was, "You're not analyzing my daughter, are you?"  So funny!  I was just having lots of fun hanging out with this cute 2 year-old.

I wasn't going to leave my play date without getting a picture with her!

Look at that smile!!!!

She was trying to feed her baby's bottle to Minnie.

Once Nicole returned home from the grocery store, Gabby had one of her favorite snacks while mom, dad, and Nicole were figuring out how to hang her cool new shelves!  I can't wait for my next play date with GABBY!

The night before Valentine's Day

We are so excited here at the Rashwan house for the big day tomorrow.  Mohamed and I had so much fun today shopping for goodies for the kids!  It is going to be better than Christmas morning!

Now, for the not so good news....last night, Cameron accidentally deleted a file on his Super Mario Brothers Wii, in which he had passed all 9 levels and had 99 Mario lives.  He had collected almost all of the star coins to open up the extra level nine.  He was soooooo sad.  So, today after school, Mohamed and Cameron were on a mission..... They are back to level 2!  He is hoping that Nicholas will be able to come over soon to have a Super Mario marathon with him to help him get back to level 9!

While they were playing the Wii, I tried to add some things to my shelves...... Here is the start....  Every time I see the book of Emmersyn, I am remembered that I made this book quickly before Cameron and I were taking a trip to Mickey Park with Nicole, Steve, and the kids.  I wanted Emmersyn to have a baby book in case our plane crashed!  Ahhhhh!  We survived!  Anyway, that's the story behind that book!

Nicole, does this shelf look familiar?????  More will be added to it.  It will be the shelf with all of your art work displayed!  And what about that second shelf????  When Cameron was born!!!!

Cameron was sooooo excited for his favourite dinner tonight.  SALAD!

Emmersyn is also a big fan of Salad.  These kids are weird!

Super excited for the salad.  It even got an arm pump!

That is probably why this kid only weighs 44 pounds.  The story behind this was that Cameron wanted to weigh himself.  So, he steps on the scale and says, "44.5 that's a good number, right?  If you have 3 digits that's good.  If you have 4 digits that's bad, right?"  I said, "You're right.  4 digits is bad."

What is wrong with this next picture????  Where are her pants????  Well, after dinner, Cameron wanted to go out and get his teacher chocolate, because according to Cameron, "My teacher LOVES chocolate."  Okay.  Well, last night, I sent out Mohamed after work to buy gift cards for two of Emmersyn's teachers and Cameron's teacher.  I forgot that Emmersyn would not be going to school on Valentine's day, so we needed to have everything ready for her to bring to school today.  There was no time to pick up a decent box of chocolate.  Then, Mohamed tells me he thought tomorrow was Mother's Day and that is why he bought gift cards, but we were supposed to buy chocolate for the teachers for Valentine's Day.  Duhhhhh. You think?  That's why I kept asking Mohamed, "Are you sure we should give them gift cards?"  Anyway.  That's done.  Back to the pant less story.  We headed to the mall after dinner to pick out chocolate for Cameron's teacher.  While we were in the store, Emmersyn takes off her pants!  In the mall.  I couldn't worry about it because Cameron was so indecisive about what chocolate to buy his teacher!  I couldn't take a picture of her in the mall, so I took one once we got back to the car.  And do you want to know why she took them off??????  Because the were DIRTY!!!!

Check out how dirty these pants were!  She kept pointing to that greenish heart in the middle of her pants.  Can you see it!  That is what was bothering her!  Oh brother!

And this is what Cameron picked out for his teacher!  What a crazy look!

That's better!

That's it for tonight!  We'll report back on Valentine's Day!