Professional Pictures

We took our annual professional photos in August thinking our move was eminent--it was so HOT!  Here are just a few of my favorites:

Moving to....Abu Dhabi!

It is still not 100% official, but it is very very likely.  We are beyond thrilled about the move back to the Middle East.  We are so excited to be living the expat life again, as it is such a carefree life full of travel and adventure.  We are grateful that our girls will be exposed to so many different cultures, people, and experiences.  Hopefully they will be better people because of it.  I hope it opens up the world to them and ignites a love of travel. Mike went over on a business trip and thinks he found a villa for us.  This is what it looks like:

 This is a brand new compound, very close to Olivia's school and the corniche (waterfront walking trail), and would only be a 15 minute commute for Michael.

 Kitchen, complete with appliances.  Most rentals over there do not come with appliances and you have to purchase them all yourself.

 Butler's pantry in kitchen

 Living/dinning areas

 The view from the master, the compound pool

We know what we are getting into, as we have lived in the Middle East before.  But, from what we have heard, the UAE is the Middle East "lite".  In comparison to Doha, it is more progressive, they have had money longer (meaning, they have had more time to get it together), and there is more to do.  I can't wait to explore it all.  Olivia got into our first choice of school, The American Community School.  Once that happened, it seemed nothing else mattered.  There was time we thought about cancelling our move if Olivia didn't get into a good school.  It finally happened and everything else has just fallen into place.  We will have a 4 bedroom villa with lots of space for visitors, so look into flights!  We are only an hour and a half drive away from Dubai, so that is an option for flights as well.

The Bus!

The school strongly suggested riding the bus and to start by taking it home the very first day.  The parking lot at the temporary campus just can't handle the volume of cars for parent pick-up.  I was really nervous about Olivia riding the bus--she is barely five!  However, all parents of kindergarteners must present a blue card to the bus driver verifying they are authorized to pick them up everyday.

The only issue with the bus is that it is a 45 minute bus ride home to our house.  I decided to put her on the bus at our stop in the morning, but I drive over to the first stop the bus makes after leaving the school in the afternoon.  It saves her about 25 minutes on the bus.  It also happens to be the bus stop of two of her friends from her class, George and Katherine.  It has been so much fun to see our bus-stop friends every afternoon.  Both George and Katherine have younger siblings that Eliza gets to play with while waiting on the bus.  I have become so close to their moms, Katherine and Emily, and we have really become a great support system for each other.  We keep each other informed about what is going on up at school or what we need to bring to school, or volunteer opportunities, etc.  I was so used to going up to the school and the classroom at drop-off and pick-up everyday in Pre-K and so I am so thankful for our little bus stop posse :)

 I was easily 20 minutes early to pick her up and so nervous about the whole thing!  I was freaking out about where to park, where to wait, which way to look... :)

 I was so teary, again, getting her off the bus from her very first day of kinder.

 She got off THRILLED saying, "there are no seatbelts and no car seats on the bus!!!!"  She said it was her favorite thing about her first day of school.

 Uncle Matt came with me to get her off the bus

 The next morning, she couldn't get dressed fast enough to hurry to get out to take the bus again!

 I miss her so much during the day.  Eliza and I put her on the bus at 7:30 and don't see her again until 3:30.  I hate how long the day is.  I get so anxious waiting to go pick her up.  I am ready to see my big girl and so is little sister.  Eliza wakes up from her nap everyday saying, "I wanna go get Livy".  Love it!

First day of KINDERGARTEN!!!!!!!!!!!!

Seriously, WE have a kindergartner!?!?  So very hard for me to believe.  We had decided to take an assignment in Abu Dhabi and the move could be imminent.  Went back and forth about whether or not to start Olivia at our local school, Frostwood Elementary.  There was a chance she could only be there for a few weeks and I worried about that making our move difficult for her.  We finally decided to go for it after Ducky suggested it could be just like all of the camps she went to this summer--new kids, new teacher and then it ends just as fast as it begins.  I think parents sometimes forget that our kiddos don't get the magnitude of certain things.  She doesn't understand how huge it is to 1) start kinder 2) move to the Middle East 3) move in the middle of the school year.  She just does her thing with a smile on her face :)

She was a little nervous and had some anxiety about it, but was still super excited!  We got to visit her classroom and meet Mrs. Bean a few days before the first day of school.  George, one of her friend's from her Pre-K class, was also assigned to Mrs. Bean's class.  It is always nice to have a familiar face in a completely new environment.  Mrs. Bean is not the warmest person, but we have heard she is a great teacher.  She is just not your stereotypical loving and hugging kinder teacher.  That being said, Olivia does well in classrooms that are run like a tight ship.  She is still such a rule follower and likes it when everyone else is required to follow the rules!

What a sweet daddy!  Mike is usually gone by the time the girls wake up.  On Olivia's first day, he went to work late in order to make her pancakes for breakfast and to take her to school with me! 

PANCAKES!

Me and my babe.  So very proud of her.  

 Frostwood, our elementary school, is currently being rebuilt (it is almost done and looks incredible).  For this reason, they are at a temporary location.  It is amazing how they built a school on a parking lot out of portables!

 I was a huge teary mess all day! I just couldn't get it together. 

 Going to her classroom

 Outside Mrs. Bean's room

In her seat.  Mrs. Bean is not really the "take a picture with the teacher on the first day" type

Big Girl!

I finally turned Eliza around forward facing in her car seat.  We decided it was time since she was almost too tall for the limit of the car seat in that position and her legs were practically crossed when she was in the seat.  She didn't seemed bothered at all to still be rear-facing, but she has always been an excellent car rider.

POP!

Uncle Matt taught Olivia how to make a popping noise with her finger and mouth.  It has something he has always been able to do, even when we were really little.  I have never been able to do it and Olivia has gotten so good at it.  Eliza saw what she was doing over the last few weeks and somehow figured out how to do it by herself.  I still can't do it at all!  It is so cute and they are both so proud of themselves :)

Dallas!

Mike had a long business trip to Abu Dhabi at the beginning of August, so the girls and I decided to pack up and hit the road for Dallas!  We wanted to see the cousins one last time before school started and Chris and Heather's new house.  We had an absolute blast, as always.  Our trip got delayed by a day because my purse got stolen the day before we were supposed to leave! :(  I was pumping gas with the doors unlocked and some guy came and opened my car door and took my purse.  Thankfully, no one was hurt (despite me thinking it would be a good idea to chase his car on foot) and the girls were NOT with me.  I had been at a doctor's appointment and left the girls with Nonna.  We are still dealing with the pain that is insurance, huge hassle, to say the least.

We started off at Tim and Jenny's and got in lots of fun play time with Emery and Delia and then moved over to Chris and Heather's to play with Aiden and Haylie.

 The girls' castle they built

 Mustached Eliza

 The cousins trying on masks

 Sweet older cousins leading the girls into the awesome Perot museum

 Very cool recycling under water themed exhibit

 Hard at work making something to add to the coral reef

 Our contributions to the coral reef

 Eliza and I went over to the tot area and Eliza could not have enjoyed the water area more!

 Her favorite part, the hand dryer :)

 Aiden and Olivia trying to find all of the hidden animals in their "habitat"

 The girls practicing some martial arts

 Olivia doing a little hip hop

 And more water!  This activity turned into Eliza taking off her pants and the only diaper we had with us (both were SOPPING wet?)

 Miss Priss preferring to stay dry with the frogs

 Awesome cousins!

Eliza without her pants on, wearing the way too wet diaper I made her put back on...wild child!