Brunch at Aunt Murf's

We truly loved having delicious brunch at Aunt Murf's courtesy of Big Jim. He made his famous biscuits, the best scrambled eggs known to man, and perfectly cooked bacon. We have all watched him for years make his fabulous breakfast and still can't replicate any of it! Olivia sure enjoyed playing with Kathy and still talks about her almost everyday!

Olivia looking at the two Santas of Aunt Murf's massive collection that stay out year round.

Exploring with Kathy

Checking out Aunt Murf's "fruit"

Let me see how that banana tastes!

POOL!

Olivia had a blast with her new pool at Nonna and Papa's house.

Pure Glee

Uncle Joel helping prepare for pool fun

Park Play Date

Aunt Carrie organized a park play date out in Katy with Melanie, Jen and their kiddos. It was great to see everyone!

Katelyn, Sadie and Olivia

Olivia getting some love from Sadie

Avalyn loving being pushed by her mommy, Melanie. Her sister Taylor looking on.

Katelyn and Olivia

Riding the dinosaur with a new buddy

Al Malki Happy Hour

So many of our friends from our compound in Doha have now moved back to Houston. The Fullers and the Phillips' are the latest to return. We decided to all get together for Happy Hour at Lupe Tortillas, as they have a giant sandbox for all the kiddos to play in. It really was fun to see everyone!

Ella, Sophie, and Olivia taking turns patting each other and due to Olivia's influence, trying on shoes

Jade, Sophie, Ella, and Olivia

Can I see how that nice bow tastes?!

Daddy and Olivia

The newest member, Baby Jordan and her mommy, Jamie

Jamie and Jordan; Cheryl and Ella; Sheri and Aiden

Catching a ride and loving the cow

Olivia is OBSESSED with shoes! LOVES all shoes and wants to try on all that she sees. She spent so much time, not playing in the sandbox, but instead trying on all of the other children's shoes by the sandbox. It was too funny! We are in major trouble for future shoe buying!

Austin

Mike flew in to Houston and we immediately drove to Austin. Our Texas Tour is never complete without an awesome trip to Austin. We stayed with our dear friends Mike and Courtney Rhodes. Olivia was thrilled to spend more time with her best bud, Chase!

WOW, lookie what I found! Having a ball at Chase's soccer practice

GOAL!

Congrats Chaser!!!

Too cool for the pool!

Love the dunking game with Daddy

Uncle Fife getting more than he bargained for at Rudy's

Al Malki Playdate

We loved our playdate at Carrie and Sophie Leedy's with some of our Doha Al Malki buddies. The Fullers are the latest to return to AMERICA!

Ella, Sophie and Olivia

Mother's Day

We arrived in Houston on Mother's Day, just in time to celebrate with Ducky, Nonna, and Great Aunt Murf. Mike was still in Edmonton, but had my gift mailed to me. We started a charm bracelet tradition (thanks to Aunt Jenny for the idea) last year for my first Mother's Day. The idea is, each year Olivia and Mike will pick out a new charm for my bracelet. This year, I got an elephant! Sorry to my Republican friends, we have NOT switched parties. Instead, Olivia started calling elephants "horsies" and when we corrected her, she just laughed and with a silly grin continued calling them "horsies". She would even point out their "long trunks". She loves to fill in the blanks while we are singing songs. So during "Miss Mary Mack", she "asked her mother for 50 cents to see the HORSIES jump over the fence". It was truly fitting and really made me smile to get an elephant this year.

Nonna, Aunt Murf, and Ducky with their Mother's Day hydrangeas after our Mother's Day dinner at the Yard House

Olivia and Pa Pa

My "horsie"

Dallas Part 2

The second half of our Dallas trip, we stayed with Uncle Tim, Aunt Jenny, Cousin Emery and Cousin Delia.

Playing some tunes on Cousin Delia's keyboard

Dining al fresco

LOVES their "BIG Slide"

This was hilarious. Olivia reading a princess book completely undisturbed by the wagon ride courtesy of Delia.

Driver of the bus

Riding a plasma car with Aunt Jenny

Picnic at the park by their house

Still loves swings!


Uncle Chris' hat, Delia's shoes, and her cousin's scooter!

After a bath she exclaims "All Clean Livy"

She wanted to make sure she met the requirements for a carry-on...on to Houston!!

School Visits

Both Aiden and Haylie wanted to bring their baby cousin to Show-and-Tell. We settled on going to have lunch with both of them at their schools one day.

At Greenhill With Haylie:

Listening to Aunt Heather read a story to the class

Having her snack with Haylie

At da Vinci with Aiden: