USA-The Rest of the Story

Jacob, Hailey, and I finished up our time in the USA visiting more friends and family.  Daddy had to head back to Doha January 5 while we stayed until January 25.  We missed Daddy but were happy to have some more time to see more people and enjoy the USA some more.

Bye Daddy

Right after Daddy left, Mom and I loaded up the kids and headed to Silsbee to spend the day with my Grandma for her birthday.  It was nice to get to see Grandma and see where she lives.  My Aunt came as well and we all took Grandma out for a birthday lunch.  Unfortunately both kiddos fell asleep in the car on the way back to Grandma's from lunch so we decided to end our day a little early and head back for Houston.

I was also fortunate enough to be in town for our friends Susie and Darrell's twins first birthday party!  It was fun to celebrate with them and see lots of old friends from Clear Lake.  Happy Birthday Easton and Emerson!

One day the kids and I drove over to The Woodlands to visit my friend Laura and her girls Savannah and Olivia.  It's always fun to catch up with old Saudi friends.  Jacob and Savannah sorta played together.  Jacob is still not really sure how to play with kids but Savannah sure tried.

Papa and Hailey almost nightly had some time together.  Hailey typically didn't want Papa to just sit and hold her so she made him dance around the office with her.  I think she had Papa pretty well trained. 

One night I was able to get some super cute pictures of Jacob and Hailey in their matching pjs!

We also made a trip up to Stillwater.  I was very excited to find out my parents needed to go to Oklahoma for a weekend which meant we were able to go too without me having to drive.  Of course, no trip to Stillwater is complete without a little Eskimo Joe's.

Hailey was so excited to meet her Great Memaw and Big Papa.  

We don't get a lot of wide open spaces in the Middle East (well, at least not ones that aren't desert) so I really wanted to let Jacob experience the farm and the open and just explore and be a boy.  One afternoon I showed him the gate and told him to just wander while I followed to see where his heart took him.  Surprise surprise, we ended up by the pond throwing rocks into the water.  He had a blast finding rocks, finding a spot to sit, and then just throwing them in.  We also had fun riding around on the gator and one day we went specifically to find the cows.  Jacob loved seeing the cows.  When we were back in the yard he rode on his little gator telling me he wanted to go see the cows.

 Mom and Dad (Nana and Papa) had to go to Tulsa one day to meet with the architect of the retirement house so we ended up having an impromptu play date with Grandma, Grandpa, Kate, Evan, and Aunt Jackie.  Jackie and I noticed that every time we went where the kids were playing the moved to a different location so we decided to stop trying and just sit with Hailey and chat.  Kate and Evan got a trampoline for Christmas and it was a beautiful day so they enjoyed lots of time outside jumping.  It was fun to have unexpected play time with the cousins.

My original plan was to drive to OKC on our last day in Oklahoma to see my college friends but I was just so stinking worn out and tired of packing up the kids and driving so sadly I canceled on them.  They were all really understanding and since Holly had a chance to drive to Stillwater she decided to just come say hello.  We should have taken a picture together but instead I have one of little Caleb.  He is a cutie!

Once we were back in Houston there was 1 week left until we returned to Doha.  I was definitely starting to be ready to be back in my own house so I was so happy Anna was coming to give me a little extra to look forward to.  Anna's birthday was while she was with us so the first night  my parents were gracious enough to babysit while we went out to dinner.  Then we came home and put the kids to bed before heading out to a late movie.  We went shopping all day the next day and even accidentally dressed like twins and even our strollers matched. Unfortunately, I was pretty sick the next couple of days so we didn't get to do as much fun stuff as I had wanted.  What a bummer! But Anna was awesome and stuck around to help out and kept me company.  The boys had fun playing together while at the same time getting really mad at each other for stealing their toys.  Ohh fun 2's!

 The rest of our time was spent getting in last minute stuff done and getting in some quality snuggles with Nana and Papa.  We were sad to leave the USA but ready to be home and see Daddy!