A Special Treat

As most of you know, the Burj Dubai, the world's tallest tower is one of Jon's biggest projects and is due open soon very soon. The official opening will be on January 4th, 2010, marking the anniversary of the Sheik currently in office. Well, Jon got a little "treat" the other day from a "co-worker" at the tower...this cool PEPSI can with the tower on it. One of Dubai's best known business landmarks, Dubai Refreshments Company, the sole franchisee and distributor for Pepsi Co in Dubai and the northern emirates, is celebrating 50 golden years of operation, making it the oldest and most inspiring success stories in the city. Crazy, isn't it...OLDEST and it's only 50 years old!! So, to celebrate their 50th anniversary the are distributing 17,000,000 special edition Pepsi Cans, featuring Shindagha (a small pearl fishing port) & Burj Dubai...two distinctive destinations that are symbolic or old and new Dubai. These cans will be available across all it's distribution outlets including hypermarkets, supermarkets, gas & convenience stores, hotels, and in-flight. Lucky Jon, was one of the first to receive one. Will we be drinking it, hell no!! Perhaps it will be an "icon" in our shabby chic cabinet someday...NOT...it will not coordinate with my pastel McCoy's but will be super cool in Jon's "man room."

Monster

"I've" or should I say "We've" created a "monster!" She LOVES to clean...no joke!! Just like her mommy & daddy!!

She loves Windex & rags, the vacuum cleaner, and the mop. Doesn't always do the best job but who cares, right??!! It's the effort that counts!!

Scrapping & PlayDate

KA & I decided to give it a try. The IDEA is...moms scrapbook while the kiddos play! Did it work? Well, yes it did. We each only did one spread each but we were busy chatting, redirecting, taking a virtual tour of KA's future home (they bought land and are going to build when they return to Australia)...It is stunning by the way!! Not your average Midwestern house like we are use to. The home reminds me of ranches in Scottsdale with the great outside pools, fire places, built in grilling wall, rumpus room's, theater rooms, THE ALL OPEN FEELING and gorgeous!!! They are saving their pennies just "other" expats in Dubai.

So will we ever do it again. Surely??!! Perhaps today!!!

Yum Yum Pumpkin Pie...

Or maybe NOT!! Fayth talked about the pie all day long and couldn't wait to "sink her teeth" into it. Well, she did just that and then made the ugliest face possible. The funniest part...she said the heck with the fork and picked it up like a slice of pizza but then decided it was "yucky." Instead, I made her a mountain of whip creme on her tray instead. However; I must admit...the pumpkin pie was YUMMY!! My friend Cara text me right after her first piece...I'd quote her but this needs to be "kid friendly"...let's just say SHE LOVED IT and she's a pumpkin pie eater!! Hurray...I learned something new!!

We Are Thankful...

for our little family of 3, our moms & dads, sisters, brother-n -laws, cousins, all of our dear friends & their kids, our health, our experience in Dubai, and Jon having a job. We will be celebrating by having a low-key family day. This includes movies on the couch, scrapbooking for me, playing with Fayth, and eating pumpkin pie!! Yep, that's our celebration this year. Jon happens to have the day off because its "Eid al-Adha" (it's a religious holiday here...a feast of sacrifice) but it also just so happens to be America's Thanksgiving. Yeah, it worked out in our favor this year!!!

We wish you and all of your families a safe & Happy Turkey Day!!

Since our Thanksgiving got canceled due to the virus WE'VE spread through our friends...we baked and delivered a pumpkin pie to Cara's family this morning & plan to split ours with KellyAnne's family & Aaron. It was my FIRST attempt ever in making pie crust and pumpkin pies. Hope they taste yummy!!

Love & Hugs, The 3 of us

I'll leave you with a little jingle...

A Turkey is a funny bird

His head goes wobble wobble,

And all he says is just one word

GOBBLE GOBBLE GOBBLE

**If I was blog savvy...Fayth would be reciting this for you and it's so stinkin cute!!

Dear Santa...

It's very important, you see, that Santa knows just where the Evenson 3 will be on Christmas Morning!! So, we wrote him a note and posted it on our tree!! Fayth colored it and really told me everything to write...right down to the part that we'll be at "Gammy's house in Cary!" Poor Papa Dick...never gets any credit...it's just always "Gammy's!" She insisted that Chloe will be there too...which is totally correct!!! She is so excited for Christmas and has made a pretty good list. The only part we are a little worried about..."the farm"...she wants a full-blown play farm & all the animals. See, she got some plastic animals this summer when we were home from the Winnebago county fair, and she LOVES THEM. She washes them in the sink and bathes with them at night. She truly takes great care of them. Well, she saw more like she has, at a store here in Dubai, with a whole matching farm. What she doesn't get is we have ONLY so much room in our suitcases!! We have told her..."No problem" mommy & daddy will get you that for your 3rd birthday...but she's not having it...she wants it for Christmas and insisted on putting it on the list. WELL, we don't get EVERYTHING we want for X-Mas, right?? Perhaps "Santa" can wrap a few plastic animals and say these are for the farm you are getting for your birthday!! Problem solved!!

Let's Decorate...

Clean house & we're homebound for a few more days...I thought why not decorate early for Christmas!! Fayth was "all pumped up" over this and couldn't wait to help put up the tree. So we did just that and had a ball doing it all. She happened to be a big help and loved pulling all of the stuff out of the box. Funny though...she was too little to really remember any of it from last year or the decorations. She'd say, "Oh, mommy, what's this?" "Oh, mommy, these are so cute!" "Oh, mommy, lights...I love lights!' It was fun to feel her excitement!! And the tree looks great! A little "side" heavy on the bottom left but it makes it that much more adorable!! So our cute little pad is festive for the holidays. A little early, SURE, but who cares right...we're in a Muslim country anyway!!

The one photo is of my "pink" feet. Yes, I asked Fayth to take a picture of me so I could scrapbook this memory & be a part of it, well, the camera is about as heavy as a 1/2 gallon of milk and she was having a little trouble. That's O.K. though...it will be perfect for the photo album...it will make me smile for years to come!! That's what journaling is for (that's scrapbook talk).

Ahhhh...A Clean Home

We spent the day "disinfecting" as I blogged earlier today. We also rearranged Fayth's room a bit and made labels so she can organize her toys. The kitchen table in the doll house even got set for a "tea." Doesn't it always feel so good to "spring clean?"

I must say we also had a little tea party and played dress-up while cleaning her room!! I'm not that much of a Scrooge!

Ahhhh...clean sheets, pillow cases, and blankets...gotta love a clean home & bed linens!!

Calling All MOMS of Lil' Girls...

I was online doing some X-mas Internet shopping and stumbled across the cutest bow boards ever!! Then, it dawned on me, RuthAnne loves to craft and is so talented at it...I think I'll have her make Fayth one for Christmas if she'd like too. So, using my newest computer skills...I cut and pasted a few photos, from the online girly boutique, and sent them off to Crystal Lake, Illinois...home of Ruthanne. Attached to the photos was a "bit of a begging" email note, but of course she was up for the task!!!! Well, it turned out SO ADORABLE I told her she needs to start making them to sell. She loved the idea & made a few extras to sell. So, being her "marketing manager" I am posting a few photos of the cutie bow boards. If you are interested you can contact RuthAnne directly via email at binkins28@yahoo.com

She is charging 25.00 per board, which may I add is a HUGE deal, the ones online were 39.99 plus tax & shipping. They are 16 x 20 and hold up to 90 + bows!! So, are you in need of a gift for a little girl??? If so...here's your ticket!! It's sure to be a big hit with both mommy & daughter!!

Thanks RA...as always...you are so very talented. When can I tell them about the great handbags you are making??!!?? She has even made labels for her bags called Binkins Bags!!! I suggested she change her labels to "Binkins Bags & Bows." Stay tuned...maybe in 2010 she'll let me spread the word & photos of some bags.

Disinfect...Disinfect...Disinfect!!!

Today has not been a glamorous day at the apartment!! I've had rubber gloves on and a tank load of bleach water and I've disinfected this entire apartment!! We've scrubbed furniture, toys, utensils, sippy's...washed all blankets, bedding, and pillows...and even given Cinderella, Pooh, bunny pillow, and others a wash in the machine!! It happens to be about 80 and breezy here today so I've treated it like "spring cleaning." All the windows are wide open and the sliding glass door is bringing in a nice cross draft, with a little dust perhaps, but WE DON'T CARE!!

Fayth has entertained herself and even helped with some of the cleaning.

So, GOODBYE GERMS and HELLO NICE CLEAN DISINFECTED APARTMENT!!

It Was Ineviable!!

Well, this stinkin' awful virus now has "hit" our friends Crue & Max!! They have it badly on their feet, hands, and bum...but not in their mouth so far!! We are keeping our fingers crossed and we're SO SO SORRY!! Thanksgiving dinner at the Evenson Apartment has been canceled because these kids are contagious until all the sores & blisters go away!! We were going to have our friends over for a pot-luck turkey day...now...it may be take-out for our lil' fam of 3!! Fayth is on day 6 and finally feeling better and starting to eat more!! Thank goodness. We are still homebound until her mouth clears up...hopefully by the weekend!! Crue & Max...we are sorry you feel poopie and hope you make a speedy recovery!! xxxooo As for RY RY...I don't even want to jinx it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

WOW...I'm back!!

You know you've made some really great friends when they go out of their way for you & your daughter!! Today, Cara & Crue ran an errand for us to a special grocery store. Fayth has been eating waffles in TINY TINY pieces with powered sugar sprinkled on them. This is about all she can handle & will eat with her terrible mouth sores. Well, we ran out of powdered sugar this morning and Cara came to the rescue. See, it's not like the states where every grocery store pretty much carries the same stuff. Here you have to travel miles to various stores for "uncommon" products such as "icing sugar" as they call it. When she delivered the sugar she handed Fayth the BIGGEST most BEAUTIFUL bouquet of fall flowers! She said, "These are for you to help cheer you up & make you feel better!!" While she is doing this...I was holding back tears... THEN, IT JUST KEPT GETTING BETTER & BETTER...

We decided to check the mailbox while downstairs since we haven't been out of this apartment since Wednesday and it's now Sunday for us and it was overflowing with BRAND NEW BOOKS & a beautiful hand painted get well card!! Yesterday, Ry Ry and KellyAnne picked Fayth up three gorgeous new books...Of course, Tinkerbell, Barbie Fairytopia, and a great water only painting book!! Not to mention, the 3 trashy magazines for me!!!

Fayth was so excited ALL this stuff was for her!! So this sick thing in her mind...isn't so bad after all. But in all honesty, it really is!! She has been a tough little cookie. In the photos she is having a hard time smiling because of the sores & that is also why her face is a little puffy!!

So, Cara & KA, you knew you were very special to me...but this was above and beyond!! I feel fortunate to have made such wonderful life-long friends!! From the bottom of "our" hearts...THANK YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxoooooooooooooooooooooo