A Murder at the Souk

Last weekend in the presence of 48, including royalty, sultans, merchants, genies, shoppers, a crazy beggar and many other interesting characters, there was a murder near the Oasis Bar and Baba's Banquet right smack in the middle of the souk, ahem..actually smack in the middle of Jenny's living room, the home I helped transform into a magical Arabian marketplace.







Six mom's including myself hosted an Arabian nights murder mystery party as part of a fundraiser for Aidan's school. With weeks of preparation, and yards and yards of fabric, a zillion stings of lights, and lots of gold and glitter we were able to create an amazing setting, transforming a home into a full oasis of Arabian fun. It was almost painful taking it down after the party, considering how much work went into it.



We served a feast fit for a Sultan, grilled meats, curries, kapsa, couscous, cucumber yogurt, falafels, a variety of rice dishes plus much, much more and ended with exquisite desserts, turkish delights, stuffed dates, cardamom rice pudding, semolina cake...all of which we the hosts made. It was my first time cooking Arab cuisine, not only was the food exotic but it was delicious too! We had belly dancers perform during dinner. We sent our guests home with a CD of the magical music played that evening and some incense so they could recreate the atmosphere at home.
Needless to say, our extraordinary efforts we put forth to create a magical Arabian evening was all well worth it. We had so much fun, with everyone dressing up and role playing through the murderous plot. Definitely a fundraising event worth repeating.

Fun Family Night With Grease and Froggy Boogie

It was a fun evening here. The boys had specifically requested cheeseburgers for dinner. So, Dad picked up burgers from Sparky's, something we hadn't had in awhile. If you're into burger joints, Sparky's is just the place. Although, Aidan made sure to remind us that this was a special greasy treat that we shouldn't always have. This made me happy to know that he is aware of what's a healthy meal versus a not so healthy meal. Despite the fact he refuses to eat all vegetables, at least he gets the concept of what he's suppose to be eating and hopefully sometime down the road he'll jump right into those veggies.




After our yummy and yes greasy meal of burgers, fries and onion rings, we jumped right into a new game, Froggy Boogie. This was a fun game of memory that we all enjoyed. We play lots of games and have lots of fun, but it's especially fun when the whole family plays...and this was a game the whole family enjoyed.

Poetic Miles - Flowers Are Rainbows

"Look at the flowers.
Flowers are pretty colors.
I can see the world.
I can see flowers in the world.
Flowers are rainbows."


It's been awhile since we've heard something from poetic Miles. Today while walking by a freshly planted bed of flowers Miles was inspired and I so loved hearing him.

Happy Valentine's Day

This is coming to you late in the day, so here's to hoping you all had a wonderful Valentines day.

We here enjoyed our day. The boys were excited to hand out their Valentines. We made Valentines this year that included a pencil as cupids arrow. Aidan was pretty proud of them. Wish I could say they were all my idea, but they weren't. Truthfully I can't recall where I saw them, it may have been over at Make and Takes, or The Crafty Crow, as I love both of those crafty blog sites.





At home we enjoyed a nice dinner followed by some yummy cupcakes from one of our favorite cupcake bakeries. I made sure to get all their favorites, Aidan loves the coconut cupcake, Miles loves the raspberry vanilla, and of course Liam loves the fudge on fudge. We had fun and the boys were thrilled to show Mom and Dad all their valentines they received. All in all, a pretty good day.

Scrabble Master

Aidan, 6 yrs old, is getting pretty good at scrabble. I love scrabble, so I'm excited about having another scrabble player in the house since Daddy isn't much of a board game player. At this rate, I imagine Aidan's going to be a real challenge for me in just a few years.

Loving The Dragon

For Chinese New Year, the boys made these paper dragons a printable I got from this great kids crafts site. Miles absolutely loved his and took it to preschool for share day. Fun to see the kids enjoy creative projects.

Gung Hay Fat Choy - Let this be the year of no deception

Happy Chinese New Year



We had a pleasant Chinese New Year's Eve celebration, enjoying a delicious and abundant dinner with our friends the Lee's.



The kids worked on a fun craft project, Chinese dragons, before dinner.



followed with fireworks for the kids



and yummy dessert.

I only wish our New Year's day was as pleasant. Unfortunately, evil reared it's head in the form of gossip, lies, and disturbing conflict. There has been so much deception in our corner of the world here and regrettably I've been so gullible to fall prey to it. The only good that has come of this is some clarity about where true feelings lie.

Here's wishing everyone much happiness, good health and prosperity in the year of the hare. ...And let this be the year of no deception.