Mosaic Roll Call

It took months, but it's finally finished. Through the efforts of several moms, including myself, we completed this mosaic art installation as a school fundraiser. It had been eons since I last made a mosaic so having that skill revived was a bonus for me. The visual beauty that it adds to our school just makes me so proud to have taken part in this project and my kids are just thrilled to see their handprints and names out front of their school.

Walk-A-Thon

Today was Aidan's school walk-a-thon, which went on rain or shine. Aidan really had his heart set on going so, despite the pouring rain this morning we roughed it and went. We arrived to a pretty big crowd, lots of wet folks. Upon arriving, I could see it in the parents faces that we would all rather be in the comfort of warm and dry homes but the kids, no complaints at all, they were enjoying themselves. So as good parents, and supporters of our local public school, we braved the weather and cheered on our kids.

Aidan like many of the others was intent on earning his t-shirt for walking 10k. Many of the conversations I overheard went like this "But mom , I just need one more lap for my t-shirt", "We can't go yet, I haven't earned my t-shirt" Our conversation with Aidan was no different. We were ready to go when he was at lap 5 (each lap a 1k) but he was in no way going to let us go. The good thing was he earned 2 free laps, one for an extra credit project and 1 freebie for showing up early when the rain was at its worst. Aidan finished his 8k or 5 miles. Hooray to him!

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.