Blood, Butter, & a Glimpse of the Future

Joining the Golf Club has been more than we bargained for. Not only are we making lots of great friends but after my first golf lesson Wednesday night I found I really liked it.

Maybe I just liked spending time with Chris without the boys... only time will tell.

BLOOD

After a bit of socializing Zach decided to shut down the Golf Social by falling off some railing and landing on his head resulting in our first trip to the ER. Not 10 minutes before the accident I thought to myself as the boys were doing boy things, 'we have yet to have stitches in our family.' Then I scolded myself for even thinking such a thing.

I am proud of Chris for NOT passing out upon seeing the injury. He even carried Zach to the car and stood by him the whole time. Zach was EXTREMELY brave throughout the whole ordeal and thought riding in the front seat of the car was way cool. (Reminder we have no seat belt laws or child safety laws in the country. It is not unusual to see an infant being held in the front seat and kids climbing all over a moving vehicle. But in camp there is no real threat because we can't go fast and there is no traffic.) I insisted on glue instead of stitching. So we were in and out in 45 minutes, no paperwork, no signatures, no insurance cards, no co-payment... just care. He even got a tour of the ambulance on our way out.

BUTTER

Until we get a car we take the bus into Dhahran for church. We get on at 7:50, make one bus change, and arrive around 10:30, making it just in time for the Sacrament. We then have the option of hustling back to the bus for a direct 2:00 bus ride home, or stay until 4:30 and return home the way we came.

We have opted for the 4:30 so we can get some food before returning home. Instead of a "Feed The Missionary Calendar" our ward has a "Feed the Jenkins and Let their Boys Ransack the House Calendar." So far it's been a great way to meet the families in our ward. We figure by the time we get through all the families they might have forgotten what it was like having us over and invite us again.

Ethan does put on a show. Today as everyone was getting seated he stood up, grabbed a knife, cut off about 2 tbs. of butter and ate it before Chris could get to him. Moments later he repeated it for an encore.

This family, however, was not the least bit shocked as they have a family of four boys from ages 8-16. We spent the entire time swapping boy stories. They even have an Ethan too. It was kinda weird because the mom was married at 27 and had her first at 29... just like me.

I have felt for a while that Graham would not be our last. Sometimes I think it would be fun to have a girl but the more I hear about raising girls I think I might want one more boy... smelly feet and all. We really enjoyed our afternoon with this family and look forward to the day when our boys are a bit older and we can laugh and joke together about the crazy things they did as young kids... because by then it will be funny.

One last thing. Zach is picking up Arabic. When we got off the bus he said a few things to the bus driver. We asked him where he learned to say that and he said he didn't know. He just picked it up listening to other people. That is sooooo coooooool!

WARNING! ACCIDENTS MAY HAPPEN WHILE USING A VIDEO PHONE

Setting up Skype was a piece of cake but they should put some kind of WARNING label on it.

My parents called to check up on Zach right before lunch. All three boys were happily chatting. Then Ethan disappears... and comes back with a piece of cheese asking, "When is lunch?" I told him we would eat when we got off the phone.

He is on a "Dang Quesadilla" kick right now and likes to help by pulling out the tortillas and cheese.

After a couple of minutes my mom radar went off and Grandpa had to go to work so we ended the call and this is what I found...

Wasn't that nice of him to try and put plastic wrap on all the yogurts after he removed all the lids. As I picked him up to wash his hands he said, "I was just trying to make me a birthday cake." I then calmly took him to his room for a long time out.

Why is it I can stay calm with huge messes like this and just go nuts over the littlest things?

A Day with Disney & more

I am generally in the mean mom category because I don't let Zach watch TV all day. Well, today his dream came true.

He crawled into my bed this morning and said he felt dizzy. My first thought was "oh crap," the stomach flu has been going around. Sure enough, a few minutes later he was trying to make it to the bathroom.

So we took a sick day and he got to watch the Disney channel all day long. Luckily the morning bathroom episode was a one time event. Now we get to wait and see who comes down with it next.

Ethan too has been a little under the weather. He has had a runny nose. No big deal except after a couple of wipes he needs a touch up on this...

 

Every morning for the last week before I'm even out of bed he brings me an eyeliner pencil to draw him a mustache. As it fades throughout the day or if we are heading out he wants a touch up. I seriously don't know where he comes up with this stuff. I was able to convince him that it was better not to sport the 'stache at church.

Make Way For The Queen

More Ethan antics--

He likes to take the mobile off Graham's bed and wear it as a crown.

Then he'll go and put my shoes on and say, "Make way for the queen!"

If he weren't the such a complete boy all the rest of the time this might concern me.

(Note: These photos were taken pre- mustache obsession.)

He's a true rough rider-- he even rode the broom around the house today with nothing on from the waist down. And before that he was shirtless for a photo shoot.

It Takes Two to Tango

Zach and Ethan have very different personalities-- the only commonalities are that they both like books, trains, Legos, and enjoy getting each other in trouble and/or testing one another's pain tolerance. The above picture is a classic representation of their relationship. Ethan is trying to de-pants Zach during present opening on Christmas morning. Dad is trying to stop it.

In our new home the only good "time out place" is their bedroom. Often they are sent there together and soon are playing nicely... but not always. I am always looking for ways to diffuse situations between them without getting myself worked up. I have found that many of the so called best child rearing tips generally back fire on me. Such as

"Positive Reinforcement"

Often when I comment on how well they are sharing or speaking kindly it flips a switch in them and they begin to punch and fight. As if they suddenly remember "Oh yeah, we're enemies".

"Unity in the Home"

Last Friday at church we discussed Pres. Eyring's talk on unity. We discussed how if people are speaking poorly about another it only takes one person to make a nice comment about them and that pretty much shuts down the gossip, etc. I thought, 'how can I apply this at home?' So immediately after church when the boys started harassing each other and the pushing started, I broke it up, had them apologize and then say something they loved about one another. They instantly said something nice and they both went off happy together. Lo and behold it worked. Until that evening. Zach came up and just punched Ethan out of nowhere. When asking why he did that his response was, "I just wanted to tell Ethan something I loved about him."

Actually, we have been using this latest technique for a couple of days and it does resolve things quicker. Now when I break up the fights, they both stop and say something they love about one another. They are not very original as it is now the same thing..."I love how you help me destroy my Legos when I'm done."

Preschool Drop Out

Do you have one of these?

A child whose personality is larger than life?

Our Ethan is a constant riot. Constant being the important word. A good friend Tonya told me that the frustrating or crazy things her kids do have now just become great things to blog about. Well Ethan has plenty of fodder for this blog.

This child NEVER slows down. He even sleep walks now.

And you won't catch him in anything but these...

He even gets to wear them to church now since his church shoes are traveling the world in our missing box. Rubber boots in a desert = STINKY FEET.

But what does a 3 year old boy care about stinky feet, snot wiped on his shirt, laying face down in the muddy gutter, or doing exactly what his mother has asked him NOT TO DO.

The other day he asked me why he has testimones. I wondered for a moment if he had actually been listening to something in church. So I asked, "Do you mean testimony?" He responded, "NO testimones." Then it dawned on me, "Oh, you mean testicles." Later he and Chris were talking and Chris was telling him how he helped fix broken testimonies and Ethan asked, "Are my testimones broken?"

He is brilliant! He plots and when the moment is right (i.e. I leave the room, nurse Graham, blink) he strikes. Tonight while feeding Graham, one of his dreams came true. I had forgotten to close and lock the bi-fold doors to our pantry. He climbed the shelves and took out the bag of chocolate chips. After sharing some with his brother (what a nice guy) he poured them into a strainer, stood in the middle of the kitchen table, and tossed them into the air saying, "Look at all the fish I caught." I was completely helpless as the chaos unfolded around me. I just kept praying Chris would get home soon. By the time Ethan had moved on to putting the entire bunch of grapes into the fishing net and started to climb onto the table again. I could not take it any longer as I got up to stop the insanity we were all saved by the bell. The doorbell that is as Chris had finally arrived home.

And, yes he really is a Preschool drop out. I signed him up and he didn't make it through the first week. He told me he would rather stay home and take a nap than go. Then he said something about not liking the snack and went off to engage in some other mischievously delightful adventure.

His independence isn't all bad he did practically potty train himself (he'll even drop trousers in the flower bed at church) and he does dress himself in the morning, and after he eats a snack, and after playing in the water, and after falling into the only puddle in the desert.

What Day Is It?

Things are a bit confusing here for us. First we have to keep all the different time zones right. We are exactly on the other side of the world from Anchorage so the 12 hour time difference seems pretty easy right? Usually it's OK. We talk to Grandparents early in the morning or late at night. However, we also have siblings that we talk with regularly in Central, Mountain, and Pacific time zones. That gets a little crazy.

Now here's where it really gets complicated. Saudi Arabia's weekend is Wednesday night through Friday.  So our Sabbath is on Friday. When we are just finishing up our weekend the rest of you are just starting it.  Since we aren't used to this whole new arrangement, sometimes when we are making plans we'll say let's do that on Friday night but we really mean Wednesday night. Then we have to ask each other, "Do you really mean Friday, or do you mean the weekend?" Then we have to correct ourselves.

Now, for the boys their whole lives they have heard that Sunday is a special day and we don't do certain activities... but now we can. So we just try and "Keep the Sabbath Day Holy" whatever day that ends up being.

Just to make it even more confusing, the surrounding Arab countries' weekends are different than Saudi's.  Bahrain, which the locals frequent regularly, has a Thursday/Friday weekend.  Dubai is the same way, so trying to get special weekend rates or make plans 'for the weekend' is complicated.

On to another topic. The desert is growing on us. The rock formations in camp are really cool, but there are only a few. The surrounding desert is not so pretty. Don't get me wrong - there are parts that are nice to look at but along the road it is just old tire after old tire and litter everywhere. This desert is nothing like the American Southwest we are used to.

We would post some pictures, but we like our new employment. I can take pictures on camp but have to be very careful. Our home is in the middle of the oil field and taking pictures of infrastructure is illegal. I did get a nice one which is a view diagonal from my house.

Contrary to popular thought, I do not have to wear the abaya (long black head to toe covering) when off camp. I do however have to be extremely modest in dress (i.e, long sleeves, long pants, no cleavage).  Right now it's not so bad but in 120 degree weather I will not be so happy-- but probably happier than the abaya girls.

Two weeks ago I was out and modestly dressed while shopping. I had Graham in the front pack, and everyone kept staring at me. I thought I guess they have never seen a baby front pack before. Later I realized that they aren't used to seeing women without an abaya and taking care of her own child. I was told they all have nannies for that sort of thing.

Which brings me to another point. Everyone on camp has a gardener, a house boy to do the cleaning, and a housekeeper/nanny. My new friends all keep asking when our help will be arriving. We got the gardener, I have a house full of boys, and I am the nanny/housekeeper.  I say my help should be riding his bike home from work at 4:00.

I am seriously missing my regular babysitters.

Look Who's 5

It has been PARTY PARTY PARTY around here. It all started with the Lego birthday cake with family the night before we moved.

Then the day of... NON-STOP FUN!

First we went to story time at the Youth Center. The kids are in the process of traveling the world and today they went on Safari in Kenya. Norma, our new friend from Ireland and the leader, let Zach be the pilot and made the morning very special for him. All the children sang him Happy Birthday and at snack time they ate Wall-E #1 (I'll explain later).

In the afternoon we bowled... not a bad roll for the first try.

The school, bowling alley, library, game room with table tennis, PlayStations, etc. is all across the street from where we live.

As usual, ETHAN always has his own STYLE! This time kicking the ball.

So we moved on to table tennis and the first thing Zach says to me is,

"Are you ready for a SMACKDOWN?!"

I'm not sure where he learned this but because we have very few toys he has gotten away with a bit more than his usual hour of daily TV. I've heard a few new phrases and I'm sure they are from the Disney Channel and Cartoon Network.

After this we played in the park until Graham barfed all over me and we had to head home. On the way Ethan decided to lay face down in the gutter and yes it was full of dirty water because we had rain in the morning. I am not sure if he got a drink but his face was sure muddy by the time I got to him. He then proceeded to splash me with mud on the parts not covered with barf. We got home, changed, and shortly after Chris arrived home. As we were leaving to go out to dinner at the dining hall, Zach decided to spray Ethan with the hose so we had to turn around and change Ethan into another new outfit.

After dinner the boys "taught Chris" how to play some of the games they had played earlier in the day.

Then at 7pm the guests arrived for cake and ice cream.

Wall-E #1 did not come out of the pan.

Wall-E #2 did. Zach has been so excited about having a Wall-E cake that we had to pack the pan and decorating materials in our carry on luggage just to make sure we had it for the big day. Decorating cakes is not my department... Chris did an AWESOME job.

We had a great turnout considering we've only been here 2 1/2 weeks. It was a Lego and Spider man birthday as all the presents were mainly from these two categories.

Our good friends the Dumvilles gave Zach a tennis racket. He started Jr. tennis club the next day and our air shipment with all the gear still hasn't arrived.

We also shared the day with family throughout the day on the phone. Thanks everyone for helping this be such a special day.

One other funny thing. It has been difficult to hide this ginormous Lego Castle set in our packed luggage and here at the house. A couple of times Zach got a glimpse of what he thought might be his Lego present. I would quickly send him on an errand and then move it while he was out of the room. When he came back he would look again and say, "I must be going crazy. I swear I just saw something Lego." I always answered, "Kid, you just have Legos on the mind. You must just be seeing things."

I Keep Finding This....

I keep finding this little guy smiling and laughing at his mobile.

... his thumb replacing his binkie

... Grandma missing him like crazy

... this little guy is growing so fast.

Please slow down! I am enjoying you so much just the way you are.

Zach and Ethan can really get him cooing and smiling. It just melts my heart to see him get so excited when I walk into his line of vision. I am so in love.

This little guy continues to be a DREAM. He is such a sweetheart. He is eating and sleeping well with a 6 hour stretch at night. It's amazing that you've only been with us not quite 3 months. We don't even remember what it was like without you.

I hardly held him last week at church - all the ladies just fought over him. He's the only baby right now.

Wheels

We've been without wheels for over two weeks now. It's not so bad, as we have no where to go. We can walk everywhere in town. It is only cumbersome when I need to grocery shop. We have gone into Al Hasa once (45 minutes away).  Otherwise we just use the company commissary here in camp. It tries to carry a lot of American products for us but you pay through the nose for them.

Right now we are deciding if we should ship our new minivan here or continue to try and sell it and just purchase something locally. We aren't sure if our Honda Odyssey has enough metal to protect us from these crazy drivers. Also, we must first prove we aren't importing it to transport people to Mecca. (Go figure!)

Also-- seat belts, who needs 'em? Car seats... haven't seen many except on the back of golf carts. I have seen a sedan packed with 10 children (no exaggeration) in traffic swaying back and forth. The last 5 years of family car seat rules have totally been thrown out the window. Here on camp the max speed limit is 25 mph... if you like your job you will not speed or run a stop sign. It takes longer to put your kids in car seats than it does to get where you're going, so they are hardly used. For us, any time we get a ride we are packing our family into someone else's car, so again there is more lap sitting.

We missed our bus on Friday night and had to take a 2 hour taxi ride home (again with lap sitting) except for Graham who was snug in his seat. Plus our driver had to pull over for coffee and kept rolling down the window to stay awake. Some serious prayers on Chris' and my behalf were answered that we all arrived home safely. It was not as bad as one friend's experience. He said once on the way to the airport his driver kept slapping himself in the face to keep awake.

We can use the company buses which are really nice and clean and run frequently. I just don't desire to take 3 little boys anywhere by myself. So until we have wheels of our own we won't have too many postings about the culture we have seen.

Even though women can only drive on camp most families have a second vehicle. So these are our options...

We could put some life back into this old timer. Oh wait, no room for car seats.

We could just get your standard ho hum golf cart....

Or we could get this! Is the flag too much? What do you think, after we finish up on the golf course we could go cruise the dunes.

Our golf course here is oil and sand. We have yet to golf but have enjoyed two great social events. We even had Cheesecake Factory cheese cake for dessert! We are finding they have more chain restaurants here (2 hrs. away) than back home in Anchorage.

Lego Vault

Dr. Destructo (aka Ethan) hits with frequency in our home. Therefore, Mom and Dad are constantly rebuilding the complex Lego sets that Zach is obsessed with. In our new home we have what Zach refers to as the Lego Vault. It's the unused closet in Graham's room. We put a child safety lock on the handle so only invited guests can enter. It saves me from reconstruction headaches and Zach from having to beat Ethan up as pay back. The only loser is Ethan because he gets such joy out of destroying and touching whatever he is asked not to.

Wanna Buy a house?

So we've moved on, said goodbye to -20 degree winters, evergreens, whales, and Mt. McKinley. We now embrace 60-70 degree winters, palm trees, camels (not literally), and sand dunes in our new home, Udhailiyah, Saudi Arabia.

Overall, we are adjusting well. We traded this...

for this...

...and this

for this...

I'm not sure what decade this is from, but it's stunning, isn't it?

The good news is we can change out anything we don't like, including light fixtures, but have to put it back to original condition when we leave. The house was re-tiled completely and new carpet was put in the bedrooms for us. We also got a new lawn put in a couple of days after our arrival. We won't have our things for several months, so it feels like we are on permanent vacation... in a college dorm with dorm-like furniture.

As for the people... we are in the friendliest community. They literally offered the clothes off their backs when the boys' luggage didn't make it. We have been given bikes to use until ours arrive, as well as a camera lens when mine locked up, a freezer stocked with dinners so grocery shopping with 3 boys (no Fred Meyer Play land) and no car wouldn't be a burden. The list goes on and on.

We doubled the attendance in Sacrament meeting last week in the local branch. However, this week we plan on taking the bus to Dhahran so the boys can attend Primary and the Sacrament table won't be close enough to be Ethan's personal snack bar.

We are exactly 12 hours' time difference from Alaska. Luckily, it only took the boys two days to adjust to the time change.

The drinkable water here is called "Sweet Water." It tastes more like cardboard to me, so I'll be lugging bottled water home just like on my mission.

Stay tuned for more of our Arabian adventures as they unfold.