More celebrations taking place...

Well, since the last post, my little Leena celebrated her 6th birthday and my parents celebrated their 46th anniversary. Talk about something to celebrate!! For Leena's birthday, my sister kindly offered to decorate her house for a family party for Leena since Mohammed was going to be out of town and Leena really wanted it there. Aileen did a great job putting up balloons and streamers and even kept to a very PINK and very dainty Princess theme for the event. Leena was shy as first, mostly because her cousin Joey's girlfriend, Miriam, was there. But, guess what! Daddy took an earlier flight back from Chicago and made it back to NJ just in time for cake!! She loved all her gifts-needless to say. Titi gave her, much after my own heart, a Fisher Price digital kid's camera. She was estatic because she had been unfortunate enough to lose her first camera of this type last year after receiving it from her grandparents. Now, all she wants to do is go around taking pictures of anything--well, almost anything--and she catches everyone (especialy me) off guard when she does it. Thank goodness it's a digital and erasing some of those pics is as easy as pressing the little garbage icon-LOL!

As for Mom and Dad...well, their anniversary actually fell on the day we celebrated Leena's birthday (both events are just 1 day apart). So it was 2 celebrations in one-although, I hate to admit that the little Princess may have taken center stage that day! Happy Anniversary Mom and Dad...you are a true inspiration to me and I am grateful to have grown up in the home that I did with the example that you 2 have set for us. I know I can speak on behalf of all of your children and grandchildren when I say "WE LOVE YOU" and wish you many more happy and healthy years together!

It's my birthday, and I'll sing if I want to...

Yep, I'm another year older and wiser today! For my special day, I decided I really wanted to take the girls toThe Rainforest Cafe for dinner. Maybe it was the fact that Mohammed is out of town and I was going to eat with kids in tow that made this particular place all the more appealing-after all, what kid doens't enjoy elephants, fish and gorillas--along with the occasional tropical rain storm thrown if for effect? My parents were sweet enough to meet us all out there. We had a great dinner and enjoyed walking around the jungle(but still missed you, Mohammed!). Then I remembered why I loved this place since the first time I had brought the girls here as just toddlers...IT'S FUN! Of course it was even more fun when the servers walked out with this HUGE volcano dessert and sang (shouted) Happy Birthday to me. Even with the 5 of us there, we couldn't finish 1/2 of it! Here are some pictures from our dinner as proof that it was a great evening...despite Yasmeen getting a little freaked out by the gorillas at first!

Love it when I get to see this...

Yesterday, Leena had her first Daisy meeting at our school and it went great. Yasmeen got to tag along for a change, and was great about helping out by taking pictures and escorting the little ones to the bathroom (and don't you know that EVERYONE has to go to the bathroom as soon as we start an activity??!!). So afterwards, we headed out to meet Mohammed at the firehouse while he wrapped up his house and grounds duty, and when we pulled up, I see him in the driver's seat of the firetruck in all his "gear". Yep, I love seeing that! I don't see him "in action" very often, so I think it's great when I get a glimpse of him in uniform--doing his thing. Hey, you know what they say about a man in uniform--especially when it's your hubby ;-). At that point, the girls were so excited to get into the truck with their Daddy, that they hopped out of the van faster than if they'd seen a bug on the window! Daddy backed one of the trucks into the bay and they "helped" him. Then he graciously agreed (sort of) to pose for this picture (and a few more). Thanks, Baby!! Love you!