Tyler's Minecraft Birthday Party

We waited a whole week to celebrate Tyler's 8th birthday, but the wait was definitely worth it. Today we gathered in our villa with his friends and had a fabulous time together. Tyler loves the video game 'Minecraft' and so Dad and I thought it would be appropriate and fun to do a Minecraft themed party. Of course, Tyler was all for the idea. It was a lot of work putting it together, but it was a lot of fun as well. We decorated everything Minecraft related and played all Minecraft related party games.

The first game we played is actually a game that I always played at my birthday parties when I was growing up, hot potato! The game is played when you pass around a box that is wrapped up several times in various smaller boxes. Inside contains a prize. When music is played, the kids pass around the box, however when the music stops whoever has the box in their possession, gets to open it until the music starts playing again. Dad was in charge of the music. He played some Minecraft music that he downloaded especially for the occasion. Tyler's friend, Gloria was the winner. She opened it all the way to the prize inside.

The next game was "Pin the Tail on the Minecraft Pig". LOL I made a poster that looked like the pig from the video game. Each kid wrote their name of the tail we handed out to them. Inside of a blindfold, we put a Minecraft Steve head on them. LOL The best part was that all of the kids, except Tyler managed to place the tail on the bulls eye. They were smart by feeling their way to the win. So, to decide who the winner was, we put all their pigtails in a basket and had Tyler pick a name. Sofia was the winner!

And then finally, we played "Ghast, the Minecraft Pinata". I filled the pinata I made with lots of toys. Instead of  hitting the pinata, the kids each had a turn pulling a ribbon. Only one ribbon opened the trap door. The line of kids got about half way through until someone pulled the winning ribbon. BAM! All the toys went crashing to the floor and the kids made a mad dash to fill up their goodie bags with lots of trinkets. The kids had a selection of cars, small dolls, balls, cards, stickers, erasers, school supplies, mustaches, and various other fun items. They managed to fill up their bags pretty quickly.

After all the games were played, it was cake time. I ended up making two cakes for the party because I only had a small square pan. For those who are not familiar with Minecraft, everything in the game is square, so naturally the cake had to be as well. Anyway, as I said before two cakes were made and we ended up using them both for the candle blowing. I put 4 candles on one and 4 on the other. Tyler's friend, Bahvini, was standing in front of the other and I guess she thought Tyler needed help after he blew the one in front of himself and so, she ended up blowing most of the candles on the other cake. It was pretty funny how it all turned out, not to mention the kids had the mustaches on from the pinata game they just played.

After the wishes were made, we brought out the pizza we had delivered from Little Cesare's Pizza. We ordered 4 foot long pizzas. Our original plan was to have a BBQ with hot dogs and hamburgers, but we remembered that there would be kids from India there that can't have beef. We also had Muslim kids that couldn't have pork, so pizza was the answer! We thought we would have tons left, but everyone seemed to gobble it down pretty good. For dessert, we had cake of course and I also made cupcakes. To drink, I made another Minecraft favorite, Creeper Juice. LOL

 Then after we gathered around and watched as Tyler opened all his gifts. He received a lot of great toys including Minecraft Legos, Minecraft Creeper Head, cars, trucks, a UFO, a car track, and various other gifts. He also received about $75 in cash...woohoo, he is excited to go shopping. LOL
Once the gifts were opened and Tyler thanked everyone, we just let the kids run around and have fun. Tyler rarely gets to have playdates so it was a real treat having his friends altogether all at one time. They had a blast until it was time to head home.
In conclusion, it was a really cool party. It was definitely a lot to prepare for with all the Minecraft props, but it was great seeing the happy little faces; and most of all, seeing Tyler having a blast celebrating his special day.

Presentation Practice

Tyler completed a project for school this afternoon. He has to present it in front of the class tomorrow. It's a story he wrote and illustrated about some men joining the Navy and their training for a deployment. Then they go to help fight in a war. I asked Tyler to practice the presentation in front of me as I was preparing dinner. I was surprised when I turned around and saw him up on the chair to do his practice. So cute!

Dad loves our new treadmill and apparently Tiara does as well. She climbed right up it and watched as Dad went for a run. LOL

Pearl Event

We met our local geocachers for a great event at the Bahrain National Museum, which included a boat ride out to the remains of an old fort. Afterward, we went to a fantastic Lebanese restaurant for dinner. As always, great event... great food... and great company!

Tyler Turns 8 Years Old

Well, it's happened yet again; our boy turned another year older. It still seems like yesterday that he was just teeny tiny and we were holding him in our arms, but 8 years have past since those early days. 8 wonderful years filled with lots of love, laughter, and fun times together. There isn't a single day that goes by that we are not thankful for this amazing blessing that God has given us. I truly can't imagine life without this boy. We love him so very very much. He is our everything and so much more. From the first time we laid eyes on him, he still owns our heart. So, the birthday boy started his day out with special bread that I brought home from the cafe I went with the girls yesterday. Unfortunately, after breakfast Dad had to go to work for a few hours. Tyler played Minecraft for a bit while I did some chores and then he started to build Legos with the set Grandma in Florida sent him. Later on, we sat down together and played a game of the board game, Operation. Then we played a few games of Hide and Seek which was a lot of fun.

By this time, Dad sent us a text message to let us know that he was on his way home. We had a birthday party to attend for a girl in his class. It was at the mall at Magic Planet, a venue filled with carnival rides, games and arcade games. The kids had a blast and the parents had a nice time also. Afterwards, we got to use a card with free tokens given to us by the birthday girl. Tyler and his friend from class, Sofia and her sister, played a few games together before we left the mall. We picked up a few items for Tyler's party we are having next weekend. Since we were already invited to a birthday party this weekend by a girl in the class, we decided to postpone Tyler's party until then.

When we got home, I totally surprised Tyler with some gifts from Dad and I and my mom. All throughout the day, he never once asked if we got him anything. I guess he assumed we were waiting for the party. I just felt it was a long tim for him to wait. Both my mom and Dad and I got him some books. Lately I had been updating his library, getting rid of the books that were below his reading level, so we got him books to replace those.
Soon after that, I let Tyler pick out a movie that we could watch together. While he was going through his movies trying to decide which one to watch, I got his cake ready and again, surprised him. We sang Happy Birthday, he blew out his candle, and then we had some cake. The cake is a small version of what I plan to do for his party, so I'll wait to post the photo. I'll leave you in suspence. LOL Anyway, he ended up picking out "The Emperor's New Groove" which is a great movie!
While we were watching it, Dad noticed on FaceBook that our best friend back in Chesapeake, had her baby today. I was just talking to her yesterday and she said she was trying to hold off until today to have her because she wanted her to be Tyler's Birthday Buddy!!!! I couldn't be more happy!!! Then her mom, Dawn, called us from the hospital to ask if Rachael, her daughter and Tyler's beat friend, could wish him a happy birthday. That phone call just made our day. It was so wonderful hearing her voice. What an awesome best friend to take the time out of her extremely busy day with the new arrival to call and wish Tyler a happy birthday. So very sweet!!! It made Tyler's day also. :)

Breakfast with the Girls

It's always so good to get out of the house. This morning my friend, Gina, picked me up and we met our other friend, Minoti for breakfast at a great cafe. This was my first time there, but I had heard it was really good...and yes, I have to definitely agree! The dish I selected had chickpeas and fresh herbs. It was so tasty!!! And of course, I finished it up with a nice cup of cappuccino~ Great company and yummilicious breakfast, a perfect start to a day.

Walk Around Our "Yard": Part 1

I had to split the walk around our yard up into two videos because it takes a long time to upload here. This first video takes you from the front of our villa to the backdoor into the kitchen. You can hear our neighbor's chickens in the background.

"Snow" in Bahrain

Who says it doesn't snow in the desert? Apparently, it "snowed" inside the mall here in Bahrain. The mall section off an area for the children to play in it. For many of these kids this is the closest thing they will ever experience. They had an absolute blast playing in it, making snow angels and throwing the snow up in the air. There was also a gigantic igloo constructed inside the mall where the children could enter and watch movies. Here are a few photos of our boy having fun in the snow.

Late Valentine's Day Party

Since school was canceled Thursday out of precaution of the weekend protests, Tyler's class Valentine's Day party was postponed until today. Myself and the other classroom mom went in and spent the entire day with the students doing crafts, playing BINGO, doing code puzzles, and serving treats. The children also passed out their Valentines to each other and watched the movie 'Willa Wonka and the Chocolate Factory'. It was a great time, but they sure wore us out. LOL

Blizzards in Bahrain

We just attended what most of our caching friends called the most ultimate event ever on the island in Bahrain. Not only did we attend, but it was our own event that we hosted. Our event titled "Blizzards in Bahrain" was a BBQ followed by homemade ice cream blizzards at our villa. I prepared potato salad, Greek salad and Mrs. Baillie's pasta salad. I also baked dinner rolls and cookies (which caused a fight later on between two of our cacher friends that just loved them so much...LOL). They said we needed to plan an event just based on the cookies alone. LOL Anyway, Steve was in charge of the grilling and made us all delicious hotdogs and hamburgers. It was a gorgeous day out and so we all ate outside. We were excited to use our awesome fold-able picnic table that our friends surprised us with a few weeks ago. After we stuffed our tummies with food and blizzards that Steve made us, we just sat and talked about everything. I was definitely the most relaxed and interesting event all of us have ever attended. Typically we meet at a restaurant where we feel rushed after we finished eating. Overall, we are so glad everyone had a great time!

Our Valentine's Day

Our Valentine's Day actually started yesterday. Steve gave me the most beautiful bouquet of flowers, a mix of red and white roses with lilies and greenery. Then this morning, he gave me a big heart shaped box of chocolates. I gave also gave him a big heart shaped box of chocolates and a card. We gave Tyler a small box of chocolates, a bookmark and a card. Tyler made Dad a house in Minecraft and Mom a horse stable, also in Minecraft. We were on house arrest because of protests, so we used the day to clean, clean, clean and prepare some dishes for our geocaching BBQ we are having here at our villa. Tonight we are finishing our Valentine's Day with pizza we got delivered. The best part of the day was just being able to spend it together. :) Here's photos of our Valentine's Day gifts.