The Cuties

Time for some pics of the cuties!  Ethan is 3 1/2, Claire is 18 mo.

Tractor lover

Book lover

Ethan gets to go to McDonald's when he earns four "spoons" on his "ice cream chart" for being good on the way to/from preschool.  

We all win when Ethan earns his four spoons!

Eating date cookies outside David's office at Sultan Qaboos University

I take pictures of Claire on the (rare) days I do something cute with her hair

We've recently begun enacting the "Three Little Pigs"

Beautiful eyes (just like his Dad!)

Claire talks like "Boo" on Monster's Inc.... so cute!

Seriously sweet

Claire and friend... the two youngest kids at church

Claire loves her "Beebee" (dolls and other children!)

Ethan loves his new wheels

Chillin' in the stroller

Ethan LOVES doing homework for preschool (tracing letters, etc.)

Claire likes to get in on the action, too

(no, those are not her circles or stick figure)

 

Ethan & his favorite buddy in time-out together

Claire sure loves her big brother!

Primary activity

Sometimes we do "normal" things here in Oman, like participating in church primary activities!  This year the children have been learning about the importance of families, and they learned a song about being "builders" of Eternal Families (I was the children's music leader in Athens, and I'm happy to have the same calling here in Oman!).

Today the kids wore construction hats and name badges as they circulated around different stations where they learned to "Establish a house, even a house of prayer, a house of fasting, a house of faith, a house of learning, a house of glory, a house of order, a house of God" (Doctrine & Covenants 88:119).

 Little builders & primary president

 

Ethan LOVED decorating his "Prayer Rock"

(put it on your pillow to help you remember nightly prayers)

Planting "Seeds of Faith"

Cute Phillipino brothers from church are really sweet with Claire.

Oman vs Brazil game

I know I should be posting about Christmas right now (which was great, by the way) but I feel a need to blog chronologically!  David and I went to the Oman vs Brazil soccer game last month.  It was a lot of fun!

Waiting to get in

Oman vs Brazil

With most Omani fans wearing white dishdishas, and everyone else wearing team colors, the stands looked very festive very festive.

Cute Omani boys waving flags

Notice the Indonesian lady behind us on the left.  We wondered what she was doing at a soccer game by herself, until we realized she was probably chaperone for the Omani teenage girls in the next photo:

 

We figured the two girls wearing checkered headdresses over their faces were probably protecting themselves from the aerial cameras.

TV commentators

We weren't the only ones who brought our cameras to the game.

Dubai

We drove to Dubai for a weekend in November. The first photo was taken a year ago (not from my camera). Check out the current skyline in photo #2!  

The Burj Dubai is nearly complete, and will be the world's tallest building.  It is ridiculously tall, and will contain offices, hotel rooms, and private residences.

Pretty mosque. Driving along the beach road felt like being in Orlando.

The famous Burj al Arab is a "7-star" hotel

Palm Jumeirah (sorry, not from my cam)

 

Condos along the "trunk" of Palm Jumeirah.

 

The palm fronds are lined with homes, each with it's own backyard beach.

David attended a youth meeting at a church member's house here.     

Atlantis Hotel (drive to the end of the palm, through an underwater tunnel,

and back up to the crescent that surrounds the palm fronds)

One day we'll tell Claire that we changed her diaper on Palm Jumeirah.

 

View of the Burj al Arab and Dubai skyline from the Palm

Emirate's Next Top Model

At the Mall of the Emirates - Dubai's version of video games,

sitting inside an actual race car.

 

Indoor ski resort at the Mall of the Emirates

(the men in the picture are probably Saudis)

An Arab couple taking pictures in the snow

 

Boat ride down the Dubai creek-my favorite memory of Dubai

Men commuting to work

Bastakia- an older, fancy neighborhood

Calligraphy artist in his shop

Snoozing in the fabric souq

 

Traditional Dhow outside the Dubai Museum

 

On the way out of town, we saw lots of SUVs playing in the sand dunes!