The Story Of Us

On the 5th day we left London .. we rented a car for the rest of our trip.. the United Kingdom has a great public transport system and while we did take trains all through out our  spring break  trip we  M opted to drive this time around. It was a rough start with driving on the other side of the road.. and figuring out the road signs etc.. I must say that I think the roads in America are marked so much more clearly.. and the roads are also so much wider and smoother. But very soon our rough start got a little rougher.. H threw up before we even got out of London. We had over three and a half more hours of driving left before we got to York. The drive itself was fine.. but when we were just about twenty minutes away from the hotel D threw up! Thankfully he was able to alert us beforehand and we were able to stop and he was able to get out of the car. Phew. We suspect it was the dinner form the night before. York is a walled city in northeast England that was founded by the anci

Ah! Summer vacations have finally begun. I.. we have been counting down to this day for weeks now. Finally no alarms. The kids don't go to camp.. and save for a swim crash course later in July we are free. A few years ago I read somewhere.. and it's the most obvious thing but it hadn't occurred to me before then; 18 summers is all we get with our children.. maybe more if we're lucky so we need to try to make each one count. Which means I may disappear here and there.. The weeks leading up to today were crazy busy with the end of Ramadan and Eid celebrations.. I had friends visiting. One I hadn't seen in 5 years and another in 3.. I met some of their kids for the first time.. and while we only had a few hours together we had a wonderful time catching up and it was a joy to watch all our babies playing together. We celebrated D's 9th birthday over the weekend.. more details on the birthday to follow soon. And H graduated Pre K.. He's off to public

Before I get to all the fun vacation posts.. for which I still have hundreds of photographs to go through.. I wanted to share a little after the vacation craziness.. When we came back home my sister in law and two kids were already at our place spending some time with the grandparents.. the day after we came home my sister in laws husband came.. and while everyone was still in our house M's aunt and uncle also came for a visit.. oh and my mom also popped in for a couple of days..  Here's a photo of them, I can't even begin to describe the shenanigans the four kiddo's got into.. it was all hugs and kicks, tickles and tears :) The last of our guests left today.. we are nearing the end of summer... before we know it'll be time to go back to school.                      Etsy             Instagram             Twitter             Bloglovin   

Knowing that we weren't going to get to spend the summer with the boys this year.. we tried to do as much as we could with them before we left.         One of M's colleagues took us out on his boat :)   Enjoyed some 59c pancakes :) Tried to use our imagination. Played a lot of Battleship.. a lot!  Tried to rollerskate Visited the High Line Park .. one of my favorite places in the city Went biking.. D managed to go 4 miles.. we were very impressed. A baby visited. My brother's son.. it was great to see the boys bond. and then the grandparents arrived. They did a wonderful job taking  care of the kids while we were gone. For which we are very thankful. In fact I think the boys were a little disappointed to see us return and them go.                    Etsy             Instagram             Twitter             Bloglovin   

Days and nights have become a blur and 7 weeks have gone by since D came into our life. He coos and makes eye contact with us.. feigns interest when I jabber on and on about nothing in particular. This post could do go on and on about all the wonders of D so I'll stop now.. yes, I have become one of those mom's who find their babies to be the most interesting subject matter. But motherhood hasn't stopped me from keeping my shop updated and though my promotional and marketing skills may have become a bit lacking I *Thank God* have still managed to make a few sales. Red Print  and The Inner Core And with the heat beating down on us.. summer is definitely here to stay so a few more flower infused art prints never hurt anyone.. right? So here is Live. Grow. Bloom.                                      and a few more waiting in the wings aching to be listed.. till then enjoy the hot summer days. It won't be long before they are gone..