Eggroll Party!

The sun was out today and it was beautiful to have the rays shine down on me. What a difference a day makes. We went on a long walk to the park. We have to go underground at some street corners to cross the street. I saw some bulbs in a basket that I want to go back and get. If Spring is coming, then we want to be ready. It will be a nice science project as well for the childrn to watch them bloom.
The park was full of children playing. Isa and Ibrahim had a great time, throwing snowballs and Granma Kris and Randy.. Little did Ibo know that GK will throw snow balls back. Isa was so delighted to be able to ride the horse at the park. He has been wanting to do that for some time now. We had our usual hot chocolate too, without the swimming class.
We could not really decide what to do this evening and decided on an eggroll party! It was fun, only Inayah and my mom and me handled the business in the kitchen and Inayah is offically the wonton princess. Ibrahim was so delighted at dinner, " I love these!.. I mean I love these". Ishmael skipped basketball tonight to stay home and hang out with us. My mom brought the Gang of Four game with her, so Idreis and Ishmael have been getting their rounds of cards in as well. The owner came by the apartment today, alawys unannounced.. to check and make sure the celings were not leaking from the melting snow.. She is a nice lady, we somehow manage to communicate. The handyman will be here at 10am tomorrow to fix the three doors that we have broken... I am ashamed to say that we have still not shown her the bed.. I could barely tell her about the doors and felt so embarrassed to have to show her the next two after she was already in dismay about the kitchen door.. I just pointed and Ibrahim, since he is the one who has broken them all anyways.
Speaking of broken... thanks to Isa and Ibo the Wii is officially out of commision.. I think they tried to change the game and didnt know what the hell they were doing, and so now the disk just goes in and comes right back out... We are all bummed. I am going to try and return it since they gave a 2 year warranty.. we will see how that turns out.
Idreis has a birthday party for a friend afterschool tomorrow so we may all somehow end up there, it is at some place called Blockbuster which is like an enterntainment center. They have bowling, rollerblades and wall climbing.. should be fun.. Not sure what the day will be like. I just hope the sun is out again.
Thank you to R.E who has me blogging again, so nice to get the words out of my head and to be writing again.

Okay so I can't say that I have been too busy to blog..
I have been too lazy to blog.. The cold, gray, dreary winter days are not my companion.
We have been spending our time just getting through the days.
Swimming for Ibrahim and Isa has been going really well, Ibrahim may be in the Olympics some day, he is so athletic. Isa burned his left hand on the water dispenser in the locker room, two dime size second degree burns, one has busted and the other just keep expanding like a balloon. I hope it pops soon. He was in so much pain while walking home, agonizing every fifth step. I popped cranberry pastry in his mouth every mention of, " Ouuuuccchhh, my hand hurts".

Idreis is going to participate in the spelling b at school, they have literacy week at school. Also all three took a trip to the International Library here. Ishmael had his first official fight at school.. very interesting.. As the story goes, boys playing at recess, a classmate of Ishmael's was punching another classmate, and Ishmael decided to defend his friend. Which begins the altercation.. Ishmael was punched in the mouth. Idreis was observing the whole thing and was glad to be the informant for once, letting us all know that after Ish was hit in the mouth, "He went Mike Tyson on the boy and punched him like this, and like this!!". Ishmael says," I was defending myself and my friend". I reminded him that no one wins in violence.

Khalid is off today so we plan to do some running around and go get Ibrahim passport renewed.

Ibrahim has been on youtube this morning and was so excited to come and show me the Chimpmunks singing, All the Single Ladies

In this corner we have.... Isa the Beast and... in this corner we have Ibo-Deebo

If Isa and Ibrahim have one more fight over the Wii... if they arent fighting about which game to play, they then fight about who goes first.. this morning, Isa threw the wii remote on the floor and that ended the game... Last time, he hit Ibo in the eye with it.. Morning moved on.. and eventually we made it out for swimming class. It went well, Ibrahim is really coming along and swam across the pool the short way all by himself, his instructor Mrs. Tanya is really great! She pushes him hard too which he needs, today Isa went under water and had a good time retreiving toys off the steps, he had a new male teacher today which happened to be Mrs. Tanya's husband! We walked home via the park and the hot chocolate machine but not before we stopped by a bakery in part of the hotel and picked up a few goodies. The weather today was fair, not really cold but a nice winter day, we stayed a bit at the park. By the time we got back home and undressed, the door bell rang and to my surprise it was he school crew! It was 4:00pm already, we had left for swimming at 1:30pm, didnt seem like we were out that long.

Dinner was quick grilled cheese sandwhiches and carrots, I also made a trip to the sushi spot with Idreis afterschool, so they had that as well. While we were out we picked up a new camera and also a printer! Finally!, so I will be sure and post lots of photos tomorrow, as soon as I get it working. Luckily I had the guy swith the camera to English so I should be good to go.

Best part of the day was making it back to the gym for a work-out! So nice to have that quiet time to myself.

We have also been working on our Black History Month books, we did not get a chance to do it this evening because the boys went to basketball and I was away, I may try to get up early in the morning and do something with them. Last night we studied Frederick Douglass and also KRS-One, children enjoyed watching Self Destruction video , definently took me back to my younger days.



Very proud to say that the website for my book has also finally be launched.
www.thecollectionpoetry.com
It is not only a way to promote the book but also a way for poets and writers to connect.
So we should see how all that turns out.
Also so glad to have Khalid back home!!!

First day of Black History Month !!

Having an extra child around (Inayah) twists things up a little bit in the morning. Oatmeal all around for breakfast, even Inara had about 1/3 cup, and enjoyed every bite. I have been doing the homemaking since I woke up, folding clothes, washing clothes, picking up, cleaning Ibo room, which he at least helped, straightening, etc.. you would think Khalid is going to be back tonight or something..

Played Wiz Kidz with Inayah, you pick 2 cards, one has a letter, and the other has creative questions. So that was fun, she has quite the imagination, coming up with yoga mat, for Y/item in the house.. she also kept score so we got some of the math in for the day.
Headed to the super walmart to pick a few things up for dinner and also out of toilet paper..
hoping to leave Isa and Ibo in the kids gym, ironically when I turned the calender to February, I had written kids gym... so I guess I am right on schedule.

Hoping to do some type of activity every day this month with them to celebrate Black History month, Ish is supposed to search for scientists at school today during free time and also reading about Sojourner Truth. If anyone has any good ideas or websites, please comment.

Headed down to catch the taxi now.

Last day of January

We had a busy and great Sunday for the most part. Ish and Dreis game went well, the gym was very old, made me very grateful for the school systems in the states, the floor was old wood and had so many soft spots in it, also during the game, cement pieces fell off the wall... I was like okay... good thing none of that fell on Inayah and Isa who were climbing up the bars a few minutes earlier.
After the game, home for a quick lunch of spagetti noodles and cheese, apples and chicken from last night.
Back out into the Kiev traffic to atten a birthday party for a boy named Igot in Nayah's class.
It was at a place with lazor tag, 4d movies and lots of games, similar to Chucky Cheese, needless to say they all felt at home there for sure. Inayah left us to go with the party goers. Ish and Dreis wasted some points of the card, being afraid to go into this dinosaur shooting game.. Ibo and Isa had a good time in the kids maze. Fun time for all, I even got the high at the basketball game (of course).
Dinner was a bit of a joke, as the fridge is pretty bare.. I threw together cheese tortilla roll-ups, apples slices, and grits!! The grits were the biggest hit of course. A few quick rounds at the Wii and then sent them all off to bed.

Inayah woke up at around 3am with a stomach ache, not sure if she just wanted to sleep in my bed or really felt bad. She settled for the couch and some Sprite. Luckily no vomit in the basin when I woke up in the morning. Kept her home from school (Monday)