Sewing In Saudi

When I moved to Saudi, a lot of my friends here learned how to sew and turned out amazing projects!!!  The first two years I was working at school, so I couldn't take the day classes.  After Savannah was born life got crazy busy and there was never enough time.  Finally, last May I bought a sewing machine here in Saudi with the intention of taking a beginner quilting class last fall.  Due to circumstances, travel plans, and plain ole life, I was unable to take the fall class and my poor sewing machine sat unused for months.  I was finally able to take it out of the box this February, when I started my beginners quilting class here in Jubail.  The course was taught by an accomplished Saudi lady who runs a full blown workshop/shop out of her home.  My friends Amber, Lindsey, and I thoroughly enjoyed the class and have since taken several others.  I've learned different quilting patterns and have even taken an appliqué class!

I decided to do my first quilt for one of our dear friends who was expecting a baby girl at the beginning of April.  The design is rail fence with two additional borders on the outside, and I chose pink minky for the backing.  It was truly a labor of love, because I felt like I would never finish, but I was so pleased with how it turned out!!!

After little Avery was born, her sweet parents graciously allowed me to get a few pictures of her with the quilt.  :)

Me and precious Avery

Me, Avery, and her sweet mama, Tara

After I finished the rail fence quilt, Brent requested that I make a quilt for him.  :)  Of course I was happy to oblige, so I decided to make him an LSU quilt.  :)  The pattern for this quilt was log cabin, but I only used three colors.  Purple and gold were my obvious first two colors so I chose black to be my third accent color.   I also used black minky for the backing so it would be nice and warm!  I was very pleased with the way it turned out and Brent has really enjoyed his quilt.  Don't even think of trying to steal it away from him!  :)

As I mentioned earlier I also took an appliqué class and let me tell you the possibilities are endless!!!  My friend Lindsey and I made Easter shirts for our girls, and I have also appliquéd several quilt squares for community quilts.  I am planning to make matching shirts for the girls, and can't wait to see how they turn out!!  :)

Fleur di Lis Quilt Square

Savannah's Easter Shirt

When we moved to Saudi, I never expected to pick up the art of sewing, but I have thoroughly enjoyed it!  I really look forward to taking more classes and working on more projects.  :)  

Baby Railey Has a Name!

As of today I am twenty three weeks pregnant and things are moving right along!  This morning I had a doctor's appointment in Khobar and I am so happy to report that our little girl is looking perfect!

Since learning her gender Brent and I have settled on a beautiful name for the new addition to the family, and we are excited to share it with you!  We have chosen Olivia Lou Railey!  Olivia is a name that we have loved since I was pregnant with Savannah, and Lou is my mother's middle name and Brent's mom and grandmother's middle names as well.   We also really like the nickname Livy Lou which goes perfectly with Savannah's nickname Savy Lou!

We are so thankful for the good report from the doctor and ask that you continue to cover Olivia and I in your prayers for a continued healthy pregnancy.  Now time to show off our ultrasound photo!

I love that her little hands are folded together next to her face.  It looks like she is praying.  :)  Isn't she precious!  We can't wait to hold little Olivia in our arms.  Thank you Lord for this amazing blessing!

Spring Break Fun in the Sun!

This week and last week have been Spring Break here in Saudi.  Last week Savannah's play school was closed, so my friend Amber and I put our heads together to come up with some ideas of special things to do with the kids during their time off.  We spent two mornings playing with the water table outside and writing with side walk chalk.  The kids loved it!

Savannah and Jack

Another day our good friends, the McGuires came over with their son Aden and their daughter Avery (who was only one week old!).  We had a great time hanging out with them and things got a little loopy at lunch time.  Aden and Savannah decided to model their bows.

We also made it out to the beach one morning and then again over the weekend.  Savannah has grown to LOVE going to the beach and it makes me happy to see her enjoy it so much!

Jacob

Jack, Tucker, and Savannah

Savannah and Jack

Tucker

Overall we really enjoyed spending the extra time together and getting to do some fun activities in the sun...and inside too!

Savannahisms

Our sweet Savannah is 21 months old and each day we are amazed at the new words, concepts, and things that she picks up.  We are absolutely LOVING this stage of her life, and there are so many days when I wish I could freeze time and enjoy her like this forever.

 

Some of the new skills that Sweet Pea has developed are feeding herself completely independently with her fork and spoon, climbing all over the furniture, taking off her velcro shoes,  identifying parts of her body, identifying animals and the noises they make, memorizing and singing songs, beginning to recognize when she needs to potty, recognizing and saying almost all of the letters of the alphabet (we're working on numbers too), and talking up a storm!!!

It astounds us to think about how many words and phrases she has picked up since we returned to Saudi at the end of January.  She is doing a great job of communicating with us and we continuously encourage her to try to express her wants or needs.  It's funny because about half of what she says probably sounds unintelligible to everyone else, but Brent and I have learned her little language.  We have affectionately dubbed her special words or phrases as "Savannahisms."   They may not sound anything like the correct pronunciation of a word or phrase, but she says it the exact same way every time and it has a very specific meaning.  What's even more humorous is we find ourselves using some of her words occasionally.  Of course, we reiterate the proper way to say the words or phrases she is trying to communicate, but we also secretly enjoy her way of speaking.

I was talking with a friend here in Saudi, telling her about "Savannahisms", and she made a great suggestion to us.  She encouraged us to take the time to write down the way she says things because all too soon this time in her life will be gone.  Both Brent and I thought it would be fun to document some of her Savannahisms, even if we are the only ones who can appreciate them....so here goes.  :)

Kabu or Kaba-  Hold this please.  

Peepod-  I-Pad

Paapaa-  Pacifier

Beep, beep, beep-  She says this when she is backing up to sit in your lap.  Brent did this for the longest time when she was little and the one day she started doing it herself.  We can't help but laugh every time she does it!

Nah-  Banana

Nook -  Milk.  Every time we walk by a fire hydrant on the compound she says "nuk."  We don't know if she thinks the hydrants look like gigantic bottles, but she is definitely convinced there is milk in them.  LOL!

Peaze-  Please

Tay Tu-  Thank you

Unneuh- Oh no!

Neow-  Miaw, what a cat says!

Eeyou-  Yogurt

Nie-Nie-  Night Night

Na- Na-  Love Love (the name of her Lovey that she sleeps with)

Nunkey- Monkey

Dish-  Fish

Guac-  Frog

Burie-  Birdie

Aadoo-  Elephant

Gayor-  Alligator

Towaa-  Butterfly

Tar-  Star

Huhyee-  Honey (My mom's name)

Memaw-  Brent's Mom's "Grandmother" Name.  For the longest time we tried calling Brent's mom Grandmommy, but Savannah's attempts at saying that sound like "Memaw," so it appears that Memaw is here to stay.

Baahee-  Barney.  One of her favorite characters!

Wok- Walk

Mee Mayee-  Good Morning

How we eu-  How are you?

Belbow- Elbow

Beet-  Feet

Payt- Plane

Eeeuuuuu. Yay!-  The end.  Yay!

Noo- Nose

Mow-  Mouth

Eeaw-  Ear

Bac-  Bath

Wayou-  Water

These are just a few of the many fun words that are developing in Savannah's vocabulary and a small example of how she makes us smile each day!  She is such a blessing to us!  We love you Savannah!

Easter 2013

This year we spent Easter in Saudi and it was Savannah's first year in the Kingdom for Easter too!  Last year she was so little that Easter activities weren't a big deal, but this year I was really looking forward to sharing some fun experiences with her and Brent.  While she is too young to really understand what Easter is all about, we still tell her all about Jesus.  I really look forward to celebrating in the years to come and teaching her about Christ's death and resurrection and how this is important in our lives.

We started out our Easter celebrations with an Easter egg hunt for the kids here on the compound. Brent was able to bring Savannah an Easter basket from the States (as well as lots of goodies), but it was too big for her to actually use for the hunt.  I decided to be creative and added her name in vinyl to one of her sand castle buckets.  Thus her egg hunting basket/bucket was born.

My friend Lindsey had the brilliant idea of making our little girls t-shirts with Easter appliqué.  I was really pleased with how Savannah's shirt turned out (don't look too closely- it's not perfect!)!

On the big day of the hung we dressed Savannah up and headed out for the big event!  It took Savannah about ten seconds to figure out that she was supposed to grab the egg and bring it to the basket Dad was holding.  She did this happily with a good six or seven eggs, but then she discovered something truly wonderful!  While holding an egg, it popped open to reveal something inside!  At that point she hightailed it back to her basket and spent the rest of the hunt opening each of her eggs.  We got such a kick out of it!

Posing with her egg hunting partner!

This is cool!

Wait a second!  They open and there is something inside!!!!

All in all, she had a great time and got a good little loot of candy (which I ate entirely later on).

After the hunt, all of our friends got the kids together for a quick picture of them with their baskets.  There is no possible way to get all the kids to look at a camera when they just found wonderful treasures, so we did the best we could.  :)

We spent the rest of the evening grilling hamburgers and having a compound pot-luck BBQ.  It was delicious!  We had a great time watching the kids play and hanging out with good company!

Baby Bump- 20 weeks along 

Brent has always been a ladies' man!

My friend Lindsey and I also grabbed a couple of shots with our girls in their t-shirts we made for them.  Trying to get them to sit or stand next to each other long enough to take a picture turned out to be much easier said than done, so we finally picked them up and got a mom and daughter shot.  :)

Savannah and Brooklyn in their Easter Shirts

The whole afternoon and evening were a fantastic time of fellowship and fun!

We celebrated the next day (Friday) as Easter because Sunday is a work day for Brent.  After gathering for reflection, we ate lunch with our group of friends and then played a series of Easter Challenge games like Fluffy bunny and the egg toss.  I didn't get any pictures myself, but let's just say that it was hilarious!  We had a fantastic morning and afternoon with our friends.

This was the best shot I got of her by herself.

No more pictures please!

By the time we got home, Savannah was way overdo for a nap so we put her straight to bed.  When she woke up we decided to let her open her Easter basket.  The "Easter Bunny" brought Savannah all of her favorite things from the States, like coloring books, stickers, and a book!  She was very interested in inspecting each item.

Daddy (the Easter bunny) then got a great hug from his girl!

We had a fantastic weekend together and are so thankful for the gift of salvation the Lord delivered on that Easter day so long ago!  Happy Easter from our family to yours!