weekend finally

أَهْلاً وسَهْلاً

Hello and Welcome.  Hope everyone is healthy, happy, and well.  The weekend is here. Thank God.  It has been the longest week, really weekS (emphasis) for both Joy and me.  Joy has had a lion's share of obstacles to overcome at home to include constant spitting up, a suddenly irregular sleep pattern for Emma Grace, Aiden's sickness, fever, and the normal duties of motherhood and household while I have had nearly a full 2 weeks of testing and examination, just day after day of testing.  It has been physically and mentally exhausting for both of us. But---looking for the silver lining, we've made it.  Aiden seems to have regained his mojo as of today.  Emma is still teething and spitting up constantly, as well as waking up way too early now...but we've made it to a brief respite.  Neither Joy or I have slept well (or much) all week which has made the duties of motherhood all the more difficult and trying and likewise for me, it's been basically the worst period to have taxing exams day in and day out.  I'll say this about Joy; she's an amazing woman.  Her humility speaks for her character but I'm here to tell you that she performs the role of super-woman at times and excels with more class and grace than she would ever let on to the world.  But trust me, she's a fantastic mother and wife.  Today was the last of about 7 tests I've taken over the last 10 work days...I've done well until today...Dipped down into the B/C range on this "End of Course" exam which was frustrating and disappointing and also prompted the team leader taking an unnecessary line of scolding with me that sort of suggested maybe I work harder.  I'm only human; this probe was met with a rather swift retort that was not exactly kind.  I'm working my ass off, thank you.  I didn't tell her I hadn't slept right for weeks.  I know I'm working hard.  I was down for a spell, but after talking with some colleagues about 14 weeks ahead of me I felt much better.  Apparently, they all have gotten B's and C's on the EOC tests.  The EOC exams are based off the old curriculum so it's basically trying to answer things from context and guessing rather than Chapter X or Y material.  At the end of the  day, C may be lower than I wanted, but I didn't fail, and that is succeeding here at DLI.  I know I need to improve my listening and tune my ear with more authentic sound and material.  

Well, sorry for the rambling.  Here are some great photos of the kids.  I snapped this last Sunday morning.  Aiden is just a fantastic big brother.  Here is his snuggling "his girl".

"Daddy. Where is my Milk?"  Quite a cute pair.  Aiden has become very content to watch his little sister, turn her swing back on, pacify her, etc.  He's doing great with his new responsibilities.


Not the most flattering pic (complete with Emma spit-up on my shirt), but Aiden was proud of his pictures he took.  He'll be happy to see one of his on the blog.
"FROM MY COLD DEAD HANDS..." 

Poor cowboy.  Aiden has been sick all week running fevers at night.  He has not been eating and just zapped after any activity.  I arrived home from work yesterday to find him sacked out on the couch yesterday.  No posing here.  This is where Joy found him, pistol at the ready.  Just the way I trained him, Matty.  Future Lifetime NRA Member? I think just maybe.

Even sick, no bad guys will get the drop on the Hoss.  Semper Fi.
This was my attempt to wake him up.  Watch the next few pictures and see how well that went.

"Daddy, I'm TIRED." Going...

Going....

GONE.

Bless his heart.

Here is one of Emma snoozing in her swing with "baby Boof." Aiden insists she have it in her swing.

That's it.  

Don't forget to watch the Dawgs whup up on the Gamecocks tomorrow.  Oh, I almost forgot:

أَتَمَنَّى لَكَ أُمْسيَة سَعيدَة and أَتَمَنَّى لَكَ عُطْلَةً سَعيدَة

Ins and Outs

I've just completed 1/5 of my time here at lovely DLI.  That is about a year or so worth of Arabic at a regular college program.

Yeah, I'm thrilled, too (sarcasm).  I'm just over it all here in Monterey. We're just ready to be back on the Right coast.  I'm riding my bike home the other day from school (yeah, I'm green) and I overhear a casual conversation on the street corner in which a typical monterey citizen exclaims,"Yeah Bush is just like Hitler man...blah blah blah...taking over the world...blah blah blah."  Listen, anyone who has talked to me in the last 3 years knows that I'm no huge fan of this administration, especially Cheney and Rumsfeld (Read Cobra II for a detailed analysis of their bumbling of Pre-Petraeus Iraq) who should be shot or at least jailed, but Hitler?  I almost turned my bike around to say something...you may disagree with the war, or Bush, or drilling offshore, energy policy, but last time I checked, my brother in arms were not rounding up Iraqis on trains and shipping them down the line to be crisped in an oven...this place is so out of touch.  And no, i'm not being dramatic...this was a bit extreme, but not at all unusual to see this sort of thing in monterey. 

On a sunny note, I snapped this pic of my little boy and girl with their Boofs.

In other news, we've been suffering a terrible heatwave of late...ok, Monterey heat wave is about 75-80, but relative to the normal freezing temps, fog, and rain, it has felt stifling.  And no one has AC to add to the sticky discomfort.  This pathetic pic of Herschel sums up how we've all been feeling trying to cool off of late.

And here is Aiden pretending to be Herschel. Such a ham.

Pray for Aiden. He has a bit of a fever.  Just not himself today.

I've given you international affairs, insightful commentary, a reading recommendation, some family news, and now sports...all in one blog entry!  Check out the 2008 Heisman winner leaping over a helpless Central Michigan defender on his way to 168 yards, 3 tds, and the Sportscenter highlight reel for this weekend:

Well, I'm all done for tonight.  I have a beautiful wife, a beautiful family, a great dog, and my Dawgs won.الْحَمْدُ لله. (praise be to God). So, الْحَمْدُ لله. أَتَمَنَّى لَكَ عُطْلَةً سَعيدَة

(I wish you a happy Weekend). Read right to left :)

Salam.

Rub a Dub Dub

Emma LOVES baths. They can usually cause a screaming fit to come to a complete halt, of course other times when she's hungry and has had a blowout diaper the bath causes a screaming fit but that's another story. Here is a picture I snapped with my phone of the little princess just post bath. Her hair gets all fuzzy and puffy, it's very cute. I can't believe she'll be four months old in two weeks!