Keem's Kairo Kids

2008-11-03T18:26:00.002+02:00

Check out the intro video for Congreso I in Porvenir...

drop by if you are in the area!

2008-05-30T10:40:00.004+03:00

Queen Karina

check out the beauty mark

she did a great job

proud mama

love this one

feeling beautiful

hamming it up

Mr. Mark

with Nevine, but more importantly, with soda!

Don't drop it! Mark goes bowling

2008-05-04T08:25:00.005+03:00

We went bowling yesterday, a first for our kids! Each push of the ball down the lane took about 80 seconds to reach its destination at the other end, but the jumping and horrays that were emitted each time a pin fell were worth the wait.

assessing the challenge

the wait

the results

"is this my ball?"

"I wanna play too, Karina"

"Yaay! I got it, I got it, I got it!"

"did you see that? I threw it like this, and then..."

"but where is MY ball?"

Family Holiday over Easter

2008-05-01T10:33:00.006+03:00

We had a five day break as several holidays rolled into one over Easter weekend (Eastern Easter was april 27) so we headed to our favorite place -- the Red Sea! Rather than go to our regular getaway we headed South 6 hours to El Gouna where we rented a one bedroom apartment for four nights. We literally opened the back door onto the swimming pool so it was about as perfect as a family vacation can get. Karina's favorite memory: 8 bowls of ice cream in 4 days! The shame was that we forgot to pack our camera! I couldn't believe it. During our stay we visited my friend and colleague Francoise at her new home and she was kind enough to take some family pics and great shots of the kids... thanks for that Francoise (and Karina thanks you for the bowl of ice cream) :)

A Day Away

2008-04-18T12:04:00.009+02:00

At the end of March we took advantage of a long weekend to head out to Anafora, a Coptic retreat center an hour North of Cairo. It was a great change to get away from the city, from the house, and spend some time outside with the kids.

This is Karina's first try at photography... pretty good aint it!

We took a long walk

found some ants

spent a lazy afternoon reading

visited the donkeys and water buffalo

and enjoyed the company of our good friends Jim and Heather

this is what the place looks like, very nice:

and a final photo by Karina to finish off the trip.

Late Post - Dec 07 Boat Trip

2008-04-18T11:29:00.002+02:00

These are actually from quite a while ago as they were taken last December during our trip to the Red Sea over Christmas, but it took my dear friend Heather 3 months to get them to me. But it was worth the wait because these are probably the best family photos taken in 2007! Thanks Heather!

Mother's Day

2008-04-18T11:18:00.002+02:00

Yesterday Mark's nursery (previously Karina's) had their little mother's day concert.

Mark had been showing off his repertoire for many days leading up to this and I'd hear refrains of "mommy, mommy.... I love you... kiss..." and other such lines as he practiced around the house.

When the big day came, however, he didn't do much signing.

Though he did remain in his spot with the class, he spend his 15 minutes if fame looking at me and mouthing a near-tears "mama, mama, mama, mama..." while the other kids sang away.

Ah well, he was cute anyway. Note: look for his hand in his pocket in one photo.

Next event: Karina in a production of Snow White this May! She has the role of the "Selfish Queen" (no wicked witches in this part of town!). That will actually be a big "concert" with a proper stage and everything. We are growing up!

Dizzy Day

2008-03-01T12:26:00.004+02:00

Rather than have a party for Karina's 5th birthday (Feb 12) we spent the day at Dream Park, a small amusement park here in Cairo. It was the kids' first experience at something like this and they LOVED it, especially Karina! She's a little speed maniac! Karina's best friend Nadine and her parents were with us. Much fun was had by all as you can see from the grins in these photos...

Dressing up

2008-01-27T07:42:00.003+02:00

During Christmas week we went to a hotel on the Red Sea, on Christmas Day they had a formal dinner with string quartet and all the trimmings so we dressed up a little, here are my kiddos in their best duds--both styled by Nana Vero by the way.

Tigger times

2008-01-27T07:36:00.000+02:00

My sis Rebecca went through a Tigger phase and got this tigger suit for Karina when she was a baby. Here are pics of Mark at 30 months and Karina at 22 months wearing the same suit.

Mark 2 and a half

Karina almost 2

Falling asleep

2008-01-27T07:15:00.000+02:00

Mark is outgrowing his nap but can only go about 2-3 days straight before he succumbs for a noon snooze. Yesterday was day #3 and he had already fallen asleep once in papa's embrace but woke up when Shady put him in bed.

He joined Karina watching a video in the "blue room" and when I didn't hear a peep for 45 minutes I figured correctly that he'd given in to it. Sure enough, went in and found him asleep -- leaning against Karina with her arm supporting him from underneath while they shared the same little chair. Cute!

Here is another "fell" asleep photo. This was a couple of months ago, one of those night when he refuses to go to bed so we give him the choice of bed or chair (this is our "naughty" chair). The stubborn son in him won't let him admit that he really is tired and needs to go to bed, but about 45 minutes later he inevitably gives in to the snooze... z... z...

Mark's snazzy car

2008-01-27T06:06:00.000+02:00

Shady's parents went to London over Christmas and brought back a snazzy yellow sports car for Mark. The doors and hood open, a ski boat attached on the back; it's the bomb!

Mark especially like giving the stawberry shortcake girls a ride in the car! Picking up girls in sports cars, this can't be good...

Another of Mark's favorites, riding in the doll stroller. We've tried to convince him that it is too small for him, but he just looks at us like, "What are you talking about?"

He often sits in it to watch tv accross the room...

Family time again

2008-01-06T07:14:00.000+02:00

We haven't been taking photos recently so I thought it was about time for another blog with family pics.

This one Moises and his wife Berenice, newly married in December!
Paul and Milca were married last year but I never posted a photo so here it is.

Alfonso and Mariana two have been married almost as long as we have and have the two kids to prove it (see below with Grandpa) but I like this photo of them.

Jason and Rigel with Abi last November.
Proud Grandpa Marcos with Jonathan (4), Jennifer (1), and Rachel (2).

Cutie pie Abigail!

Publish Post
Rachel with a serious look!

Beautiful Babies...

2007-10-20T18:31:00.000+02:00

I can't believe its been that long since I updated this blog... four months since my last post in June. A lot has happened since then. I'll start off with a couple of photo of our beautiful babies, then give you the highlighs of life in our household...

every day more a young lady and less a little girl

still a heartbreaker

Karina goes to school...

2007-10-20T16:22:00.000+02:00

Ready to head out the door and meet the bus...

this is at 6:30 am

PE day!

the campus

Keem's birthday

2007-10-20T16:02:00.000+02:00

Thoughts on plunging into the 30's... somehow officially joining the 30's at 31 is different that turning 30... not worse, just different. We were at the Red Sea for the weekend, Shady had the hotel prepare a little cake and a bottle of wine, the kids sang... it doesn't get much better that kids who think you are the coolest mom, a little bit of chocolate, and a nice glass of wine!

Mark's birthday (June 16, 2007)

2007-10-20T15:38:00.000+02:00

Mark turns two! We had a small get together at home to celebrate...

Shady growns a beard...

2007-10-20T15:31:00.000+02:00

Did you notice Shady's beard? Sexy, huh? He's not convinced, so next time you see him tell him how good he looks.

mexico trip, July-August 2007

2007-10-20T15:02:00.000+02:00

mark preferred the hose to the pool

"Hey look what happens when I stick my thumb in there!"

Nana has a special birthday party for both karina (4.5) and Mark (two) each with their own personalized cake and dozens of presents... birthday expectations will never be the same.

Karina putting on a show

grandkids! rachel, karina, abi, mark

karina gets her acrobat on

Her main inspiration was, "I can do anything 10-year-old Jonathan does!"

day at the Bufadora with Jason, Rigel and Abi

Karina on top of the world

Jason, Keem, Mark, Rigel, Abi, Karina, Shady -- July 2007

Waking up

2007-06-11T08:49:00.000+03:00

Beach weekend

2007-06-10T07:40:00.000+03:00

This was our first trip to the sea this summer, Mark has no fear of the water and just walks in with no water wings.

2007-06-08T20:27:00.000+03:00

Last week Karina graduated from Pre-K, here she is with her brother and best friend Nadine ont he big day. The day care center had a cute production and each graduate received a cap and diploma; here is Karina with the director.
Karina's class. Nadine is to her left; always side by side.

Rainy Day

2007-05-26T12:00:00.000+03:00

Karina shows off her dance moves and Mark sings along with the video:

Some fun on the balcony on a rainy spring day in March

Back after a hiatus

2007-05-26T11:14:00.000+03:00

Yes, I know, months and months away. Recent news, let's see... In April we moved Mark out of his crib and into his big boy bed. This means that Karina had to move also, to the top bunk. Mark took to it like a fish to water. Karina is waiting for the day when Mark is old enough to move up and she can sleep on a "bed on the bottom". This is the day [night] of the big move.

Tub Time

2007-01-02T14:41:00.000+02:00

Okay, okay, can't resist adding one more video. Like I said, I don't have any recent pics and even though I added videos, this one is really the most recent... and it has both kids together, so that is an added bonus. I have to warn you, it is of bath time so don't watch it if you are sensitive to baby buns. The bathroom was a mess after this but they were having the time of their life together.

Karina on the Go

2007-01-02T11:35:00.000+02:00

Ok, just one more video post. Sorry to bombard you but you can view them at your leisure anyway. I usually don't have the time to load the video so I am taking advantage of time at home to do so.

This one is from our family day last August at Al Azhar Park overlooking the city. It was very hot so we were pretty much the only ones there. The kids were so happy to be outdoors and we had a great couple of hours. Karina was so tickled pink she just kept running in circles. :)

Chupon sharing in the Pool

2007-01-02T10:53:00.000+02:00

This is from last summer, July I think so Mark would have been just over a year old. No comments on his still using a binky please, it was easily fased out within the month that followed.
I was actually pretty worried about him giving up his chupon, but thankfully it was surprisingly painless and one day we just put them all away, no problemo amigo!

Anyway, this video is from one of our visits to the Red Sea, this one is set in the pool--one of the reasons why this 5-star hotel is our favorite--Mark was just loving the water, both our kids are regular fish.

Jason's song

2007-01-01T19:21:00.001+02:00

So now I'm a little video happy. Here is Jason & Rigel's recording of MI MUNDO ES MUY PEQUEÑO, their album's title song.

Basket Case

2007-01-01T18:39:00.001+02:00

So I finally took some time to load a video. You'd thunk they'd make is easier. Here is "basket case" Mark.

Family

2007-01-01T13:00:00.000+02:00

I don't have any new photos of the kids to add, so I though I'd add some of my family. Let's start with Thanksgiving 2006.
We had hoped to be there this year but... circumstances happen. And, as you can see, we probably wouldn't have fit at the table anyway!

This one is from last summer. We haven't managed to get a photo of all dozen plus siblings in several years, sometimes eight siblings in one place is all you can get! Pictured (bottom) Luis, Rebecca (holding Rachel), and Julian. (top) Jonathan, Oliver, Evelyn, Ruthie, A.J.

So who is missing above... of course Princess Abi! Here she is with her proud Mama and Papa. To see more of the pretty little lady visit her Mom's blog:

Here is Moises with the new love in his life, Bere:

And speaking of love, Paul & Milca just got married (or will do so next week), how cool is that! I haven't received any wedding photos yet so I've stolen this one form my cousin Michelle's blog in the meantime.

Ok, the following are just some favorites of the fam...

Raquelita (15 months):

Mom & Dad:

World's coolest teens, A.J. (14) & Ruthie(17):

Grandpa Marcos with Abigail (4 months):

Rebecca performing:

Check out these gorgeous gals, Evelyn (20) & Ruthie (17):

Jonathan at his 9th birthday:

Turkey... er, chicken day...

2006-12-17T20:18:00.000+02:00

Here are some photos form our Saturday-afternoon-chicken-dinner...

final thought for today

2006-12-16T12:08:00.000+02:00

Another fun thing this month was Thanksgiving. Our bestest friends Heather and Jim helped us celebrate... well, mostly Heather and I were celebrating and Jim and Shady were along for the ride. Whether they were being supportive or just plain in it for the food is debatable.

At the last minute we were actually unable to find a bird--or the right kind of bird anyway--yep, there were no turkeys to be had. We settled for oven roasted chicken, which was just plain delightful anyway, accompanied by a stuffing broccoli [and chicken] bake, mashed potatoes and gravy, and cranberry. Heather even made a pumpkin pie from scratch so the meal was complete and we had a great day.

Thanks for the memories Heather!
(I'll post photos for this one later...)

Finally, we had a scare this past week with a very sick Mark. He had a fever upwards of 40 degrees centigrade... way too high. We had to put the poor guy in water every few hours over a three day period. His poor babysitter thought Mark was about to die at one point on Tuesday when he went into convulsions and his eyes rolled back up into his head--but, ilhamdulillah, the fever finally broke Thursday morning and our cherub is back to his happy self now.

We were even able to take the kids out on Friday morning for a day at the park. We all needed the time out of the house after that rough week.

...continued

2006-12-16T11:13:00.000+02:00

I accidently pushed Publish before completing the entry below so it will continue here.

We also had house guests last month, friends from Mexico. Our kids really enjoyed having them here and Karina even joined the sightseeing trip to the pyramids!

We all also enjoyed a feluca trip on the Nile. Even though it was overcast, the late Novemebr weather was still pleasantly warm even on the river.

still alive and kickin'

2006-12-16T10:47:00.000+02:00

It's been over a month since I posted, despite the encouragement of many of my (kids') fans to keep it up. A lot has happened. Here is a summary.

SPANKIN' NEW CAR!!!
Our most exciting pruhase ever, and a first for us both, Shady and I have bought a new car. The Hyundai Matrix 2007 is amazingtastic! The design is ingenious that the space in the back seat area and trunk is significantly more spacious than anything we've seen that isn't a mini-van, yet the car is small enough to be compact enough for Cairo streets. The car is automatic and power steering, an amazing benefit in Cairo traffic, not to mention AC and everything else we could possibly ask for. We are truly blessed. Oh, the color is champagne.

bathtime buddies

2006-11-10T15:31:00.000+02:00

Karina and Mark love to take a bath together. Here are some action pics from some recent tub time.

It's difficult to get good photos these days because they love to see themselves in the camera's viewer so no sooner have we clicked the shutter than we are meet with shreiks of "Lemme see!" from Karina and "arwar wrar!" from Mark.

rash measures

2006-11-10T15:25:00.000+02:00

Last week Mark had a recur
rence of his rash. His skin has been really clear most of the year with just certain "trouble spots" that required regular maintenance. We think this reshowing of the rash was brought on by the MMR shot he had the previsou week. At any rate, he is in the clear now and back to his beautiful self.

and more paris pics...

2006-10-30T23:09:00.000+02:00

I gave up last night trying to post the rest of the images from our Paris trip, I'll give it another try now...

Did I mention Paris?

2006-10-29T22:34:00.000+02:00

After seven years of marriage [although we managed to pull off a wedding in under two weeks time the honeymoon was an oversight] Shady and I finally got to take a dream trip to Paris. Ahh, the city of lights, it lived up to its reputation.

I know most of you are here to see photos of the kiddos, but humor me as I share some pics of our trip.

Our first day there we went straight to the Eiffel Tower. We arrived in the afternoon and stayed up top for a few hours watching the city buildings go from white stone to pink and crimson as the sun set. At dark the tower was lit up like a christmas tree.

I can't say that the pyramid was very impressive, but cool nonetheless. I was impressed by the gold-topped obelisk in the roundabout facing the Louvre, now that was neat. Too bad we can't have something like that in Midan Tahrir.

Off the beaten track, the medieval garden at Cluny Museum was amazing and though we just passed through we couldn't resist stopping for the photo together.

Our favorite spot of the week was the Rodin gardens. Amazing. It probably helped that this was one of the sunnier days of the trip. I think that if it had been overcast Rodin's dark, brooding statues would have been a bit harder to take.

All in all, a wonderful trip I will long treasure. This was only our second non-family related travel together--our first trip was to Lebanon in 2004, but I was 5 months pregnant so we were slowed down a bit--so fun to explore, enjoy, and discover together!

Favorite moments:

reveling in the gardens at the Rodin mansion
Shady deciding that Picasso was just a cook
huddling under an umbrella as we ran through the rain
riding the bus
Arc de Triomph at night
Feeling like real Cairenes as we dodged Paris traffic
the artists at Sacre Cour
skipping the line at the newly opened l'Orangerie museum
Shady ordering raw meat for lunch
being slightly surprised at the smallish size of the Mona Lisa
wine with dinner
wandering through the many rooms at d'Orsay...
and the list goes on.

Stir Crazy

2006-10-29T21:55:00.000+02:00

We went a bit stir crazy this week at home--six whole days. Most of the country was visiting kinfolk, we did have some friends over for a pancake breakfast on Tuesday morning (yay corrie and matt) and on Friday did the traditional after-marriage-visit to Shady's cousin who was married last month. Other than that we were indoors.

Here we are reading "I love you THIS much", a favorite bunny story.

Because of the holiday our favorite getaway at the red sea (gotta love stella di mare) was double the usual price, and anywhere in the city was chock full of all the other folks who can't afford holiday rates. So we didn't even venture out once. I was more than ready to go to work today; days like these make me realize that I don't have what it takes to be a stay-at-home mom, even with as good of kids as we are lucky enough to have. Yay for careers.

Comments on the pics:
Mark sitting pretty for his breakfast, isn't he lovely? Hi latest trick is that he brings me his bib when he's hungry. Smart kiddo.

Karina had just gotten out of the bath here so her curls are soft and natural, if you could smell the photo you'd get the sweet baby shampoo scent. This photo shows that my firstborn baby is quickly becoming a little girl and so much less of a toddler!

Lights and lanterns

2006-10-25T15:49:00.000+02:00

This week the country is celebrating the end of Ramadan so we are off work.

Here is a shot of traditional lanterns and colorful strings of flags, typical decorations during this period. Our street doesn't look like this but more conservative and poorer areas are all strung up in this fashion.

Folks use this time to visit relatives and friends for feasting at large after the month-long fast.

Monday night Mark was quite ill with asthma, so much so that we had to have grandpa come over at 1am to give Mark a Cortisone shot. Thankfully, he is much improved since yesterday and up to his usually antics today.

Slow Start

2006-10-23T14:55:00.000+02:00

So I don't claim that this is going to be a regular project but I'll do my best and we'll see if this is a good way to share images and updates on the kids.

Our princess Karina is 3.5 already. Who woudn't thunk it. When I look back at her baby pictures with her incredible cheeks and eatable mounth I can't believe she is such a girl now.

Karina can write all of our names and is quite the budding artist, always surprising us. Yesterday she drew flowers and a rainbow. I'd never seen her draw them before but she did it as if she's been drawing rainbown for tears.

Mark is our cherub. He's such a pleasant and beautiful boy. He is now [finally] walking very well. He has the Arabic word for no down pat, a resounding la'a! This morning he started saying uh-oh.

One of his favorite activities is to bug his sister, he's found that pulling hair is sure to get a reaction. Actually, they both do really well together and we are constantly entertained by their interaction. Karina is ever watchful and Mark truly misses her and can't help but jump up and down when she comes home after daycare.