Birthday presents....

I am a gift person. I love shopping for gifts, thinking about giving gifts, wrapping them and giving them. And, of course, receiving them (= This year for my birthday I decided to gift myself a fun little electronic device! I am not at all tech savvy, but several friends of IPhones, ITouches, Kindles etc etc. When we are with our local ladies at the weekly parties all the devices come out (theirs included) and we all look at photos, passages in the Koran/Bible, funky websites blah blah blah. And I just ooo and aaahhh (= Well after combining all my birthday moolah, i am SO happy to say that I finally made a purchase and it will, eventually, make it here from the US. I'm sure I should have done more research on what to get, but frankly, I only have so much research in me and when it runs out, I just hit the "confirm purchase" button and figure that it will all work out in the end. (=

So this is what I've purchased

With this "skin" cover to protect for scratches

and this snappy cover in magenta

I am SUPER excited (=

Tom left for a short trip and will be back and 3-4 days. I plan to have read the start up guide by the time he gets back and choose some apps that I will download. I feel very nerdy and very techy.

Tom and I have always enjoyed a few days a part here and there. As an introvert I LOVE putting the kids to bed and then not having to speak the rest of the evening (= Now that the kids are in bed by 815pm as opposed to 10pm during Ramadan....it is REALLY a treat.

It is getting cooler out - the day starts in the mid-80s!! It is still 110 by noon, but evenings are reasonable. We have started eating outside again even though it is 100. It still feels cooler! The problem is that we are all still sweaty when we come in so I am bathing the kids every night (they are SO DIRTY because I just let them roam free in the yard come what may!) and then I put Ryan in the crib with a few books, set layla up with her bedtime books and take a quick rinse-off shower myself before finishing their bedtime routine. It is just too icky sticky to relax!

We have no plans for tomorrow which is nice. We crossed the border today without border cards and I think it took 2 hours. Thankfully we have good ac, comfortable seats and entertaining music! We got a handful of chocolate for the kids at one border office which was a nice pick-me-up! Have I said lately how much this culture loves and values kids?? Love it here.