October Happenings

Our October was spent working on the house, battling illness that everyone in Doha seems to have gotten a taste of, and enjoying the slightly cooler weather by spending some time gardening. The month went by slowly and quickly at the same time, but with lots of fun memories despite how much time was spent in bed sleeping, haha.

Once the weather cooled we found a gardening shop and headed over to get some plants and sod. We planted tomatoes, cucumbers, hot peppers, and herbs with some adorable helpers. 

Thankfully before the illness hit our family the girls got to participate in a fun painting event at their school. Jotun partnered with them to paint all the classrooms over the school break and our girls loved helping paint the library upstairs!

1. Entry way - I love the setup plus the Azeri carpet and lamp. Makes me smile when I walk inside. 
2. The amazing chalkboard and sunglasses holder our friend Riyad made in Azerbaijan before we moved. His work is amazing!
3. Madi and her cat. We seriously have the best cats as they both let Madi carry them around like this without scratching her. 
4. I finally - months later - was able to bring myself to open my goodbye gifts and read my goodbye cards from Baku.
5. The cutest little bath animals.
6. My attempt at making my favorite Vietnamese dish - 
7. Thank you Ikea America for making a box specifically for cats. 
8. We found a vegetable market like the one we had in Baku! Unfortunately it's pretty far away, but worth the visit when we wanted to get reasonably-priced pumpkins for Halloween (seriously the ones in the stores were like $75!) and bulk ingredients for when I plan to make salsa. 
9. The best bathroom sign ever that my friend Chelsea gifted me this summer. It was the first piece of decor I put up when we got into the house, but I'm just now getting around to documenting it.

Madi has discovered that a little bit of cat nip puts CeCe in "play mode".

1. A fun care package from my friend Tricia in Trinidad and Tobago. Thanks girl!
2. Homemade apple sauce in the instant pot. 
3. Peacocks in the backyard. They are all over the compound and the girls were thrilled to see them so close.
4. CeCe was diagnosed with an ear infection and was not happy about her multiple vet visits and ear drops.
5. Sister sleepover in the playroom.
6. An absolutely delicious pizza night with some new friends. 
7. Doha has been hit hard with sporadic rainstorms and thunder/lightning over the past few weeks which caused lots of flooding. Thankfully our compound has been fine, but they did have to switch to using a side entrance due to water on the roads.
8. "I'm not tired." 5 minutes later I find her asleep on the barstool of the kitchen island. 
9. Sunglasses inside. All the time. 

1. Then the illness hit us. Not sure this would be the positions I'd choose for rest, but they did. 
2. Sofa sleeping.
3. Amidst our illness we busted out the card games, board games, and ...
4. Nintendo! We bought it over the summer and hadn't played yet. The girls loved the motorcycle racing and Madi was a great Bubble Bobble partner.
5. Even Jason wasn't immune and ended up with a fever and cough. 
6. Movie nights got better with a popcorn maker.
7. Madi cuddling Zoey in my blanket. Ugh.
8. I have not taken three driving exams and am licensed to drive a manual in three different continents. Please don't make me take anymore, haha.
9. I now know what disappointment tastes like - it's this. It's nothing like the real one.

Even though it was a fun month I am glad it's over and praying we stay healthy the rest of the "winter" season here in Doha. :-)