So Long Cuddler Series

So long Cuddler Series... our new couch arrived yesterday. Hooray! It is soooooooo comfortable and sooooooooo beautiful! Definitely glad we decided to go for it.





The cats were a bit hesitant about the new couch at first...








So they examined it cautiously from EVERY angle...
























Then, they rediscovered the mirror and examined themselves for a while...









I get the impression from this image that Miller knows how handsome he is!















Bella had no trouble finding a cozy spot...




Neither did Isaac for that matter! =)




It was a little sad to say goodbye to our Cuddler Series sofas. They've served us well for our first 3 years in Dubai. Luckily, I didn't have to let them go completely... the big sofa and oversized chair are now in my awesome classroom. How cuddly will our reading time be now?! The kids are going to flip on Sunday when they see them!

Classroom Funnies

A new school year, a new year for classroom funnies. How lucky for me that they started on orientation day?!

During the parent orientation meeting students played in their teacher's classrooms. I'm not sure how I accumulated so many children that were not in my class, but before I knew it I had a whole swarm of little boys running around my room, breathlessly giggling, playing with chess pieces and world map puzzles, and discussing world domination! Ha! What little vocabularies these kiddos have! Then, I hear one little boy from my class say to another, "So, which bacon do you like best... the pork bacon or the beef bacon?" Crack up! I'd never known such a creation as beef bacon even existed before coming to Dubai... and quickly learned there was a reason it was so unknown... it's nasty!

Today, the kids were working in groups creating posters about active listening. As I circulated the room I noticed one group of boys were drawing aliens on their poster, instead of people. I commented, "Oh wow, so aliens use active listening too?" "Yeah," they all answered without looking away from their coloring. "That's a really beautiful illustration." I added. Then one little guy (who I am sure will provide me with countless fabulous quotes) leans back and eyes his work smugly and says, "Yeah, it's true art for the galaxy." Say what?! Love it!!!

Playing House

Playing House. That's what we call it when we organize, decorate, and shop for our apartment. It usually involves a trip to IKEA, Home Centre, or ACE. We always find more than we plan. You should see how good we are at getting a dozen bags, giant houseplant, random piece of furniture, etc. from our car, into the elevator, and up to our apartment in one trip!

Oh, I LOVE playing house! I love that decorating our home is a creative process we share. I love that we are able to create a beautiful space in which to live. I love that I can look around and see our life and adventures reflected in the objects around me.

Our home is still a work-in-progress. The apartment has remained about 80% done since the first year we moved in. Now, it's time to bring everything together and add finishing touches... Isaac's been on an organizing rampage, I'm finally getting photos printed, framed, and hung, and we've just decided to replace all our living room seating. Our new art pieces and decor have had a domino effect... causing us to rethink and rearrange much of what we already have done to accommodate everything. That last 20% has turned into a pretty big undertaking, but we love every moment we get to work together.

Last weekend we started by organizing around the house...



Of course, the cats had to help...




We then made trip#1 to IKEA. We found this sweet little chair and absolutely loved its earthy natural finish...

... there are now two in our living room!


We also found this gorgeous sofa...

...with a not-so-gorgeous price tag!

The thought of making such a big investment scared us off for a week, but on IKEA trip#2 this weekend, we ordered one! It's being delivered next week. Yippee!!! I think the combination of the sleek leather, and organic fibers of the chair will look awesome in our place... very eclectic!


Amongst many other little things, we found this lamp.




After a long afternoon of shopping we headed to our favorite sushi restaurant, SUMO, for dinner.



The manager, Ricky, is so sweet! The moment he sees us he runs over to the sushi counter and places an order for one crunchy crazy and one sushi sandwich without seaweed for me.





YUM!










The next day we wandered around MOE, visiting Home Centre and Marina. We were hoping to find a similar couch to the one above, with a smaller price tag, but no luck. We did, however, stumble across this sparkly beige velour stunner...

NOT!!!


Egads! Only in Dubai...


The shopping trip was not a total bust, however. We found enough goodies to completely stuff our car, including a great fake plant for our bedroom (between the cats and lack of sunlight, real plants don't stand a chance in our apartment!), some gorgeous new lanterns, and new memory foam pillows. We also ran into the Tebos and enjoyed a delicious, but hectic Iftar dinner in the food court, complete with m&m blizzard=).




So, since then we've been continuing with our organizing, planning, and decorating. Things are coming along nicely. We're going to wait until we're done for a big reveal, but here are some tidbits...








Miller loves the new chairs already!






Slowly, but surely getting our canvases framed...




It's so nice to FINALLY have some photos up...



I think this might be my all-time favorite! I stop and stare at it at least 3 times a day...



So nice to have beautiful reminders of happy times...



and favorite people...




I still have frames that are waiting for photos, and canvas ideas that haven't made it to the printer. I was playing with a few of our zebra images this morning...





I think one- or both- of these might make it into canvases. We are running out of wall space fast!


Many items are still living in temporary homes...



Plenty of things aren't put away...



but we're content with the progress we're making=)

The perfect little breakfast and other happy things

This morning my sweetie made me, in his words, "THE perfect little breakfast." He had a very specific reason for this title... something to do with how the eggs were the item that worked perfectly with every other item on the plate... I'm not sure exactly, but I am sure that if there were ever a perfect husband on this earth, I've got him!




YUM!



Isaac and Stuart racing around on Stuart's toy during game night at the Tebo's yesterday. =)




A rare site in our household...


These two snuggling. Oh, happy day!

Jenni's New Classroom

Another school year, another chance to start this blog up and keep it going! Seriously!!! I really miss recording our day to day events on here. I've been looking back through old entries, giggling about special moments and experiences from our daily life. I was even thrilled to have the not-so-special moments recorded! I then sadly realized that many of our important experiences from the past year went unrecorded, and have now slipped away from our memories. We love our life- even the simple every day tasks- and I want to make sure that we hold onto and preserve even the smallest, silliest moments. I need to stop worrying about the quality of our snap-shots, or whether or not I feel my writing is creative or witty enough. I just need to make sure I take the time to jot down the details...period!

Today was the first day back to school. Last year we packed up our classrooms, eagerly anticipating the move to the sparkly new Barsha campus, only to find out that the elementary building was no where near ready! So, we ended up back at the Jumeira campus. However, instead of returning to our old classrooms, we are now using the former middle and high school buildings. The elementary building is already occupied by another international school, and we will be sharing the campus for the next few months. It felt so strange to be back to our old campus, yet not have access to the elementary building.

It was so exciting reuniting with our friends and colleagues! I've never felt more attached to our school and Dubai than this year. Returning this fall really felt like a homecoming. After a morning of meetings, we were given time to work in our classrooms, and I couldn't be more thrilled about mine! Check it out!!!



I was given the old middle school drama room- complete with a stage!!! How awesome is that?! The room is huge, has tons of storage, and the stage will be a wonderful reading area (I'm sure we'll use it for performances as well!). I'm not sure I even want to move to the new campus now!

Here are a few more views of the room. We've already made quite a dent on all the boxes!
This is a view from the door...



The view from the corner where my desk will sit...



Just testing... =)



So, all in all, a great start to the year!


And, because I love my Miller cat OH SO much, I thought I'd include a cute little image of him! We pretty much hibernated all weekend to get over our jet-lag. Not sure what Miller's excuse was...