The Jolliff Family

Since I'm still catching up from when my computer is down, I'm playing a little catch up. We did lots of crafts while Hap was out of town.  One craft the boys made were little wooden boxes that they painted.  Andrew picked them out and then the boys picked the colors that they wanted to paint them.  They love painting and LOVED creating their masterpieces. Another night, we turned the heater on full blast, spread a blanket on the floor, and I helped the boys sew an ornament.  Sam has been wanting to sew and all the boys got in on the act.  They picked their beads, which ornament they wanted, and then sewed the beads on.  I finished them off by sewing a back on them. Andrew was first and he picked the Christmas tree.  I was so proud of him because he was so careful and so serious about doing a good job. Sam was next and he wanted a star.  He, too, was serious and enjoyed himself tremendously. Of course, little J...

Today I woke up early knowing that I needed to run 20 miles.  Considering the weather has been fairly warm the last few days, I thought it would be a good idea to get going before it became really hot.  I went to a new running trail that has ben converted into a path on the old railway through the city.  It is a 6 mile loop. The run felt really great, much better than my 16 mile run 2 weeks ago.  The last 2 miles did seem rather long but I made it and the worse part was walking up the stairs to where our car was parked! On Friday, the area by the old train station becomes an open market.  I took a few pictures but not many because my legs were yelling at me :) Oh, and I did buy some new running shoes and have been pleased with them over the last 3 weeks. 20 miles down... 6.2 to go!

There is no "P" sound in the Arabic language instead they make the "B" sound.  For example, "park" becomes "bark" or "Hap" becomes "Hab" or "pretzel" become.... We have much to be thankful for today!! Including Brezels :) Happy Thanksgiving.

Just a few pictures of the boys while Hap was away and the mice played ;) One night we had movie night complete with popcorn on the couch.  The boys love this special treat that includes staying up a bit past their bedtime.  Earlier in the night, Jacob dressed himself up like Davy Crockett!!  He almost got it but most importantly, he did it all by himself. Sam and Andrew are still heavily into firetrucks and firefighters. This picture looks like Jacob is roping a cow but it is just a little bit of brotherly love! Glad I could post some pictures tonight!!  I think I'm back!

Computer problems continue to plague our house.  I have been trying to upload pictures for the last 15 minutes and they are being rejected.  I have been trying to figure out my computer and get it back up to speed and everything was wiped off my hard drive.  Meaning, that my computer is back to factory settings and blank! Hap was out of town over the weekend and I took plenty of pictures to document what the boys and I kept busy with.  The boys, and myself, are always so happy when Hap comes back to town but we are also thankful for the opportunities that he has had to travel. I will continue to try to upload pictures but if not,  you know you can find me here tomorrow... inshallah :)

Well, my computer hard drive crashed.  I am really bummed about it but hope to be able to retreive some of the content off the old hard drive.  We picked my computer up tonight and it was a nice early Christmas present...  Merry Christmas to me and a Happy New Hard drive :) Other than that, we all took nice long showers and hot baths because the water was coming for the week.  After bath time we played Candy Land by flashlight and candle light since the electricity was on and off.  Fun times tonight as a family making fun memories together!! I hope to be back with pictures tomorrow night, once I get my computer up and running again. Happy Monday!

Tonight we hosted Thanksgiving for our local friends.  I cooked and prepared as much as I could yesterday.  The menu included almond crusted turkey breast, mashed potatoes and gravy, apple and cranberry stuffing, corn, brown sugar carrots, and crescent rolls.  It all turned out delicious.  For dessert I made pumpkin pie, pumpkin dip with ginger cookies, and chocolate chip oatmeal cookies.   The mother knew a little bit of the story of Thanksgiving  but the kids didn't.  We shared about Thanksgiving and why it is significant for all Americans. This family is so dear to us.  Our kids love their kids and vice versa and we are so thankful for their friendship.  Hap shared that we came here a year and a half ago, and much like the pilgrims and Native Americans, this local family befriended us and has helped us in so many ways.  And so, it was our honor to have them in our house for their first Thanksgiving. I was slightl...

The pumpkin pie is cooked and the house smells amazing. The rolls are rising on the counter. The turkey is seasoned and ready to roast. The pumpkin dip is prepared. The stuffing is in a pan. The potatoes are boiled. The sweet tea is in the pitcher. The table is set. The dishes are done. The apron is back on the hook. We are all ready for thanksgiving with some local friends tomorrow and I am ready for a little playtime with the boys.

This week was a tough week.  After my 16 miler last week I had some toe issues and pain.  I think it must be because there are so many hills that I ran down (yes, up too!).  I also think I realized that there is only 7 weeks to go and I still have to run 10 more miles, plus do it all at the same time :)   However, this week was only 10 miles and I surprised myself everytime I though "it is ONLY 10 miles."  I started training for this at the beginning of July and I started off only running 2 miles.  When I started, 10 miles seemed huge and now it is a "short week".    Even with a bad mental running week behind me, I look forward to next week running a long run and of course, eating lots of M & Ms in just 7 week!

Jacob is growing up, even though I hate to admit it!!!  I just love to see him developing his little personality, talking up a storm, and interacting with his brothers.  He cracks me up because at times he will ask "where the boys?" meaning his brothers, but he is part of that club now.  Though still our baby, no longer a baby but one of the boys :)  

Just a sweet conversation with Sam... Me: Sam, how was school today? Sam:  It was good. Me: That's good.  Did you play with anyone on your break? Sam:  Yes, I played with Kammel in the sand. Me:  How was Ms. Mimi today? Sam: Ohhhh...... she was BEAUTIFUL!  And I told her! :) I think we have a little ladies man on our hands!

Full bellies, warm clothes, heater going, and coloring as brothers!  I cherish priceless moments like these tonight.

I woke up before the sun woke up to make made from scratch cinnamon rolls for the boys! They were a hit!! Yummy!

Ok last room in the house tour.  It is our sun room and our main entrance into the house.  I love this little room!  I think we will use it a lot in the summer but also think that it will be warm in the winter because of the sun coming in on that side of the house.  All we have out there right now is our old table and a bench from some friends.  Anyway, here is a little peak. And I thought I would show you our back yard.  The buildings behind us our apartment buildings or multiple family homes.  We do have a fence around the property that you can't really see.  It doesn't keep the neighbor kids out, they just crawl right through the hole in the fence ;) We are blessed to be able to live in this home and are very thankful for the opportunity!

I want to show you the final bathroom product.  It turned out really beautiful, with a small few things that yet need to be finished up.  But, here is our main bathroom. We added the washing machine to this bathroom and it fits really nicely.  They did forget to wire the bathroom for electricity (whoops!!!) but we will be getting that fixed this week, hopefully. Our bedroom also had a half bath that is the same tile as the main bathroom.  We have a closet area where you can see the chair in the doorway in the picture below that leads into the bathroom.  We haven't hung curtains or pictures yet but the two large windows let in much light during the daytime!!  Our house is really feeling like a home, even if Jacob is still confused about where we live :)

Here is my Friday running update!! On Tuesday night, I ran in a 10K.  It was a fun run and really different since it was at night.  Since it didn't start until 9, Hap stayed home with the boys.  I did have a supporter go with me and also saw two friends that cheered as well!  Here we are before the race :) One thing I noted that was different about this race, instead of handing out cups of water they gave water bottles.  I didn't even know that there was a water station until I started stepping on plastic bottles on the road!  It was crazy in my opinion. The run felt great and I came in under my goal time.  I shaved 7 minutes off my 10K time from last March. The medal is real ;) Today I ran 16 miles and let's just be honest, it was a rough run!  This route had many inclines that you just don't notice when driving in a car!!  If felt strong until the end.  The worst part was the last 1.5 miles that included a large...

As I continue our house tour I wanted to show you the olive press.  NO, we don't have an olive press at our house but we do have lots of olive trees, some lemon trees, a fig tree, and persimmon.  I didn't take any outside pictures but will show you the fruits of the property in these pictures. Here are all the olives being hauled to the olive press.  I told Hap to say thank you for going to Ikea so much so that he could haul the olives ;) We went to a different olive press this year.  The owner is a neighbor from our apartment.  All of the olives go into this bin, are brought up the elevator, cleaned, and come out on the other side ready to be pressed. This year the press is a literal stone press made from 1 ton each granite wheels.  It pressed the olives for probably around 15 minutes until they are mush. Andrew was loving the factory.  He has been before with school and he was like an old pro! After the olives are presse...