Everything I Need to Know...

Everything I need to know I learned (or was reminded of) on summer home leave. My husband is a generous, loving and incredible guy. There is nothing like a weekend at the beach with my boys. Or like a weekend in Salado with my Stluka Sistas. I love my Sugar Land house. Rocky is the cutest and best Bogle on the planet. How to fix the flapper on a toilet is important info to have. It is a huge source of pride to see your son get up and go off to work everyday. It is totally worth it to wait in line for a few hours in the afternoon heat to get the autographs of the Houston Texans. The second year of college is easier than the first. Nothing like a pedicure and hot rock leg massage to celebrate a birthday. I LOVE Amici's. (could have to do with the company and the biscotti) The Fourth of July is one of my favorite holidays. San Francisco is COLD in the summer. Anyone who would come to your house and fold 100 pairs of socks is amazing. Riding your bike across town to share a hug means major friendship. I love to tell Bible stories to kids. My family is awesome. Wine in the driveway is the best. Birds love to nest outside of Jake's bathroom window. College friends will always be close friends...they know too much about you. Yo-yo's rock. As do American Girl movies. And Astros games. Friendships transfer from one side of the planet to the other.

As I attempt to get over jetlag and settle back in for our second and final year in Doha, I am reminded that life is one big lesson. It is up to us to learn.

P.S. I also wanted to include the photo below. I told some of you about it over the summer. The quality is not so great because it is a picture of a slide. The slide was part of a power point presentation shared during the 8th grade promotion ceremony at the American School this past spring. You see Sam's hand and the hand of a small Malaysian village boy, taken during their day spent playing together on the 8th grade Week Without Walls trip. My heart tells me that there is some dancing going on in that Malaysian village!

Brotherhood!

Okay...it's time to go back to Doha. My Aggie is moved into the fraternity house. (following in the footsteps of his dad, I might add!) In the ultimate show of maturity, Jake single handedly moved the majority of his needed belongings up to College Station, specifically the SAE house, on Saturday. Mom and I went up Monday to take the rest of what would not fit in his car. There was a bit of work to be done to get the room organized, including finding a missing mattress, but Jake assured me that it would all be taken care of in short time. I got the call yesterday..."Mom, I have everything in place. I took a picture of it all, just like you asked, and as soon as the internet is up in the house, I'll email it to you." I will be looking forward to seeing that photo, Jake. And, by the way, I am very proud of you! Have a great year and uh, well...gig 'em! (That's kind of tough for a Longhorn to say, but after all, I am an Aggie mom!)

What's In A Name?

Jake, Jake, Will, Will, Sam and Katherine

One of the highlights of our summer has been the visit of our friends from Doha, the Van Hoozers. They came to stay with us for a weekend and we did our best to entertain them. (bowling and Schlitterbahn-Galveston for the kids, shopping and wine in the driveway for Krisitie and me.) Now, there is a whole story behind our friendship with the VH clan. If you will remember from a previous blog, Sam made friends, not long after we moved to Doha, with the Van Hoozer boys, twins named Will and Jake. When I took him over to the Van Hoozer's house for the first time and met their mom, Kristie, I was further amazed at our connections. They had also lived in Singapore, but moved there a year or so after we left. Get this...they lived in the same apartments, same building, same floor as we did and knew many of the same people, including my next door neighbor, Elena, who was a tennis partner of Kristie's, and another dear friend, Nancy.

Now, back to the story at hand. One reason I was so excited to have the Van Hoozers to our house, was to get Will and Will and Jake and Jake to finally meet. Good thing we went out to dinner that first night, because the Shrull Will and Jake were gone for most of the rest of the weekend! I did manage to snap the above photo....what a treasure! Poor Sam and Katherine felt a little left out, but we reassured them that they were special too, even if their names did not match! (Kristie, you could change your beautiful daughter's name to Samantha!)

Hopes are to see the Van Hoozers one more time before they leave for Doha on Aug. 1. We just can't get enough of them!!!

It's Still Standing!

When I look back over my blog, I realize how little I have written over the past couple of months. And, I also realize how much I have missed blogging! Things have been pretty wild and crazy, but now it is good to be settled in Texas for the summer. We took our trip to Ireland (travel blogs to follow soon) and since arriving home have been visiting family, friends and doctors and cleaning like crazy. I don't even mind that! (I MUST be glad to be home!) The good news is, the house was still standing!! However, some good things must come to an end....Keith left for Doha yesterday. We had a great three week time together, the five of us. For the rest of the summer, it's just me and the boys. I plan to "mother" my little heart out. And shop. Spend time visiting. Shop. Organize my drawers and drawers of photos. Shop. The next seven weeks will fly by. It will be back to Doha on Aug. 22. Until then, I'll shop.

Chores to be Done

Scenes from The Wallace Fourth of July Party

Stopping in Luling for BBQ and Watermelon

You Know You're in Texas when.....