Boxing Day - we need liver detoxes now.

We had open house on boxing day and it was completely fantastic! (If I do say so myself!) No idea how many people came but the house was packed and having started at 3pm, it was still going strong at 1am in the morning. Andrew lit a fire outside in the garden and the hanger-oners stayed drinking sambuca (!!) whilst sharing tall tales and warming themselves by the fire!
The kids had an absolute ball - they took all of the scooters, bikes, toy cars etc plus balls we own across the way to our tennis courts and played numerous games over there before getting more makeovers done by the older kids, bouncing on the trampoline and decorating cookies and arts and crafts I'd left out for them.
A good time was had by all - but Andrew and I seriously need a detox after all the Christmas festivities!!

Christmas Day

We had a fabulous day at the Dilmun Club for Christmas lunch with our friends Tony & Ashling and their two kids Charlie & Ellie and Kerry and John and their two girls Chloe & Emily. The Dilmun is so good for the kids and they had a ball spending time at the playpark with friends in between courses. The food was amazing - a set menu served to us all: Tomato & Red Pepper soup; Seafood platter; Pate & Toast; Christmas Turkey dinner with all the trimmings, plus a plater on each table of Ham and Roast beef; Christmas pudding & Brandy sauce; cheese ansd Biscuits. Plus lots of yummy wine.
It started at 1pm and went on till 6pm and then we went back to Kerry & John's house for drinkies. Their girls decided to do 'makeovers' on the girls and the pic below is the results on Annalise.

Beautiful!!

Christmas Eve & Morning

Christmas Eve we went over to our friends' Rachel & Jamie's for a fantastic party, but one that left all adults with horrible hangovers the next morning! Rachel is a food technology teacher and cooks the most amazing foods. We spent the afternoon till rather late at theirs stuffing our faces and drinking yummy drinks like Baileys whilst the kids got into mischief! Heaps of fun. Andrew came a bit later as he was putting up the trampoline in our back garden for the girls to find the next morning.
When Andrew and I got home, the kids fell into bed and I got busy with the wrapping, Andrew put Juliette's bike together and I then was up till 2.30 am trying to get Annalise's ipod organised so that when she opened her gift from Santa, there would already be music on it. 3 computers later, I finally managed to upload the latest itunes and get all her favourite songs onto the ipod before wrapping it up and failing into bed!

Annalise woke us all up at a very respectable 8am shouting "Santa's come! There are heaps of presents!" God, Andrew and i felt rough but it was fantastic watching their faces filled with delight as all their Santa listed presents became reality and more! At the end of the presents, they noticed the string that was attached to the tree and led outside so we went on a treasure hunt to see where the string led to and tadaaaa! The trampoline!

Thank you Auntie Fiona for the swimsuit and Nan for the beautiful dress! Juliette modelled them as soon as she unwrapped them!

Christmas party at our friends

School broke up on Tuesday and we went to our first Christmas party the next day at our boss' house which was great fun, but I forgot to take my camera, and then the next afternoon through till very late we went over to our friends, Emma & Stuart's for a BBQ and juggling and drinking extravaganza! I am still hopeless at juggling so left it to the rest!

The next evening Andrew and I went out to another party at some friends who got caterers in and waiters for their annual Christmas party, but only about 15 people turned up out of about 40 people who were invited (I felt so bad for them) - our close friends Tony & Ash and Rachel & Jamie and Andrew and I stayed on till 1am with them though as they kept saying "you're not going yet are you?"! It was a lovely, lovely night, but a trifle embarrasing for the hosts. However, we had a great time.

Jazz Hands And All That Jazz

The girls go to dance classes - Juliette goes to ballet and Annalise goes to Jazz/modern dance class. Juliette has decided that ballet isn't for her "Mummy, I like the dancing but I hate pointing my toes. " So she doesn't want to continue. However, Annalise adores her modern jazz class and we went to watch her perform her moves at her last dance class before Christmas. It was pretty cute and they even let Juliette join in.
Annalise is a pretty great groover!

Guess what I can do?!

A Moment with Santa

The girls are trying really hard to be very good, and as I do each year, the PNP video (portable North Pole) from Santa has been emailed to them and they've watched the 'real live' Santa speak to them personally about what they've done this year and shown photos etc of their year as well as calling them by name and showing them pics of what they asked for in their letter - the girls sat and watch them open mouthed, waving and answering him back - very cute.
PNP 2010: www.portablenorthpole.tv

However, Juliette said to me this afternoon:
"Mummy....you know I have to try to be very good or Santa won't bring me my bike?"
"Yes, so you have to try really hard....remember, he's counting on you to do your best and then he'll bring you your bike. But only if you're good. If you're naughty, he won't visit you this year and then you won't get your bike."
"Well, Mummy, I've been thinking about that. I will try to be nice, but if I am naughty, it doesn't really matter if Santa doesn't bring me my bike, because I'm lucky."
"Why are you lucky?"
"My birthday is just after Christmas, isn't it? So I'll get the bike for my birthday instead."
The absolute common-sense logic of a soon-to-be-four year old.
Oh bugger.

Irish Christmas Party

Andrew and I joined the Irish society here in Bahrain and they offer loads of different functions each month - we haven't made it to any yet because of the play, but yesterday, we attended their fantastic Children's Christmas party. It was all free, and there was a clown, DJ, games, disco, free Guinness and champagne, face painting, candy floss, popcorn, T-shirt painting and a great atmosphere in general.
We didn't know anyone, but everyone was so warm and welcoming. And the kids made some great friends.

And, the piece de resistance .... Santa arrived on a camel, much to the kids delight, and then, after they received their gifts, the kids could have a ride on it! Juliette was a little terrified, but I was so proud they did it - I remember that camels aren't the most comfortable form of transport and getting up and down is always a little hairy!

Juliette's favourite food is Chicken and chips. Andrew managed to capture her stuffing her pretty little face at the party with her favourite meal. She didn't eat even half of it, but she served herself - eyes are always bigger than! And in Juliette's case, her eyes are HUGE!!

Backstage Team

I spent the four nights working backstage with the techie crew, getting actors ready for their cues and humping furniture. It was hard work, but great fun.

Les Miserables Success

Is now over I have my life back!!! Juliette said yesterday morning when she woke up, "Is it really true?"
"What, darling?"
"You're going to be home for always now? No more rehearsals?"
Ahhhh. It breaks my heart.
However,
it was an overwhelming success. We sold 2225 tickets over 4 nights - 3 nights were absolutely sold out and on Wed and Thursday night we had to turn people away.
Standing ovations each night, the whole buzz around Bahrain was that it was the best live theatre seen in Bahrain for decades and overall, everyone is raving about how 'professional' the whole thing was.
I have to admit that it was absolutely superb.
But then, we put in the hours.
It was no usual school production.
We weren't allowed to take pics so I only put these up from our last warm up on stage on our last night -we had to sign a contract with London that no photographs or video would be taken for general public use - but paid, I think, 3500 pounds for the rights to take a video of one of the nights for the cast to keep and a certain no. of photos to be distributed - will have to wait till after the Xmas holiday before we get those though.
Anyway.
I can breathe again.
But in a funny old way, I will miss it all too....

Juliette's Nursery Show

It was on Wednesday - I had to take some time off school to go see her - oh my, she was cute. I will try to upload the videos on youtube. Will let you know when they're up and running. The photo above is her and her class waiting for all the parents to arrive.

It was very cute - the kids acted and sang and danced whilst their teachers read 'The Night Before Christmas'. Very impressive seeing as they are all only 3 years old and they managed to perform for about 30 minutes without any tears!!Juliette was very excited that I was there, although she has been sick now for almost two weeks with a vomiting/stomach upset virus (5 kids in her class have had it to) so she hasn't been her usual happy, noisy self.

Seeing Stars

So, Juliette's Christmas show is on Wednesday. I finished her costume - isn't she cute? Should I put tinsel on it as well? Or is she gorgeous and shimmery starry enough? Opinions would be good.

And our bar - it really looks lovely in the space. A great place to 'see stars' after a big session! With Christmas coming, I'm sure we'll be using it plenty! Andrew went out and bought this rug the other day for the bar area so that we could put the lovely orangey/red Arabian one back into the open hallway.
We love our home.
Coming home makes us smile - it's beautiful!
Les Miserables opening night tomorrow.
This weekend, we had rehearsals on Thursday from 9 - 5; Friday from 9 - 7; Saturday from 9 - 4; today from 9 - 4.
I am so ready for it to be finished!
This week, I will be at school till 3:30pm, have to be back at school at 5pm, and as the show lasts almost 3 hours without interval catered into that time, will not be home till well past 10pm each night for the next four nights.
I will definitely be seeing stars at the end of it all!
But the kids in the play are truly stars - there are some amazing actors and singers - the voices of some of the year 13 (18 years old) kids truly make your hairs stand on end. I have never actually known it in any of my teaching experience to date. One boy in particular, has an absolutely bloody gift from God voice - and a great personality and good looks to add to it. Everyone has fallen in love with him - girls and guys alike!
The play will be brilliant - we had our first rehearsal with our 29 piece orchestra yesterday. Mind blowing.
Puts my simple piano accompaniment to shame in previous productions. Mind you, from a US$500 budget last year, to a 12,000 pound budget this year, there's bound to be a difference in quality!!
Wish you could come see it.

Birthday Fun

So, Thursday I turned 36 - closer, now, to 40 than 30 :( !!
As I had a full day at school till 6pm and then we were picked up from home to go to the St Andrew's ball at 6:30, we decided to tell the girls it was my birthday the next day instead, as they get so excited for me.
Having only 30 mins to get ready for the ball was a bit of a panic, but we did it! The girls were at a friend's birthday party so I didn't see them until we got home, very late and very drunk - I crawled into bed with my sleeping babes and passed out!!
The ball was really good fun. Lots of champagne and beer and wine and single malt whisky (yum) - diner was forgettable - at least for me as there was no veggie option so soup was lamb scotch broth - so I couldn't eat it, followed by a fish course which was nice, the main was fillet steak - so I couldn't eat it and then cheese and biscuits, but there was one particular blue cheese on the plate that stunk so much like vomit, I couldn't eat any of the rest as the stench permeated through, so all in all, I didn't really eat very much. I didn't care - I drank and danced and was very happy!!
The ball was held at the BAPCO club - owned by BP and was pretty swanky. They'd flown in a band from Scotland and a singer and we danced many a jig, doing ourselves proud in the Gay Gordon's, Dashing White Seargent, Duke of Perth, Canadian Barn dance, to name a few, but completely falling apart in the eightsome reel - Andrew ended up dancing by accident in another set and left me partner less for part of the dance before he realised and came back in....this will mean nothing to anyone who knows nothing of the dances, but we found it hilarious.
The bus picked us up at 1am - the ball was still in full flow, but us St Chris people all had to be up early the next day for the Family Festive Fayre at school.

So we got up early the next morning feeling very ordinary!! My head was pounding and my muscles ached and I was breathing whisky fumes for most of the morning!! The girls woke me up to drag me into the lounge room for my presents. Some ibuprofen and lots of water made my hangover bearable!
The girls had bought me a George Forman Grill and griddle - it's GORGEOUS and Andrew had bought me Yves San Laurent's new perfume 'Belle D'Opium'. It's lovely, with a real musky Arabiany scent.
Then we upped and headed off to the school fayre where Annalise had to sing with her Year 1 classes and I had to do a stint on the PTA's coffee and cake stall.
Annalise's year group sang lots of festive songs - she was very excited, but sang incredibly seriously on the stage - I think nerves got the better of her!

Then they queued up for Santa's grotto and told Santa what they wanted - Annalise wants all kinds of things that will drain our bank accounts!!

In the afternoon, Andrew had organised a little party with close friends back at ours and tried out our new bar - fantastic!! Erin & Simon, our friends from Taipei who now live in Saudi also drove over for it which was so nice. It was a really lovely afternoon, lots of chance for the kids to play and a great afternoon for us to just chill and catch up and share baskin and robbins cake and pizza!! The bar is great - a real feature of our house. I'll get a pic of just it on it own soon - but you can see it in the corner of some of the above piccies.

I had a great birthday weekend - thanks for all the birthday wishes. I have now just come home from a 7 hour Les Mis rehearsal. Knackered now!

Pippin

Meet Pippin!

Ok. We got him free. Huge cage and all.
I am not so good with pets.
I would ideally like a house free of all things non-human.
But our girls have been nagging and nagging and nagging and nagging and nagging and nagging and nagging and nagging and nagging and nagging and nagging and nagging and nagging and nagging and nagging and nagging and nagging and nagging and nagging and nagging and nagging and nagging and nagging and nagging and nagging and nagging and nagging and nagging and nagging and nagging and nagging and nagging and nagging and nagging and nagging and nagging and nagging and nagging and nagging and nagging and nagging FOR A PET.
I am lucky they realise the cat situation. They have seen the results of my ever increasing allergies, so that is good.
A dog, we'd love, but how would we take care of it on holidays? Not fair to put it in kennels.

A girl in year 9 I teach in school put up an advert on the Dilmun club notice board for her 8 month old little 'Pippin' Syrian golden hamster - free to a good home with cages included, and so we succumbed.

We, the Beck Famille, are now proud (?) owners of a hamster. At the moment it lives in the laundry, but we bring it into the lounge room for kids to hand feed him and stroke him ( except for one moment when he escaped and ran out of the cage into our hallway - instead of panicking, I grabbed the camera and left Andrew to try to catch him! ) - I am still not good with him, I don't think I'll ever be really good with furry little things, but for the sake of the girls.....

So, we introduce our 5th member of the family....Pippin.,
Oh why aren't fish enough?
Only joking. Half.
He is rather cute.
But I'm not good with that whole furry, feel the bones thing.
Best leave it to Andrew and the girls.

Christmas Is Here!

Yes - I know. I'm quick off the mark. Anyone who knows me well - and most of you who read this are those people, I LOVE and ADORE and am a HUGE kid at Christmas. So my tree is up. No apologies.
Carols are being played in my car, on my computer, on our home stereo, much to Andrew's delight (!!!) - at least one of us loves this season!! The kids are with me.

The photos don't do it justice at all. It's beautiful. In my complete unbiased opinion. And I'm feeling in the mood. For mulled wine, and mince pies (although, I only like the pastry, not the yucky gooey insides!), Christmas pudding (love the brandy and the custard and cream - that's about it really!)

Ever since the girls were born, (actallu, whilst they were in my tummy as well) I've bought an angel for each of them, representing my Mummy, who they know is 'up with the angels', and so the angel on the bottom right is one they each have for this year. They are truly beautiful glass and glittered angels from Debenhems. I love them.
Last year, in Jakarta, I had real difficulty finding angels, but my gorgeous friend, Zoe, in Amsterdam, sent through some absolutely gorgeous ceramic, hand-painted and sequined angels through the post so I was saved! They are actually my favourites. Truly beautiful.
Why angels and this tradition?
Apart from Mummy....My way of looking at it is that when ever they leave home, they can take an angel for each of the years that they spent with us at home, (hopefully at least 18 or so each), knowing Mummy was looking out for us, and put them on their own Christmas trees in their own homes.
I currently have 12 angels on my tree.
Annalise: 1) 2004 - pregnant, 2) 2005, 3) 2006, 4) 2007, 5) 2008, 6) 2009, 7) 2010
Juliette: 1) 2006 - pregnant, 2) 2007, 3) 2008, 4) 2009, 5) 2010

I also have homemade felt decorated Christmas trees with photos of them each, and the year printed on them, so they can take them with them also.
My tree will be very bare when they leave home!!
What an abysmal thought. Leaving home!!! I couldn't imagine life without them!
Merry Very Early Christmas Everyone!
May the spirit be with you - it's grabbed me!!! (Or is that the Whisky talking?!!)

It's Beginning to look a lot like....

CHRISTMAS!!!!!!!!!!! My favourite time of year.
Our tree is up - photos tomorrow - took them tonight and haven't got a good enough camera to capture it all in nightlight. But, we have been busy making Christmas cookies, getting costumes together for the girls' Christmas shows - Juliette is the 'Star' in the nativity....hmmmm!
I always have the tree up by my birthday, but knowing what next week is like, I know I'll have no time to get it up, so me and the girls did it today after rehearsal. It's beautiful. We bought an 8ft tree. I need to buy more decorations I think though, as I usually only have a 6ft, but our room is so big and huge ceilinged (is that even a word? No, but hey!)

We go back to school on Sunday - and the week is FULL ON. For me, anyway. Two weeks to go before the the curtains of Les Miserables open so things are pretty manic. Add to that, four after school parents' evenings, two after school department meetings, rehearsals almost every day in between, the school Festive Fayre, School Christmas concerts, ballet, jazz class and gymnastics (for the girls of course) to try to organise dropping off and picking up, Year 8 and 9 reports to write (125 kids) etc. life is CRAZY!!! Are we doing too much? YES!!!!!

Andrew has been a play widow for too long - and it's going to get worse these next three weeks....will we all be glad when it's over? Yes!!! My husband and little girls will recognise me again. I'll actually be home to play with them! Andrew included!!

I did forgot to mention the girls go to clubs now. At a health and sport club called 'CHAOSS' - some acronym for centre of health and social sports or something like that. Annalise does Jazz/Modern dance on Mondays, and Gymnastics on Wednesdays whilst Juliette does Ballet on Wednesdays. When she turns four, she can do gymnastics. They LOVE it. It eases my guilt as well as I'm away at school so much and because the classes finish at 4.15 or 5pm I or Andrew can pick them up on our way back from work so that's nice.

We also bought a bar yesterday - a really modern one, black wood and chrome and glass - it arrives in a week so will post photos of course of it once it's in place! Very exciting - we miss out Jakarta one.

My birthday is a week today - we are celebrating it in reminiscent of Omani Scottish times - by going to the St Andrew's ball, which coincides with my actual birthday - Marilyn, you will be pleased we're back into the Calsoc!

Finally!!

Have finally updated the text to go with the photos - going way back to first week in October!
Sorry about the delay - it really has been crazy. We are on Eid holidays now, although I am back to rehearsals tomorrow till Saturday for the play - only got 4 days holiday, whereas everyone else gets 9! Grrrrr!

Family Night & New Purchases

In Jakarta, we started off the family tradition of family movie nights once every couple of weks - wqe decided to watch 'Titanic 2' - oh my goodness, it was bloody awful. But we had a lot of fun anyway!!

Above are some of our new homey things: rug for the lounge area under the coffee table - it is lovely and fluffy and silky. The next carpet is a traditional Arabian carpet in orangey/red for our huge entrance hallo. Next are some tall uplamps and lastly, a huge beanbag for the girls - we could only get one in animal print, but are hoping to get a cover made for it!! The coloure match our lounge anyway, but animal print doesn't really go with our tastes very much!

Also, a HUGE Happy Birthday, Aunty Fiona!

From us all here in Bahrain.

Hope you have a blast! xxxxx