Family Yosemite trip, 2010

self portrait.

Amr and Jennah at El Capitan

Jennah and Ayman, Yosemite Falls

Family Nasr, Yosemite Valley

Picnic time.

So the whole family took a day trip to Yosemite National Park. We had a very nice day. The Tour, not so much. Can I just say the driver sucked? He got me all psyched in the beginning, bragging about how he knows so much about Yosemite, so I thought it would be super informative...it wasn't. So we got bored. Seriously, you don't want to bore my brother. This sort of thing ends up happening:

You have been warned.

A Birthday Dinner.

Jennah and the customized Cherry Chip cake I made for her.

Ayman, Millie and Jennah with the cake.

Photobomb! (LMAO, Alex)

This is my present. I got her 4 years ago last Thursday.

Well we had a little dinner over at my Mom and Dads house tonight- and a tiny birthday celebration for the girl. No big deal, just dinner, cake and ice cream. She did get some good presents, and loved decorating her cake wit the M&M's. She even let Millie help her open presents. My girl is a great sharer. Well sweetie, Mommy loves you so much, Happy 4th Birthday. *sniffle, tears, sniffle*

Cass and Daph go to The Soup

Photo time! This was done at turbo speed, apparently Mr. McHale needed to get back to the set of Community right away....It took literally 2 seconds, Daph has mad IPhone skillz.

This is before the show taped, We are in the front row, and if you click on it you can see Joel McHale and Guiliana Rancipandi on their phones.. I was soooo excited, *squee*!

So this past January 29th, the family left for a nearly five week trip to visit Amr's family in Egypt. When they were gone, I got to pop on down to Los Angeles (plane ticket and good times compliments of longtime BFF Daphne.) Daphne wanted to know what I wanted to do when visiting. I immediately answered "I would love to see a taping of The Soup." I have loved this show in several incarnations. I first fell in love with it in the heyday of the Talk Show, the late 90's. Back then, they called it Talk Soup, aired every day, and an hour show on Friday. Then , it was hosted by the awesome John Henson. (skunkboy!) Yes, Greg Kinnear hosted it before that, but I didn't watch it then, and I don't pretend like I did. After Skunkboy left, there was Hal Sparks, but I always thought that they should have hired fill in host Roger Lodge of Blind Date fame. Both were funny though. Aisha Tyler hosted it for a minute, then I kind of lost track. In 2005 I posted this with a tiny blurb about John Henson and the new incarnation of Talk Soup, The Soup, with host Joel McHale. When I wrote the post in 2005, I had never watched the new version of the show. I don't really know when I did start watching it, but the important thing is I did. It is still a great show, and Joel McHale is HILARIOUS. I knew Daphne had gone to a taping before and one of her co-workers had a hook up over at E! so it was on.

When we arrived at the E! Building on Wilshire in LA, we met Daph's co-worker Kate. Shortly after, someone from E! came out get us for the taping. We walked in and were met by Joel himself which was OMFG so cool. He insulted us a bit, and then we were taken to the green room to wait before the taping. While we were waiting Joel came back to the greenroom and chatted Daph, Kate, and I up for a few minutes before he had to go to wardrobe. We were also introduced to Mankini at that time. Very nice. Once finished with wardrobe, Mr. McHale came back to the green room to escort Daphne, Kate and I to our reserved front row seats for the taping. The taping went very smoothly, and Joel McHale was hilarious. I had a great night. More than I expected by far.

So, thank you, Daphne, and Kate for making my year. This is right up there with the news of how I am going to get my license in May (ISA). I will not blog about that until it is a done deal though, so stay tuned.

UPDATE: I got my license on June 21st.

Sleepover, Wooo HOOOO!

The pictures run backwards, But Ayman and Jennah had their first sleep over on Friday the 19th. Lilyith, one of Ayman's kindergarten classmates stayed over. It was her first sleep over too. They had a blast, and I took plenty of pictures for her mom to see. The awesome thing is that Lilyith gets along great with Jennah too- she has little sisters so she is just wonderful with her. I would totally do this again. So, if you want, scroll down to the bottom and work your way up. Thanks for reading.

The above picture is Jennah (right) and Lilyith, PASSED OUT. I mean it was only 11:30! Lightweights.

Ayman was not happy about having to sleep all by himself, but dammit, RULES ARE RULES.

Lilyith and Jennah at bedtime. Observe the awesome murals that Ayman and Jennah made on the walls. I was going to wash them off, but I think they compliment the room. NOT.

MMMMMM, Popcooooooorrrrrn

Jiffy Pop is old school but way cool. I remember when I used to stay the night at my Uncle's house. His wife at the time would have my brother, and cousin and I make Jiffy Pop. it always seemed like it took forever to get going and I remember my arm would hurt from shaking it, so we all took turns. I brought that to the table for these kiddies. It was a raging success, if I do say so myself. (and of course, I do.)

For dinner the menu consisted of Chicken rings and seasoned crinkle fries. What part of the chicken do you suppose the "ring" comes from, anyhow?

The kids playing dress up. Ayman is wearing a cape I made for him in ought six, for Halloween. he was Dracula. In this instance he was a ghost, and a wizard. Wonder where he got that, Dad? *coughHarryPottercough*

When we got home after school the kids were sent out to play. It was a beautiful almost spring day and the back yard is so....dare i say, verdant? Right now. They figured out a way for all of them to ride the Barbie Jeep (thanks, Grandma!) It wasn't dangerous at all. Look out Mother of the Year Award, i am owning you! LOL.

Hope you enjoyed that backwards pictorial journey.... Coming soon, the lovely conditions of my probation for the RCB, or "Why You Should Never Ever Be An Ass When You Are Younger And Have a Record to Prove It."

Woooo Frickin' Hoo., CRT some kid pics.

Ayman and Jennah ready to go to the mosque for Isha. so cute.

Ayman is like his mom, digs the self portraits.

Ayman had a friend over for the first time today to play, his name is Nicolas and he lives 3 doors down. They all attempted to play SpongeBob bingo.

Here are the kids rolling in Jennahs barbie Jeep for the first time this spring.

Well, i was notified today that i will be getting my Respiratory license. This should happen sometime in May. I will keep you all posted. Now i am just gonna need a job......

Nip/Tuck and the worst. update. ever.

Tonight was the series finale of Nip/Tuck. OK, first i have to say that i love this show. The last few seasons have been pretty crappy, but I have stuck with it. I stuck with it because the first few seasons were really awesome. They had interesting medical stories. Were they outrageous at times? yes, but i loved how they went into it with the patients. That is not even to mention all the characters. Sean and Julia McNamara and Christian Troy along with Liz Cruz- I have loved this show. I downloaded 3 seasons of it two years ago and spent every available moment watching the episodes. Then, picked up with season four. I really, really, really love it.

Tonight they brought back Famke Jansens character Eva and the use of Art Garfunkles "All I Know" made for a good hour. It simply wrapped up. There ya go. I don't want to drop spoilers. I really don't want to recap it. I am just here to say i am satisfied. I know, i know, how pointless is that, right? I guess i am just gearing up for the inevitable, frustrating conclusion that the "Lost" finale is going to bring me. I know i will most likely be seriously pissed when that rolls out. So. Frustrated. So, to go back over what i just blogged, rather pointlessly: I liked the Nip/Tuck finale. Yay me.

I have been pretty crappy about posting, and if anyone has been reading for the past 2 years you can tell. So, why don't i just cut the crap and stop apologizing for it? Here is the single most pathetic update i think i have ever done on this blog.

the last time i posted a real post was on my Birthday in November so lets start from there, shall we?

Thanksgiving

Aymans sixth birthday on December 9th

Xmas

New Years trip to Uncle Butches. We went to the La Brea tar pits. Visited with PB. fun had by all.

January 29th, Am,r Ayman, and Jennah went to Egypt, and have still not come home. They return on Saturday.

So far this last month i have:

watched about 40 or so hours of "The L Word"

eaten a lot of taquitos and hotdogs.

Travelled to Long Beach to visit Daph and family.

Gone to a taping of The Soup

Discovered Lady GaGa

spent way too much time on the interwebz

and drank approximately 3 cases of Diet Coke.

I realize that some pictures are probably necessary, so just hang tight and i will put a bunch on. KThxBai

UPDATE: the series finale for Lost has come and gone. My reaction to it wans't so much frustration as it was, "Huh? What the hell just happened?"