Another weekend with the nephews

We had a wonderful surprise this weekend; Farah and Adeel decided to bring the kids to visit us one more time before we all head to Pakistan. I love getting my nephew fix! They drove up from the coast on Friday evening (when everyone else was headed to the coast!) and just left a little while ago. Saturday we went to the mall and yesterday we took them to the zoo for a little while.

We are trying hard to convince them to move somewhere closer to us, but it hasn't worked yet. Well, we'll just have to keep working on them.

Before the concert

Hamza had his spring band concert at the middle school last week. It's the last time he'll be performing with the Hewitt band, since next year he'll be at a different school. I didn't manage to take photos during the concert, but this is a nice 'before' one :)

This is also 'before' his haircut. You can actually see more of his face since he got his hair cut.

A bit sad

As I type this my parents are probably getting ready to board their flight back to London Heathrow ariport. Twenty days just flew by while they were here. We had a great time, getting together after almost five years. Hm, I think we shouldn't wait this long between visits.

Bilal and I drove to Atlanta this morning to drop them off at the airport. We made a nice trip of it; went to an Indian vegetarian restaurant for lunch and then went to the Georgia Aquarium for a couple of hours, before leaving them at the airport. We stayed while they checked in, but left several hours before their actual flight in order to get back home at a decent hour. I will share the aquarium pics soon.

So now we are back in Birmingham, and it seems rather quiet in the house. We are going to miss them. At least we have our upcoming vacation to look forward to!

The reality is setting in

I went to the primary school for a new parent kindergarten orientation this evening. It's finalized. Bilal has been registered, and will officially be starting kindergarten in the fall. My baby! The youngest, and our last born, will finally be in school this August.

I was debating whether I actually needed to attend the meeting, after all, this will be my third child headed to kindergarten. But as my astute teenager pointed out, it has been seven years since I've had a kindergartener. So it might not be a bad idea to go to the meeting. Well, I don't know if  I really learned much that I didn't already know, but it was nice to watch the videos that the kids and teachers had prepared, and posted online for the incoming kids and parents to see what a day in kindergarten is like. So sweet, I almost got teared up at the idea of Bilal walking in their shoes. And to think that he'll probably be riding the school bus on the very first day of school! Hamza rode the bus on the first day of kindergarten too, but I worried less about him because he had big sister right there next to him:

See? He didn't even stop to look back at us!

Five years have flown by, and we have gone from this (everybody say Awwww!):

To this:

My sweet little stinker!

More sights of Mobile and the coast

I'm so far behind, I'm still blogging about last weekend! I will try and stay a little more up to date, but it's been hard, with school winding down, getting the kids registered for next year, getting appointments in before we go on vacation, and of course, Abbu and Choti Ammi being here. Hopefully with the next couple of weeks behind us things will fall into more of a routine.

Enough excuses! Here are some more photos from last week at the Alabama coast:

Leaving Pensacola Beach,

Entering Mobile, a view of the skyline, driving westbound on I-10:

A place to find a bargain, perhaps?

And at Battleship Memorial Park, where the USS Alabama is docked:

Entering the tunnel:

We had a great couple of days in Mobile, it was rather sad to have to leave. We are hoping that our nephews will come to visit on Memorial Day.

And..... I'm back!

I haven't had a chance to blog lately, we've been quite busy, but I thought I should catch up at least somewhat. So, this post will be about Pensacola Beach. We took Abbu and Choti Ammi down to visit Farah and Co. this past weekend, and spent the better part of Saturday at the beach. Get prepared for photo overload!

We bought fresh (hopefully) local seafood, and ate at the beach.

The water was a bit choppy, but still safe enough for the children to play. The sand was white and the weather perfect.

 The waves were just right for some boogie boarding. Hamza had a blast!

 Aren't those just the cutest little pudgy baby feet?

 And I love this pic:

Everything is good when Daddy is there, holding your hand.

And who is this dude?

You can't see the front of his shirt, but does the color look familiar? Who else would be roaming around on the beach fully dressed, with a net? Obviously not a tourist. Yup, it's the BP guy. There were actually several, scouring the beaches to check for tar balls that may have washed in on the waves. Maybe they really do care.

 Who knows?

At Pensacola Beach

OK, so one of them is trying to wander off, another is looking somewhere into the distance and a third is evidently smiling at the wrong camera. But still the cutest cousins ever!

More to follow soon!

Spring Choir Performance

Safa's final performance was on Tuesday night. We all went to attend. She has a solo speaking part in it. This is the biggest group of people she has spoken in front of , but she delivered her lines without any hint of nervousness. So proud of her!

The next event is Hamza's Spring band concert, which is next week. The school year is winding down, and they mostly have finals and projects due in the next week or two. the consensus seems to be that students from Safa's school will not have to make up the 4-5 days of school missed due to the recent tornadoes. That's a relief, because it was about to encroach on our long awaited trip to Pakistan!

It's hard to believe Abbu and Choti Ammi have been here for a week already. Time is flying by so fast!

An attempt at a decent sibling photo

Never seems to work out quite right!

And that's when I gave up.