Christmas at Mom and Dad's

We had so much fun at Mom and Dad's...as usual!

Padar taking it all in from the best seat in the house.


Beautiful shot of Nana after cooking, cleaning and putting up with all of us!


We must have been laughing at the kiddos - who we don't have pics of from this night. Poor babies. More to come with kiddo pics from Christmas day!

Phi Kappa Phi

My Dad is such an inspiration to us all. Yesterday he was inducted into Phi Kappa Phi Honor Society. Phi Kappa Phi was founded in 1897 at the University of Maine and is a very distinguished honor society.



Eligibility Requirements include:

Must be an outstanding student of sound character, enrolled at a college or university with a Phi Kappa Phi Chapter.
Juniors must have completed 72 credit hours and rank in the top 7.5% of their class.



Our Dad - Nasser Z. Eydani, after battling a stroke and teaching himself to sit up and walk again, went back to school and ranked in the top 7.5% of his class. Wow! Dad - - I hope you are as proud of yourself as we are! We love you!

Bosom Buddies!

"I don't need you to worry for me cause I'm alright!"

Nate and Chloe have a special relationship, and according to Nate she worries about him! I'm pretty sure he worries about her too. :)

They are so cute together. As soon as Chloe sees him, her tail goes NUTS! But his reaction is the best! He just can't contain his excitement! I haven't figured out a way to capture the majic yet, but hopefully I will soon. Until then here are a few pics of our visit to check on sweet Sarah today!

CHLOE

I just love my Chloe. She's so sweet! Here are a few pics of here. She's already a tiny bit over 4 lbs. Big girl!

My Mom

A lot of people describe their moms as nagging, overbearing, nosy, even intrusive. When I search my brain for the best adjective to describe my Mom, the first thing that comes to mind is INSPIRATIONAL.

My mom has persevered in the face of devastation. She has weathered the storms with great courage and a positive outlook. Mom constantly encourages, and always lends a helping hand - usually before we even know we need one.

My Mom is a beautiful, strong woman. I only hope that I can one day be the kind of wife and mother she is. I don't know what our family would do without her. I love you Mom!

My Sarah

I love my Sarah so much! I remember when she was born - she didn't do much then, but she sure was a cutie! I also remember how she used to walk around with her little bald head and smile. She was such a happy baby!

It has been such a joy to watch her grow into a beautiful young woman. She is a princess, a nurturer, beautiful, patient, kind and sincere 12 year old (tomorrow she'll be 12 - let's not rush it)!

At 12, she has a lot of responsibility. Her brothers look up to her and I can't think of a kinder spirit for them to emulate.

Also, she is freaking hilarious! Recently my sister (her mom) and I have found that she is now more like 'one of the girls' than the 'little girl.' I am so happy for her because I know she's excited about her teen years coming up, but it makes me sad too.

To me she's still that bald little girl hobbling around her mom's townhouse giggling as she runs from room to room. I love her so much and her smile transforms any room. I want to wish my beautiful niece the happiest birthday ever.

I love you Sarah Nicole!

No WAY!

Surely not. Has it really been ten years since Drekus graduated from high school? I still don't believe it. I think the whole thing was a sham to make us feel like we are older than we really are.



No - but I really can NOT believe he has been out of high school for ten years. Paris High School. We started dating the Spring of his senior year. Yep - it's been that long. And I love him more today than I have ever loved him. So even though it HAS apparently been the ten years they say it has, I look forward to the next 50 with this wonderful man.

Family Time!

We had a fabulous time with family we hadn't seen in a loooong time this weekend. Seriously I don't think it could have gone better. The rooms were filled with laughter - that of kids playing together (have you ever noticed that kids who've never met can become best friends almost instantly) and that of the adults who seem to have grown up over night....I must admit that I'm part of that crowd. It's a little strange too. I mean my sister and I both feel like we are still two kids talking in a room full of adults with our brother and our cousin Carla....but then they had to bring up age. What? There's no way our aunt is as old is she is.....and our uncle....no way. And our PARENTS....not them...yep - apparently they aged while we were sleeping. But it felt like we went back in time. We all missed our Grammy and saw some cool pictures of her, but it was such a great time. We HAVE to do it regularly from now on. Funny...I always thought that since we'd never get together at Grammy's house again it would never be the same. But it was....guess it's true - home is where your heart is! Can't wait to do it again! Here are a few pictures I took....



Aunt Cynthia, Uncle Doug, and Mom. Wish Uncle Eddie and Uncle Sonny could have been there. We missed you guys!



Mom and Cousin Carla - she and her girls are so beautiful...can't wait to see ya'll soon!

Family

We have a family get-together planned this weekend and we are excited! It will be low maintenance so everyone can just focus on getting acquainted/reconnected. Just a few of the smiling faces that will be there.....



They are going to have so much fun!!!

Last of Vacay

Ok so my intentions were to pose the last of the pics from vacation waaaaay back, but I didn't get around to it - so here are a few of us together. Can't wait to go back....



<3











k thanks bye!

Resort - Our Room

So you thought I was done. Oh no buddy - just gettin started! The following are pics of our room. Our wonderful, spacious, totally open concept room. We seriously soaked up all the ultra-modern decor at the resort - so our style!

That's right babe. Just relax and let it all soak in....



Yep - couch with a chaise in our room. It was awesomeness!



AND a sitting area - breakfast overlooking the ocean anyone? Yea...thought so.



Our patio was ginormous....and totally sucked us in. The first day we went out to read a few pages in our books and - yea - woke up 3 hours later. Man those waves will put. you. to. sleep. Do you hear me?



And of course, the view from our humongus patio......





I'm so not done with the recap - just done for now...more later! Peace

Meet Our Dream Home

Yes I would love to live on this resort. I kid you not. It is super duper awesomness to the nth power! E-Mail me if you want more info on it...seriously though! When we first arrived I thought for sure they had taken us to the wrong resort - I mean we may think we are celebrities, but....ahem....we're really not. (Shhh don't tell anyone!)

This was our view from the front of the resort. Hello paradise!



View from downstairs! Hang out - lay around - have a drink! Um, yes please!



No doubt everyone thought I was the biggest dork because I couldn't pull my mouth off the ground - this was the view on the way to our suite!



Lounge areas everywhere - sign me up. This is heaven!





No really....I'm in love with this place!



Seriously the most awesome resort!!!! Can't we live there?

VACAY!!!

We went on an anniversary vacation recently and the next series of posts will be reviews/recaps of that vacay. To start off, we were ecstatic to revist one hotel in particular the night before we flew out of DFW:

DFW Grand Hyatt

My sweet sister and her husband provided this hotel for us the night of our wedding and we were so in love with it we decided we HAD to go back!

And were we every impressed! At check in the ladies were so on it! Since it was our anniversary, they sent up a bottle of champagne and strawberries to the room for us - - Yummy and so sweet!



Then we told them we were planning to go to dinner and they told us to stop by the Concierge desk on our way out and they would suggest a few places. Wow - when we came back down, there were menus for 3 fabulous restaurants and directions for each waiting for us. They are on it, let me tell you!

Then we went to the room - Oh the room - it's fab for sure!



The living area was so large. It had a desk with a phone and convenient internet access - - no no no - this is vacation - no computer (this is what I had to repeat to myself constantly)!



The couch was super comfy and the decor was modern. Love!



The bedroom was Nieeeece! There was a chaise in there and everything. I think I've shared enough pics - Oh wait....nuh uh...I gotta show you the bathroom. Yes, the bathroom. It's awesome!





Told ya...what a way to start our vacay!

Dad

Happy Father's Day to my Dad! I thought a lot about what to post about Dad for his special day. So much of what we honor is his perseverence through his stroke recovery over the last two years.

Today, though, I want to change it up a bit. Because you see - my Dad has always been the best. A few of his awesome qualities that all of his kids agree on are:

1. His is an honest man. In today's society it's so easy to find people eager to cut corners to save a few bucks or to tell little white lies when no one will know the difference. Our Dad has never been one to do this. He will take the long road every day and say things that the rest of us refuse to when he feels you deserve to hear the truth.

2. Humility. I don't think I have ever heard my Dad brag or boast about himself. I have though a lot about this and he accepts congratulations graciously when he wins a tennis match or gets an A in his class, but he never brings up his successes. This is a good lead in to #3.

3. He is a God-fearing man. See Dad grew up in a Muslim country and accepted Jesus later in life, but his walk in Christ is one of the strongest I've ever witnessed. He understands that nothing happens by chance and that every step forward we take is because of God; and with every step backward God is with us - teaching us.

In could go on for days on all the things we admire and love about our Dad, but the bottom line is that he is the best. I could never imagine growing up in a different home. Our parents provided for us and taught us so much about life. They are always there when we need them, and they never make our problems seem trivial.

So today on Father's Day, we want to say we love you Dad and thanks for being you!

"To whom much is given, much is required."