Morocco- Sanae's house

I thought that I didn't take any pictures in Morocco, I really only took pictures one afternoon at Sanae's house because we were outside and it was a nice sunny day and Paris was pretty dreary weather, but still when I uploaded and sorted through pictures this morning I have quite the list I will break this into several posts otherwise it will take a few days to compose.

  We begin with a flip book of sorts of the Babies B on Sanae's swing.

Iman trying to either behead Garfield or figure out how to make him dance, you be the judge.

And a few pictures of the kids checking out the local flora and fauna

So that's all I have from Morocco, as usual I spent most of my time either stuffing my face or trying to escort the kids up and down the myriad of staircases.  Iman was determined to master stairs on this trip and made sure she practiced again and again... and again.  Frantic parents lead to lack of photos, but by the end Iman could almost be trusted to safely navigate a flight of stairs on her own.

  Our visit was mainly time visiting family, we only went to the souk in Casablanca on the day we left, otherwise all of our time was with family.  This was also our shortest trip to Morocco, we were only there for a week.  Everyone says it gets easier, but so far it seems each trip gets more difficult, the babies were troopers during the plane travels, but sleeping in Oujda was a bit of a nightmare for me and the kids.

and the rest of November

I am feeling behind in blogging, here is the lump of the rest of November before I jump into our trip to Morocco and Paris.  Here is a collection of some pictures from our last few warm fall days in the backyard.

Can you tell they are up to no good?  I discovered afterwards that they were playing with sap from the tree... as Iman would say "yucky poo!"

A rare hug that wasn't followed by someone hugging until the other one falls over.

Nick and Amine had fun playing with the babies in the backyard, it's hard to believe that Amine raked an hour before I shot these videos, peak fall.

   

Bibi has mad skills for soccer, or at least he is in training for the mad skills

Two videos from Thanksgiving at the Silvestro's, very cute ring around the Rosie and chase each other down the hall (favorite game of toddlers next to walking up and down stairs)

On a side note, is there another blog host that is better than blogspot?  It honestly takes me a full day to do a post with a lot of pictures and videos, some of that is due to two toddlers, but the uploading speed is maddening.

a perfect fall day

I have been sick this past week, and Amine was out of town Sunday-Friday so I am a little sapped of energy and witty commentary, but I wanted to get this post out... it has been sitting half finished for the past week.

I couldn't take watching Iman struggle to keep her hair out of her lunch, so I gave her her first trim on Monday.  Now we can see those big brown eyes unobstructed.

Bibi plays peekaboo from behind our headboard.

Iman tries on Baba's driving hat.

Bibi hitches a ride

A few snapshots from my Uncle Bob's 70th birthday party.  Apparently, Amine is selling Panda books.

The perfect fall day in our backyard

Evil Kenivel

Our little builder

Sylvie gets down

It's official, she's got the Tremblay hips

Random snapshots

Between yoga teacher training and Boston skipping fall and moving directly to wintery mix I haven't taken too many pictures lately, but here is the hodgepodge I have managed to take.  Excuses, excuses... i need to get off my butt and take more pictures and do more than one post a month.

This picture is actually from August, but I just dug it out from my phone, I love that Bibi is in a perfect Kung Fu cat stance.  We need to get him signed up for Yao's classes.

The babies have been testing out their Halloween looks.  Iman really likes becoming Eeyore and making cute donkey noises.

Bibi, on the other hand, is more focused on this annoying hat on his head.  The Halloween shots will have to be fast and furious before Bibi frees himself.

The Benali household is recycling some toys from our neighborhood.  I found a few "free" items outside and the babies seem to appreciate my thriftiness.

Iman checks out the new wheels.

So the next day I picked up the little deuce coupe that was also free so both babies could cruise the patio together.  The wheels going in opposite directions may pose a problem in the actual mobility of their car, but they don't seem to mind.

Bibi and Iman have learned the names of many body parts... here Bibi points out the eyes as he says it... I know I still need video, trust me people.

Crouching tiger hidden Bibi.

Iman in her United Colors of Benetton, riding her bike on a lovely fall day.

Some cute games the babies have discovered in the kitchen... dress the cat.

Figgy is a very patient... or maybe the word is tolerant cat.

Our favorite game is chase the brother/sister.  They love this one, circling the table until they forget who was chasing who, turn around and are thoroughly surprised when they run into each other.  Also, if anyone can translate what Iman asks Bibi that he shakes his head no in response, I would love to know.

September

Bad blogger, it has been too long, but for good or bad there haven't been milestones anyone has missed.  The babes have a few more words (nose, horse, cow, bus, cookie, ball and balloon to name a few), but none of them seem to be caught on film yet.  Otherwise, not too much has changed, but here are our latest pictures including a visit from Grammy... who somehow thinks she is a "Mimi".

Bibi proves he can still fit in small spaces

Iman loves her cats

more fun uplighting at Harvard Square

boo!

Bibi enjoys the swings at York Beach in Maine

Iman enjoys meeting the local "woof woofs"

Some fun on Beau and Katie's porch during my mom's visit

chair surfing is Iman's latest sport

a whole new version of tummy time with Grammy

The babes take turns on the rocking bike in our backyard

So this is photo evidence of round one of Babies' fun with Vaseline.  I was in good enough spirits to take a few pictures before clean up... I was much less amused when they got into the Vaseline again four hours later.  For those of you who are curious, or may someday find yourselves in a similar situation, dish soap works wonders for their clothes and hair.

I think it may be the curse of Sylvie's clothing.  The first day I put Iman in one of Sylvie's shirts she had her butt paste incident, now the first day wearing this shirt of Sylvie's, Vaseline incident.  Is it possible she is making a statement against hand-me-downs?

fun with Uncle Beau

The babies had a super cute kissing cousin frenzy, this is a little snippet of kisses.

last but not least Grammy dancing with Iman, the girl loves to jump!