Tag Archives: kids

Sep15

Quick Fix Dinner

Posted on September 15, 2014 by samoorstuff

There are times in every mother’s life where all she needs is a quick fix dinner because some activity ran too late and bedtime is approaching and there isn’t much time to prepare a “proper” Dinner.

On days like these I often turn to a simple mix & Match of veggies.

Those days I open up my freezer and it’s vegetables feast!!

So the menu is:
Green Peas & Corn
Brussels Sprouts
“House” Salad with oil & vinegar dressing
Edemame
Cream of Mushroom Soup

Healthy, filling and quick dinner what more can a mom ask for after a hectic day?

So the next time you’re stuck and don’t have time remember Mix & Match what you have and concentrate on Making Life Memorable.

Sep13

Fun @ Art Space

Posted on September 13, 2014 by samoorstuff

Fun @ Art Space

I hope that yesterdays post made you even more curious and intrigued to learn more about Art Space in Galleria 2000-Salmiya.

Between my busy schedule and the girls its been really difficult to make it out to Art Space and enjoy the full experience until last week everything changed!

The perfect date, time and artwork!! My husband, two girls and I head to Galleria 2000 and live it up.

The kids workshop we went to was 5pm-7pm with Mr. Salem, A man full of life and enthusiasm and the ability to captivate the children to follow his step-by-step tutorial of what seemed like a difficult painting at the time.

The girls sat eagerly with their cute Art Space aprons on watching Mr. Salem’s every movement as he began to set everything up for them from paints, canvases and brushes. It was hard for me to resist not going into the studio to join in the fun!!

Then the fun began as he started to explain to the children every step, his interaction with the children made it even more fun as they also stated their opinions and choices. With occasional one on one help, especially for Zeenah (she is after all only 4!) every child felt his special touch and assistance.

Every child had added their own version of what they wanted and cam out with an amazing canvas that’s going to go up on our wall. You can actually see the girls personality in each paining.

I am extremely impressed with their capabilities and with their capacity of following instructions. All this while my husband sat comfortably in the café enjoying the girls enthusiasm from behind the window and sipping our coffee.

Needless to say we ALL went home happy.

But this was not enough for me!!! I wanted in on the fun too, for days all I can think of is “They have adult classes!!”, “this is my kinda place”, “I need to go again”

While talking to my best friend and how much I love the place it suddenly dawns on me!! “WE HAVE TO GO!!” So we set it our next “Date night” is going to be at Art Space….

We found the perfect time to join the class and our Painting conveniently had my favorite quote of all time

Off course as soon as I walk in I’m greeted by the gorgeous Sarah and Salem, immediately feel like I’ve known them for years. My best friend walks in and she feels the same way!!

We make our way into the art studio Apron and all and meet our Instructor Lamia. A truly adorable lady that made painting seem like it was a piece of cake!! Oh which we were served by one of the other instructors, just because.

As I’m sitting there painting my background all I keep thinking too myself is “I can live here and how are they going to keep me away!”

Sure enough as we follow Lamia’s steps, instructions and techniques while choosing our own little changes and tweaks the painting starts to look more and more presentable than ever expected.

This all wouldn’t have been remotely possible without Lamia (our instructor) and the Art Space team’s continuous support, encouragement and cheering.

To that I have great honor in presenting my “first” work of art without complete embarrassment.

Here I am proud by Making Life Memorable one canvas at a time. Surely not the last of them!

Sep5

One week down!!!

Posted on September 5, 2014 by samoorstuff

One week down!!!

OOOHHHHHHOOOOOO!!!

We survived the first week of school chaos. Between the traffic, figuring out classes, getting the new uniforms and settling into routine I think we did pretty good.

I’m jumping for joy as to how convenient this year is going to be with both girls having the same schedule and I don’t need to spend 4 hours a day on the road from one location to another.

Off course with that I had to have some sort of celebration at the end of their first week.

The girls decided that they wanted to go out for ice cream after school and that’s exactly what we did.

The funny thing is they insisted on having a big dessert.

We therefore went to Chilis (one of our favorite restaurant choices) Conveniently there’s one located at Al-Mohalab Mall next to their school.

They ordered the Chocolate Molten cake with ice cream while I was having the BBQ Chicken Salad. After about 4 bites of their dessert they looked at me and said “Can we share your salad”. I am truly blessed that my children eat healthy and would actually turn their dessert away and devour a salad.

I must have done something right!!

We then walked around the mall, went into makeup stores and put lip gloss on. Went into The body shop and tried almost everything that had a “TRY ME” sticker on it. And just giggled all the time.

Then it was time to head out before the security had enough of us!

Next choice was the infamous “Color Me Mine”

We are addicted to that place and soon will run out of choices of what to paint because we pretty much painted almost every mug, plate, bowl that they have.

The trick about what I do at color Me mine to make my money worth while is that the girls MUST choose something useful.

We used to do the figurines but then I just have a shelf full of “STUFF” and at the rate we go I’m going to run out of space. So it must be something we can use. Therefore we have plates of different sizes, bowls and mugs!

Let me tell you we can spend so much time there it’s crazy.

Now that the girls are older they really take their time and it’s not just about painting with colors over each other.

Trust me we have a bunch of Icky brown bowls from mixing colors. Now the girls chose colors wisely and start to make designs on their ceramics.

I was especially impressed with Zeenah on how she was handling her cup and taking her time in making it pretty.

By the end of this day we had a calm ride home, talking about what a wonderful day we had.

I am so privileged to have girls that appreciate me and here’s to “Making Life Memorable” as a family!

Aug27

Back to school Countdown

Posted on August 27, 2014 by samarhajjaj

Back to school Countdown

To say that I’m excited that we have less than 2 weeks away for the girls to go back to school is an understatement.

Even though I have managed to keep a very good routine between the 2 hour homework morning sessions, free play, going out, crafts, seeing friends and swimming lessons it’s a lot of effort. Doesn’t leave much time for me and work.

With the girls back to school I think I’m most excited that I get MY routine back a good stretch of time in the morning to go to work and dedicate time to the things I love.

So because of that my excitement I was inspired to do a School countdown craft.

The first thing I did was make print out cut outs for the girls to color.

I decided to do a 10 day countdown to “Blast off”

I then cut them out using a ZigZag scissors for fun…

The girls then colored each day and the big “Back To School”

After organizing them in order we found a nice place on the wall to hang it in (it was a challenge finding an empty wall in the playroom). We used a ribbon and hung the paper with mini clothespins I had in my magical craft cabinet of “I’m going to need this one day”

And Now we have a countdown that at the end of each day we take down one paper in anticipation of School.

I hope that this gives you inspiration to do something in Making Life Memorable

Aug26

Movies & Flops

Posted on August 26, 2014 by samarhajjaj

Movies & Flops

I love going to the movies….the dark and silent theatres, the popcorn and the excitement of the unknown. Unfortunately sometimes we’re not sure what to expect and that can be a bad thing rather than a pleasant surprise…..

There was one incident of going to the movie that was so bad that my friends and I walked out and it was back when I was in college. To my disappointment it was a movie that had one of my favorite actors “Johnny Depp”. I never thought I would go to a movie that could be this bad.

The first few minutes we thought ok this is going to get better….it has to get better Johnny Depp is in it….then we realized this is a joke and isn’t getting better. The movie was Ed Wood. Such a waste of resources and good talent.

Thankfully there were very little complaints from that movie back in 1994 to now. Back then I used to go to the movies a whole lot I was young and FREEEEEEEEE.

Now with kids things have changed, I don’t go to the movies as often and if I do 95-99% of the time I’m going to a kids movie and not an adult’s movie. The 5% of the time is being blessed with a best friend that would insist on a “girls” movie night.

So needless to say I’ve probably seen every Disney, Universal and whatever other children’s production made. We have Barbie movies, princesses, postmen, fairies, animated and everything under the sun. So far the girls and I have been blessed with fun and exciting movies. Until a few days ago when we went and watched “The 7th Dwarf”……It was the worst kids movie I have ever seen. No really it was sooooo BAD!!

The concept of the movie was cute. The clumsiest of the dwarves is the hero but the execution was terrible.

Funny enough the girls liked it and were oblivious to the tackiness and inappropriateness. I mean why would they have a part where one of the characters wants to commit suicide, Seriously the dragon stood at the side of the cliff with a rope around his neck. WHAT were they THINKING!!! Totally inappropriate for an animated feature.

So if you haven’t seen the movie you are lucky! If you were planning too DON’T it’s a waste of time and money.

So go ahead and find a better way of Making Life Memorable because this movie won’t be one of them.

Aug25

Fish Market

Posted on August 25, 2014 by samarhajjaj

Fish Market

One of the things I remember doing with my father (May he rest in Peace) other than actually fishing is going to the fish market.

The stink the wet floors and seafood galore….It was a mix of stinky and fun all put together. Quality time that I truly cherished. Only now does it hold great value in my heart…..didn’t realize it at the time.

The nice thing is that these days it’s been upgraded. The Fish Market next to Souq Sharq is somewhat cleaner than the one I remember going too. So it was time to pass on the tradition to the girls and take them to the Fish Market.

I let them wear their rain boots for fun to make sure there were not complaints about dirtier their shoes. All the people there were extra friendly, I’m pretty sure they love seeing kids there and showing of their fish knowledge to the little ones.

Off course there’s always that one guy that lets them touch all sorts of things on the counter…. The girls chose to pose holding the jumbo shrimps and so shine their personalities:)

They may not realize it now but this day really helped in transferring my experience with my dad into Making Life Memorable for them.

Aug21

Outings around Kuwait

Posted on August 21, 2014 by samarhajjaj

Outings around Kuwait

Spending a long hot summer in Kuwait is a challenge when you want to make sure your kids are entertained…. As much as you are creative in the home they really do need a change of scenery before driving you crazy.

The next challenge is the budget….there’s always the battle of doing things free vs. paying and also things that are meaningful.

So in this list you’re going to find Free options, cost effective & frugal suggestions and off course those that add up to a “budget”

1. Discovery Mall Play Area
2. Go out for lunch (My girls choices are wither Chillis or Red Lobster and for a pricier choice Sushi at Genki in Alrayya)
3. Go to Fantasy world or Toys R Us for fun (No purchase necessary)
4. Go to Ikea and let the kids play for free in their play area
5. Go out for Breakfast or Brunch (our personal favorites are Cocoa Room or Bredz)
6. Baroue Play area
7. Kidzania
8. Color Me Mine
9. Go have dessert
10. Go to Al-Othman Museum
11. Go to the movies.
12. Magic Planet
13. Go to 100 fils store and give your child KD 1.000 (that adds up to 10 items of their choice)
14. Go out for Ice Cream (our choices are either Marble Slab in Jabriya or Scoop a cone in Dasma)
15. Go to Q8 Bookstore for a fun reading experience. (located in Bayt lothan Instagram @Q8bookstore)
16. Go grocery shopping… Make it fun by letting the kids push the cart, read the list and collect the items.
17. Go to Fun Quest (upstairs in Sultan Center Hawalli)
18. Go Bowling
19. Go play mini Golf (Discovery Mall)
20. Get a Day pass at one of the “clubs” (cornice, Palms….etc)
21. Go to the scientific center
22. Go on a fashion trying outfits (no purchase necessary)
23. Attend one of the workshops at Art Space Café (Instagram @ARTSPACEQ8)
24. Go to Jareer Bookstore
25. Go Ice Skating
26. Go to friend’s house
27. Go to KDD factory
28. Go to a photographer and have a photo shoot
29. Go to Tariq Rajab Museum
30. Go to Early Learning Center
31. Go to the Avenues and do some window shopping
32. Go to Kuwait Towers
33. Go to Aqua Park or Messila water Park
34. Go to the Salon and get Mani, Pedi, Haircut….etc
35. Go to the Fish Market
36. Take the Ferry to Failaka Island
37. Go to Infunity
38. Go to National Museum
39. Go to a department store and smell perfumes for fun
40. Go to Kuwait National Library
41. If the Weather permits some real “outdoor” Suggestions are
42. Shaab Entertainment Park
43. Entertainment City
44. Area parks
45. Duck Pond park in Al-Shaab
46. Have a picnic
47. Outside play area at the Marina Crescent
48. Go rock climbing in Marina Waves
49. Outside play area at Souq Sharq
50. Go for a walk on the beach
51. Go to Shuwaikh Beach

Hope you found this list helpful and assisted in Making Life Memorable

Aug20

How we spent our Summer in Kuwait

Posted on August 20, 2014 by samarhajjaj

How we spent our Summer in Kuwait

I can’t believe there’s just 2 weeks left for my girls to go back to school. I feel like it was just yesterday that it was their last day and I was beginning to hyperventilate thinking how will I keep them occupied.

Well In my frenzy I looked up many online resources to make sure I never ran out of ideas. Amazingly we always had something to do!!

Our days were kept at a routine basis. First thing breakfast…. Lots of times the girls helped out in the kitchen which was an event on it’s own!!!

Then there’s always the list of “Summer Homework” assigned to them. Throughout the year I buy workbooks as soon as I see them because I never know if I’ll find them when I need them. I usually have the girls do 2 pages in addition to reading and a small writing assignment for Jennah…

We then move on to free play…..this usually involves a big mess which they know they will have to clean (thankfully that takes a while so it’s also in the category of something to do) Or we have a suggestion and negotiation of what they can or can’t play/do. Check out my list of Things to do Indoors with Kids.

Off course there’s always the outing possibility…. Unfortunately that most of what we’ve done is always indoors (with the exception of swimming) because it’s just toooooo Hot in Kuwait. I’ll also have another list for you to check of Outings in Kuwait with Kids soon.

Hope this has inspired you in making your own lists for those future holidays coming up!

So go ahead and spend time with your kids while Making Life Memorable…

Mar31

Zeenah’s 4th Birthday

Posted on March 31, 2014 by samarhajjaj

Zeenah’s 4th Birthday

I sometimes feel like March is the end of celebration season for me. We go from the high of October through September with a break in January. Then the Rush of February and March then comes SILENCE! Until the cycle returns.

If you’ve been following me this past almost year then you know how serious I am about celebrations. If this is your first read you need to know that almost every “Occasion” post comes in many parts so stay tuned because I usually have A LOT to say and share.

I take pride in almost every planning detail of every event I host. No matter how small or big I must have something special. Thankfully I have instilled that same trait in my children and it has also rubbed off on my husband. The First step in my birthday planning process for the girls is to ask them what Theme they would like. Off course many times I “veto” and “probe” but many times I like the suggestion they come up with.

Zeenah declared her 4th birthday as a “Lady Bug” theme and I was oh too eager to oblige! So much I can work with I was over the moon!! As you can see I also managed to dress her up in theme (which she insisted on having her sister have the same dress too.) Over and above that she asked me to make her a ladybug crown because according to her the guests won’t know who the birthday girl is…. not sure why she would think that since everyone was coming because it was HER birthday….not that I minded off course!

The most exciting thought was the Piñata…. I used to dream about it!!! And oooohhhhh the use of paper Mache, Who doesn’t like a good old fashioned mess??

So stay tuned on all my DIYs, Pictures and fun of Making Life Memorable!

Feb19

Photo Booth

Posted on February 19, 2014 by samarhajjaj

Photo Booth

One of my favorite things to prepare for the girls’ birthdays are props for our DIY photobooth. There are companies out there that set it up for you but I like to do it myself and people nowadays are all photographers with their smart phones so they get to play and have fun on their own without a professional “probing”

We always have a theme for our birthdays so I always have to make sure that the props I make are related. Then I just add the usual things like funky sunglasses, Boas, decorative items that can be used as props.

For Zeenah’s 3rd birthday she wanted a monkey theme so I had printed out a template of a monkey mask.

I then cut out the outline of the mask on brown cardstock. The details of the face and ears with off-white paper.

The step of cutting out the eye holes evenly was a challenge but I managed to do it.

I added a little flower on the monkey’s ear and a little detail on the nose.

Off course the last step is adding the stick for kids to hold the mask up. I use craft sticks that have rounded tips (if I have them available or can find them) I have used the wooden skewers in the past but made sure I taped the sharp ends.

The next on my list was to make a sign to put on the Prop table. I was lucky to find funky frames at one of the local 100fils stores (the Kuwaiti equivalent of the dollar store) so I bought all the colors they had. I knew they would come in handy some day.

Lastly was the setup of the actual booth. We’re lucky to have a big garden that hosts our birthdays. We have an olive tree that provides the best branches to hang an empty frame border, balloons, paper chains and whatever else I can think of. Here’s me posing with my monkey sunglasses during Zeenah’s 3rd Birthday.

Jennah’s 7th birthday she had chosen a queen of hearts theme.
I absolutely and utterly enjoyed planning and decorating for it.
It was so hard to actually make decisions to STOP.
I had made lots of props for that. Queen of hearts hair & Crown, Heart lips, Cheshire cat smile, Mini Golden crown and Teedle Dee/Dum cap.

An Now it’s time to plan Zeenah’s 4th Birthday coming in March!!!

Its all about making life memorable!!