Museum of Islamic Art--Pearl Exhibit

Posing in the windows of the Museum of Islamic Art

24 April 2010

We went to the Museum of Islamic Art to see the Special Exhibit now on display. The Special Exhibit is entitled Pearls, and it highlights the history of pearls both in Qatar and around the world. We were able to see pearls from many different shells, and we learned that it is parasites/worms rather than a grain of sand that causes a pearl to form.

We had so much fun seeing how many different colors of pearls there are and not only jewelry but clothes, helmets, masks, shields, and even a carpet! The Indian Baraoda carpet was on display, made with over one million pearls along with other precious gems.

close-up of the Indian Baroda carpet

No pictures were allowed in the exhibit, but we still found time to pose before and after.
(Christine was able to take more pictures, which will come later.)

Brynn showing us her strength

Lily against the dusty Doha backdrop

Striking another pose

Sarah, Abbey & Brynn

Jessica & Angelina

Ashley finding out that even a seemingly little person starts to feel heavy after a while

Missionary Package Part 2

I did pull out my camera and took a couple shots right near the end of our prepartion of the missionary packages. Here are the couple shots:

April 10, 2010 Missionary Packages

April 10, 2010

Preparing Missionary Packages

We met at Lindsay's place. The girls started dropping in a few at a time. The last few were Brynn and Lily and boy were they worked up. I say worked up for lack of a better words. Really they were sugared out, hyper, silly, giggly, and all they wanted to do was talk about how the place smelled of frosting. The mere mention of cookies would have been detrimental to our plans to remain within the hour time limit. We never stay in the time limit. Sorry Moms and Dads. And I forgot my camera, again.

We prepared a thoughtful package for five different missionaries. When I was a missionary, cookies were much appreciated. However, I do believe the spiritual level of the missionaries since then has risin along with the "bar". We thought they'd appreciate some personal messages from the girls with a few object lessons to aid them when they are out of ideas of their own. The topics of the messages ranged from "I miss you!" to appropriate versions of the Roses are Red poems. Appropriate because the girls are still ages 8-11. No harm in mentioning the word 'love' right?
To tie things up we quizzed them. All were eager to answer especially since I was holding a platter of oatmeal chocolate chip cookies sprinkled with Hershey's chocolate eggs above my head. As I lowered it the girls started floating closer to me. There must be magnetic powers between females and chocolate. I found a safe way to sort of drop the platter in the middle of the table and once it hit the surface the girls suddenely resembled sharks on a feeding frenzy. It was scary!

We encouraged the girls to invite a non member friend to our next activity. We also made it very clear to them that should any non members attend that our best behavior would be required. That means no ear whispering with the hand cover followed by a giggle or exclusions. They understood and I hope we have a good turnout for next time. They are jolly girls and really get along well together. We missed Abby and Morgan this time and hope to see them soon.

And last but not least, our youngest soon to be Activity Days member is turing one year old on the 22nd. Happy Birthday Leoni!

March 13- Sewing skills

The Sewlympics!

We had the girls stretch their sewing limits this time at the Sewlympics. Since we were working so hard, there was no time for photos. Here are the events we completed:

• sewing on a button
• unpicking
• threading a needle
• threading a sewing machine
• sewing on a sewing machine
• hand stitching

Some already knew what to do, but some had done no sewing at all and really learned fast.

For our snack we had cut up green peppers in the shape of shamrocks and some cauliflower too (just in case the girls didn't like peppers!) Some hated both. Some loved both. The ranch dip helped them gobble it all down. Since I have no girls of my own, I love to see them when they are all chatting away and being so interested in babies, I mean Leoni, and. . . well . . . just being so girlish. It's great!

March 4, 2010- Music

If Leoni's around after (or during) any activity, that's where the attention is!

Ummmmm!

Here's Jessica filling out her personal history sheet.

The girls are brushing up their music leading skills. Fortunately they all said they already knew how to lead music! The moms have really done a good job with these girls in a lot of ways. I am surprised at every activity at what I find they can already do.

Here's Angelina dreaming away to the lulling music.
Ashley fills out a spotlight form.

Morgan looks exhausted.
We'll miss Ginny. She left our Activity Days when she turned 12 on the 22nd and she's leaving for Reno, Nevada on the 31st. Bye Ginny! We love you!

February 13, 2010

We worked on our personal history today and baked a recipe that L brought from her family favorites. We'll rethink using knives since three of the girls cut their fingers. They were troopers. Not one tear.