I can't believe November is zooming by so quickly. I had all these plans to get gift projects done this month and I find that I have only done 1 of those projects (robes for the kids). Now it is Thanksgiving week and my first year making the meal! I'm hoping to get quite a bit done this week and the long weekend, since Ali is "off" work (somewhat... he doesn't have to teach anyway).

I started making homemade cream cheese this month with my homemade yogurt. Oh man, it's so good. The kids love it, which is great because they sometimes do and sometimes don't love yogurt, although they love drinkable yogurt (called Laban around here), which is what I do with the yogurt I make. I'm having so much fun making the cream cheese (which is really no work at all, I just have to strain some yogurt overnight), that I am thinking of venturing to other cheeses. Too bad you can't get raw milk here. *sigh* Maybe someday Ali will let me have a milking goat. :p

I think I'm safe in saying I'm still at a loss as to what to make my mother for Christmas. Last year I made them a photo book, but it's a ton of work and I don't know if I can get it done in time! I could blow up some prints for her too.... and I wanted to craft something for her, since I am for everyone else except Adam, since I don't know what I could craft for him (um, crocheted keyboard cozy? just doesn't sound up his alley LOL). And Ali... I guess we need to decide if we are exchanging gifts this year. We spent so much on airfare for our coming adventures, it seems a little silly.

Leila has progressed in her drawing lately. Much behind many of her peers, she's started doing human figures, very rudimentary, but I'm proud of her. She's an interesting child. Very in to "math" games and activities. Sorting, counting, puzzles... she has been doing a lot of make believe play lately, which is another new thing. I thought Leila might have been moving towards sleeping in her own room; she slept every night in there when my mom was here (and sleeping in there), but she hasn't slept a wink in there since! Ah well, I would miss her anyway.

Elyas has been just grabbing words all over the place. He speaks so clearly for a 20 month old, and uses a lot of big words correctly. He's also getting really good at speaking his mind. He's been using proper pronouns (first person, etc) for about 3 months now. He's picking up Arabic better than Leila, he's verbally motivated. I'm thinking we've got a little charmer here on our hands, with the strong verbal background and those charismatic dimples. Like a little Bill Clinton. He seems very intelligent, grasping concepts that seem above him (though it may be just his ability to communicate that he gets them!). He has been throwing the tantrums lately, whew!