It's 2021. How 'bout an update?

Well howdy! Welcome to the Jacksons of Kuwait blog 2021! It's been some time since our last update so we'll try to cram it all in. Maybe do several updates.

We had a small but enjoyable Christmas in our new home just the 4 of us. Both girls received bikes from Santa and we all had a fun time opening gifts and being together. It was warm enough on Christmas Eve to go to the Hotel VIP club and pool next door which we have access too so we had some fun in the sun as well.

The excitement of present opening.

Polar Express in Pajamas!

We enjoyed Christmas crackers with some friends on Christmas Eve.

New Years was more subdued. We celebrated the Eve with our social sponsors by going out to a Mexican restaurant which was honestly a great highlight. If it hadn't been during Covid this would seem sad but hey this is how things are now. We got home with plenty of time for a normal bedtime routine with the girls and we stayed up until midnight to witness fireworks and calm our crying, woken children. In the morning we ate delicious, homemade cinnamon rolls and decided this would be a new tradition for New Years. No one's New Year Resolution of "eat better" actually starts on January 1 amiright?

Doing a superhero workout

View from our local beach at low tide.

We discovered a new park.

No better place to enjoy a cookie than the kitchen counter.

January was the first real month of living in Kuwait. Kiersten and the girls mostly stayed home while Scott went to work. The girls started to venture out more, walk to the hotel for swimming or riding in to work with Scott so they could have the car. Making friends picked up slightly with more trips to the Embassy Playground and Mackenzie has become a popular friend there. Scott and Kiersten participated in a 2v2 Beach Volleyball Tournament during MLK weekend and Scott and his partner made it to the final game! Mackenzie had a blast being around other kids the entire day and Finley did surprisingly well without a nap that day. 

Christmas jammies that arrived in January were ordered November 10.

Harry Potter Yoga!

Treated ourselves to Five Guys one day.

Having fun at a birthday party for a neighbor.

Pizza and movie night got a little out of hand one week...

Waiting for a fountain show with friends.

Hide and seek at our little playground.

Hanging at the beach.

Made a cheesecake just because.

Volleyball battle wounds.

February the weather has started to turn warmer already which is sooner than normal according to some people here. We finished up some home projects including building a kitchen island with IKEA furniture not originally intended as an island but it turned out incredibly well. Our next big project had been converting a space in the basement as a theater room. We're mostly there and are already enjoying our new room. We've also completely rearranged the main floor of the house and moved a lot of furniture around, going up and down stairs. Over the Valentine's/Presidents Day weekend Kiersten ran a personal, individual half marathon and finished in 1:52:53, a personal best! Scott and the girls had been very supportive of her early morning runs for weeks and gave her a great welcome and literal finish line when she came home.

Girls only trip to IKEA

Dinner with friends

Setting up our new theater room

Finley in timeout is simultaneously adorable and heartbreaking.

Doing a science project about ice melting.

Another birthday party!

Playing at the beach

Impromptu pizza and movie night while Daddy worked late.

BurgerFi lunch!

Scott received a Church calling as the Self-Reliance teacher and Kiersten eventually was called as the Young Women's Secretary. Church is still mostly virtual so Scott teaches his class over the computer every Wednesday evening. Mackenzie and Finley started taking swim lessons and we are already seeing improvements in just 2 weeks. Mackenzie was also accepted into Kindergarten at the American United School (AUS) here in Kuwait not far from our home. We are very excited for this new stage of her life and have our fingers crossed that when school starts in the Fall it will be in person. Finley has been gaining confidence in her speaking and has been adding a new word to her repertoire almost daily.

The Mackenzie Update:

• She has been reading more with us and by herself. It's starting to click!
• She wrote Kiersten a note where she sounded out a new word and wrote it down phonetically. That was a first!
• She is still incredibly inquisitive.
  
  
  
• She is very personable and makes new friends easily. Kiersten has been kept on her toes learning all the new names of the many new friends.
• In January she attended 2 birthday parties on the same day. She has another birthday party scheduled to attend this month. So happy she is connecting with other kids!

The Finley Report:

• New words! Literally she amazes us each day with some new word, usually taught to her by Mackenzie. Some words include: wow, up, shoe, bump, apple, bear-bear (which is our word for pacifier and it sounds like 'behba') jugo (Spanish for juice), hat, hot (these 2 are very similar) 'I love you' (or 'I wa wa' as she pronounces it) and poop. Yes, poop.
• She has become intensely shy around other kids. Its usually at the Embassy playground when there are more kids around and more she is unfamiliar with. If they get too close to her she'll burst into tears and come running to Mom. She is currently the complete opposite of her sister who runs towards the others to play, Finley would rather be on her own.
• We've started the pacifier weening process this weekend. We took it away at naps and 2/3 days have been tears and crying for long periods. It was weird because the second day she said, "no behba" and went down fine. It was day 3 that she had another meltdown even though she said, "no behba".  She gets it just not completely.
  
• She is finally to an age where both she and Mackenzie can play together alone without any interference or referring from a parent and we have been taking FULL advantage of that. Making dinner, reading a book, etc. It's so fun to hear them playing together peacefully and happily. Utter bliss.

Quirks of Kuwait: Home Edition!

• Some of the placement of electrical outlets in this house make NO SENSE. Like right in front of the entrance for the stairs. What would you put there? Or one a tiny wall where nothing is convenient instead of the large wall where something might actually need to be plugged in!
• The faucet in the Master Bath is backwards. You turn the knob right for hot and left for cold. The colors on the faucet however are opposite. Right side is blue and left side is red. The Kitchen faucet colors are backwards but works like it should.
• The new theater room has a column which partially separates it from the bigger playroom. Why didn't the builders just made the wall longer? It will remain a mystery.
• Our house is directly next to the gym which is awesome for proximity but... the basement wall is the wall for the racketball court so we can hear people playing which is only annoying at night.

Each day we get more settled in our new home and life here in Kuwait. We almost know the time difference between us and Virginia without having to look it up and can coordinate a video chat without interrupting anyone's sleep schedule. We are also building our food storage just in case things shut down here again as cases are on the rise with Kuwait's second wave. But until that time, see you later!

Here's what food storage for an expat looks like with small kids.
So much mac and cheese!