Tuesday, June 12, 2012

Two little feet, ten little toes


Two little feet, ten little toes,
Leave their impressions today.
Soon they will wear two little shoes,
And be running and jumping at play.
Two little feet, too little time,
Before they are walking to school,
Kicking a rock, or skipping a rope,
Wading a puddle or jumping a pool.
Two little feet, One little child,
Will soon go their own way,
But footprints in my mind recall,
They stood here yesterday.


Monday, June 11, 2012

Eleven Months and Walking

 Today we celebrate Eleven Months with our precious boy- Xavier!!!
This last month has been full for Xavier he has met tons of new people
and did great on his fifth international flight.
 Look at that handsome boy! He can now take some steps by himself- the longest he has gone is about 15steps and he has also walked to his dad for some Cheerios!




 Look at my angry face! 
 We are chewing on a cookie from Grandma Kantola. 

His teeth are bothering him but there are no new ones from the four he has.

 
Yummy Cookies!! He has been enjoying feeding himself. This month he has tried and enjoyed cookies, yogurt drops, Cheerios, green peas and Puff cereal.

Now that we are back in the states he is getting to try new foods and he is such a good eater. Even if he gives us a face he will eat what we give him. He has tried- Corn, Spinach, Oats, Blueberries, and Cherries.


What a long boy we have!

His new trick that he has done today is standing up and starting to walk with no help! 
He has also changed his crawling into no knees on the ground - 


Another thing he is working on is waving bye-bye. It started while he was having lunch. Once and a while he will actually do it to say good-bye. It is so funny to watch him look at his hand and get a big smile on his face.

Saturday, May 12, 2012

Around Doha

So right before we left Doha we went around and took in the sights while capturing some pictures.
 These are some of the many fishing, Dhow and other boats along the Corniche. 

  Look at the school of fish.




 







 Xavier and I next to the Pearl on the Corniche




 Zach and Xavier on the Corniche


A view of an area on the Corniche. 
The Corniche a long walking area on the harbor and it is lined with tons of palm trees and greenery. 


 A view of the Islamic Cultural Center / Fanar. 
This located right near the Souq Waquif and near the area called the Fabric Souq

I always got a kick out of the little characters around town that were traffic warnings or reminders. 

 I took the following pictures as we were driving along the Corniche.
 It is a really pretty drive and easy when it is the weekend. 








 Doha Skyline


 One of the few parks in Doha, Qatar located on the Corniche 

 This is the Amir's Offices 


 Here is Ric's Kitchen and this was the one place where we could go and get an American style Breakfast and other yummys. It was a great place to go on the weekend and you could go there during Ramadan but it felt like we were trying to sneak in to a secret society - We had to knock on the door and be let in to the building while they locked us inside. All food was for take-out only but it was still tasty!


I thought this was interesting - These were our water tanks for the apartment complex. 


Sunday, May 6, 2012

Water Time

So more times during the week I am fishing a little one out of a watery mess. I don't think we would ever have believed that our little guy would like water or baths since he carried on when he was tiny.


First it was the dog dishes - taken 3/3/2012







Then we moved on to water bottles mom forgot to close!  Taken 5/6/2012


 Look at that smile!





Wednesday, April 18, 2012

Finally after eight years

So the Doha Kantola family has exciting news!!!! 
Are you ready for it??? 

Eight Years Later (for me)
Seven houses or apartments
Six jobs between us 
Five fish tanks
Four cars
Three new countries added to our passports 
Two weddings and two furry Doxie pups
One handsome son added to our family


Are you really ready for it???


After some stress, tears and a week of fast moving through the chain we are coming home!!!!! Zach will be moving to a different company but doing what he does best. We are beyond ecstatic to be moving back to Colorado. The job will start sometime in May and we have a few more hurdles to jump through to get an exact date and we will let you know once we have that settled. The job is in Englewood and we are hoping to find a house/condo near by in Parker or the surrounding areas. If you know of a great deal let us know.


We can't wait to see you all and take in the Colorado sites again! 

Yahoo!!!







Tuesday, April 17, 2012

Amazing Chicken Enchiladas


These have become a staple at our house and oh so yummy! One night when I was up with Xavier I thought I would look up the recipe because getting good Mexican here is hard to do and I thought maybe I can try to make something at home. I looked at allrecipes.com and this was the most rated one there - Angela's Awesome Enchiladas.


Angela's Awesome Enchiladas

by MomSavedByGrace
Modified by Jennifer 
Prep Time: 45 Minutes    Cook Time: 1 Hour

Ingredients

  • 2 pounds skinless, boneless chicken breast meat - cut into chunks or 2 cups of shredded chicken
  • 1 (10.75 ounce) can condensed cream of chicken soup
  • 1 1/4 cups sour cream
  • 1/4 teaspoon chili powder
  • 1 tablespoon butter
  • 1 small onion, chopped
  • 1 (4 ounce) can chopped green chilies, drained
  • 1 (1.25 ounce) package mild taco seasoning mix
  • 1 bunch green onions, chopped, divided (we never seem to have these on hand)
  • 1 cup water
  • 1 teaspoon lime juice
  • 1/2 teaspoon onion powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
  • 5 (12 inch) flour tortillas
  • 3 cups Cheddar cheese, shredded, divided  OR Mozzarella cheese if you are using green chile
  • 1 (10 ounce) can enchilada sauce OR can of mild green chile enchilada sauce
  • 1 (6 ounce) can sliced black olives (optional)

Directions

  1. Place the chicken in a large pot and add water to cover. Bring to a boil over high heat, then reduce the heat to medium-low, cover, and simmer until the chicken pieces are no longer pink, about 10 minutes. Shred chicken by placing two forks back to back and pulling meat apart. Set the shredded chicken aside. 
  2. Heat the butter in a skillet over medium heat. Stir in the onion; cook and stir until the onion has softened and turned translucent, about 5 minutes. Add the shredded chicken, chopped green chilies, taco seasoning, half of the bunch of chopped green onion, and water. Allow to simmer for 10 minutes. Stir in the lime juice, onion powder, and garlic powder; simmer for an additional 10 minutes. 
  3. Meanwhile, Combine the cream of chicken soup, sour cream, and chili powder in a saucepan. Bring to a simmer over low heat, stirring occasionally, then turn off the heat and cover to keep warm. 
  4. Preheat an oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Stir 1 cup of the soup mixture into the skillet with the chicken mixture. Spread the remaining soup mixture on the bottom of a 9x13 inch baking dish.
  5. Fill each tortilla with chicken mixture. Sprinkle shredded cheese over the chicken filling before folding the tortillas, reserving half of the shredded cheese for topping the enchiladas. Fold tortillas over the filling and place seam-side down in the prepared pan.
  6. Pour enchilada sauce evenly over the enchiladas. Cover with the remaining 1 1/2 cups of shredded cheese. Sprinkle the reserved chopped green onions and the sliced olives on top of the cheese. Bake in the preheated oven until filling is heated through and the cheese is melted and bubbling, about 25 minutes.
 

Wednesday, April 11, 2012

9 Months

Mr Xavier has been going strong for 9 months now!
Stats from the check-up 8.93 Kgs (19.68 Pounds) and 74 cm (2.4 Feet) in Length 

Zach and little Zach! Looks at those smiles!


I think he got tired playing with all his toys. Poor guy! 

One of his favorites right now is the bath toy set he got from Josh and the girls. 
He also loves his Baby Boy book he got from Vicki and Chip. He will go looking for it in his room and loves listening to the story.




"My Auntie Rocks" how about yours?
 
You can't see but I am sporting three teeth - One on top and Two on the bottom
Found the hand print on his head when I went and got him from his nap. 
I think he slept hard, what do you think? 


It's rough work trying to be cute mom! 

First Time trying whole bananas ! Yum!
 
 He loves eating solid foods and tries new foods as we are able to find them here in Doha. He still likes carrots, acorn squash, squash, sweet potatoes (both white and orange), pears, peaches, mango, and bananas. He also tried green beans again and this time around he was okay with them.

Enjoying our first Teething Cookie and we like it! 

He makes this face when he is eating and isn't sure.

 Happy Easter!!!

I see you mom! 





9 Months - April 11, 2012

 He loves going for walks in his stroller!

Happy Baby is off to bath time!