Kerim Loves Reading

Seriously, Kerim loves reading a lot. He knows his ABCs and he never fails to practice anytime he has the chance.






If you have a toddler like us, you may want to check out these links. It is really helpful to make kids find reading fun and enjoyable.



Keep exploring!

Christmas Presentation 2011

Here are the bold and confident kids for their Christmas presentation. Don't you just love it when kids entertain during parties? Pardon the stage fathers at the back forcing their toddlers to join the presentation.



Happy happy holidays!

Jingle Bells!

Let all the bells jingle! ;) Is there such a thing as online Christmas caroling?




Merry Christmas!

We Wish You A Merry Christmas 2011!

We really are loving the season. Our Kyliegirl keeps practicing her song. This is practically her blog post to all of you.

Merry Christmas!

\


Happy Holidays!

Carry Me Back to Old Virginny

As our Little Miss started her piano lessons two (or three) weeks back, here goes her one song. The toy piano is so far the most "played" and used toy ever so thank you to Mama for this!

Here goes:




Keep singing... while exploring!

The Turk Dad's View on Christmas

So, we recently posted what Kylie thinks about Christmas. Now, let's hear what the head of the Turknoy family gets to say about this festive season.

A little bit of trivia (just a tad!) - Noel Baba or Santa Claus as he is more widely know around the world really was born in Turkey. Actually, if you get a chance to talk to Cihangir, everybody is Turkish and civilization originated from Turkey. Go figure.

DISCLAIMER: Our views on Christmas are our own. We are not influenced by any individual from any religion nor we want others to be influenced by our views.



Merry Christmas from our family to yours!

Happy Holidays!

Kylie Speaks About Christmas

Yesterday, we wrote about our views on Christmas far away from home.

Here's our Little Miss talking about Christmas:



Happy Happy Holidays!

Qatar National Day 2011

YAY - Qatar National Day 2011! Qatar, the richest country in the world - I think in a very biased calculation of GDP (anyhow, not the point of this blog!) will be celebrating its National Holiday on the 18th December 2011. For sure, it is going to be awesome and spectacular, similar to the previous years.

Kylie's school already celebrate this event today, their last day of school of the Winter Term. She had a blast exploring all Qatar-related trivias and other galore!

We love Qatar! 

Anyway, I thought I'd share the events happening for on Sunday. We had a long weekend as this is a non-working holiday for most of us here in Qatar!

Corniche Dhows Show with traditional lighting
Corniche Starts: Saturday, 17 December 2011
Ends: Sunday, 18 December 2011
From: 9:00 PM To: 10:00 PM

National Parade Corniche Occurs: Sunday, 18 December 2011
(All day event)

Musical Fireworks Corniche Occurs: Sunday, 18 December 2011 From: 12:00 AM To: 12:00 AM

Classic cars exhibition at Corniche Corniche Starts: Sunday, 18 December 2011 Ends: Friday, 30 December 2011 From:
9:00 PM To: 10:00 PM

Also, this news direct from Hukoomi:

Every December 18th, the people of Qatar celebrate the Qatar National Day in commemoration of the historic day in 1878 when Sheikh Jassim bin Mohammed Al Thani, the founder of the state, succeeded his father as ruler and led the country to peace and unity. 

The State of Qatar was founded amidst chaos from tribal wars on land and piracy and pillage at sea, during the decline of the Ottaman Empire and the rising British imperial influence over the region. Interests and loyalties shifted as conflicts and disorder spread across the Arabian peninsula. With God's help the support of the Qatari people, Sheikh Jassim withstood the storms and help navigate his country to peace.
Week-long celebrations will take place across Qatar from December 11-18. 

Event highlights include:

• Dream 2030: Activities children at Aspire Park, 2 - 9 pm daily

• Traditional dances and games, horse-riding, poetry and more: Darb El-Saai near Sports Roundabout, December 18 all day

• Women's poetry: the Corniche near Theatre Roundabout, December 15

• Qatari sword dance, The Pearl-Qatar at La Croisette Porto Arabia, December 15-16 5-10 pm

• Handicrafts, games and shows: Souq Waqif, December 18 all day

• Fireworks and parades: the Corniche, December 18 all day

Please note that traffic can become very congested during the festivities. Those who must reach their appointments and destinations on time should plan their route carefully and avoid crowded areas such as the Corniche, Sports Roundabout and Souq Waqif. 

Happy Qatar National Day!


Keep exploring!

Christmas Far Away from Home 2011

Another Christmas in Doha for this year. Blessed be!

To be quite honest, I adore celebrating Christmas in Doha, far away from our homes, with our family. It's quiet, stress-free, intimate and practical. Admittedly, a lot of Filipinos know for a fact that going home to Philippines during this season is very (very, very!) expensive.

Well, the OFWs are known to be the number one bread winner in families. But this season has the extra stress of providing gifts to everyone simply because - it's the season to the jolly! Ho ho ho!

Hey, I will go home to Philippines if I could this season. The holiday celebration is simply not the same compared to the simple celebration away from home. I will go and celebrate with extended families every five years or so. That maybe practical instead of once a year.

Besides, celebrating here makes me focus on the real story of Christmas. Just last night, Kylie is very interested  about Virgin Mary's role in Christmas, how does it feel to be born in the manger and lots of other questions. I intend to share her the story of Christmas and I definitely can't focus on the Christmas story with all the merriment of holidays back home, gift giving and catching up.

Tonight, we will be reading about Jesus miracles. Because Christmas is all about understanding Jesus's purpose here on Earth. It all started once fine day, called birth of Christ - Christmas!

Happy birthday, Jesus! We are grateful for your existence in our life!

And a blessed Merry Christmas to all!



Happy Holidays!

You've Got a Friend in Me! - Practicing Again!

Loving the song You've Got a Friend in Me, she's practicing everyday! Love it!>




Keep singing.. while exploring!

Busy Beaming with Pride

"If parents are not busy beaming with pride for their kids, we will be so very tired at all times."
   - Leng Demirkol

As our blog readers may have noticed, we have been on and off with our blog updates, we are so busy coping with life of two kids (plus one soon!) It's not easy to be both of us parents working full time, with no hired help to assist us with the chores. Not to mention the logistics challenge brought about by helping the extended family.

Yesterday is simply one of those days where being a mother is just about the wisest choice I've ever made in my life.

Kylie had a presentation in school. She sang with the rest of the Key Stage 1 students. In addition, she was selected to perform the closing number together with other students from both Year 1 and Year 2 coming from different sections.

It's not her first presentation but the bigger the crowd this little miss perform for, the higher the stress for me and thus, the busier I get beaming with pride. Here's the clip of the presentation from yesterday taken from my phone camera.

I love that she loves what she is doing. This might not be a best performance but she is proud of her being on the stage, and I am a super proud of her.

We went straight to work after the presentation and I got challenged having to concentrate at work while entertaining the little miss. She's a handful but a very welcome interruption from the normalcy of work.

After work, I picked up Kerim, went to do a quick grocery. Kerim shouted NANA! upon seeing a banana and then proceed to say .. ELO (yellow!)

I was teary eyed looking at the two kids growing and learning right before my eyes. Who has time to get tired when I am always busy beaming with pride!

I just love being a Mommy! And just when I was thinking this, they started fighting over some transformer toy and both shouted "MOMMY" to call my attention waiting for my verdict as to whose side I am with.

Arrghhh, music to my ears!

Life is good!

Bare Necessities of Life

So Kylie started singing, and here's one more.. The Bare Necessities of Life.. Yeah man!

She has a presentation in school tomorrow and really looking forward to it. YAY!




Keep singing... while exploring!

You've Got a Friend in Me!

Singing You've Got a Friend in Me is Kylie's new found addiction the past few days. She's beginning to sing a lot of songs and she's getting pretty good at it if I might say my biased opinion.

Just love how her eyes talk when she sings. Kerim is always in the background, of course. Gotta love Turknoy duet. ;)




Keep singing... while exploring!

We Wish You A Merry Christmas 2011!

Let our celebration begin for this year! 

From our Turknoy family to yours, we give a heart warming wishes to all. May the birthday of Jesus Christ have meaning in our lives in this day and age!

Ho ho ho!






Happy Holidays!

Reminiscing our First Family Adventure: Pamukkale

It's been almost a year ago since we had our first family adventure. By adventure, I mean exploring an entirely new place. We have travelled back and forth to Turkey since but not really exploring but visiting family members and relations. Well, it's all worth it. We just need to keep focusing on our goal to explore together as family as well.

It seems important to do things together like adventures and all but right now we are enjoying a perfect weather in Doha being cozy at home and enjoying being together. Bliss - as always.

Reminiscing...

Keep exploring!