V-Day (otherwise known as drag your mom and dad to school and eat cookies and chocolate for lunch day)

Valentine's Day is a far more popular holiday overseas than one would expect. In fact, it is embraced so much in the Middle East that I heard Saudi Arabia has outlawed all stores to carry anything red during the month of February (can you confirm this, Jackie?). Doha seems to be fine with the Christian holiday or at least tolerates it.

In the spirit of the day I made homemade cards for each of my children with an indulgent chocolate bar that they could eat before their cereal. They should at least have one day of candy a year, right? (Oh, and Easter, and Christmas, and Halloween, and birthdays, and their sibling's birthdays, and Presidents Day, and MLK day, and Take Your Child to Work day; but that is it, that is where I draw the line).

Xavier was cramming on Valentine's Day morning to get all his cards done. I happened to find the cutest V-day cards on this site the night before. She is super crafty and she saved my butt that morning. Thank you!

Heavah sporting her cool glasses and looking perfectly coiffed

Here is Asa looking delighted with his handmade card. He is also making sure this photo clearly displays that his parents beat him periodically, or at least neglect him from time to time. At least they bought him a friendly bird to keep him company during those lonely times.

We also were encouraged to attend all the classroom festivities. What a delight to watch my children stuff their faces with high fructose corn syrup products in the shape of hearts and lips.
Sedona had a chance to tag along. She is so ready to be part of the school regime. She found herself a seat and charmed all the classmates as best she could. Only big people get to go to school. Today, she sensed she was a day closer.
Xavier's teacher had us write a note to our child beforehand about our love and affection for our child. It was endearing to write in words how much I love my son. It is also a great way to prove that we didn't always make him eat peas and clean his room, sometimes we just gave him loves, which he often deserves.

The day ended with Axel and I making a spontaneous trip to the souq. We ate at a fabulous Moroccan restaurant. Moroccan is a unique mix of spicy and sweet. Where else can cumin and cinnamon taste so good? The atmosphere was romantic and if you closed your eye, you could almost pretend you were in a real, authentic Middle Eastern country. It was fab.

What made the evening even better was when we left the restaurant and we happened upon an impersonator event. We saw Michael Jackson, David Beckham, Mr. Bean, Pavarotti, Princess Diana, Jack Sparrow, and many, many more. It was so surreal. There were swarms of people of many nationalities around these characters. We wandered a bit to see who we could check out, and then began to notice that people were taking pictures of us. We were white, we must be famous.

What could be more romantic than to stand next to Brangelina as people dote on you and your mate? They are the epitome of romance, right?