Lauren's Nursery Chronicles Part 1 - Shopping

"This Mine! This Mine"

The little girl's quite disappointed. We missed our Saturday "Good Morning McDo!" for the second week in a row. Well, it's her fault. The night before I told her we'd be shopping for school and she really got so excite --- to the point of hysteria (if that's possible for a 3yo, hehe!). She couldn't sleep and stayed so late that today, both of us woke up at 11:30 am :(. Too late for her Saturday breakfast and playtime at McDonalds. What really surprises me about our little Oyen is that she can tell when it's a Saturday! She doesn't even ask to go to McDonalds any other day, but come Saturday, just like clockwork, the moment she wakes up, she'd go straight to her cabinet to choose her clothes for her Mc Donalds trip! I am truly amazed!
So today, we had lunch early and went to the Landmark afterwards. I had taken that new D Ring Road highway and entered through Marks and Spencers parking lot entry. Found parking very near the Friday's entrance! Yaay! just a few steps away from the entrance and no need even to cross. I mean, at 1PM, under the Doha summer sun, you'd understand what I mean! Upon entry I was in for a very pleasant surprise! BHS is on a further reduction sale! I know it's sale season, but I wasn't able to go out much this month since both my mom and the Expat Daddy are in the Philippines, my mom for a vacation and the hubby to collect the 2 elder girls. I really thought the sales are all finished. But hey, I'm not complaining at all! I didn't even thought of checking out BHS when I was thinking of getting things for the little girl. The prices are really so tempting! Good thing it isn't salary time yet or else I would have splurged! I still couldn't believe that I was able to get school shoes for QR55 ($15) and sneakers for her PE for QR30 ($8). See, I'm a shopaholic irony, I love to shop, specially for my girls but I am embarrassed whenever I buy something expensive. The things I brag about are my biggest bargain finds! LOL! Like that $8 shoes, ha! If you know me you'd surely hear me talking animatedly how good the pair of shoes is  and how cheap it was! I really feel so good about it! I didn't expect to spend just QR85 for two pair of shoes, I've set my budget to around QR200, and that is to buy from Toys R Us. Lady Bird carry cheap line of clothes and shoes, compared to other brands. So, no need to pass by Toys R Us on our way home, thank goodness! Or else I would need to set another QR100 for a toy the little girl will not part with. 

From the very limited choices at the Carrefoure shelves (except the shoes from BHS)

Then after we finished with the shoes, we went to Carrefoure for the school supplies. That's where we got disappointed. There was just nothing we can get. This is really not a good time to shop for school supplies here in Qatar, since it's summer season for all the other schools. They have just finished the school year and bookstores and department stores have not yet stocked their shelves of school supplies, and when I mean no stock I mean no Crayola! How can any preschooler go to school without Crayola do you think?! So just settled with another brand I'm not familiar with, I just hope it's not candle wax quality which you could not even see the color anymore. So there, not much luck in the supplies area...

Oyen's Bento Box Menu for the week: veggie pasta w/ white sauce, oriental pasta with roast veggies, mini burgers (with s meaning 2);  corned beef hash rice topping; salisbury burger rice topping with gravy... all served with strawberry yogurt, grapes and cheese and apple juice :)

Now it's on to The Expat Mommy's favorite part, the lunch boxes! I have had an inspiration from one of the blogs I follow Kitchen Cow who shares her bento ideas, I love how she prepares her daily lunch box to work  bento-style and I think the little ones will them too, with all those different little servings of food and the lovely design and presentation. Surely the kids will look forward to their lunch boxes everyday! And with that I hope I'd be able to chronicle my girls' daily lunch boxes which I hope would be useful to all you other Expat Moms out there :)
Oh and by the way, the little girl is now  fast asleep, the first time ever she slept before 10PM!