What made me happy today...

I know... I have been a bad blogger lately, but lots is happening in my life right now that is completely consuming all of my energy, but today I feel like blogging...
I feel like blogging because this made me happy today!

Two weeks ago, we started our Ruhi Book 1 in French and today was our 3rd week. And spending time with the friends and talking French again and talking about the Baha'i Faith and of spiritual things elevated and uplifted my soul, and that really made me happy for a while and I almost forgot about all of my sorrows and problems.

Here are some pics and videos:

(Opening Prayer in French 'Dieu Suffit a Tout' - Say God Sufficeth)

(The Baha'i French Study Circle - Ruhi Book 1)
(Funny Song - David singing 'Le Passe')

(The yummy food)

Family gathering and her first prayer in public

Yesterday we went to Mona's great grandma and great great grandma's house for dinner.
All of the family were there and Mona was really happy because she got to play with Negin and Omeed (her dad's cousins) and she had a great time singing and dancing with her aunties too!

So after dinner, we all gathered in the living room to say a few prayers for the anniversary of the passing of one of hubby's uncle.
While we were getting seated, one of the uncles asked Mona if she is going to say a prayer and to my amazement Mona said yes she will.
So we started by singing 'Blessed is the Spot' and Mona was sitting on the big couch with all Negin, Omeed, Ruha and auntie Roya, and I was sitting on the complete opposite side of her and I couldn't tell if she was singing the prayer or not.

After this, both Omeed and Negin said a prayer
and I said a little French prayer myself after them. After I finished my prayer, Mona said: 'My turn' and I replied:'Ok'
Then she said: 'I sit on mummy' and came to sit on my lap. I asked her if she wanted to say the prayer 'Blessed is the Spot' and she said: 'Yeah'.
So i started by saying the first line of the prayer and Mona very shyly and in a low voice finished the prayer.
I felt so proud on the moment, because it was actually her very first time saying a prayer in public!
Of course I didn't get to record it as she was on my lap, but this is a memory that will stay with me forever!!

We finished the devotional with a few more prayers and a beautiful prayer chanted in Farsi.

And here is a picture of Mona saying 'Surprise' (I have no idea why?)

And a picture of 3 of the 6 sisters in the family.
(The beautiful lady in the purple jacket on the left is Mamani, Mona's grandmother).

Happy Father's Day!

Today is Father's Day here in Australia.
So to celebrate, here are some layouts I made for Mona's daddy and for my very own daddy, aka Papijoon!
Love u daddy!
xoxox

(click images for larger view)

Talking to blocks!!

Mona is playing with her wooden blocks right now and she is just right here in front of me (i am sitting at the table in the dining room).
So, all the blocks are scattered on the floor and she is picking them up one by one to put them back in the box.
As she picks each one up, she is talking to them... and she is saying the funniest things ever!!

Things I just heard her say to her blocks:
- To one blue block: "You are going home to your mummy and daddy, there you go!"
- To one red block (which she dropped while picking it up): "Oh I'm sorrrrrrrrry, are you hurt?" Then she kisses the red block and put it back in the box.
- To one yellow triangle block: "There you go, good job yellow!"
- To another wood color block: "Good boy!"
- To another one: "Good night, Shab bekhair, Bonne nuit" (goodnight in 3 languages!)

She talked to almost all of the blocks saying little cute things to them, kissing them, or quickly throwing them in the box...
She is so cute and her imaginary play just amazes me! I didn't know a two year old could do that!!!

Friends over...

Last week we had the visit of some old friends.
They came over for lunch and little play date!
It was really great to see them and specially see how much the kids had grown!
We missed you guys and you should definitely come back more often!
Here are some pics of the bunch of us together....

(The whole gang)

Everyone say: ''Roar"!! (because it's much funnier than saying 'cheese'!)

(Picture taken by Mona)

(Smiling Dani)
(Amy and her phone)
(Mona and her crown)

Bedtime or is it really?

Here are some pictures of Mona at play.
She was pretending it was bedtime, and she had to put her baby and her giraffe kaloo to sleep.

She's a good pretender, don't you think?

Tender Seedlings - Week 11 - The Kindness of 'Abdu'l-Baha

(This is last week's update on Tender Seedlings - Baha'i Class for Toddlers)

The story of last week's class was 'The Kindness of 'Abdu'l-Baha'
We first started with the singing of prayers. We sang and watch the animated version video of the prayer by Baha'u'llah 'Blessed is the Spot'. And we also learned to sing a new prayer. It was the prayer 'O God Guide Me' from 'Abdu'l-Baha. And of course I made a video for the children, because at their age, visual aid do help them to memorise quicker.
They loved both prayers and videos and we had requests to watch them over and over again (which we did of course!).
Then we moved on to the story of the day, which was mainly about 'Abdu'l-Baha and how we should try our best to be like him.
They already know who 'Abdu'l-Baha is and of course I started by showing them a picture of 'Abdu'l-Baha.
And after the story we listened and sang the Baha'i song 'Look at me, Follow me' which is all about 'Abdu'l-Baha.
Then we moved on to the crafts, where we traced the handprints of the toddlers on colored papers. We then cut out the handprints and curled the fingers to make a lily flower. And gathered all the little handprints lillies to make a beautiful bouquet of lily flowers for 'Abdu'l-Baha.
And of course the tots had a great time playing and laughing together.
Here are some pictures.

(notice how they still have the flowers in their hands while playing)

Cooking Crayons

We did this little craft experiment last week, but didn't get time to really post anything, so here it is now (more updates to come soon).

So I saw this cool thing on a craft blog and wanted to try it. I even showed Mona the pictures and she was so excited and wanted to do it right away.
We took the bits and pieces of broken crayons (and we did break some too) and put them in the oven to cook them (well melt them into different shapes).
And as it was the very first time that we were trying it, we went with basic round shapes. We made 'Cookies Crayons'! lol...

Mona was so excited about that project and was waiting impatiently for the crayons to set and cool down to draw with them. And gosh she was one very happy girl!!
The colors from the crayons mix was really popping and bright too!
And after a good time coloring with the round 'cookies' crayons, Mona started to play with them, stacking them, building a tower with them, putting them in a row and counting them, naming the colors etc... it was great fun and we loved it all!
We will definitely be doing it over again, but with different shapes (need to buy more crayons first... lol)
Here are the pictures!

(you can click on the pictures for a larger and detailed view, the pictures should open in a new window)

Tri-lingual and imaginary play

I am sitting with my laptop, doing my thing, and I can hear Mona playing and talking in the background.... and I just had to blog about it now otherwise I will forget to do it later...

So she is playing by herself (which she is doing a lot more often now) and she has her empty blocks box in her hand, that she is carrying around with her. She is also playing with 3 other friends, imaginary that is! The friends she is playing with right now are: Negin (her cousin), Ajay (also her cousin) and Aryan (her baha'i friend).
So is talking to them and playing and making up songs along the way... and what is truly amazing about all of that, is that she is talking in 3 different language at the same time.
She is talking mainly in English, but from time to time, she uses some French and Farsi words.

Here is what caught my attention:
Mona to one of her imaginary friend who just fell down: "Khobi Negin?"
(Farsi for: Are you ok Negin?)
And she used the right question and worried tone as an adult would when asking that question!
Later on I heard her say to another friend: "Fait dodo Aryan, fait dodo."
(French for: Sleep Aryan, sleep)
Then to the same friend, she said: "Shab bekhair!"
(Farsi for: Goodnight)

We should really speak more French and Farsi with her, her vocabulary is much much greater in English than in French or Farsi.
And as we are a multi-cultural family with family members all around the world, so should her language skills be...
And I am sure she will travel a lot around the world when she grows up... she needs to be able to speak to and understand others....
Don't you think so? lol

SABBY