Books, books and more books...

It's been a while since I bought Mona some new books. (well not really, we did buy some books last month, but anyway, one can never have too much books right, no matter what the age!! Even though Mona's library is getting way much bigger than mine now... anywho!!).

You see there is this book "I'll Love You Forever" by Robert Munsch, which I really really really wanted to get for Mona's bedtime stories a long long long time ago, but each time i took her to the bookshop, she would choose a different book, which of course had to be way more expensive than our allocated book budget, so I could never get the book I truly wanted for her, right!

But today, I did. (Well Mona was not with me when I went shopping, that's why!)
So I finally got the book I have been wanting to get her for so long!! Finally!! Yeah!!

Then I saw this cute little book about 'Angelina'. You know, Angelina, the mouse ballerina!
Two weeks ago when we went to the library, Mona choose to borrow an 'Angelina Ballerina' book, and she loved it so much that we read it most night for bedtime, just after reading 'Spot's baby sister'. So I decided to get that book too for her and it came with a small Angelina Library book, which consisted of 6 little board books of Angelina!
I can't wait till Mona gets home to find her new books!! Ohhh boy is she gonna be excited!!
Oh did I mentioned that I went to the bookshop to buy myself a book and instead came out with 3 books for Mona and none for me!! (mind you, it's not the first time this happens either!!)
Oh well... next time i guess... right?

Here is a picture of Mona with her book 'Spot's Baby Sister' under her arm:
This is a picture of 'Jemima', Mona's new favourite doll. She takes her EVERYWHERE she goes! And her Jemina is wearing a ballerina outfit (see how the ballerina theme is being repeated here!!):
Jemima is a character from 'PlaySchool', a tv show for preschoolers, which we both love watching together everyday. We sing along and dance with the presenters, we learn new stuff everyday and there's even a storytime section! We love this show!! (No seriously, we do learn new things everyday, specially me!!)
And each time the show comes on, Mona runs to get her Jemima, and the three of us sits together on the couch or on the floor and watch 'Playschool'.

1 more pic

Forgot to add this picture of Mona with her crown on to the Tender Seedlings post (see below).

Wear that crown

"Say: O God, my God!
Attire mine head with the crown of justice,
and my temple with the ornament of equity.
Thou, verily, art the Possessor of all gifts and bounties."

~ Baha'u'llah

Yesterday at Tender Seedlings, (yes yesterday, we changed the days from Saturdays to Mondays now), it was all about crowns. Not the ones that princesses and princes wear, not the ones full of precious stones and sparkles, no, not those types of crowns... but the kinds of crowns that shine on your head like a ray of light, and that can be seen even before you enter a room because that light shines so brightly.
Yes, i am talking about the crown of love, the crown of kindness, and the crown of justice.

The little tots really loved the animated story about the little shepherdess, which we named 'Milly'. You see Milly is a little simple girl who cares for her sheep on the hill (in our story she had pigs, chickens, cows, and horses too). Milly was thinly dressed and her feet were bare, but sometimes Milly wished she could be a princess for a day and wear beautiful silk dress and silver shoes and of course a beautiful princess crown. One day she was sitting on top of the hill looking very sad, when her grandfather, whom we named 'Grandpa McDonald', came to talk to her. Grandpa McDonald told her that she did had a beautiful crown on her head, and that her crown was even more beautiful that the princesses crown, because her crown didn't shine because of the all the shinny and sparkle jewels on it, but because her crown shines with all the good things she does everyday, and he told her that that kind of crown was much much better than wearing a princess crown. The crown is made of good things like being kind and being wise and telling the truth and loving others. Like seeing the sheep and other animals are warm in winter and have enough grass to eat and are well looked after. Every good thing that you do is like a beautiful jewel to put on your crown. And the best part was that you didn't have to be a princess to wear a crown like that, everyone could have one!
So little Milly sat on the hill and looked at the wispy white clouds and the high-flying birds and the sun shining gold in the sky, and nobody saw that her dress was thin and her feet were bare, for on her head there shone a crown of light and love and truth and happiness...

So of course after the story we made some beautiful 'virtue' crowns with the tots and here are the pictures...
Of course after the class, Mona wanted more stories about 'Milly and her crown' and yours truly had to invent some more.... then she wanted me to buy her a new story book about 'Milly'... lol.
I guess I should look into writing some story books for children....

Changes...

Did you noticed them????

Well, my blog header (picture) has changed!
As well as my blog title. My new blog title is "Mona - A Portrait of L.O.V.E"

I've been meaning to change my blog header and title for a long long time now, but i was never satisfied with the blog header i created and couldn't find a title worth it, but today i did it!!
My creative flow is coming back i guess...

So tell me, how do you like my blog's new look?

Never too early...

I love this picture of Mona, that's why i focused on her only....
We were at Harbour Town, having lunch and watching the airplanes take off and land. When I took this picture Mona was gazing unto the wide open area, waiting for some planes to land or maybe just dreaming about taking a plane to go to Mauritius or Haifa. She thinks that planes only goes to Mauritius and Haifa!! lol...
Doesn't she look much older in this picture? (she will be 3 in 4months).

The Love of God

Today was all about 'The Love of God' in our Tender Seedlings class.
I had missed my little angels and now that the classes are back on, I am feeling so happy and joyful.

In brief, today we learned that God is One and that He sent us His Messengers (Noah, Abraham, Moses, Buddha, Krishna, Jesus Christ, Mohammad, The Bab and Baha'u'llah) to tell us that He created us because He loves us very much!
And because of His love for us, He made sure we have everything we need and gave us a lot of wonderful gifts, like our families, food, water, plants, all the animals and everything that is in the world.
We also learned that we need to make sure that we thank God for those wonderful gifts He gives us daily by being a good boy and girl and listening and obeying what He asks us to do, and also that we need to make sure that God knows that we love Him too, by saying our prayers every morning and evening.
We also learned a new prayer that we say everyday to let God know that we love Him very much too.
Then we made some beautiful 'Prayer Hands' in crafts time, taken from the book 'Baha'i Crafts for Children', which was so generously sent to me by my dear friend, Amelia, from Canada (Thank you again so much Amelia Joon!).


So for the 'Prayer Hands', we traced and cut out each child's hands on a folded construction paper, making sure that the hands are attached. We then wrote two prayers on the palms side of the hands, and then let the children decorate the fingers and nails and the outside of the hands.

The children loved the idea and so did we!!
Here are some pics of 'Tender Seedlings' during crafts time.

41 Baha'i Regional Conferences

Over a period of 4 months there will be 41 regional Baha'i Conferences around the world.
So far, 3 conferences have already taken place, and my parents attended the one in Johannesburg, in South Africa, last weekend.
I am so excited just by reading the reports, looking at the pictures, and watching the videos from the conferences.
I can't wait for the one in Australasia, which would be held in Sydney in January 2009.
I so want to be part of if and pray and hope i that i can save up enough money to attend the conference.

Check out Papijo's (my dad) blog for pictures, videos and reports from the conference in Johannesburg, South Africa at: http://papijo-quotidianus.blogspot.com/

Armed with the Power of Thy Name... (Music Video)

Have you seen the new music video by Baha'i Artist, Devon Gundry?
It's called 'Armed' and is a prayer from Baha'u'llah.
The music video is a brilliantly moving and profoundly touching, very powerful and very intense and I think is the first one in it's kind.
We definitely need more Baha'i Music videos like this one!

Here is the video

Devon Gundry - "Armed" from Justin Baldoni on Vimeo.

or go watch it in full force on Vimeo

P.S: The video also features the Baha'i actress Eva La Rue.

Conversations at the breakfast table

Mona has been talking a lot lately... i mean really, a lot!!!
She is a constant chatter box, talking about everything and anything all day long. From the moment she opens her eyes in bed, she starts singing and talking, till the moment she goes to bed... even in her sleep she talks sometimes...lol

This morning, we were having breakfast. And to get her to eat her food i usually tell her that she has to eat her food if she wants to become a big girl and strong like like mummy and daddy.
Today, while putting a piece of egg in her mouth, she said:
"I need to eat my eggs to become tall like daddy and brown like mummy"
Yep, you read that right!! Tall like daddy and Brown like mummy!!! lol
She knows a lot of colors now and can tell you, with not too much errors, which color is which.
And she also started to realize that mummy is a different color than daddy and her. She also knows that all the different colors make us looks like beautiful flowers in God's big garden!

But really, her conversations skills has really develop in bounds and leaps lately!!
She can use any words she knows in the right context and can hold a conversation with almost anyone, with questions and the right replies, on about any subject that pleases her imagination.
And she says some of the funniest things i've ever heard!!
She talks and play and create and animate stories for her little toys and dolls.
She spends her time singing Baha'i songs and prayers and kiddies songs all day long!
We had the cable tv removed at the beginning of the month, and since then we don't have tv at home, instead, we put videos of her when she was smaller, videos her grandfather in Mauritius made for her, and all the Baha'i videos i've made, we put them on the tv screen and they all play on a loop all day long!
Her favorites videos so far are the videos i made for the musical fireside we had at home a few months ago and the video her grandfather made for her 2nd birthday!! She constantly ask to watch those two videos all the time!
She knows and sings along with all the baha'i songs and prayers in those videos and other Baha'i videos too.
She is just a pleasure to watch, hear and be around with at the moment!!

Happy Birthday to the Bab

Today, we couldn't hold Tender Seedlings' (Baha'i Class for Toddlers), so instead with Mona we did some coloring and glitter painting...

Someone here is very excited about the upcoming Birthday of The Bab.
She is asking for party hats, balloons, cake and candles, and a big surprise for the Bab!!
I told her the party for the birthday of the Bab is tomorrow night, but i don't know if there will be balloons, party hats and cake and candles etc, but that i would ask and if there isn't maybe we could ask to bring some to the party! She was so happy!!

Here is a Birthday Card for the Bab, made from our painting:

(click image for larger and detailed view)

Looking Back - October 2007 and October 2008

Taking a break...

As you've all noticed, i haven't been posting much lately, and there is a valid reason for that.
Just like when my house is messy and not very orderly, i don't usually like to invite people over until it all is in order and clean, same goes for my blog.
My life right now is very messy and i need to take control of it before it's too late... I need to sort, clean, throw out and re-organize what is not in order in my life first before i can invite all of you in.

Unfortunately to do that I will need to take a little break from the blogging world for the moment. I have no idea how long my 'little break' will last, 3 weeks or 3 months, in either case, I will be back...

Anyway, if you are a regular on my blog, you know how to contact me, and i probably know how to contact you too, so either way, we will be in touch. :)

Sometimes you just need to do what you need to do and sometimes you just need the space and time to do just that...