photo ops

sometimes the *only* way i can get a picture of aliyah when she is dressed up and we are out somewhere is to get her to stand with her friend layla.
stand by herself or even with us and just *look* at the camera, verrrrrry difficult.
"put your arm around layla and say cheese!" DONE. :)

bahji and blessed

this afternoon aliyah, keon, and i went to bahji because i had (*had*) to take some pictures of the gardens that were more beautiful than i'd ever seen in all my years here. aliyah was moved to pick a flower for me (sorry mace).











on the way home, it was dark outside, the three of us were in the car (victor was in his work car also on his way back from bahji), eating mcdonald's fries i'd picked up on the way home, singing and bopping to mika and i turned up ben gurion to see the shrine and terraces lit. the second after i turned the corner, aliyah said, over the music,
"mommy, 'scuse me!"
"baleh aliyah?" i ask,
in persian she says, "shall i say a prayer?"
and i turn down the music which happened to be one of her favorite songs that she always requests,
"what?"
"shall i say a prayer?"
"yes joonam!" so she starts to sing the prayer,
"blessed is the spot." (which has gone through an interesting evolution from,
"blessed is the spot, and the house, and the cake..." to now,
"blessed hits the spot..." which i guess it does)
by the time we reached the top of ben gurion, aliyah had finished her prayer. we turned around the roundabout to hagefen and she said,
"it's happy."
"what's happy?"
"the shrine."
"it is? why?"
"because aliyah said 'blessed...'"
"you're right, joonam, it is happy."

47 months old

i know, i know, who's counting?

on the thirteenth of every month aliyah still has her portrait taken by her mom... this is the 47th one.

ayyam-i-ha 2008 - day 5

ayyam-i-ha this year was five days long so on the last day, aliyah recieved a beautiful cindarella dress. after she gave a twirl in the mirror to see how it looked, she (miraculously) changed out of it and went to baha'i school and had a special ayyam-i-ha lesson.

ayyam-i-ha 2008 - day 4

on the fourth day of ayyam-i-ha, aliyah woke up to an easel in the kitchen and then went to mandarin for breakfast with papa, mommy and keon and were joined by laurel and sisay. after breakfast, laurel came with us to this year's first visit to the beach. it was such a nice day. aliyah built sand castles, collected shells and waded in shallow water...

ayyam-i-ha 2008 - day 3

on the third day of ayyam-i-ha aliyah was a little tired waking up (see first pic) but was still happy. she got her very first watch. she stopped at the food centre after school that day and hitched a ride on her brother's wheels. that night there was a big ayyam-i-ha party for all the kids at the prc with various activity stations. SO MUCH FUN! aliyah had pizza, made cards, did magnetic fishing, decorated cupcakes, had her face painted, ran in circles with her friends, played with baby ariana and her buddy sisay. after the ayyam-i-ha party she got to stay up super late and celebrate her mommy's birthday. :)

ayyam-i-ha 2008 - day 2

on the second day of ayyam-i-ha, we celebrated by walking down the terraces from the Shrine of the Bab to douzan and having dinner and dessert with sisay, laurel and kara. it was very special for aliyah to be on the terraces at night and see the fountain lit. at the end of the night the waitress brought her ice cream on the house. :)

ayyam-i-ha 2008 - day 1

on the first day of ayyam-i-ha this year aliyah celebrated with an children's activity at the family centre. the kids got together, sang songs, had snacks, decorated cookies and a cookie gift box and delivered them to the office of personnel.

school days

sometimes when i pick up aliyah from school she leaves with her good friend layla, whether to go to each other's house or go to a baha'i school class together. if it was up to her, she and layla would share an afternoon activity together every day.

swimming at the gan

today i visited aliyah's preschool and got to see the swimming pool. since it's a pretty small pool, the kids go in small groups. first they lay out their towels. then put their shoes aside and enter the pool one by one. after some free play, they play games with their teacher using beach balls.
after about twenty minutes, the kids go out, lay on their towels to have a rest, drink some water and go in again... i think they go in a total of two or three times a morning.
needless to say, aliyah thinks it's the greatest activity ever....