Miss A

Little Miss A is growing up fast, in every way, and she'll be off to school in a matter of months. Meantime i've been enjoying time alone with her while Danny's at school. This is us having a 'rosy tea party', with watered down cherry cordial as 'tea' which she serves for both of us - quite refreshing actually. She takes such pleasure in being of service and doing the whole hospitality thing. Visitors often hold their breath while she balances a hot cup of tea on a saucer for them, which she insists on doing herself . I'm the lucky recipient of daily bouquets of all sorts of flowering plants and weeds, which thankfully she forgets or ignores what i do with afterwards... a similar fate befalls the hoards of paintings and crafty boxes that come home from Kindy every day. I feel a bit guilty, but then seriously what does one do with all the stuff?! Good times...

a special event

Event organised by Danny and Amy. A 19 Day feast. Complete with handwritten readings (prayers), audience chairs (comprising of yours truly and miss A) amd a stand where readers must stand to read their prayers. I was confined to bedrooms while all this was being prepared, with Amy on mommy lookout duty.
It was just so beautiful how seriously they took it, and how much detail they remembered from observing adults. Amy was so excited about the whole thing she made us do a few rounds of readings. And put on her own show the next day.
I was later informed that some technical challenges were experienced by the organisers during preparations, the glass top coffee table had initially been lifted to stand on its side (?), the large n heavy glass top had fallen out, and 'mommy it was so hard but I put it back again by myself' .... (!!!!)

There's rice.... and then there's Rice.

Here's a bit of trivia :
What do rice and wine have in common? They both taste better with age.
Welcome to the world of rice... there's a bit more to rice than just white stuff you bung in the rice cooker and voila, carbs for the meal. As I sit here writing, there's some wild weather happening outside, rain, gusty winds, hail... its been going on n off all day. Now in the middle of all this, my darling grandma got me to take her to the Indian grocery for... rice. She has bags of the stuff at home. But no, she has visitors soon, and only the best rice will do. The premium brand basmati rice currently being sold is no good because...its too fresh!!
You have to be Persian to get this, the significance of the Rice, or Polo. Its what makes or breaks a meal. A decent platter of rice should have rice grains that are long, drenched in butter and oil, cooked but not sticky. Heaven forbid 2 unfortunate grains of rice stick together....the hostess will spend the rest of the meal appologising for the mishap. By the same token, I've heard family talk about a dinner party long afterwards because of the length and perfection of the rice.
Years of living near my grandma (The Expert Ricecooker extraordinaire) hasn't helped me much in perfecting this essential skill of Persianhood. I blame that partly on a certain genetic tendency I inherited - if I don't see the point of doing something, I simply won't even try. White rice is a simple starch which after being eaten, turns to sugar. It has very little nutritional value. Now add huge amounts of oil to this and its basically like eating cake or donuts...for lunch and dinner, 7 days a week, 365 days a year. I kid you not. Brown rice and parboiled rice are a different story, they contain a lot of fibre and Vitamin B among other things. They don't taste the same, but its the story of white bread again.
Having said all that, in the interest of serving people what they like, I do cook rice once in a while, but at home, poor rice-raised hubby has to put up with a whole bunch of experimental meals with different grains and carbs. There's a whole world of unpopular grains out there that people mostly discover when they have health problems, but which have been the staple of humans for thousand of years. There's corn, millet, quinoa, buckwheat (its not related to wheat), chickpea flour etc. It really comes down to habits, because taste is an acquired thing, and some of these other grains taste a lot better than rice if prepared well. The quest for alternatives and recipes continues...

School holidays

This is long overdue, but here are pics from a fabulous day out with the kids. 3 moms + 7 kids = loads of fun.

The Adelaide hills have a lot to offer. We went to a place called Fairyland, with little huts that represented different fairy tales. The whole thing was rather old and very much in need of renovation, so it wasn't worth the entry fee. But the kids really enjoyed the playground, designed to make you as dizzy as possible cos everything spins...

 Then we drove down the road to the Big Rocking Horse, the highlight of which was the free park with animals that you can get really close to...too close for some, like poor Bayan who got too close to a Shetland pony and had his hand sampled - ouch.

The final stop was Melba's Chocolate factory. We were too  late to see chocolate making demonstrations, and basically had a warehouse full of sugary treats that the kids all wanted to sample and i had to keep saying no to. the scenery and drive were just beautiful. Makes me want to move there every time I go to the hills...

Rainbow rice

This activity was inspired by Pink and Green Mama who's blog is full of fun rainbow things to do.
Be prepared for a mess. I laid a sheet down before putting the tray on, but we still had rice all over the floor. Great for summer outside.

I put equal amounts of rice into zip lock bags, added a few drops of food colouring into 2 tablespoons of vinegar and mixed in with the rice. Pour into bowls to dry. There are different ways of doing this.

great sensory activity

the kids added some little wooden toys, cars, etc to the tray.

Aprons, aprons

We've had weeks of wintry cold weather and the accompanying flu season, which meant hours and hours at home, hence - sewing spreee!!!
Here are some aprons I whipped up, from a pattern i sort of came up with, inspired by a few different blogs. They are easy to put on by younger kids  all by themselves because of the velcro tab. I've also slipped elastic through the neck piece so the apron covers the child's chest, again this applies mostly to the under 5 crowd.

This apron has a plastic lining because the owner has recently decided that helping mummy with washing the dishes can be a lot of fun (and very wet). I used a new plastic mattress protector as the inner lining.

I absolutely adore this one, and the 2 year old friend who now plays tea parties with it.

Gotta have one for my little baker boy, he mainly makes an appearance in the kitchen when something sweet is cooking.

Grocery bag tutorial

In South Australia, the local government has banned plastic grocery bags, so we have to take bags shopping (very green thinking here) and its so easy to forget, but these fit easily into handbags and even your pocket. I made a few of these bags last year out of polyester lining scraps, and haven't looked back since. They are so handy because they fold up really small, but they are also extremely strong an durable, I've even filled it up once with cartons of milk with no trouble. Here are some sketchy instructions, you need basic sewing skills to do this.

sew in a piece of elastic so it sticks out on the right side of the bag

Turn bag right side out, fold in corners back into the back, about 10cm and pin. Then stitch all along the bottom of the bag.

It's a lot roomier than it looks, as the folds at the bottom open out when filled. 

A memorable week with newlyweds

SHE turns 4

She was born during a FIFA World Cup (how can i forget Daddy watching 3 games that night while I played a very different game!) so of course every 4 years, the whole planet celebrates with her. Once more, for numerous reasons, i decided not to celebrate the event this year. And on this very quiet day, what do we wake up to: Australia has a new first ever female Prime Minister. Politics aside, this was a bit of history here. And of course, Uncle Lessan and Melissa (both of whom are right at the top of her list of 'Favourite People apart from parents') were here visiting. To top it off, there was a lovely family dinner that night at Mondona's beautiful home,  partly to celebrate my grandma's birthday (little did i know). So the VERY youngest and oldest members of the family got to share a birthday! Notice how the very oldest is not at all comfortable with the attention, bless her, as opposed to the very youngest who can't get enough of it! An amazingly happy and content little girl went to bed that night (no mummy, don't carry me, I'm a big girl now).

Newly weds

Very happy for Lessan and Melissa. Their big day was 12th June 2010 in Perth. We also had a reception for them here in Adelaide a few days ago. Lets just say things have been rather hectic around these parts lately. They're visiting Adelaide at the moment and I'm enjoying every minute I get to spend with the happy couple, because I wont get to see them for another 18mths when they go back to Haifa where they're both serving at the Baha'i World Centre. They're both very much in love and its just the sweetest thing  seeing them together, getting used to the idea of my shy little brother now all mawwied and grown up (sniff, sniff)...
Pictures of wedding are mostly on facebook:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=223845&id=550229574&l=ba9aaf100e

ginger bread house

Fun playdate with friends and a gingerbread house the kids and i put together from a readymade kit i bought from Ikea around Christmas time.

Check this - a calmer family

I've been following this blog Noble Mother for some time now on my reader and there's always something to inspire and refocus as a parent. The current series is called '10 days to a calmer family' is full of great tips such as the following random snippets:


I feel it coming on – it’s in the air of our home when our little ones need more rest, more down time, more slowness.   Like a physical fever, they need me to be close, to stop the busyness of the household, to provide more snuggles.

So often we over-schedule our children so that we don’t have to “entertain” them at home or to prevent them from becoming bored or because “it will build their self-esteem,” or because they begged and begged and in the back of your mind you worry that if you don’t start them in ballet by age 3, they won’t be as good as the other ballerinas.
Step 3 involves pulling your child close – both physically and emotionally.  This can be a challenge if your child has been throwing you for some big emotional loops lately.  The last thing you want to do is pull them towards you.  It’s during these difficult times that they need you the most.  Your willful child is the one you hold at a distance instinctively.  We pull in those easy to snuggle, those cooperative children.  I’m encouraging you to start the soul fever healing and stretch yourself by staying close to that fevered child.

And my favourite one:
Our conflict, our challenge isn’t to convince ourselves that dishes and laundry are amazing.  It is to acknowledge that as mothers to young children we are investing time into being present to these little ones as their spiritual mentors.  It is our love and guidance that makes all the difference in these early years to their own development of who they will become.  Being committed to the work of mothering is to be committed to your own inner work.  Your child can pick up on your unrest, your dissatisfaction, your resentment of mothering.

So head on over to Noble Mother and read the whole thing for yourself. 

Hmmm, salad or cake?

I know y'all will absolutely hate me for this post, but I honestly put this out with good intent.
Okay, so I have a daughter who is addicted to salad, and can live on it. I also have a son who could live on cake and lollies and would be right at home in Willy Wonka's Chocolate factory.
How does one raise two entirely different taste buds? I'm sure many parents would identify with this.
I'm big on health, if u haven't already noticed, i read labels all the time. I censor everything that comes in the door. Basically, i try to make sure that if i don't want the kids to eat it, its simply NOT available at home. Generally, you won't find much in this house made of white flour, preservative and food coloring.
Personally, I absolutely LOVE fruits and green veges, and crave them, and gag on overly sweet things. Hubby on the other hand craves the sweets and has a very glum look on his face when presented with the 'must eat veges'. So what's the effect on the kiddos? Genetically, I believe they've received different tendencies towards foods. That really can't be helped. But as for training, I think exposure and conditioning have had some impact. They both eat what we eat at meal times, they both love all fruits and enjoy them, and they both eat most vegetables. So the bottom line is - even if your kids are born with 'chocolate genes', what we DO (not say) and eat plays a big part, and limiting choices can be quite helpful.

Around the house these days

 - when nobody else will do it, just get on with it.... and don't mess with a chainsaw wielding mama!
-Danny's room in a rare state of orderliness, a virtue that is SO HARD to practice, and makes me the resident dragon!
- Amy's room contains all the kids books. Hmmm we love our books.... will post more later on some favourites.
-Amy having visitors. Not as peaceful as it looks in 2D.