preparing for Ayyam-i-Ha

This year, as we prepare for this very exciting and wonderful time of the year, i've managed to put this link up for anyone interested to download the tape by William Sears about Ayyam-i-Ha:
Ayyam-i-Ha tape. Enjoy:)
And here's our countdown box:

Loius the Third

He's finally here, Louis Shayan, born 18th June 2011 weighing 4kg!
Its been a busy but special time the last three weeks, easing into a new family routine and just enjoying our precious new arrival. Two VERY excited siblings are ever ready to carry him, this little bundle of calm squishy huggable softness. That's right, calm. A word I prayed for from the moment I found out we're pregnant, all through a rather unusual pregnancy, that last awful week of being overdue, something i didn't think we were genetically capable of! Ok, so he's only 3 weeks old and its too soon to be sure, but so far, I'm thankful for every long nap he takes.
So many things I'm thankful for right now, having Vahid home for 2 blissful weeks, visitors a plenty with gifts and some very welcome and unexpected meals, and just a whole lot of love from many special people.
And so a new journey begins....

we're reading

This is one of those rare shots where the perpetual photographer is actually in the picture, and no one's posing. This was at the end of a long day, mamma bear is 6 months pregnant, and little bear is about to fall asleep to the sound of brother bear reading Frog and Toad. For Danny, it was one of those confidence boosting experiences, where he discovered he could read this book really fast (because it had been read to him umpteen times) without getting much help at all from me.
Since he turned 7, it seems like a number of things have just taken off for him. He's ridinghis bike without training wheels (took him just 10 mins to get the hang of it), he's super excited about spelling, to the point that i have to make him take a break, loving double digit addition and subraction, and determined to finish his handwriting book. I'm putting all this in writing because i know these bubbles of enthusiasm often fade, and just to remember.
Moments like these are the absolute icing on the cake of parenting for me.
When they were babies, all i looked forward to was when they could read, and we could talk about real stuff together. I honestly can't stand the baby/toddler stage. This is the part I hang out for, meeting the emerging personalities of these little souls, their sense of humour, the quirks, the awe in those innocent eyes as they learn something new about how life works. Moments when they say things that leave me speechless at how observant and wise they can be (followed closely by 100 moments when i wonder why i landed this job). Lots to savour amidst the daily grind.

Ayyam-i-Ha 2011

 

Ayyam-i-Ha this year was much anticipated. We made a count down (advent) calendar. I used a 9 pointed star template to cut out 19 stars for the Baha'i month preceding Ayyam-i-Ha. Every morning the kids would take off one star and put it in the box. The box sometimes had a little present or something to do to prepare for Ayyam-i-Ha, like make cards, bake cookies etc.  During the 4 days, the kids had a ball, with numerous parties and presents from family and friends. Lots of precious handmade ones this year, mainly made by children for each other. A memorable evening with grandparents listening to a music we hadn't heard since I was a child and rediscovered. (William Sears tape about Ayyam-i-Ha).

Before and after - coffee table

Okay, so i've got a lot of time on my hands...but honestly, I LOVE doing this. Getting an old piece of furniture and giving it new life. I actually enjoy the process of transforming things, whatever it may be.

I get the pieces from various sources, often its something lying around, like the old coffee table which had been outside for kids use. After the glass lifting episode previously, i thought it safer to get something less fragile. Nothing nice and pretty lasts long with the residents of this house, so i'm pretty happy with cheap sturdy solutions. The chess table in the background is hand carved African wood, a thrify find from local market, and Danny's introduction to chess.

Before and after - rocking chair

2 special people

I just realised how few pics I have of hubby on this blog, so here he is with my dear grandma. These two get along quite well actually, her house is one of his favourite places to visit, and their conversations are interesting. Vahid breaks out into 'fluent' farsi, and she tries to pop in a few words of English, and thus they communicate quite effectively.

best friends

rosy picnic

A new discovery

Behold, she has just discovered.....the endless possibilities of hot glue gun!!! So super easy to use and the gems really stick. Now for the hard part of getting little miss independent to wear them....
The idea of napkin rings inspired by Sarih and Soulemama. I made these with ribbon wrapped round a piece of toilet roll ring. Decorated with glass pebbles i had from an earlier project with magazine cutout glued underneath. The aim is to have each family member have their own napkin and ring and reduce tissue usage...doing my teeny bit to be green.

The harvest

After years of wishing and dreaming about growing my very own corn, this year we finally did it! and ate it! I grew up surrounded by corn fields in Cameroon where corn was a main source of food, which was then dried and used as corn meal. Corn season meant roasted corn from street vendors, juicy fresh ears of corn  from the backyard, and i mean HUGE maize, not the sweet corn have here. I must say they were not very easy to grow, actually nothing is easy to grow in Adelaide's weird climate and poor soil, compared to the rich volcanic stuff and mild tropical weather of Cameroon.... can you tell i'm a bit homesick!

Friends

Friends with whom we've had a lovely year of learning and sharing together on spiritual matters as well as having a baby explosion!

School art work

For anyone with kids at school or kindy, you would be familiar with the PILES of artwork that come home with them every week. Last year i left a container in the corner of the kids room for all school artwork to be put in. On a lazy holiday morning, I brought out the container and got Danny to pick out the things he thought were 'keepers'. These are mainly things that wont fit neatly into a folder, 3D items. Then we stuck all the 'keepers' on a wall, took a photo, and now he's happy to let go of them, as long as he gets a printout of the picture.
As an aside on most of these pieces, i feel very little creativity was required of kids, as the teacher made a template and everyone copied the model or she helped them make it, so the whole class basically had the same art work at the end of the day. I guess that's okay when exploring a new medium or style, but really, a bit more freedom of expression would be better. Below is some arwork he did entirely on his own, although he copied the halloween collage from a book.

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...