Last Wednesday was Menchie's birthday. At lunchtime we went out to our favourite Arab pizza place on Allenby and we treated ourselves to some simple yet delicious food. For the evening, Arnold, Canan, Kurt and Vanysha had organized a dinner for her at Kurt's place, and it was my job to make sure she got there on time and that she would to some extent be surprised (as most birthday parties here are surprises and Menchie has attended her fair share of them, I was sure she would see right through me if I tried to lure her to Kurt's place...).
An attempt after lunch to let Menchie's ID card mysteriously disappear so that Kurt could later "find" it and call her to come and get it from his home failed miserably, and so I had almost resigned to the fact that this year there would be no real surprise. We went to the Shrine after work to say some prayers, and on the way to "dinner in a restaurant of Menchie's choosing" I suddenly turned the car on to Hillel street and stopped in front of Kurt's place. As I was thinking of just telling her we weren't going to go to a restaurant but instead have dinner with some close friends, Martijn walked by and saved the day! He said that dinner for four was ready at his place, and Menchie bought into it! On the way to May and Martijn's apartment I swung open the door to Kurt's house (Kurt lives in the same building as May and Martijn) and the look on Menchie's face was just great! We had a wonderful evening with our friends, with delicious food and a yummy cake! Thanks everyone for coming and sharing this special evening with us!
I had the bounty of being the goose in our singing class today with our babies. I have introduced few songs from the ones that we already know. It's funny that yesterday, I was singing all these songs just to be familiar with the order, even at shower and sleeping time (yep I can sing to myself without opening my mouth, you guys do that too isn't?). It's quite a lot of songs actually, but most of them are short. To help and guide me with my presentation, I wrote the title of each song on a piece of paper in case I forget. It indeed helped me. Enna-Marie was cooperative in the beginning and somehow in the middle part, but towards the end she decided to get up and tried on some of her aunties shoes at the hallway.
Here are our group photos:
these are the lovely moms and their babies in our community
I went to the baby shower of our friend Mojan Sami on Saturday at Taban and Michael Leggett's place. Mojan is due next month and it is just nice to give her a baby shower. We said some prayers and read quotations, had games, refreshments and shared some advices, tips and insights with the new mom-to-be. It was a lovely evening organized by Nancy, Kadria and Sholeh. Special mention to Negeen who organized and bought our group gift. Thanks Negeen and to the organizers. Please see photos below...
these pictures are part of the game we played "guess that baby". These are the baby photos of the friends who were invited for this shower party
& do you know who are these babies?
friends were given enough time to list down the names of these babies, total number of photos: 22. I was only able to name 11 of them correctly...yep it wasnt' that easy!
Mojan enjoying the evening with her friends
this is the game "list that baby stuff". Kadria showed everyone the things on the tray & then later asked us to write down all the stuff we remember.
Mojan opening her presents
what a nice gift, very useful one!
this is also part of our group gift, a stroller that matches the car seat
May, Menchie, Mona & Kadria waiting for another game to play
At the dinner table a few weeks ago, Enna-Marie first doesn't want to cooperate, but then when mommy decides to start singing with her the mood changes...enjoy!
These pictures were taken on Thursday at the park near the temple land with friends from the Rose Garden class. Sieni and Tara joined us here as well. There was a story telling on the five little monkeys jumping on the bed, had snacks together and of course enjoyed the play at the playground. It was a bit warm that morning, but this activity turned out well as the kids enjoyed a lot.
Here are some photos of the first day of the Bahá’í school (pre-school) held at the Family Centre last 22 September. We had a wonderful class, the teachers did so well and so as the children (well only two came, Aliyah and Milan, but it will be eventually around nine or ten total by the end of the school year). The lesson for that day was about purity.
our pizza girl enjoying her food at lunch time...
and Menchie too...
Franco, Rhea, Elfida, Canan and Kurt...
Peyman, Selvi and Arnold...
us with Riyad...
with the Laroya's...
Enna-Marie in the spotlight...
Happy parents...
birthday celebrant with friends... 
