James and Aria

New Blog!

2010-03-01T11:48:00.000-08:00

I had trouble logging in to the new blog, so I had to create an even NEWER BLOG!!
CHECK IT OUT HERE

Previous blog:

I've reached the quota for this blog. Our new blog is here

Mima visits!

2010-01-31T12:21:00.000-08:00

My Mom was here for a very short visit. She left this morning and we really miss her. : (
Here are some pictures from before and during her visit:

These are from her last night with us when we had some friends over for dinner. I took several pictures of she and Sasha and am posting them all here so Mima can choose which ones she wants to copy:

Sasha playing with a neat toy given to her on her birthday: Pop Beads.

She can make all kinds of cool things with them:

Showing off her butterfly that we painted on at the children's museum:

Helping out in the kitchen:

Our friends Jane and Brad, and their grandson, Federico came over for dinner:

James made chicken roulades stuffed with spinach, basil, feta, and sun-dried tomatoes!

Sitting down for Mima's candle-lit birthday dinner. James made delicious meals every night. On this night he made broiled Arctic Char with tomatoes (which had been marinated in red wine vinegar and brown sugar), and a basil oil sauce spread on top, served with rice and salad!

Sasha gave Mima her room and slept in our room:

We took Mima out to dinner and then to the theatre for her birthday (on the night before her birthday).

Jane and Brad joined us, as well as another friend of my mom's, Michael. We had a lovely dinner and apparently it was an amazing Musical (called Wonderland).

On another day we had a picnic:

Sasha preferred to have one on the ground:

My mom had a typical Costa Rican dress made for Sasha. It was so beautiful!

Before Mima arrived, Sasha made her this birthday present: a woven picture frame!

These last few are from a trip to the zoo:

New Mexico

2009-12-28T19:07:00.000-08:00

We were in New Mexico for about ten days and had a wonderful time!

We visited with friends:

Kathy and Hector:

Their son Tristan with Sasha:

Stephen, Neda, and their daughter Sophia:

Caroline and Patrick, though I only got a picture of their beautiful daughters:

And of course, the family:

The Pyburns:

The Los Alamos extended Pyburn family, (this is Pat's step-mother, sisters, kids, and nieces)

The McKinney-Caldwell family:

We took Sasha roller-skating:

Bowling:

Ice-Skating:

Up to a snowy crest: (James is showing us ocean fossils at the top of this mountain!!)

The Children's Museum:

These were taken before we left:

Sasha and James building a cabinet for Sasha's thousands of books!

Ice-skating in Houston!

Sasha wanted to help me with the laundry, so I asked her if she could put the clothes in the dryer. She couldn't reach all the clothes, and this is what I found when I checked on her:

We had an amazing time in New Mexico, and Patti and Pat fixed up our room so beautifully. Thank you!!

Birthday Party and others...

2009-11-29T18:55:00.000-08:00

We celebrated Sasha's birthday a week earlier than her actual birthday. She had a great time!

Sasha helped us prepare her birthday cake: my Mom's famous "Maria Cake," (made with "Maria" cookies).

Here she is making the lemon juice: (also in the picture are the beautiful flowers James got me for our anniversary-five years!)

Layering cookies:

Spreading the cream mixture: (then it gets refrigerated over night, and then topped with whipped cream and strawberries)

Her party:

Her favorite part, getting ready to blow out the candles:

She helped us serve all the guests:

The next are from Thanksgiving with James' aunt Adrienne, some time spent with Jane and Brad, and some other random pictures:

2009-11-01T17:07:00.000-08:00

Time for a quick update. Sasha is no longer going to school. We took her out for several reasons. We weren't fond of some of the teaching methods, plus Sasha wasn't happy there. She had some good friends, but she was losing interest in school. Maybe we'll find a better school, or perhaps we'll keep her out for a few more years. We don't know yet.
We put her in a ballet class instead and she is really happy! I didn't take a lot of pictures of the class but I did get some sweet, short videos if you want to check them out (click on Videos of Sasha on the right).
We visited with our friends Jane, Brad and Federico again and there are a few pictures of that fun outing. There are also some pictures of Sasha's baha'i children's class, as well as of a parent's day at Sasha's school from several days ago. (We got to go in and let our kids show us the work the usually love to work on).

brief update, lots of pictures

2009-09-30T18:55:00.000-07:00

First thing's First: I'm pregnant!! We are all extremely happy! Due date is June 9th!

This blog doesn't get updated very much because we've all been busy! James works all day, Sasha goes to school half day, and I take advantage of the morning to do the assignments for my six classes!
James is pretty happy at work, he's starting to find his place in the team and is learning a lot.
Sasha seems to be happy at school. It's hard for her to leave home in the mornings, but she never wants to leave school when I pick her up, and the teachers say she has a lot of friends. James takes the car to work, so I walk to pick her up everyday. It's a nice, 15-minute walk and my only exercise of the day. Then Sasha and I walk back together and that gives us the opportunity to talk about each other's day.
She has been excited about writing, particularly numbers. Below is a picture of her number-writing. (My numbers are at the top). She also loves to pretend to be the teacher.
In this picture she's the teacher, crossing her legs and reading me a story:

Sasha has found a way to sit through the Baha'i Feast. She packs her backpack with some of her favorite things, and during the administrative portion she works quietly with them. As shown here:

The rest are pictures of a few outings here and there, including a visit with our dear friend from Costa Rica, Jane. We went out for lunch at a really nice place with a huge yard for kids to run around in, sand boxes to play in, and horses to feed. We went with Jane, her husband Brad, and their grandson Federico.

2009-09-07T20:03:00.000-07:00

card games, swimming and dancing

2009-08-26T17:26:00.000-07:00

Those three activities are Sasha's favorite at the moment.

She loves Ballet. She hasn't taken any classes yet, but we read books about it, watch short ballet videos, and I've taught her the basic steps from what I remember as a child.
When we go to the pool, she challenges herself with something new every time. I posted a short video on youtube of her diving down to the bottom of the pool. And another of her trying to imitate the flamenco dancer from Riverdance.

She dances in her room in front of the mirror, and even has an attentive audience:

She's a pro at Uno, Old Maid, Go Fish, Pick up Sticks, and Crazy 8s.

From here and there...

2009-08-16T17:44:00.000-07:00

Here are a few of the last pictures of Sasha and her classmates:

My brother, Ali, came to Boston just before we left for New York. We were so glad we were able to see him as well as his brother and sister, Deany and Carlos. Ali was there helping Deany get moved in to her new home!

from the left, Ali, his sister Deany with her fiance (I forgot his name), and her son Brian, Ali's brother Carlos and his girlfriend with her daughter:

Ali showing Sasha how he carries his daughter:

At the Houston Children's Museum:

The Museum just opened a new section called Kidtropolis. As the name indicates, it is a city just for kids. Children can shop, eat, vote, and even get a job and earn their own money! (all pretend, of course).

Here she's working as a veterinarian:

Here as a waitress:

As a cashier at the grocery store:

In line at the ATM, happy to be depositing some money!

Depositing her checks. The computer registers her card and tells her how much she has in her savings, each time she returns!

Back from Costa Rica

On our way back from Costa Rica, our flight, which was supposed to arrive in Houston around 11 p.m., had mechanical problems and other delays, and didn't arrive until around 4 am!

It started out alright:

But towards the end we were very tired.
And this is not a picture of a pile of bags and sweaters...

...it is a picture of our daughter, covered in any piece of clothing we could find while we tried to sleep in that freezing cold Florida airport until we were notified of the arrival of our fixed plane:

We got home around 4:30 and slept in!

Hanging out at home:

Some pictures of our home:

Family Reunion Pics on Facebook!

2009-08-06T07:04:00.000-07:00

Dear Family and Friends,

There were too many pictures of our trip to Costa Rica to post here. If you have a facebook account you can view them there! (It's much easier and faster to post on facebook).

Here are two group shots:

Costa Rica (part 2)

2009-07-20T19:40:00.001-07:00

Britt and the boys arrived!
For breakfast, we ate Mima's delicious pancakes:

Playing Guess Who together:

Our neighbor, Gary, let us use his pool!

We had some people over last Sunday for a BBQ.

Layli and Amelie:

Sonny:

Martita, Sasha and Britt

Ela playing Golf:

Cutie Amelie!

Dylan and beautiful Samba:

Sasha and Samba:

Lilia with her granddaughter:

Richard, Brenda, Mom and James:

Costa Rica (part 1)

2009-07-18T19:16:00.000-07:00

Our long-awaited family reunion has finally come! James, Sasha and I arrived a couple of days ago. Here are pictures of our trip thus far.

At the airport with Daddy:

She always says 'Hello' to the pilots, and this time around they let her sit in the cockpit and press some buttons! (This happened before take-off of course).

Exhausted on the plane:

Playing Guess Who with Titi:

Finding new ways to swing, while entertaining her beautiful cousin, Ela:

Eating Jocotes!

Titi is so good with kids!

We went for a walk downtown, and tried to visit my father's grave, but the cemetery was closed.

Cousin love:

Sasha loves her Titi:

and her Mima:

We can't wait for the rest of the family to arrive!

Who knew jumping in puddles was so much fun...

2009-07-08T18:55:00.000-07:00

A few more from Patti and Pat's visit. On their last day we went to a baseball game. : )

Houston part 2 - Grandma and Grandpa visit!

2009-07-05T19:49:00.000-07:00

Grandma and Grandpa (Patti and Pat) are here! It has been so great to spend this time with them! We'll be very sad when they leave us tomorrow. : (

Since they arrived we've gone to the beach:

Flying a kite with Grandpa!

Ice skating!!

So excited to get her ice skates!

She looked like the scarecrow from the Wizard of Oz with her wobbly legs, but she had so much fun!

Walks in the Woods:

Hanging out at the house:

Eating out, going to the Mall, the bookstore and the Museum:

Houston part 1

2009-07-05T12:26:00.000-07:00

We've finally settled in our new home in Houston!

Sasha at the airport in New York:

On our way home, happy to be in our own car (no more taxis, buses, or trains)

Our first meal in our new home (but without all our stuff, the meal was a microwavable dinner on plastic plates!)

Helping Daddy by "reading" the instructions to set up her table:

When she realized that we were far away from her friends in Boston, she began to miss them. So we decided to get some nice stationary and send them each a letter.

She dictated and I wrote three, short and very cute letters to her three closest friends. Here she is reading them back to me. They said something like, Dear ______ I was in New York City in a very tall building. My new house has a pool. You are my best friend. love, Sasha

We went out to explore our neighborhood. We live right next to a big park, which has a golf course and the Houston Zoo! We also live one block away from the Children's Museum, The Museum of Science, and the Museum of Fine Arts! Needless to say, we live in an area called The Museum District.

Cutting up strawberries for pancakes in our new kitchen!

Finding her old toys and clothes:

Reading her old books: (a lot of these things had been in storage for a year)

It is VERY hot here, but we're not complaining. It feels good to be in the heat after the never-ending New England winter! So one has to keep cool. Here are a few ways:

Making new friends:

Washing her dishes:

James also found some of his old "toys." His Juicer! Here he made carrot, orange, pineapple!

He also joined a baseball team! Here we are at his game. It was a very hot day, can you tell by Sasha's face?

Here he is after getting his first hit:

And hanging out with his best cheerleader! (Sasha was so great, shouting "great job, Daddy!")

First trip to the Children's Museum:

Sasha's room: Her easel and table:

Her Montessori activities:

and Kitchen:

New York City (part 2)

2009-06-28T11:56:00.001-07:00

Sasha got a lot of these rides:

And some of these stops:

We did a lot of walking, particularly this day. We walked through Chinatown, Little Italy, and ended up at Katz's Delicatessen, a popular deli for both locals and tourists. Katz's has served lunch to many writers, actors and politicians, and has appeared in several movies: When Harry met Sally, Donnie Brasco, and Offbeat, to name a few. The walls are covered with photos of lots of it's guests, as you can sort of see in this picture.

Rockefeller Center:

A familiar pose in New York City: looking up

Times Square:

Behind is the New Year's Eve ball:

Ready for breakfast at a nice little place near our hotel. Not only did Barry have a good eye for great places to eat, he was an excellent tour guide of the city where he went to college. We got a great tour, visited key places, and had a schedule that allowed us to see various things in one day, but was flexible enough to allow Sasha to have her midday naps.

Reading to grammy and grampy before breakfast arrives:

On our way to the Planetarium and the American Museum of Natural History... with a stop-over at the playground, of course.

Getting another ride on Grampy's shoulders:

"We have a problem," says Grampy.. Sasha being oblivious...

The only picture we got of the Planetarium. We saw an amazing show inside where the narrator talked about the beginnings of planet Earth, the formation of the moon, the future of our galaxy, among other things, all while watching these amazing images and sounds effects. Sasha really enjoyed it as well!

On our last night Barry and Kathy gave us a special treat: They took care of Sasha for 4.5 hours while we went out to dinner and then to a Broadway show! We saw The West Side Story.

Wearing her special outfit that Grammy got her in Chinatown, and waiting for them to arrive:

Sasha being silly with mommy before we left:

Back in Times Square, after dinner, getting ready to go to the show. It was an amazing show. I had recently watched an old movie and noticed how all the actors were able to sing, dance, and act. I compared the acting of those days to todays where the actors don't display such a range of talents. It was incredibly emotional and I was on the verge of tears at the end of each act, not because of the story (which was very good) but because of the music, the voices, the acting, the dancing, the emotion, the talent. It was an awesome experience! James and I are so grateful!!

We left the next morning to the airport. Next stop: Houston!

New York City!! (part 1)

2009-06-26T19:15:00.000-07:00

We left Boston! Here we are on the bus heading to the train that would take us to New York! We spent a few days there with Barry and Kathy, before heading to Houston.

Sasha entertaining herself with a gift from our former landlord, who told her to open it after she got on the train. It was a great gift! She's drawing what she thinks New York city will look like:

She entertained herself for a while longer before falling asleep.

She had been up practically all night the previous night with a tummy flu... :(

Four hours later we arrived in New York. Here's James checking out the very tall buildings through the window of our taxi!

Barry and Kathy were scheduled to arrive soon after, but their flight got delayed due to bad weather. We decided to walk around Central Park:

And then went up to the top of the Empire State Building! Here we are climbing the stairs (we opted to climb the last several floors rather than wait in long lines for the elevator)

Amazing views!

The next day we went on a three-hour cruise that took us along the New York Harbor, circled around the Statue of Liberty, and past the beautiful city skyline. Even though I was up and about a lot of the time with Sasha, I was impressed by the amount of information given to us by our tour guide, who shared a lot of the history of the area as well as other interesting tidbits.

After some lunch and a long nap for Sasha, we walked to FAO Shwarz, a huge toy store on 5th Avenue. Surprisingly, there were no interesting toys. It was more interesting to walk through the store, walk on the enormous floor piano,

Try on the endless varieties of hats,

And check out the amazing lego creations!

Hanging out at the hotel:

Heading out in the morning for breakfast

Stop-over at Starbucks:

On our way to visit Ground Zero:

This is where the Twin Towers used to stand:

We visited a Twin Towers memorial center where they had pictures of the victims, stories from eye-witnesses and families, pieces of the building and even a window from one of the planes. It was very emotional to see these things, and to try to explain it to Sasha.

I will post the rest of the trip tomorrow...

2009-06-09T16:56:00.000-07:00

Sasha had her second appointment with the dentist today. She loves to go because they brush her teeth with cherry toothpaste (and this time they used bubble gum flavor!). Plus the dentist is very gentle, loving, and funny.

She went on her first school field trip to a butterfly pavilion!

She was so excited that she was going to "sit like a grownup" on the bus (without her car seat). If the bus ride had been the whole field trip, it would have been enough to make her happy!

Experimenting with the counting rods and making a butterfly:

All ready to go to the playground:

Making "mud" in the sandbox:

At her Baha'i classes: such beautiful diversity!

Getting in the habit of making her bed in the morning:

I went to a baby shower for a sweet friend, Salumeh. It was also a chance for me to say goodbye to all of these lovely ladies... :( (we're moving on Saturday)

Some more adding:

Sasha collected various rocks, washed them, sorted them, and then took a closer look with her magnifying glass:

Painting with mommy:

2009-05-31T10:22:00.000-07:00

We hiked to a beautiful place called Halibut Point State Park.

So happy to be outside in the warmth, feeling the ocean breeze:

Lookout at an abandoned quarry:

Listening to the waves:

Our little lady crossing her legs:

We took Sasha to the movies (this was her second time in a movie theater!)
We saw "Up." It was a sweet movie, but Sasha is so sensitive that she just couldn't contain her tears. : (

Balancing a basket on her head:

Putting up the continents on her felt map:

Working with her princess dress on:

Doing some shopping:

More of Mima:

Bundled up together reading a few stories before bedtime:

Mima let Sasha paint her toe nails:

2009-05-25T16:40:00.000-07:00

Mima left this morning. It was sad for all of us to say good bye. Thankfully we'll be seeing her and the rest of the family again in July for our family reunion!

We finally got a three-generations picture:

We all enjoyed my Mom's visit so much. Sasha especially. They enjoyed some fun games and some good talks.

Montessori is for everyone!

Mima got Sasha this wonderful marble mortar and pestle. We have found several uses for it. Here she is making "banana yogurt"

And, with daddy's help, grinding a cinnamon stick:

We added some sugar to the grounded cinnamon and sprinkled it on toast:

Some other random pictures:

For those who haven't heard, our dear friend Jason Ighani is getting married! Here he is with his beautiful wife-to-be:

Mima (Grandma Julie) is in town!

2009-05-20T17:18:00.000-07:00

She arrived just in time to attend an event at Sasha's school, "Grandfriend's Day." All the kids had their grandparents or a special friend visit the school and watch them work in the classroom. Sasha was so happy to have her Mima with her!

Below are pictures from various places: at Sasha's school, at the Ruhes, and hanging around the house.

There are a series of little books called "Bob Books," with short words and simple stories. We just got her one and it's been a source of pride for her to read an entire book by herself!

Colin and Britt hold beautiful, simple, and creative virtues classes for children at their home:

James in the lab-

Looking through his microscope to position a special drill on the stalagmite. The drill cuts into the stalagmite in small sections, leaving behind dust - samples of the stalagmite.

This dust gets collected into a tiny container, and sent to another lab, the results of which he analyzes for hurricane signature:

Albuquerque

2009-05-09T17:43:00.000-07:00

Here are some recent pictures in Albuquerque:

Some pictures of the beautiful Schmitz-Nkouaga family. I've uploaded all of these so that Patrik and Caroline can choose and copy the ones they want. : )

Spring is here!

2009-04-26T16:04:00.000-07:00

New England winters have seemed eternal to us, but Spring has finally come! Here are some pictures of us enjoying the outdoors:

Math, Magnets and other activities

2009-04-18T09:03:00.000-07:00

Sasha has shown interest in some new activities: sewing, weaving, and activities with numbers and magnets.

Here she is being very careful with the needle:

She wanted to sew some buttons on her pot holder:

I think she had more fun playing with the buttons:

Experimenting with magnets:

"floating" magnets:

Following her interest with numbers, and given the fact that she counts very well, we decided to take it a step further to see what she thought of adding. I write a simple equation, then she takes two separate counters (different kinds of fruit), puts them in a bag, and counts the total. Lastly she writes the total with magnetic numbers. She really enjoyed this activity:

Counting by tens:

Another new game we have consists of rolling dice, counting the number of dots, then selecting the pocket with the corresponding number, and reading the note inside:

There are 12 notes, all with actions like: hop like a frog, the crabwalk, etc. But my favorite is: give a one-minute hug! Not only is she learning the concept of how long one minute is (we count to 60 while we hug), but I also get to hold her for that long without her squirming away. : )
In this picture she got: do five donkey kicks:

Her new favorite color is pink. We got some white paint and she mixed it with red:

I-just-had-some-cheesecake smile:

Gathering sticks to decorate with "cherry blossoms" (pink and purple tissue paper)

Pasting pieces of tissue paper for the blossoms:

Dissecting a flower at school:

Cutting on the lines:

Painting her bird house:

A few random activities

2009-04-09T17:56:00.000-07:00

Sasha is learning how to weave. Here she is weaving a pot holder:

The final product:
(I uploaded a video on youtube)

Even though we don't celebrate Easter, we decided it would be fun to decorate eggs and hide them around the yard. Plus, we had a nice warm day today and spent most of it outside.
Here she is mixing paint to make new colors:

Painting:

Getting ready to hide them:

We found them!

Her turn to search:

Having trouble finding them:

The final activity was one of her favorite: peeling the egg shells for an egg salad:

Sining at the Baha'i Feast (she didn't know the words of the particular song but wanted to join them anyway)

Houston

2009-04-06T12:53:00.000-07:00

We're back from Houston! It feels good to be back in our home, cook our own meals, sleep in our own beds, etc.

Our trip was somewhat successful, but everything is still tentative. We had appointments with several potential schools for Sasha, and were able to watch the teachers work with the children. Most of the schools we liked are full. On our last day though, we received a call from one of them saying that they might have an opening in the fall.

Same story with the apartments. We were looking for an apartment that was close to her school, cheap and spacious. We don't want to buy another car, so we're trying to find an apartment within walking distance from her school. We considered buying, and spent too many hours looking at houses. They were all either too far away or too expensive. We finally, sort of, decided on an apartment that was relatively close to her school, and we're now waiting for a call-back to see if it will be available at the end of June when we move.

So, the trip was successful in that we were able to narrow the search down, and now we have to wait.

I only took pictures the day we decided to give Sasha a break from all the driving and looking at houses, to go to the zoo! We also had dinner with James' aunt Adrienne and uncle Jan, but I forgot to take my camera. :(

In the tube surrounded by piranas!

It was a very windy day, can you tell?

Trying to read the zoo map:

The texas longhorns!

When wearing a dress, one must twirl:

Update before we head out to Houston

2009-03-31T16:11:00.000-07:00

We're leaving tomorrow and will be back on Sunday. We have appointments set up with several potential schools for Sasha. We'll also be looking at what the options are for houses... We need to figure out a lot of things, like do we rent or do we buy?
We'll give an update of our situation when we get back.

In the meantime, here are the latest of Sasha!

Slicing strawberries for breakfast:

and green beans for dinner:

Some school pics (taken by her teachers)
I love this one. Can you see the love between these two? Sasha loves Julia!

Table-washing is an important Montessori activity. It helps children learn to attend to an entire sequence of visual motor tasks:

The children handle geometric solids under the cloth and try to guess what they are. Here Sasha is saying "ovoid!"

The Montessori math curriculum begins with concrete and gradually moves towards more abstract math concepts. Because children take in knowledge through their senses, these beads are a good way for children to visualize and hold quantities. She is presented with one bead, ten beads stuck together, (as seen below), 100 beads, and a cube of 1000 beads.

Building a bird feeder with Daddy:

Making play dough roses with mommy (I remember when my mom taught me to make these when I was a little girl)

Making a shopping list. Sasha loves practicing her writing. The Montessori method encourages writing phonetically to begin with. I got a great video of her spelling out words phonetically while writing her shopping list. (link on right)

The days have been getting warmer and warmer, and as they do, we find more reasons to be outside. Sasha and I walked to "pick up" daddy after he got off the bus coming home from school:

At Baha'i class they talked about the equality of men and women. Their art project was to decorate a bird who's wings represent this equality. One is the man, the other is the woman, and not until both are equal can the bird fly.

Random:

James in front of his poster at the NE section of the GSA meeting (Geological Society of America).

Happy Naw-Ruz!

2009-03-20T17:38:00.000-07:00

2009-03-15T12:42:00.000-07:00

2009-03-10T03:41:00.000-07:00

Showing off the laces she tied all by herself!

Cutting her pancakes:

We had a warm day, so we hit the park!

Showing of her cute outfit that Kathy sent:

Beautiful Colors:

Helping me wash the dishes:

Showing us her band aid:

Play dough

Sasha can tie shoes!

2009-03-06T12:25:00.000-08:00

Thank you grandma for the beautiful scarf that you made! It's beautiful and Sasha loves it! Here's a pic with her wearing it.

She learned to tie shoes today! It began when she was two. Every time there was tying involved, she wanted to have a try. After creating some nice, big tangles, we would ask if we could have a turn, and that was that. But she never gave up. It seemed like her hands would never be able to hold the strings correctly at age two. But because of her persistence we decided to show her how it was done. Yesterday it looked like she just might be able to do it, and today she offered to help daddy tie his shoes. Check out the video! (link on right)

Ayyam-i-Ha and Birthdays!

2009-03-01T12:56:00.000-08:00

School has been keeping us extremely busy lately. It will continue to be hectic for the rest of this semester. This is James' last semester and he's trying to focus on finishing on time (before he starts work in August). He's trying to continue writing his thesis, but he's also doing other things like drilling his stalagmite, regular visits to the lab, preparing and teaching classes, etc.
I'm in the middle of a semester of intense writing- paper after paper after paper!

We just had a nice breather this weekend though, when we spent a couple days with the Ruhes.

They are a family of musicians:

I think Sasha enjoys visiting with them. What do you think? : )

Sasha and Aman playing Guess Who?

Anna and James decorating the house:

Dinner in the making:

Sitting down for dinner:

With her cousin, Anika (they're four months apart).

Aside from the spelling, Sasha wrote this all by herself!!

Opening presents!

We celebrated Colin's birthday:

They even sang me 'happy birthday'!

Hanging out:

These were taken other days. Here she was playing with some kids at the Baha'i Center while I was in a study circle.

Her teachers took this one at school in the playground:

Practicing her writing. (can you tell she chooses her own clothes?)

Making dinner all by herself! This recipe is flexible enough that if she put too little or too much of something (which she often does), it was still good. She was so excited to do this all on her own. Thankfully she's very cautious of the hot stove.

This is one of her favorite dishes. It's sort of an alfredo sauce with pasta. Since only I make the dish for her, she has coined it "Alfredo a la mami"!

Birthday parties galore

2009-02-15T16:44:00.000-08:00

There has been a birthday party for one of Sasha's friends pretty much every weekend. We haven't gone to all of them for one reason or another (study circles, being sick, etc.) But here are some pics from the last two she went to.

I also included pictures from two new games Sasha has learned: The card game, "Go Fish" and the board game "Guess Who". She plays them really well!

Here she is at the birthday party today trying to help this little boy fix his mask... (or maybe breaking it!):

Being incredibly gentle with this little baby... she was that little baby not too long ago... I can't believe how quickly she's growing:

Thoroughly enjoying her homemade birthday cupcake (what a great idea!)

Playing Go Fish:

Drawing with her stamps. I love these close-up shots of her focusing:

At another birthday party where they painted little ceramic figures:

Spaced out, waiting for the paint:

Caring for her baby (she's anxious to have a little baby brother or sister - We'll be continuing the adoption process once we move to Houston. We would have had to pay extra money for a home study here in Boston, and another one in Houston. So we're waiting to do it all at once after we move. But we talk about it often, and she knows pretty much how the whole thing works!).

Playing Guess Who:

2009-02-11T18:31:00.000-08:00

Every time we ride in the car, Sasha wants to play the Guessing Game! This is actually a really cool game. It's great for developing vocabulary and thinking about things in a new way. We play for hours! I posted a video on youtube.

At school doing one of the "practical life" activities - spreading jelly:

We watched Sasha's friend, Milo, while his parents were at a meeting. He's such a sweet little boy! He really got into mazes (Sasha loves them as well).

They did some cooking:

Eating cinnamon toast:

and drawing:

When Sasha reads, she likes showing everyone the pictures, like her teachers do at school. This has been one of her favorite books for a long time. It's called "Feast for Ten" by Cathryn Falwell. It's a great book! Beautiful illustrations and good for learning and practicing counting.

Wearing the new, beautiful dress that Mima sent her, and which she put on as soon as she took it out of the package! She was so happy!

Looking cute in her chef's outfit:

Hanging out at the laundromat:

She loves getting caressed on her back!

2009-02-01T17:49:00.000-08:00

Abdu'l-Baha, in talking about the importance of educating children, says that training a child in morals and good conduct is far more important than book learning. He also says, "If, however, the child be trained to be both learned and good, the result is light upon light.”

The following ideas were taken from the Core Curriculum website:
Spiritual Qualities Chart - This is a way for Sasha to be aware of important virtues and of how she is developing them.
This week we started with Reverence. We talk about what it means to be reverent, how to hold the prayer book reverently (during prayers the other night at Feast, she put the prayer book on top of her head!), we talk about how we sit, and how we don't sit, and about what we do while others are praying. And after each evening prayer session we'll place a sticker on her chart. This won't be used as a punishment if she doesn't show reverence. It's only a reminder and encourager.

She and I decorated the picture frame shown above. She chose the picture to remember her Bumpa...

We've started talking about the kingdoms of God. We made charts, similar to what we did when learning the seasons, but with the names of the kingdoms instead. Under each name she sticks pictures of objects belonging to that kingdom. We've just started with the mineral.

Here she is helping me put the charts together and cutting out the labels:

We've also started to talk to her about other religions. It's a pretty abstract concept for her at the moment, although when I was telling her about baha'i children's classes, she asked me what they were. I mentioned that she would be learning about God and about being loving, and that there would be baha'i children there. She then said "I'm a baha'i!" So, whatever that means to her, it's something familiar. We don't want any religion to sound foreign to her, and we want her to "consort with the followers of all religions in a spirit of love and fellowship".

We've put up various religious symbols that she can start becoming familiar with, along with the places of worship for each of them. If you ever see our house, you'll see that the walls are all covered with various things: her drawings, labels for her to read, the days of the week, virtues, charts, calendars, reminders for James not to forget his keys, etc.!

In other news, we cut Sasha's hair last week!!! Except for once, we had never cut it. So it was getting very long and a bit damaged. She looks so cute with it short and it's so much more manageable! But we'll probably let it grow out again.

Decorating her play dough mat. She put in the children's faces:

Some of Sasha's favorite things

2009-01-28T17:47:00.000-08:00

Are to put on a dress and dance:

Perform for us and then take a bow:

Her shapes puzzles:

Snapping, zipping, buttoning, lacing and tying (She still can't tie her shoes, except for the first step. But the loops are a bit trickier for her)

Here she is proud of lacing:

We have a new special routine at nights: Reading books together. James and I read to her often, and especially right before bed. However, this is different because each of us is reading on our own. It's an awesome time, and very different from any other activity. We hope to develop a love of reading in Sasha, and for her to see that mommy and daddy enjoy reading too. It's also a good calming down activity right before bed. And not to mention helping Sasha focus on one activity and concentrate for so long. We started last night and it lasted 45 minutes!!

2009-01-25T16:42:00.000-08:00

We went to another Baha'i children's class today. Every week a different class gets to go upfront and say prayers using the microphone. This week it was Sasha's class's turn. I asked her if she wanted to say a prayer and she said "yes, I want to say the Healing prayer". There's a video of this on youtube (link on the right).

The Healing prayer, written by Baha'u'llah, is as follows:

Thy name is my healing, O my God, and remembrance of Thee is my remedy. Nearness to Thee is my hope, and love for Thee is my companion. Thy mercy to me is my healing and my succor in both this world and the world to come. Thou, verily, art the All-Bountiful, the All-Knowing, the All-Wise.

Here she is with her friends at the Baha'i Center:

Every so often James and Sasha go out on a date together, just the two of them. They hope to make this a life-long tradition!
James, with his excellent and diverse taste, introduces new foods to her often. Here she's eating one of her favorite things: Miso soup and Edamame!

Learning to use chopsticks:

She met two little boys at the restaurant and fell in love with the littlest one:

Playing at home:

We filled up her play sink with water. She loved it! She kept filling her little tea kettle with water, pretending it was lemonade, then tea, then hot chocolate. We were very hydrated that day!

It's so cute to see her drawings, especially when she draws the arms coming out from the head. For this drawing I asked her if those were the ears, which I think got her thinking that arms don't come out of the head. But then she fixed it by drawing ears just above the arms. Adorable!

I couldn't stop staring at her while she typed on the computer. So I took a picture to freeze that moment in time:

We went to a birthday party for one of her school friends, Julia. The party was in a gym filled with obstacle courses, a foam pit, lots of jumping areas and ropes...etc. Needless to say, they all had a blast! Sasha was fearless, as usual. She jumps off anything, no matter how high.

Snow and more snow!

2009-01-19T11:35:00.000-08:00

Making snow angels:

Mommy's:

Sasha's:

Daddy's:

An activity she used to do often, but hasn't in a long time: Sorting colors and beads

Another one of her favorites at the moment is the Mystery Bag. Every time we play, I put new objects in the bag which she has to guess by using all senses, except her sight.

In this game she has to use her senses to find daddy!

Daddy's turn:

So close! Sasha was being so quiet and still that James turned around to look for her somewhere else! When he did, she made a little noise so he would find her...

And he did!

Cuddling up with Daddy:

She had her first dental appointment a couple of weeks ago. She did so well! The dentist told us that children need to start flossing at an early age. So she's learning how:

children's classes, number rods and solar systems

2009-01-07T16:46:00.000-08:00

The children's Baha'i school just started in Boston. Sasha will be attending every week, and James will be teaching a class for the older kids (ages 6-8)!

Sasha with her friend, Amira (5 years old), before classes started:

The children are learning how to be kind, compassionate and generous, as well as learning to express themselves by using the language of the virtues. They practiced saying nice things to each other using the virtues.

Here she is in a class with other children closer to her age:

Sasha has been really interested in counting and writing numbers and letters. Here she is playing with her number rods. Once she can line them in order, she can see that 10 is the longest rod, while 1 is the shortest. These number rods help children visualize quantities.

In this picture, she is counting the bars and writing down the number:

I helped her write the number 5, but the rest she did completely on her own!

The teachers took this one at school - matching textures:

She's been learning about the solar system, so we molded the planets out of these interesting play dough-like, foam beads (called Play Foam). They're hanging in the background of this picture, with a big, yellow balloon for the sun.
She really likes them! We tried to make them to scale, and we did a fairly good job. She held each planet in her hand while we talked about fun facts about each one, like that Pluto is a ball of ice and not really a planet at all. Or that Jupiter is a big ball of gas. There are lots of good books out there about the solar system - Very simple, and with beautiful images.

Skiing!

2009-01-03T11:20:00.000-08:00

We went skiing this weekend with Colin, and Sasha's cousins, Isaiah and Aman. It was the first time for all the kids, and they all did really well. Actually, the boys learned to snowboard and Sasha learned to ski. She learned the most important thing: to stop. She was able to make a "pizza" with her skis (the snowplow). Sasha has amazing balance (which is probably one of the reasons she learned to walk at 8 months). She was able to ski at high speeds and not fall over. (I posted a couple of videos on youtube).
The boys did really great too. They all began on the beginner's hill and the boys moved on to the steeper, more advanced hills by the end of the day!

These last few are from a few days ago.

Just woke up from her nap:

Looking out her bedroom window, happy to see that it snowed!

A few more random pictures

2008-12-27T18:10:00.000-08:00

We went to see The Nutcracker, performed by the Boston Ballet. We got the cheapest seats, but it was surprisingly a perfect view and we were all amazed by the performance! After each pair of dancers performed (in Act II) I concluded that those had been my favorite. But the next group were just as good or better. It was really beautiful.
We prepared Sasha for the two hour show. We told her that they would be telling us a story, but without using words. We talked about telling stories through dances and through music. Then we told her what the story was about, so that she could follow it more easily. She was especially excited for the part when the nutcracker becomes a real man! Afterwards she told us that she really like the ballet, but she didn't like the big mouse because he was scary. We agreed but reminded her that it was just a person dressed up like a big mouse, like she was for halloween!
She did really well considering it was so long and it was around bedtime.

Sasha got her first haircut! I had trimmed her bangs before, but I had never cut the rest of it. It was getting really long and we decided a trimming was past due!

We've been encouraging her to do and ask things for herself. On the rare occasions that we go out to dinner, she asks the waiter for what she wants to eat and drink. And so this time was no exception. She walked in and said hello to the barber, followed by "Can you please trim my hair?" To which he enthusiastically said "Sure! hop onto the chair!" She did so well - she was very still, turning her head however the barber asked her to, even resisting an itch on her nose when the cut off hair fell onto it!

Usually, when she sees the camera she flashes her fake, camera smile. So, even though this one is a little blurry, I'm posting it for the beautiful natural smile that I captured!

Using play dough to cook with. She was making pancakes at first, but then decided to throw on some pepperoni and so, I think they became pizzas:

She was so happy when I agreed to let her paint my nails:

some activities

2008-12-23T16:47:00.000-08:00

We went to the children's museum again. Sasha seems to enjoy it more as she gets older.. There are more things that she can do now, as well as more things she can understand:

We decided to walk to the grocery store on one of the heavy snow days. It was fun but very cold! Sasha loved it. Here she is drawing happy faces in the snow:

A closer look:

I found these really cool activity books that contain matching games, cutting and pasting, tracing letters, finding similarities and differences, and many more activities. Sasha really loves them. The books come with little stickers and every time she finishes a page, she can place a sticker at the top. We've spent hours doing the activities and have a lot of fun together:

(If any one is interested, they are called "Home Work Books", by Carson-Dellosa Publishing Company, Inc.)

Playing the pan flute:

Sledding

2008-12-20T14:07:00.000-08:00

It snowed all night last night, has been snowing all day today, and will continue to snow tonight. On the one hand it was too bad that it snowed because we had scheduled our first devotional for last night and had invited lots of people (non-baha'is) who couldn't make it because of the storm. But these devotional gatherings will be regular so there will be other opportunities. Besides that, it was great that it snowed because today we were able to take Sasha sledding! She has been anticipating winter for a while and has been talking about all the things she wants to do in the snow. It took us a very long time to get dressed appropriately for the occasion (weather.com said it felt like 3 degrees!). So needless to say, we had lots of layers. But even so, we didn't spend very much time playing outside (almost as long as it took us to get dressed!). It was so cold, and it was a workout to climb the knee-deep snow up the hill. But we did have a lot of fun. Afterwards, we were ready to come home and have some hot chocolate!

Here she is with her first set of layers:

Mid layers:

Final layers!

Playing in the snow:

Helping put flowers out for the devotional (which we had despite the no-shows.. it was a special family time with several rounds of prayers)

She found daddy's bike gloves and helmet:

I posted a sledding video on youtube (link on the right).

First performance!

2008-12-18T17:01:00.000-08:00

Sasha had her first performance at school! It was incredibly cute. Unfortunately, because of privacy issues, I'm not able to upload pictures or videos in which certain other classmates appear. But here is a cropped picture in her performing outfit. She did really well - She sang loudly and did all the hand motions. Her class was representing Lebanon. They learned a song in Arabic, but for some reason only performed it in English. Still, it was really sweet.

Her performance coincided with James' birthday! So, afterwards we went for birthday ice cream!

Choosing which flavor she wanted:

At school the children have been learning to prepare their own snacks. They spread butter on crackers, peel oranges, and chop bananas. I just hope the teachers took off some of this butter before she ate it!

A picture from her birthday walk a couple of weeks ago. Children hold the Earth and walk around a candle (representing the Sun). She walked around the "Sun" three times, while the rest of the class sang a little birthday song about how the Earth goes around the Sun.

She loves cooking in her new kitchen:

Reading her book while she waits for the oven timer to go off:

She loves helping us fold clothes, and she's gotten really good at it:

For a while, after she woke up from her naps, she would ask me if it was time to take a shower and go to school. I realized she was confused about the days.. it seems she thought that after she awoke from her nap it was the next day. So we made a calendar together that shows the main events of each day, with a little paper doll representing Sasha. After each main event, we look at our calendar to see that these are all occurring on the same day, and when it's a new day, she moves the little "sasha doll" onto the next day.
(In case you can't understand my drawings: first is the sun (when she wakes up). Next is her school, then her nap, then dinner, and lastly, the moon represents bedtime! these events are all spread out, of course)

Here she is moving her doll to a new day:

Working with Daddy:

Regional Baha'i Conference

2008-12-14T16:30:00.000-08:00

We got back today from Stamford where we participated in the Baha'i Conference for the Northeastern states. It was such a special event. For one thing, we were able to see many friends that we haven't seen in years. We also met a lot of people, even some from our own community that we hadn't met before.
The purpose of this conference, (along with the other 41 conferences around the world) was to celebrate the achievements of the Baha'i global community, as well as to discuss the current needs of the Faith.
It's becoming more clear to the world that civilization must advance spiritually as well as materially. It is our goal at this time, as Baha'is, to focus on providing classes for children, junior youth and youth, assisting them in the development of spiritual faculties, hosting devotional gatherings (gatherings with the purpose of praying), and joining or facilitating study circles (a way of systematically studying the the Word of God and then translating it into action in the form of service to humanity).

On our way back, Sasha fell asleep and it gave James and I the chance to talk a lot. We realized how much work there is to be done, and how we can be a part of this "global enterprise".
It was inspiring to see this new baha'i culture: an incredibly active, vibrant and diverse community. We've come to see that, as Baha'is, we are not just peaceful, passive members of society who talk about unity. We are followers of the Promised One of all ages who are actively working towards building a new civilization through systematic and sustainable processes.
It was inspiring to see so many people working towards the same goal.

"By the rectitude of their conduct, the sincerity of their love for their fellow human beings, and the ardour of their desire to serve the peoples of the world, may they vindicate the truth proclaimed by Baha'u'llah that humanity is one." - The Universal House of Justice

Here are some pictures of only a few of the many people we saw and met.

Sasha with her friends:

With my friends whom I haven't seen in ten years!
Alain and Russell with their beautiful daughter:

And here with Colin:

Sasha with her old friend Ayyan:

Colin and Jason :

One of the friends from our local community, Babak:

Our sweet friend from Chile, Gabriela:

Trading hats:

There was no program for the children, so Gabriela and I rounded them up for a little while, and had a little class with songs and games:

Busy Busy

2008-12-09T16:41:00.000-08:00

On these cold winter days, Sasha keeps herself entertained indoors with activities and chores.

First she does some coloring:

Next, she "bakes" herself a snack: (grapes, in this case)

Then she takes her bear, Woody, for a walk:

Afterwards, it's clean-up time:

And finally, gets dinner ready: