Baha'i Houses of Worship

I am trying to make a conscientious effort to do more educational Baha'i activities with the kids. For an easy and basic start I made this House of Worship game. I just printed off images from the US National Office site two of each temple and laminated them on cardstock. I typed up the corresponding locations, printed them on colored paper and laminated those as well. We talked about what the buildings were, how many there are including this trick question: "We are currently building the ninth house of worship but it is one of only eight that you can visit. Why?" After a bit of thought Ruhi worked it out. (The earliest temple in Turkestan was destroyed by an earthquake.) Where the buildings are, what common features they all have, why they all have nine sides and a central dome and special facts about certain temples. We then turned the pictures over and the kids played Memory trying to match up the pictures of the temples. Once they had managed to do that we laid them out and I challenged them to see if they could place the correct location by the its picture. Ruhi breezed through it, Anisa did very well and Bayan kind of followed along. I never know how much he is getting out of these things. Sometimes it seems like he is not paying the least bit of attention and the next thing you know he is explaining the random geometrical forces that allowed them to construct the Lotus Temple, well - not really but it certainly seems like it sometimes.

Thank you J. Lo

Our house is disgusting. Seriously disgusting. If feels like it is never clean and it is all I can do just to make sure that there are clean clothes and homemade meals. It is really getting to me. We have a never ending stream of visitors who arrive in the late evening with computer problems , software difficulties, academic troubles, etc. I can only imagine what they must think as they leave their unquestionably pristine and organized homes and enter ours... the abode of filth and chaos. Especially in the evening. After dinner. Before the dishes have been done or the table cleared, in the midst of finishing homework and activities. And with the rain I have to hang the laundry indoors. So that our already cramped house looks incredibly less spacious. The spare bed has become a dumping ground for clean clothes...but at least they're clean. The garage is becoming crammed with boxes for this fictitious house we think we might build one day... and now that the sofas are out Mehran is busily collecting toilets and tapware from the auction. Sigh. The floors desperately need to be scoured, I feel utterly defeated by the cleaning that never ends, our couches are supporting some sort of accelerated dust bunny breeding program, the laundry is conspiring against me and the kids, despite the fact that I am quite certain I constantly feed them, are always hungry. Sigh!

Over the years, but more consistently over the last year I have been trying to get the kids more involved in doing jobs and helping out. We have used the chore can, lucky dips, cleaning charts and games yet even so, the moment I mention cleaning Bayan (who used to be my staunch little helper) actually bursts into tears. Loud. Dramatic. Wails of protest. But honestly I get how he feels. If it were socially acceptable I might just do the same thing.

So, I am currently trying to declutter the house but have also hit on something else that works...for now. Heaven knows what tomorrow will bring. Before I had kids, and lets face it I have never been a huge fan of housework, to make cleaning more fun I used to put on some loud, energetic music and clean up while I listened. I found this to be both fun and effectual. The same, it would appear, holds true with the kids. Jennifer Lopez has a song out "On the floor..." Which is actually perfect because we have so much stuff on the floor that it has kind of become become our clean up theme song. I put the music on, nice and loud, and the kids actually start packing up while they dance and strut and pirouette. We're having a blast and everytime that phrase comes up I belt out over top of J. Lo "Get it off of the floor..." with as much gusto and enthusiasm as I can muster (I know. My kids will probably need all kinds of therapy by the time I am finished with them... but what can you do?) and the kids like this and they smile while they pick up toys, pack away crayons, put away dishes and help "fold" laundry. We're still workin' on that last one. But the house is getting tidied, no one is crying - in fact look how much fun they're having (Anisa's the blur in the middle) even Maryam who just watches in wonder and all is well in the world even if the dust bunnies are still breeding behind the sofa.

Letting it slide

You may have noticed that I am not exactly on top of things over here. My blog posts are often months behind schedule. Months I tell you. I try to keep up. Really. I do. But sometimes there are just not enough hours in the day. I start a post, but then someone needs something or I have to uplaod a photo but the photo card is in the camera and the camera is in the car and on the way to the car someone needs something, or I start typing another post in my draft folder but I can't post it yet because the earlier ones aren't finished and they'll be all out of order and every time I try to finish one of the earlier ones someone needs something...you see what I'm saying?

So I have just decided to let them slide. I'm not deleting them. Just moving on and if one day I have a chance to go back and finish them off, well so be it. And if not... well that's fine too.

So, some of what you're missing (for now anyway) is our trip to the planetarium, homeschooling activities, Ruhi's broken foot (which really deserves a blog post. She's a super hero.) multiple trips to the hospital for orthopedic surgeons (which weren't even necessary... just keep smiling) and auditory processing tests, Maryam's amazing growth, Anisa's latest creations, Bayan's charming antics and these sweet faces.

I'm sorry but I love their expressions... I'll try to get my act together and get back to some regular posting sooner or later. Hopefully sooner. Probably later.