Mother's Day Gift

Aaliyah loves to draw and color and now she is getting good at creative writing too. She found a little book with blank pages, got her stash of crayons and came up with this cute little story book. I immediately took pictures of it, so it can stay with me forever. Here

Ice Skating At Minoru

First steps

Went to the Minoru Skating Centre for the very first time. Little kids and big kids skated on ice like it was second nature to them. Of course there were some who were not as good as most of the others. For these group of people who are beginning to skate, there were some metal supports or rails for holding onto while skating. When I am over my fear of

Mommy Rich in June

My six year old first grader plans on getting me rich at the end of the school year. It is not the richness that one gets by acquiring money. It is a different kind of richness. Apparently, she will be getting

Parent Teacher Conference

Today, I had a parent-teacher conference with Aaliyah's grade 1 teacher Mme. Hacker. I was 10 minutes early but she gladly welcomed me. She made Ayaan comfortable by giving him some paper and markers to color with. Then she gathered Aaliyah's class folders and we started our conversation. Together we went through Aaliyah's academic progress for the last two

First Day of Grade 1

First day of Grade 1 for my first born child. What an exciting time for both of us. I feel like a school kid and it feels like I am starting Grade 1 all over again. As a kid I remember a new school year meant getting new uniforms, shoes, socks, backpack, books, lunch boxes for each new school year. Although some of Aaliyah's stuff from last year is still good, yet Nasir insisted on

Last Day of First 5 Years

Today marks the last day of Aaliyah's first 5 years. Each year, and each birthday, has been a wonderful experience.
So, what did the little princess do on her last day being 5? Lets see.

Losing the First Tooth

Oh the joy of losing the very first tooth! The much awaited moment finally arrived. My daughter's wiggly tooth finally gave up its roots. Yeah! When I saw her new tooth growing right behind her bottom

Bumble Bee Dress

Bumble Bee Dress

Except for the colors, there is nothing bumble bee'ish about this new dress that I made yesterday for Aaliyah. The yellow, black and white are so often associated with the bee. And just for this fact, I am going to call it a bumble bee dress. I took about 1.5 yard of black cotton fabric with yellow and white dotted print. I cut the skirt part in a regular umbrella cut fashion and for the body, I decided to go without sleeves. With the kind of unpredictable weather here in Richmond, you have to layer dresses with a t-shirt one way or another. So, without the sleeves I had one less step to do for my project. I took another

Crazy Clothes Day

 It was crazy clothes day at Mitchell Elementary. Aaliyah wore her clothes backwards. Put on pink shorts over her pants and wore different colored socks-a light pink and a dark pink. She loved showing it off.

Aaliyah and Ayaan were happy to see their dadda in the parking lot. He surprised us all. He came straight from his Friday prayers. I took Ayaan with me while Aaliyah went with Nasir. She knew that she could make him stop by the Richmond bakery for her favorite gingerbread man cookie. She insisted on riding with him for this same reason.

I need my hand

Pretty good day so far. After dropping off Ayaan at his preschool, I stopped by at Aaliyah's school, parked my car and watched Aaliyah from a distance. They were having their lunch break. As soon as the bell rang all the kids and these are 5-6 year olds, lined up in front of their class doors and waited for the other friends to join in. They started counting each other to make sure there was everybody. It was just amazing to

Breakfast Club at Mitchell Elementary

Aaliyah was all excited since last night about this morning's Breakfast Club at her elementary school. The Breakfast Club is a new project that the school has started in partnership with other community organizations to ensure that the students do not start their day with empty stomachs. It will be offered on Tuesday and Friday mornings from 7:55am-8:20am. Which means

Fixing Mommy's Heart

Last night I got really mad and upset with Aaliyah for not keeping her things in place. Aaliyah was working at her desk coloring something while Ayaan was playing with his toys. I was in the kitchen, putting things away. Suddenly, Aaliyah screams and announces that Ayaan is painting his nails on the bed. I immediately go to their room and find the bed sheet stained with nail paint and her hair bands all over the bed. I was furious. If only Aaliyah could have stopped Ayaan from taking her hair bands and the nail paints from the dresser. Perhaps it is too much to expect from a 5 year old. Anyway, I take the nail paints and the head bands and put it away. Then I asked them both to go to bed without any story time. I think I even told Aaliyah that it breaks my heart when she doesn't keep her things (head bands, nail paint, color pencils, crayons etc.) in their place.
Today, as I was cleaning up my bedroom, Aaliyah combs her hair, puts a matching hair band, walks into my room, sees the smile on my face and asks "Mommy is your heart fixed?"