My Daughters, my Sister and Myself

You know what's interesting?
Watching your kids growing right in front of your eyes and then remembering your own childhood and then feeling amazed by how history repeats itself.

My dad kept a journal for each one of us -his daughters- since we were born and filled many pages with words and pictures.
One of the sentences he wrote about me is so hard to forget. When I was almost 3 years old he wrote: "I try to imitate my sister Nour in every single thing she says/does".
Nour is 2 years older than me.

I once asked my mom about how Nour felt about this all when we were little, she said she was a very peaceful girl who didn't mind it at all.
This might be true, but then my mom's memory isn't that good. Plus, if you know Nour, my sister and Mariyah, my daughter, you could tell that they have a lot in common. And since Mariyah is mostly bothered by her baby sister being a copy cat, you'd feel really bad for Nour growing up with a sister like me.

I must have been a really crazy sister!! Poor Nour :(
Selma is like me, a copy cat and a very stubborn one.

"Stop copying me" is a very popular sentence at home these days.
Selma repeats everything Mariyah says and does everything her older sister does. It's crazy believe me. It's like living life twice! The second time is funnier and more dangerous though.

If I praise Mariyah for doing something good I have to use the same exact words to please Selma. If I ask Mariyah to stop acting in a certain way or if I ask her to behave herself I must say the same exact thing to Selma again.
Sometimes it's hard to keep repeating yourself but it's always easier than hearing the baby screams asking for attention.

To Mariyah I say: be patient.
To Selma I say: give us a break!
To Nour I say: I'm sorry :p
To myself I say: you deserve this :))
To jeeej I say: enjoy it. Haha

Selma, I love you TWO much :)

Two years ago around this time I was in the kitchen making lasagna and apple dumplings for my family and for my mom and brother who were visiting to help me with my 2nd baby's birth. While baking my contractions started.
I decided to stay home until i was totally ready to give birth. My mom was impressed by my breathing methods.
Selma's delivery was natural, smooth and fast.

My life with her is not as easy as her birth story. She is the reason behind my daily workout. She is the reason behind the bruises all over my body from jumping and running after her. She is the reason behind the loud life we are leading these days. She is the reason behind my many visits to the kitchen during the day. She is the reason behind my frustration tears. She is the reason behind the washing machine running every single day.

But then she is the reason behind the 99% of the laughter at home!
Even after she goes to bed, I keep thinking of how she drove me crazy during the day and it makes me laugh.
She is the kind of person who makes you laugh while you're too mad at her. You always have to hide your laugh behind your teeth.

A couple of months ago I was getting worried about her communication skills, talking in specific. I was comparing her to her sister when she was younger and between kids around her. I made an appointment with a specialist and had too many questions in mind. I was surprised and kinda upset when they told me she is doing fine. I wanted her to be better but it was good because I was given a lot of tips on how to focus on her speech and now I can't believe how in a hurry I was. Now she talks and sings non stop. She is full of life and energy. She is so playful and you must repeat whatever she says. Putting her to bed is a challenge almost every night.

Selma turns two today,















Mariyah's drawing....


I missed cutting the cake at the daycare but I'm glad they took pictures for me :)





They told me she was excited about blowing the candle and cutting the cake too.


Salamonti, you are resting on my arm right now while I'm typing this for you. Your sister went to Friday prayer with baba. I love you so soooo much and I can't wait for you to grow up so we could have a serious talk about your secret behind loving you no matter how crazy you drive us!!

What is busy?

For me, the word busy has two meanings, physical and mental. When I say I'm busy you might not see a product between my hands and of course you can't see or hear the conflicts that take place in my mind.

I have a lot of free time that I wish I can fill. These days a lot of my students are on vacation, some of them moved to a far away cities and some are about to finish reading the Quran. So yours truly is trying to figure out a way to keep feeling productive.

I'm just glad we had jeeej's sister visit us from Alabama and stayed with us for 2 weeks, she added a lot of action to the girls' days.
I'm thankful because we have the swimming pool to kill boredom on warm days. I'm also glad Ramadan is here, I'm ready for a change and I hope it will be a good one :)

I feel that Allah SWT has a plan for me and my life, as if he wants me to get done with all the teaching before my upcoming trip to Amman. I feel like a new chapter will start by the beginning of next year.

I haven't blogged for a while now, but this is what's we've been up to :)


Silly girls


I cooked a lot with Majdaleen


Swimming pool gets busy on weekends


Mariyah loves it when they look like twins


Allergy tests....Done!


Best time for museum......Sunday morning:)


Summer funnest activity at the museum


Capitola beach day :)


Farmers market in the morning.





Good bye Amtou,,,


We miss you already!


Come back soooon xoxo

Lazy no more :)

I can be the laziest mother in this world and I admit that I hate it, especially when I'm the only one around to entertain my girls. I depend on the day care and it's backyard a lot. I demand jeeej's presence to be able to take the girls out to the park or to any kind of fun places simply because Selma is a monkey. I keep giving the excuse: it's Selma's nap time and I can't skip it. And when she is awake it's too hot outside or whatever...




Yesterday, I came through an online list of a 100 thing you can do with your kids during summer time.




One of these hundred options was about taking your kids to the park and have breakfast together before it's too hot.




My girls eat their breakfast at 9:30. The park is only 2 minutes away.




My girls love to eat their oatmeal and drink their juice outdoors.
My girls love to color and read books outdoors.
My girls love to run and play outdoors.



I love watching them eat, drink, color, read, run and play outdoors and i love their laughs.



And I love it when they get to breath some fresh air and have the sun kiss their soft bodies.



And finally I love how they get tired and sleep early when I'm ready to have some me time at night.
This is what happened today.
"True Story"
Yea, I can be the best mom in this world :)

My Green Babies

I love it when my friends and family ask me about my plants. How to take care of this one and that one. I find myself becoming an expert with time, I mean I'm getting there. The best general advice I can give is sun and water....how much and how often, it depends. Keep watching your plants and see what they really need.
It also makes me sad that even after I give advices and tips, their plants die and they claim that their hands aren't green enough.

I have had this plant for a little bit over 4 years now. I got it when I was pregnant with Mariyah. I love it so much it makes me sad to get rid of its yellow leaves every winter.


I got this orchid on mothers day this year, it's still alive and happy and it makes me happy every time I look at it. It makes me proud and I think of its sisters waiting to bloom. I have learnt to keep my orchids even after all the flowers fall, I hide them in my bedroom and wait for a whole year to see the flowers again. I have 2 in my bedroom now, one is 2 and the other one is 3 years old.


This one, has some bitter sweet memories. I got it from the restaurant my husband once owned and then lost year 2009 because of some really mean people. I love taking care of it because we learnt a lot from that tough experience and even though it was hard we still enjoy talking about the beautiful and funny moments we lived during that year.


This one I got year 2010 when I was still pregnant with Salamonti. I got it because I fell in love with its red flowers but ever since they dried they never came back to life again. But it stays green all year long. A really tough plant.


These bamboo I got separately, one at a time. One from trader joes and the other from the farmers market. I think it's the best plant to keep forever because it's almost impossible to kill. I've had them for over 2 years now.


Now I can't wait till I have a backyard to plant and to learn more about outdoors plants.