Trial & Error Mama

Fruity Fruits!

2013-10-11T15:32:00.000-07:00

Hey friends,

My beautiful sweet little daughter, Sarah was hospitalized for 3 days for an asthma :( Her first one and hopefully the last. It was heart breaking to see her tied to an oxygen mask and to a cannula! Anyway, she is better now and here is a picture of her on the day she left hospital. She was so funny in the hospital, looking for ways to escape :D She faced all this as strong as one little girl could be,God! I love them so much!

Away from all the drama, Sarah got back to her school and they were discussing fruits. I had to add my touch :p So, I prepared her some simple things. A sensory tub, a puzzle, stickers and a coloring book. Here is what is inside the tub:

plastic fruits
fruit erasers
small mini trees
fall leaves (from the dollar store)
confetti (leaves)
Blocks (with pictures of fruits on them)

Farida was trying hard on the puzzle :D

Our dictionary

Farida was so good doing this :)

Thank you for being with us. Hope to see you here soon. We appreciate your comments!

Love,

First Day of School!

2013-10-04T15:00:00.000-07:00

Hey friends everywhere,

It has been a fantastic day at school. Sarah loved it so much that she wants to go every day :) Yes, the helicopter mother buried inside me has shown and I thought that my job as teacher has prepared me, ha! But I think I can deal with this.

Anyway, here are the activities we did yesterday. First, I have prepared her a list of school related things that she needs to find around the house, treasure hunt. The list included: school bag, pencil, pencil case, pencil sharpener, eraser, ruler, scissors, glue, tissue box, wipes, school uniform, envelope folder, plate, cup, apron, table placement, crayons and lunch box. She was so excited looking for them around the house, running from one place to the other.

Then, we had a themed bath. I drew the stationery on foam. I drew a school bag, a pencil, an eraser, a pencil sharpener, a book, a ruler and a pair of scissors.

Finally, of course, I can't do it without a sensory bin :) This one included: a pencil case, shredded papers, pencil sharpener, scissors, erasers, glue, pencils, crayons, letter blocks and a small book. Here:

Thank you for being with us. We hope you have enjoyed.
Love,

Tomorrow!

2013-10-02T15:03:00.001-07:00

Hey friends,

Tell me how you felt on the first day of your kids' school? Did you, too, have these mixed feelings? It's a roller coaster here. I can't believe my baby has gotten that big that she is officially a school student.

Tomorrow is the big day and she gets to go to her school. I have been a teacher for eight years and I have always wondered what was on the parents' minds. Why were some crying while others were cheering? Now, I think I know. I feel happy and I don't know why, still I feel sad that she won't be with me as much as we used to before. I feel proud that she is now this big girl as if I have something to do with it and feel guilty, again for no specific reason. I remember this quote from one of Sarah's favorite books, "And from my arms you flee" and it literally describes how I see her right now. I am full of expectations and hopes and also don't want to get my hopes too high. I feel like this is the bravest thing we will ever have to do and at the same time, I feel so scared. Emotions!!! Lots of them!

Concerning our big girl, she was so excited for this day. She has been telling the whole Earth about it every single day for over a week. And today, I tried as much as I can to make it so special for her. She liked it so much but the day has come to its end and the dreaded sentence rose in the air, "Mommy, I don't want to go to school tomorrow!" I didn't know what to say so I just said, "Sarah, we have talked about this many times and you will like it tomorrow." I know I should have said more but I couldn't. I mean after all, I need someone to tell me that it will be alright!

Tomorrow, there will be another post about the activities we did today and her actual first day of school. Wish us luck everyone!

Thank you for visiting. Please, come again tomorrow.
Love,

Fun Outside!

2013-09-09T12:58:00.003-07:00

Hey friends,

The vacation is almost over and I don't feel we have enjoyed any second of it. I have decided to make up for my little girls, even with the simplest resources available. For example, today we watched a cartoon together, turned off the lights and ate popcorn, we called it our Girls Movie Night! It was fun. Also, we had some fun around the pool a few days ago. There isn't much to say here but the pictures are lovely so here:

Water dancing!

With her 2 year old best friend :)

Kissing mama :D

I just love this picture!

Thank you for checking on us. Please, come back soon.

Love,

Why Don't I Just Understand?

2013-08-29T09:20:00.000-07:00

Why does it all have to be about me?

As if my kids are just some nuisance! I know I am, better to say we are, overwhelmed. Overwhelmed with the financial matters, the current state of our country, the parenting demands, our marital demands and so much more. I can realize we are overwhelmed trying to provide the best for our kids and achieve our careers at the same time. I can sense that this feeling of overwhelming is haunting our lives and I can claim we need a break, a rest from all the responsibilities BUT why can't I just see that my kids are still kids? Why can't I understand that they cry for a reason, let it be hunger, boredom or just for missing being by mommy's side? Why can't I understand that they, too, can feel and share the same feeling of being overwhelmed?

Why can't I just see that they favor me over anything else and that they'd rather hug me for the hundredth time in the same day than go and watch some cartoon on youtube? Why can't I just read one more book for God's sake? Why do their tears irritate me thinking that they don't appreciate what I do for them? Do they even have to appreciate it? Why? What if they don't? Does this mean I should stop doing it? Of course not! Then why can't I understand their feelings even if they sound irrational to me? Does it need a Nobel scientist to realize that it is hard for them as much as it is hard for me?

We are stuck at home most of the day for security issues in our country and my older kid feels sad about that. She wants to go out like any other child and act as a child and play as a child. So, why is it too much for me to understand that she acts out the way she does because this is what she is supposed to do in this case? I know that in my mind, I am doing everything possible to make them feel happy and maybe that's why this behavior irritates me the most but it is not her fault and definitely not her responsibility to act out rationally like an adult just because we all are in the same boat.

I need to kiss my kids more, to hug them more, to understand them more, to play with them more, to have more patience with them and to listen to them more. I need to focus more on them and not on me. I need to laugh more with them, sing more with them and paint more with them. They are just kids, the loveliest kids on my Earth. They are not a block on my way, I love them more than anything and anyone else in the whole universe.

Please God, help me be the mother they deserve. I will let go of my need of perfection that was imposed on us, mothers, in today's world. A spotless home, delicious painted means, an outstanding job, very well-behaved kids, perfect family photo!! No, I don't need all of these unrealistic images! I just want my kids to be happy, to trust me, their mother, to be themselves and to feel and understand what really matters in life! I want to embrace my motherhood with them and to embrace their childhood! I don't want one day to look back at the time and regret the time I wasted ignoring them or their needs. I love you Sarah and Farida, I love you so much!

Love & Kisses,

Mommy

Happy Birthday Dida!

2013-08-24T16:20:00.000-07:00

Hello friends,

Today is a special day for us. It is Farida's birthday. She turned two. How fast time has flown by! It was such a great day and we really had a blast. The guests were only us, Farida, Sarah, my husband and I and this made it more special.

First, I made her a special video starting from the day she was born. It was wonderful. Then, she wore her special dress and we danced and danced and danced. I made her the strawberry jello she loves, I am awful in the whole cake thing, and she blew off the candles. Finally, she had a sensory bin made especially for her.

The best thing I saw in the photos shared on the video and in today's events was how much her big sister, Sarah, loved her, hugged her and cared so much about her. This literally brought tears to my eyes, tears of joy.

We had a Birthday sensory post in the past. You can check it here. Sarah was 3 back then.

There was nothing fancy here but as you can see, she was so happy. We all were. Needless to mention that she forgot all about the tub once I blew the balloon :D

Thank you for visiting and sharing our special moments. Please, come back soon.

Love,

More Shapes!

2013-08-20T12:47:00.000-07:00

Hey lovely faces,

We are still working on shapes. I know Sarah knows them so well now but the variety of the activities doesn't give her the chance to get bored. I am also somehow following her lead and interests. For example, Sarah is currently very obsessed with clowns. She is even planning from now to her coming birthday party and she has decided to use the clown theme. I used this obsession to help us with shapes. It was something I saw long ago on Pinterest. We made a shape clown. Sarah also used pipe cleaners to create shapes.

Both Sarah and Farida played with shapes and play-dough. We did some dot-a-dot on shapes. I also drew the shapes with white crayon "wax colors" on a sheet of paper and then both Sarah and Farida colored it with regular markers to reveal the shapes.

Sarah did some cutting practice too. Farida also gave it a try :D

I have started a photo-dictionary that we are going to build ourselves. All the vocabulary words we are going to encounter are going to be put in this dictionary. The shapes were our starting words. Here:

All the sheets used are taken from this great source: 3 Dinosaurs.

And these are just recent taken images taken on the sea shore.

I don't like the new collage pictures I have used, they don't show the details and they are way too distracting. I promise I amnot going to use them again.

Also, I forgot to share with you an error I have done in the last post here. Thank God, a lot of people liked the ideas in this post an it was even featured on Sunday Showcase but what I forgot to mention is that I forgot and left the whole sensory tub untouched for a couple of day. Guess what happened? Mold grew on everything :( Yikees! I of course had to throw the water beads and deeply clean the shapes with Detol and other stuff. So, this is something I have learnt in the process.

I need to consult you, my friends, in something. Farida doesn't seem interested in any of the prepared activities we do. She wants to throw anything or disturb Sarah and take her things away. She screams and cries as if we are torturing her. The only thing she seems to enjoy is the sensory tubs. I know there is a 2-year- gap between both girls but I really don't know how to overcome this knowing that I currently don't have anyone to help.

That was all for today. We will continue some more with the shapes in our twisted ways following Sarah's leads. Thank you for visiting. Please, come back and check soon.

Love,

Square, Rectangle, triangle and a Circle!

2013-08-08T12:45:00.003-07:00

Hey my friends,

In the last post, we started learning about shapes. You can read more about this post Here. As I told you on this post, I had a "Shapes" sensory tub in hand. We had one in the past and it was the first sensory tub we ever had. You can also check this one Here.

Today's sensory tub was a bit comprehensive, it had more than sensory items. The girls had a blast playing with it. It included:

Wooden shapes (Melissa and Doug)
Plastic shapes (used in shape sorting box)
Goggly eyes
Coins
shape beads & lace
water beads (balls & blocks)
Circular & rectangular items
"Sammy the Snake" book
Zigzag

As you can see, Sarah laced the beads, Sarah and Farida used their hands and feet to test the tub, they scouped and dumped the beads. My rule was simple, what's inside the tub stays inside and it worked :D

Sarah can spell star and oval now :D

Thank you for being with us. We hope you have enjoyed. please come back soon. I really appreciate your comments!

Love,

I Can See Shapes Everywhere!

2013-08-05T18:12:00.003-07:00

Dear friends,

Sarah is a Kindergartener this year. She won't be home-schooled as we don't have this system here in Egypt but this doesn't mean we won't play and learn together. I have got her syllabus and I have decided to work on it with her in our fun, usual way.

We won't work in any specific order. Accordingly, we chose to start off with the shapes. Thanks to Pinterest, we have found some great ideas. First, we started by setting up a bath. I have cut foam strips that can form different shapes, labelled each with the number of sides of the shape, the name of the shape and a small drawing of the shape. It was so much fun for both girls. We did the triangle, square, rectangle, diamond, oval, circle, hexagon and octagon.

Then, I had foam plates on which I drew dots representing the shapes and their names. The girls were supposed to push toothpicks in the plates. Farida wasn't really into anything but just pushing the toothpicks randomly and taking them from her sister ;)

We followed this was a simple tracing and sorting paper game. We had the book already in hand.

Finally, I used some colored tape and drew the shapes on the floor. I asked Sarah to move from one shape to the other using a specific action. For example, crawl like a baby to the star, hop on one feet to the rectangle, swim to the triangle, ...etc. We also threw teddy on the shapes naming them. It should have been a sand bag so that it lands and rests but we didn't have and we wouldn't have stopped because of this ;) We also listened to some songs about shapes.

Crawling!

Flying!

I have also prepared a new "shapes" sensory tub that we will probably be playing with tomorrow, God willing. We had one in the past, actually on the first day of our journey! You can check it Here for more ideas. It brings back a lot of sweet memories to my mind.

Thank you for being with us, we hope you have enjoyed today's activities. Please come back soon. Your comments are really appreciated.

Love,

A New Independence Day!

2013-07-04T17:01:00.002-07:00

Hey my lovely fans,

I am happy. We really did it , we ousted a fascist regime and fascist dictator! Egyptians did it, some think it is a military coup but it is not! It is the will of a nation! You might not understand but if only you could see, you might imagine. We were living in darkness literally, no electricity for up to 6 hours and sometimes more a day, no gas, no water and not even money, nothing! We were deprived of everything while the authorities were busy working on transforming governmental institutions into Muslim Brotherhood ones! They are still resisting, killing innocent people in the streets but it will be over so soon!

I know this is not a political page, it is child-centered but this is something that affects my children, this is a lesson that my children witnessed and would learn forever and they participated in it ;) This is a lesson about freedom, how they should fight for their dignity and freedom! their father set a great example in this revolution, he was always there in the streets with protesters, he cheered and got tired but he was fighting for a greater cause. I think today was the first day he really slept after a long long time.

This is what they call a military coup!

So, this was us on the night before "he" was ousted!

Dida was a little scared from all the fireworks!

Nothing better than daddy's arms to feel safe!

Today, I prepared this bath to celebrate even more :) It represents the Egyptian flag. Honestly, it wasn't such a good idea since the water turned dark black afterwards. I hated giving them a bath in it but the girls were so happy.

We all had some random science experiments. We did some of them before but Farida is involved this time and Sarah has already forgotten ;)

Thank you for listening to our story, we hope it inspired you a little. Thank you and please, come back soon.

Love,

Our Independence Day!

2013-07-01T16:15:00.001-07:00

Hey my friends,

It is not just the American Independence Day, Egypt also is celebrating its most recent Independence Day! We revolted and we did it :D I know you might not be that interested into the details but the bottom line is that we are celebrating too!

Here are pictures of Sarah from yesterday's revolution:

So, for the 4th of July, I prepared a very simple sensory tub, here:

Here is what's inside:

blue and red pom poms
blue, silver and red shredded papers
a blue eagle
blue and red feathers
blue and white finger lights
a chocolate box that has pictures of the Statue of Liberty, Manhattan, Times Square.
fizzy pipes twisted into fireworks shape
U-S-A puzzle pieces

I also drew the American and the Egyptian flags on Sarah's and Farida's cheecks :D

Thank you for stopping by. Please, come back soon!

Love,

Random!

2013-06-29T10:30:00.001-07:00

Dear friends,
Back to our normal blogging posts that revolve all about my kids.
Summer has started and we will enjoy a little break around here as mommy will be more available.

Sarah will be a kindergartner this year :D My big girl <3 <3 She went through a stage were she was so rebellious. looking thoroughly into it, I think it was her way of telling me I was away from her and that she needed me. Sarah is so clingy to me and sometimes, this makes me worried.

Farida is taking us on a roller coaster, every minute is totally different from the previous one. Sometimes, she is so peaceful, others, she screams and punches us for no apparent reason. Sarah also responds to these mood swings differently; sometimes she accepts them kindly and others, she is not tolerant enough to take it. Farida has finally started saying some words, a lot of words and we are happy because of it.

I have some old pictures about activities we have done or places we have visited and I'd like to share them with you.

Dough cutter stamping!

See Farida's expression!

You got to love her smile :)

Melting beads!

That was in Easter!

Sisters' Love!

Besties!

Thank you for joining us! We hope you enjoyed. Come back tomorrow, fourth of July is really close ;)
Love,

Unfortunately, every journey comes to an end ...

2013-06-29T02:17:00.004-07:00

and our summer school journey had reached its end...

Hey friends,

You have no idea how much the end of our summer school has made me sad. yes, it was hectic and exhausting but we really enjoyed every second of it. I have made new friends and I have discovered my little brothers who are always very concerned about me.

On the last day, we hosted a small party and we have co-operated with McDonald's. We were all very nervous and we might have lost it a couple of times but I refer this to our hidden feeling of sadness that we didn't want to show, it is like hidden anger but at the end of the day, my little brothers surprised us, teachers, with something really special. Here:

They were generous enough to celebrate with us, to remember us, to try to cheer us up, to bring us a cake with our names on it. They made our day! I was speechless! Miss Hoda's eyes were filled with tears! Everyone was over the moon!

I would like to send them a message through this page,

Gentlemen,

You are the best. You might be young but you have big and kind hearts. I don't think I will ever be able to forget you even if I tried. As I told some of you before, you will make future great husbands and fathers. You really are the future of this country. Thank you for trusting me and for helping me in every step. I have learnt a lot from you. You made me re-love my work again. You made us re-love our work again. We, teachers, all wanted to thank your parents for raising you this amazing way. They must be really proud of you. We are proud of you. Thank you for making our final day special :)

So, generally speaking, here are some pictures from our last week and last day in summer school:

Water fight ;)

The greatest team ever :D

snow fight!

The price of science, lol!

You can spot Sarah!

All of us!

Thank you for your time.

Stay tuned for more posts to come.

Love,

Summer School!

2013-06-20T09:44:00.003-07:00

Hey my friends,

Guess what? We are back and we will return to being frequent bloggers again. I have finished my exams and Summer School started 3 weeks ago in my school and you know what? I am RESPONSIBLE for it!!! Yaaaaay! I am organizing it with some handsome enthusiastic high school gentlemen (yes, they are students). How can I describe them? How can I? Well, they are smart, brilliant, full of ideas, determined and crazy enough to deal with me :D

We run our summer school 3 days a week for 4 weeks only. We had a lot of classes. They included: free choice class (art/music/science/math), business, acting, leadership, debating, movie reviews, negotiations, creativity, translation, idioms, play, English sessions and a lot more. So far, we held 3 events; the first was a talent show, the second was a dish party and the third was a science event. We have one more week to go but we had a lot of fun. Students are asking for more weeks but we really can't. We need break and our country is on the edge of a turning point on the 30th of this month BUT we are really going to miss our students and above all, I am going to miss my senior students. They really gave me hope in a better future, they believed in our team and worked hard to make it succeed. We have eaten together, spent countless hours together, stayed up late on the internet till 2 and 3 a.m. preparing for the following day just to make sure everything is well-prepared. They never left school before making sure that every student is picked up by his parent and our students were the best. They accepted our mistakes and even those who had to travel and leave, left with tears. I really can't say enough no matter how much I spoke. Here is a glimpse of some of our days:

Kindergarten Math

fingerpainting

weird traditions around the world class

pretending to be a tree (plant) for the science class

Debating

Movie review Art

mask (crafts)

Lego

straw painting

Negotiation class

business class

shaving foam letter tracing

brain teasers chess

preparing for the following day

science lab

internet surfing class

pretending session

memory game

My wonderful team

idioms class

These memories bring back the lyrics of this song to my mind:

Once upon a time there was a tavernWhere we used to raise a glass or twoRemember how we laughed away the hoursAnd think of all the great things we would do
Those were the days my friendWe thought they'd never endWe'd sing and dance forever and a dayWe'd live the life we chooseWe'd fight and never loseFor we were young and sure to have our way.La la la la...Those were the days, oh yes those were the days
Then the busy years went rushing by usWe lost our starry notions on the wayIf by chance I'd see you in the tavernWe'd smile at one another and we'd say
Those were the days my friendWe thought they'd never endWe'd sing and dance forever and a dayWe'd live the life we chooseWe'd fight and never loseFor we were young and sure to have our way.La la la la...Those were the days, oh yes those were the days[ From: http://www.metrolyrics.com/those-were-the-days-lyrics-mary-hopkins.html ]
Just tonight I stood before the tavernNothing seemed the way it used to beIn the glass I saw a strange reflectionWas that lonely woman really me
Those were the days my friendWe thought they'd never endWe'd sing and dance forever and a dayWe'd live the life we chooseWe'd fight and never loseFor we were young and sure to have our way.La la la la...Those were the days, oh yes those were the days
Through the door there came familiar laughterI saw your face and heard you call my nameOh my friend we're older but no wiserFor in our hearts the dreams are still the same
Those were the days my friendWe thought they'd never endWe'd sing and dance forever and a dayWe'd live the life we chooseWe'd fight and never loseFor we were young and sure to have our way.La la la la...Those were the days, oh yes those were the days

Talk to you soon my friends,
Love,

Egyptian Easter!

2013-04-29T08:28:00.000-07:00

Hi friends,
How are you doing?

In Egypt, we have a kinda of different Easter. First off, it is on a different day. Ours will be the coming Monday. Second, it is a national holiday. Although it is a Christian celebration but Muslims and Christians get this day off. Also, some of the Muslims do some of its traditions on that day like egg dyeing. It is mainly to celebrate spring.

For this celebration, I prepared this sensory tub for Sarah and Farida. It was really a hit. After a while, they stopped exploring the tub and started throwing the papers at each other and on mommy while giggling so hard. It was really fun. All the items included in this tub were items I had on hand so it cost me nothing.The tub included:

Plastic eggs
rubber bunny
feathers
rabbit
chick
flowers
shredded colored paper
a small ladybug

Farida doesn't speak yet, she only says, "Mama, baba, tah (which means open in Arabic), bah (which means all done)" and that's all. I think this causes her a lot of frustration. She cries for the tiniest reasons nowadays.

Thank you for being with us. Please, come back soon.

Love,

Happy Birthday!

2013-04-14T16:07:00.001-07:00

Hello friends,

It has been over a month since I last posted anything here. A lot has happened during this month. We finally celebrated Sarah's Birthday a couple of days ago. It was the first themed birthday party we ever had. Sarah was "Tinkerbell". So many details! It was a lovely party. First off, Sarah's generous godmother bought her the lovely Tinkerbell costumes with all its accessories from the states since we don't have it here. It was sent via DHL. We were planning on having 2 parties, one at home for our close friends and family and the other in Sarah's daycare but since we got a lot over the budget, we won't be having one in her daycare. We had 10 children :) Thanks to our great family members and friends who made our day so special. Here are some pictures, I am sorry for the quality of the photos, I didn't have time to edit most of them:

Also, today Sarah had her school interview. It is the same school I went to when I was a kid. Of course, I am biased but Sarah was more than perfect! She is a princess :) You can see dad and Farida at the back ;)

Thank you for joining in, please come back soon!

Love,

Scary Feet,Scary Feet, Scary Feet!

2013-02-27T07:23:00.004-08:00

Hi lovely faces,
Don't deny, I wasn't absent for long this time, LOL! Today's post come from my classroom :)
This our Course book in class. Module 4 unit 7 talks about body parts. Lesson C has a simple activity that asks students to make their own monsters out of play-dough.
Here is the deal:
The school provided each student with one block of not so safe play-dough. No googly eyes, nothing but this block that is supposed to magically turn into a monster :D Our students were never asked to do anything imaginary in their lives, they might be asked for a chart or something which mommy does of course :(
Our class rules rules were simple:

Don't put your hands or the play-dough in your mouth.
Students were divided into groups of 5s (Those 5 are supposed to come up with one big monster, this gave them also a variety to vary the colors)
I play soft music as a background. If it stops, it means I have an important notification for them to hear.
After they create their monster, we will gather in a circle and each student will describe his group's monster in one sentence (They were just introduced to have got/has got)

Of course, we were eagles hovering over their heads making sure no one forgets and puts anything in his mouth. Also, we had to show them other possibilities. For example, it was surprising to them that they could use their rulers to shape,carve, ...etc their play dough.

Here:

Yes, I love bragging about my students and my class. Yes, our students' monsters weren't the best if compared to other classes BUT it was their group work and their imagination! Our class was the only class that did this activity in groups while playing music with no help from teachers or mothers at home.

Currently, we are busy at home applying for Sarah in different schools! She is turning 4 in April! Wow, my big girl!

Thank you for being with us. Come back soon! We love seeing you here :)

Love,

Love is everywhere!

2013-02-18T13:20:00.002-08:00

Hello everyone,

You are all over Valentine but we are still celebrating love in our home :) Our country is passing through some serious issues and we try to overcome this with love (You can say it is our way of distracting ourselves and the kids).

Here:

Some heart fingerprints (Mine & Sarah's)

Counting (Sarah can count up to 20 now :)

Sarah loves to wear her chef's costume whenever she helps me in the kitchen.

Thank you for being with us.
Love,

Love is in the water!

2013-01-28T09:28:00.003-08:00

Hi,

Thank you Growing A Jeweled Rose for the inspirations, your baths have always amazed me. A few days ago, I tried a Valentine themed bath and it was a huge hit with my girls. Simple set-up: foam hearts, lips, glowers, roses, cupid arrows, flower petals, food coloring and red bath paint :)

Today, we continued some of our work. It isn't finished yet because Farida interrupted us and Sarah doesn't like to be interrupted but here is what we have done (These all were free packs from Here and Here):

1. Matching Upper Case letters with Lower Case letters:

2. Completing the missing letters (arranging them in order)

3. Sending the flowers to teh girls by following letter "V"

Coloring according to the number/color code:

I prepared also these number matching hearts but we haven't played with them yet.

Thank you for being with us, hope you have enjoyed as much as we have enjoyed your company.

Love,

Love is in the air!

2013-01-21T13:29:00.000-08:00

Hello friends,

My girls have been more than patient with me! I have just finished my exams yesterday and I promised Sarah we'll start playing again the day after I finish my exams and I always try to keep my promises. I can't find a better time to express my love and gratitude towards my girls and towards my lovely husband who took care of everything while I was studying and having my exams. That's why I've created this sensory tub! You can call it a Valentine sensory tub, I myself prefer to call it "Love" sensory tub! It is full of items, some I had used before and some are brand new.

Here's what's inside:

heart cookie cutters
red candles
pink, purple, red and orange dried flower petals
love dice
heart rings
heart hair clips
heart key chain
heart pendant
heart bracelet
hearts, kisses and cupid stickers
heart magnet
heart earrings
hearts
kisses
coiled ribbons
"Love" candle
red rose
heart sticks
glittered heart stick with a love envelope
2 love bugs on hearts
heart blocks

Here it is:

I also plan to buy a small red box, fill it with my kisses and explain to Sarah that I filled it with an infinite number of kisses for her. Whenever she misses me when she is in daycare or at grandma's house, she can open it and feel my presence.

Anyway, love will be our theme for some time (although it is always in our home)!

If you want to check some more conversations that take place in our house, you can join my Facebook Page.

I missed you all and I hope you love our coming posts!

Love,

Jingle Bells!

2012-12-10T10:01:00.002-08:00

Jingle bells, jingle bells,

  Jingle all the way.
  Oh! what fun it is to ride
  In a one-horse open sleigh.
  Jingle bells, jingle bells,
  Jingle all the way;
  Oh! what fun it is to ride
  In a one-horse open sleigh.

Hey Friends,

I am sure you are busy getting ready for Christmas. I miss Christmas in the USA. I think you are fed up with me saying we don't have it here in Egypt. Only Christians here celebrate it,you find some Santa Claus figures in some stores and that's all about it so its spirit at least is not in the air :( It makes me sad!

Do you want to hear some news about us? I'll assume you do and go on and tell you about it. Sarah is going to wear eye glasses and she's so excited about it, I'm not! Farida has an eye infection , as usual! It is not safe or fun to walk in the streets of our country, we are having a second revolution.

Now let's get into some serious talk, jump in on our fun train and see what we did yesterday. I was trying to revive the Christmas spirit (not in the religious sense) so I prepared a Christmas sensory tub for both girls. I almost had everything on hand except Santa Claus and this one I got from a store here, it was ugly and pricey but glad that Sarah liked it anyway. In order to keep Sarah more focused, I created her a word document with some things to hunt for in the tub,. I put a picture of the item and its name, whenever she finds something, she uses a do-a dot marker to light it. I made candy canes out of fuzzy pipe cleaners.

Here's what's inside:


ornaments
2 small Christmas trees
Santa Claus figure
snowman figure
a gold butterfly
a stocking ornament
Christmas dough cutters (Star, gingerbread, candy cane)
snow flakes
pine cones
red and green dried flower petals
red shiny shreds
bells
a present box 
gems


It was very messy but easy to collect later. Both girls had fun showering with the shreds.

Then, I made a simple face paint using 2 ingredients that I'm sure you have. Crayola paints and lotion, yes, that's all. I found this recipe on Pinterest. Sarah asked for a Christmas tree on her face. I drew a heart on Farida's face, I wasn't sure she was going to stay still of I did something more complicated. It took some more time to dry than the usual face paint but we were satisfied with the final outcome.

This is another idea I found on Pinterest, a felt Christmas tree that can be re-decorated over and over again.

Then, Sarah used tongs to sort some glittery pom poms. She was very focused.

Finally, we read a book about Christmas (I'll talk about it in another post) and Sarah played on some Christmas applications on my phone (coloring, memory games, puzzles and decorating a Christmas tree). It was tons of fun. We of course will do some more crafts about Christmas.

Thank you for being with us.

Love,

Hunting for the treasure!

2012-12-04T10:40:00.000-08:00

Hey dear friends,

I am happy. Forget about what is going on in my country but I am so proud of my students. In our society, kids are not used to group/team work and they can't even share. Grown ups can't even discuss something without getting into fights and shouting, imagine the kids' state!!

We prepared for a very simple class team treasure hunt. All the classes did the same thing but with some variations. Some teachers did all the work for the kids being scared they would use a pair of scissors to cut or even for the sake of saving time. NOT my Class and NOT my students :)

We started off by dividing the class into 2 teams. Each team voted for a representative who would be speaking to me and delivering the missions from me. I don't care about the final product, it's all about the process. First mission was to pick up a name for their teams. One team named itself "London" and the other named itself "Octopus". Mission 2 was to cut the pirates' eye patches making sure that each student gets to cut and to have one ;)

Mission 3 was to cut their signs and pin it to their T.shirts. Mission 4 was to receive their maps and interpret them trying to figure out where the treasure is in school. We didn't marsh them in lines, they were running, screaming and being as scary as any pirate could be.

They took 15 whole minutes to dig the playground and find the treasure :) Our happiness when one member of one team found it couldn't be expressed :)

The pirate who found the sword is supposed to pick up a a sword and choose and opponent to fight.

After that came the evaluation part. They were evaluated based on: organization, co-operation, completion of missions, finding the treasure, the final battle and how they picked up after themselves (the cut papers, ...etc) Remember, I told you those are kids who are not used to sharing or teamwork. We had to somehow manage to make the final result equal so that they get to learn that they are all winners. They cheered and so proud of themselves, they were sweating and happy and above all, feeling capable :)

My partner and I definitely loved this experience, we are still bragging about it, maybe my partner Mrs. Safwa can jump in and comment on this post giving us some of her insights and reflections about this experience.

Thank you for sharing me my enthusiasm, I appreciate your comments.

Love,

Fairies and Princesses!

2012-11-24T14:38:00.001-08:00

Hi,
I love magic. I believe in magic! Not spells or wands but magic in actions, gestures, magic in love and laughter! Life can be really magical, depending on one's choice. So, "Fairies & Princesses" was out theme.
I prepared a very simple sensory tub. For the first time, Sarah helped me prepare it. However, I put the final touches myself to surprise her with it later ;)
Here is what was inside:

pink and purple colored rice.
pink and purple dried flower petals (they smell so good)
colored gems
princess shoes
princess ring
jeweled necklace
fairy stickers
Princess Merida
a small figure of Cindrella
Cherilee the pony
a castle

It was simple and fun. Farida is way more interactive now. She wasn't teasing Sarah but she was having fun and laughing hysterically. God bless their hearts!

I didn't expect that Farida knows what a necklace is used for

but she did ;)

Expect more fairies and princess activities in the coming days.

Thank you for being with us.

Love,

Crafty Mama!

2012-11-20T13:55:00.003-08:00

Hello my friends,

I don't know what happened to me but I decided out of nowhere to be crafty, lol! Yes, I am that crazy ;) Maybe what inspired me is that I re-arranged/organized/cleaned my home and decided to add a simple but magical touch to it. Decor in Egypt is way expensive whether it is ready-made or the materials needed for it so I thought about doing my personalized cheap and classy version of crafts (using some of the materials I had on hand from before). Thank you Pinterest for the inspiration.

First, let's see some before/after or just after pictures of my cleaned rooms:

before (kitchen)

After (kitchen)

kids room

In the bathroom, I made this heart frame using pebbles, my mirror was frame-less and ugly. I used sea shells and pebbles to frame it and what a huge difference. A flower here and there made a huge difference.

Bathroom

Yes, I glittered these glasses (God, I love them)

Mod podge + glitter

I also made 2 wreaths, one for the girls room and one for our door. I couldn't believe how easy and simple they were and also, cheap. This is what I used:

and this is how they turned out to be:

Needles to mention that the girls love them and my husband is proud of me :)

Thank you for visiting.

Love,

Grateful!

2012-11-09T05:52:00.002-08:00

Hi all,

Today, I am not presenting an activity I did with my kids, I am just grateful and thankful and it is also not about Thanksgiving!

In the 3 days when Farida was hospitalized, I've seen the best gestures of generosity and love from my family, friends and students.

I am GRATEFUL for my beloved husband, the best dad in the whole world, who was literally crying to see his baby connected to IVs. He also stayed with Sarah and took good care of her taking her daily to her daycare and then taking her to come and visit us. He also brought me food everyday to the hospital ;)

I am also GRATEFUL for my family, mainly my mom and sisters who gave me advice, stood by my side and checked on us every minute of the day.

I am GRATEFUL for my friends who didn't let me sleep because they were calling every few minutes to check on me and on my baby, lol! Yes, I couldn't sleep because of all the phone ringing but I knew how much we mean to you and it made me happy! Even my online friends included us in their prayers and were worried about us!

Most important, I am so GRATEFUL for my students! Yes, my students! I was absent from school for 3 days. They are only 6 & 7 years old. They asked about me every single day and were sad that I didn't show up. They even sacrificed their break time to prepare me a welcome back surprise and this really made me cry tears of joy and appreciation. Class J 1/C, you are the best class in the whole world!

Thank you God for putting these wonderful people in my life journey, thank you!
Love,