orange picking at mazra'ih

a nice pick
Originally uploaded by it's all about the good love.

aliyah and i went to an orange-picking servie project at mazra'ih for ayyam-i-ha yesterday. we had so much fun with other families being in the orchard and playing in the garden. it was a great way to celebrate ayyam-i-ha. more pictures on the flickr linked to the photo.

bliss

, originally uploaded by negeen.

ok everyone. it's time to unite not only these two souls, but also my blog and my flickr. from now on ("on" being an indefinite amount of time) i do solemnly swear to honor my friends and family who still check this blog on occasion by posting here more frequently and linking photos to the flickr where you will find more of the story.

so to kick it all off i'm sharing with you all photos of theresa and liam's wedding. two very good friends of mine who got married in houston last month. as i slowly edit through all the photos i will post more on my flickrs. by the way, as some of you know, i have two flickrs; one is like a photo album, the other is like a portfolio. this photo links to the portfolio one. the next blog entry will link to the other one.

enjoy. :)

and baby makes four...

today we announced that we're expected another baby at the end of august! :) we've known for a couple of months now, but now we finally shared it with everyone. i'm so happy to finally share the wonderful news. victor and i are thrilled and aliyah is already pointing to my stomach saying, baby eenja'st (the baby is here).

this time around, announcing the news is so much different than when we announced our pregnancy with aliyah. last time we'd only been in haifa for a month, so we didn't know a whole lot of people, and they didn't know us either, so they didn't know what was different behavior for me. this time, we have so many wonderful friends who know me as a social, late-night, going out whenever i can, meeting my friends for lunch every day type of person, so they'd eventually pick up on my distant (only because i found it so hard to be with my friends with them not knowing), being knocked out as early as 9pm some nights, staying home, disappearing from the dining room self (some already did, right shingo?). i mean i could only use the (legitimate) jet lag excuse to explain my behavior for so long.... thankfully, i was away from haifa traveling for six of the nine weeks i knew i was pregnant before announcing, so that made hiding the news a bit easier.

in any case, the news is OUT now! we don't know yet if it's a boy or a girl and probably won't know until a couple more months. i'm feeling fine. didn't have too much morning sickness in the first trimester... just lack of appetite and sleepiness/fatigue... which have strangely crept into the second trimester... we just told aliyah the news tonight because we knew she'd be announcing to everyone baby eenja'st to the world as soon as she knew. she seems happy and excited. she'll be a great big sister. :)

with hediyeh, theresa, jo and martha at sintabar (best burger in haifa, guys. beats cannibar by a mile) just after they got the good news.

with romina, ramin and shahriar when they got the news. yasmine should have been there. :( lucas was packing. :P yes, i'm carrying a cushion. :)

good news