Anahita's Visit...

... and Shirin's, Cyrus', Gabriel's, Lisa's, Kelly's, Mehrdad's, Marzieh's, and Lua's! Whenever the girls come home we have all sorts of gatherings. Although it gets crazy and messy it is so worth it. I didn't take as many pictures as I would have liked. Every 10 minutes I saw another photo opportunity but I was either too busy or my camera was in another room.

The reason Anahita chose this week to come for a visit (instead, say, the week of their birthday in October which was our first idea) was Shirin's schedule of a week off from her vet school rotations. We decided to do Thanksgiving dinner while everyone was home. In years past I cooked Thanksgiving dinner pretty much by myself. The process took two days and by the end I was too exhausted to enjoy it. Now that the girls are older and accomplished cooks in their own right the dinner cooked itself! How nice.

Thanksgiving dinner was cooked by the three Modaresi women in just a few hours. We had the usual vegetarian-adjusted traditional American Thanksgiving fare.

Although Shirin and Gabriel look like they just ate a huge turkey dinner, they really just reflect the energy level of a couple whose son is an 18-month old ball of nonstop motion.

Case in point: Gabriel is trying to pull himself away from his family in order to drive back to Athens for the week (poor guy had to work while the rest of us planned to play for the week) but Cyrus has other plans involving a puzzle.

Anahita could not keep her hands off her little nephew. I admit he is irresistible, but she had to make up for time lost since her last visit. At first Cyrus treated her a bit like a stranger and broke her heart, but you'll see how he quickly learned that his Khaleh Tita is a lot of fun and very sweet.

I love this picture

The newest of Cyrus' skills is puzzle completion. Shirin was so excited. His obvious frustration is exactly what I do when I can't get my computer to do what I want :-)


These videos were taken early in his puzzle completing career; he was a pro by the end of the week.

It wasn't long before everyone was dancing to Persian music in the kitchen.

Tita volunteered to give Cyrus his bath. He looks a bit dubious!

Not only did Cyrus come out squeaky clean he came out yawning.

Tita has the diaper-thing down pat. Cyrus loves his blue nighttime blankie. If he only knew that when his Khaleh Tita was little she had a bunny blanket that barely survived her need for it. I still have a shred of it saved in a box in the attic.

Yay! Mommy! Cyrus SO loves his mommy.

Now that Cyrus has seven teeth the brushing is no longer just a game...

... it's a necessity...

... that isn't necessarily appreciated by the owner of those seven teeth! Notice Shirin has a grip on him like she's holding a wild animal at the office.

Cyrus still has a thing for brooms. Looks like he's playing shuffle board.

Anahita (who looks better in her PJs than I do when I dress up) helps Cyrus into her sneakers.

He proceeded to walk around the house with his huge feet.

Tita changed diapers, gave baths, and fed meals to Cyrus. She knows the way to a man's heart is through his stomach.

Sniffy Joe still smells every flower he passes. Sometimes he even sniffs the tips of branches of bushes. Does he not get disappointed?

The autumn day was beautiful so off to Cherry Park we went.

Cyrus was being attacked by the foot:

The only escape was...

... to get down the slide FAST!

At one point Anahita got a phone call. She strolled down the sidewalk as she spoke, not realizing that Cyrus was following her.

Sitting on a rock with mommy.

We decided to take a walk around the park but we had to take the short route because Cyrus wanted out of his stroller.

Here we are at the Thai House for lunch. Both Shirin and Anahita love #65 on the menu (pad kee mow?) and so the day we went on an errand in Fort Mill the car just sort of turned north on I-77 and we found ourselves driving to the Pineville restaurant. Amazing how that happened.

Although Cyrus ended up loving the Thai food we gave him Shirin wanted to be sure he had something to eat and brought some yummies from home. Here he's eating cantelope and banana nut bread with soynut butter.

When we got home from the Thai House Cyrus needed a diaper change. His shirt under his overalls was a onesie, so Tita unsnapped the crotch and proceeded to take the shirt all the way off instead of just leaving it on. We laughed and laughed as Cyrus was stripped totally naked for a simple diaper change! As an interesting solution Tita put her jacket on him.

This is a very special picture. These four girls have been friends since kindergarten and all live in different states. Lisa on the left, lives and works in New Jersey, and Kelly on the right, lives and works in Florida. Both girls were in town and Anahita and Shirin invited them over for dinner. Tita cooked a delicious meal of zereshk polo, yogurt, salad, and seasoned "chicken" using a faux chicken product. It was so delicious that Lisa took a plate home to her dad who is an adventurous eater, and Saeed and I asked for her recipe.

Lisa brought her niece, Cassidy, to play with Cyrus. Cassidy is more of a Cheese-It eater than a zereshk polo eater, and you can see Lisa slipping her some Cheese-Its on a plate. I'm still finding Cheese-Its in my carpeting.

Kelly brought her four month old son Quinn. That's some hair style!

Kelly has beautiful hair, so Quinn needs to just hang in there.

Cyrus explains to Cassidy the purpose of a cat scratching post.

I caught Cyrus escaping all the women with a few good books in the hall.

The Yousefians came over for Persian breakfast and Saeed's famous Doe Piazeh Aloo (it's primary ingredients are onions, eggs, potatoes, and tomatoes and is everyone's favorite.)

Marzieh took the picture again, this time with me in it.

Since I'm always the photographer it's rare to have picture of Saeed and me together.

Later Cyrus gets a second helping of Doe Piazeh Aloo, lucky boy.

I hate how most of my pictures have ugly things in the background, like open dishwashers. I guess I just need to get over it. As I cook, clean, do laundry, and do the dishes, I get many lovely interruptions to be a lap for someone wanting something. So picture perfect or chaos? I'll stick with the chaos, the ugly backgrounds, and the cute little baby in my lap.

So my week of family has come to an end and I have to go back to work tomorrow. Bummer. I can always go back to this post to relive the fun we had this week.