Anniversary Weekend

Seven years down and I'm pleased to report that the man still has a romantic streak in him. We decided to include mamma and dada's stories on the blog too -- kiddos when you read this you'll know that your parents had a semblance of a life too :)

We started the weekend with apple and pear picking as a family, in an orchard 20 minutes from home. We then headed to Chuck-e-Cheese for game time and sub-par fast food.

Then Ranjit brought home surprise no 1... Shanda A's convertible for our date night. Thanks Shanda A! Very Cinderella and pumpkin turned into a fancy coach experience to cruise down the highway in that. Dinner was scrumptious. The kids, according to Vijay uncle and Sowmya aunty, were angels while we were away.

This morning, after church was surprise no 2. Ranjit organized babysitting again and I was whisked off to a memorable Broadway show downtown (Memphis).

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And the School Year Begins....

This last week has been exhausting.

The kids started preschool at their new school and seem to be loving it. They've already come home with cartloads of their "artwork". Yohan's class of 10 has 8 girls, lucky fella! Day one was uneventful.... Yohan is now a pro at the pre-school thing: He sat down with his crayons, declared to his teacher that he doesn't know how to color "inside the lines" and then went to work. Malaika had a slightly tougher time saying bye this year.

In addition to three days of preschool, we had two days of Bible Study Fellowship, two days of swimming, one day of gymnastics, one playgroup day and our week's schedule has little breathing space with all activities before 3:30 pm on week days. Mamma needed some pampering and got some over the weekend (but that's another blog :).

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Blue Lake Trip

There's so much fun stuff to do around here. Just as long as it's not raining. On Labor Day this year we went on a little family picnic to Blue Lake, a park 45 minutes from home. A picnic by the lake, followed by paddle boating, icecream, water sprinkers, more food and riding bikes made for a fun day. And we even managed to hit the outlet mall close by before heading home.

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Summer Recap

The kids had a blast the last few weeks of the summer. They got soaked in fountains and sprinklers, visited the zoo, went to a indoor water park, dug in sand pits, had playdates galore at parks, enjoyed picnics, picked berries, and got to eat lots of icecream!
Getting them back on a schedule this last week has not been too fun!

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Two laptops?

This weekend I brought home a second laptop from work, to do some testing over the weekend. Mika sees me with 2 laptops in front of me, and gets very concerned. Why do you have two waptops? Is one for mama and one for you? Will you take one to work and leave one at home tomorrow? Sometimes you work on this, and sometimes you work on that?

And when she finally gets that both are "work" laptops, she then asks: So at work, do you use one laptop to work and one laptop to look at vegetable prices?

HipHop Duo

Breaking out some MTV moves.

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India 2012 Part 2 - video

Finally got the videos put together.

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The Lady Turns 3!!

Celebrating in two countries with two cakes and loads of friends and family, Miss Malaika turned three. Our little princess is full of spunk and style, knows her mind and has the sweetest smile on the planet.

Birthday party one in India was our tribute to everything pink! With the grandparents, uncles, aunts, cousins and friends made sure that Mika had her fill of presents and princesses, castles and crowns.

Birthday party two in Portland was a fun morning of cake and gifts with Malaika's little buddies (Anika and Ritwik) from Seattle. 

We love you, our little baby girl! Happy 3rd Birthday!

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India celebrations:

US celebrations:

Captain America is in the house

We got this for the boy a couple weeks ago at Costco. He didn't get out of it for a few days after that, including wearing it for play dates. Would have also worn it to bed, but his parents had to draw the line somewhere!

On a different note, some more Yo-speak:
Dada, trying to have a teachable moment with the son: Yo, are the stripes on your pajamas horizontal or vertical? (They were vertical, for the record)
Son, with a typical response: I don't know.
Dada: How do horizontal stripes go?
Son: makes horizontal motion with his hand.
Dada: And how do vertical stripes go?
Son: makes vertical motion with his hand. This is looking promising.
Dada: Ok, so what stripes are on your pajamas?
Son, without batting an eyelid: Convertible!