Chronicles of our family: December 2012

Monday, December 31, 2012

Super-heroes

Yo and his friends, in a mall earlier this year.

Sunday, December 30, 2012

The Cousins

The arrival of the cousins from California meant a never ending playdate for the kids.The adrenalin rush was constant for the five short days of their visit.

The kids managed to contain their enthusiasm on Christmas morning till we sang Happy Birthday to Jesus and read the Bible. After that it was rip, rip, rip and playing with all their toys. Brunch was a big spread of special treats, and dinner at Bhasker mama & Shanda A's meant more yummy food and more gifts.

The other highlights of the trip included their little nativity play production, yummy pho at our fave Vietnamese restaurant, my birthday trip to Benihana's and a trip to OMSI. We also enjoyed a special Christmas Eve service together with some rocking music (with dada on the djembe). And in between all that was a lot of eating and a LOT of playing :) We're going to miss our family.

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Christmas Party 2012

The annual Christmas Party had the usual mixture of loud chatter and galata, excitement over Santa and gifts (and some boo-hooing), "creative" White Elephant gifts, cookie decorating and loads of food.

The kids still haven't picked up on Kartik uncle's alter ego as Old Saint Nick. And for the first time, neither of them were in tears with the first "Ho!Ho!Ho's!"

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Friday, December 28, 2012

Yes-thing

Mika: Dada?
Dada: What's up?
Mika: Nothing. (short pause). I mean, Yes-things. Can you please give me a gummy bear?

Sunday, December 16, 2012

And Other Fun/ Crazy Moments

A collection of messes, sweet memories and more :)

Miss Fashionista

With the 'cool dude' bro

Miss Fashionista with Christmas dress 1

"Let's make a hideout" = Mamma's cleanup nightmare

"We need more sparkly nailpolish, mamma"

Family movie night with their new sleeping bags

Fashionista modelling outfit 3. Don't miss the boots.

Nothing makes them grin more that snowman pancakes with choc-chip eyes and a ham scarf :)

Music Program at School

Yohan's classs and the Pre-K class (one above his) performed for the parents a month or so ago. We were very impressed by the little guy's ability to remember all the lyrics to a volume of songs and even Bible verses. And our little man can definitely carry a tune. Yay!!

Our Little Gymnasts

The advantage of having kids 17 months apart is that you can take both of them to the same lessons. We tried gymnastics for the first time this semester and they did awesome.

Here are pics from the last day, their medal "ceremony" and post-victory celebrations at Krispy Kreme Donuts :)

Playgroup Pancakes and PJs

Our second year of hosting the playgroup kids for a pancake morning. Love the pics of the little people in their PJs. This time, we had some cookie decorating time too.

Decorating for Christmas

The enthu pattanis that we are, the tree and the outdoor lights went up a whole month before Christmas :) We had treats, prayer and some carols before the tree went up.
(R's note: getting the lights and tree up early in the season is intended to achieve most bang for the buck - aka - effort)

We have decorations from each of our seven years of marriage and this year we got to share some of those memories with the kids. The tree is now weighed down by the handmade decorations they've been bringing home from school, church and BSF.

Dada worked hard in the cold to get the lights up

"Let's hide, Malaika"

Can't miss the carols.

Leading up to Christmas!

Get ready for a blog blitz. We parents are way behind on updating the family records, today we're playing catch up. Here's a look at some of the Christmasy stuff we've been up to.