Happy Onam!

Marunaadan Mannil Oru Onaakhosham
This onam was almost a big washout but creativity and some luck saved the day. By the time we got home from our hectic sunday (see my post below) it was past 4:00pm. We had 2 very over tired kids and mom. Aji was still determined to go for his workout in a hour. Somewhere between flipping Tv channels & having a strong coffee i found a new burst of energy (must have been the caffeine) and felt really horrible that I wasn't doing anything for Onam. Thiru Onam was on Monday and since Aji comes home really late I deceided to make atleast a Daal and Avial and call it the 'Sadya'. I went through the fridge and freezer and found a packet of frozen chena, 2 pieces of frozen pacha managa, drumsticks and some french cut beans. I added some carrots and tomatoes and voila i had enough ingredients to make Avial. I made the rice and a quick daal and the Avial. By then Aji left for his workout. I asked him to get some chips and pappadam to round off our 'Instant Sadya'. I wanted to make some payasam but then was too wiped out so managed to give a bath to the kids and put Rhea to bed. Sean as usual wasn't ready to hit the sack yet. I wore my settu sari to get into the spirit of Onam. Sean was surprised. I changed back to my casual clothes after an hour since I didn't want to accidentally spill anything on it. Aji got home around 8:30pm. I made the pappadam and as luck would have it I found some more curries in the fridge - cabbage thoran, brinjal mezhukkuperatti, black eyed peas curry and vellarikka charu - PERFECT! The number of items on my menu suddenly went up and I was happy. I laid the fake banana leaves and served dinner. So here is what we had finally, Rice, Daal, Avial, Cabbage Thoran, Brinjal mezhukkuperatti, Black eyed peas curry, Vellarikka charu, Pappadam, Banana Chips, Lemon pickle. Pretty impressive huh!

After dinner I told Aji that he could have Gulab Jamun for dessert since I didn't make any payasam. Surprise Surprise...Aji remembered the Kheer I brought from the party on saturday and had it on the banana leaf, Naadan Style. The Sadya was complete.Ellavarkum thripthi aayi!!

Sean and Me did the athapoo on monday after Rhea went to bed. Sean was very excited and cut the stems of the flowers so I could arrange it. He had a great time and had dinner again on the banana leaf tonight.

A weekend to remember!

This past weekend was such a busy one. The kids seemed to have a lot of fun though so it made for a happy and fun filled action packed 2 days that will be remembered fondly for all the sweet memories.

Saturday, Aji woke up around 5 and went for his workout. He got back by 7 so I can get going. Gloria was scheduled to come in the morning too and aji had to go to work for a couple of hours. So i hustled out to the fitness center around 7:45 and got back by 10:00. Gloria was already here.Aji had fed the kids breakfast and he left for work by 10:30. After making calls home and doing some cooking for the potluck party that evening, I put Rhea down for a nap. I chatted with priest for some time and by then it was close to 2:00pm. Aji got back shortly and Sean hadn't taken a nap. Both Dad and son got ready and left for the Redskins game around 4:00pm. Aji had got accenture sky box tickets.I's havce loved to join him but rhea is juat way too young to be left with a baby sitter late in the night. So Sean and dad went for their first game together and Rhea and me decided to go to church and then to the get together at Manish's place. I had to wake Rhea up around 4:30 from her nap so we could get to church on time. she woke up well rested and after church we headed back home to pick up the 'Black eyed peas curry' and left for the potluck. My plan was to stay there for couple of hours and head home before it got too late. Well one thing led to another and Rhea was having a great time playing with all the other kids - 4 girls. They were playing hindi movie songs on TV and Rhea was dancing.She didnt have any qualms and had a fantastic time. It was 10:45pm before we got home. I put her to bed immdiately and then settled down to watch the movie 'LION'. Halfway through the movie, dad and son got back.Sean was fast asleep. Aji mentioned that he had such a great time.He was very excited about it all and had a few of Sean's quotable quotes from the evening,

As soon as the teams got into the field, everyone started clapping, so Sean said - Dad, so who won the trophy? He thought that it was all over esp since they were there a few hours before the game started.

The cheer leaders did their dance moves during the breaks and Sean seeing them said,

Sean: Dad, why are they not wearing clothes?
Aji: They are wearing clothes Sean.
Sean: No they're not. They're wearing underwear!

Aji was also mentioneing how he well he behaved. Just after they got there, sean wanted pop corn and coke and in the excitement of it all managed to spill both on 2 separate occassions. After the second incident, he told aji,

Dad, I'm not doing this right. I need to be careful. Can you hold this (the pop corn and drink) for me and I'll take it from you!

Aji mentioned that Sean did miss me & Rhea during the game and said 'Dad, next time we should get Mom and baby too'.

Sunday morning Sean woke up and when I asked him about the game he was grinning from ear to ear when he said 'It was fantastic, I had a great time Mom!'
We didnt have too much time to talk as we had to get to the zoo for Alex's birthday. On our way Sean would tid bits about his adventures from the previous night at the game.

Our first trip to the Zoo...

This was our first trip to the zoo so we were as excited as the kids. The party was to begin at 10:00am and had a 1 hour tour so we wanted to be on time so as to not miss it. We got there just in time. All the kids got safari hats and they did a quick 10 minute quiz on mammals before we started the tour while they snacked on goldfish and OJ. Rhea was sooo excited when we stepped out for the tour. We saw Sea lions, Lemurs, Alligators, Turtles, Lions, Tigers, Oranguttan and Gorillas. The most interesting of all were the Oranguttans. They were all in their glass enclosed homes doing their tricks to get all the kids amused. Rhea was very excited at first but seeing them a little too close got her a little upset but she quickly got over it. The most interesting part was we saw this oranguttan who was doing some game on a touch screen monitor. It was unbeleivable how easily it was playing the game. We were told that its a game to match identical objects and everytime it got it right, it would get a treat. This was one smart cookie because it seemed to be getting almost an entire meal worth of treats :) We saw a baby Gorilla and I told Rhea it was a 'baby gorilla'. next thing you know, every animal in the zoo is 'Bae beeee'. She was shouting 'bae bee' at all the exhibits..we would say Rhea did you see the Tiger and she would point at the Tiger and shriek in excitement 'Bae beee'. It was soo funny. In think she did recognize a few of them from her animal book.

After the tour and the rest of the birthday festivities, the kids wanted to still see more and so we went to the Amazonia exhibits.It was really cool..there were some really giant fish - I forget all the names and also some water snakes, toads and other small creatures. Sean asked a lot of questions and Rhea was wide eyed absorbing all of it. She did not want to come back and had a huge meltdown. Finally she dozed off on our way back. We will defnitely want to go back since Sean wants to see the Pandas, Elephants, Penguins and Sharks. For the latter we'll make a trip to the Acquarium at baltimore...but our short trip to the animal kingdom was fun fun fun all the way...

This and That..

Random notes..

Sean loves to carry Rhea around.She doesn't mind it sometimes, esp. if she is stuck somewhere and is waiting for dada or mama to come help her. A little help from cheta during those times is warmly appreciated but other times- she starts screaming and shouting 'NA' (for No) for Sean to put her down.


Sean has started picking some big words from school and tries to use it at any given opportunity. An example is the word 'terrible'. Couple of weeks ago Aji was working late and so after I put Rhea to bed, Sean and I were sitting at the porch waiting for Aji. It was beginning to get dark and Sean was pacing up and down the walk way. Finally he paused and said to me 'Mom,this is terrible. My dad is not home yet!'.

Rhea does not like her pictures taken and will not look into the camera and smile. It is getting very difficult to get any good pictures of her. And if both of them are in the frame - I dont even try. Below is one of the more successful pictures...but then i had to do it so fast,Sean is not fully in the frame.Oh well..I'll keep trying.



These days if i make something special Sean will have a bite of it and tell me 'Mom, this is delicious. Thank you for making this for me!!!' Ofcourse it melts my heart to hear him say that. He did that yesterday when he had the Gulab Jamuns I made. He absolutely loved them and had 4 of them after dinner.

Sean was very excited to see the purple flowers today in the garden and I got a good picture of him next to them.


This summer I got some gardening done (compared to last year). I put some petunias in the front yard and they look beautiful now as they are in full bloom.

The truth about 'Pork'

This happened Tuesday. I was rummaging through the fridge trying to decide dinner for the kids and came across the grilled pork chops from the weekend. I decided its a good choice and asked for Sean's approval. He said yes so I warmed up two-one to go over my salad and one cut in thin slices for him. Rhea was having fish sticks since she would chew and spit up the pork. Week days Aji works late so the kids and I have an early dinner soon after we get home.

So all of us are on the table, I’m enjoying my pork salad. I have been craving for a steak salad for a few days and this seemed to be a healthier option and seemed to satisfy my cravings. Sean seems to like it too since the marinade was sweet and reminded him of the Chinese (teriyaki or General Tso’s) chicken that he loves. I’m enjoying the relative quietness amidst all of the chomping but I can see the thoughtful look on Sean’s face and knew something was coming…

Sean: Mom, what are we eating?
Me: Its pork. Do you like it?
Sean: Yeah
He paused for a minute and then continued,
Sean: Mom, is pork an animal?

My head started racing - what do I say, what do I say.I could picture where this conversation was going and wanted to put a quick stop to it before it got ugly. But with a very calm look on my face, I continued

Me: Yeah, it is.
Sean: Which animal?

My immediate thought was to get up to fetch a glass of water and derail his train of thought…but I decided to be more adventurous and see where this was going.

Me: It’s a pig (no better way to put it I guess)
Sean: So you cut it?
Me: ahem…
Sean: But that’s not right, right?
Me: What is not right?
Sean: To cut the pork?

At this point I really wanted to run out of there. I felt so gross and felt like I had a piglet in my mouth struggling to free from the tight grasp of my teeth…Eww…I could just toss my salad and taken a vow of vegan diet then and there.But I tried to distract myself in my mind saying - Protein, Protein is good for your body.

Me: What do you think Sean?

I was trying to turn the table on him and see what he had in mind. But thank god,he seemed to be quiet for some more time, lost in his thoughts and I grabbed the moment and distracted him with other talk.

I’m sure though that this is just the beginning of a lot of queries he will have on this topic and I’m sure he already knows that some people don’t eat meat and others do since he has mentioned to me before that his friend Rakesh is vegetarian. I will have to think about this a little more and come up with a better way to address his concerns. I guess, part of me does understand …one day we are in the farm Ooohing and aahhing at all the animals and couple of hours later we are enjoying the prime cut of one of them…I wonder if he realizes that the chicken nuggets are made from the same hens we spent so much time looking at the farm the other day.

Its tough being a kid at times..

Weekend Surprises and Time Savers

The ride (bike for Sean and Wagon for Rhea) to the park on saturday mornings has become somewhat of a Saturday morning routine for dad and kids. This past weekend was even more special. I got home from my workout and grocery starving but to my delight I openend the door to the sweet smell of pancakes. Yes, Aji was making pancakes...chop chip ones made in butter for the kids and for us without all the fat (butter and choc). They were so yummy! I'm sure all the calories i burnt hlaf hour ago got right back in my body...but i justified it as calories for the body to recover :) Well, just when i thought it was the best surprise ever...sean came and got me a snmall bouquet of wild flowers. he had picked them on their walk in the trails and told aji -'This is for mama because she loves flowers'..Aww...my sweet baby...he knows what brings a smile on mama's face and so does daddy with the breakfast :) I loved the bouquet..he even picked different color flowers- there was pink and purple and white and lellow (I mean yellow). He was disappointed that the white had wilted soon and promised me to get more next time :)

In other news, we got the kids enrolled in the fitness center on Sunday. We didn't do it until now since Rhea was still so small. Plus we didn't want to put them again in day care after all the time they spend at school/daycare during the week. But the time seemed right and what a great decision. We went as a family on Sunday and it was easier on them even though it was thir first day at the child center since they had each other for company. They promised to call us if the kids were crying or if Rhea had a dirty diaper. None of that happened and after 4.5 years Aji and me worked out together. The last time was when I was expecting Sean - we lived in the apartment then. Seems like ages ago. Aji went 10 minutes before me and picked up the kids. They spent some time in the basket ball court and when i came down Rhea was attempting to pick a ball to do some hoops.She was smiling ear to ear and seemed to have a lot of fun. This is going to be such a huge time saver for us since until now most of our weekend time was spent in both of us taking turns for our workouts...am so glad we went ahead and did this.

New biker in town.

We finally got Sean his bike - his birthday gift 2 months later. Better late tha never I guess. He absolutely loves it and took to it like a pro. It does have the trainer wheels on but he was very good at steering and maneuvering it. He has been riding on the deck making large circles around the furniture and figured out how to break after some initial hiccups.

Last weekend Aji took the kids to the park when I went for my workout and Sean rode the bike. He was mighty proud of himself and so are we. We have to slowly help him to balance without the trainer wheels. I'll post pictures of him on his mean machine soon :) rhea is very excited too about cheta's bike since she gets some time to figure out cheta's tricycle.

You should see the smile on her face when i sit her on it and push her around...PRICELESS

Weekend of Fun

I'm again late on my updates here...the last i was here was right before aji's New York trip ..

Quick Recap - Aji had a great weekend with the guys in New York.We(me and the kids) not to be left behind on fun and frolicking had our own share of adventures..

Saturday after daddy left we lazed around and played a bit, did some errands and after we got back from Target, I inflated the kiddie dinosaur pool we got last summer...Sean was reluctant to get wet but gave it a try after seeing Rhea having fun..


Rhea took to it like a fish...she had so much fun...


Both of them were very tired after the splash in the pool but we went to the park after a quick nap and both of them had fun. They were tired when we got back and after dinner, hit the bed at their usual time.I got comfy on the couch and watched the hindi movie...'Life in a Metro'. I love the songs from that movie - very 'albumy' tunes but it is stuck in my head.

Sunday we went for the 8:45am mass after breakfast and then went to the farm near Rhea's daycare. It was fun..we saw a lot of animals and birds..Horses, Pigs, Sheep,Cows,Hen,Turkeys,Ducks and a Peacock. We even petted the calves and kids (baby goat). I completely forgot to carry the camera with us. Sean was disappointed and made me take some on my cell phone to show daddy.

Funny conversation at the farm - There was a lady riding a horse and Sean saw that and wanted to ride a horse too.I told him that he'll have to take lessons before he can ride a horse on his own. Pat came his question - Can we ride a Cow?

I burst into laughter and he seemed a little offended by my reaction and asked - What's so funny mama?

Needless to say I felt really bad and quickly regained my composure and explained things in a grown up way. I was smiling about his question on the way home...Isn't it amazing how their little minds work?

Both of them took an afternoon nap and daddy came home around 3:00pm. Sean and Rhea had so much to tell. Rhea was babbling of course and sean wanted to make a trip to New York.I was amazed at Rhea's excitement when she saw Aji walk in the door...she ran to him and was stuck to his hip for the next hour or so :)

All in all a good weekend and fun was had by all..