Family Time

This week pavi and fly came to visit us...it was a short visit and since this was their first pit stop...they were tired and jetlagged. By the time it was ready to go Elisha was her ususal self...but fun was had by all ...the kids got to bond with their cousin.



Praveen got to meet his tennis mate from 10 years ago. Sunita's daughter and Sean go Tennis class together.


he also met another friend of his...only his nickname comes to mind and i dont think i want to refer to him by that :)

TEAM WORK

Last week we enjoyed some good weather and the kids ventured out to play on the deck. And as always they started fighting over the same bike even there are 2 other options they could choose. But after a feww minutes of push, pull, cry (wwhich i stayed away from ) i heard laughter. i was curious how moods can change so fast. But as i peeked out the kitchen window this is what i saw. And it brought the biggest smile on my face.



After all the fighting they figured out that they could ride the bike together and have more fun than their solo rides!

That's what I call TEAM WORK!

If only they would use the strategy more often..

Rhea is 3 !!

Our Tweety pie is 3! Wow, how fast time flies!



So today morning we wished Happy Birthday and the first question she asks - Where's my gift! I guess by now she has gone to enough birthdays to understand the relation between birthdays and gifts.

I'm so glad i picked up her gift the previous evening. So we gave her the doll house which was of course still in the box. She was beyond excited!! She kept saying 'my present!, my present!' and wanted to open it right away. We were able to distract her with her new dress and she was ready in no time raring to go to school to share her birthday with her friends.

Rhea with her doll house - All SMILES!
I had made pretty flower cup cakes for her to take to school.


Flower Cupcakes
That evening after we got back from school, i worked on icing the chocolate cake while the TV babysat the kids. Daddy got back only around 8:30 but both of them waited patiently. We cut the cake after dinner and they both enjoyed a big hunk of the chocolate cake!


Rhea had her 3 year Dr appt early in the week. She is still a peanut but is followwing her growth chart and has it all the milestones for her age. She told the dr, colors and shapes in spanish (and i was wondering why she said circulo instead of circle. Thank god Dr Howell knowws spanish!) So no shots this time and she is at the 8 percentile for weight and 44 percentile for height. I know she is petite but i'd rather have her lean and tall than be on the other end of the spectrum. i've een there and would not wish that hell for anyone..

Rhea, i have a special message for you...i will post that here soon ..

Slumdog wins the Oscar!

And what a sweep it was!!

I knew it would win for music and I was planning to make some dessert to celebrate but I fell sick that day and watched the historic moment on the couch barely keeping my eyes open as I was sedated with Sudafed. So fast forward a week and half later - I returned to the world of the living and decided to still make that dessert honouring SM.

I made the chocolate cup filled with vanilla pudding and a dash of cocoa powder.


So let me explain the inspiration behind this mouth watering yumminess of a dessert(if i may say so myself) - the chocolate cup and the cocoa powder is reminiscent of the slums, the dirt, the poverty and everything sad. The yellow vanilla pudding represents all the glory, it reminded me of the golden oscar statue and everything good about the movie, the triumph of the human spirit, the riches the pratogonist in the movie acheives by winning the love of his life and becoming a millionaire!!



So whether you like it or not - this is my culinary interpretation of the amazing movie - SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE.

Happy Valentines Day!

Had a great valentines day! I made valentine cookies for the kids to take to school for their friends. They were so excited!



Aji gave me this fantastic gift which was a complete surprise and hence even more special. I'll post a picture soon. I made a heart shaped cake which the kids devoured.

Super Bowl Sunday!

Well, yesterday was superbowl sunday. We had a ton of errands to run and started off with mass at 10:45. By the time wwe got back it was 3:30. Sean and Aji stepped out again to get his pictures for passport renewal and couple more errands. Rhea took a nap and I had decided to do start on the dinner. Since it was superbowl and all and the wweather was pretty nice we had initially thought of grilling. I had planned on an appetizer and desert both of which i hadn't even done any prep work. Add to that I also had to make the Oatmeal and the lunches for the week. It got dark outside pretty quickly, aji went downstairs for a jog and i started on the Asparagus and Hummus Tart and then marinated the chicken to grill. That didn't take much time and i knew that it was going to be a appetizer and dessert night. So i put away the chicken that as marinating back in the fridge.


Asparagus and Hummus Tart

The game was on and the kids and aji settled with their drinks. Beer for dad and sparkling cider for the kiddos. I started on the desert in between watching snippets of the game. The game got pretty interesting after half time especially the 4th quarter. Anishchayan would call whenever there was a touch down. Sean also got interested in the game and he was backing the steelers. Since the Redskins hadn't made it (no surprises there), aji and I ususally support the underdog, in this case the Cardinals. It was a pretty close game and of course the steelers took it away with just 40 secs remaining.

In between the game, dessert was ready and Sean had slept off in front off the TV. I tried waking him up since he was most excited about the dessert. But he was so sound asleep.





I wanted to cut the tart in the morning with Sean but father and daughter would have none of it. both of them wanted it rightaway. Since i was outnumbered we went ahaed and indulged. It was awesome. Rhea enjoyed the fruits and the custard the most!



We went to bed, way too late for a sunday night and I woke up late and missed my workout today morning :(

Life's simple pleasures!

Friday night we let the kids stay up later than their usual bed time and this week they had a surprise late night treat - Ice cream! Rhea thoroughly enjoyed hers to the last lick...watch for yourself!

Favorite Things

I just realized today that i have never noted a list of Sean or Rhea's favorite things at any given time. Granted that they tend to change over time I think I should do it atleast once in a while. it will be fun to look back at what they loved at different stages of their growing years :)

SEAN,

Family - He is such a family man already. He loves loves loves his lil sister and calls her bebe or lil baby. Loves to play wwith her but also knows t0 push her buttons and get her irritated. He will occasinaly come and give me and aji a kiss and a hug. If i make something different he is very vocal and will say - Thank you mommy for making this. I just love that about him!

Food

His current favorite is breakfast. Pancake with a dollop of butter, maple syrup and breakfast sausages. he loves it so much, we had it both days this weekend. His other favorites - Poori, Poot (puttu), Flat eggs (bulls eye), baked eggs, egg and cheese sandwich, Cereal(mix of cheerios, cinnamon toast, frosted flakes, honey bunches)


He also loves chicken nuggets and tater tots, mashed potatoes, pesto chicken sandwich, pizza, chirros, ICECREAM (MINT, COTTON CANDY with gummy bears mixed in, CHOCOLATE, VANILLA)

Entertainment - He loves everything STAR WARS. He has watched the movies so many times that he has memorized a few dialogues :) He loves his light saber and is looking forward to soccer in spring. He is slowly beginning to enjoy his swim lessons.

Fav quote- yeah Babe! (in different tones depending on when he is happy, sad or angry)


RHEA

That's Rhea!

That was what Rhea exclaimed as I was showing Aji the video from today morning. She kept screaming, That's Rhea!! That's Rhea and laughing loud....It was so sweet to hear her happy giggles...moments like these make being a mom truly special and rewarding!

Learning the fun way!

It is always easy to remember when you have learned something the fun way. Rhea's class has been doing just that. They learnt the spanish numbers (1 thru 10) in a song and also the days of the week (in english of course)in a song. She has been singing it at home for the past few days and I thought I should capture it before she moves onto something else. These are her current favorites and if you notice in the video she loves to repeat the same song over and over again until we tactfully get her to move on to the next one :)

So Ladies and Gentlemen,Boys and Girls, put your hands together for Rhea - singing the Uno Dos Tres Amigo and The Days of the week!


Rhea Singing from PreethsJ on Vimeo.

Hope you enjoyed it!

Ice Ice Baby

Yes, that's the story here today. So much so that county schools are closed again. Luckily winwood is open so Sean and Rhea were dropped off even through they were reluctant. Aji and I are working from home since the roads seem to be slippery and makes for a hazardous commute. Yesterday aji cleared the driveway in the morning but by evening as I was driving in, it again had a few inches of snow and Shirley our neighbor with whom we share the drive way was clearing it out again. Justin their 9 year old was having fun in the snow. Because of my tendonitis, i dont even attempt to take the shovel out.

Deck today afternoon. You can see the ice on the chair and the table


View of our side yard from the garage

Anways, fast forward to today morning I hear the grating sound of the shovel on the drive way. Ed (shirley's husband) was out again and he cleared the entire drive way. Aji was in a conf call so he couldnt step out. Thanks Ed!

Clean Driveway!
Usually the two of them work on it together. I was thinking that maybe I should take a few of the muffins i baked yesterday as a 'thank you' to them.

Mmm Mmm Muffins!

Sean has been asking me for blueberry muffins from Saturday. I was planning on making some banana muffins over the weekend but he said he wanted blueberry ones. Since they are not in season, I asked Aji to get some frozen blueberry's. I didn't get to make them over the weekend but today we got our homework out of our way slightly early. And since Aji was home, he played with the kids afterward. So I had just enough time and all the ingredients to whip up a batch of blueberry muffins.

The kids were in the basement when I started on them and came up as I was getting done with the batter and Oh my! the look on their faces :)


They were so excited wanting to eat the batter rightaway. I always let them have a lick or two of the spatula/spoons.


Rhea licking the spoon clean!


Mmm..Warm muffins with gooey blueberry's inside. Yummo!

It was getting a bit late for bed time but i let them stay a little late for the hot muffins. Here they are enjoying the late night snack!




They absolutely loved it and downed a muffin each :)

Snow Day!

Today was our first reasonable snow day of this season. We got about 4 inches of snow. It started around 5:00 and went on and off for almost the rest of the day.I left for work at 8:00, the community roads were not even treated by then. The ride to work took me about 45 mins. Lots of accidents reported on the radio. County svhools were closed but Sean and Rhea's were open. So AJi dropped them off and worked from home. They were very excited about the snow and wanted to play but it didnt happen in the morning since they were rushing to school. They wore their snoww boots to school. Rhea's class was planning on stepping out for awhile but Aji asked that she be kept inside since we didnt wwant her cough to aggravate. Will probably let them play for some time tomorrow morning.



View from our deck at 8:00pm


Of course by the time i headed home, the snow had already turned into sleet and freezing rain. Not fun, since the roads woul get slippery soon. I managed to get the kids and get home without trouble. Tonight they are expecting more ice and freezing rain, an accumulation of 1 inch of ice expected by tomorrow morning. This means tomorrow schools will be closed and i may have to stay home with the kids. Hopefully I will be able to atleast work part of the time.

Doctor Visit

Last week Rhea came down with the same virus that Sean had the week before. She was down with very high fever. So Tuesday and Wednesday Aji and I took turns staying at home. It looked like she was beginning to get better but then Friday night she came home exhausted and true enough high fever again. We put her back on Motrin and she seemed better on Saturday but Sunday rolled in and she woke up again with fever and a wicked cough. Uggh…this is getting old, and I started to think that maybe she has a chest or ear infection since the fever kept coming back. So I took her in to the Dr.’s office Monday morning. She is very excited to go to the Dr.s office. Nurse Kayla absolutely loves Rhea and she of course loves all the attention. We were waiting for Dr. Cruise in the Spiderman room. Every waiting room has a theme and as soon as she saw the spiderman,

Rhea says – Seany loves pider man
Me: What about you? Do you like Spiderman?
Rhea: Noooo. I like Dora. Me not like piderman.
Me: Oh Ok.
Rhea: Seany likes pider man
Me?: What else does Seany like? Does he like Star wars?
Rhea: Nodding her head – Jhea! Seany likes star wars!

The two of them are so close..they love each other so much and also fight for the same toys a lot of times…I guess that’s what brings siblings close..all the fighting, the laughing and the crying…it used to be similar with pavi and I. It was amazing for me to realize how Rhea was thinking of Sean even when he wasn’t around in the things that he really loved.

Anyways Dr Cruise checked her and her ears and lungs were clear so she gave me the go ahead to send her to school. Rhea picked a Dora sticker for herself and also reminded me to get a Spiderman sticker for Seany.

Sunday Night's Tasty Travel to New Orleans

Today's dinner was a tasty travel to New Orleans without the hassle of actual traveling...well our taste buds took a travel down south to the land of Mardi Gras..

What was on the menu you ask...Shrimp Etouffe and it was absolutely fantastic, even the kids gobbled it up..Here's a picture...



It had a nice kick to it and was perfect with a glass of bubbly!




BAM! BAM! BAM!

Sweetie Pie..

Today morning...rhea held my face in her tiny little arms gave me a big kiss and called me 'Sweetie Pie'...its was so funny and sweet at the same time!

Winter Party 2009

My Project's winter party was this past saturday. All of us were excited to go but then Sean woke from his nap with high fever. I decided to still go since we missed last year's party alsoa nd i had made a coconut cake for this year. here is a picture.


It was a fun party but i really wished for Aji and the kids to be there.

What's for Dinner?

Since aji is away..I realy dont have to worry about real food or variety etc. I made a big pot of roasted eggplant soup- yummo. That should safely get me through 3-4 days. I also have some left overs frfom the work party from the weekend. So no real cooking for me this week...

Solo Parenting..

Yes, i'm at it again...thanks to aji's training this week again in Chicago. To add to the trouble Sean was down with very high fever from saturday night..the week can only get better from here on right...thats what i think and that's what i really hope. I worked from home today...hopefully sean wwill be better enough to go to school tomorrow...let's see what tomorrow has in store..

HAPPY NEW YEAR 2009!

Happy New Year! Another year passes by...a new one rolls in..wonder what we have in store this coming year. Whatever it is we pray that the almighty give us the courage and the strength for all the surprises he has in store for us..

A Grand Vacation...

We had a fun filled 2 weeks off. We did a lot of fun things as a family...Pictures coming soon..


The kids by the X'mas tree

Family Portrait taken at home



Visit to Museum of Natural History

We also went to china town for some authentic chinese fare. Sean wwanted to have crabs and they had fresh ones in a tank that they picked when we ordered, brought it to our table to show us the 'chosen one' and brought it 10 minutes later fried in a spiced up batter. Sean devoured it.

Aji ventured into the litchen and made some really good chinese soup one night.

We went snow tubing with Sanjiv and family. Rhea could only go to the baby slopes, so Aji and I took turns and Purvi and Sanjiv watched the kids so wwe could some together also. It was great fun and Sean was getting more and more adventurous as the day passed. Parth and Prashant also joined us and it was fun to watch these kids from ages 12 - 2 interacting and playing and having a great time.

The weekend that whizzed by..

Last weekend went by so quickly. Let me try to remember and recap what we did..

First off, Sean scored another 100% on his spell test and an 'Excellent' note from his teacher. Way to go Seany! By doing so he earned his 'Happy Meal' from Mc Donalds for dinner on Friday. We did a drive through since Aji's flight was landing at 6:30 and we had just about an hour to get started. So we went home and after the kids had dinner, we left around 6:20pm. Aji's flight landed on time and we picked him up around 6:50 and headed home. The look on both the kids faces when they saw aji was priceless! They were all over daddy that night.

Day 5 - Daddy is coming today.

It's friday - Yipee!!! Aji is coming back today. I spoke to him yesterday and he said that he is planning to catch an earlier flight that will bring him here at 6:3o pm instead of 10:00pm. I luv it, we can have dinner together :) The kids are so excited Sean woke up saying - Daddy is coming today YAY!

Today we were extremely late. But I managed to give Sean one final mock test and he did well. Hopefully it will all come together. Breakfast was scrambled eggs and oatmeal. Sean was not very excited about the eggs and I told him they are going to help him remember all his words rigt for the test. He wiped his plate clean. I just love him...he is so willing to go that extra mile and is motivated that he gets to have a happy meal is he scores 100% on his test. He also got his report card yesterday. He is doing pretty well, I do need to talk to Ms Jackson on the rating she has given him for performing simple addition. All of his appers I have seen has him getting 100% and yet he has a rating of 3 out of 4. Maybe she can help me understand the reason.

Can't wait for evening..

Day 4

Late entry for Thursday. Wednesday night we had frozen pizza for dinner. It was a good change and the kids loved it. They were the individual sized ones and I had one vegetable and one meat ball pizza in the freezer. Rhea and Sean each had half of the meatball one and I had the vegetable pizza. I also baked the store bought apple pie. We were short on ice cream. We had like 2 scoops of the chocolate icecream that the kids ate and I helped myself to the apple pie.Mmmm it was delicious.I'm developing a sweet tooth and its scaring the heck out of me.

Thursday morning we woke up only by 7:45, I made egg and sausage sandwiches for the kids. Sean enjoyed it. Rhea did not eat the egg but to just have her eat one full sausage sandwich itself was a huge accomplishment. I got to work by 9:20 - a little late. The day went by quickly. We have been practicing Sean's words for the test and he has been getting them all correct. Hopefully it will all stick when he takes the test in class. Yesterday for dinner I told them I'll make a quick fried rice but sean wanted to eat mashed potatoes. We had some left overs from tuesday so we had a repeat of the same dinner - popcorn chicken, mashed potatoes and gravy.

I started working on the holiday cookies. Yesterday night after the kids went to bed I made the first one, its almost doone just needs a drizzle of white choclate on top which I'll do later. I also baked the cakes for my class. I have to prepare the icing. We did not do any video recordings yesterday. I did 2 mock tests for Sean and he got 100% on both so then I excused him from math and he watched some TV before hitting the bed.

Christmas Carols

Today instead of recording a video message for dad, I did the recording of them singing X'mas carols. They have been singing them in the van for a couple of days and i thought it would be neat idea to capture it on tape. Ofcourse I will do an official recording with them all dressed up but consider this as a warm up round..

Rhea is singing 'I want to wish you a Merry X'mas' and Sean is singing 'Jingle Bells'. Of course they dont know all the lyrics and we hope to brush up on it in the coming days..


Rhea and Sean singing X'mas Carols from PreethsJ on Vimeo.

Day 3

We're hanging in there. Actually i think we have a set routine now and the wheels are finally beginning to move smoothly. Yesterday by the time I picked them up, it was 6:00pm. I had a last minute meeting at work which ran over till 5:10. Both kids were happy and cheerful, which in itself was a huge mood stabilizer :)

We got home and while they snacked on Wheat thins, I made some mashed potatoes (from scratch). I heated up some pop corn chicken, thawed some corn from the freezer, warmed some out of the bottle turkey gravy and cooked rice. Sean loves mashed potatoes so he thoroughly enjoyed the chicken, mashed potatoes and gravy. He did not eat a single piece of corn. No surprises there. Rhea ate couple of pieces of chicken and had a tall cup of milk. We did the homework, Sean practicing his words for the test on Friday. He is still working on 'dock' and 'dash'. The blend words are still confusing him. Hopefully he will get it all by friday. Sean was in a mood for a bubble bath and demanded one so both of them were bathed, brushed and tucked into bed by 8:30. I then veged out in front of the idiot box, spoke to Aji couple of times and then hit the sack at 11:00 after having round 2 of dinner. I can't seem to control my food binges lately and it is showing. Today morning the weather was much warmer and I wore the skirt i bought 2 months ago. It was a little loose then and fit me at the hip - today it was snug at the waist. I'm so mad at mytself and can't wait to get back to my workout sessions from Monday..

Day 2 of Solo Parenting..

Yesterday evening was not too bad. I left work at 5:00 and had to make a quick stop at Giant to pick something for dinner. So by the time I picked them up it was almost 5:40 and really dark outside. Sean got new words for his test this Friday. There are two 4 letter words and we will need to practice them a lot. We got home and gave them dinner right away. They had sausage, eggs and tatertots. It was my first time trying tatertots and I loved them. Of course anything carb is golden in my food vocabulary 

Aji called and the kids spoke to him and of course Rhea had a big meltdown because she wanted to talk to him on the cell phone not the landline. After all that commotion and the quick chat Sean and I did home work – practiced the words and also did addition while Rhea watched TV. Sean got a ‘Star’ and ‘Super’ for his addition in school yesterday since he got all of them right. I’m glad the evening homework’s are paying off. It definitely makes the effort more meaningful and motivating.

I let Sean watch some more TV after his homework and it was almost 8:00pm at this point. Where did the time go? I had picked up Oreo cookies, so both of them had a couple of those before we went up to get ready for bed. Those are so difficult to get off the teeth, I had to literally strain my neck to brush them and get all of the Oreos out of their teeth. Not fun at all. Sean was really tired and slept in couple of minutes; Rhea on the other hand was just tossing and turning. Asking for daddy, water, her watch to be removed, and her dolly. After I gave her the dolly she said she doesn’t want it. So after 5-10 mins of that I walked out the door and then she launched into her big screaming cry…I waited for couple of mins went beck held her for a few mins and put her back. She went down like a lamb. I think she is really missing aji. Poor little darling. Of course in the middle of the night Sean starts his migration to our room and I guess lost his way and turned on lights woke up Rhea…total mayhem. By then I was beginning to lose it, I got both of them to the master bedroom and as soon as I lay down, Rhea wakes up asking for water. I dragged myself knowing she will not be quiet until she gets her water. I gave her a few mouthfuls from the bathroom. I was too lazy to go down. After that all of us conked out and woke up at 7:15am. They had oatmeal for breakfast, did a little recording for aji, got changed and were able to get out the door by 8:37. Few minutes later than yesterday but I got into work at the same time. Rhea cried at drop off today also, she did not want to go to school and kept saying that. I tried to distract her as much as I could. I think its also because I usually don’t do drop offs and it’s a difficult for her and also Aji not being around. She just doesn’t get it because we tell her to say hi to daddy on the camcorder and she does not understand when we say daddy will be back on Friday. Poor thing…I’m sure it is utter chaos in her little mind right now…I wish Friday would be here sooner.

Message to Daddy from today

Message to Daddy on Tuesday from PreethsJ on Vimeo.

Day 1 of Solo parenting...

Not sure how this week is going to be since Aji is away and I have to do morning and evening gig with the kids. Yesterday was fun, we just relaxed and played and watched some Tv. Spoke to aji couple of times. I put the kids to bed at their usual time. I must have been really tired because I didn't even know (until morning)that Sean came to my room at night. He had asked and made sure that I will be sleeping in the Master bedroom so he does not have to go searching for me in the middle of the night. Rhea woke up by 7:15 which gave me just enough time to freshen up and I went down with her to get my Java and get started on their breakfast. Sean woke up by 7:30.I decided to make some french toast in the hopes of feeding them a good breakfast. They ate reasonably well, over Higgly Town Heroes and Little Einsteins while I fork-fed(is that a word?) them. Miraculously they did not complain much when i called them up to get dressed. We even managed to do a quick video recording for Aji and were out the door by 8:30.

Sean was behaving so much like a grown up while Aji is away. As we were leaving he said 'Mom, let me check the doors to make sure its locked'. My little boy is growing up so fast. After he was done with his inspection I asked him 'So, are we good?' and he said 'Yes, everything is locked. We can go now!'

It was a perfect morning...hopefully the rest of the week will be somewhat close. I know that my patience might start to wear off as the days pass and by the time friday rolls in I might be pulling my hair out. But for now I would like to think that everyday will be like today..I will certainly strive for it. I'm so much more relaxed as I start my work day/week.

Here's the kids video to daddy from the morning..

Message to Daddy in Chicago on Monday from PreethsJ on Vimeo.

Spoke to aji in the morning on my way to work. He was on his way to class. I asked him what he had for breakfast since I had just had my coffee and decided to have a banana muffin(yummy!) on my drive to work. Aji's breakfast - Waffles, Hashbrowns and Eggs. Not sure if that was all or he just stopped at that so as to not make feel bad about his fantastic start to the day. Anyways, it sure beats my breakfast by a long margin. Someone is enjoying his stay and FOOD in the windy city!

Messages for Appachan and Ammachi

We've been working on some video messages for Appachan and Ammachi. They came out pretty hilarious. Here they are, Rhea's message from morning and Sean's which we did in the afternoon. They are pretty funny...esp the endings..

Rhea's Message

Rhea's Message to Appacha and Ammachi from PreethsJ on Vimeo.

Sean's message - Take 1

Sean's Message To Appachan and Ammachi - Take1 from PreethsJ on Vimeo.
Sean's message - Take 2


Sean's Message to Appachan and Ammachi - Take 2 from PreethsJ on Vimeo.

Weekend Update!

Good Bye Daddy

Today (Sunday was busy). Aji was leaving for Chicago in the afternoon and Rhea had her friends birthday party to go to. Aji had also not done any of his packing. So I got up, got the kids ready, fed them breakfast (pancakes)and warpped up the birthday gift. Aji and Sean left to run some errands. Rhea and I took some video and then left for her friend Christine's birthday party which was at the Little Gym. She had fun playing with her friends. It was the first time she was going to her friends' birthday and she had fun. She ate a bit of the cake and had juice and we left by 11:00AM. we got home and the boys were home also so we decided to have a quick lunch at Panera on our way to drop off Aji at the airport. This pic was taken right before we left home..



After droppig off aji, we went to church and then got back home. Lazed around a little and the I put Rhea down for her nap. She was not too happy and kept fighting it but once in her crib she conked out in 5 mins. So Sean and I had some time on our hands and I'm usually very restless when there is a loved one on a flight so I knew I had to do something to keep my mind distracted and busy. Luckily I had all the ingredients for the banana muffin and Sean and I baked a dozen and half of these. The best moment was the look on Sean's face as he licked down the spatula with the muffin batter...Pure Sugar joy!




While the muffins were cooking I got Sean to record some video message for Aji,


Hello Daddy! from PreethsJ on Vimeo.

Aji called later in the eveining after his flight touched down. It was a relief to hear his voice after he reached his destination! Aji called later in the night after his dinner. He had Chinese for dinner and was talking about the buffet....made me hungry but I had to settle for the Naan in the fridge :(

Visual Time!!!

This is my first test video that I uploaded online. It was taken at night (couple of weeks ago) hence the poor light quality. This is Rhea singing her ABC's. She has been singing it for the past couple of months but i think this was the first time it was captured on tape. ENJOY!


Rhea singing ABC from PreethsJ on Vimeo.

I also took one of Sean's with his new toy - the Light Saber. He's into Star wars now, so we watched 'The Phantom Menace' - the first movie in the Star Wars series and then Aji got Sean his Light Saber. He was so excited about it.

Check out the video..ENJOY!!

Sean with his Light Saber from PreethsJ on Vimeo.

A Happy Dental Appt

Yesterday both the kids had their semi-annual dental appt. Rhea has been home since Monday with a nasty cold and a wicked cough. She was much better and I was plnning to send her to school yesterday. The dental appt was at 8:00Am and I was wondering what made me to take an 8:00Am appt in Dec. its so cold and the kids wake up a little late and need more warming up time before they get into the routine. But it worked out pretty well, it was one of those days that they decided to cooperate. Aji left early so I had to get them both ready and luckily we managed to get out of the house by 7:30. We got to the Dr. office at 8:03 not too bad. They both had a great appt..NO CAVITIES!!! which is great news.

Sparkly Teeth
Rhea had some calcification on some of her teeth at the last appt and the Dr. had given me a 'staright' tak about stopping her sleeping with her milk sippy and brushing her teeth at night at the last visit. I stopped the milk routine rightaway and even if she wanted milk most of the time i got her to rinse her mouth before she went to bed. We havent been perfect with the night time brushing but we try and do it most days which i think is pretty good. So both of them were super uber happy since they got 2 big STICKERS and a goody bag with a new brush, paste and dental floss. They each also got a balloon and a toy - Sean picked up a plastic bat and was excited to take it to school since they were talking about hibernation habits of the wild and Rhea got a watch.

Checkout my watch!
Funny Story - In the evening she wanted to wear it and i asked her - So what time is it Rhea and after checking the dial she confidently told me its ten tharty. She then took a second look and said, its Ten A Clack. She definitely has a southern accent going on...wonder where she gets that from...

First Test

Today Sean has his first spelling test. The words for the test were sent home on Monday. He knew all of them already but we we have been doing practice tests every evening. I have been stressing him to recheck everything before he turns his paper in, but it is not something he follows through. I have also been telling him that if he is not sure of a word he can raise his hand and ask Ms Jackson to repeat it again. I know if he pays attention he will get them all correct but will he be able to do that is the big question. I really hope so because he gets so so excited when he gets a 'Super' and 'Great Job' remark from the teacher for his work. I have to post pictures of those. Shall do that after i get home today. Definitely gives him a confidence boost so i hope he had it all together today..I'll find out soon. The spelling bee is going to be a weekly thing so I have to diligently work with him on his homework from now on. No more channel browsing for me until the kids go to bed.Oh well, i think its a good thing because its easier to get him also to sit down to do the work since there is a consequence now to not being adequately prepared. i only hope he has not inherited my exam 'jitters', I used to be super paranoid and I certainly dont want him to go down that path!

Also today is the day I get his first report ever from school...such a big day...he has been dreading it a bit and has been pretty unenthusiastic about it so i had to tell him that he's doing a good job and its a good way to find out his progress and what we need to work on harder..

UPDATE...

Picked Sean from school and guess what my little boy scored a perfect score for his first ever written test!!! I'm so proud of him. When i went to pick him he had this big smile on his face and he said 'Mommy, I scored 100 points' So cute..I gave him a big high five.
He said that he wants Mc Donalds for dinner as a treat. So off we went after picking Rhea up. He enjoyed his chicken nuggets and for a change he asked for french fries instead of his favorite apple dippers. Rhea of course had only the french fries. We came home and I took pictures of Sean with his test results...here they are,

Perfect Score!
If you notice closely he has written all his words in upper case.

His after care teacher said that they were not checking for upper case vs lower case just that they spell the word right. But the teacher had marked the words again in lower case. I'm so mad, if they were not checking for it, why mark it up. So this week we'll be working on doing our words in lower case. As a bonus, Sean was excused from homework today He is pretty good with doing his homework most days.

Here's a picture of him doing his homework yesterday..

Sean doing his homework

Thanksgiving w/e

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving weekend this year. It was the first time that we all were at home all 4 days. Last year this time we were getting ready for our trip to India so I was busy with packing...

The festivities began with the kids Thanksgiving Pow Wow party at school on Tuesday. Thankfully both of us were able to make it. I went to Rhea's class and Aji went to Sean's first and then we did a class swap so that way we were part of both their parties.


Rhea's class made a pilgrim hat and a costume out of a t-shirt.





Sean has face painting in addition to the bead kits for making necklaces.



Aji had taken wednesday off so te kids stayed home and had a relaxing time.

Just Chillin
Thursday and Friday were equally relaxing. Thursday I made Kappa and Fish vevichathu and Puttu w/Banana for breakfast. The kids had Puttu and we had Kappa. Rhea tried the kappa and seemed to like it. Thanksgiving dinner was at Anishchayans place. I made stuffing and Mac'N Cheese for the dinner. Sean and Rhea had a great time playing with their cousins and kids from chechi's extended family who were visiting. Sean was very excited to have turkey since they talked about Thanksgiving food at school. We came home around 11:30 and the kids were so tired they slept on the way home. Black Friday was again spent at home. I didnt have the courage to brave the crowds in the stores in the name of a good bargain. I would have lost my mind so I stayed at home and slowly started putting the christmas decorations. Saturday we decided to go to the movies. It would be Sean and Rhea's first English movie in the Theatre. We decided on the Disney movie 'Bolt'.

So after having lunch at Sean's favorite sandwich place - Potbelly's (he loves their italian sandwich and their big choc chip cookie). I also tried their root beer float - fisrt time ever I had a float not too bad but not a fave either. So after all the calorie load, we headed over to the multiplex. We chose to watch the 3D version of the movie. I was a little skepical if Rhea would find it difficult to wear the 3D glasses. I wish I had a camera with me. She just went with the flow and wanted to wear the glasses just like the 3 of us. She definitely has a 'la Jackie Kennedy' look with the big glasses covering up her entire tiny face :) She seemed quite interested the first half hour after which she kept herself busy with the pop corn, candy and would put her glasses on in between to watch snippets of the movie..it was almost like for her the show was the pop corn and the candy and the movie was just a passing distraction which really didnt warrant her complete attention..the candy and the pop corn on the other hand...well, they are like toddler crack anyways so no surprises :) Sean enjoyed the movie and I loved it too. I had zero expectations and was surprised at how much I laughed. Sunday again was low key so all in all a very relaxing Thanksgiving weekend.

And I'm back...

yes...after another month long break..here Iam again...its not that I didn't have anything going on...there is never a dull moment with a toddler and a kindergartner...its just that I just haven't been pushing myself to get on here lately...I know lame excuse, Any ways,I hope to be here more often going forward...I just went back and read a few of my entries from when Rhea was a baby and I'm so glad I have documented all of those little things.Ok, I'll stop now and start to mop up the big puddle around my laptop (all those tears from reading past posts and reminiscing)

Ok, few quotes from the last couple of weeks...

Rhea loves to have her stuffed friends with her in bed. She used to not care about them when she was little but now she has an entrouge and has just enough space for herself and has to squeeze in between all of them. So the other day after the daily bed time routine (changing into PJ's , brushing teeth, saying prayers, wishing Seany good night), I got her in her crib. After she squeezed in the middle she announced to me the sleeping order in her crib - Baby (her baby doll), Taddy (thats teddy in toddler speak), Rhea, Doggie, Taddy (yes, she has 2 Taddy's - she calls pooh Taddy too). It was soo cute...I felt like picking her up and squeezing her...I restrained myself - thinking about how much longer it might take to return her into her comfortable spot in her crib.

Rhea is such a parrot these days..she repeats everything Sean says and does while sometimes trying not to sound the same. The other day Sean was complaining of a tummy pain. Almost Immediately she says,

Rhea: Mommy, my leg is PAININ (for her the g in paining is silent)
Me: Where Rhea?
Rhea: Here (pointing to her knee). Its PAININ mommy.
Me: (Gently Massaging her knee). Its ok Rhea
Rhea : Where's seany?

Huh? Whatever happened to the excruciating knee pain?

Happy Halloween!

Rhea was a lady bug and sean a soldier. They had a halloween parade at school and it was fun! It was the first year that Rhea went trick or traeting and boy did she have fun. She got the hang of it really quick and couldnt shake it off the entire night...so much that when we had other kids come over to our house she would beat them to saying 'Trick or Treat' and hand out the candy..those kids were lucky...they didnt have to do any work to earn all those candy :)