Halloween Fun

This Halloween was technically Anvika's first halloween. Last year I was in India with the kids and the year before that Anvika was still a newbie. This makes me go back to the days where I struggled with 2 kids after my parents left. Phew!!!! gone are those days of feeding every 2 hours, spending sleepless nights trying to calm a colicky baby.  Fast forward, 2 years..... how life changes. Anvika has beautifully evolved from a new born to a headstrong 2 year old. She has her likes and dislikes and is very particular about few things, like her pillow.

This Halloween I let the girls choose what they wanted to be for trick treating. Anvesha had many options. One day she wanted to become a rockstar, the other day rapunzul next day a cowgirl and some day a super girl. So after a lot of options, we finally settled down with a supergirl.

As far as Anvika goes, she had 3 choices- either to be a witch, or a ladybird or tinkerbell. Maybe she liked the word Tinkerbell, so she chose to be Tinkerbell this Halloween. I don't blame her- coz her big sister also became Tinkerbell when she was 3 year old and it's the same costume that Anvika also wore.  

Both the girl looked so adorable in their costumes

Rain or Shine..... they don't care.... 

Both of them were so high on sugar that day. Here's what they earned...

Anvesha was so impatient to go for trick treating, she couldn't wait for dusk, so they kept waiting at the doorstep while Anvika was busy eating her lollypop :)

Anvesha also had a Halloween party at school where there were a lot of games, food, craft activities.

I love dressing them up and Halloween definetly gives an opportunity for them to be what they want to be and of course eat candies :)

Anvesha's first day of Kindergarten

The day has finally come, I am now a mom of a Kindergartner, How did that happen?? This feels like a graduation day. I am as excited today as I was on Anvesha's first day of preschool. The last 5 years have been filled with so much parenting intensity. There's been joy, exhaustion, love, self doubt and all the roller coaster of emotions that go with the early years of parenting. I have survived the sleep deprivation, tried to keep my patience during those terrible twos, managing the ups and downs of potty training and now I have a 5 year old who hardly resembles that little baby we brought home years ago,

So on the first day of Anvesha's Kindergarten, I decided to gift her a book called, "Oh the places you'll go" by Dr Sues.  I had earlier thought of getting her this book on the last day of preschool, but today was the right time to gift her this book since she is starting a new journey.

Here's a small message for Anvesha on her first day of Kindergarten,

To my sweetest girl Anvesha,

Today is your first day of Kindergarten, Your backpack is packed, your new lunch box is set to go and snack box is ready too. You are so excited to carry your brand new Elsa backpack- and yes this is the one that lights up:) You are a big Elsa fan. You wanted to save your light up Elsa shoes for your first day of school too. In a way it took us forever to get there, but in another I can't believe you are starting your BIG school.

I hope that as you start school, your exuberance doesn't wane. Your curiosity is going to get you so far and help you move past things that are difficult for you. It's 11.30 AM and I know you will be at school eating lunch. The house suddenly feels so quiet and I am not liking it one bit. I cannot wait to see you when I come to pick you up this afternoon. I wonder what you'll be thinking and feeling sitting in that big seat. I hope you are having a great day and participating in class. I can't wait to hear all the stories from school today.

Your first day at Kindergarten is a big deal for me too. You're my little girl, but this is the beginning of your big girl life and even though you are ready, I am not sure that I am.

Ek hazaaro me meri behna hai

Today is Raksha Bandhan - a festival to celebrate the pious bond between a brother and a sister. Sisters tie rakhi to their brothers and brothers promise to always stand by their sisters through thick and thin, protecting them against all odds throughout their lives. Well, I have my own questions regarding this. Why should brothers only take the responsibility of standing by their sisters? Shouldn't sisters too make a promise to be there for their brothers and stand by them? What about those girls who don't have a brother? Does that mean they should get a feeling that since they don't have a brother so no one will be there for them?

Having a daughter and a son in a family is indeed an ideal combination. But we never ever wanted our girls to grow up feeling the need of having a brother in their lives. They should have such a strong bond that they don't feel the need of having anyone else in their lives. Anvesha and Anvika don't have a brother, but that does not mean they cannot celebrate Raksha Bandhan. Right from the time Anvika was born we have been celebrating Rakhi with them. It's not about feminism, it's basically questioning the meaning of the festival itself. It's not about a brother protecting his sister, rather siblings protecting each other. 

So on this special day, Anvesha and Anvika tied Rakhi to each other- making a promise that they will protect each other throughout their lives. 

Having or not having a brother doesn't really matter. What matters the most is the special bond that siblings share and grow up knowing that their sibling will stand by them no matter what. And it's that promise that we celebrate as Rakhi.

Quack Quack Party

My butterfly # 2 turned two last week. "Quack quack" was amongst the first few words that she learnt to speak and this girl would jump with joy seeing the ducks at the pond every time we went to feed the ducks. So this year we decided to have a ducky theme for her second birthday party. I absolutely loooovvveeeed putting this theme together and give it a final look. I am so glad it turned out the way I had imagined. Anvika was so thrilled to see all the duckies on her birthday.

To begin with I first made the backdrop frame from pvc pipes. The overall theme was yellow and blue and the whole party decor involved so many DIYs. I absolutely love hosting kids birthday parties. It gives me so much satisfaction seeing my girls' expression when they see the final outcome. I will continue to host the perfect theme parties for my girls year after year. Yes, they will grow up soon and will no longer need me to host their birthday party. They might be even embarrassed to see me around, so thats the reason I want to enjoy this phase of life where I have a say in deciding the theme and overall look.

Here's the final look of the cake backdrop. I think I did a decent job in putting it all together.

Anvika has a collection of duckies in all shape and sizes and we made good use of them on her birthday. We hosted the party at Ebright Creek park. It was a fun filled afternoon. Here's the birthday girl in her lovely red dress.

She was a little overwhelmed seeing so many people and it took us a while to get few good pictures of her.

Finally the birthday cake :)

For the goody bags I decided to give a wooden birdhouse to the kiddos as a thank you gesture

 which they could paint. By the way, these goody bags were decorated keeping the theme in mind :)

The kids loved the bubble machine as there were gazillion of bubbles to pop.

Here's some pinata fun.....

Thanks to everyone who took out time to attend Anvika's birthday party and a very very happy birthday to my darling Anvika.  I absolutely love quacking with you:)

Happy Birthday my Butterfly # 2- ANVIKA

Dear Anvika,

A very happy birthday to you my love. You've been with us for 2 yrs now and I really can't imagine our life without you.  You live by your name, ANVIKA, meaning powerful and complete. You are the perfect kick of happiness and spice to our lives.  You are bossy- yes you are!! Even though you boss around your big sister, pull her hair, even bite her at at times and forcefully sit on her car seat instead of your own, we love you all the more sweetheart.

Here are few things I never want to forget about you. I never want to forget how you smell when you sleep- a mix of baby and a little girl- of sweetness and a little dirt. I never want to forget the way you say, "okay" when we ask you to do something, or the way you wrap you arms around me to hug me. I even don't want to forget the way you will hit and push your big sister- Anvesha and then act like you did not do anything wrong. I never want to forget the fact that you are your sister's tail. You want to do everything that your sister does. All this adds up to the sister bond that you girls share- really.

You are my fearless fighter and I know for sure you are going to light up the world on fire and I will be there to cheer you in every step.

A very happy 2nd birthday to my butterfly # 2. This song is especially for you

Fun with Legos

Anvesha has found a new love for LEGOS these days. Actually she loves knocking down all the things we build with legos, but as long as she is having fun, I really don't care how she plays with them. I remember we had been to Legoland with Anvesha when she was 2 year old. At that time she didn't understand much about legos. Anvika has started to play with legos too and seems to be occupied with it for a fairly long time. She loves to play with Mega blocks as well. I really wish both my girls benefit from lego play some day.

Playing with legos can be fun and educational. It opens up their creative side and builds concentration as well. It can keep a child quiet for hours- total bliss!!! When I was a kid we never had legos. But I remember going to my friends home and playing with legos. All I did was build a house- the same house over and over again. But it's completely different now. You can build so many things with these tiny bricks with a little imagination and plenty of patience.

Lego certainly is a fantastic toy. It's amusement potential is infinite, but not all kids like to play with them. It has taken me a while to get Anvesha to like legos. With summer break these days, we spend a lot of time doing legos and creating different things. She does a great job making something by looking at the instructions, but I want her to get imaginative and make a something unique. We WILL get there some day.

This is today's lego project.

So whenever I am stuck with what to buy as a birthday present for anyone, LEGOS are a safe bet. You can NEVER go wrong with legos :)

Berry Picking

It's just the onset of summer and week one of the summer break. Everyday is a new experience for us and though exhausting for me, but full of action for Anvesha. By the way, we gracefully survived week 1 of summer break.. Yayyyyyy!!!!

This weekend we went for strawberry picking with few of our friends. It was a fun filled afternoon and we collected around 6 Lb of strawberries. It was a perfect day for picking berries, by which I mean that it was neither too hot nor too cold.

We collected these super sweet and juicy strawberries, although the kids ate a lot right from the strawberry bushes :)

There are many reasons to take the kids to strawberry picking. First and foremost, its fun:) It's so important to get out as a family and the fact that strawberry picking pulls you and kids away from television is an added bonus. Life is crazy, chaotic and fast paced. Getting out at the farm, smelling the ripe, juicy berries and getting your hands dirty at the farm is indeed worth it. 

The strawberries are cheaper at the farm. We don't have to pay the added cost of  someone else picking, packing and shelving the produce. I am AMAZED at how much more delicious our freshly picked strawberries were as compared to the ones we get at any store for which I may have paid a fortune so far.

It was fun teaching Anvesha where food comes from. U pick farms are fun ways of educating kids about about farming. Anvika is too young to understand all this, but she had her own share of fun at the farm.

And finally here is the team with all of their hard work at the farm