Birthday Week!

Avinash had high expectations for his birthday.  He told everyone not to go home because the party was going to last all night.  He also wanted his party to be a 'scare one', with 'monsters' and  to make 'everyone disappear'.  I don't think we quite lived up to that, but he looked like he was having a good time even if he won't say it. 

I was a bit of a mess on Monday, the day of his actual birthday.  I planned way too much stuff and that was not a good idea.  I really wanted to decorate for him the night before.  The next morning we made pancakes and I tried to finish getting together his 'birthday scrapbook' for school.  My printer died and I started pulling out all the old pictures I could find.  Avinash wanted to go swimming with a friend before school, but we forgot the change of clothes at home.  Suddenly, I could either turn around and pick up the clothes, skipping out on our morning playdate, or I could just continue on.  I didn't know what to do so I just took them swimming anyway.  The cupcake place I planned to stop by at was closed and no one but Nandini was interested in the macaroons I picked up down the street.  We ended up missing school entirely even though I was supposed to spend the day there, bring his scrapbook and read a book to the class.  I was totally crushed and as a result totally frazzled for the rest of the night.  Avinash and Nandini just slept for hours when I brought them home. 

We made up for it at school the next day.  Avinash got a crown and I read to the class while Nandini climbed all over me and made sure that no one else could see the pictures in the book.  The kids all had a comment to make about volcanoes after seeing a picture of Avinash in Hawaii.  Turns out crowd control of 4-5 year olds is not my strong point, but we made it through.  Avinash told everyone to call me "Niru" and to call Nandini "Gudiya" because she likes it and it means a kinda doll.  So sweet. Even though he did tell me it wasn't his birthday anymore, he was beaming to have me and his sister in class with him.  Nandini loved it too and has wanted to make a sand castle at school every day since.

My mom and dad were here.  My mom does things like cook and clean up after every meal.  She does laundry and helps with the kids non stop.  She also does super helpful things like point out that the spices I bought at whole foods are terrible and to stick with what I get at the Indian store.  She is so wise. 

My dad does man stuff around the house.  Making repairs, tuning up my computer.  He bought donuts home almost daily after we took him to our new favorite local donut shop.  Avinash just knew his Nana would love it and boy was he right. 

Nandini is a constant bundle of energy these days.  Bouncing around from person to person.  Soaking up all the attention.  Getting cranky because of it and because of lack of sleep.  She also grabs all the candy and juice boxes she can, taking full advantage of our party preparations.  Trust me, juice boxes are a big deal around here. 

His actual party was over the weekend.  Austin was having the worst rains and flooding they have had since 2010 that day.  Miraculously it did not rain during the party and pretty much everyone made it.  Our backyard scavenger hunt ended up being limited to the patio because of mud, but the kids loved it anyway.  Luckily, they are still at the age where finding things sitting out in the open holds a lot of excitement for them.  We had a ton of fun and even more sweets.  I still haven't come down from my sugar high yet, let alone the children.

All of our family is back on their way home now and I am trying to figure out what to do with all this quiet.  I will post more details about the actual party soon.