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.  

Project Life | Stick Together

This week:  We celebrated Rakhi this week.  We also went to the Bat Bridge Festival in downtown Austin, dressed as bats of course.  We visited the temple here and saw the peacocks that roam the grounds.  We also got to go to the Dave Chapelle and Flight of the Conchords show.  Pure comedic genius.  Other random moments include Avinash waiting for his monkey to come out of the dryer.  Just like Calvin and Hobbes, sigh.

First page: This spread is dominated by 5th&Frolic cards. Again.  What can I say? I just love them.  The warm tones just seem to match my photos and there is so much variety I don't get bored!   I have a lot of Dear Lizzy stickers and they match perfectly of course.  I love the gold accents in them and added a gold leaf card from Studio Calico as well.

Embroidery card from Amy Tangerine.  I used the rainbow twine from a recent SC kit and a little crate paper frame to highlight the actual rainbow.  It looks tiny but I love seeing and recording them.  

Page Two: More of the same. Dear Lizzy and some core kit cards included in my Studio Calico kit.  The photo overlay is a fun way to highlight a special photo on the spread. A little more gold foil from Dear Lizzy and some Lucky Charm stickers and chipboard.  Yeah, I had two filler cards and a photo from a previous week.  This tends to happen when I am behind and can't remember all the details of a week.  I like the white space it adds to the page though a lot.

I am linked up with The Mom Creative for Project Life Tuesday. The PL kits I am using generally are the Studio Calico kit, Kelly Purkey kit and Midnight kit, with multi-pack page protectors.   Thanks for visiting, I appreciate all of your support.  Please, leave your links to any PL pages in the comments so we can check them out too.

 ps. more beautiful free printables from Two Peas are available.  Go get them all!

You are five!

You are always chatting and making observations about things.  Today we discussed letters and how some start with the letter they are but W starts with D and Y starts with W.  Very true.

You love looking for treasure, going on adventures and also collecting treasure.  Sometimes it is little (fake plastic) gems or minerals. Other times it is a random combination of things, like twine, a comb and Ryan's glasses (which he no longer needs according to you).

You would watch TV all day and night if you could but you would be doing somersaults on couch after about five minutes.

You love mac&cheese, pears, paneer, roti, all candy and ring pops, donuts, cupcakes and tomato juice.  Has requested a feast from Nani with that delicious roti she makes when she gets here.

You get yourself ready in the morning now but only because we use TV as a motivator.  You also buckle your own car seat and will help Nandini when she lets you.  You still take your shoes off every chance you get.

You are learning to read and spell.

You are always working on new things with Ryan: lego projects, playing ball, swimming.

You love to plant seeds and water them.  You check on our pumpkins everyday with me now.

You love your sister and fight with her viciously.  You got stickers for her at Disney and put them on her while she napped in her carriage.  You also are ruthless when it comes to potato chips. 

You love your friends and are constantly making little projects or notes for them.

You are super excited for your party.  Every day your idea of the party becomes scarier and scarier. 

I made this page with JBS Mercantile kit a few weeks ago and didn't get a chance to share it yet. 

Love you Avinash!

Week In the Life | Finished Album.

This little album was such a joy to create.  I love that I have so many little moments and things to be grateful for documented.  Without making this there is no way I would have all these things recorded.  I never filled out timelines of our day but I did snap a ton of extra pictures and record lots of little conversations we had.  Writing down the things they say is one of my favorite things to do. 

I put many of these onto a single page instead of a large photo for Sunday.  This page is so close to my heart.  It is partially specific conversations and part common phrases said over and over.

This page is about as collagey as I get.  I started with a very pretty ombre paper from last month's JBS kit and layered lots of different ledger and notebook papers.  (I love my stationery stash so.)  Then I just started adding words and tucked in embellishments here and there. 

I painted two Cut&Paste wood veneer pieces to match the paper. I used chalk ink for this.  Was simple and not at all messy. I also added a lot of N's and A's around the page to signal who was speaking.  I used cork circles and gold arrows to give the page more continuity with the rest of my album.

 Love this die cut Love banner and gold scrabble tile from Crate's Flea Market.

 My final page is just a smattering of random photos and sayings.  A little note about how I felt about this project finished things off.

Week in the Life | Overview

I managed to find quite a bit of continuity for this album. Overall themes were aqua and neutrals, cork and puffy stickers.  Cameras and wood veneers.  Kraft die cuts and JBS chipboard hearts. Enlarged photos and simple stamping.

The album I used was a Martha Stewart 8.5x11 size from Staples.  I used WRMK page protectors which are just slightly larger than baseball card size and easier to work with.  This size was fast and easy to fill in. I could easily cut down regular PL cards which I have an abundant supply of to use here.  

I also included lists each day of different life details.  Here is what I included: animals, books, meals, happy thoughts (counting my blessings), songs, good behavior moments (so easy to forget otherwise) and games we played.

You can read all of my week in the life posts here.  My two major inspirations were Ali Edwards and my friend Leanne who scraps with me all the time.  I admit I got the 8.5x11 idea completely from her. Thanks for the idea and for taking me out to crop!

Back from Disney World

Yes, we went to Disney World again.  Yes, we had a fabulous time and it was totally worth it.  We got an incredible deal on annual passes last year (better than the price of one week tickets) and I just had to go one more time before they expired.

Yes, it was hot and exhausting.  But it was our only vacation all summer and so worth it.  I'm glad we waiting until September to travel or it would have been even hotter!

There is just something about Disney world that has a way of making everyone feel so special.

The best part?  Seeing Avinash and Nandini's eyes fill up with wonder at least ten times a day.  I don't know how long this belief in magic will last, but I want to bottle it up and hold on to it forever.

In the hustle and bustle of everyday life it can be easy to forget that part.  Disney simultaneously makes you speed up and slow down together.  There is a lot of waiting.  Waiting in line, waiting for the bus, waiting for the show to start.  This time is just as important to me as anything else.  Just being together.  Making connections.

Nandini was just as excited about rides as Avinash this trip.  She would make her requests and we did our best to follow.  Avinash really liked stopping to watch shows and parades too.  This is something we would likely skip otherwise because of the heat and crowds, but it was worth it to hear him chanting "Dreams Come True!" with all his heart.

He also loved playing all the different new games around the parks.  Sorcerer's and Pirate's at Magic Kingdom.  Phineas and Ferb at Epcot and Wilderness Explorer's at Animal Kingdom.  

The prep. 
Going to the mall at the last minute for some new tiaras and mouse ears from Hot Topic and Claire's, for a fraction of the real thing frankly.
Packing, each day was put in a grocery bag before going in the suitcase.  It really made getting ready so much easier.  Will definitely be doing that again.
Buying food from Target.  Easy mac, english muffins and little cereal snack bags.  I love Disney, but the food can really add up.  Sometimes simple food is better.  

Avinash kept trying to scare Hook by making the tic-toc sound.  Priceless.

We got to meet a lot of other great people, like all seven dwarves!  Mickey was super sweet and very excited about the new baby too.  I loved that.  We met up with one family from Avinash's preschool.  It was so fun hanging out with them at Disney that we expanded our original plan of meeting up for a ride one day into meeting up three days in a row, heee!
I also randomly met April Foster (of Studio Calico).  It was a bit embarrassing and made me feel like a stalker but I just had to introduce myself when I saw her on the Disney bus.  Actually, Nandini spotted the twins first.  "Two cute babies, look Mommy. Wow!"

Other awesome moments:

 Dancing to the tabla and sitar at Animal Kingdom.  I love this place.

Back at our favorite photo spot. This was our Cinderella-themed day of course. 

 The neigh ride. Her second favorite now behind Small World.

 Fantasmic fireworks.  He begged to go back but we only had time for one show.

 Our little Paduan.  He wouldn't do the routine and kept trying to cut down Vader's knees.

 Joy.

 Taking some maternity pics.  We decided to find out the babies gender here.  That was a fun reveal.  I don't know why, but I am nervous to share.  Somewhere in the middle of this trip the baby really started kicking.  Or I really started to feel the kicking.  So love getting constant reassurances that the baby is doing well.   It has helped my doubt filled mind so much.

[not pictured]

Wrapping up Nandini in a toilet paper diaper after blowing through the last one in my bag.  The parade was going on and there was no way I was going through the crowd to buy another one before heading home .

Getting food poisoning or something after eating at Tony's on Main Street.  Three rounds of the tea cups in a row did not do me in, but pasta I can't handle.

Nandini getting so emotional over meeting Cinderella and then shunning Sleeping Beauty five feet away.  She did not want to cheat on her favorite I guess.

Slogging through the rain+crowds at the Halloween party.  Finally getting to see the parade. Then begging like Oliver Twist for a lollipop or two when Goofy came by.

Blisters on both kids feet.  Despite what felt like constant stroller riding or shoulder carrying.

Walking so much my legs were literally rubbed raw.  Yes, my legs are large which is probably the reason.  What? I'm pregnant and I need sturdy legs to stand up.

Nandini getting scared of fireworks and 'lightening' every time.  I thought it was a bit of an act but she kept it going for the whole trip.

Avinash hitting the camera with his golf club at mini golf.  It was an accident (sort of ) but I still kinda lost it.

I sat down in an empty wheelchair at the bus stop one night only to have the attendent come over and wheel me to the front.  IT WAS SO EMBARRASSING.  Luckily there was actually no one else there at the time. I think Ryan wanted to pretend he didn't know me.

Nandini absolutely losing it when she couldn't do Jedi training with Avinash.  There were a lot of rides she was too short for but this one thing really got to her.



There you have it.  The good and the bad.

I like recording both because they are so funny to look back on.

And, in case you are wondering.  I haven't unpacked or done laundry yet.  I haven't bought groceries for the week.  I do really want to scrap some of these photos though, ha!
Love,
Niru

Project Life | Bubble Palooza

This week: Bubble palooza, of course. Haircuts, ice cream, hand puppets, 'nap' time silliness. Oh my, is it September yet?

Page One: Midnight kit, some KP and dear Lizzy too.  I used my white sharpie to go over the KP kraft card because the printing was too light to see.  Very happy with the watercolor effect I ended up with.

WHAT WAS I THINKING? No more naps together.

 

Page Two: Lots of Studio Calico cards.   I used a lot of neutrals and muted color this week.

I always loved this little bird punch from Jenni Bowlin.

Love these big cork letters from the Studio Calico kit.  Just wish there were a way to buy more of them. 

I am linked up with The Mom Creative for Project Life Tuesday. The PL kits I am using generally are the Studio Calico kit, Kelly Purkey kit and Midnight kit, with multi-pack page protectors.   Thanks for visiting, I appreciate all of your support.  Please, leave your links to any PL pages in the comments so we can check them out too.

Check out Melissa's Project life pages if you get a chance.  She is a new to it and I just love what she is doing with the dear Lizzy kit!

I am so happy for my friend Neela who has been featured twice this week on Studio Calico.  Her pages are a super inspiration.  Colorful and use lots of pictures.  A breath of fresh air these days. 

Two Peas has some really great free cut files up on their site right now for Halloween.  Click here for a full page of free cut files and printables. This is the Two Peas free shipping code for October if you need it: 5ZZKRD.  I have noticed that it is getting harder to find on the newsletter so I wanted to share it here. 

I am still working on projects for Avi's Halloween Dress Rehearsal and would love to use these on something!

Around here.

 

 Check out the posts for this series right here:

Disney photos and Halloween party. 
You are five!
Halloween Dress Rehearsal Party 

Chalkboard Banners

Spooooky Foods Ideas
DIY Party Crafts with Toddlers

We are ... 

 celebrating International Talk Like a Pirate Day.

going on dino digs

 eating lots of yummy food at brunch

growing every day, feeling little flutters still (i apparently have an anterior placenta - makes it hard to feel the baby)

trying on princess dresses and packing for Disney World.

*We are actually there now and my brilliant idea to put the clothes for each day in separate bags is working surprisingly well.

planning Avinash's 5th birthday party and a new blog series (well, I am) for the month of October.  I realize that I have thrown a lot of parties and created a lot of fun projects for them but rarely share them here.