Sing with me

"Happy Birthday to you

Happy Birthday to you

Happy Birthday Dear Nini

Happy Birthday to YOU!"

Yes, my litttle girl turned 6 today...

And Om and I got to spend part of the day with her class as it was Culture Day and parents were welcome to join in. So, we cut her birthday cake for the class around snack time in the morning after the Unity Circle. She was so excited she stayed up late and woke up early this morning... excitement was partly for the birthday and partly for being allowed to dress all fancy for Culture Day... the signs of exhaustion were apparent around playtime when she got upset that all her friends wanted to play with her bro... the pout lasted a good half an hour till lunch. When she started fussing, Om ran to the teacher and asked for help... he figured out all by himself that mom is not in-charge in a school setting and the teacher is the boss man... He did not complain, he asked very politely, ' Can you help? My sister Anusha Nini is crying... pease!' (and, no I did not misspell that :) I was just watching the whole drama unfold and the roles each of the kids involved assumed... play is such a clear giveaway of personalities! Anywhoo, she got over it soon enough and it was back to hugs and kisses, roses and sunshine once again in their little world and amidst cheers and claps they beat open the pinata with the help of Trey's dad.

We are ready to go out for dinner now and looking forward to a fun evening!

It's A Boy

This Tuesday, the Andersons of Rusty Pickle became the proud parents of a baby boy. CONGRATS! This is a card I made for them with all Pickle goodies :)

"Feel better Mommy!"

that's what she said handing me this painting... THANK YOU :)

Unaccustomed Earth

The upside of being sick in bed is that you can read... so I have been reading my latest favorite "Unaccustomed Earth" and it is an emotional journey for me. I can identify with a lot of the things and can foresee many of the challenges to be when you want to raise children in a foreign culture... the values, the religious beliefs, the social customs - everything you learned growing up leave you unprepared to raise kids in a foreign land. And the challenges your children will inevitably face in trying to combine what they see in practice every day around them and what their parents talk about. The big question is how do you combine the best of both worlds... will that be ever possible for us?

On a more immediate note, Om's fever is lower today. We have been on the phone with Dr. K till 11 last night. He is an incredibly kind doctor. Several ice cold baths later, 104 degrees are finally backing down. The thing is that Ashis could not manage to give Om these baths, the boy just won't go in... so, I was holding him in my arms sitting on a little stepstool in the bathtub and pouring the water little by little over both of us... somehow, the thought of mommy taking the cold baths with him comforted him and that's all I needed. So, now I'm croaking like a frog... huh!

Until then...ribbit!!!

Last one standing

that was me till yesterday... now you can add me to the list of sick people at home. Nini went down first, then Om, then Ashis and now me... all of us under the weather. Last night, Om's temperature hit 104...yes 104, not 100.4 and the guy is 3. The after hours doc gave him meds that he couldn't keep down and so this morning, we went to see our regular peditrician who gave him a Tylenol suppository... did not know that Tylenol came in suppositories...huh!
So, Septra, Zithromax, Phenergen and other med-names-I-can't-spell later, they are all snoring away peacefully... thankfully... and I'm just trying to clear my mind... too much has been out-of-order since last Sunday. I'll shower, eat leftover pizza and just limp into bed.
Hope your week is going a little better than mine :)

So, I'm thinking

of painting the rooms in the house. I think they can use a fresh coat. It's not too bad considering we are raising two 'creative' kids in the house... well, at least the walls held up better than the carpet which we had been replacing room by room with laminate flooring for some time now. I do get these big ideas, but then get daunted... it's a LOT of work if we do it ourselves. And the thought of hiring professionals after the previous stair renovation episode is quite alarming. Moreover, the first time around, we had the freedom of choosing whatever colors, but now it will need sanding, priming and then painting... well!!!

All these thoughts take me nowhere, so I'll just go downstairs, make myself some tea, curl up with a book and my son... with my swollen wrist and aching fingers, I don't think, I'll be able to do much of anything else today.

And thanks for the birthday wishes... looks like I share a birthday with quite a few of you and your relatives... well, a belated happy birthday to you too :)

Happy Birthday

to me :) ... which was on the 5th and I had a great time. The Cake was delicious!

Here are a few stuff I created with the yummy goodness that came from Luxe. I am so in love with their Simply line. Is that weird... to be in love with patterned papers? Another favorite is Sprinkles.

I'll go back to playing with the papers. Hope you enjoy the weekend inspiration!

After the long weekend

it is always a bit hard to get back to routine. During the weekend, we went to the beach one day and to Ikea on Sunday, dined out most of the time and took care of extra chores at home. I'm glad to finally organize all the stuff for donation. Nini's room is fully organized now, well at least for the time being. The closets are clean too. Next in line is Om's room and of course, my studio which I organize and clean a little bit at a time whenever I can. Om is up and I'm scooting to eat breakfast with him. But before I go, here's a page I did for a challenge at 2 Peas. I wasn't on time, but it was fun working on it.