Happy kids at Happy Hollow

We spent our Saturday at Happy Hpllow. P and Ananya went in every
single ride, while Amishoo was totally content to play, of course, in
the dirt!

No kitchen in CPT

My parents are redoing their kitchen, so we went today to check out
the demolition. Needless to say, Ananya was fascinated!

Funny walk

Ananya refuses to walk so P has to carry her, and meanwhile Amishoo is
eating her shoe. Lovely!

Rascal Amisha

Amisha is a stubborn, strong-willed little girl. She has been since Day 1 and this stubborn streak continues to even today. Take her nap for instance. She really didn't want to take an afternoon nap, even though she really really needed one. So take a look at what I caught her doing....

Here are some pictures I took of her on the monitor:

And here is a video of her antics during naptime:

Rakhi - Ananya/Amisha/Aadvik style!

Please go to: {http://aadvikmitra.blogspot.com/2012/08/rakhi.html } to see how we celebrate Rakhi each year

Also, to give credit where credit is due, thank you Sarayu (aka Pedamma) for the picture that I've copied and pasted below :) 

***********

Rakhi is a tradition where sisters tie rakhi bracelets on their brothers, and brothers reciprocate with treats/money/gifts for their sister. When you don't have a brother, you can celebrate Rakhi with any boy cousins and, as my inlaws just told me, sisters can even tie rakhi on each other to signify their love and protection of one another. So sweet!

Traditions like this are a little hard to do when you live far away from one another. So, Ananya and Amisha have been celebrating each and every year by sending rakhis to Aadvik and then we Facetime to thank each other for the rakhis and gifts.

This year, rakhi was extra special because

1. Pooneet got interviewed on NPR about Rakhi [which, I think, officially makes him a Rakhi expert, so please ask him any and all questions about this day], and
2. I completely forgot that the girls only have to send the rakhi bracelets so we sent gifts for our favorite Aadvik only to later realize that we weren't supposed to send gifts AND we forgot to send the rakhis. Excellent. [sorry Aadvik!]

Sarayu (aka Pedamma) blogged about it this year and it was so cute and descriptive that I thought we'd just re-post!

Go to Aadvik Mitra: Rakhi to see more pictures of the 3 A's: Ananya, Amisha, and Aadvik!

A walk around the block

Pics from our daily evening walk, complete with everyone holding hands!

Happy birthday, Krishna!

Yesterday was Krishna's birthday - a VERY big deal for Ananya, who is really really interested in anything pertaining to religion and ceremonies. In the north, they call it Janmashtami and in the south, they call it Krishna Jayanthi. We celebrated by going over to my mom's house, where Pooneet's parents joined us for a puja and dinner. Ananya would look at my mom and say "Happy Krishna Jayanthi" and would look at P's mom and say "Happy Janmashtami". Cute!

 Ananya loves ceremonies. She did the arati, sang many of the bhajans, insisted that we all (sans Pooneet) get dressed up in Indian clothes, and was very perturbed that I wasn't wearing bangles. Amisha, on the other hand, has so much energy and such little patience that she spent the entire puja throwing fruits at our heads and flowers all around the floor.

We ended our puja by singing "Happy birthday to you" and then eating a feast of delicious food cooked by both grandmas. Yum



!

Sohum's birthday party

Ananya celebrated her friend Sohum's birthday - she had so much fun with all her friends, bounced in the bouncy house, whacked the pinata, and ate cupcakes!

Pooneet's NPR Interview

Pooneet was interviewed by NPR the other day. Not for solar farms nor for any scholarly work, but for Rakhi, an Indian/Hindu day where brothers and sisters exchange money, gifts, and a rakhi (bracelet) signifying love and protection. Kinda random, kinda exciting :)

For a link to the NPR article, please click here.

The two kiddos

Ananya made her own tie-dye shirt! Future fashionista? :)

Early morning reading

Two avid readers, reading first thing in the morning when they wake up

Backyard adventures

Amisha LOVES dirt. She loves sitting in it, loves throwing it all
around and in her hair, and constantly shows me that there is no point
in buying her new clothes!

Here you can see where she finds happiness in my parents backyard.

Pre-swimming class fun

Amishoo prancing around in her swimsuit

Amisha's 1st Year

We're determined to do as much for Amisha as we have for Ananya (well, at least we can try!), so just like Ananya, we signed up for a 1 year photo shoot for Amisha: pregnancy, 2 weeks, 6 months, and 1 year old. It was a great way for us to mark the important milestones in her development as well as document some fun times for our family!

Here are some pictures from the 4 photo sessions over the past year. Enjoy!