Updates

Its been so long and there are so many updates, but in brief:

Had a great July 4th with friends in PA. Went to Dutch wonderland and kids had a ball. Over all it was a nice, short summer getaway for us, home away from home, friends, food, kids just what you look forward to.

Then a birthday party, bhajan/kirtan and pot luck lunch this last weekend.

Summer weekends are more hectic than weekdays :-) its like weekdays its a good break sticking to routine :-) Plus a lot of enjoyable cooking and cleaning...

Its been pretty good long sultry, humid weather and loving it.

The highlight of the updates from my last post is but of course I bid adieu to my Rabbit. I missed it so much but welcoming the much needed change Honda Pilot. Been eyeing it for over 6 months and our visit to the dealer last day of Qtr 2 for test drive just paid off. Loving the ride, shiny black Pilot. Except for the parking part which I could pretty much do blindfolded with the Rabbit, Pilot is great, more space better ride etc. Kids love Mommy's big car too and a BMW sedan is kinda jealous about it :-) We certainly new mini-van was a no-no although I test drove it etc,

Miss the rabbit and couldnt help remembering about the time I got it when we found out I was preggers and kids were so young, drop offs and pick ups at that nearyby daycare etc etc memories....

Movie time

Got to watch "yeh jawani hai diwani". Reminded me of 'bachna e haseeno' nothing new, have to leave your brains aside and just focus on relaxing and gear for the weekdays ahead kinda movie. Of course appreciate the good looks and bodies these 20 somethings have and then some good moves and music. Entertainment package I guess for the weekend.

I have no idea why to some - the moment you leave India and go outside the country for your career or a change in lifestyle, you are automatically a selfish person who cannot maintain any familial relationships.BS!. Just as many people stay close to family physically and yet absolutely do not maintain relations so also people who are physically away can as well maintain much better relations. This is just a movie and that's how you have to see it I guess but cant help but wonder at times. But hey I am hindi movie buff, this movie is worth a watch and is good for some banter ;) I guess....

Phew Phews! :-)

Its taking us this long to get over 2 back to back birthday parties on Saturday :-) Plus the two places were 50 miles apart and I had one of the girls taking an overdoze of cup cakes - correction over doze of cream on the cup cakes and cakes which I had no control over. Over all a fun but tirng weekend that we had to carry forward the load for next couple of weekdays too ;) AG after eating cream from 3 cup cakes and 2 cakes at 2am on Sunday morning had a nice colourful throw up and trust me as a mom I knew that was coming. But sometimes we have to let go. She fell asleep and was on track after that much needed throw up. I couldnt digest seeing her eat that sugar how could her small little belly? Not to mention all cakes and cup cakes we savored were from Konditor Meister. By the end of it I could not take it anymore. They are undoubtedly the best, but how much of these cakes can you handle all in 1 day ;)

Oh and..

What I forgot to mention in my previous post was how we got through thier first very adult like blood test for kids for their annual check up. Last year it was ajust a prick in the finger and somehow I assumed thats what it will be this time. But I was surprised that they extracted as much as they would for adults. I wasnt with the kids inside, their dad took them one by one while I ushered them out and didnt get to see  the actual blood extraction only the final output in tubes. No tears no fuss, stickers and all worked out fine I guess they are growing up. I was very proud of them. Needless to say we have to be thanful for the wonderful nurse we got who did it so smoothly.

Fly Fly weekend

Whattay weekend. 2 birthday parties and 1 baby shower amongst usual weekend chores and grocery shopping etc. Plus we squeezed in a visit to Butterfly place nearby, so over all a good-busy weekend. But we had to give up one birthday party as we couldnt fit it in and we got double booked. Just catching up with breath etc..

Butterfly place was much smaller than expected and was an interesting short visit. Being an instragram addict that I have become clicked a bunch of pics..Saw some really neat colorful butterflies and some chinese quails too. Was a short and quick entertainment for the kids and us.

Sunday night finishing up some pending work to begin the week ahead...

...

Woke up Saturday morning paranoid and painful memories of a dream.. It happens to me when I have disturbed sleep, like wake up and try to sleep again early morning after being wide awake and there you are up with some silly or random or freaky dream and freaky this time it was. Stuck in Chicago and the dad and AG go for a walk and she is missing and we are not able to find her. I hated it, absolutely hated it and hated myself for such a bad dream. I couldnt get over it - phew! some of these dreams seem so real and absolutely freak you out and heart starts pounding and all that. Its one of the fears after being a parent makes you so weak in your knees its your beautiful daughters.

The root cause of this was a discussion with colleagues about letting go when your kids grow up. An older aged colleague was talking about her daughter giving birth and the whole experience and another daughter who recently joined college and will be away from home for the first time etc. I was in tears that some day it will be me. A big fat lump in my throat. I was telling her indeed it passes by so soon. Once in a while we have sleep deprivation and smaller complaints about naughtiness I pass on, through this blog and to my parents but I take great pride in it. Fact is I enjoy it. All this lack of sleep phase, fussing over them... I love it. Though people often ask questions like "how are you managing? must be tough with kids/twins, I hope they dont trouble you or inconvenience your routine etc etc" It makes me wonder how can it be?. It was our choice to have kids and we love every bit of our routine and them....

Saturday took the girls to my friends' place for lunch hoping P would get some much needed sleep but he started some work around the house of putting shelves etc in the garage and then it continued on Sunday. Sunday we just stayed home. And I watched couple of movies while kids napped. Kai po che the ending part was due to be completed so I completed that and then saw Jab tak hai jaan. I exactly knew what type of movie I was watching with the latter, no surprises there, some 80's type over done tale.

 After the long weekend the weeks ahead seem rather long to think about it.

And then they turned 3!!!

So A&A's big day arrived. They had decided on the cake colors and shape and characters they wanted this time and they were more sure about it. At 2 they suggested what type of cake they wanted but it kind of kept changing every time I would ask them. I even had AG arrange napkins counting every kid who would be coming home for lunch and to celebrate their birthday. It was awesome to watch her. AL wanted to be responsible to give return gifts, I didnt find her one time so I gave it instead, she turned up out of nowhere and got upset and she took it back and she then handed it over again. She is the official "giver" in our family now (AG is the hoarder - joy of twins!) :-)

So the cake was from Konditor Meister as it has been for the previous 2 years, its almost a tradition now. So Saturday was their birthday per Hindu calendar so we went to the temple, picked up cakes for next day and picked up grocery also. It was a long tiring day on Saturday as weather was lousy wet and cold (I know and its supposed to be summer?) so we got pretty tired since all 3 places were in different directions. We invited about 4 other families for lunch next day, it was a simple get-together. Initially we thought we would order food. But since there were only 11 adults and 7 kids I decided to cook myself a simple meal which turned out to be yummy - thank goodness. I was a tad bit nervous since I wanted everything to go well when its to do with kids. I made: Rajma/kali daal and Raita with Peas Pulao and Pau Bhaji. For starters we baked samosas we got from outside and paneer tikka as well. Dessert was Rasamlai which was also from outside. I cooked everything the same day morning and it went well.

It was Dora and Diego themed, so we got lots of streamers, balloons those big sized Dora Diego balloons, cups, plates etc as well and filled the hallway with decorations and Dora/Diego Happy Birthday banners and balloons of course. At lunch I got a lot of compliments for the yummy food which I gladly accepted ;) My friends mom visiting from India thought my Pau bhaji was really yum, and a friend loved my Rajma/kali daal so that's nice. Girls were getting a bit tired so we cut the cake in the afternoon after lunch and we all enjoyed the cake. Evening everyone left and then one family was supposed to stay over but their son wasnt feeling too well so they left. Over all it was a simple and fun day! Due to wet and rainy weather we couldn't do some outdoor activities planed with the kids like zoo, farm etc which hopefully we can do coming weekends sometime. We distributed cake to all our new neighborhood friends and at work and now back to routine but hey its a short week!.