Tuesday, April 30, 2013

Then and now-- Tomato Lovers

From before she was one, Cassia loved tomatoes. First we cut them into tiny pieces, then she would   bite into one as a snack. 

Here she is at 2 years old enjoying a juicy tomato





Glad to know that now she can still appreciate the good stuff!



Monday, April 29, 2013

Trip to Toronto and a special person visits!

We've been away-- visiting Toronto for a couple days while Darin was at a conference.... the girls and I decided to accompany him, hang out at the hotel, meet up with friends and family and enjoy the city... it was an adventure but the hotel was waaay more cramped than we anticipated so we spent as much time out of our room than in-- let's just say it was a single file room only...

Having a quick dinner while Daddy went to meet his two PMs!!! 


Enjoying  some bread (this high chair was sanitized before)


Getting ready for bed!!!


On Friday, we headed to Ajax to meet up with our friends Arissa, Aaron and Amra... fun times with these two!
Aaron to Anjali: You're in my personal space


Dress up for the girls
On Saturday, we met up with Uncle Puran who was in Toronto for an official visit from Trinidad (he was here with the PM of Trinidad). Uncle Puran is my favourite uncle! I have many fond memories of our weekly Sunday visits to my grandmother's house, his famous BBQs and our vacations at his home. We were very thankful to spend the entire day with him walking around Toronto, shopping and having several meals together. Uncle Puran was just as kind to the girls as he was to me growing up. The girls were troopers too, being cooped up in a stroller for most of the day.

Meal #1-- shared by the 3 of us. 


Guess who enjoyed it most?!


This is what happens when I tell her to smile!


Darin joined us for lunch at his favourite Thai restaurant!


The sights and sounds of Toronto!


This kid was exhausted1


A Vietnamese peaceful protest


Cheers!!

Come visit us again soon Uncle Puran. Next time, bring Aunty Devi!

Wednesday, April 24, 2013

Great kisser

Guess who has begun to give the biggest, sloppiest, sweetest kisses ever? 

This little lady....



Tuesday, April 23, 2013

Not an American Girl kind of girl

When I was a teenager, my cousin Shanel collected the most beautiful Barbies. She really took care of them, they were always neatly combed, pressed and dressed. Many were still in their boxes. When she outgrew them, she passed them onto my other cousin, sweet Roxy. Rox had a different way of playing with them. They were all given baths, hairstyles and stripped of their clothes. Shanel was not pleased when she saw her beloved dolls. I was amused but totally understood Shanel's POV.

Sooo--- guess which kind of girl my preschooler is? Yes, folks I have a bunch of Disney Princesses (ick), Fairies and Barbies in this house... Cass loves her dolls, they are her favourite toys but almost all are missing their original outfits, slippers, wings, hair-ties and they even have matted hair and a broken limb or two... We sometimes have to play doll hospital. Dolls have even been given haircuts.  When Ajee visited, she was very dismayed by the state of these poor dolls and spent many a night fixing their clothes, shoes and especially hairstyles... the neatness was shortlived though... in a couple days, the dolls were back to their decrepit state.

I really wanted to get Cassia an American Girl doll for her birthday (the Maplelea Canadian girls are way too scary looking for my taste). They are so beautiful with a very high level of intricate detail. My business brain totally understands why this brand has the following it does. I was planning to take her to the flagship American Girl store in NYC and let her choose one that looked something like her.  Slowly, we would begin to build her wardrobe and for each occasion I would buy her an accessory or outfit. However, I am afraid she is not ready for it and now I really highly doubt she will ever be....

There is always Anjali...



Ajee's salon

Pretty Dolls--- for now! 



Monday, April 22, 2013

Nine things in nine months

Guess who is 9 months old today!!! Our favourite baby girl is growing up too fast... I know I say this every month but seriously where is the time going?

Here are 9 things about you, Miss Anjali in your nine months :-)

  1. Still sleeping strong--- 12 hours a night still! We will take it!
  2. You love to go on 'adventures'... adventures in this case being the supermarket, mall and daycare to pick up your big sister... these activities rock your world
  3. Still eating like a champion, you love to pick up your own food-- this month's favourites are blueberries, bananas, avocado and cheese
  4. No crawling yet... you're trying but getting very frustrated and instead you begin to wail and roll to get to your destination
  5. 4 teeth this month-- very, very cute!
  6. Still a momma's girl-- you begin to wail for me the minute you see me... again, hope this changes this month
  7. You've begun to growl- a big hearty bear growl especially when someone speaks gruffly or growls at you first... it begins in your throat and is the most absurd, cute, funny thing.
  8. I may be biased but you already have a sense of musicality-- dancing around and banging stuff together...you love music class and "The Voice"
  9. Your belly laughs warm all our hearts!! Cassia seems to make you laugh the most!
Love you, Anjali! XOXOXO


Seriously, how cute is this kid?!

Blessed moments...

... We had a lovely puja this weekend. The first in our home with our little family since Anjali was born.  My mother in law was here and worked tirelessly to help us prepare for the puja and the meal afterwards... yummy trinidadian food that our guests totally enjoyed-- all vegetarian but so delicious! I think we will plan our pujas at home to coincide with her visit  every year :-)

Here are a few very random shots...

All decked out


Yummy ladoos.. well yummy for everyone else..i don't really care for them.


Pretty Aunty Ammie


All smiles


Sistas


After the puja


Now for some surfin'

Friday, April 19, 2013

Weekly Update- Finally!!!

It's been ages since I've done one of these. In between life, visitors, birthday celebrations and planning for our trip, I've been swamped! Here goes:

  1. This weekend, we have a puja or prayer meeting at home. We are really looking forward to it. We feel that we have so much to be thankful for in this past year and so many upcoming things to look forward to.
  2. Darin's mom, Ajee is still visiting us and we all, but especially the girls are loving having her around. Cassia has gotten very attached to her as she reads stories, combs her hair and dresses her up. Every morning she wakes up with fear, asking me if Ajee is leaving today.
  3. Anjali got her 4th tooth this last weekend (April 14th, the upper incisor). She is still gumming everything so maybe more are on the horizon. 
  4. In my next life, I think I can be a travel agent! Between the researching booking hotels, flights and short let apartments, I am quite the pro. If only it paid better :-)
  5. If anyone wondered what Darin's day is like, check out this article he forwarded to me. I know that his day is very difficult but this puts it even more into perspective. It takes truly special and dedicated people to do what they do. 
  6. Cassia is now thinking about her '5' birthday and where she would like it and what she wants as presents for it. I am pointedly ignoring her. 
  7. Anjali has started eating more 'real' food now that she has some teeth. Her favourites are watermelon, cheese and blueberries. 
  8. Can you believe that we are planning another trip and I still haven't posted the remaining T&C photos? I am awful. 
  9. I came across this blog post about our relationship with our parents and I think it is so true. What do you know about your parents, their lives, hopes and dreams? 
  10. Although this weekend is supposed to be quite chilly, spring has sprung! We've retired winter coats, snow pants, sweaters and boots and we are busting out the spring fashions and colours. The other day, Cassia said she loves this weather, it's so nice, it's "50 a-breeze"- I think she means 50 degrees!
Have a wonderful weekend everyone!!

Pancakes- the breakfast of champions!


Thursday, April 18, 2013

It is about the journey...


... more than the outcome. 

So I know that I've alluded to some adventurous plans of ours to come. Here is the back-story followed by the "big" unveil. 

When Cassia was born, Darin took six months off work. We overlapped by over one month before I went back to work and in that month we went to Trinidad. We had a wonderful time in the place that we grew up and Cassia got to spend some time with all our family down there. We even stuck trips to Grenada and Tobago in there.

Even though I am not going back to the corporate world, Darin still wants to take some time off with Anjali.... we'll just retire a bit later.  We were all set to go to Trinidad again, this time some friends of ours were coming as well (other trinis) and we had some stellar plans in the works. Then Darin began to think about having an "adventure".... seriously, that's what he called it! He has always wanted to live abroad  for a while with the kids and totally immerse ourselves in another culture… live and experience something totally different. I was at first a bit hesitant as I will be the first to admit, I am quite spoilt by Western luxuries. However, we realised this would be the last time we would be able to do this as Cassia begins school in September and we will be confined by the school year.  The more we thought about it separately and together, the more it appealed to us.  In less than two days, we made up our minds and got the ball rolling.

So…in mid-June, we will be travelling to… wait for it…. Malaysia! Kuala Lumpur to be exact- for two months! While there, we will go to a couple other Malaysian islands and also visit Singapore. My dad’s sister and her husband live there so they have been a Godsend in helping us to find short-term accommodations (not very easy to find, nor very cheap, let me tell you).   We are also more comfortable at least knowing friendly faces there as well. 

We are very excited. We have stuck to very easy travel since having children focusing on sun, sea and family but we are really looking forward to this break in our schedules and Western lives. Some of our best memories have been our travels and we really want to create some amazing new memories while including the two most important people in our lives. Yes, I know they (especially A) will remember nothing but we want to enjoy their company while they are still young and don’t have any choice but to hang around us and experience amazing things with them in tow.

Are we scared—you bet! It’s different from anything we’ve ever done. Neither of us have been to the East before so we don’t know what to expect … and the flight! It’s 15 hours to Hong Kong, believe it or not, followed by a six hour layover and then a four hour flight… I have panic attacks ever so often thinking of it! We are preparing for it as much as possible though, with lots of research, help from the airlines, positive thinking and prayer (lots of it!). We are thinking though that no matter what, it will just be 15 hours (well 30) of our lives and it will be yet another story we will live to tell…

So there is it! I will keep you posted but LOTS going on in terms of travel prep, researching hotels, booking different flights etc. Exciting, wonderful times ahead!

Tuesday, April 16, 2013

Weekend Fun

We love weekends in this house. They're filled with errands, chores and classes but in between, we always manage to fit in some fun. Some are hectic and some are lazy but we love ALL weekends anyways. This past weekend was even more special as Ajee visited.

Here's an iPhone dump showcasing  this weekend's activities.

My sweet Cassia with her best friend at another friend's party 


Camping is lots of fun with this tent Dad made using Anjali's jolly jumper  and our duvet.


Waiting for 1.5 hours for dinner at Red Lobster


I am biased I know... but isn't she cute?!


Aunty Jo and Aunty Rachu came to visit. Note Cassia's wine glass too


Good night world!!!

Saturday, April 13, 2013

Writing


Look who's learning how to write her name......


Alright, she won't win any awards for penmanship just yet but this momma is pretty proud!

Baby mosh pit



I was all by myself having a great old time before music class


when all of a sudden it became a little crowded! What's a girl to do?

Friday, April 12, 2013

Cassia's 4th birthday- last post- Promise!

Boy oh boy, this kid had a lot of birthday celebrations! From the party with her school friends on the Saturday to lunch with her grandparents on Sunday to cake in preschool on Tuesday to the actual birthday on the Wednesday, we were all birthday-ed out! On Wednesday, it's her day off from school so we spent the day doing Cassia focused activities.... take a look.

Her first gifts- her hamper with clothes-- not her favourite gift


Birthday girl's favourite breakfast- chocolate chip pancakes with bananas.  THe candles aren't showing up on the pancakes but they were there. 


Getting ready for our day


Enjoying a Happy Meal for lunch


Sweet sisters

We then went to Target where she got to choose some toys!


Then to the butterfly conservatory 


Ajee and her girls


Daddy also came along 


Anjali was so  captivated by the butterflies


My cutie baby!


Enjoying a popsicle


HEr favourite gift from Ajee- about 7 dolls. She took them to dinner


Ajee and Uncle Sunil came along


But we left Anjali home with the babysitter


Cassia's birthday cake as per her request when she had it here 


Now the birthday is done, but cake is still around and we have SO many toys around! Hope you had a wonderful time Cass!
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