Christmas Carnival

Winter Chills can't and will not stop us .

A dinosaur birthday party

Vineesh's 9th birthday was round the corner and we decided we were going to keep it a small affair. We'd call over some close friends, have a few games, some food and that would be that.

We started off looking for a gaming area to host the party. We zeroed in on Hangout. It seemed perfect. We could pay for the games and the food and have a fun time. But they didn't allow a cake! A birthday without cake is pretty much not a birthday at all, right? We could however have a party there but they needed a minimum of 30 people which was just not the plan.

A ‘house party’

We decided a house party it had to be. That wasn’t too bad. I love having kids at home and we could have some fun activities too. Since it was a house party we decided to include some more people. The best birthdays are the ones with friends and family around, right? And so the guest list swelled.

A dino theme

We decided to roughly stick to a dinosaur theme. I won't even begin to tell how much Vineesh likes dinosaurs. He reads, talks and even dreams dinosaurs. I’ve heard him talking of them in his sleep.

Invites and décor

First, the invitations. We stumbled upon some wonderful ones on the Net and customised them with the help of a techy friend. Thanks techy pal Ajay Mendes. While we were at it, we also downloaded some banners and cut outs. We found an old beloved dinosaur book and colour copied some awesome pictures for more decorations.

With Diwali preparations and the craziness of holidays I was finding it tough to organise everything and so decided to outsource the balloon decoration which turned out to be fantastic idea.

I went searching for dino plates and when I couldn’t find any I picked simple green ones and paired them off with a jungle theme tablecloth and glasses. Perfect! He wore a green-blue-brown T-shirt that said ‘Ready to explore the world’. How apt!

Game time

A friend Jasleen, put me in touch with Nitika from Wonder Lab who organises science theme parties. We chose some fun science experiments for the kids.

Activities: Experiments with dry ice - Smoking pumpkins, Smoky bubble fountain, Crystal ball, Ghost bubbles

Experiment with liquid nitrogen - Liquid Nitrogen and Crushed flowers, Balloon Burst, Disappearing Balloons, the Big Bang!

Slime Monsters

Screaming Balloons

Photo Booth

A dino cake

The cake had to have dinosaurs of course. Gauri Bafna gave me an awesome, 3D chocolate cake with a miniature sugar dino. Vineesh totally loved it.

Return gifts

Return gifts posed a bit of a problem as we could find no dino figures. We settled for dino erasers. I saw the image and finalized them. When I went over to pick them up they turned out to be too tiny. Note to self: Check out/ask for sizes before finalising products. Thank goodness they had some dino stamp pens with bubbles. We combined the two and were done. I also picked up some dino puzzles for the kids to play with. As I was leaving the man at the shop showed me his phone. He had saved my number as ‘Dino’! Quite right, I thought - I can be quite a T-Rex when I’m angry!

A treat for ma

After all of that it struck me I totally deserved a treat. With 15 minutes to spare I decided to shop for moi! Ummm UCB or Adorable? Adorable it was. There! I was set too.

Finally here's what we had - 16 children, friends and family, a gorgeous dino cake, blue-green-yellow balloons plus a helium dino balloon, Xeroxed dino colour pictures, colourful banners.

All set for the party.

D-Day

…was as perfect as it could get. We started off with a visit to the temple and hot halwa for breakfast. The kids trooped in oohing and aahing at the décor. We had a few games and then went off to the playground when the party threatened to get too boisterous and came back after letting off some steam. They loved the science experiments and the cake was a hit.

What began as a small event turned into a big birthday bash.

I guess the 10th one will have to be a small affair now.

Reading corner

Dinosaurs......

Diwali 2014

We had a lot of things in our kitchen garden . We can forget to ask about other but not the Cow .

Getting ready to bed

Some Science experiments with Papa

Teacher's Day Cards

Book Club

I have not been a great reader , short stories ,spirtual and lifes philosphy intrest me . Fortunately I am surrounded by friends who inspire me to explore more . Tulika Singh  , Reema Nihar and Kajal Kapur. New place , new city and Upasana who again has drived me for the same .

The book reading expirience has been a great pleasure , but what inspired me most to do it is my son .

His love for books creates an earge in me to have  awarness and learn more and seek more . When he expresses himself of what he has read he surprises me .

Paulo Coelho -The Flowing river , book with short stories . VINEESH saw it and picked it up and  what I love the most about it was  he read the index and about the author before he could read the chapter .

The book obviously was not for him but he still tried and said it seems that I should read it few years later .

Today again Paul Coelho - The Alchemist . He saw this book and said . " You remeber he wanted to be an author and ..... " . It was the index info of The Flowing River .

He surprises me always .

He stops and says he wants to read with me
" The secret of life,  is to fall seven times and get up eight times . "

MAMA  he means you have keep trying seven times and eight time you get what you want .

Can I ask you something .

What is the most important treasure of our life . I answered my life it's YOU .

Our life mom . I asked what is it ? .

KNOWELEDGE  .

Knowledge is very important . 

Yes he is my inspiration and that's why reading is becoming an important part of my life .

I always hope that his love for reading continues for  ever . 
   

 

Making of the coffe

Half teaspoon coffe 

Holidays can be fun ...........

Half teaspoon sugar 

Some Milk in a cup

Just 2 spoons of Milk 

These gadgets make it so simple . Mix Mix 

Pour Milk upto 3/4

Mix Mix 

Pack away things 

I though he was done 

Hershey's Choco chips sprinkle with a dash of LOVE 

Chocolate syrup yummmmmmy .....

Not a clear pic , but an important one . Clear all the mess :)

Narsimha 2013 Disguise - at ILS Lagos , 2 Prize winner

I was all ready to shoot and when he is on stage oh the phone .. . Just got half of it .

Vineesh Did it well . I just managed to get half the video .