A New Stage...

Life moves fast. Fast Forward and R is now 5 and has started kindergarten at CS. There is now a little one in the picture.. a 2 year old Rafay - the second R was not intentional.

It's time for Halloween and we are throwing our first halloween Party. It will be interesting -- I hope that the kids have fun. I am most probably going to be a gypsy. Riya is going to be a 50's go go girl and Rafay a pirate.

We have moved to a house and are no longer at 174!

I will update photos later.

Halloween Month!!

It's been ages since i blogged and as baby number 2 is due february. Mommy has decided the she is going to use this blog not only to send out updates about Riya but also to keep a diary for her so that she can read about it when she grows up. This will also serve to refresh mommy's memory with baby #2. This month was hectic as I had lots of halloween parties to go to -- aunt patti sent me my punkum costume that i badly wanted. I was soo happy when I woke up in the morning and saw it hanging on my closet door. i just went around the whole house saying punkum punkum till mommy took me to the table and put a small punkum in front of me that I could decorate.

We then got ready in my punkum outfit and drove to the playground where we were going to have a party. We had lots of treats. They gave us a pumpkun to decorate and I had fun sticking stuff on it. i do love my stickers. I also collected lots of little gifts like bubbles and a trick or treat bag which I had fun coloring. There were so many fun things there but i got a little overwhelmed - i did have fun trying to catch the bubbles from the bubble machine and the jumpy house was interesting.

My favorite part was when they had a face painter and she asked me what I wanted. My mommy though I should have a punkin but i was tired of punkins by then -- i chose the kitten. You can see a foto of me here as a kitten wearing a punkum outfit. All in all I had a lot of fun and came home and slept for 3 hrs. Next is Aunt Chetna's Halloween party and I am looking forward to going trick or treating with Amrit and Simran.

High Tea Hosted by The Khans

it was a lot of fun which started in typical desi fashion - LATE.

lots and lots of food...scones, cakes, strawberries etc.... the whole table was laden with yummy items.

Riya thought it was fun to dress up. There were quite a lot of babies there long with older kids. Riya was quite confused at first as to what all these kids were doing in her home but she seemed to adapt fast and had fun crawling and playing with all the children. she doesnt seem to mind kids in her toys and loves to share! what a cutie.

she looked absolutely fab in the gharara by aashi khala..and she got lots of compliments on it also.

Valentine's Day

We had a lovely Valentine's dinner at home with Riya. Azhar got some sushi and it was a fun valentine's dinner. i got this lovely bag as a present and he got some cufflinks :) i loveeeeee my new bag ...:)

Meisterstück

Meisterstück (German for masterpiece) is the legendary line of pens from luxury brand Montblanc. Over the last decades, Montblanc has launched many other lines, but none has surpassed the iconic status of the Meisterstück which was devised in 1924. The greatest recurring motif of the Meisterstück is the central inscribed ring with two plain and thinner equidistant rings above and below. Traditionally these rings have been in gold, but lately other variations such as platinum have occurred.

Fingerpainting a galore...

Riya decided to help create a new design for mom's china dish.. maybe the red hermes.... hmmm....

Flying out the window..

So, it seems that my desire to be a pilot has vanished. so - we are into cooking these days and i am taking my moms cookbook and typing it up. have started to test her recipes and they seem nice so far.

so.. i should change the name of the blog :P

the search for the perfect dinnerware is on... why for gods sake why dont they have china plates in stores. why is crate and barrel so taken with earthenware. i carry my toddler around..i dont need another 22 pound thing to carry.. thank you v much.

I do love this pattern though.... porcelain and china.. where does one get those for daily use? *sigh*

Tribute to Tania

So, this is in reply to Tania's constant demands for an update on Riya. It's been awesome having Tania in our lives and we feel blessed to have her as a friend and an honorary aunt to Riya.

She has made numerous trips up to see Riya and has been amazing with helping out with the drudgery --cooking us meals, helping us through many a tough time by being a great sounding board. We miss you. Come visit soon.

I just loved the pink and morning light (its around 7:30 am)

Back from Pakistan

Hey ya! we are back after a 3 mth hiatus. its strange to back. it such a different world out here. (other then the 12 hr diff)

Here are a few photos from an impromptu bbq at 10 pm thanks to my cousin's wife faiza who was the star of the show. we got all the kids up and bundled (it was 6 degrees) but definitely a memorable time :)

oh and it was on our terrace. here is riya making having a chat with her cousin soha.







Here is Faiza with Khurrum -- told u we should have used the bigger angethi!!

3 Generations... Riya would make it 4.

Birthday Pics!

Here are some fotos from the party. Riya looked totally adorable in her butter yellow dress and i am kicking myself for not taking more pics of her in it. maybe we will have a foto session later on in the week.

Nani dressed her and everyone helped with the party.

I hope i have such an easy time next year also :)

Trip to Lebanon

That was an amazing trip and i wish we could have had more time to visit Syria. the ppl were so friendly and felt completely safe.

we had a lot of fun with the groom and brides family. it was a really well done wedding and they really pulled everything off with Iva looking GORGEOUS!
all the fotos are on A's computer which is why its been delayed but ill post them as soon as he mails them to me!

Birthday Post II

I cant remember much of the party except that Riya and I had a blast . she looked adorable in her party dress whic was a butter yellow. i couldnt find shoes ANYWHERE to match it and finally reshma got her these huge shoes from bby but hey they matched.

Riya's Birthday fast approaching!

 


Its scary she is almost one! i am not sure where the time went! she is her own lil person and is v independent already! i wonder where that comes from:)

i have to get my act together with her party! i finally got the invites today and sat down to write them out. will hopefully mail them off today!!!!

next - party decorations and menu!

MOM is here so just busy spending time with her also. A is in india again. miss him!!sniff
but its good to have mom here. rabsjoins us next week! yeahh! 

Nani is here! Yeah!

 


I have another person to sleep on, play with and generally just have fun with :)

its so much nicer to have her here now - riya just adores her Nani! 

First Haircut!

 
 
 
  

First Visit to the Zoo

First visit to the zoo and r was more intersted in the kids then the animals. maybe we will wait a while before going again :)

CPMC Family Event

Finally, a sunny day and we were all at the Dolores Park. (along with the rest of the SF)

Here are a few fotos with friends and family!

 
 
  

Easter Fun!

 


Riya decided to have fun with the Easter Bunny at the Stanford Shopping Mall. She was a natural and couldnt get enough of the bunny :)


Man -- she is growing fast :) 

Firsts ..

the weather is depressing - its bad everywhere - hawaii, LA u name it - so cant even get away from it!

sucks sucks!

as dan said -- part of being a pilot is learning a zen-style patience with regard to the weather.

well - between learning to be patient with a child and now being patient with the weather - i should be the lovely well behaved patient child that my parents wanted (we will work on the well behaved later but who can argue with the loveliness :)

so we had fun dressing up at home. here are some pics from the tang pajama Aashi sent for R. This is her first traditional outfit and she had a blast in it t rying to figure out what the bangles were all about and then finally a light went on -- ahh to bite on :)



 
 

flying lessons delayed...

weather has been temperamental and i have had to postpone my lessons for now :(