Animal Themed Toddler Birthday Party

Animal toys, salt n' pepper shakers, planters, xmas ornaments, animal decor around the house.... everyone came together so happily trooping to celebrate A's wild imagination and 2nd birthday.

Creating animal party hats was fun and easy - got some craft paper, cut it and glued it like a cone, and added some pom-poms for a pop of color. After making one hat, and getting a hang of making them, it was so easy make them - glad that I did not end of buying the online, as there were quite a few shops on etsy selling the party animal hats. 

The rest of the wall decor was just simple, colorful and playful.

Since we setup the party as a play date, there were toys kept on the TV console that could be easily reached by the kids and in lieu of any other planned activities, the toys kept the kids entertained and busy.

And of course, there had to be plants and flowers included from G-mom's garden. The paper whites and the red dragon flowers were specially plucked from mom's garden as A had helped mom water these plants regularly and she regularly monitored their progress and growth - all to make sure that they bloom for her birthday!

A is currently obsessed with singing Happy Birthday (pronounced as "Happy tu-too" as she cant say Birthday) and cutting the cake. So... for the cake, we opted for a plain Chocolate Eruption cake with white icing. Since we couldn't get a bigger cake in the round shape, we got 2 cakes and layered them ourselves right before the party. To hide the slight gap between the layered cakes, we filled it with colorful sprinkles. And then the party animals from the B'day invite climbed the cake. A was quite delighted by the big cake, and also by everyone singing Happy Birthday to her.

Since it was an afternoon party, we just served snacks to everyone - samosas, Idlis with chutney, Cheese board, Berries and Grapes, Veggie sticks and graham crackers for kids.

So glad that it all came together so well and it lived up to a toddler's hype of all animals marching to the party. A has been talking about the animals coming to her party for days with excitement in her eyes - it also helped that we went to the zoo before the party to personally invite all the animals and also went to the zoo after the B'day to thank them for their attendance! ;-)

Round-up of the nine months!

I was lucky to have an easy pregnancy! The nine months breezed through with no morning sickness or nausea, just a little tiredness, and no absurd food cravings or body aches. There were a lot of little happy moments along the journey, but here are the few of the major and favorite moments:

1) News - The first is of course just knowing that you are pregnant. I know everyone has a huge pregnancy announcement plan, but in our case we were just so overwhelmed with happiness that there was no major announcement to the family or even to T. It was just a simple message delivered with a wide smile!

2) Gender Reveal - We did plan to have a gender reveal lunch over the weekend with close family coming dressed in blue or pink based on their guess. But, T and I got the sealed envelope from the doctor mid-week and we both pulled the envelope from each other's hand as soon as we got out of the doctor's office and in the process the envelope got torn. So that was the gender reveal right there. Then of course, there was no way of keeping it hidden from mom and dad and then mom-in-law and father-in-law. After that, how can we leave out our dear siblings. And so the beans were spilled. We did have a lunch that weekend but everyone was dressed in pink and it was so much fun to go to the restaurant as the pink group!

3) Travel - As soon as we hit the 2nd trimester and it was safe for me to travel, we itched for a vacation and went to Banff and Jasper National Parks (termed by the recent trend as baby moon travel). And oh, the place is so lovely!!! I still can't believe that we hiked all the way up to six glaciers tea house from lake Louise one day and it was the best day of the whole trip. Another memorable experience was carrying the little VT shoes everywhere to get the perfect shot of the shoes and the mountains or the hiking path to send as an announcement pic to all the friends. The smiles and the best wishes we got from strangers was beautiful.

The other travel we did was go to DC to meet my aunt. A long overdue trip filled with lots of love, fun, laughter and food! The three days weren't enough and hopefully I will be back there soon.

T also made a solo trip (I think the first since we got married) to India to meet our little niece and to fall in love with her at first sight!

4) Baby kicks - This was the highlight of the pregnancy and the happiest of the moments! Anticipating her kicks to treats of chocolates, ice cream, sambhar, chicken tikka masala, music and loud excitement of the football games was the favorite game. And then there were the non-stop midnight kicks to show excitement for no reason - and those were my favorite kind of kicks. :)

5) Baby Showers - I had two baby showers and a mini-one at work and they were all special! My only other female team-mate at work baked yummy chocolate cupcakes and the rest of the team (all guys) gathered around to share parenting tips and nightmares that they experienced. The one that my friends threw for me with a surprise VT theme was out of the world. The amount of planning, the decor, the menu, the games - everything was just picture perfect, including the hosts - Rits and Megs! And Megs flew in all the way from Zurich to make this all happen and even more special.

My sister-in-law and mom had another baby shower for family and few of mom's friends! A&K flew in from Chicago, my aunt and uncle flew in from DC to make it all special.  It was filled with so so so much love, extremely cute decor with effort from everyone, food that was so well decorated and yummy and healthy and fun games and then the highlight was cutest cake ever!

And so the nine months passed by and then T had to make a call to my mom at 3am to get ready for the hospital and all he said in the calmest of the voice was - "Mom, it is time".

2017 Summarized

2017 has been an eventful and wonderful, and so much to be grateful for.

Settled into the new job. Made the trip to Joshua National Park (and Palm Springs and LA), which had been on my bucket for a long time. Got the best news that we will be having a niece in September!

In May, we got the news that we will be expecting a girl in January! 

Family visited from India in June and we had wonderful time doing the touristy stuff around the city. We visited Banff National Park and Jasper National Park in July. I set up my indoor garden corner this summer, which was a long dream. I made my first Etsy (a website I have been been eyeing for years too) purchase - swiss cheese plant. In August, Harvey hit Houston and though we were fortunate to not have any major damage, it caused wide spread suffering and damage to others. We will be talking about Harvey for a long time.

T and I became proud mama and mama and welcomed our niece in September. We have been smitten since.

We visited family in Virginia in October and made a last trip together before we settled into getting ready for parenthood. T visited his niece in November - it was love at first sight and I enjoyed watching all the videos and pics from across the continents.  While T was away, I had staycations- a weekend with Oj and kids, where I was pampered by her cooking and a week with mom that gave us just enough time to visit the garden stores and antique malls in leisure. Had a mini baby shower at work and our friends threw the prettiest Hokie themed baby shower with Pinterest worthy decorations. Megs visited and we got to catchup.

 We had a snowfall in Houston in December and enjoyed one dreamy morning that put everyone in high spirits. December was also busy getting ready for the baby. First purchase/splurge was made on Minted (another site I had been eyeing for a long long time) for baby's room. Family visited us, mom and K threw another grand baby shower with lots of flowers, decor and the penguin cake (which was the highlight) and family love.

Other big events for the year also involved a lot of immediate family moving around. A&L moved from Delhi to Pune - miss that they are not in Delhi anymore, but also so happy that they are closer to Mumbai now. A&K finally moved in together and are settled in Chicago for now. Mom and dad moved in closer to us so the fresh food delivery has become easier. 

Adios 2017 and thank you for the wonderful memories. Looking forward to all the new experiences, joys, challenges and memories that 2018 will bring. This will be a busy year for sure!

Balcony update

From the winter rags to the bright summery patio...

And here are the finer details of my happy corner!

Orchids

Last summer, I got the white orchids plant while it was blooming. After the flowers withered, I lost interest in the plant and kept it at the far edge of the window cause I dint feel like throwing the pot away and I watered it here and there as I got time.

Last week, my aunt sent me a pic of her mini orchids garden at her office and it was lovely to see colorful and forever blooming flowers in her garden. Coincidentally, I saw some new buds on my plant in the same week too! I never knew that orchids are such low-maintenance plants. I now have a new found love (and patience) for these plants.
Can't wait for the buds to bloom....