I know

it's been a long long time. But sometimes life gets busy and there just aren't moments in the day. And sometimes there are moments but they are better spent closing eyes and savoring the calm than typing on a keyboard. It is what it is. So, while I'm sorry for not posting any new news, I'm not sorry for getting a nap here and there. These two are action-packed lately!

Lots of exciting stuff going on here:

He's done a stinky poop on the toilet! (This is not from the actual event, he was not wearing his Cookie Monster backpack for the actual event.) Once and just once, but it's a light at the end of the tunnel.

This is his new sleeping position. He moves everything to the lower 24 inches of his bed and sleeps there.

I'm not sure if I put this up already or not, but it's too cute to risk not being out there. If Didi is wearing a headband and I am wearing a headband then Kev will find himself a headband to wear. And if he goes missing, we know we'll find him hunting around the bathrooms for a headband of his very own.

Amiya went to a girlfriend's birthday party this past weekend. It was a cooking class party - the kids made their own dough and then constructed a pizza on top of it. Amiya was an old pro at this stuff. She chose to sit at a table by herself as she didn't know any of the other girls (besides the birthday girl), so she and I had a really nice few hours chatting and kneading and chilling together. It was a great party for both of us!

In her new party dress that she picked out because it had a matching dress for a doll. So, for the first time ever, Kelly (the stuffed bear) has clothes beyond her fluorescent pink romper. Lovely. Both of them!

Little Desis

(Sometimes when an Indian is referring to another Indian, they use the word desi. Sort of like when women refer to each other as chicks.)

Just to be clear that our two little ones are true desis, despite the fact that they are only 50% desi, I offer up the fact that last night for dinner these two ate their weight in tarka dal (yellow lentil stew), baingan bharta (mashed & spiced eggplant), raita (spiced yogurt), rice and naan (delicious bread). Amiya ate more than I did and Kev rivaled Amiya with his second helpings, plus he washed it all down with a fruit yogurt for dessert. (Never have intestines been filled with more acidophilous.)

Anyway, they would most likely thumb their noses at Polish and Irish fare, but put a plate of Indian food in front of these two and Vinay and I get a quiet, complaint-free meal 100% of the time.

Bliss.

I wasn't kidding...

...when I said April is a month for purging. That's 5 bags of old clothes from Vinay and myself, 2 bags of blankets and household linens, 2 diaper boxes full of toys, and then random household things that we had double of (still, after 8 years of marriage).

We can walk into our closet now. Fabulous!!!

The Week in Review

So, it's been spring break here for Amiya. The rigorous demands of preschool meant she had to have a week off to recuperate. Or something like that.

Sunday, at USF, feeding the ducks. They ate white chocolate cake. They ate good! Kev was no fear. Of anything. Ducks. Squirrels. Crows. Amiya was all fear. Of everything.

Monday at the beach. Gabe seems to be rescuing Amiya, but maybe it's actually the reverse. That's Gabe's foot sticking up. Maybe I don't want to know.


Tuesday night saw Amiya's first pajama party. Six little girls, three hours, pizza, popcorn, sundaes and a fashion show. There were attempts at karaoke and watching a movie, but those activities couldn't compete with the allure of dress-up.

Wednesday is photo free, but there were two separate playdates! One in the morning with Gabe and Ethan. One in the afternoon with Benjamin and Freddy.
Thursday saw us at a strawberry farm picking the last berries of the season. Amiya is nature's cutest pesticide. There are no bugs left in the field because she brought them all home!
Kev striking a contemplative pose amidst the berry plants. When he stood up he was red from cheek to cheek.And here he is eating his weight in berries. This is an early shot, by the time we left his shirt was more pink than white. The best part? He was eating not only the berry, but the leaves, the bugs, the stems. Everything. He's taking the reduce of reduce, reuse, recycle to heart and leaving no waste.
Friday. Beach day again with Aubrey, Aiden, Kylie and Kendall. We got home and the kids decided the frivolities must continue. Here you see both decked out in beads left over from The 3 Day.

And still plenty of energy to tackle Daddy.

And the big cake of the week! It's a Scrabble cake (are you saying, "No sh*t, Christy!"?) for a friend's sister-in-law's birthday. Everything is edible except the board and the bow. It's cookies, gumpaste, fondant and really delicious caramel Italian Meringue Buttercream with buttery yellow cake.

Yeah, yeah, yeah

Can you hear that?

That's my Mom grumbling about how there aren't any new pictures of the kids up here.

I'm feeling overwhelmed. Not with her grumbling (it's a lovely sort of murmur since it's all the way from Wisconsin - I can barely detect it, really), but with clutter. Our house is bursting at the seems with stuff. And we profess to being non-materialistic sorts of people. And yet, our house is full of stuff.

That's why, you may remember, my April to do list is so full of cleaning and organizing tasks. It must be done.

And in that spirit, please read this. Funny, but also true.

And then, get to work. Even if your house isn't bursting at the seems make it a point to get rid of (preferably via recycling or Goodwill) at least three things this week. Anyone who posts about the three things you got rid of will receive a surprise in the mail before the end of April. And in that spirit, for every three things that each of you get rid of/donate/freecycle/etc. we will match! Each of you can play a collective role in helping us reclaim our closets!

April To Do List

March's List - almost completely done!
That means we handled:

• Amiya's Birthday ... done with a bang!
• Drop In And Decorate Cookie Class ... done and The 3 Day fundraising done, too!
• Pink & Brown Card Party ... done until May!
• Minnie Mouse Cake ... done but I forgot to take pictures!
• Tot Swap ... 3 two year olds, 3 hours, 3 Motrin
• Spring Cookies ... done!
• 3 Aprons ... 13 aprons for Amiya's class.
• USF Book Club ... done - we read A Long Way Gone. So-so.
• The Panhandle ... who knew it took so long to drive across Florida?
• New Tampa Book Club ... done - we read The Dive From Clausen's Pier. Loved it.
• Playgroup ... hosted. At the park. No pre or post cleaning. Love it!
• Finish Kev's Room ... love it!
• Stroller Bag ...glaring exception to my list. Maybe in April?
• Lunper ... done and someone else's turn in April! Whoohoo!

April's List

• Craft Closet ...what a mess, must organize!
• Master Closet ...not even a mess, a catastrophe.
• Amiya's Closet ... done, until she "plays quietly in her room for an hour." Start over.
• Kev's Closet ...done
• High School Musical Pajama Party ... seven girls, 3 hours, pajamas, Zac Efron
• Kitchen Cabinets ...what a mess, must organize!
• Stroller Bag ...for real. Maybe.
• Hope Chest ...it dawned on me the other day that I haven't opened this in at least 2 years and yet it's stuffed full of stuff. Maybe time to purge?
• New Tampa Book Club ... we're reading The Weight of Water Eh.
• USF Book Club ... we're reading Cold Sassy Tree Blegh
• Tot Swap ... yep 3 tots, 3 hours 3 Motrin, again!
• April in Paris ... a French cooking class hosted by moi
• Baptism Cake & Cookies ... weekend #1
• Scrabble Cake ... weekend #2
• Beach Cake ... weekend #3
• Pizza Cake ... weekend #4

So April seems to be about organization and cakes. And that's good. Two things I like, one thing I'm good at!

If posts are infrequent it's because Kev thinks he owns the computer. Fisher Price has an animal site that he *must* play each time someone even looks in the direction of the computer and if one of us has the audacity to actually use the computer, we get pulled away repeatedly. He's a sweet little boy, except when he wans his Animal ABC time and then he's a tyrant!

So Long March, Hellooooooooo April!

March was a very busy month, capped off with a fun, fast trip to the Florida panhandle for a quick meet-up with Grandma and Grandpa. We're home now and I've been trying to concentrate on getting the house organized a bit - that seems to slip quickly and before I know it it's an all out really bad word that I shouldn't use in polite company.




It seems that I don't have many pics of our time in the panhandle. Indicative, perhaps, of enjoying the moment too much to bother taking a picture? I don't have a single picture of anyone but Kev - Amiya was so busy pulling Grandma all over the place that I missed her! Hopefully Grandma has a few?

Kev found a big hole to sit in on the beach. And so he did. For about an hour.

Grandma bought Kev a pair of swim trunks from Hawaii. They're size 1 (toddler). Too big for this boy, so he ended up in the baby version of a Speedo. He loved the waves and now

we know where all of our gas money will go this summer - to the beach!

Saturday morning was overcast and gray. Not bad enough to stop the guys from golfing, but too gray for the pool. So, what were we to do? Shoe shopping!!! We quickly found a pair of sandals for Kev - brown, simple, leather. All the requirements for a boy sandal. He was having none of it. Why should Didi get bright and colorful shoes when Kev gets brown? Here you can see him modeling the newest wedge heel, preppy plaid sandal in Amiya's size. Neither child got this pair of shoes, but I think Kev was far more disappointed than Amiya.