I love these photos. Not because they're amazing shots, but because of the stories they tell about daily life with the kiddos:
The bonus of having Christmas abroad is a whole lot of boxes to play with! To the right are the boxes I taped together to make our "store" with various supplies from the kitchen. I like how they ignored the actual able behind them and chose to sit at the biggest box instead. What's great about this photo is that they're doing the same thing, enjoying the same snack, and smiling. Even better - they played for about 2 hours with this set up while I cleaned out the guest room.
More joy of boxes.
When I finished the grocery store shelves (when I ran out of tape) the kids decided we needed a toy store as well. They added a few larger boxes near the bottom and climbed inside as toys. Oscar is telling me I have 15 seconds to buy him. Apparently he was the blue light special of the day. I got him for the bargain price of 1 rupee! (1USD = 50ish rupees these days)
This is Livi's favorite phrase along with "It's ok," which given the situation can be used to reassure us or herself. Here she was cutting some paper. I turned away for a minute and when I turned back around she was holding a lock of her hair. The discussion of why we shouldn't cut her hair began. First, she assured me "it's just a lil bit" so "it's ok." Then she decided she needed a hair cut. When I asked her how short she said, "just one side." When I told her we would need to cut both sides she said "it's ok, only this much" and showed we up to her chin since "my hay is too long fo me." When I asked again if she was sure she went back to "just a lil bit" and showed me about an inch. Two minutes later we were cutting nails and the haircut was forgotten. I'm not sure who would be more traumatized by Livi having short hair...
Princess Olivia, Seal Olivia, Bunny Olivia, and Pink Tiger Olivia (Livi's showing you her if your imagination is a little out of practice)
Lego mania. (no photo) Oscar is the proud owener of several lego sets since Christmas. When he saw that some of the sets were for 7-14 year olds, he thought that he couldn't do them until he was 7. Once Dada clarified, he opened his Atlantis Transformer from Nana and went to work. A few hours later it was done, with very little help. Later, we were chatting before bed and we both told him how impressed we were that he did the lego set by himself. He looks up and says with a proud smile/smirk, "7-14."
And thus we are arriving to the end of Christmas vacation. Oscar starts school on Monday, and although Livi is still out for another week, our days will start to go back to a more regular pattern. We've had playdates with old and new friends (an old friend here is someone we've know for 5 months), a trip to Bangalore, and of course the excitement of Christmas along with the post-Christmas toy extravaganza. We also said goodbye to our first friends to leave, off to Hong Kong (jealous!!)! Different schedules/appetites/interests and numerous bouts of sibling rivalry have left me ready for school to start even if they don't think they are. I know I shouldn't complain but I did, just a little. :)
And just when I was thinking things aren't all that exciting these days here's our line-up for the next 6 months: a girls weekend to Mumbai, a visit from Nana and Papa, a trip to Thailand, and...... an R&R! Whoo-hoo! Oh, and Mama's applying for a job next fall which could truly change the dynamic of everything, if it happens... ;)
The joy of boxes.
The bonus of having Christmas abroad is a whole lot of boxes to play with! To the right are the boxes I taped together to make our "store" with various supplies from the kitchen. I like how they ignored the actual able behind them and chose to sit at the biggest box instead. What's great about this photo is that they're doing the same thing, enjoying the same snack, and smiling. Even better - they played for about 2 hours with this set up while I cleaned out the guest room.
More joy of boxes.
When I finished the grocery store shelves (when I ran out of tape) the kids decided we needed a toy store as well. They added a few larger boxes near the bottom and climbed inside as toys. Oscar is telling me I have 15 seconds to buy him. Apparently he was the blue light special of the day. I got him for the bargain price of 1 rupee! (1USD = 50ish rupees these days)"Just a lil bit"
This is Livi's favorite phrase along with "It's ok," which given the situation can be used to reassure us or herself. Here she was cutting some paper. I turned away for a minute and when I turned back around she was holding a lock of her hair. The discussion of why we shouldn't cut her hair began. First, she assured me "it's just a lil bit" so "it's ok." Then she decided she needed a hair cut. When I asked her how short she said, "just one side." When I told her we would need to cut both sides she said "it's ok, only this much" and showed we up to her chin since "my hay is too long fo me." When I asked again if she was sure she went back to "just a lil bit" and showed me about an inch. Two minutes later we were cutting nails and the haircut was forgotten. I'm not sure who would be more traumatized by Livi having short hair...
You can never have too many Olivias
Lego mania. (no photo) Oscar is the proud owener of several lego sets since Christmas. When he saw that some of the sets were for 7-14 year olds, he thought that he couldn't do them until he was 7. Once Dada clarified, he opened his Atlantis Transformer from Nana and went to work. A few hours later it was done, with very little help. Later, we were chatting before bed and we both told him how impressed we were that he did the lego set by himself. He looks up and says with a proud smile/smirk, "7-14."
And thus we are arriving to the end of Christmas vacation. Oscar starts school on Monday, and although Livi is still out for another week, our days will start to go back to a more regular pattern. We've had playdates with old and new friends (an old friend here is someone we've know for 5 months), a trip to Bangalore, and of course the excitement of Christmas along with the post-Christmas toy extravaganza. We also said goodbye to our first friends to leave, off to Hong Kong (jealous!!)! Different schedules/appetites/interests and numerous bouts of sibling rivalry have left me ready for school to start even if they don't think they are. I know I shouldn't complain but I did, just a little. :)
And just when I was thinking things aren't all that exciting these days here's our line-up for the next 6 months: a girls weekend to Mumbai, a visit from Nana and Papa, a trip to Thailand, and...... an R&R! Whoo-hoo! Oh, and Mama's applying for a job next fall which could truly change the dynamic of everything, if it happens... ;)
No comments:
Post a Comment