Annual Arbol Block Party!

Happy Halloween!  Every year our neighbors all get together and throw a neighborhood, Halloween block party for all the families.  This past Sunday was our second time attending, and this year, Halie Foi was visiting and attended with us as well!  The weather was beautiful, the food was delicious, and we all enjoyed a wonderful afternoon with family and friends!

Arjun and Claire - Little Pumpkin Cuties!

Krish enjoying a festive cookie!

Enjoying Cavallis Pizza with Daddy!

S'mores Dessert Pizza

Family Pumpkin Carving Fun!

On Sunday, Nilay Bhai, Anupa, and Dhruv came over for some festive Halloween fun--making jack-o-lanterns!  This was an awesome project to get the whole family involved! Thanks to Anupa Kaki's great idea, the kids had a blast getting their hands dirty while cleaning out the pumpkins.  They were also vey fascinated to see how the pumpkins looked when they were finally carved.  We all had so much fun together, and it was a great way to get festive while bonding with the family!

Gutting the Pumpkins with the Kids!

Tracing the Patterns and Carving the Pumpkins!

All Done!

Krish's and Dhruv's Character Pumpkins!

Cute Cousins on the Piano Together!

Cute Little Pumpkins!!

The Final Jack-O-Lanterns All Lit Up!

Krish's Class Halloween Party!

Krish with Sidharth, Arjun & Arjun, Suhash, and his teachers!

This past Friday, Daddy, Arjun, and I all got to attend Krish's Class Halloween Party with him!  All the kids looked so cute in their costumes!  This year, Krish chose to be Lightning McQueen!  Daddy and I were surprised he didn't pick Spider Man or a super hero as his costume since he still wants a Spider Man birthday party for his 4th birthday.  He did start out wanting to be a minion (from Despicable Me) and then an Angry Bird, but in the end, he chose good ol' Lightning McQueen!

He and Arjun both had a blast at the school party.  We even managed to capture a picture of Krish with all three of his  pirate teachers, Ms. Taylor, Ms. Cervantes, and Ms. Koshy!

Krish's First Karate Tournament!

This past Saturday, Krish had his very first karate tournament!  He had been preparing for this tournament for about a month in class, and he rocked it!  He did an amazing job performing in front of all the black belts.  I was so impressed with him!  He received two trophies at the tournament; one for his form demonstration and one for his techniques demonstration.  Daddy and I are so proud of him, and he was very proud of himself that day, too.  He, of course, carried his trophies around with him everywhere that day!  He truly is amazing, and it's so great to see him learning more and more as he's growing up.

Arjun's First Tooth!

Along with his first steps, Arjun recently got his first tooth!  His bottom left tooth came in on Thursday, September 12th, and his bottom right tooth grew in shortly after that on Sunday, September 15th.  He has been continuing to teethe on everything, and he looks so cute with his tiny two teeth poking out from his bottom gums!  I can't believe how fast my baby bear is growing up!

Fall Fun at the Arboretum!

Although far, visiting the Pumpkin Village at the Dallas Arboretum in the fall is definitely worth the long trek!  Every year, the Arboretum enhances it's Pumpkin Village display by adding something new.  Every year it looks beyond amazing, and I am baffled at how they manage to spruce it up even more for the following year!

Because it is so far, we haven't been to the Arboretum as much as we would have liked to go this year, but we did manage to visit twice recently in September and October.  In September we took Tanya Masi to the Pumpkin Village to welcome her to her new Dallas home and as a way to introduce her to some of the special features of Dallas.  Unfortunately we didn't have Arjun with us, but we're looking forward to taking him there one of these days as well!

As usual, Krish loved it!  He loved seeing all the various pumpkins of different colors and sizes.  He loved all the pumpkin huts, the pumpkin tree and decorations, Cinderella's pumpkin carriage, and running through the hay maze over and over again!

New Addition This Year: Yummy Pumpkin Recipes Hanging Inside the Pumpkin Hut

I can't wait to try them out!

Cinderella's Pumpkin Carriage!

Jack's House

Hay Maze Fun! 

Bumping Up and Down in my Little Red Wagon!

Since this summer, Momma and Arjun have developed a daily ritual of taking a morning wagon ride around the neighborhood together.  It is definitely Arjun's favorite thing to do!  Thanks to Nana and Nani's brilliant idea of getting a covered wagon, we have actually been able to use it in the Texas summer heat as well!

Now that it's fall, we have removed the canopy and are so excited to take wagon rides in the afternoons with Krish Bhai too!  Sometimes Krish Bhai rides in the wagon and sometimes he rides his bike.  These days, he has really been into riding his bike and has been doing such a great job with it!

Along with his stuffed animals, Arjun has really shown a liking for all the neighborhood dogs!  He is so fascinated by them and loves petting and playing with our friend's dog, Cooper, especially.

Recently on our afternoon wagon rides, Arjun has been cracking up at our neighbor's dog every time he barks.  He is so cute, and his love for fuzzy animals is also so sweet!  He is such a joy to watch everyday, and everything new we learn about him brings so much warmth and happiness to our lives.  He and his brother truly make us the happiest parents in the world in every way possible!

Arjun's First Steps!

Today, Arjun took his very first series of nine steps!!  He has been doing two or three for the past two weeks, but today he really progressed all the way to nine before falling.  We have been walking around the house for two months now in preparation for this day, and at 11 months, Arjun is actually walking all by himself!  Daddy and I are so proud and have forgotten what kind of changes this will bring about.  However, we can't wait to see what changes will occur with our little boy walking around the house after his big brother now!



Two days ago, on Monday, Oct. 21, Arjun was still walking two steps before losing balance.  It is neat to see how much progress he made in just two days!

Krish does his Homework (While Momma Distracts him for Purposes of Capturing a Memory)

In the past several months, Daddy and I have been amazed to see how much Krish is learning academically, both at school and at home! Since he turned three, he has been writing all the letters of the alphabet (upper and lower-case) and all the numbers too.  He really enjoys writing names, especially his own and Arjun's!

While reading books, we also work on phonics and reading a variety of small words together.  At the end of July, Krish advanced to his new classroom, Preschool 2, where he will spend the rest of this school year.  Since phonics is part of the primary curriculum in Preschool 2, Krish has become very proficient at recognizing the sounds of each of the letters.  Encouraging the development of this skill, we like to play games with him at home which involve saying what letter different words that he encounters in conversation start with.  For instance, he may say, "Hey, that's Arjun's toy!" So we'll ask him, "What letter does toy start with?" And he'll say, "Tuh- tuh-, toy, T!"  It is truly amazing to see your child begin to grasp academic knowledge and the fundamental precursors to reading.

In addition to reading and writing, we have not forgotten about math!  At home we started working on developing math skills by counting objects, such as beans or Krish's favorite, M&Ms, and have now progressed to solving addition and subtraction problems in his workbooks and through activity puzzles.  Daddy and I are proud to see that he enjoys learning and is very cooperative when it comes to sitting down for study time.  There are definitely times when he would rather play ball outside or with friends or continue playing with legos, but for the most part, he seems to understand the importance of learning, and that couldn't make us happier!

Practicing his writing skills this past summer.

His name in lowercase, second one from top.  He also wrote "Dusty",  from Planes.

His name in uppercase

Writing Momma's name

Admiring his work.  Proud Momma too.

Arjun's 1st Birthday Party Prep!

Although we have not received the pictures yet, Mommy caught a video of Arjun playing with his first birthday party supplies in excitement for the big celebration the next morning.  As usual, he was showing his love for his big teddy bear he got from Pranav Mama!

His party was so much fun, and it was so great to celebrate our baby's milestone birthday with all our family and friends!  Everyone had a wonderful time.  We can't wait to post pictures and share stories from the actual event so stay tuned!

Testing for his Yellow Belt

On October 2nd, Krish tested for his yellow belt and did an amazing job again!  He is currently a yellow belt and is such a joy to watch in class.  He has learned so much since he started back in August and truly enjoys karate.  It's awesome to see him randomly practice his techniques around  the house because they're on his mind.  It is so cute!  We're so glad we found an activity for him that he really loves!

Testing for his Yellow Stripe

On September 6th, Krish tested for his yellow stripe in his karate class.  It was his first formal test, and he did an awesome job!  For testing, the students have to wear their full uniform, including their jacket.  Krish is the youngest in his class, and he looks so cute demonstrating his karate skills!  He really takes karate seriously and loves practicing his new techniques at home.  It's so great to see how much he's enjoying what he's learning.  We are so proud of him!

Krish Learns Karate!

Back in August, Krish started taking karate lessons!  The style of karate he is learning is called American Ken Po Karate.  Having learned karate ourselves, Daddy and I were very excited about this new endeavor of his.

Krish has been attending karate class for two months now, and he absolutely loves going to class!  He is learning so much, and we are amazed to see his impressive ability to learn, retain knowledge, and use his newfound skills in a controlled environment.  He has already achieved a yellow belt status and has a very important tournament coming up this weekend.  We are all so proud of him and thoroughly enjoy watching him demonstrate the karate techniques he is learning!

Here are some video clips we captured of Krish learning some of these techniques for the first time, as a white belt, back in August.

Arjun Loves his Teddy Bears!

Over the past few months we have discovered how much Arjun loves his teddy bears!  Therefore, we have decided to celebrate his upcoming first birthday as a teddy bear picnic birthday party at our neighborhood park!  We are very excited about this major milestone event in Arjun's life, but I can't believe how quickly he has grown up!  I can't believe he will be one year old in a little over a month!  We are actually celebrating his birthday this Saturday with all our friends and family so stay tuned for more posts about it.