Happy Birthday Daddy!

We love you so much!!  Krish and Arjun had so much fun celebrating Daddy's 31st birthday today that they wished him with 2 different cakes!  One in the morning and one chocolate chip cookie cake that Krish helped make in the evening!

This was Daddy's first birthday as a father of 2, and both Krish and Arjun are so proud of their Daddy! They look up to him as a role model and hero.  Currently, Krish loves playing sports with Daddy.  They play golf, basketball, soccer, blastball/baseball, and football together.  It is so much fun to watch them play too because they both cheer so well for each other!  It is one of Mommy's favorite pastimes to watch them play!

Love you Daddy!

Happy Birthday Daddy!  We love you!

Welcome Arjun Neil Shah!

On November 18th, 2012, our sweet little baby boy finally arrived!  Arjun Neil Shah was born at 5:09 PM and weighed in at 7 lbs. 3 oz. and 19 in. tall.  At 38 weeks gestation, proud Mommy went into labor at exactly the same time as with big brother Krish.  The delivery day was very predictable.  A couple months in advance, Daddy had guessed November 19th and Mommy November 17th, and Arjun was born on November 18th!  The delivery was natural and went very smoothly.  Daddy and Mommy fell in love immediately and big brother Krish was the proudest member of the family!  He loves his little brother so much and can't stop smothering him with hugs and kisses!  It is the sweetest and most precious thing I have ever seen.  He currently also loves tickling him on his feet while saying "tickle tickle tickle, baby!"  It's so  cute!

All family members were extremely proud, and Arjun made his debut at the perfect time--right before Thanksgiving when all family and friends were in town to meet him!  Daddy and Mommy are currently on Cloud Nine and can't get enough precious family time with our two amazing boys!  We have gone from a family of three to a family of four, and having two little boys to love is so surreal!  We couldn't be more proud and happy.

Diwali Celebrations!

For Diwali this year, we had many celebrations!  We celebrated on Sunday by performing a Dhanteras Pooja, we played with sparklers that Dada and Ba brought over from the Mandir (marking Krish overcoming his fear of fireworks), we had a wonderful Diwali feast with Dada, Ba, Raksha Auntie and Zena Foi at our home, and we invited our play group friends over to teach them all about Diwali, the Festival of Lights!  We made hand-crafted diyas together and enjoyed sparklers to ring in the new year!

Our little artists at work...painting their clay diyas!

Lighting the lamps and admiring (astonished by) their lit diyas!

The kids and moms loved learning about our culture and holiday celebrations!  Everybody had a wonderful time, and we were so happy to be able to share and enjoy our traditions with our good friends!

Making Roti with our Friends!

This past Monday, Krish and I hosted a play date at our house and taught all our friends how to make roti!  We were inspired to host this play date by one of Krish's favorite books: What Should I Make?  The book is about a little boy, Niraj, who plays with roti dough in the kitchen while his mom is making roti.  He uses his imagination to shape the dough into different animals, and at the end, he helps his mom roll out the dough into a circle and then watches it puff up on the tava!

All the tots loved the book!  They listened and watched so intently as I read it to them.  It was an interesting experience for me too because I felt like a school teacher!  After reading the book, we let the tots play with their own chunk of roti dough and roll them out into rotis.  We actually had enough vellans for all of them (which were immediately used to bang on the table in synchronized fashion as soon as they were distributed)!  It was actually really cute!

Yes, they all tried eating the roti dough!

Both the mamas and the kids had so much fun learning about Indian food and our culture.  Krish and I were so proud to teach them all about it!  The tots enjoyed watching the rotis puff up on the tava and then eating them with yogurt cups and a val/bataka shaak that we had made.  The Moms of course enjoyed trying the shaak more!  Most of them asked for the recipe!  They were all so appreciative of us introducing them to our culture that it made us feel very happy to have such great friends!  Overall, the whole experience was amazing and one that we will never forget!

Diwali Mela!

Happy Diwali!

This past Saturday we attended the Diwali Mela at Fair Park where Dada volunteers his time every year at the Kids Zone!  This year, Krish was one of his direct beneficiaries!  He got to try out all the activities in the Kids Zone, including a bounce house with basketball hoop, a bunjee trampoline, and a camel ride!  Dada even took him on a golf cart ride into the Cotton Bowl Field.  Krish had the time of his life trying out so many of these new activities for the first time!  It was the first time he tried the bunjee trampoline (for which he still looked a little too young), riding a camel, sitting in a golf cart, and playing football in an actual football field stadium!  Our little boy was on cloud nine!  He had such a great time being exposed to so many fun, new things at the Diwali Mela!  It was a wonderful experience for all of us!  Happy Diwali!

Having the time of his life trying the bunjee trampoline!

Camel ride for the first time!

In the car, we listened to "Alice the Camel"
repeatedly the whole way home!

Playing football on the Cotton Bowl field!

Loving every second of it!

Time for In 'n' Out on the way back home!

Happy 60th Birthday Dada!!

This past Sunday we threw a surprise 60th birthday party for Dada!  His actual birthday is on November 27th, but we decided to celebrate it earlier in the month to add to the surprise element and ensure a chance to celebrate before the baby came!

Preparing for a surprise party is always a lot of fun!  First, Mom, Neil and I came up with a theme and plan.  We made a guest list and decided on a venue and catering.  Of course we chose to have the party at a golf course and we chose the theme to be about Dad's passion and commitment to the advancement of youth.

Krish was also so excited to plan Dada's birthday and was so helpful in the process.  He helped me pick out and order the golf birthday cake, and he helped Daddy pick out the banner and balloons.  He was so stoked to go golfing with Dada, Daddy, Pankaj Kaka and the gang the morning of the party too!  He is extremely into golf now, and it is very sweet to see him developing such an interest in Daddy and Dada's favorite sport!  Part of the surprise for the party was to have the guys go play a round of golf in the morning and end up at the party hall when they were done.  I have to say, I'm sure they all missed CC Kaka dearly on the golf course!

The party was a hit and although I think Dad figured out a few things along the way, he had no idea of our theme and was very excited to see all the youth among the guests and everything we put into throwing the party!  We all had a wonderful celebration together!