We had a jam-packed Valentine's this year! We celebrated with Ba with some yummy Edible Arrangements she brought! We had two back-to-back Valentine's parties: Krish's play group party at home and then his class Valentine's party right after that. After his class party, we went next door to Taco Diner for dinner, and Krish bumped into his classmate, Nicole, there. She was so excited to see him; it was adorable! Neil and I tease that Krish had a more festive Valentine's than anyone, complete with an evening date and all!
Valentine's with Ba!
Boys enjoying yummy Edible Arrangements fruit with Ba!
Our Play Group Valentine's Party!
Martha Stewart-inspired cupcake display!
Mamas and kids distributing Valentines
Handmade mailboxes for the kids, made by their mamas!
Group picture time!
Luke, Krish, Cameron, Reese, Camilla, Soumia, and Jack
Huddling around for some Valentines heart candy!
Party favors!
Krish's homemade crayon heart Valentines! He was so proud
to give them to his friends!
Beautiful long-stem roses from Neil along with Valentines decor!
Krish's Primrose Class Valentine's Party and dinner with Nicole after!
Krish's class enjoying their party snacks and treats!
Best buds, Krish and Siddharth, and their brothers!
Valentine's dinner with his classmate, Nicole! Cuties!
Since February was initially a lot colder than January, we stayed indoors more and had more time to work on arts and crafts projects. In fact, it absolutely made my day when Krish voluntarily asked if he could do a painting art project one cold afternoon while we were at home. I was thrilled and set up a paint station for him right away! He decided to make a Valentine's painting for Daddy while he was at work. We used a pinterest-insipired idea we used last year to shape an empty toilet-paper roll into a heart-shaped stamp. Krish created many paintings using the heart stamp, finger paint, and watercolors that afternoon, and he looked like he really enjoyed it!
Krish hard at work on his art project for Daddy while...
Arjun enjoyed one of his favorite snacks, homemade guacamole!
This year, we also wanted to make our Valentines at home, so we used another pinterest idea to make heart-shaped crayons in silicon, heart cupcake molds with all our old crayons stubs! Krish really liked this project and watching him enjoy arts and crafts so much really puts a smile on my face! Besides being fun to work on and neat to turn one everyday, household item into a completely new creation, it seemed to bring Krish lots of pride to have handmade his Valentines for his friends all by himself at home! He is all about doing things all by himself these days! My little boy is becoming such a big boy now!
Krish peeling the wrapper off his old crayon.
Now he's breaking it into smaller pieces to make colorful
heart crayons.
Mama wants to get in on the project too!
Love doing crafts with my little man!
Colorful crayon pieces in the molds before they go into the oven.
Baked at 230 degrees for 15 minutes.
My big boy removing the crayons from the molds all by
himself after about 10 minutes of cooling.
Mama then made some dichromatic ones later that night.
Finished product!
Krish's completed Valentines for his play group buddies
and neighbors!
He even wrote their names and his name on the back!
What a wonderful project we got to work on together! I'm so happy that Krish is interested in craft projects (in addition to sports), and I get the chance to do my hobby with my little man!
Since February has been so cold and snowy, we were very fortunate to get some milder winter weather in January to enjoy the outdoors. Almost every weekend the temperature was in the high 50s or low 60s and just perfect. When Nani and Tricia Masi came to visit, we took the boys across the street to one of their favorite parks: the La Villita Elementary School play ground! It is only available to play in on the weekends or after 6 pm on the weekdays since the students use it during the day. Krish had a blast riding his bike there while Arjun enjoyed being pushed on his bike. Krish and Tricia Masi particularly had fun sliding down the big, steep slide!
Arjun had fun climbing on the fort with Nani!
In the evening after the boys went to sleep, Daddy and Mama enjoyed a night out and delicious homemade Italian meal made by newly engaged Kim and Vishal!
He was so excited to see this giant teddy bear cub. I feel like he was saying,
"I love Teddy!"
A couple weekends ago, Nani and Tricia Masi came to visit, and we enjoyed a beautiful day outdoors at the Teddy Bear Park in Highland Park. It is a scenic park that runs along Turtle Creek with three giant teddy bear sculptures, a Mama and two cubs, located at the other end of a quaint wooden bridge that crosses the creek. The mansions of Highland Park line the creek, and it is a picturesque hidden gem in the city of Dallas. I stumbled upon this place while reading one of Dallas' Children magazines ages ago and was excited to finally take the family there, especially since Arjun loves, loves, loves teddy bears! I am hoping to take his one year old pictures there too one of these days with all the homemade decor I made for his first birthday party.
As evidenced by the pictures and video, Arjun of course loved the park and teddy bear sculptures, and I'm sure he looks forward to going back again soon! He is such a cute little bear himself!
After enjoying the sculptures, the boys played with the dogs at the park and tossed the football around with Daddy and Tanya Masi. After Nani and Tricia Masi left to go back to Houston, the rest of us stopped by Highland Village to eat some yummy Italian food and pizza on the patio at Patrizio's. This is where we discovered Arjun's love for pizza as well!
