August's last day of Prep 1

The Prep 1 kids had a small presentation to the parents on their last day. Each child described a Unit of Study they had completed over the school year. August's talk was on how several glasses filled with water to different depths make different sounds when hit by a mallet.

Rohan sitting nicely for his turn.

Rohan describing his favorite project of the school year.

You GO Aug! Show 'em how it's done!

Giving the teachers their "Thank You" plaques. Kumud, the woman on the right, did all the work from photo collection, to design, to framing, to collecting the money from the parents. The teachers said they were the best end-of-year Thank Yous they'd ever received. They were very nice.




The teacher assistants got mugs.

As we were leaving August had a moment to collect his thoughts under a frangiapani.

Awards ceremony for 1st Standard

Daddy is proud of his little girl.

Annika being awarded for her story writing abilities.

Congratulations Annika!

Kids were free to go home after the ceremony. I went ahead and took August home too, he was happy to get out of school early AND ride home in the car WITH Daddy!

Erik and his Blackberry...

Happy Girl... SCHOOL'S ALMOST OVER!!!

Auggie's Birthday Party

August's birthday party was at a pizza restaurant that had a play area for kids. Not like Chuck E Cheese, more like a McDonald's Playland w/ a small arcade, but it's not a common site in India so we'll take what we can get.
Plus we've always had the kids' parties in our home so it was nice to have someone else do all the work/clean-up.

Anniversary Urli

Today I was thinking how I'd like some fresh flowers on the occasion of our 12th Wedding Anniversary and how I'd have to remember to go by a flower shop. Not 30 minutes later a local flower vendor came by on his scooter. I don't usually buy flowers from him so he usually drives past my house, but today he stopped and rang my bell. (Hmmm..??)

I bought a bouquet and asked him to do my Urli as well. Very nice...

Thank you teachers!

A parent in August's class volunteered to make certificates for all the Prep 1 teachers. Nice job.
The colors look HORRIBLE on my post - look much better in real life.

Pleeeeeeease learn how to bag groceries

Dude...
Grocery stores need to instruct their employees how to pack groceries.
I've given instructions but the same errors happen again and again.
I have THREE criteria:
#1 - heavy items on the bottom
#2 - cleaning products/poisons go in a separate bag
#3 - DON'T SMASH THE BREAD!

I bring my own burlap/bamboo bags to the stores. They have some shape, can carry a lot of weight, and are easier to pack than rounded plastic bags.

The problem:
Groceries are often packed in the order they are scanned into the register with no thought to weight, smashing, or toxicity.

It's been almost a year and I don't understand why my particular shop still doesn't get it.

SCHOOL'S OUT FOR SUMMER!

Annika and August both have to go back to school for an SLC (Student Led Conference) tomorrow which is basically a 1 on 1 where the students present to their parents what they learned over the school year. Teachers are there too to guide and assist but it's basically you and your child. Should be interesting.

Today was the last day on the school bus!

Auggie's birthday dinner

We have a tradition in my family, the birthday person gets to pick what we have dinner on the special day. August picked Mexican because Chili's Restaurant arrived in Bangalore about two months ago and we have yet to try it. We picked Daddy up at work and set off to Chili's...
Bangalore traffic, at quitting time, on a Friday night is HORRIBLE. Realizing it would take 1 hour+ to get to Chili's, Erik talked August into having pizza and he enthusiastically agreed.

We passed this place on our trek and decided to try it. Want to know if it's anything like US Pizza?? The first sign you see when you walk in is "No Beef, No Pork" so the kids had lamb pepperoni pizza.



Erik was totally amused that the football player is holding pizza boxes instead of a football.




New sunglasses from Grandpa!

We decided to go to a new French hotel for his birthday dessert. The choices were lacking but the proprietor more than made up for it.



(Auggie, Annika)

(Annika, Auggie)
We were playing in the restaurant's courtyard when some other friends happened to come by the same restaurant.


(Annika, Bree)

Two kids pooped after a big day.

Annika loves her brother. :-)
And so do we. Happy birthday August.

August's birthday bumps

In India, the person with the birthday hands out candy to friends, classmates, co-workers, etc. to celebrate the day. So after school I took the kids by Erik's office so Auggie could hand out candy to Erik's co-workers. It's been awhile since the kids have been to the office so it was fun for everyone.
While August and Annika were handing out candy a couple guys grabbed August to give him his first birthday bumps.

From Wikipedia:
Birthday Bumps practiced in India are usually among boys who hold the arms and legs of the birthday boy, and kick him in the buttocks with or without shoes. This can be done gently, or in a manner which causes pain depending on the level of frustration the kicker has on the kicked. The belief is that all anger and bitter feelings which the kickers have on the kicked are vented and forgotten on the birthday of the kicked.

Auggie's classroom birthday celebration

On August's birthday I went to the school to hand out gifts to his classmates.

Instead of the typical pencils, erasers, toy and candy I found these fun masks.

I knew they'd be a big hit.

There was a good selection of masks so the kids were happy with their masks - no tears or fighting, I was worried about that.





Auggie and his teacher Ms. Ranjane