The Ba is back in town!

IndiraBa visited for a week and did what every good Ba is supposed to do. Spoil the boys, sing Indian songs...and teach them to make puri.

She stayed home with the boys for three days, and from what they tell, played outside, took a few walks, watched cartoons and ate m&ms. She claims that both boys are angels until Mommy and Daddy come home. She actually prefers to sleep on the floor, which is right up the boys' alley! The three of them slept together on the floor all week!

Originally, we had planned to drive down to FL to see Kirti, Scott and the kids, but with the threat of Gustav, we decided not to make the trip. We worried that we would only be able to stay for 24 hours before driving back. And we didn't want to get stuck in the evacuation traffic we had always heard horror stories about. It turns out that Gustav took a turn to the west instead, which was good for them, but frustrated us knowing that we could have visited after all. You just never know... We missed them terribly, and I know Indira thought about it a lot. It would have been the first time in over a year that she had all the grandkids together.

Connery learned that chai was not "gocca muck" but only after much convincing and finally a taste...which he didn't care for. And both boys sat with Ba in the kitchen floor and rolled out dough to make puri. It reminded me of being in India when Kieran was just 16 months old, and I was 7 months pregnant with Connery. We sat on the kitchen floor and dipped our puri in chai every morning. After that trip, Indira said that Kieran was 51% Indian. I hope we can make a trip again with Connery, because right now he's 50/50 ;)



Kieran is proud to tell you that "Ba is India, I'm India, Connery's India, Daddy's India, but Mommy's not India." I wish they got to spend more time with IndiraBa so they really could appreciate how special being "India" truly is.

A little quiz for you

called "Which boy is which?" This game was inspired by the many people who ask "Are they twins?" everywhere we go.
And by the moment last week when Sandy looked at a picture on our entertainment center and asked, "Which boy is that?"
And by the mistake I made when a student sent me a picture of a bunch of students and Kieran. But it turned out that it was Connery. And they made fun of me for not knowing the difference. We can't help it we had twins 19 months apart!!

1. 2. 3. 4. 5.6. 7.
8. 9. 10.
Answers are at the bottom of the post...but don't cheat!

1. Kieran 2. Connery 3. Kieran 4. Connery 5. Connery
6. Kieran 7. Connery 8. Kieran 9. Kieran 10. Connery

Celebrating Siblings

In America, we celebrate Father's Day, Mother's Day, Grandparents Day, Boss's Day... but no Brother/Sister Day. That may be why one of my favorite Indian holidays is Raksha Bandan., which is a celebration of brothers and sisters. The tradition is that sisters tie a bracelet--"rakhi"--on their brother's wrist as a blessing, and the brothers give the sisters a gift, usually money. (The sisters win out here ;) Since Kieran and Connery don't have any sisters, and Eleana and Serena are six hours away :( we were excited that sweet Carsyn was willing to step in to tie the rakhi on the boys' wrists. She and her little brother Frankie are in Kieran and Connery's classes, and we've become good friends with their parents. (Olivia and I have decided that we should have been friends long ago.)

The kiddos were all so sweet about it. We met up for dinner at Rosie's, and Carsyn even knew that she was giving the boys a bracelet "like your sister," as she said. And to tie it on, she wrapped the string around and around, I'm sure wondering why it wasn't staying! The boys gave her a hug and gift afterwards, and then they all played in the fountain. That was more fun than anything, I'm sure.

Thank you, Miss Carsyn, for being a good friend and sister for the boys. Of course, you might decide that THREE little brothers is too much of a good thing ;)