Cub ka Superhero Budday Party!

I must put it down before his next birthday comes up! I mean, seriously! I also want to do a BuB update before HER next birthday comes up as well.


Since Cub is totally and completely into Superheroes, we decided to attempt a Superhero themed party for his 5th birthday. For one The Fifth is sort of a milestone birthday and for another, this was the first time he had a bunch of friends in a colony. It made sense to have a biggish party this once. So, we went about planning it with M getting palpitations at the number of kids I wanted to invite and I was getting tired of his eye-rolls for every idea I came up with. Finally all of us together managed to pull off a decent party!


Here are some photos;

The preparations! :) The father cutting cardboard and the son painting the newspapers! :)

She pretended to use the paintbrush and paint the newspaper and then we were not looking indulged in some face painting of her own! :p

The last minute idea of making superhero wristbands being executed perfectly by M the previous night! We are nothing, if not immaculate planners!

The birthday boy posing with the party decor and his gift! :D

Kids started trickling in from 430pm itself for a 5pm party and by 5 most junta was there!


They are all making superhero themed photoframes for which the cardboard was being cut and newspapers painted in the first snap. We got some superhero images and logos printed from Printo, cut them and kept them in separate containers. Kids had to pick the logos, paste them on their frames the way they like it and then paste the photo in the space where we stuck coloured newspaper! :)

The kids making their frames which they then took home! The decor was some balloons and sounds typically found in comic books which were printed, cut in funky shapes by the father and stuck on walls.

A finished frame would look something like this! :)


Oh and we got capes stitched for all the kids from https://www.facebook.com/pages/Vandanamu-Ethical-Cottons/117874911582117 which is a NGO basde out of Pondicherry run by Swapna's mum. Excellent choice if you want to get anything stitched - bags, aprons, capes etc at extremely reasonable rates and excellent finish! :)

The Bub, unused to NOT being the center of attention took on a supervisory role and kept grabbing crayons from everyone! sigh!

The party then moved to the club house for khaana peena. This was the welcome note! :) Again made by the father 20mins before the party! :)

The piece de resistance. Superhero Cupcakes! :D

Since we ran out of budget to make a themed cake as well, we bought a simple cake, used some sticks to put superhero logos we already had and Voila! :D


Point to note here is that we forgot candles! Yes, did i not tell you about our efficient planning. We also had to run and get the knife while the kids waited impatiently. Well, one lives and learns is all I can say in our defense! :p

For people who do not know much about Superheroes - some basic gyaan! :D

The pile of gifts! Brrrrrr! :)

And the best gift wrapping award goes to our very own Art and Anush! :D



So, this in nutshell was Cub's 5th. While we did lot of work for the party, the food part was completely outsourced and we had no complaints on that front.


We also realized that kids are so attuned to the concept of return gift that too in form of a cheap chinese toy that they just could not wrap their around the fact that the cape, the superhero wristband and couple of chocolates WAS the return gift! While some kids were so sweet that they asked us multiple times if they could indeed take the cape back home with them! :)


All in all, it was great fun organizing this party for the Cub and he seemed quite happy too! :)

You better read this letter

Sorry for that supremely lame title, but I do think it is a notch better than what came to my mind first - Maine tujhe khat likha (anyone remember / know that song?!;)

So, I am attempting to share some life lessons with Cub and Bub in this one. Of course, my life has been ridiculously simple (knock on wood!), so I really do not have lot of  varied experiences or major wisdom to share, but one has to make do with what one has, isn't it? :)


My dearest Cub and Bub,


It is an absolute joy to have YOU in our lives. Yes, it is also tiring and sometimes extremely frustrating, but most of the times it is fun. We revel in your achievements - big and small and feel your pain. We love seeing you become little people from being just ugly monkeys when you were born.


Stay happy. It really is a lot simpler than what most people think. Be kind and generous - with what you have and, even more importantly, with your time.

Smile - a lot! Cry when you feel like - it will make your heart feel that much lighter. Help others - every chance you get - whatever way you can. Just the other day, my darling Cub you told me, you helped Ishaan and his mother by holding the lift door open while they struggled to get his cycle in. I pray such actions come naturally to both of you - always.


Read baby, READ! There is no greater joy in this world than reading a good book. Read bad ones too, so that you can know the difference. Books take you to so many new places and let you learn so many new things. They entertain you, make you laugh and cry and ponder and have different points of view. Buy books, join a library and gift the ones you love every now and then.


Write too. A journal or a diary or a blog like this. I never did have the patience when young, but I have been really enjoying jotting down things about you guys. I am sure you will enjoy reading about childhood through my eyes once you are older. You do not even have to be brilliant with words. It is just a way to look back, see how far you have come and smile! :)


Dance! Two left feet, two right feet or you dance like a dream. There is something fabulously invigorating and liberating about dance. If you want to learn it, go on and do that. Does not matter whether it is something classical or dhinchak Bollywood. Even if you don't know how to, always get up and dance! :)


Make friends and keep them. Meet them as often as you can. Ones you cannot, try and keep in touch with them. Phone calls, letter, emails and whatever else is there by the time you grow up. Let me also tell you that not all of them will respond and you will wonder why? Possibly even feel a little hurt. Just understand that some people may have different priorities and it is not always personal. I am terrible at this and you should really learn from your father. He is SUCH a people person and a genuinely good friend! :)


While on topic of friends, surround yourself by people who make you feel good about yourself. By that, I obviously don't mean a bunch of Yes Wo/men. They might tell you off when they feel you have been wrong, but never ever make you think any less of yourself. It is such a waste of time to surround yourself with negative people who pull you down at every given chance.


Family cannot be chosen, but it is important. You will meet all sorts in your life and our families are our first initiation into everything nice and weird! :p Love them and let them love you in their own way. It will not always be easy, and yet there is nothing quite like it! :)


Repeat after me:  Love = Respect. Actually, no relationship is worth it if there is no respect in it. Always be polite. Say your thank you and sorry freely. It does not matter what age group or social status they belong to, no rudeness. EVER!


I wish I had the patience to write some more right now! (Hint: Next letter might start with "learn to be patient"!)


For now, you kids stay good, whine a little less and eat better, will ya?!



All my love

Mamma

yellow fever or another one bites the dust!

Now now! Do not let the title mislead you kind folks. This post is not about some serious / morbid stuff. This is about The Bub and her constant obsession with junk food. I really must do a full fledged Bub post before she outgrows all this cute stuff she is currently doing. Of course her love for junk food is NOT cute, but I refuse to get judged! Like always! :p


As usual, letting the pictures do the talking!

Quite enamored by the man - in - yellow! Thankfully McD's is something we do rarely! ;)

Maggi - what is it about this thing that has been flooring every generation since ours! :)

and Bub's eternal favourite - Popon aka known as Popcorn in more civilized societies! ;)



She refused to move from the counter till some was bought and slept only when most of it was consumed!

since it is Raksha Bandhan

i am sharing my story from Chicken Soup in which yours truly Ahem! got published! :) Hope all you managed to catch up with your brothers and sisters and had a good time! :)

Life was pretty much normal for a regular almost seven-year-old. She went to school, played with her friends and did her homework before she slept. Then one day, she noticed that her mother was getting bigger. Just the tummy really and then they told her she was going to have a baby brother or sister to play with. She was very excited. She hoped it would be a boy. She wanted a brother’s wrist to tie a rakhi on and to get gifts on Bhaidooj.

Suddenly one day, her mother was in the hospital, and she was waiting there eagerly with her grandmother. Sometime later, she noted a flurry of activity and it was only afterwards that someone took pity on the little girl who kept asking everyone who passed by, “What happened? What happened?” Her prayers had been answered!

She went to see the baby. HER own brother. She was amazed at how tiny and fair he was. Wearing a pointy eared cap, he looked like a bunny rabbit. Her mother made her sit on the bed and put him on her lap. She held him as if he was something extremely fragile and precious as she let her fingers gingerly stroke his soft skin.

But this love affair was short lived. She quickly lost interest in the baby who did little more than sleep and have milk. Maybe she even felt a little resentful of the fact that the attention being divided. And also, she found that she had nothing in common with him, not taking into consideration the age gap! She just did not know what to do with him. But that did not stop her from being protective about him. She could kill anyone who would bother him and yet she was also a bit of a bully and not exactly the best big sister one could have. What a paradox of emotions!

Yet she was probably the person who was most proud of his achievements. She shed tears when he missed out on getting things he should have just by a whisker. And then one day, it was like a barrier was broken. Whether it was her brother’s precocious nature and genius mind or just a question of age, she still does not know, but she cannot thank her stars enough for the day that the great divide had been crossed. Suddenly they were cracking jokes, making fun of each other, ganging up against their parents and discussing movies. They made their own language which no one could fathom and drove everyone around them nuts! They knew that in each other, they had a strong shoulder of support and an ever-ready ear for listening. Always.

The brother always claimed that he would be happy to be rid of her when she got married. He would finally get some extra space in the house for his stuff. She bet him that he would cry. When it turned out that she was right after all, she did not do her normal victory dance at having won the bet. Later, after all concerned pairs of eyes had been dried and the tears had turned to smiles, she never let go a single opportunity to tease him about it. There was even some photographic evidence!

She was the one he called in the middle of the night to share the news of his internship and then his job. It was with her that he plotted to surprise their parents by flying down from across the seas when they were least expecting it. She was not in the same town, but the excitement was so infectious. Her hands were itching to call her parents and ask her brother what their faces looked like when they saw him standing at their doorstep at such an ungodly hour!

Before they knew he was not the baby she though he was. He had finished his graduation and was traveling abroad to study some more. They both hugged and cried again. But before he went away, he got to see his nephew. She loved seeing them together. There was some kind of an instant connection between them. She was proven right. Her son and her brother met only once a year, yet her son jumped up to his Mama as if he had known him forever and it always warmed the cockles of her heart to see the love. It broke a little too because they lived so far apart, but mostly she was just happy. Make that very happy.

This time when he came back, he had two kids to pamper. His sister had given birth to a daughter. He came loaded with gifts for all of them and yet again she was struck by how much her little brother had grown up. The the vernacular Didi was now replaced by a more hep Sis, but it sounded as good. He had picked up such perfect gifts for everyone. He was even looking rather mature with his French beard, but it took just one childhood memory to unleash those bouts of merciless teasing! Her son watched his mother and his uncle indulging in fist fight with a wide eyed wonder that she can never forget.

This time she saw her daughter who was just around 45 days old, take to him like a child takes to cotton candy. He, as always, amazed her by being superbly comfortable handling such a tiny baby and having actual conversations with her. Her son was still under his spell and she once again breathed in the perfection of the moment and her hand reached out to the nearest piece of wood…

And now, as she looks at her son and daughter, she is swept up in the emotions of it all. She remembers her son holding on tenderly to his little sister when she was put in his lap for the first time. She notices how he runs to her cradle every time she cries and how she has eyes for no one but him when he is around. She sees the occasional resentment and anger too. She gets a little worried and then smiles. She knows how this is going to turn out eventually. At least she hopes she knows. She says a little prayer thanking God for this sight, asking Him to bless them with an equally special relationship and once again reaches for that piece of wood…

Sometimes it’s a good thing that we cannot pick our relatives!