On time, pick up and melt down

 

- I ignored the early morning alarm and overslept. Bunny and Honey got ready on time with their packed lunch. Phew!

- Akki stayed home as he was down with cold. We both went to pick him up from the school. Akki was sure that his little brother would be happy seeing us.

- It was a busy day and we couldn't get Bunny to a mall as he requested in the morning. He had a great melt down and I talked to him about how busy his father and I were all day and we would take him on the weekend. He later came to me while I was making dinner and said that I was correct and he could see the things his parents did for him all day. I told him that he was an understanding child and I was happy for that. Then he asked, 'OK, so when can we go to mall again?", after all, he is still a child.

Drop off, grown up and wake up

 

- Normally it's Honey who drops off kids at school. I accompanied them today, they liked it very much and me too.

- A phone conversation with my nephew where he was sharing his college stories. I felt that kid had grown up already.

- Bunny trying to wake up Honey from a quick nap so that they could go together for a quick errand outside.

Meeting, pick up and effortless

 - My little sis landed this morning. It was a meeting after 6 years. We had a great time having lunch at my parent's house. 

 - Bunny had an injury and scraped his knee. Honey took him to dispensary and got his wound dressed. I went to pick him up with the gifts his aunt brought for him and his brother. Their faces lit up as soon as they saw me and even more as they laid their eyes on the gifts.

- A post dinner walk with Honey after almost a week. For some reasons it was effortless and we didn't realize when we hit the target already.

Persuasion, evening playtime and bedtime

 - We played 'Ludo' with kids in the afternoon and Bunny was keen on winning, in the process he veered to the 'unfair' side. Akki was pissed off and sad because of his brother. I took him to near by bodego and offered a coke. It melted him and he wanted to take one for his brother and father too who were on the swings in the park. Later Akki was telling Bunny, ' I got you a Thumsup this time, please play fair next time Bunny'. 

 - a. Watching the sunset while kids playing cricket.
   b. Got a new acquaintance in the park who exclaimed that we have been living in the neighborhood for almost 1 year and she hadn't seen us before. Yes, we live a low-profile life .. wink.

- a. Bunny setting up his Spiderman figurine onto the window with his fake gold chain hanging in Spiderman's neck. 

 b. A concern in Akki's voice when I told him his granny(my mom) was tested positive for Dengue. He was assured when I said hers is of low grade and she would be taken good care.

Hugs after 2 days, favorite lunch and late evening breeze

 - Hugging kids after 2 days when they woke up in the morning. We cuddled longer than usual. It was evident that we missed each other a lot.

 - Honey and I bought kids' favorite meals from Lucknow which they had for lunch. We had to cram a lot of things because of our short schedule when we visited Lucknow, one of them was bringing back taste of Lucknow for our kids and it paid off.

 - Honey and I were very tired as we were just back, so we ditched our night walk and sat on a bench near by our neighborhood enjoying the cool breeze.

Purple sky, too many and Akki

 - I found a promising sunny day from the purple east corner of the sky.

 - Bunny: "How many alphabets are in Hindi"
    Me: "56, may be."
   Bunny: "So many alphabets..."

   Me: "Yes, Indian languages are very rich ..", Bunny: "You once said Japanese have around 5K characters .. Looking at that I am happy, I have to learn less alphabets in Hindi."

- During bedtime, Akki assured me that he would drift into sleep eventually and encouraged me to go on about my business. I sobbed into his hair realizing how sensitive he was towards my pressing time schedule due to a short trip.

75th Independence day, shopping and papdi chat

 

- Woke up to a beautiful morning. Today India marked 75 years of Independence, we put up a flag a few days back and went out to view the flag hoisting in our neighbourhood.

- A trip to near  by market for errands(oven repair, kids clothes, socks and etc) and post lunch shopping with quick stops to buy a few gifts to our extended family as we will be visiting them sooner this week.

- At the end of the shopping, Honey and I indulged in buying baked goodies like Hyderabad famous Osmania biscuits, short cakes and pastries for kids. We both enjoyed a tea break with papdi chat. Ummm, biting into the papdi chat after a very long time made myself revisit my memories with friends. 

Coffee in the balcony, Sunday market and improvised dinner

 - Having morning coffee with Honey in the balcony looking into the cloudy skies and wonderful breeze.

 - Bunny, Honey and I went to the Sunday market in our neighbourhood, we got some fresh fruits and then it started raining prompting the vendors to sell at lower prices. 

 - Planned for a homemade pizza night. I got the dough raised miraculously and other ingredients, however the oven stopped working after it was preheated. Luckily, I made some spaghetti and rice as side dishes which  became main dishes later. ;)

A hearty breakfast, fight and Rakhi

 - It's a school holiday on the account of Rakshabandhan today. Kids had their favorite chola bhatura for breakfast.

 - Both brothers had a fight and it went till throwing things at each other. They patched up sooner than I thought.

 - We had the ritual of tying Rakhi in the evening. We went out to a tiny carnival held in our neighborhood. Bunny went up to the bouncing castle where as Akki had a scoop of vanilla.

Good news I, good news II and a rainbow

 - My little sis texted me that she booked her ticket to visit us in the last week of August for a month. It has been 6 yrs since we have been with her after she relocated half way across the world.

 - The university I applied to my masters came back with a positive decision. If all goes well, I will be starting in fall.

 - Honey spotted a rainbow in the east sky across our balcony. Kids and I spotted a faint second rainbow just above the first one. ;)

A day off, afternoon nap and butter cake

 - It was a day off for Akki, Bunny and myself. We had a lazy morning with some eggrolls as breakfast.

 - Stealing an afternoon nap for 1 hour after being down with cold entire day. I was in my best spirits after that.

 - I baked a butter cake with both vanilla and choco flavors following the recipe https://www.ruchikrandhap.com/butter-cake-simply-delicious/. I enjoyed mixing butter with all the ingredients and making a smooth cake. Kids loved it very much.

Meal plan, Bunny's shoes and brave Akki

 - I decided to create a weekly plan ahead of the week so that I can offload some of my mental load to search for menus for the never ending breakfast-lunch-dinner(sometimes evening snacks) cycle. I did my first meal plan for the current week.

- Bunny waited to receive his shoes personally in the evening by holding off his play hour with his brother. He was very content with his new shoes.

- Akki had a great fall and the skin on his left knee got scratched off. I offered him he could cry by cudding with me if it would make him feel better which he declined gently. Later he confessed that he wanted to cry but held it back as he thought he could handle it. 

Lazy morning, rain and patch up

 - It was rather a slow Sunday morning and some egg sandwiches for breakfast. Mother-in-law made some dal and baati(her favourite!) for lunch.

- Eating lunch together with Honey in the afternoon after cancelling our shopping plans due to contiuous drizzle.

- Looking into the eye and smiling as an act of patch up, again with Honey. ;)

Off to school, last working day and an icecream cake

 - Bunny says loudly 'I love you so much' every day while the car moves away from me off to school. I think of that sweet face all day till he comes back home. Sweet Akki doesn't express much but I am lucky that he is my son. 

 - A farewell call with my colleagues on my last working day in this company. It's hard to leave them and move on. I will be focusing on my further education and upgrading skills.

 - An ice cream cake for my mother-in-law's birthday. She seemed to like it, I guess.

Mehendi, puja and punch

 - While cuddling with me in the morning, Bunny remembered that I put mehendi on my hands and paused a bit to check the designs.

 - I celebrated teej puja by praying to Maa Gauri in the early morning. My kids' faces were surprised and lit up to see me all decked up on Sunday morning.

 - a. Akki punched the dummy punch bag and his punch made it to fall on the ground. I heard someone saying 'oh! just one punch. We couldn't get it down with so many punches'.

 - b. Akki checking his weight after a quick round of treadmill walk in Decathlon. To his dismay, he didn't come down a bit. 

Exercise, mamma's blog and a call

 - Brief leg exercise which stretched my muscles alleviating the discomfort.

 - Teetee got a glimpse of my blog post from the other day about 'lassi', gave me a side look meaning 'you had lassi alone without me'.

 - A late evening call to one of my best friends who will be visiting me very soon. I couldn't wait to meet her.

Sweet and sour, book hunt and cozy dinner

 - Kids tasting my citrus snack for the first time. They liked the sweet and sour taste of mosambi. I will try to add more whole fruits during snack time.

- Teetee had been asking for library activity book since weekend, so Honey and I went out about this impossible errand as every book shop keeper said they had never heard about such book. A call with his teacher clarified that he needed to carry a simple ruled book. 

- Noodles and fried rice for dinner. Yum!

School Off, Citrus snack and night walk

 - A slow morning as kids' school was off. That means a few more cuddles all day. Also I told them that I restarted writing my blog which they can read when they will be older to know how their mamma lived her life!

 - I had a mosambi for a snack in the later afternoon which was sweet and sour and refreshing.

 - A night walk  with Honey around the locality talking about things we can solve, cannot solve, to dos for tomorrow and etc. 

A short walk, lassi and a big word

Starting again after a very long time.

Honey and I went for an errand followed by  a short walk. Though it was refreshing, I had to drag him inside the house as we were already late for breakfast.

Taking the first mouthful of lassi and feeling it's deliciousness spreading across my mouth.

While watching an interesting video showing all the biggest things in the world, Teetee casually said 'Pyromaniac', hearing it first time from my son made me feel proud.