Christmas 2016

Christmas Eve morning I hid the girls stockings and while they looked for them I started cooking breakfast. They opened the stockings and after breakfast we started getting ready to go to Aunt Lish's house where we ate lots of fudge & traded gifts with them. In the evening we made cookies & opened an awesome bowling game, bowled for a bit, and then to bed so Santa could make his stop at our home ;-)
Christmas morning started around 8:00 and my girls patiently waited until after breakfast to start unwrapping gifts even after they seen Santa had brought them the zoomer chimps they had ask for. Even Beans didn't bother the presents under the tree. We opened gifts taking turns for almost an hour, played with new toys, put some things away & then got ready to go to grandma's house.
At grandma's we ate lunch, mostly cooked by grandpa and then the girls gave out the gifts. Beans was so funny, she gave everyone she picked up to momma. Daddy finished up some technical issues and then we headed home.
We turned on the Jim Carey version of The Grinch, the girls played with their new toys, and Daddy played a new video game. At dinner time he made waffles with mommies new waffle maker. 

November

November came & went so fast. We did so much.  The girls turned 7, I passed all my exams & started my new career, beans started school full-time, and we had a great thanksgiving holiday.

Happy birthday lovies!

The girls had 2 little parties & we spent the night at Great Wolf Lodge! 7 was a big birthday & lots of fun!

Halloween

Never been a fan, glad it's over! Next year were gonna start something different. Something more creative than visiting a store to pick out a costume, something actually enjoyable for everyone.  Vaishali was a good witch, Anjali a tiger, & Beans an adorable ladybug. Beans was sick & getting a picture difficult but Bubby did get one. Now onto Christmas;-)

Brother Turns 17

Earlier this month Jacob turned 17! He thinks he's a man lol he looks like one! We had cake and gave him a fishing kayak. The boy loves to fish! All he talks about is fishing & his love for America; a true country boy at heart. We have to sneak pics, he doesn't like them. So, I think Dinesh took these real quick.

First Days of School

The girls are one month into the school year and it's been exhausting! If they ride the bus both morning & afternoon, they're on the bus over 3 hours a day! So, we had to cut one of those out. Anjali has actually made plans to stay home all weekend & sleep haha. She has to be tired to say such a thing! They do love school though. They have different teachers this year & their both doing great! Fortunately, they still have recess together since Vaishali has to occassionally stick up for her sissy. Vaishali says she loves having lots of school work; Mommy & Daddy are so proud of them. Beans started a mother's morning out class a couple mornings a week. She loves going to play & comes home super tired & naps until her sissy & deedee get home. It feels so good seeing that big smile on her face when she runs to me & Daddy when we pick her up. My Beans makes me smile every day :-) Love my girls!

Fun with kids...

...kind of weekend! This coming week we'll finally be moving into our new home! This is gonna start a whirlwind of busyness for us, moving, my semester of classes two weeks later,  then two weeks after that the girls will start school in a new school, and Beans will start a 3-day week half-day preschool a couple weeks after the girls. So,  this weekend was just for fun!  Friday we visited the local kids museum & bought a year-long membership. This is by far our favorite museum ever!  On Saturday we surprised the girls with a trip to Jurassic Quest, a special dinosaur themed event & then a visit to Toys R Us where Vaishali said it was the best day of her life, lol. Sunday was a bit more restful, hanging around the house getting a few things done, letting the girls play & then a quick trip to McDonald's with Daddy for icecream cones before they went to the grocery store while me & Beans stayed at home & watched Leapfrog.  After pizza for dinner the girls watched Kung-fu Panda 3 with Daddy. Now let the busyness begin!

4th of July Beach Trip

We took a quick trip to Carolina Beach this weekend and had so much fun! We played on the beach 4 times one night until 9:30, went swimming a couple times, rode rides at a carnival beside our hotel, walked on the boardwalk and had snowcones, ate at a cool restaurant, watched fireworks one night from the balcony of our room and then again the next night on the beach, and then visited the aquarium before we left. Fun & relaxing. Hoping to do it again next year :-)

Miranda got MARRIED!

On Saturday July 2nd Miranda married Cody in our Halstead house. It was beautiful & my girls were flower girls in the wedding. Pics to come...

Ashboro Zoo

A couple weekends ago we went to the zoo. Beans first trip to Ashboro Zoo! We were busy with 3 girls, so not many pics ;-)

Summer Sawant Carnival

...or carnibal as Vaishali likes to say. Today I planned a few things for the girls to do late in the evening as they wanted to stay out past dark & they declared it the Sawant Summer Carnival! As per the calendar it's not actually summer yet however, it was 98 sweltering degrees outside today. So, I'm calling it summer! Once the sun started to go down & it was time for Beans to go to bed, Daddy blew-up the air mattress & I put on a movie on the laptop. While they watched their movie daddy & I relaxed on the hammock. Once tired of that, they went swimming & played with some glow-in-the-dark coloring sticks in the pool, chased fire flies & then back to a movie before coming in to take a bath & go to bed. Fun day!

Camping

Okay, it turned out to be just day camping but it was fun. Unfortunately impending thunderstorms made us pack up & head home. We still pitched our tent, hung out at the campground, had hotdogs over the fire pit at home & smores. Went swimming in the kiddy pool & the girls slept in their sleeping bags downstairs.

May 2016

May was extreme.  We moved back to NC, my 37th bday, mom's bday, mother's day, Mikes bday, mom's surgery, & then Daddy's 38th bday. 

Mothers Day

Mother's day was so nice this year. I haven't had all my kids together on mother's day in 4 years! I enjoyed it so much that I forgot to take any pictures. In the morning daddy made bacon and I had breakfast in bed. I spent an hour reading my new amish book & then got everyone bathed & dressed up.  Everyone went over to mom's house, Mike & Dinesh grilled out while me & mom cooked inside. We ate, hung out for a few hours, went to dairy queen, and then the park to play & walk. Later, when I realized I didn't take pics I went around taking pics of all my gifts from the kids.