Life Lessons from Priya

In the car on the way home from Golden Corral... she suddenly reminds us:

"Always remember this... trees are the real heroes. They give us air, they grow food, they give us wood and paper".

Happy Birthday Priya

Finally it's here... the long awaited birthday. For at least 2 weeks we have been answering questions like "How many days until Mommy's birthday?", "How many days after Mommy's birthday is my birthday?", "When is my real birthday?", "When is my birthday party?", "Will you promise that you'll get me a gift card from Target and something else?", "Can I open those gifts on my real birthday?", "Is it Saturday yet?"... well, you get the idea. I have never seen her so anxious about her birthday, so I was hoping that today wouldn't be spoiled by all the hype.

After opening the family gifts this morning, we went to see "The Bee Movie" in the afternoon and let Priya choose her favorite restaurant for dinner. She decided on Golden Corral which made me very happy and made Bartee really sad. Birthdays are about the only way we can drag Daddy to our favorite home-cooked buffet-style place. As it turns out, we received some surprise birthday benefits. Bonus points for the Corral!! While getting our drinks, I decided to ask if they do anything special for birthdays, and the lady mentioned that they will come out and sing. I have never seen this at Golden Corral before... something to keep in the back pocket for unsuspecting friends. Anyway, then she mentioned while ringing us up that she would "comp" Priya's meal. Wow... unexpected savings... we may have even won points with Daddy here. Just about through with our meal, and the waiter, Matt, comes over and says, "I hear it's someone's birthday over here" and drops 3 puzzles on the table for Priya to take home. You gotta give it to them; they really outdid theirselves this time. Only solidifying my love for this down-on-the-farm food that reminds me so much of my childhood.

To top the day off, Priya has one of her very best friends over for a sleepover. A near perfect birthday for a 6 year old!

About Growing Up

This week has been a fun break from the routine of school. As a family, we have had a lot of fun together, and of course, we have been busy planning a birthday party for our little kindergartener. All this family bonding has spurred some thinking from Priya. While we were walking into Lowe's today (ok, so some of the fun involved running errands), Priya says to me, "Do you have to move away from your parents when you grow up?". When I told her "no" her eyes lit up and she said, "Good, 'cause I'm not going to". And later, she wanted to know, "Can you pick me up from college every day?"... "Do I have to stay at college every night?". These things warm my heart and I know I have to treasure them because some day when she grows bigger she will be reluctant to accept even hugs and kisses from those that raised her.

Happy Thanksgiving

So for the past 6 days, Sanjay has been wishing me a Happy Birthday. The excitement of my birthday has lingered, but now there's something new to celebrate. Today is Thanksgiving and we were lucky enough to have shared it with some good friends down the street. He's already said "Happy Thanksgiving Mommy" a few times today. Let's see if it spills over into tomorrow.

Thankful Turkeys

Inspired by a friend's blog, we did a craft today related to the holidays. We should all spend time recalling what in our lives we are thankful for, and Thanksgiving is the perfect time for just that. It has always been my favorite holiday... whether for the big family gatherings, the warm indoors when the weather is starting to turn, the delicious pumpkin pie with a ratio of 1:1 to the whipped cream, my birthday kicking off the season or the egg nog. I just love this time of year. We have been in Colorado now for 5 Thanksgivings and are fortunate enough to have been invited to crash family celebrations 3 times now. I am so thankful for the close friends we have because there's nothing worse than spending Thanksgiving in a Mimi's Cafe or Golden Corral. Thanksgiving should be the one time of year that you spend dining with a big group of close friends or family. It is this holiday that makes me miss Maryland the most. So, the kids are thankful for at least 4 things each... as indicated by the feathers on their turkeys:

Priya: I am thankful for...
my family. (originally spelled famely, but insisted on correcting it)
native Americans.
having a brother.
the differences of everybody.

Sanjay: I am thankful for...
having Priya.
having a race truck.
Daddy.
having a Mom. (I had to pry this one out of him)

The Case of The Crying Cave

This evening at dinner Priya shared with us her plans of writing a book called "The Case of the Crying Cave". The plot... some boy scouts walking in the forest stumble upon a cave that is making noise. Inside the cave, they find a monster. End of story. Daddy suggests that a mystery shouldn't be scary like that and instead maybe they solve the case by figuring out that the noise was made by the blowing wind in the cave rather than an actual living being. It made for a very interesting dinner conversation. However, Priya is still very concerned about how she will make it into a book. She still can't spell all the words that she can speak, and how will she ever bind the pages?? Oh, the worries of a 5 year old.

Company for Christmas

Earlier this week, Jeanette and family made plans to come visit us for Christmas for a few days. Although this will be a short visit, it's always fun to be together with family during the holidays. Unexpectedly, Mom called today telling me that she was trying to talk Jean into coming out for Christmas and that Dad had already made up his mind that he was making the trip. Wow, can this be true? Am I dreaming? One thing that has really bummed me out about moving to Colorado is that we haven't been home for the holidays since leaving. Every year we justify it by promising to head East for the summer when we can enjoy the beaches, but there's something about celebrating Thanksgiving and/or Christmas with family that I've been really missing. So, needless to say I am anxiously looking forward to Christmas with my family. The only thing that would make it better would be Mom joining us... maybe she'll change her mind. I can only wish.