We Are Doing Fine

Hello dears! The time has gone so fast. Life is just way too fast too, many things happened, work, home, deals... We as well had really bad news about the demise of our family's (in Kazakhstan) best friend  in the early February. I was extremely saddened by this news, as so many childhood memories were linked to him and his family. I pray his soul rests in peace.
Just like everyone of you I suppose, I sometimes want to just stop and take a deep breath and reassure myself that everything is going to be just fine.
Well, let's see what we have been up to these days. Actually, nothing remarkable:) All the more enjoyable as little A is having vacations now and spending more time at home. So I have to invent various activities for him to keep him entertained (and busy too).
Here we did some yarn pasting, which in the end turned to a fun "yarn-spreading-all-over-the-drawing-room" activity, lol. Little A LOVES crafting a lot!

A couple of weeks ago we visited a garden and were surprised by the presence of the owls! Can you see its' round head and body? They were 2 or 3 of them, really cute, and little A was delighted to see real owls at last. So was I! Moreover, I never thought they lived in our hot climate here.

On weekends I usually take A out to the park. There we are free to do whatever comes in mind (after swings and slides of course).

Here is Little A's rainbow as he called when I asked what he drew on the sand :) Some school kids joined us for a spontaneous stone activity last weekend. The right most picture is what one of the boys made: sun and a flower. What made me especially happy is that the boys themselves came to us and started participating , gathering more pebbles, I could see they were very interested and curious.

When I get cravings of some homemade baked goodness, I start ... baking! So easy, nah? :)) I once again made the small apple crust pies.

 And just yesterday tried my hand on baked Indian samosas! All vegetarian :) They turned out really great this time, soft and tasty. Baked samosa recipe is from here.

I suppose that's all for today.. and oh yea! Forgot to say that we watched the Beauty and the Beast movie... I am still under its' spell! Such a beautiful movie, dynamic yet romantic... :) I can watch it again.

Things to Cherish and Value

I know I have been sounding rather upset and sad in my previous posts. But I know that you all understand and share the same feelings as I. However, after discussing the same with D several times over the last weekend, I had to go on and carry on to take of my little boy, because he is the one who needs our care and love right here right now, and thank god we are able to give these and more to him.
I kept myself busy last weekend completing the old projects and making new ones. Here is a glimpse of our New Year tree in all its spontaneity and  variety of ornaments and decor.

This little Gnome is sitting joyfully on the branches - a gift from my parents.

You must have seen these all over the internet. I fell in love with the idea of making my own gnome or a nisse. This was a half an hour project - made of a sock, felt and yarn. I want to make one for my parents as well.

I have at last finished this felt Russian doll (Matryoshka). She is not perfect but I am glad I attempted this  felt ornament.

It is time to display my latest cross stitch - a Santa carrying a little new year tree. Perhaps, I will leave it in this loop only, not framing this time. The cross stitch required a black outlining -  I don't have time to do this and, to tell the truth, I like it the way it is.

Stars, stars everywhere! By the way, I used little A's play dough cutters to make these cookies (after thorough washing of course) :)) since I am yet to buy steel cookie cutters. The recipe I used is this Shortbread Cookies with addition of some milk and ginger to the dough. They came out very tasty and crispy.

So that's all about how I am trying to get into a better mood. I wish that all of you dear friends had peaceful, joyful, cozy holidays and spent all the great moments with your loved ones. Cherish each and every such moment!

The Festival Season is On

Following the last post about Dussehra here I am going to tell about another North Indian festival called Karva Chauth which took place on 19th of October - a day when wives fast for a well-being of their husbands. It is a tradition in many North Indian families, and we also follow it. Though this year I didn't keep fast, I followed all other rituals of this day, like applying mehendi (henna), dressing up in suit and wearing bangles, attending pooja in a temple, and at last breaking the fast when the moon rises. This time the moon kept us waiting till 10 pm until it finally became visible behind the houses...

Other than celebrations, we are in our usual mode - office, home, school. Last weekend was particularly enjoyable because in-laws were out of city and we had the house all to ourselves, forgive me announcing this happiness openly, but this is required at times. They also had some break from routine in Delhi, attending a marriage. We had  a lovely family time at home. I indulged in baking again - this time Apple Crust Pie with cinnamon - it was delicious! Easy-peasy to make too.

Little A has got his portion of delight on weekend by playing with colourful dough. I purchased a set of cutters along with four dough pieces.

                                             

Look how many shapes we made! He especially likes a star, a circle, a heart and a butterfly :) To my amusement the play dough is still popular with little A.

Today when I was dropping A to his school, his class teacher met us at the reception with a giant spider in her hands! Hehe, they are preparing for Halloween now. After I said "Bye, I love you, baby!" to my boy (while he was too interested in that handmade spider to even look back at me.lol), and was about leave the premises, I noticed these cute bats and spiders on the lobby's TV stand - aren't they fun? They made me smile!

 Have a happy day and enjoy time spent with your dear ones :)

Indian Festival, Craft Activities and Baking

The festival season has started in North India, revolving around mythological stories about Ram and Sita. One of such holidays is called Dussehra which per Wiki is "Dasa-hara is a form of Dasanan ravan ("Ravana's defeat") and it took place yesterday (11th of October). I have been celebrating this festival since 2010. Nevertheless the most enjoyable  we had so far was this year's because our little A could already understand what was going on and liked the whole thing so much that he didn't want to leave the place. He had already had some knowledge about this festival as it was told to him at school, and brought home this demon Ravaan paper puppet:

The activities, held on this days, always include symbolical burning of the demons, Ravaan and his brothers.  The giant dolls are made much in advance but burned in a matter of minutes. I kind of feel sad every time I look at it.

Indeed, children bring so much joy, happiness and meaning to everything around them, perceiving each and every moment with excitement, curiosity and naivety. My little son was so stunned by the fireworks, repeating again and again that those were the STARS as the sparks were flying up in the sky... For some reason he also took a standing type of the firework for water and kept on shouting excitedly: "Mommy, look, vada, vada!" (voda means "water" in Russian). Till I explained it was kind of fire (ogon' in Russian), very hot. Then he started saying "Mommy, look, hot, hot" and showing with gestures and mimics as if touching something really hot. We had so much fun with A, noticing how young child's mind reacts to different new situations and discovers new subjects to think about.

I tried to contribute to A's entertainment as well when it was possible on weekend. He really likes all the crafty projects. Thus we did simple Diya coloring with some sequins decoration. A likes using cotton swabs and can you see this concentrated face?:)

 The next day I conducted a DIY stamps activity which didn't keep little A busy for long, but at least he tried something new.

Even I amused myself with some fast almost on-the-go project which I had on my mind for a very long time. I made a felt owl of course... Working with felt for the first time was a little tricky, and I should have used another stitch to sew two parts together. Well, I hope for better results in further projects.

Oh yeah, and I had done a little bit of baking last weekend. Tried awesome cinnamon rolls recipe -non-dairy, eggless though uses yeast. I used atta (a kind of wholemeal flour) instead of all purpose flour and omitted apples and raisins (as not everyone actually likes them in our family). As the dough takes time to be ready, I prepared it in the evening and used the next morning.

The best baking was a very dark chocolate cake! I thought I burned it actually when I came to check on the process, lol. The recipe has no eggs and milk as well. The pancakes were also dairy and egg-free. I am not a vegetarian (yet) but due to the fact that there are two vegetarians in our family I have to opt for special recipes for them, so all my baking is eggless now. But to tell the truth it doesn't change the degree of yumminess :)))

Enjoy your week! Be happy and healthy!

Summer Things

Hello friends! That's right - we have no spring in here, but Summer right away... it has got really really hot already, up to +28! It's not a joke because now it will start getting only hotter. Nevertheless we cannot skip doing our daily deals, right?
Last weekend we as usually took a walk in the garden - a Terrace garden this time for our little A to enjoy new surroundings. He is FOND of the stairs and steps! As soon as he sees them anywhere he wants to climb up and down... We are very careful to choose places where he can do it safely. Under our supervision of course.

The garden had many most bright and cute flowers! As usual I don't know their names...

 This is the longest flower bed there... loved how it stretches further...

We stopped to take photos of this tree somewhere on the way; it has no leaves but huge red flowers! I am wondering what fruits it might give? These trees are everywhere in the city now.

Besides wandering around, I try to be productive on a crafty front. Here is what I put in my To accomplish list - a Waffle stitch dining set for little A. I am using tutorial by Kathleen of Miss Abigail's Hope Chest. Loved this stitch, and wanted to learn it after seeing on Sangeetha's post.

Also as we had bought a 3 in 1 microwave oven, I now can bake! Yey! Here are my latest oatmeal, flour, atta, ginger and turmeric muffins. I am glad that baking products and equipment became available in India in recent years. One can afford them easily as well.

This is pretty much it for today... I aim to finish pending projects in nearest future and start new ones as soon as possible. Thank you for all the comments and sharing of your experience on raising a child in many languages. Next post will try to make on what toddler activities I could incorporate in A's routine, and what didn't work for us. Still working on creating a quiet book for him and busy bags for a future trip home.

Have a wonderful day!

Holidays' Spirit Created by Yourself :)

Hello my lovely friends! West Christian Christmas is just round the corner so is the New year! I am full of holidays' spirit these days, creating the mood myself for myself and wanting to share with all of you. I will also visit your lovely blogs soon, since I absolutely LOVE all the holiday posts made by you, and I want to finally keep a pace too :)
(Maybe not related to this post, but I started reading the Thirteenth Tale by Diana Setterfield and I love it! Anyone read it too? Perfect read to divert your thoughts).
My holiday spirit started with ... baking! I tried for the first time to bake cookies in our IFB convection oven. First attempt... hmmm, too sugary and buttery and crunchy, but we ate it all :P

Second attempt - much much better! I am going to use the same recipe with different flavours for Christmas treats. In plans, let's see how it realizes itself, to make a traditional winter wine gluhwein! :) Yumm! I will find this eggless recipe among my notes and provide a link here.

Yahoo, I managed to make some tree ornaments! Which cost zero I believe. Here is a Pinterest inspiration  - a Christmas star ornament made of sticks :) I later painted it golden, and also painted pine cones my D got from Manali last year, more photos are yet to come.

 We went to buy a New year tree few days ago, and it was proudly placed in the drawing room :))) Of course I wanted to have it primary for my little A to enjoy all the celebrations related to Christmas and New Year, since we cannot go to Kazakhstan this winter. But.. I am a big child too, therefor it brings loads of joy to me as well. It is not yet fully decorated in this picture.

And at last... My little boy is now a Christmas elf! :) I don't usually post his pictures in my blog, but it's a special occasion now. How do you like his look? D's childhood sweater (more than 30 years old!), and a red hooded shirt along with a hat created an unexpectedly elf-looking costume. Little A loves wearing this Santa hat, especially that it has become really cold at home. Here are his photos to compare how much he grew since last year. I cannot believe this! :)

To conclude my post ;

Happy holidays and happy coming up Christmas, dear friends, from our family!