Introducing Shreya & Sahana Sheth...

We had a packed house after Xmas with both sets of grandparents and one of my friends' from London, Aarti, staying with us. Lots of great memories of hiking trails,Shreya's first film in the cinema, first puppet show put on by the girls, and some adult fun too - daily cocktail hour and some dinners out. All in all a great end to 2013 and start to 2014! Noor & Shreya ready for 'Frozen' Even bigger thrill when Shreya realised you get ice-cream at the cinema Audience ready for Shreya's puppet show Shreya in action Sani decided she wanted to have a turn - here is her totally spontaneous and clearly unrehearsed performance Aarti & I managing a Lands End trail More ice-cream courtesy of Aunty Aarti Shame we couldn't keep the shades Swimming class with Grandpa Fun with the grandmas including a face painted Sani Singing for the camera Relaxing with Dada Final night dinner at Orexi

And finally it was Shreya's real birthday. Unfortunately she spent the previous night fielding a stomach bug so our plans to go out for the day were cancelled. It didn't dampen her spirits though (how can it when it is your bday!) and we still managed a low key celebration with a short visit to the park to try out her new roller skates, an afternoon at the nail salon for the girls (probably her most favourite thing ever) and presents and cake to the end the day. I will probably say this on every birthday for the girls but I can't quite believe that we have a 6 year old. The things I will cherish the most from this year are seeing her become more willing to try new things (thankfully including new foods), her keen interest in learning not only at school but about everything around her and seeing her grow into her role as a caring and patient big sister not only to Sani but to the other younger kids in our life. Happy birthday to our sweet 6 year old! Trying out ...

We were in Sacramento again this year for X'mas. Another wonderful few days with family and friends during an unusually warm weather spell. Special thanks to Samir and Mili for being such amazing hosts, yet again. Decorating the gingerbread house and cookies Best buddies reunited Fab 5 looking forward to opening their stockings White elephant gift exchange on Xmas Eve for the adults The calm before the rush to open the presents Sani just thrilled with her gifts!

Part 2 was a celebration with all the kids in Shreya's class since we were unable to invite all of them to her party. Shreya wasn't keen on us reading a story to the class so we came up with a few different things. We put together a poster of her six favourite memories from the past year and she presented this to the class. The six things she chose were her first trip to Paris, learning to ride a bike, first time ice-skating, the class winter program, our thanksgiving trip and spending time with Arjun, Aiden, Sani & Naya. This was followed by game of 'Pass the parcel'. The initial suggestion of the game was met with blank stares from her teachers and I soon realised that not only is 'parcel' an uncommon word here (I guess package is used instead) but the game itself isn't a party favourite. Nonetheless the kids soon got the hang of it and were each anxiously waiting their turn! For those not in the know, you wrap a parcel in numerous layers of wrapping...

is to cuddle up with your sister.

We drove down to Half Moon Bay this morning for lunch at the Ritz there. The weather was very kind to us and the girls had a great time running along the scenic paths on the hotel grounds. There are also a couple of photos at the end of some nights out we enjoyed with my parents. Dinner at Boulevard At the Fifth Floor

As we were driving to dinner after Shreya's party, Sani suddenly started saying 'Wasssup'. When we asked her about this she said that was pretty much her conversation with Michael (Cesare's dad) at Shreya's party. She did a pretty good impression of Michael and it amused us for quite a while after.