Judy's Visit

We've been graced with my sister, Judy's presence for the past week.  Here's a glimpse of the fun that we had together.  More to come...

  

Bike Riding

Priya has been doing great with her bike riding.  She's getting better at it every day!  Today we took a walk/bike ride around campus.  It was the longest trip she's taken yet.  Way to go Priya!

Peterson Scottish Night

On Tuesday night we attended the Peterson Family's Scottish Night.  They will be leaving Redding next month to return to Scotland as missionaries.  Their family has become very dear to us and selfishly we are very sad to see them go.  But we know that the Lord has great things in store for them and their ministry overseas. Below is a glimpse of the evening we enjoyed with them.  We love you Peterson family!

Too Much Fun For One Day!!

We had an awesome day today and it was jam-packed with new experiences, a lot of fun and a ton of laughter.  It started out with a Mom's Group Playdate where Priya experienced her first pony ride.

 

And then it was time for a little fishing (Ami joined us this morning so the fishing experience was a first for both Ami and Priya).

Within a couple of minutes, they caught their first fish!

  

And then before we knew it, Ami caught a 2nd fish!  The video below of her response is priceless! :)

Priya enjoyed reconnecting with her friend Bella (and Lucy too who isn't pictured).  This was taken in the chicken coop where they discovered some freshly laid eggs.

Then it was off to visit the pigs.

After nap time, we brought the inflatable pool outside and let the kids go for a dip.  This was a first for Josiah and he went nuts!!  He laughed, squealed and screamed (happily) his way through the whole thing.

Josiah screams with delight...

And his laughter had all of us in stitches!  It was so contagious!

  

In the evening, Janis, Cristi & Holli came over for dinner and a little play time.  They will soon be moving to Florida so we're trying to soak up as much quality time with them as possible before they go.  I can't imagine Redding without them!  They've been such an integral part of our lives and we are really sad to see them move away.  We love you Meredith family and will miss you dearly!

Josiah entertained us all again with his screams of delight.  It's unbelievable how much he does then when he's happy and excited.  We may need to invest in some ear plugs.

Priya's Prayers

Priya is doing and saying so many cute things these days.  Another example is our meal time prayer.  She loves to be the one to say grace now and always says the same thing with one minor variation.

"Dear Jesus, please help Jo-Jo (Josiah's current nickname) to feel better.  Amen.  And thank you for the food.  Amen."

She will insert a different name into who she is praying for to feel better depending on who is sitting with us at the table.  Last night it was, "Dear Jesus, please help Uncle Phil to feel better.  Amen.  And thank you for the food.  Amen."

I guess she's been impacted by how much sickness we've had in our home this year...  :)

Thank you for the love...

I have to record this before I forget.  I was just saying goodnight to Priya and told her that I loved her.  Her response tonight was so sweet.  She said, "I love you too.  Thank you for the love.  Thank you for the love, Mommy.  And thank you for the dinner and the food.  It was really good, Mommy."  Ahh, pure cuteness. :)  I am so thankful for my sweet little princess. 

Thoroughly enjoying my summer break

It's been a week now that I've been away from work and I have to say that I am loving all of the quality time I've been getting with my kiddos.  Ashish is back at school taking an intense class that keeps him studying most of the day and in class or labs Mon-Thurs from 6-10pm.  But he manages to pop in throughout the day for some quality time as well (he even helped fold the laundry and vacuumed our apartment).  Priya and I have been doing a lot of preschool type activities (she's out of preschool for the summer while I'm not working) so we've been painting, collaging, working on phonics and having fun play time with Josiah.  Priya has also been doing an amazing job at riding her bike (with training wheels).  I've yet to capture a good photo or video of it, but that will be coming soon.  Here's a glimpse of some of the fun we've been having.

There is so much sibling love in our home.  I love it!!!

  

Josiah is becoming increasingly chatty and verbal these days.  He said the word "no" two times a few weeks ago but hasn't uttered any specific words apart from that.  He's experimenting with all sorts of sounds and pitches as well.

 

Josiah has been mastering the skill of sitting up on his own.  He's made it 2 minutes without falling so far.  Here's a small clip of a recent attempt.  Please note, no babies were harmed in the making of this video...

We've been enjoying some quality time with Ami Fui.

And never tire of Priya's growing language abilities and comedic antics.  She put this ensemble together and pretended that she was on a trip and had just flown in from Hawaii.

 

Priya has made friends with two little girls that live in the same apartment complex as Ashish's parents and Ami and Phil.  They are from Bangladesh and speak only Bengali but that hasn't stopped them from having fun playing together.

 

 

And Josiah attempted to hold a conversation with us.

 

Family Vacation

Over the Memorial Day Weekend we were able to scoot out of town for a 4-day family vacation.  We stayed at a hotel in Vacaville, CA and spent time playing around the surrounding areas.  Our first big outing was in Sacramento where we visited the Sacramento Zoo and Fairy Tale Town.  This was Priya and Josiah's first zoo experience and Priya's 2nd trip to Fairy Tale Town.

Priya loves on her baby brother.  It never ceases to melt my heart when I see the two of them interacting so sweetly together.  I know the day will come when it won't always be a love fest between the two of them, but I'm soaking it up now while I can. :)

The interactive times with animals were a big hit!

Of all the exciting things that we saw that day, the animal hospital was by far Priya's favorite. We weren't able to go inside or see any live medical treatments, but Priya kept asking to go back to this spot.

The merry-go-round was another special treat.

Then we were off to Fairy Tale Town.  By that time it was starting to rain so we didn't last long.  But we had fun nonetheless.

Princess Priya met her Fairy godmother...

 

Then Prince Daddy took Princess Priya to the ball in Cinderella's carriage...

And then the Prince & Princess danced together at the ball.

Back to the hotel where the weather changed for the better and we hit the pool!

Then it was time for some snuggling before bed.

The next day involved a trip to the Jelly Belly Factory in Fairfield, CA.

Priya was thrilled with the free candy samples she got to enjoy.

By the time we got back to the hotel that evening the kids were beat and fell asleep very easily (not the experience we had the night before).

And on our last day we hit the pool one last time before beginning our trip back home.