Flint Hill Children’s Festival

My kinda town- Saint Paul! I think if Ashish and I knew what we know now, we definitely would have looked to purchase a house in Saint Paul. It’s a very artsy, educated, cultured, family friendly city. They have some of the best festivals I’ve ever attended too!

We attended the Flint Hill Children’s Festival. Amazing! There were so many FREE Things for us to do. The Art Moves parade at 1PM shouldn’t be missed. Many companies were on hand like Target, which gave kids free sun hats to decorate. The Children’s Theatre Company made masks with the kids, and yet another theatre made sock puppets with the kids. There were a ton of culturally enriching performances in dance and theatre. For a mere $5 a ticket, you could see even more productions from different parents of the world. Nishad and I went to see a puppet production from a company that is based in Peru.
Be sure to save the date for this annual festival.

Hail to the Storm

Hail to the Hail! We met with our contractor yesterday afternoon. He will begin work this Wednesday. We are getting a new roof, garage doors, screen door and siding. This is the second time in two years that we begin this process… on a house that was built in 2004.

Minnesota’s extreme weather gets to be a bit old. Every state has its issues, but this year Ashish and I have had about enough. It snowed from October through April this year. Now the severe storms…

We do have a lot to be thankful for though. Two tornados touched down north of us yesterday. The day that this picture (May 25, 2008) a tornado did a lot of damage south of us. Needless to say, we’ve been spending more time in the basement than we would prefer.

Farmer Beverly

Beverly, Beverly, how does your garden grow? With patience, water, sunshine…and a whole lot of fertile soil! Cucumbers, Zucchinis, Tomatoes, Peppers, Strawberries, Watermelon, Cantaloupe and Herbs…

This is my first ‘Minnesota’ veggie garden! I’m proud to say that things look better than anticipated. Even after Mother Nature’s hail storm that leveled a lot of my plants that Nishad and I started from seeds (I was teaching him about the seasons). Which, in turn, was a good lesson for him; Despite our plans, there are things we can’t control. However, we can control our reaction to them. SO! Nishad, Arun and I went out and purchased a few little veggies to supplement the ones we ‘lost’ in the storm. Even after Arun was in the store- strangling- the plants (as everything seems to be in his reach these days), they too managed to thrive.

I started off my first year with a ‘smaller’ garden as I wanted test the waters, per-say. I wasn’t sure if I would have the time with a toddler and an infant, and honestly, I didn’t know if anything would grow well enough for us to reap the benefits. Well, I suppose if the farmers can do it here on the Great River Road (where we live was once farm land- now a developed sub-division thanks to urban sprawl), so can Farmer Beverly!

Who knows, at this rate, maybe I’ll be feeding the entire neighborhood! With the semolina out-break with tomatoes and peppers and the high cost of produce today, this isn’t only ‘fun’ but something that I feel confident about feeding my family, convenient and cost effective.

Imprints: Nothing like having Mom tell you to go into the garden and get a fresh cucumber! Cucumbers were always my favorite growing-up. I use to wish my Mom wouldn’t plant so many tomato plants so there would be more room for the cucs! I read an article about how kids that are involved in planting gardens, eat more veggies. They get to see the process and build up anticipation for the fruit of their labor. My Mom told me how she would eat tomatoes like apples when she was a kid. I’m going to attempt that this year!

Tower of Towels

One has to love bulk supply stores and a little boy that can organize it all!

Nishad could surely take Marie Montessori head-on and give her a run for her money. We’ve always armed Nishad with tools to gain an early independence, but now he’s taking over the house. Which, depending on the way you look at it, is a good thing, right? After all, Ashish and I bought a house to be a home for our children, not a museum piece.

Nishad often reminds US that everything has a place and if we put something ‘temporarily’ somewhere, we’re quickly reminded of where it belongs. A-hem. Montessori has back-fired on this Mommy. haha…

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, DADDY


This year Nishad picked the theme of Daddy’s party; Cars. Even though he’s never watched the animated movie, the big red car that tops the cake was enough to sell him on the idea of having a CAR birthday for Daddy.

I’m not sure Nishad comprehended the idea that we were suppose to pick out something that we thought Daddy would like- not our own personal desires. Eh, at 2 everything is about you!

Daddy’s CAR birthday came with presents for the gas grill. Since Daddy has showed an interest in cooking, we thought we would arm him with some tools of operation!

Unfortunately, Arun (our early to bed, early to rise baby) hit the sack before the cake even made it out of the fridge.

May 17th.