On our way.

Five days of shopping and packing and organizing and cleaning frenzy later, we are packed and ready to go. India - here we come! 

Summer Holiday Special - Day 1.

First day of summer holidays went in what else but cleaning the kids room! Tonnes of crafts and colorings and drawings and cards to be recycled! Broken parts of toys and cheap goody bag toys and "precious" stuff found in parks and pavements to be trashed! Books which have been read a million times, books which have nt been touched in a million years and books which the kids have outgrown to be hidden! The list goes on... 

I did the best thing -  threw out Hd and the kids out of the house - and tackled the mess for four straight hours and still have nt even caused a dent. Sigh! Of course I spent half the time reading their "stories", admiring their art work, laughing out loud at the funny lists they are so fond of writing,.. 

And I could nt throw the below one without taking a photo first. Three months back when I asked Ashu where she wanted her birthday party, this is the list she came up with!

Another school year, done and dusted!

So its that part of the year again. Last day of school. That melancholic feeling I get every year wishing time to stop still. Last year this time, I was second guessing our decision to switch Ashu to the local school and was worrying so much. Now a year has just flown by and Ashu has adjusted to the new system remarkably well. In the Swiss schools, the children have the same teacher for three years. So her current teacher will continue in third grade too and Im glad. She has gone on school trips, participated in shows and musicals, made friends,... She has made good progress in speaking German and tells me school gossip too! :)

Antu finally says good bye to pre schools and play groups and gets into Kindergarten this year. Since shes June born, she missed the cut off last year and she has been waiting to go to KG. The KG building is just next to our apartment and we can see the building from our window. Most of the kids from her playgroup are going to KG and her best friend and her are with the same teacher. So its going to be a fun year, I hope. She understands Swiss German quite well and the only one in the family to do so! I confess I secretly video tape when she brings friends home and talks to them in Swiss German!

Taking their pictures this morning was fun! When I asked Ashu to smile and pose, she grudgingly did and when I was clicking the third photo, she rolled her eyes and said, "You realize Im getting late for my school, Amma?" and scootered away before I could answer. Antu, on the other hand, has all the time in the world for photos. She strikes pose after pose, asks me to show the photos and asks if she has blinked(?), then poses again, then "one silly face photo Amma, please" and left for school only after approving the photos! Chalk and cheese!