Kids crafts

The kids have been celebrating their brithday multiple times.. with classmates, family, family friends, grandparents only special, dinner at their favorite restaurant on their actual birthday etc. 

Here is a photo from yet another celebration at home!

Wish I had lighting like this at the bowling lanes...

They got  many gifts most of which are arts and crafts stuff. 

Jr. loved this dairy which she promptly bling-ed (guessing that is the right term for it?) 

Today they started working on decorative bangles where you do the decorating yourself. After 30 minutes of going nowhere, they asked me to come help. They were trying to "glue" the ribbons to the plastic bangle and the whole thing was a big mess.  So I asked them to wash the bangles and start from scratch. 

Me : Where is the instructions? 

LO : We threw it out!

Me : GO and GET it, NOW!

Jr. : Here it is. 

Me : (after reading the instruction and figuring out that you are supposed to start with the double side sticky tape before doing anything with glue). You have not even opened this packet with the tape! Why?

Jr. : We don't need the tape.

Me : Says "who?" It says here in the instructions that you have to start with the tape.. why didnt you read the instructions?

LO : It has TOO MANY WORDS!  Who will read that many words. It is not simple instructions!

We finally did restart the project and they did a great job of following the instructions step by step. 

This is what happens when your kids get used to EULA's which run pages long and they just get used to clicking "I agree" on the one hand and have instructions that are "Step 1: sticky tape. Step 2: wrap Step 3: Glue".. 

Today my job is done in this house. Have taught kids something very important.

Always start with the instruction manual!

Jr. figures it out

Jr. has been playing with the Alto Sax, trying to figure out the Carnatic music scales on the instrument. She saw so many kids perform instrument solos at the Navarathri Golu festival and saw it was an easier alternative to singing everywhere. 

Started with renewed vigor today and she did it! (There was no school today and that meant boredom at home. At least the time was used a little constructively for figuring this out!)

Next year at the Golus... Jr. might be playing a Tamil song on the Alto Sax. Can't wait to see that!

A picture is worth... a short play!

Every year Jr. brings this school portrait picture request from school. It is "attractively" priced at anywhere from 28 to 100$ depending on the package.. attractively for the kids that is! 

The photographer in me is never happy with the pictures and the CFO at home says "Didn't we fund all that expensive camera equipment? No way we need to pay for any pictures!" 

This year when Jr. got me the form and envelope told her "how many times have we gone through this? I am not even going to have this conversation. You can have this one with yourself. Face me and act like you. Then face the other way and tell yourself what daddy will say in response and be done with it!"

She thought it was actually a great idea and humored us with the little one edging her on.

The result is..

she did pretty good. At the end she tossed the form and now she gets to spend 14 or 28$ at Target.. depending on if the little one also co-operates and doesn't insist on a school portrait! 

Next year, we do not even have to do this play. We can just review this video. 

Life just gets simpler every year!!!