HAPPY HALLOWEEN

Halloween time

We carved our pumpkins and went to meet at the Club House for a Halloween get together with the neighbors.

As I said in my previous post Annie HATED her costume!

 Vijay brought Sravia and Srinadi to our house that night to go trick or treating, and Lakshmi came this year too. She and I hung out at the house handing out treats while Alan and Vijay took the kids out. It was like playing charades to talk with her, but we were able to communicate a little. She also said "Madam, Trick treat" when kids would come to the door. 

The kids got to go trick or treating around to a few houses in the neighborhood. They came back with so much candy again this year that we decided again to let the kids have 20 pieces each and then we donated the rest of it to the orphanage. I like the idea of getting rid of all the extra candy. Hopefully, we can keep this tradition, and find some place in the US to donate the extra candy.

Halloween just wouldn't be right if we didn't have witches brew so like last year, we made some yummy Dry Ice Root Beer.  This is one of Vijay's favorite traditions I think because he started in along with the kids about a week before Halloween asking if I was going to make that "good Root Beer Juice"

Halloween Preparations

This Halloween I tried to be more prepared than last year. I knew that I wouldn't be able to find costumes in the stores here so while I was home this summer I bought some patterns at Walmart so that I could have a tailor make some.  I guess I waited too long because when I went at the beginning of October to the tailor he told me it would be ready on November 15th. When I asked why it would take so long he said "There is Dussura Festival, Dewali Festival, and we are taking off for the Ramjanmabhoomi-Babri Masjid Dispute. Thus, I ended up sewing them. As I got them out (Witches, Bears, Cinderella, Snow White) I asked the kids which ones they wanted to be. I guess I should have consulted them when I was buying them because Maddie was the only one who wanted to be anything in any of the patterns. Ethan wanted to be a ghost, and I thought GREAT! that one is easy. I finished cutting the hole in the material and he tried it on then said. "Where is the mask?" I said "I thought we'd paint your face white and put some white color hair spray in your hair." Not good enough. He came back with. "Never mind mom, I'll just borrow Kavel's ghost costume." I told him to go to Kavels house and get the costume so I could see what he had in mind. This is our creation.

Maddie decided that she would be the witch, and I was glad to at least use 1 of my patterns.

I think that after the Witch costume was finished Ellie wished that she had chosen it. The pattern also has a joker on it, and Ellie already has plans for next year.

The other "girly" pattern that I bought had Snow White and Cinderella. Unfortunatly it's not cool anymore to be a princess. Especially when influenced by the girl across the street who is anything but girly.  Ellie decided she wanted to be Cosmo. HUH?!? How do I make that. Well, after talking to my sister Kelli I decided that I would sew some furry arms onto an old jersey shirt. I pulled out the biggest jersey shirt that Ethan has, but only to find out that it's a size 5. I creatively recreated the shirt, and whola!

She has a brilliant idea that she will carry her BYU Cheerleading cat with her. Because it's "funny that she is a cat, and the cat wants to be a person."

I'm pretty sure that no one here will even know who or what she is. This morning as she left for school I think that she realized this and asked Alan to print off a picture on the internet of the real Cosmo.



There is one boy in her class that is a member of the church, so she is pretty sure that he will know who she is, and there is another family that has 5 boys that goes to Indus that is from Lehi area, so I guess there will be a few.





There is a neighbor who was selling her old Halloween costumes from Costco, so I bought Annie a frog. Hopefully she'll wear it. We have yet to keep it on longer than 1 minute. Maybe she'll wear it long enough on Halloween to at least get a picture.

Maddie's Gallery Walk

Maddie had a Gallery Walk at school where she was able to show off what she has learned this past unit. They have been studying about Natural Disasters, and the disaster that her group displayed was Avalanches. They made a model and poster, and then the parents went around to each station and the kids taught us all about each disaster.

Primary Program

Our branch had its Primary Program on Sunday and the kids all did an EXCELLENT job. They required the girls to all be wearing red dresses, and the boys to wear black pants and a red tie. They also asked all of the girls to wear their hair down. As we arrived at the church at 8:30 to practice the morning of, they were all decorating and putting makeup on all the girls. After the program, they took pictures that they were going to send into the church magazines. Hopefully it will get picked and you'll see this picture in the New Era, the Liahona, or the Friend.

Alan said after seeing this picture that our kids stand out because of the dresses I bought with the white polka dots on them. My reply was..."Our kids stand out because they're white!"

I think the dresses are cute.

 After they got the picture of the kids they wanted to add the leaders.

Then they decided to add the nursery... and the kids started to get silly...

Then they decided one with just the leaders...

Left to Right...

Sister Pradhika (Counselor) Sister Sujatha (President) Sister Serah (Counselor) District Primary Leader and Me (just in case you didn't know who I am) Choirester/Pianist/whatever needs to be done.

Mama Mia

Ellie was chosen to dance in the school fundraising musical of Mama Mia. She loved being involved in it, and worked hard to perfect all the dance moves. She even had Alan coaching her on smiling and making faces with attitude. (His sister has worked ALOT with drill team)  She had practices after school for a few days, and didn't get home until 9:00 on a few nights.

 Before any big production here they have an invocation. It's not the usual prayer that we are used to back home. Its a dance inviting the Gods to be with the program.

Ellie did an excellent job, and afterwards they had a dinner. At the dinner Alan and I decided that we are finally starting to get use to the spices here. We both liked at least 1/2 of the dishes that were served, and commented on how they weren't too spicy. I'm sure they had the spice toned down because they were serving all of the International students parents, but I  know the lady next to us was also sweating, and she was just here for a vacation. I took some video of the program, and Ellie really wants me to post them so that her Grandparents can watch the dances, but I can't get them to load right now, so you'll have to wait for the video.

STS (Skyline Transportation System)

Today as we were driving down yet another crowded street in Bangalore, we turned the corner and came to a "full jam" as Vijay puts it. It was a parking lot of sorts, and cars and bikes were trying to squeeze into every available space. I soon began to hear the sirens of the Ambulance, and thought to myself, I'm glad I have not had to rely on an Ambulance here. No one makes way for it, they just keep going on about their business. As the sound got closer and closer I turned my head, and had a flash back to my sophomore year in High School when my cousin drove a group of about 10 of us to school everyday in an old white van.

This picture isn't of the one I saw, but one I found online that was similar. The one I saw was almost exact replica of STS.