India Vs. Pakistan

I think this match is bigger that any rivalry I've seen. Yes, even BYU vs. UT! Vijay got our TV hooked up to the Indian cable network so that he could watch it at our house. The match started at 2:30 in the afternoon and ended around 10:00 at night. India won and is headed to the final match of the 2011 World Cup.

Pictures

I took the kids the other day to get their yearly pictures taken. The photographer gave me over 100 pictures to choose from. The package comes with a blown up 10X15 of each kid, and a 10X15 of the group. I need help deciding which ones to pick. I posted the best ones on my facebook. Go and vote which one I should choose.

I had their pictures taken in dresses and also in their school uniforms. I had to put this one on here to show how much Maddie has grown. When we came here she was just a little shorter than Ellie. (Close enough in size that they could share the same clothes.) I was shocked when they took this picture because I never had realized how much taller she has gotten. I knew she had gotten a little taller than Ellie, but I think I usually know that they are wearing different shoes or that they aren't standing straight up. Their uniforms are identical down to the shoes, so I know that that isn't the case, and the photographer made them stand staight and tall. The photographer was shocked when I told him that Maddie was 2 years younger than Ellie. He was trying to align them in age order.

Indus Day 2011

Tonight was the annual Indus Day performance. The theme this year was "Around the World in 80 minutes." Each grade did a dance from a country that students are from.

The 1st grade danced a Chinese dance. Ethan was pretty excited that he got to be under the Chinese Dragon. My favorite line of the night came from him..."I had the most horriblest day ever!!!" "Why was it so bad?" "Because they put lipstick on me!!!" The makeup was a little over the top. Not sure what the eyebrowns are for.

2nd grade was assigned Brazil.

3rd grade was given Morocco. Maddie was a belly dancer, and did a wonderful job.

4th grade did South Africa and the 5th grade did India.

When Ellie came out, Alan decided that our girls are not allowed to wear makeup until they're 20. They looked so much older!! Of course there was also a finale which they sing the school song, and the Indian National Anthem.

It takes so long for the video to upload on here. I was able to upload the video to YouTube much easier so here is a link to all of the kids dances and the finale. They are really excited for grandmas and grandpas to see their program.

Ellie's

Maddie's

Ethan's

Finale

Hot Hot HOT!!!

The weather is really starting to warm up here and today Annie wanted to go play at the park at our clubhouse.  I took her there about 11:30 this morning and it was so hot she couldn't play on any of the toys. She looked across the clubhouse as she was standing at the top of the slide and pointed to the pool. "Let's go swimming!!" She was so excited!
I took her back to the house to change into her swimsuit, but didn't have time to change into mine and take her to the pool because I had Kathrina coming over after lunch to get some help on a craft for the school she is volunteering at. Instead I filled up her "tub" and put it in the back yard.

While she was splashing, Kathrina called to let me know she was on her way. I asked her to stop and get a blow up pool on the side of the road if she saw one.  Annie was so excited when she realized that she was going to swim with Olea.

I think Baby may have been just as excited. She hauled water from inside out to the pool, and then sat and splashed water and threw the ball to them for about half and hour.

On a side note I was excited that I was able to get french braids into her hair today, and they actually stayed all day without falling out!

Blogging

I have really started to slack in my blogging efforts. I have been going back and reading about when we first came to India lately and I am so glad that I blogged as much as I did. It was fun to read and see how much we've changed since we've been here. When we first came everything was so new and I blogged about everything that I saw. I think I have become numb to it because I no longer carry my camera everywhere I go. I am making a goal to blog more for the next 3 months. We are getting ready to come home and I want my kids to be able to look back in a few years and remember what great experiences we've had here.

Today...

So today starts out normal as everyday does. 6:30 a.m. Wake up the kids for scriptures and family prayers. 7:00 run around the house like mad men trying to get ready for the bus to leave by 7:25. Packing lunches, gathering swim suits, finding shoes, helping child who remain nameless with the socks that are BUGGING her, run to bus. Sit down with Annie, call mom and talk to her for a while amongst the power outages. 8:30 (this is where it deviates a little) I get a phone call from the school. "Mam, This is Indus International School's Infirmary, Ellie has come in and needs to be picked up from school." "What's the problem" "She has an ear infection and says she would like to go home" "OK, I will send the driver out to pick her up when he drops my husband at work." "Is it OK if we give her some Ibuprofen for her pain?" "Yes, that would be fine." "OK She will just be waiting here." I go upstairs and tell Alan that Vijay needs to go pick up Ellie. I asked Alan if I should go to the pharmacy and get some Augmentin while Vijay is gone to pick her up. Keep in mind you don't have to have a prescription for anything here.  I think Alan was worried that I wouldn't know how much to give her, and we also wanted to teach Ellie a little lesson about coming home from school if your not really all that sick so...Vijay gets home with Ellie and about 1:00 off to Manipal Hospital we went. Ellie was almost in tears because she didn't want to go to the doctor, and I was not really wanting to spend my afternoon in the hospital either. I've been to this hospital before, and it is like a zoo. First you have to go to Registration and get registered, then off to admission to pay your 300 rupees to see the doctor then over to Pediatrics to show them the receipt and then to the waiting room to wait. They call your name and you go over and get weighed and measured, then back to wait. They call your name again and you go over to talk to the nurse and tell them what is wrong, then back to wait. As I'm sitting here waiting I am looking at all the people around us and all of the little kids wondering what type of homes they live in. I notice a Muslim lady holding her baby and see that she not only is wearing the Burqa (Black dress worn on top of their clothes), but also black gloves, and had her face veiled to where only her eyes are showing. I notice the lady next to her who also is obviously Muslim and wonder why her hands are not covered with gloves and why her face is not covered. I wonder how they can stand to be so covered here when it is so hot. Yes, it is starting to get into the 90's in the afternoon. Then I start to realize that being at Manipal Hospital this time has not got me all "freaked" out for lack of better words. I start to realize that I have become Indianized. Either that or Manipal hospital has all of the sudden gotten alot better. They call our name for the last time and then we are allowed to go in and see the doctor. After sitting in the doctors office for 5 minutes we leave with the diagnosis. She has a cold and an ear infection. Well, duh, that's what I told you. The remedy, don't eat cold foods or drink cold drinks and don't eat bananas. Oh, and give her Augmentin for 7 days. The pharmacist is the one who tells you how much.  So, I guess I could have self diagnosed the Augmentin, but I might have worsened everything if I had given her some cold water to drink it down with. On the way home we stopped for some lunch at KFC and McDonalds for Ice cream. :)