Mufti Day--Crazy Hair

The last day of every month Indus has "Mufti Day". This is where the kids get to wear normal clothes, not uniforms, and then they also have theme. Today was Crazy Hair Day.

My 3 goals this year

Yes, I have 3 distinct goals this last year while we are here and I have time on my hands. One is to catch up on my kids scrapbooks, one is to get all of our home videos on to DVDs, and one is to work on my family history.

I have been working on the scrapbooks, and it has been fun to go back and look at all the pictures that we have taken, not only here, but for the past 10 years.

Last night I decided to pull out some of the home videos and try and figure out how to get them on to DVDs. Well, 5 hours later and 3 video tapes later, I think this is going to be a long process. My kids loved watching the videos from when they were little. Of course we never labeled any of the tapes, so we would just pop one in and see what was on it. I put one in and started playing it, Alan walked in the room and had to do a double take. He said is that Ellie? At first glance he thought it was Annie, but said he knew she never lived in our little apartment. I was amazed to see how much they actually look alike. Then we saw Maddie at about the same age Annie is now. I was shocked at how much she talked. She was reciting the Pledge of Allegence?!?! Why do our memories have to fade? I am glad that we recorded them as much as we did, and it made me want to pull out the camera more!

Parent's Day Out

Today was Parent's Day at Indus. This year instead of having a big carnival type day, they had activities in each class. They allotted 2 sessions so that parents who have 2 kids can make it to each class. What about the people with more than 2? Yep, I was trying to be in 3 places at once.
I started out in Maddie's classroom and we played some pretty fun games. Getting to know the names of each of the kids in the class was fun, I also got to meet a few of the parents that my kids talk about when they come home. About 1/2 way through this session I headed over to Ellie's class. When I got there they were making posters for their research projects on ancient civilizations. Ellie has chosen China so they were making a poster with the Great Wall of China, ying-yang, Silks, and much more. After helping finish this project I was off to Ethan's class. In Ethan's class we made picture frames for our family pictures. We also played a bowling game and a ring-toss. The kids and I had a fun time and I enjoyed being part of their classes for a few minutes.

Avatar Backgound an updates

So as I was updating our blog today, Ethan came in and wanted me to change the background. I told him he could pick. This is the explanation for Avatar. I have also updated past posts of our trip to Paris and our trip home so scroll down to read.

Sister Wixom comes to India

Sister Wixom is the General Primary President in our church. She traveled here to India for a conference that was broadcast thoughout the Bangalore and Delhi Missions. Our primary children sang "I Know That My Savior Loves Me" during the program. I was told about 2 weeks ago that because I am the Primary Chorister that I would need to accompany the kids. (Apparently a chorister is supposed to be able to play the piano?) Needless to say I was definately worried about it. I started out being able to plunk my way though the song while the kids practiced in church on Sunday, and by the next Sunday I was able to play it without too many mistakes. I worked really hard to get it down, but I was still more nervous than not. Especially when the Primary President mentioned that it was going to be broadcast into Pakistan and Nepal as well as India. When we arrived at the church on Wednesday night, yes I was about 15 minutes late due to traffic, but still 45 minutes before the broadcast stared, they had asked one of the missionaries to play. I have to admit I was a little sad that all my hard work, and worry were for nothing, but I will also admit I was more relieved than disappointed.

After the meeting all of the children got to go and shake her hand and get pictures taken with her. I introduced myself, and told her that I had heard my cousin Tiffany was friends with her daughter. She said, "Oh I love the Varner family, and then you must also be cousins with Emily that plays tennis. What a wonderful family you have."

It's amazing to me how small the world is when you are in the church.

The First Day of School 2010

August 9th was the first day of school. I can't believe my kids are already in 5th, 3rd, and 1st grades!!

The kids were pretty excited to go back to school this year and see which ones of their "India Friends" had moved back home, and which ones were here for another year. On the 1st day I decided we would drive them out to school and walk them to their classrooms. Ethan and Maddie were excited not to have to ride the bus, but Ellie opted to take the bus.

I have always been told to take advantage of the time with your kids while they are little...one day they won't really need your hand to hold...I think I wanted to cry when Ellie decided to ride the bus. Can she be getting independent on me?!?

When we walked Ethan to his class, he only recognized some of the girls, and didn't want to sit by any of them. He decided to sit by himself at a table until some other boys arrived. I think he was my most excited kid to go to school this year, and I think it is because it's the first year he gets to wear the uniform.

Maddie walked into her room and 5 other girls came running over to her yelling her name very excited to see her. I know that Maddie has really made quite a few friends here and I think she might have the hardest time coming home and leaving the friends she's made.

Alan and I walked down to Ellie's classroom to see if she had made it yet, and she had. There are a few girls that she knew from last year that are back this year, but they are all in a different class. She did make 1 new friend very quickly from Sweden, Karolina. She is new this year and Ellie told me later that she wanted to be her friend because last year Ellie was the only girl who had glasses and this little girl had glasses too. Karolina's father told me that he was grateful for Ellie. Karalina had been very scared to come to her first day of school because she didn't know anyone, and she doesn't speak English too well.

I think if there is one thing our kids have learned while being here is how to make friends quickly.

Our 1st day back in India

So after being in Paris for 23 hours, and on 18 hours worth of plane rides, we finally reached Bangalore. We got to the baggage claim and about 1/2 way through all of the luggage coming off I had a bad feeling. Not 1 of our luggage pieces (16 checked bags) had come off the plane yet. After about 45 minutes of watching luggage go around on the belt we confirmed the suspicion. Not 1 of our suitcases or boxes made it here. I just hope it gets here soon because we had 3 boxes of food that will go bad if not.

We finally reached our house at about 4:oo a.m. and got the kids off to bed. At about 6:30 a.m. I could hear them playing in, what I thought was our downstairs, but was actually the front yard. When I got up and got dressed to tell them to be quiet, Ethan had already knocked on our neighbors door to see if their son Kavel could play. I told them they could not be noisy and had to come inside until everyone woke up. By 8:30 they were back outside rollerblading, and Ethan was showing off his stuff when he hit the curb.

You can image the blood curdling screams that came from him, and I'm sure our neighborhood is glad to have us back!!

Paris

On our way back to India we had a layover in Paris. We decided to take advantage and go out to see some of the sights.
Instead of taking the tour bus around Paris we decided to find our own way through the Metro system and buses.
The Notre Dame Cathedral

This was a small Cafe across from the Notre Dame. Complete with the Huntchback and all. Ellie and I ordered a Chocolate Crepe, Maddie had an omlet, which was essentially a crepe with ham and cheese. Ethan ordered a Hot Dog. (It came out as a foot long)

Unlike India, Paris is VERY EXPENSIVE!

After the Notre Dame and some lunch, we walked to the Louve.When we got there, I was kind of wondering if we were at the right spot because when we walked up to it, we walked up to the back of the building. I couldn't see the pyramids or people for that matter. I had been told that we would probably wait for at least 2 hours to get inside, but there didn't seem to be too many people there. As we walked through the courtyard, we were able to see the pyramids, and we knew we were here. I still didn't see that many people though, and as we walked up to where the line should be we realized why. It's closed on Tuesdays. After walking the streets of Paris to find the Louve though we decided to rest our feet in the fountain.

No trip to Paris is complete without seeing the Eiffel Tower.

Alan and the older 3 kids decided to climb the stairs to the platform, while Annie and I stayed at the bottom.

The view from the top

My view from the bottom.

We also walked to the Opera House that is supposed to be where the Phantom of the Opera was written about, but that too was closed. Also we took a night boat tour down the Seine River in the middle of Paris.

We had a fun, long, day walking the streets of Paris. I'm not sure how much of it our kids will remember, but we enjoyed ourselves anyway.

Maddie's Baptism

One of the highlights this summer was Maddie choosing to be baptized. She was baptized on July 3rd by her dad. We are so proud of the decisions she has made. One thing that Maddie has done to prepare for baptism is to keep the Sabbath Day holy. Being in India she has had many, many birthday parties that she has been invited to on a Sunday. She has chosen to tell her friends that Sunday is family day and that she wouldn't be able to come to the parties. I am so proud of her for making this choice. She has also had many opportunies to set the example of choosing the right in her class at school. She is the only member of the church in her grade, and I am very proud of the example she sets.

We gave Maddie the choice of being baptized in India or Salt Lake. One of the many reasons she decided to choose Salt Lake was so that she could be baptized with one of her best friends Elizabeth. Also that day another really good friend Ethan was baptized.

One of the other reasons was so that her family could come. She was not disappointed at all. All of her cousins, aunts and uncles all came to support her. We love you Maddie and love the choices you make each day!

Home for the Summer

After a 26 hour flight to Salt Lake, our kids were ready to play, and play we did!! Seven Peaks was having a special where you could get season passes for just a little more than the day pass, so we took full advantage, and ended up at Seven Peaks about 5 times in the 6 weeks we were home.

Other fun things we did while we were home (in no particular order)...

Manti Pagent...

Maddie's birthday party at the Lion House...

Maddie's baptism...(in next post)

Forth of July fun...

Ellie's late night birthday party... (sorry no pictures)

Teaching Relief Society...

Family Reunion with the Kennington side of the family in Star Valley Wyoming...

Playing at Jason's house after the reunion...

Swim Team...

Breakfast up the canyon with grandma and grandpa...

Ruby's blessing...

Lagoon...

Swimming at Uncle Grant's house...

We had a very fun, and very busy summer!!

Tracy and Katie

I'll try and condense 2 weeks into 1 blog, but it's going to be a long post.

Katie and Tracy came to India to visit us at the end of May. It was so fun to have someone come so we could show them what we do, and how crazy this place is. We had many adventures and took many many pictures. I've put some of the pictures into collages so that I can post more of them on here.

When they arrived ViJay and Baby were so excited to meet them. Alan had been telling Vijay how mean his sisters are, he told them that they might hit him if he's not careful. He asked me one day if they really were mean. I told him he'd have to be the judge. When it came time to pick them up at the airport he had it all planned out. This is what he wore to the airport.

We went non-stop, shopping around Bangalore and visiting many temples.

We also went on a train to Hampi. It was a fun experience that was new to us too.

Hampi is an old ruins city from the 14th century that was burned down by the Muslims. It reminded me of the part on Jungle Book when the monkeys take Mogli to the monkey village.

We also went to Mysore and saw the palace. On our way there Alan spotted some men walking camels on the side of the road, and one thing led to another and...

Once we got to the Mysore Palace, Katie and Tracy again braved the camel and the elephants.

Another very fun thing we did was take dolls to the orphanages. Katie and Tracy had their primay and Activities Day girls make yarn dolls to give to the children. It was so fun to see their eyes light up when we gave them the toys and a treat.

On the 2nd weekend they were here we went to Kabini and went on a Jungle Safari. It was really fun to see all of the animals in the wild. We weren't able to see too many because it started to rain, and got a little cold, but it was still fun. Next time I'm going to get a picture of the elephant crossing sign.

After a fun 2 weeks, the kids and I jumped on a plane to Salt Lake for the summer. I dreaded traveling the whole way by myself with 4 kids, but they were excellent and I can't complain one bit!