Halloween

I like Fall a lot especially when the temp are nice/above 50, 60, or even 70 F how it's been the case for the past week and a half. Ella loved Halloween and all the candy she got. Here's a few pics below. We had a good time at work too, decorating our cube area.

(Many) updates

On Friday we dropped parents off at the airport needless to say with teary eyes but with hope to see each other soon... somehow. We were so blessed to spend this past month together...we got to vacation for a few days in Chicago, enjoy the flagrances of fall (and winter as we got snow on Oct 10th!!!!), shop, cook, watch movies, and just do the typical family stuff that families do. We took tons of pictures as usual and will post some of them here. Ella misses them already and wants to visit them in Romania soon, so do we. So blessed to have such good parents, we're really proud of them and grateful that could visit.


We got to go to the temple together and that was such an awesome experience. Love my parents and I'm so grateful they/we can be together forever. I don't know if you can tell from the pics, but I tried to capture their glowing faces after the session.

On the 16th we celebrated Ella's 4th birthday! She actually had a birthday weekend and not just a birthday as we celebrated her on Fri, Sat, and Sun. On Sat she had a party at the gym where she takes gymnastics and on Sun after church we had family friends over for a nice Romanian/Indian meal with mici and veggie/rice pulau and other goodies. She had tons of fun! It was really wonderful to watch her and her friends play together. They're literally like little "party animals" jumping around, running, and following the instructor through all the fun activities they had. Then they gobbled down the cake (which in my mind was a masterpiece) as neither me or my mom ever adventured to bake and decorate a horse cake! 

Back to watching the little "party animals", aside from the excitment what struck me was the love and camaraderie they shared. It was genuine friendship.

Another testimony to me that these little ones are indeeded the purest. Ella was a great hostess: she welcomed each friend to the party and later helped the gym personnel to set up the table with plates, glasses, and silverware. She got a tons of beautiful presents for which we're very grateful. From mommy and daddy she got three live fish pets. Her first pets ever. She loves them: stands in front of the fish tank and talks to the fish. I can feel/tell she'd love to be able to have a way to truly "pet" them :-)

I think that's it for today. I'm grateful for a good/busy work day (at work) and looking forward to finishing the day with Ella and Hrishi.

Hooray!!!

Some wonderful late breaking news! We are moving to TX! Can't really tell you how happy and excited we are! There's tons of work ahead of us with all the packing and moving logistics but it'll be worth it. Already done a lot online searches, scurring the area to find preschools, fitness clubs, stores, etc. and to my surprise everything I was looking for is available and more! Looking forward to this new beginning! Truly thankful for our employer agreeing to this arrangement and of course to Him for making it all possible. Coppell, here we come!

Catching up

This is the very reason why I was hesitant to start a blog: fearing that I would not keep it up to date. I guess it's ok if I don't make entries every day or every other day as long as I keep them coming at "reasonable" time intervals (whatever that means.) Our trip to Chicago was awesome, had tons of fun, stayed in the heart of the city, half mile away from the Navy Pier.

Ella soaked it all in, loved the Navy Pier rides, the Field Museum, the aquarium, the planetarium, and the boatrides, but more than anything she enjoyed the company of her grandparents. She loves them so much and she's embraced them back right away. We were all wondering how she was going to react after not seeing them for such a long time (over a year.) They got along wonderfully right away from the moment we picked them up at the airport onwards. It was great to see mom and dad and show them around the big city. We took lots of pics (yet to be posted.) We're blessed to have pretty good weather with no rain or wind (which is a bonus when you're talking end of Sept-Oct in the Windy City.

It was great to be back home in Omaha though. Ella missed her "home sweet home" and was delighted to show mamaie and tataie (grandma and grandpa) all her toys. Of course, she got TONS of presents in books and soft toys (her most favorite), and delightful outfits from mamaie and tataie. She is one lucky little girl!
Now we're back at work and she's enjoying her time off from preschool having a blast with her grandparents at home. She amazes them with her sweetness, sharpness, and creativity.

The more I type this, I feel this should be a post dedicated to her, as I've been even more amazed and grateful for having such a special wonderful child of God entrusted to us to raise and to cherish.  Where do I start? Just can't saying enough about the big kisses, hugs and "Love you's" she genereously shares, her great singing and dancing, her deep interest in books, her amazing pretend play/games,  her vocabulary and overall language skills that (from what I can tell) surpass those of children her age, her love of God and desire to learn and listen to scripture stories, oh how we love her!!! I just pray to be or become more the kind of mother/parent that will allow her to continue to blossom and fully develop her amazing potential! I love you, baby! We are so lucky to have you!

Other updates... over the next couple of weeks we'll know if we'll be spending another winter in good old Omaha or if we'll start a new adventure in a different place. We hope and pray it's the latter.

Loved Gen Conference, feel so blessed to have such inspired leaders, prophets to lovingly guide me, speak to my specific needs, and offer comfort and strenght! Thank you, thank you, thank you!

Anticipation

Two more days and we'll be in CHICAGO!!! Can't wait! We'll be driving up on Wed and picking up parents on Thu! Hurray! Looking forward to our few weeks together. Can't wait to see them, the city; did I mention how much I love Chicago??!?! Ella's is excited too although a bit dissappointed that there won't be "Grand Canyons" in Chicago but only very tall buildings/skyscrapers. I hope though they'll catch her interest. Our last family vacation/trip to Grand Canyon has made a lasting impression on her and everytime we talk about taking a trip somewhere out of state for vacation she hopes we get to go back to Grand Canyon. Some Grand Canyon pics from last year. Had a great time. 

Birthday fun

On Monday both Hrishi and I took the day off from work to relax and enjoy each other's company, go on a golf date, and just hang out together. We don't get to do this much, not in a "date-like" setting, just the two of us. It was a perfectly wonderful day. Gorgeous weather! It started with taking sweet Ella to preschool (this kid is not only cute but darn smart too, as she asked us to pick her up early that day and we're both wondering if she sensed something: that mommy and daddy were not going to work that day... hmmm :-)) Must have been the fact that we didn't rush her as we usually do, as we're always late leaving the house, and/or the fact that both mommy and daddy were still in their PJs at 8:15 am.

Later that morning, since the birthday boy had to dial into a conference call for an important work meeting, I used the extra time to whip together a birthday cake that would be ready to decorate once we came back home from golf/lunch. We played 9 holes on a beautiful golf course, enjoyed  awesome 75-80 F temp, chatted away about our blessings, challenges, plans, and just had a great time together. After golf we ate some really amazing top sirloin steak at Johnny's Italian Steakhouse which I always wanted to try. Then got some of our favorite dessert, ColdStone ice cream, the owner's fav recipe.... YUMMY, all you ice cream lovers out there, you got to try this if you haven't already.

                                        

Then we just hung out, did some window shopping and some 'real' shopping at Pier 1 Imports. We're both happy to have had this time together, get our batteries recharged and promised we'd make this a tradition, to take one "mental health day" per quarter at least, just to keep us focused and fresh.  The evening was just as lovely, took Ella to her swimming lesson, then watched her get crazy about daddy's cake, gobbling down two fairly large portions (for her age), and just being a sweetheart. She kept wishing Hrishi "happy birthday!" and "All the best!" and giving him hugs and kisses. What a loving nature she has! We love her to death! She's now counting down the days till her birthday!

It's time

It's time for me to start getting serious about blogging. I love keeping up to date with friends by visiting their blogs once in a while so I figure it's about time that I provide some updates on what we've been up to:

• Trying to sell or rent our house and move south in search for milder winters (really love Nebraska but winter takes a huge toll on our family's health so we'd really like a warmer climate.) Due to the freezing temperatures I've grown to hate winter when in fact when I was growing up, I used to love being out in the snow playing.
• Getting ready to vacation with parents for a few days in Chicago (love that city)
• Loving every moment of being a parent, watching Ella grow up ( she's turning FOUR in a few weeks, we just can't believe it!)
• Just staying busy with daily activities (work, Ella's swimming and gymnastics' lessons, etc., etc., etc.)