A very busy summer and fall

For some, summers are more relaxed, laid back and more fun than any other time of the year! For us, I guess only the "more fun" part applies as somehow we manage to fill up our schedules to the BRIM and I'm not kidding. But it's by choice, I guess and although very exhausting at times, it's thrilling too.

Right now we're joggling swimming, piano, and ballet classes during week nights to which we've added the weekly rock climbing visit to the gym (usually on Saturday mornings.) Fall won't be much different, it'll actually be just the same with kindergarten homework added on top of it.

Speaking of busy and fun summers, Ella got to go on so many great field trips with her Explorer's class at Primrose. So far she visited  Legoland, Grapevine Springs Park, Outdoor World, Fort Worth Nature Center and Refuge, Heritage Farmstead & Museum, Lake Highlands Spray Grounds, Skate Town, Forth Worth Museum of Nature and Science, and Sea Life. Upcoming trips include Bricks 4 Kids and Ripley's Believe It or Not. So happy that she gets to go, see, learn, and experience so many cool things. (It's also great because her summer camp calendar serves as a city attractions guide that comes in very handy when you're still relatively new to the area and are looking for fun things to do with family and friends.) She already has favorite places that she wants to go back to.
And pretty soon there will be something extra that'll need to be scheduled and committed to in our schedules. Something very special.

Sometimes I wonder how will we do it all?!!? And then the little "refrain" comes to mind " I think I can, I think I can....!" We'll just have to get even better at time management and make the most of every single minute of the day, that's all! (Big sigh....!)

Gentle reminder...

I stumbled upon this recently:
“The happiest people don’t have the best of everything, they just make the best of everything they have.”

And although there are very happy people here in the Karekar household, sometimes I just wish some things were different. Like for example, no food allergies, no asthma, and the earth being one big continent so family is not so far away! (I'm not asking for much, am I?!:))
 
And while overall we are trying to make the best of everything we do have, I am reminded that there's always room for more loving, having more faith, more humility, more patience, and more service giving.

"Ready or not?"

So this weekend we did something different. And pretty cool, I think! I had heard through my trainer last week that they were going to have a dry/practice run for a boot camp event/"Boot Camp Games" Saturday morning. The actual event was going to be on the 30th in Plano but wanted to get people to go through the course and give them a chance to work out kinks before the actual thing. Boot camp... never done it so I imagined would be brutally tough. My trainer said that I was ready and should give it a try. Hmmm, maybe I should, I thought to myself so I told Hrishi and he and Ella decided to come with on Saturday morning. After a few little back-and-forths early that morning (waking up, thinking to get ready to go but then kind of changing my mind and planning to clean or do something else-which were execuses, really!), we decided we had plenty of time to make it there (about 30 mins drive to the Lifetime Fitness club in Plano) and give it a shot! I got excited all over again because Hrishi was going to do it too! Yeay!! It was really funny to later reflect on the wide range of emotions I had gone through that morning: excitment, feeling enticed to take on the challenge, then getting cold feet, and then finally daring to go. It was kind of like "ready or not, here I come!" type thing. I knew I wanted to do it, it was just a matter of getting my whole self to come to terms with it. Funny how (my) brain works! I'm so glad though my little "brave" side won this battle and we went.

The workout was pretty tough and we've been sore ever since but it was so worth it! So worth seeing I could finish it honorably, I think...! Hrishi did great too! We started with a decathlon (10 different weight stations with various exercises [barbell snatch, barbell skate, rows, barbell lift with lunges, pushups, dumbell squats and raises, plate v-raise, and a couple of others, 10 reps each], then 250 m rowing sprint (I did 500 m the first round as I somehow read the instructions wrong!), ropes, heavy ball toss, moving 10 45 lbs plates across three different height platforms, and finally finished with a weight-slide across the gym. We did three sets of the decathlon, rowing, and ropes and finished the whole thing in 60 mins. It felt so awesome!

Wish we had taken more pictures but we were hard at work so Hrishi snapped a couple after he was done.

And because it was so insanely hard and fun, I signed up for the actual event on the 30th.
Boot Camp games, here I come!! (And if you don't see any posts after July 30th, you know what happened!!! :))

Ella was happy to play in the kids's center while we worked out and then joined Hrishi on the rock climbing wall. Great active and fun morning for everyone!

After a quick shower and healthy snack (soynut butter-fiber-packed jelly wrap packed from home) and a not so healthy McDonald's lunch later on :),  we headed to the zoo. What an awesome time we had there! The weather was perfect, not too hot (well, it was in the high 90's but that's not hot for TX this time of year), and the place wasn't crowded at all.

We love the Forth Worth zoo, it's one of the best I think.  Huge variety of beautiful animals and tropical vegetation entertwined with continental species, a gorgeous combo!

An extra special treat was the dino exhibit! I think the pictures will speak for themselves. Ella was in dino heaven as she is such a dinosaur lover and connaisseure.

(Amazed at how skillfully these gigantic models were placed throughout the zoo creating a perfect jurasick athmosphere with background, sound, and motion.)

Other news: mamaie and tataie are coming to visit in October! Hurray, we are super excited!!! It will be a wonderful family reunion!

I am getting released from nursery (and not because of a certain recent incident when one of my tom-boy little girls somehow managed to get her lip broken while in class, a post for another time!) I'm going back to Relief Society as a compassionate service leader or committee member. I'm really not so sure about the terminology anymore as it seems to have been ages since I attended a Relief Society meeting :)  I've had a bit of an internal battle (yes, another one) about this one lately. As much as I love my nursery kids, it felt at times that I was isolated from the women's community in the ward and longed to be in RS and Sunday School. I knew though a calling is a calling and came from Heavenly Father and never questioned (but complained at times.) I continued to serve (faithfully and dilligently, I hope) my little nursery crowd. However, it's hard to contain my excitement about the new calling! Wink-wink! :)

A few more more pictures: riding the Yellow Rose of Texas train:

My most favorite people:

We finished up this great weekend with a picnic at the park after church (with tuna salad sandwhich, hummus, apples, and soynut butter.)

(I love picnic baskets!)

And while Ella played we did some amazing clouds sight-seeing.
(I'm absolutely mesmerized by clouds, especially on a beautiful bright blue sky background.)

Finally, when you're feeling down (even if for no reason), open your scriptures and say a little prayer. It's all better then.

Art collection

That's what I'm in constant need of organizing and storing: Ella's art collection made up of tons of drawings, glue-on's, cut-outs, etc. etc. I still haven't found the ideal way of displaying and then storing these but for now, taking pictures of them and posting them on the blog so they can make the print when I publish our yearly book/history will have to do. I just love the sense of pride and joy Ella gets when we recognize her creations and post them around the house. Last night after school she picked up a huge folder with her art and went through it like through a treasure, recalling what they all were and when she made them. And I want to save them because it'll be so fun to go through them in a few years.

(One of the cards is so funny: it says "I love You Mom or Dad.") And the one that says "Courage = Brave, Going to the Docter!" is so cool!

I know some folks frame some of their kids' masterpieces and replace them with new ones as they come out. That'd be fun. I just need to get some neat frames and get to work.

4th of July party flavors

What a great weekend we had. Too bad it's over and we're back to work and school...

We made mango ice cream at home. Boy, it was a success, but only after figuring out how to work the new ice cream maker (never had/owned one before.) (We learned that it sure helps to read the user instructions before putting the ice cream mixture in!! Duhhh!!!) Anyway, we served it with angel food cake (Hrishi's and Ella's all time favorite), and fresh strawberries.

Grilled sweet corn and BBQ baby back ribs! Yeah, baby!!! Hrishi once again did an awesome job on the ribs! We served that with Romanian potato salad (salat de boef but no beef or chicken in it, this time.)

Tried my hand at Ioana's award winning (at least in my books) recipe for spinach & artichoke dip (slighlty adapted for our non-dairy needs.) Served it with our favorite Stacy's pita chips and newly discovered yumminess by Tostitos: black bean and garlic whole grain chips.

Made pizza (home made whole wheat crust, yum!) with loads of topings consisting of left-over steak, mushrooms, spinach, bell pepper, red onion, and olives.

Enjoyed this delish home made lemonade: frozen raspberry lemonade, sprite, and lemon slices. Pure awesomeness!

Had a great time with friends.

Did some swimming. Yesterday was a PERFECT day for laying out and/or splashing in the pool.

Wanted to do some rock climbing but to Ella's dissapointment the wall was closed! :(

But did some serious fireworks watching.  (We sure loved having several picks of fireworks shows in our town as well as the adjcent towns starting on Friday night. Texans sure know how to throw a big party.)

Did some scootering in our beautiful neighborhood at sunset.

rrrring, rrrringg!!

And found this on my kitchen counter!!!!

(A pretty cute and happy bunch, don't you think?)

All in all, it was a spectacular weekend! Love summer and the 4th of July celebrations.

Super cute lunch box ideas!

Lunchbox packing has been a big part of our lives ever since Ella started on solids and was diagnosed with severe food allergies, which is pretty much since she was nine months old. I was always one (of course, along with all the good and health conscious mothers out there :-)) to plan and feed Ella healthy and diverse foods. With her growing up and being exposed to more and more foods, and with me growing up and learning more and more about nutrition and allergy-free cooking, I'm always in constant need for inspiration on how to put together her lunchboxes. No, I don't get a break not even once in a while that some of us parents out there may have by sneaking in some lunchables. [Boy, wouldn't that be nice???] but hey, this is our life and we love it with challenges and all. :) I recently found quite a few wonderful resources in the blogosphere, but one in particular caught my eye. This wonderful woman and mother of allergic children makes some pretty spectacular and healthy lunchboxes and is kind enough to share them with the world!

I'm posting a few pictures so you get the idea!! Really excited to try these and I'm sure Ella will find them enticing too.

Recipes found at  http://allergickid.blogspot.com/p/lunchboxes.html

(I also recently added a bunch of links to our blog for allergen free cooking recipes and resources from parents going through the same. Food allergies are a serious condition and something can't and should not be ignored.) Really lucky or blessed I should say to have the myriad of useful info out there on the internet at my fingertips.

Kicking off the big weekend in style: Bright Red, White, & Blue Sparklers!

Just love this Primrose tradition and that we get the chance to go watch these cute children showing their patriotic spirit by parading in their beautiful bright red/white/blue outfits and handmade crowns and banners. They're a delight to parents and teachers alike.

Ella with one of very dear friends, Aurelia:

Ella with another friend who sneaked in for a picture! Cute boy!

Daddy's pride and soul:

With cute Aurelia again:

 

With my  beautiful and super sweet "Sparkler" (You fill my life with joy and color, darling! Love you!)

With Mrs. Larkey

Happy 4th of July! Happy Independence Day!

Grateful for all the freedoms, peace, and abundance we have in this land! God bless America and all countries and peoples around the Globe.