Xmas shoot with kids

This year we decided not to do a family picture for our Xmas card. I did use a family picture we took in August for Pravan's birthday shoot. I however just had to take the kids in to JC Penny and got these pictures taken. They did a great job and all of these pictures were forwarded via e-mail. I just had to share. Thanks for looking ! Warning !!!! There is a lot of pictures.

Free Spirit !

Tragic acceident

The news in San Diego now is that four people died from the crash. This makes me so sad as this family a stay at home mom, 2 month old, 15 month old and the grandmother all died. Their is an on going investigation as to what really happened. I am so saddened by this. Read more on it here :http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/28156838/ Free Spirit !

F-18 crashes

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/28115760/from/ET/ Now this is why I was freaking out when that F-18 was pulling stunts right above our house a while ago. Things like this is no longer unusual. You know when I was a kid I always heard people say " If you are in your house , you won't die from a plane crash or a car running you over " Gone are those days as these days it is becoming more and more common. Not sure what happened with this plane but it crashed and now someone has lost their home. It is not yet determined if there are any injuries. I just needed to share in case you read my previous post and thought I was a nut job for freaking out. Those jets are not toys and even when you fly them with experience and care something unfortunate can happen and that is why when the pilot that flew the plane above my house decided to take if a joy ride I complained to everyone in authority that would listen. After talking with the Mayor's office, Reno Aviation, the Fallon Naval base I received several follow up calls and assurance that the pilot at fault was going to be facing some severe consequences. I am glad that the pilot of the F-18 crashing in California was able to bail out and is safe. These freak accidents do happen but the less reckless we are the better than chance that we can be safe. Better safe than sorry I say. If you have not read the post I am referring to , here is the link. http://twoworldsunite.blogspot.com/2008_11_13_archive.html Free Spirit !

Ho ! Ho ! Ho!

I have been away from the cyber world for a while now. I have been very busy since I returned from the Magical Kingdom. I still have to go through all those pics and edit and post. I more than likely will break it up into a series type of post and post a little and tell the story and the memories we made. Well this week has been one wild ride and Santa has been a busy chap himself. Our last day at Disney and I had a date with Priyasha and stayed behind later than the guys. On our walk back to Paradise Pier ( our resort hotel ) I took a short cut through a another hotel and Priyasha spotted Santa. We had to stop and visit with him. She was so happy sit see him. She could hardly contain herself when it was her turn. She ran as fast as her little legs could carry her and crashed right into Santa's arms. It was so cute.

She hugged him a for good while and then asked to sit on his lap. It was real magical to watch her face light up. This trip was truly amazing. Not just seeing Santa but seeing the princesses and all the other characters. I was deliriously happy the whole time and I was the biggest kid. It was my first time too. I just love Disneyland now.

Priyasha was busy asking Santa for what is on her wish list.

I love this intense look they both have.

Pravan was not with me but when we went back to our room I alked hom into walking across the street with me. He had no idea what he wanted so I asked him to think about it as we walked together hand in hand in the dark. When we got there he told me that he knew what he was going to ask but it was a secret.

Santa says " What do you want for x-mas young man ? "

Pravan responds " I think ..... "

He thought about it for a minute as I stood there clicking away trying to get a good shot of them together.

Finally Pravan says in a loud voice " I want five thousand bucks !!!!! "

I almost fell over laughing so hard.I am not sure where he heard the word bucks from and then to ask Santa for that in an economic crisis no less. The look Santa gave me was priceless. I laughed so hard and I was not alone laughing either. We had quiet the audience and he was not quiet about asking.

Santa said :" hhhmmhh what will you do with all that money ? "

He then whispered something in his ear and looked at me and told me

" I told you it is a secret mom "

Santa said " I have that kind of money but I need it to buy parts for all the toys that my elves are making for all the little boys and girls, what else would you like ? "

Pravan said " That's all I want for x-mas and it will make me happy "

At this moment it was still a secret to me and I was not sure what they were talking about.

Pravan then got off Santa's lap and I asked to have my picture taken with Santa as an excuse to hear what the secret was.

Santa said " You have raised a very thoughtful young man, he wants too use the money to buy you the camera and all the accessories for it for

x-mas " That was a huge compliment coming from Santa.

That so precious and completely melted my heart. I really reduced me to tears. I could not believe he asked Santa for something for me. What makes it even more sweet is that he wanted it to be a secret and did not ask for anything else for himself.

I then asked one of Santa's elves to tell Pravan that he will get a bonus gift at an unexpected time as he is so sweet and thinks of other people. As we walked outside Pravan asked to see the pictures on the camera so we sat on a bench. He immediately found a light saber which is what he has been secretly wanting. He was so thrilled. He grabbed it and yelled out. " The elf told me I will get a surprise gift from Santa and this is it ! " i just hugged him and told him that all good deeds are rewarded and his was not going unnoticed by Santa. He believes. Do you ???? Thank you for stopping by and reading my blurbs. I have so many more magical moments to share and will do so in the next few days. Come back to see more good stuff.

Photo Challenge # 27 motion shots

Booyah Cramer !!!! This is for Jim Cramer from the Mad Money show. " "Booyah Cramer" is what Priyasha screamed out as she threw a ton of $100 bills. It will be a long time before she can toss around money like this again. I could not have planned for a more perfect placement of the bills and her expression as well.

Boys and mud. He had a blast and I hosed him off when he was done.

Flying kids.

Bouncing bouncing Tiggerific tigger ....

Loves to jump ! Can you tell ???

Soccer contortionist

I just got home after a 10 hour drive and it is very late. As soon as I walked through the door I turned on the computer. The kids were asleep in the car and nothing else was unloaded. I then took care of the mommy duties but needed the pc to boot up as I did my motherly duty. I have so many more pics like this but cannot locate them all. I have so many pics from Disney but need to upload and sort, delete, edit etc etc. I have chosen these from my archives. Thank you for letting me play.

Check out more action shots at

http://www.photochallengebog.blogspot.com/

Let me know which is your favorite.

Free Spirit !

Happy Thanksgiving

GOBBLE ! GOBBLE ! Happy Turkey Day. As you read this we are driving to Los Angeles. We are on our way to Disney land.The kids are thrilled and so am I as this is my first trip except for the one in Paris. I made the kids a simple autograph book and I will post that next week with the autographs in them. Since we will be on the road today we had our turkey dinner on Sunday. I just could not go without turkey. There is only one year since Todd and I have be married in the past 10 years that we did not have turkey. That was in Nov of 2000 when Bush was elected the 43rd President. We were on a trip to Africa to break the news of our marriage to my family. We were married in April that year and it was a secret from my family until that trip. I remember being on the beach on Thanksgiving and reading about the President in the paper. Now you know why Pravan was wearing a Chefs hat while riding his bike in the previous post. He helped me baste the turkey and then went out to ride a little. Usually it is just us during the holiday season but I still cook a spread as I enjoy doing that. This year it was not very fancy as were not going to be at home for very long after this dinner. Priyasha is such a homemaker and insisted on helping a lot. Most time Pravan loves to be in the kitchen but on Sunday Pravan was reading and doing school work. He did help a little. Priyasha even helped me make the cranberry sauce. We also had time to do a craft. I searched around and sound some stuff to use to create a turkey. We painted a paper plate brown, cut out some feathers, beak and glued on eyes. I stapled the feathers onto the body and Pravan wrote down things he was thankful for and I wrote stuff down that Priyasha told me. Her first thing to be thankful for was the bird. She kept saying turkey, thankful for turkey. Boy am I thankful for turkey too. Can you imagine if the pilgrims gave a donkey or something as a peace offering Guess what we will all be eating ??? That's right ! I wish you and your family a happy thanksgiving. I will be away until next Monday. Next week I will have a ton of things to post. Stay safe !

smitten by the kittens

Last night Pravan boy scout den was supposed to meet at the humane society. It was on the other end of town and it was very hard to find. Sadly only one other scout showed up. He had his sister with him and Priyasha tagged along as always. All the kids had a blast. I was overwhelmed. There were so many stray cats there. Surprisingly it was very clean and tidy in there. There was no smell at all. They had hand sanitizer at every cage so if we touched a cat we had to sanitize before we went to the next cage. They even had bunnies, gerbils, mice and rats. They sometimes have snakes and lizards as well. At any given time they house between 600-800 cats and 200-300 dogs. Isn't that crazy. I wish I could bring some cats home but I already have one. We have pepper and we had Salty who was eaten by the coyotes.

Pravan does not want to go back to the shelter as he thinks it is so sad to see the cats and dogs with no homes. Priyasha was sad when she saw the puppies. She told the man " the puppies miss their mommies " The man said " yes they do but they need new mommies now " It was so cute to watch the delight and excitement on the kids faces. I had a good time and can see why animals can be therapeutic to the elderly and the sick.

The Humane Society is a no profit organization and depend on donations etc. If you have kids please take a trip down there and have them experience this and maybe donate a bag of food or litter. It costs them about $100 to neuter each cat and dog. It is a non kill shelter and make sure every animal finds a home eventually which can take up to a year. They also have a large laundry are with lots of machines to wash the linen and beds. It is insane. I had never expected it to be what I saw. They also are looking for volunteers. If you can then this would be a good thing to do at least once. Just a thought.

Salty

Pepper. Yeah she is smart and usually does Pravan's homework.

Pepper is suprisingly a good hunter. She has no claws but still has her natural instinct as a hunter.

Salty was the neigborhood explorer. She roamed around and had claws so she was able to jump the fence. The one night she did not return home. On the way to the shelter Pravan said " I wish we see Salty there, maybe someone found her and took her there." It was wishful thinking. I do not think she was so lucky. Poor kitty !

Priyasha when she was 4 months old with Mia. This is my in laws cat in Vermont. Thanks for stopping by.