August 2017

August in India is HOT! So we play with water as much as possible to keep cool. 

 August 15th is India's Independence Day so we celebrated it with wonderful decorated cookies and a BBQ cookout with friends.

 The kids enjoyed dressing in their India colored clothes and celebrating this country we have grown to love. 

August is also the beginning of football season. We're from Dallas, so of course we root for the Cowboys... when they're winning and when they're losing. 

 This is a sweet family from our church that we were able to meet up with for a play date. 

 Monsoon season begins in August and it rained ALOT! Thankfully we love the rainy weather. I love to sit in our house with the doors open, drinking coffee and listening to the rain. 

I love this picture of Ezra and Madelyn. We went to pick Ezra up from school and they both wanted to play on the playground for a while. 

 August is also when we start our fall traditions. One of my favorite traditions is special movie night. I will plan a movie to project in the backyard for the kids and also plan a special snack that corresponds to the movie. We usually do this on Tuesday nights because it makes for a great distraction while Luke is working. This particular picture is from our Smurf movie night. These marshmallows are sold in our market so this was a really easy snack and the kids just happen to love the Smurf movies. 

July 2017

We ended June and started July with great fun and fellowship in Thailand. We had a week of company meetings followed by a few days of family vacation.

We've always been traveling the first week of July but this year we were home for the 4th of July. So we invited some friends over for a good ole BBQ and some fireworks on our roof. It was so sweet to really celebrate America's Independence Day after such a long time. 

 Luke's mom came to stay with us for a week in July too. It was her first time to see our home in Chandigarh and we were so excited to spend time together. 

The kids loved showing her their home and the parks they like to play in. 

 We also got a new puppy! She is a Cocker Spaniel named Sadie. 

 July is very hot so we spent a day up in the mountains to enjoy the weather and show Mopsie the beautiful sights. 

 Ezra started back to school after his summer break. These two have grown into such sweet friends. 

May/June 2017

As the warmer weather has arrived, riding on my scooter usually leaves me super sweaty so I'm extra motivated to learn to drive the car. I've never driven a stick shift before.. Lets just say, driving on the opposite side of the street, on the opposite side of the car, with a stick shift and in Indian traffic is a lot to navigate. 

 Almost every afternoon while Ezra is at school Madelyn and I love to sit in the shade and play with her water table. I love these sweet afternoons with my girl. 

 I went to some very fun markets with my friend Katie and found these very cute matching Kurtas for Madelyn and I. 

Our summer Saturday nights are almost always spent cooking out and playing in the pool. It is a wonderful way to spend the weekend. 

We live 30 minutes from the Himalayan Mountains so we went for a long weekend trip into a beautiful hill station spot. 

Our hotel was a beautiful little house tucked away in the valley. It had a trampoline outside and sports equipment available to us. With the altitude came cooler weather and it was a great break from the summer heat.  

 Ezra loves to help in the kitchen. He can even roll out roti which is Indian flat bread. 

This is one of our really fun ways to practice their alphabets. 

 There is a little driving range about 7 minutes from our house and Ezra loves to go on golfing dates with Luke. Sometimes I sneak away with them to joint the fun. 

For the last day of school I bought a rainbow slice of cake from the market to surprise Ezra when he got home. Any reason to celebrate and eat cake! 

 There is a waterpark outside of town that has a really great kids area. We bought a year's membership and go almost weekly with the kids. 

June 4th was our 6th anniversary. We celebrated with lunch at TGI Fridays and then we went to the water park without the kids so that we could go on all the big adult slides together. It was a blast! 

 Our friend's church put on a VBS near our house. Ezra and his friend Aunsh went together and loved it. 

 Since the summer is non stop 100+ degree heat we love to go to this big indoor playground because it is a ton of fun and has great AC. :) 

April 2017

The school year in India starts in April so the week after we arrived Ezra started his new school. He is such a brave kid and handles are always transitioning lifestyle really well. 

We started Easter off right with dying eggs and Easter themed pancakes. 

After church we had some friends over for a special lunch and an easter egg hunt. 

Madelyn looked so cute in her Easter outfit.

We enrolled Ezra in a tennis class at a school down the street. He really enjoys it. 

After the class, the school care taker's wife always makes us chai.

These are some of Ezra's tennis friends. 

Ezra likes tennis, but golf is still his favorite sport. He especially loves going to the driving range with his dad.

Madelyn got her first kurta and looks so cute. 

Our house is a single story so we are able to use our roof. We have made good use of the space with our trampoline, a pool and a basketball goal. 

Later we decided to move the pool downstairs and set up the kids slide with it. They love it so much. 

The end of April is Madelyn's birthday. She turned two and we had a big "Dora the Explorer" birthday party for her. Madelyn is an amazing combination of cuteness, fearlessness and friendliness. We love her so! 

March 2017

March was our last month in America and you could definitely say that Texas left an impression on the kids. 

I love that Madelyn and Ava had many playdates. 

I also love that our kids spent some real quality time with their grandparents. 

We even took the kids by DBU to show them where Mommy and Daddy met. 

The last week in March is Luke's birthday so we had a sweet party with his family that included family games. 

Then we spent our last week back at my parent's house. 

Once again, the guys went fishing. :) 

The kids loved the lake so much and I loved sharing this special place with them.

Then on April 1st we flew back to India. 

Both of the kids did an amazing job on the plane rides. 

We arrived safely and ALL of our luggage did too.. praise the Lord!