Diwali

Anika, Mia's friend, brought her whole family to school last week to share how they celebrated Diwali. Many of us wore our Indian party wear....it was sooo festive. The kids painted their diyas, ran and danced to the fun Indian music. It was a fun celebration....we are so very thankful Anika and her family shared something so special with us.

patiently waiting to apply glitter

Krista, a very shy teaching guide...and fabulous friend

what Lily did most of the celebration

Anika's loving Nani...embracing my Mia

that radiant woman looking at the camera is Anjalika..Anika's mama...and a lovely friend

She's beaming because her whole family was there...from California and Bombay!

baby Arjun, in Terra Luz style...donning glitter and a bit of metallic paint on his hand

Anjalika wrote all the children's names in Hindi

Mia dancing with wild abandon

they ran out of bindis, so Kellyann gave the kids dino stickers to wear

from left: Andrea, Mala, me, Priya (photo taken by Anja)

Mala and Priya are Anjalika's sisters...she calls us her Western sisters

Anika

Indian Blankets

On Tuesdays, Mia gets out of school at 3:30, but doesn't have swim class until 5...in the same area. So, every Tuesday when I pick her up from school she asks what kind of 'adbenture' we're gonna have. This day, we drove around until we happened upon some wildflowers. An hour was easily lost by exploring all the different types, shapes, colors.... When we got home after swimming, we sat together and Googled Central Texas Wildflowers and found the names to several. Mia's favorite one was the most prolific...they looked like daisies but were bright yellow and orangish-red....we discovered they're called Indian Blankets. She didn't pick any of those b/c they were also the faves of several bees.