Kanjak!

We were lil Kanjak's for Dadi's ashtami pooja. Ashtami pooja is celebrated on the 8th day of the Navratri for which Dadi fasted. It is a festival where little girls are considered a form of the Divine and are pampered. Our pampering started when mama dressed us up. Bui had sent us this frilly dress that we wore and we were accessorised for the occasion. We had on out payal, bangles ( although they were a tad bit big) and of course a matching headband! Here are some of our pictures.

Don't I look like a Tango dancer!

All Prettied up!

In the evening Mom and Dadi had called all our friends over for the pooja,  and boy, did we have some fun. So many of our friends came with their moms. There was Kimaya, Leah, Mahin, Khushi, Gurbani and Siyona. Mahin was the one prince charming with all the other girls. Dadi was telling us that although Kanjak Pooja is for girls, there is always one boy. 

Dad started off by cleaning everyones feet with water and dadi tied moli on everyones hands. Finally mom gave us the poori, halva and channa and our goodies bag! Mom was saying that when she was young and invited to these Kanjak Poojas she used to be so excited to open her goodies bag and see what she had. Also the combination of Poori, Halva and Chane is quite good. We also got some awesome goody bags from other aunties. With all the gifts we got we can understand why mom liked it so much. Here are some pictures.

Waiting for the festivities to start.

Dad is cleaning our feet!!!

Dadi putting tikka and moli for Zoya

Dadi putting tikka and moli for Zara

Its Siyonas turn! Look at the ghungroo moli that dadi has!

Its Khushi's turn

Mama handing out the food!

We were all hungry!

Our friend Siyona with her mom Nidhi Auntie

Our friend Leah with Sujatha Auntie

Our fashionista friend Gurbani and Nimarta Auntie

Our friend Kimaya and Divya Auntie and Jatin Uncle with a special appearance from Elmo!

Our friend Khushi with Smiran Auntie

Our friend Mahin loving all the attention from the girls - not paying much attention to his mom-  Grishma Auntie

We turn 4 Months Old!

Another big milestone! 4 MONTHS OLD!!!

These past 4 months have gone by quite fast and we have come a long way too in this short time. Just look at our pictures and you will see that we have grown quite a bit and have become quite some characters.

We had our 4 month appointment with Dr Desai and he was super happy to see us. We had put on some pounds and had grown taller! Zoya was 10 lbs 8oz and Zara was 11 lbs 3oz. We were both the same height 22  and 3/4 inches. Dr Desai had fun playing with us and said that we could now eat some solid food and drink water. Wow! We cant wait!! Can you imagine how great life will be without just the plain ol boring milk!! Although we must say mom kept our milk quite interesting as she introduced us to quite a variety of different flavors and some spices! We also got our second round of shots! Those things hurt!! Why hasn't someone invented a painless method for injections! We did not quite enjoy these as you can see. Dad, on the other hand, was having quite some fun at our expense. Dad we will get you back for this one day!

This month has been full of smiles, gurgling, and blowing raspberries. We also started talking. Our version of talking at least. Zoya is the talkative one! She just doesn't stop and she is quite loud. Zara talks too but can't beat Zoya! Mom and Dad you gotta watch out!!! You have two talkative divas on your hands. Also, we just love smiling. Its pretty amazing, whenever we smile, whoever is near by bursts out into a smile too! And then they make all these funny faces and sounds!

We had our 4 month photshoot in our pink frilly dresses.

Trip to Peidmont Park

Finally the weather in Atlanta was nice, clear and sunny and papa had his days off during the weekend so we decided to go to the Piedmont Park. Mom and Dad put together a basket of some goodies and we all drove out to the park to spend the afternoon and ....yup you guessed it take some pictures.

Enjoying the park - crisp breeze, tree shade and a warm day! Life is good!

We needed our sunglasses! There was a bit too much sun!

The park!

The park!

With Mumma

With Papa

With Dadu and Dadi

You might be wondering where Zoya is in the pics with mom and dad. She was enjoying the park so much or should maybe she was all tuckered out from chilling that she decided to take a lil siesta.

Here is the proof!

We both decided a siesta was much needed. Not that it stopped them from taking pictures.

All of us!

Our family! Aren't we one good looking family!

Our First Holi!

This week we celebrated our first Holi. Holi seems to be a fun festival and mumma says its papas favorite too. Based on what we saw, we can understand why he loves it so much. Holi is a festival where Hindus celebrate the end of winter and the beginning of spring and all the colors it brings. It has two parts. On the first day there is a bonfire similar to that on Lohri and the second day is the fun one, where everyone throws color one each other.

The first day mumma, dadu, dadi and us of course, went to the mandir. They had the bonfire lit there. Since it was a cold night, we didn't want to get out of our car seats as we were nice and cozy so we just took some pictures in them. However, when we went inside the mandir we took more pictures.

We were told by Papa, that the actual fun part of Holi is when people throw color on each other. So the next day when we woke up we all celebrated Holi by putting color on each other. We were getting the idea of why this was papa's favorite festival. Here are some pictures from that day. We also did a special photo shoot for Holi.

Dressed For Holi and playing with color!

I kinda like this festival!

This is fun!!

There is all this color on me!! I can feel it!

Now you are talking! A festival where its OK to get dirty!

Mom and Dad enjoying putting color all over us!

Happy Holi!

That was not all!!! Papa really wanted us to understand why he loved Holi as a child and wanted to make sure we followed in his footsteps. He invited some of their friends; Devyani Auntie, Vikas Uncle, Gaurav Uncle, Grishma Auntie. It was a fun packed day! Everybody was throwing color and water balloons on each other while enjoying some beers outside and listening to music from the car.

Chilling Outside watching the festivities!

Dadu and Dadi Playing Holi

Enjoying Holi in my colorful Holi Outfit

This is kinda hippie

Dad drinking a  beer after playing holi

Dadu getting the ammunition ready! Filling water balloons

Wow they are playing quite tame! 

That's what we thought! The madness was yet to come! 

I'll get you back!!!

Oh Oh Mom got hit too!

The Batras!

The uncles!

Mom and Dad playing Holi

Vikas Uncle enjoying the music!

Malhotras

Chillin by the music house!

The best part of the day was the plan that that mom and dad put together to get Dadi wet as she kept running away from all the fun. Papa got Devyani Auntie involved and she threw a bucket of water on Dadi. Papa was trying to engage Dadi so she wouldnt figure it out and lastly Mumma was taking the pictures, Enjoy the progression of pictures.

Papa trying to engage dadi for a photograph so that she doesn't suspect anything.

Devyani Auntie sneaking up with the water

Dadi posing for picture while Devyani Auntie drops the bucket of water.

Look at the water!

Its still flowing

The downpour!

Its still going!

Dadi is all wet!

Dadi got the whole bucket! Down to the last drop!

Dadi figured out the plan!

Devyani Auntie running away from the site of the crime.

Happy Holi Dadi!

Our buddies; Anaya, Mahin and Rayan did not play holi as much, we wonder why! They were playing with our sunglasses. Hey guys, better watch out coz we loved Holi and cant wait for next year to play it with you all... so watch out!

HAPPY HOLI!!