Christmas 2011

This Christmas was a lot of fun with the girls! They completely understood the concept of Santa which made Christmas season alot more memorable than last year.

On Christmas Eve, we set out cookies & milk for Santa and carrots for the raindeer.  Of course both of the girls had to dig in before they went to bed.

Amiya insisted on leaving the half gallon of milk for Santa. 

She thought he would need the calcium :)

We were up until wee hours of the night wrapping and putting together toys.  I have never EVER been so last minute with getting Christmas things together but this year I was. 

We were looking forward to the girls expression to when they saw all the gifts under the tree in the morning.  The both looked down in the family room from upstairs and Amiya said "Wow, so many gifts, thank you so much santa.  So nice of you santa".  It was cutest thing ever!

After we went downstairs they both were running around like crazy looking at all their gifts.

I got all crafty with this lego table.  I made it from something I found on pinterest.

The girls LOVE nail polish and were so happy to get some in their stocking!

My happy girls!

Later in the day, Amiya and I went to my parent's house.  Arya had a fever for 4 days which still didn't break so she couldn't go with us.  She was very mad at first but Akhil and her had a lot of fun at home eating popcorn and watching Finding Nemo.

Christmas-Time Activities

We actually put up the Christmas tree before Thanksgiving. Akhil had some time off of work so I took his availabilty and had him put up the tree. The girls were so excited to put up the tree. This year they were actually able to help decorate which was fun!

Arya just had to make sure the tree stand was secure

Watching Akhil get it all set up.

Then after Thanksgiving we put the ornaments on it.

(the picture is terrible because Akhil had the flash off)

I love my girls!

The girls don't have a concept of time right now except for today, tomorrow, and yesterday. So they kept asking if we were going on vacation tomorrow, every single day. So then we made the chain links so then they would know how many more days until the Disney Cruise. This really helped them understand how many more days until vacation.

Arya and Amiya's teachers got them this huge coloring workbook for Christmas. They sent it home with them after the Christmas party but we forgot to open it up before they went to bed. So I put it on the kitchen table so in the morning they quickly ripped open their present!

Here Arya is doing some crafts at a Santa lunch.

...more crafts

This Christmas season, we met 4 Santas.

Here is Santa #1 at the Lunch with Santa that we attended.

The girls were so giddy to sit on his lap although they don't look giddy in the picture!

Later that day we decorated a little foam tree at home. 

Mostly Arya did the decorating and the constant redecorating of this tree.

Santa #2 came to our house to deliver gifts.  The girls were still taking their nap when he showed up so we had to quickly wake them up, get their hats /coats on and rush outside to see him.  They both were very cranky because of all this but then once Amiya set her eyes on him, she jumped onto his lap!

and even more excited to get a present!

Arya didn't want to sit on his lap so she just gave him a nice stare down and maybe a blink or two while in daddy's arms.

Then they both ran into the house to open their presents

What else could a 2 year old princess loving girl want...a princess bell doll and a cinderella doll!

Later on that evening, we decorated a little gingerbread house. I tried to tell them that the candies were just beads for decorating but somehow they knew it was candy and gobbled too many pieces!

  My two little fun firecrackers (decked out in their jewelery as usual)!  Later this same afternoon, these two cuties decided it would be funny to take the ornaments off the tree and throw them around.  I came into the family room to many broken ornaments.  Boy was I unhappy!  The girls learned their lesson VERY quickly after this experience!  Its no fun being sent to your room!

My little smiley lolipop girl (she always requests to be called Amiya Lolipop)!

We went to the Cleveland's West Side Market one morning and the girls got to decorate some cookies.  They were so excited to have a cookie for breakfast! ugh!

and Santa #3 at the West Side Market. Terrible picture, I know!

Amiya quickly ran up to Santa but Arya didn't want to greet him but then after we walked away she kept asking to see Santa again!

Disney Dream Cruise

Last week we went on a Disney Cruise. It was such a fun vacation that we really didn't want to come back home at all! The girls kept saying "Mickey's house is more fun than my house" which I must agree! We had heard such great things about Disney Cruises but were still unsure what to expect. It really exceeded our expectations with lots of fun, great service, beautiful, and great food. There was enough activities for adults and children which was so nice. They had a really great adults only pool that I hung out at every day during naptime. Akhil was so kind to stay in the room (ahem...the balcony) while the girls napped. :)

We began our trip at Port Canaveral. We stayed at a hotel in town so hence why there is an astronaut statue. The girls were very excited over this statue!

When we boarded the boat, the girls didn't really realize that we were on the boat. It just looked like we were in a hotel so they kept saying that we want to go to our Mickey boat. We kept telling them that we ARE ON the Mickey boat. Pretty quickly Pluto came by and they were sooo happy. Then they accepted that we are on the Disney boat!

It was our mission to see Mickey that night. We found out where he would be hanging out so we went to see him. There was a line to greet him but Arya got so excited and just ran to him. The cruise employee told her that she has to wait in line with the other children. She just balled her eyes out. She was still crying when her turn came because she was so upset that she was told "no". Below you will see Mickey trying to console my little munchkin.

The evening we boarded the boat from Port Canaveral was pretty chilly - about 60 degrees for the high. There were several children swimming in the pools and Arya/Amiya begged to swim but we were not about to go swimming in a cold pool! They refused to take naps and just wanted to explore the boat. It was so cute to see them so excited!

Then we woke up in the morning and went outside on the balcony and it was sooo nice and warm at 7:30 am. It felt so good!

So we quickly changed into our swimming suits and spent the day swimming.

It felt so good to be in the hot sun!

And the girls dug into lots of ice cream!

The huge gingerbread house that the cruise chefs made

I surprised the girls with these cute minnie mouse dresses and ears.

They were more than excited to sport their new dress!

I just had to get a family picture with the big mouse!

It was so cute to see them get so excited to see every character...I have to admit that I got starstruck too. But then I quickly realized, hey thats just some guy in an outfit who probably doesn't speak English!

They were soooo happy to see Minnie. They really didn't want to stop hugging her!

By the pools there was a DJ spinning some fun music so here are the girls getting down to their favorite song "tic tok" by Ke$ha.

One of the stops on the boat was to Castaway Cay Island. When we got off the boat, Donald was there to greet the kiddos.

We spent this day just hanging out in the ocean and on the beach. It was such a nice and relaxing day on this Island.

The girls loved going on the innertubes in the ocean :)

We rented a cabana on the Island so we could have a place to hang out. It was so nice to have this little cabana so we could chill and get some shade.

Little Amiya peering out to see what others are doing

The cruise cooks got off the boat when it docked early in the morning to prep for lunch. They grilled up some delicious food. Here are the girls eating their lunch and sipping on their lunch treat - apple juice.

Arya said she was acting like me...reading a magazine. haha

My babies!

The Bindras....

What a great family vacation. We loved the Disney Cruise and have been recommending it to everyone!