Q.F.T. - Quality Family Time

So the epic snow continues for the Virginians (also the Washingtonians and the Marylanders). It has stopped for the weekend but come Monday we are expecting another couple of snowy days (teachers and students rejoice!). As more of the fluffy white stuff  accumulates outside I start thinking that it is actually a blessing in disguise. That's because the more indoors we all are the more quality family time we get to spend together. 
So here I am trying to make the best of the weather with the help of ye old faithful camera and make my  contribution to some QFT (quality family time)

 

Ryad was such a sport...

  

...and posed like a pro for my camera

  

Presenting Ryad in his Sarah Palin inspired 'Moose Hunter Sweatshirt'

  

Nael could tolerate the cap for just one second

  

There, off it came the very next moment.

  

...well, I'll let you choose a caption for this

Below is a bonus picture, depicting the way we do dishes around here

  

we use team work to get things done

  

So what if it seems like nothing is done even after 20 minutes of toiling over the dishwasher

  

we don't give up and keep trying till the work is done (or till Mommy finally pushes the start button)

 

Best picture I took all week

The Very First Haircut Day

Previously I had posted pictures of Ryad and Nael's homemade haircut :). Here's the thing, it wasn't their first. Their first haircut was when they were only 2 months old, executed by their Great Uncle, who also happens to be a Pediatric Surgeon (yeah, we got in the expert to do this one)


Both of them peacefully sucked on their pacifiers through out the process. Trust me when I say this, they didn't cry even once!


There are many benefits of shaving a baby's head early. When I say shaving, don't picture a razor running across a soft newborn head. A handy gadget like the Clip and Trim will do the job. It is soothing for the baby to have a clean head and also reduces the occurrence of cradle crap.
I had researched before I delved into this controversial terrain and found that there were more pros than cons that supported shaving a baby's hair as early as possible. One more benefit is that if your baby is born with thick locks (like mine were), they will desperately need a haircut around 8-9 months. That is a stage when they are starting crawl or are already very mobile. It is  very difficult to pin them down to one place and can also prove dangerous if you are working with scissors. So if you get the baby bald early, they will be ready for their next real haircut only when they old enough to handle one. This makes life a little more easy. Plus, they looked super cute with their clean heads, I guess bald is beautiful when it comes to babies.

Nael, just out of bed and ready for his haircut.

 

There it goes, no looking back now.

 

Nael found the vibrations from the machine so soothing that he fell asleep again

  

Ryad's Turn!

  

Almost done! Thanks to multi-talented Great Uncle.

 

Do you see a smile too? I think he liked it! 

Snowed in = Family Movie Night

Somebody had to pinch me. We were heading in for another snow storm yesterday. That meant the kids were locked up indoors (again). We still managed to have fun thanks to Daddy who came up with a cool idea. He set up a projector in our room and all of us snuggled in to watch a movie. The kids had a blast too. Before the movie, Daddy played their favorite songs and wasn't that fun. They couldn't believe what they were seeing! Life size rhinos, elephants, monkeys and fish.

Another snow day well spent thanks to Daddy (and also our extra high ceilings, it wouldn't have been the same without them.)

Nael: 'It's playing on the computer, that I understand.'

                                 'But, what's the big TV doing on the wall?' 

Nael dancing to, 'Elephants, I like elephants.' 

Ryad: 'A Mr Rhino who is as big as I am!!'

Ryad: 'This is like the movies, only better!'

Now it's on the floor!?!

 'And now it's on the ceiling?'

'Come down from there!' 

Nael's checking if the bear is still up there or not.

Haircut Day

We had been contemplating this day for some time now. We had planned on how we would go about doing it, decided on a salon to get it done (my husband had talked to his hairstylist who was more than happy to help us out), prepared for the tantrums they were going to throw, came up with innovative ideas to pacify them through the process. Yup, we thought out every detail, everything except the part where we cut their hair on our own, in our own bathroom.

You read it right folks, we gave the boys a much-wanted haircut yesterday. 

Well actually, Daddy gave them the haircut and Granny and I helped out.

OK alright, Granny helped out and I took pictures :)

It all started last evening, we were sitting in our living room having tea. Daddy took the last bite of his cookie, turned to me and said, "how about we cut their hair?". I munched on that. It had been snowing through out the weekend and news had it that we would get more the following week. Shops and businesses were either closed or open for limited hours. It would be a hassle to change their nap and meal times and take them out to an unfamiliar place to get their haircut. 

I looked back at him and said, "Ok, I'll get the scissors". And that was it, that's how it happened. Don't you just love these impromptu adventures? We cut hair, bathed the boys, got them into night suits and cleaned up the mess all under 60 minutes. And yes, may I also add we also had loads of fun.

 

Ryad could sense something was about to happen

 

I have never seen that look on his face, love it!

 

Of course he wouldn't let it be a piece of cake

  

We were almost done when Ryad started loosing his patience. Immediately resorted to the IPhone  for help and played his favorite song

 

Nael's turn! He was such a trooper

  

 Didn't even change his position once! Can you believe that?

 

Nael was such a cooperative baby, Reason: he watched Ryad getting a haircut and wanted one too, I have such competitive boys on my hands

Notice how he is in the same position in all the pictures

 

Ryad in the shower, notice all the hair on his neck

  

Nael- ha, love that face

Last, but so not the least, I couldn't let you go without the 'Before and After' picture now could I?. Here it is.

Before

  

After

 

Happy Fourth Engagement Anniversary

How do you know that your significant other still loves you after 3.9 years and 2 kids?? Simple answer is that he goes out and randomly buys you the Nikon D5000 (which you btw have been drolling over since months).

I'm still playing around with the different features that include 12.3 mega-pixel and a versatile vari-angle LCD display (which FYI is great for movie making). It also has many other hi-techi stuff which I still have to figure out (mostly because I'm an alien to DSLR)

It has been 4 hours since it has landed in my hands and the user's manual has already become a text book for me. A big thanks to my hubby Haris who totally took me by surprise with his generosity. And the closest occasion that I can think of is our fourth year engagement anniversary, which is still a week away:)