12th Birthday

In spite of my insistence to the contrary little miss Haana decided to turn 12 this birthday. I think growing up is so overrated! 

Our day started with the kids woken up 30 minutes earlier than usual for a cake cutting in the morning. Video calls with both sets of grand parents and with Softy mausi, with birthday wishes, hugs and kisses and then little miss Haana and Bobby boy were both off to school. 

I had a packed day at work, but left to make a run for target in the middle of the day to pick up some last minute supplies. Then, finished my day at work earlier than usual to set up the star attraction for the birthday - the treasure hunt. I had written the riddles in my scratch pad the day before, so now was the time to write them out on paper, stick some stickers, wrap the gifts and place them in their hiding places. Then, prepare cake batter and let the baking begin. 

Raj brought the packages home just in time! Little miss Haana had had a good day at school. Each of her teachers had given her something special for her special day. Violin teacher had played happy birthday on his recorder, with his nose! At karate, Mr. Hood had then do a plank while singing happy birthday. At math class Ishaan just started singing happy birthday and the other kids joined in. At lunch several boys pooled in money to buy little miss Haana several cookies and treats. 

As soon as she got home, it was time for the treasure hunt to begin. She went through reading each clue, running around the house to figure out the clue and find the treasure. It took some time but soon all the 8 treasures were found. And it was time for cake cutting a a 3 tiered chocolate cake was not going to eat itself!

After cake it was time to head out for dinner. Little miss Haana was pleased with all her treasures! But not as much as we are pleased for her :).

Happy birthday my sweetness :) 

12th Birthday Treasure Hunt

As per tradition, for little miss Haana's 12th birthday, this evening we had the treasure hunt. 

See if you can figure out the clues for finding each of the hidden treasures. Each clue leads to a treasure and the clue for the next treasure..

11 Year Old Now!

As is tradition, we did a treasure hunt at little miss Haana's birthday party. 

See if you can figure it out!

Spoiler.. this one was fancy earrings!!

On to the second treasure:

This one was a journal she wanted but I refused to get it then!

On to the next treasure:

This one was a custom journal hidden amongst my paints and other at supplies!!

On to treasure 4: 

Treasure 5:

This one was in a pair of fancy earrings in my office drawer:)

And that was that..

The Big 1.0.

I'm not ready for the 2 digit birthdays to be honest. Little miss Haana is growing up, as little sweet babies tend to do, and I'm trying hard to push aside thoughts that one day she will leave this home to live by herself, live her life. And my life would never be the same. And even though those times are some time away, I can almost already miss her. 

This October, I tried to convince her that growing up is over rated and she must turn 9 this birthday, again. Little miss Haana did not buy it. 

Leading up to her birthday little miss Haana made it abundantly clear what she wanted. She wanted a treasure hunt. We'd been doing treasure hunts on Papa's birthdays initially, and then on the little girl's birthdays for some time now. The expectation had been building up!

I had gotten her new clothes for her birthday (since she had been getting bigger lately), socks and winter jacket. These will be the treasures I will hide. She needed new shoes too. To make sure she gets the right size, I made Papa and Gugu go and get her new pair of shoes the weekend before her birthday.

As I do every year, I had planned to take the day of her birthday off from work. Little miss Haana's school was off as well. The day before, after the kids were asleep, I sat on the couch with a notebook and a pen. I listed on a scrap paper all the things I had gotten her, and then started coming up with little poems with hints for her to solve. This will be the treasure hunt. It shouldn't be too simple that she uncovers the treasure too soon. It shouldn't be too hard that she doesn't find it at all. It needed to be just right. And it needed to take her upstairs and downstairs, in the garage and back to the backyard. Out and about, and all the way around! 

On the BIG day, Papa and I made sure the cake was already in the oven before the little girl woke up. After her morning dudu (milk), it was time for the treasure hunt. It went just I had hoped it would! She loved every minute of it, and went round and round around the whole house uncovering her treasures.

After her treasures were discovered, we cut the cake! It was cake for breakfast. Little miss Haana and I got dressed and headed out after that. It was a beautiful fall day and we took our convertible top down and headed to my favourite place - rose garden. We strolled and then ran around. It is monarch butterfly migration season in October, and the garden was full of fluttering monarchs everywhere! We talked to a couple folks who seemed to be catching monarchs in the garden. They were part of a nation wide research group that tags butterflies to track details about the monarch migration. Little miss Haana caught and held a monarch butterfly in her hand while the lady tagged the he-butterfly with a tiny sticker too. We talked to them about all kinds of things, little miss Haana dazzled everyone with how much butterfly trivia she knew. 

Soon it was time for lunch. Papa, Haana and I were going to head to her favorite place for lunch - benihana. It was a great lunch experience at benihana as always. 

Later that afternoon, we knocked off another item little miss Haana had on her list of things she wanted to do, a bubble bath. We filled the bathtub with bubbles and played in there. Soon little Bobby boy wanted to join in the fun too and later we let him. 

For dinner, we made aloo paratha (potato stuffed tortillas cooked with oil). This was another item little miss Haana had wanted for sometime. Just like that the wonderful birthday was coming to a close. Lots of friends and family called. It was a wonderful day. And soon it was time for bed. I love you sweet girl! Happy birthday!!

Nine

The excitement of little miss Haana's 9th birthday had been building up for weeks. The calendar had been marked and the count down had begun several days prior. She couldn't wait for her birthday! And she had a plan for the day:

There will need to be a treasure hunt set up for her birthday (a few years back I had set up, what will be the first of many, treasure hunt on Raj's birthday. Both of them had read through the clues hidden in rhymes and found treasures hidden around the house. Now it was a main stay of birthdays for her).

Then, there needed to be a play date with her best buddy Rushil. 

She also wanted to play with her neighborhood gang of friends. 

In there, somewhere, there had to be a home baked chocolate cake and cake cutting. 

Good thing her birthday was on a sunday and we had all weekend. 😉

We started the birthday weekend on friday evening with not only a playdate but a sleep over at Rushil's! We went over to theirs' early evening, spent the evening together, and little miss Haana stayed overnight for a sleepover. In the morning she helped her Ranjeeta aunty bake cookies, and i saw pictures of 2 happy kids having milk and cookies. At home that Saturday morning, i started setting up the treasure hunt. I had already gotten the "treasures" (just small little presents) a few weeks back. Now was the time to pack them, hide them and set up the clues. I had to hurriedly wrap it all up when she was dropped off back home. 

Lunch was from her favorite Torchy's taco. But after lunch i took her out for a surprise. 

I had been thinking of getting her a real sewing machine for sometime. She had a small baby sewing machine for sometime but it wasn't really a proper sewing machine at all. And little miss Haana always has ideas up her sleeve of what she wants to do, some craft project or the other. A sewing machine will be a great tool in her tool box, I thought. On the other hand, I have never done any sewing myself, and don't know my way around a sewing machine at all. She's just an 8 year old, I wouldn't really be able to guide her into learning to sew. But when I talked to a few friends of mine, I learnt there are tons of tutorials online. Youtube can her useful sometimes! My dear friend Kim gave the recommendation of the sewing machine, and I had been to the sewing store closeby to check it out. I decided I will come back with the birthday girl took make the final selection. 

So, I took little miss Haana out on a drive with me for a "little surprise". Only when we came to the store did I tell her about my idea of buying her a sewing machine! We saw the 2 machines i had looked at before, and she choose the one she liked better. She was excited to get started! And i was too! I had to temper the excitement a little by reminding her, it will take us some timw to get up to speed. We will take baby steps in trying to learn how to sew. I was telling myself more than her. The sewing machines can be complicated! 

Back home, we began setting up the machine right away, but looking at the instructions manual and learning to thread the needle was not as straight forward. Then we had the idea to look up youtube, and a good idea that was. She figured out how to thread the needle in no time. And soon we were in business. 

The next morning was the big B day. The morning started early for me and Raj. While i was finishing up the clues and hiding the treasures, he started on the cake - all before the babies woke. Soon, we had the cake in the oven, the treasure hunt all set up, and i sat to have some morning chai. 

Little miss Haana woke up and i gave her long long hugs and kisses to the birthday girl. And then gave her the booklet full of clues. Her eyes lit up - "Treasure Hunt!!", she squeeled with delight! I had the clues set up purposefully to have her rub around the house, upstairs then down the stairs, then in this room, then in that.. could it be in the laundry room? Could it be under the bed, in the bathroom cabinets? Inside the car? 

I saved the best present for the last. Raj had gotten her a smart watch with which she can call us up if she's outside playing with her friends. I liked that it had parental controls, but we can also check on where she is. It was the most delightful presents of all!!

Meanwhile the cake was all done. We had 9 little candles, all lit up. Then, a big huff and puff, all the candles were blown out, a birthday song sung, and we were eating chocolate cake soon. 

Later that day, we had aaloo paratha (wheat tortilla stuffed with potatoes and cooked with oil, eaten with a healthy heapof butter!) for brunch, also by popular demand. During the day, both grand parents called. Softy mausi called. Little miss Haana's Godfather Keith called to wish happy birthday. 

In the evening, just before dinner, little miss Haana's Jinu aunty stopped by with more gifts! She got Enid Blyton set of books for miss Haana. I read those long long time back! It's funny how some books become symbolic of a certain time! 

After dinner, little miss Haana's friends started showing up. I had pinged their parents to send the kids over for cupcakes outside by our garage. And they were here. Little miss Haana's Kirthi aunty and Karthik uncle and little Varam came up too. We all hung outside, with all the neighborhood kids, talking, enjoying cupcakes. 

It was a good day and a great birthday. Now stay on 9 awhile little miss Haana!