11-11-11

I had been dreaming about this moment for years (seriously)...

And from the look of this face, 11-11-11 lived up to all my wildest expectations... :-)

(blurry picture-- the boys had my camera again...)

We'd been planning a party all week long, and everyone was excited that it would fall on a Friday, which is already "chicken night" around here. We talked about playing games or watching a movie, but on Friday morning Thapa came up with a better idea-- "I will dance, Mam. You bring costumes! We do program!" And so it was settled-- we'd celebrate with an 11-11-11 talent show.

Rohan, Rahul, and Miraj recited poems ("One, two, buckle my shoe..."). Ashish sang a solo. Ratan and Bharat showed off their dance moves, while Pradeep and Nanda played as the dj's. Mukhund did his scary voice impression. And I wowed them all with the ol' "shaker-in-my-sleeve" magic trick. They were totally fooled.

But no question about it, Thapa stole the show with two shameless dances and a solo (accompanied, of course, on his badminton-racket-guitar). Shubham helped him style his hair between performances.

And no party is complete without... Jell-O! I tried to make rainbow layers this time, but when I flipped it out of the pan, a big Jell-O blob went everywhere. Oops. Oh well, the boys didn't seem to mind!

We finished the night with some old "home videos"-- like the boys' rendition of The Lion King, which just keeps getting funnier and funnier with time. As we all crowded around the computer-- watching, laughing, remembering-- I looked at 15 smiling faces and thought once more of how blessed I am to be a part of this family. Again and again, my heart overflows. What a happy, happy day!