Our Amazing, Wonderful, Hilarious Poloo

March 28th: In Atlanta! The kids put on a Star Wars play, which was sooo cute, although Aden was supposed to play Darth Vader but decided against it at the last minute :( Rabia filled in, with very hilarious results 😂 June 30th: We're in the middle of a move back to California, and the girls and I decided to come to Atlanta while Shiraz races cross country to get to Monterey before the moving truck does 😏 We had a Harry Potter part 2 party there, since now both girls love Harry Potter :) Particularly Ilana! And then the 3 kids had a mini-HP play afterwards! Rabia and I took the 3 kids to LegoLand the next day - Aden and Inaya loved building, and Ilana loved riding rides with Rabia!

April 7th: We did a belated surprise birthday party for Ilana, and then the next day had Aden's very elaborate Harry Potter Birthday Party! I tried to make Golden Snitch cake pops at Rabia's request, but they were a complete fail. Aden loved his party, though. On Sunday morning we did an Easter Egg hunt - we did it indoors because of Aden's allergies, and we planted them throughout the basement. Kids loved it :) August: We're back in Atlanta, and the family had a surprise birthday party for Inaya followed by an almost play from the kids 😂 It was a superhero theme, but never quite made it to production in front of a live audience! November 30th: On Tuesday the 24th, mama, Rabia, and Aden came to visit us for Thanksgiving. Ilana was originally insisting that she wanted to go to soccer (it would have been her last day), and wanted Nano to come pick her up afterwards (they were flying in at 3ish, and Ilana's soccer ends near 5), but the morning of, Ilana ...

April 9th: When Aden came up for his birthday party, he had gotten a Magic 8 ball - I heard the kids screaming excitedly downstairs, and found out that they had asked the ball if I was having twins this year and it said yes - they were so happy! Not. Going. To. Happen. For his birthday, Ilana spent days cleaning pennies to give to him, and presented them in a box with a 5 dollar bill, a picture, and a green bowl - so cute. He was confused but gracious! August 31st: August 13th - my mama arrived!!! They were staying at the Gaylord Hotel at National Harbor for APPNA, and we pretty much stayed the whole time too :) Mama had a large suite for her and Ilana, and Naya and I bunked with Humera, Shoaib had a separate room and Rabia & Aden had a separate room. Ilana was so thrilled by mama's suite, and kept running around yelling "we're staying here, we're staying here!" The next day, the family came to our house for a birthday party for Naya - I went and got a cake ...

January 8th: The break overall went well - we didn't really go anywhere, just went to Columbus one weekend to help Rabia with the move from her house to the apartment. Aden and Ilana are so happy together :) All the kids ran shrieking around the house and then the apartment, exploring together. April 7th: Rabia's family met us at for our first trip to Disney, and the kids loved being together there! They were so cute and excited to meet up together in the morning for their Disney day. Ilana wanted to go on all the rides with only Rabia and Aden. We did manage to do a few rides together, but then went our separate ways since they had a shorter visit and Aden had very specific characters he wanted autographs from, like Peter Pan and Princess Ariel :) May 3rd: The kids and Humera put on their second play, Aladdin, with Ilana as Jasmine and Aden as Aladdin, Humera as the Genie 😂 It was so adorable! They knew their lines so well, and kept poised even when Inaya kept quietly c...

January 13th: Visiting Atlanta, and the family did an early fourth birthday for Ilana - Aden and Rabia came too, and he was so sweet and loving with the girls, as always 💕 May 29th: Family beach trip! They rented a house on Navarre Beach, and as usual the kids had an amazing time together. They played on the beach, took adorable photos, Aden and Rabia came to our house to swim, Aden and Ilana took the kids electric car out for a drive, we went to Bippy's for fro yo, and generally had an awesome, amazing time! September 18th: On Saturday, the kids put on their play that they had been working on, which was adorable! Humera went all out with props and costumes, and the kids knew their lines so well :) Naya ambled in to get in on the action, and everyone just went with it. Afterwards, Lani and Aden were so excited that they kept planning more performances and coming back to show us :) And Naya kept hiding behind the mural/curtain and rushing out laughing. It was r...

February 11th: Ilana’s 3 rd birthday weekend, so Rabia and Aden came up Saturday and we had a Hello Kitty party at the house. A few hours later, I forced Ilana into another outfit for the other party we were going to - she just wanted to play with Aden, so I had to drag her physically out of the house. At the non-family party at Darvish (a Princess Jasmine theme), other kids started trickling in, although Lani still spent most of the party playing and fighting with Aden! March 8th: Ilana did better than I expected during Aden's birthday celebrations. Rabia had it here, and it was a beach theme, and for the most part Lani let the day really be about Aden :) She did shout out in the middle of the birthday song, that it should be sung to them both; did blow out the candles; and did "help" - i.e. snatch - with the unwrapping of the gifts, but did pretty well overall! Aden was very sweet and gracious through it all! Later it was storming and the kids were with Nano in the ...

May 12th: Shaheen threw Ilana a beautiful Big Sister Party on May 2nd, and our lovely friends and their beautiful children showed up to help us celebrate! In true toddler style, Ilana threw a fit in the hour leading up to us going, first refusing to get dressed, then screaming that she didn't want to wear a dress, then refusing to get in the car. One problem was that up until that morning, Ilana and Aden both thought he'd be going as well, but that morning Rabia wasn't feeling well and wanted to get back to Columbus while she was still in good enough condition to drive :( Ilana and Aden were inseparable - and pure chaos - during his visits to Atlanta while we were there. They'd hold hands and run around together, chase each other around, and generally wreak havoc. Ilana was very bossy with him, but then would also listen to him when he told her to not do something. It was a sweet and hectic time! June 27th: Ilana’s so excited about Rabia and Aden coming at the time th...