Raksha Bandhan! (pictures!)

I'm going to indulge myself and have lots of pictures and lots of writing in a very long post today.

We are *finally* getting the pictures and video up from yesterday. I was really pleased at how everything turned out!

We got both kids showered up in the morning and dressed them both in Indian clothes. (Amaani's dress is a gift from Kartik's mom. Isn't it gorgeous!)

  

 

Ishu started fussing right as soon as we made him dress up. We ended up changing his outfit; but only after we got a picture!

 

My grandparents and the kids grandparents were there, along with Niki Masi.

Amaani's mom's mom

The actual ceremony went suprisingly well. Amaani did help with the ceremony and he seemed interested in what was going on..



First grab the plate and do aarti.



Then put tilak and rice on his forehead



Best part for my brother, BANTO (sweet)



Now best part for me, GIFT!

Here is a video of the ceremony:

 

This morning, Amaani and I went to Ishu's room to wake him up. He looked up at Amaani and said "Pretty, pretty 'maani; thank you", while pointing to his rakhi. They are too young to understand the real meaning of Raksha Bandhan, but I think he gets the gist of it.