Kindly doing the needful: Four months in photos

Now that every electronic device we own has a built-in camera, I occasionally have to sit down and do a little organizing. Here are some random photos from the last four months. They're of varying quality, as they come from our digital camera, friends' digital cameras, our two cell phones, and my iPod. You'll also notice by Evie's changing hair length that they're sometimes out of chronological order. Oh, well. Enjoy!

Samuel and our neighbor Alex like to help with the gardening. We're lucky that our downstairs neighbors have boys that line up in age with Samuel and Johnny. I just found out that the two new families coming into our compound have 2-year-olds, as well. Fun times ahead!

Tamil lettering on the sign outside our church. It reads "The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Visitors welcome." Well ... the Tamil equivalent of that.

Our church building is brand new. This is what greeted visitors to the open house in January.

Missionaries working the church open house in January. Most missionaries here are from India, but there are a few Americans here and there. You'll recognize "greenies" by their shell-shocked look.

Artisans working at a crafts exhibition at Valluvar Kottam.

Tapestry at a textile exhibition at the Kalakshetra Foundation.

Papier mache puppets ready for a performance at Kalakshetra.

The white board outside Alphabet Playschool, where Evie and Samuel have been attending preschool. There's a new quote every day.

A "salon" is a "saloon" here. I don't know why I find this so hilarious.

This is hard to see, but it's a Spiderman coloring book packaged with Barbie crayons. Who is the target consumer? Not sure.

Indians love to decorate their vehicles, and baby Krishna (and here) is a favorite image.

The kids have been building elaborate forts in the living room.

Evie as a fairy bunny rock star.

Samuel and one of his preschool teachers talking to the fish in Alphabet's little koi pond. I like Alphabet's indoor/outdoor setup.

Samuel playing hard at Ideal Beach.

Johnny (on the right) and his friend Anand Beh at Ideal Beach. Those are fishing boats in the background.

This year's Easter Bread turned out pretty well, if I do say so myself.

Johnny's started piano lessons, but Samuel's the one you're most likely to find practicing.

Evie loves to turn on the Disney playlist and dance.

Evie's the green blur on the left. This was at a birthday party last month, where the parents all sat around sweating to death while the kids went nuts (with frequent water breaks).

This enormous vegetable is called a snake gourd. Those potatoes underneath are fist-sized, to give you some idea as to how long it is. I have no idea how to cook with it.

Samuel is still as fascinated with auto-rickshaws as ever. This one has Spidey decor.

We hardly ever see sandwich meat here, and when we do the price is unbelievable. This package costs 700 rupees. At 50 rupees to the dollar, that's ham worth $14! The salami next to it is 1400 rupees, or $28.