We just finished carving pumpkins last night and will hopefully have a few more Halloween decorations up this evening. The girls carved their very own pumpkins without any help. I also managed to get Ted to carve a pumpkin as well, it's like pulling teeth to get this guy away from his computer for so long. I dare ya to try and guess who carved what!
I was going crazy not being able to carve myself due to a very bad cut on my right thumb last Friday along with a minor cut on the other hand. Ted and the kids have been entirely in charge of cooking and cleaning all weekend. It wasn't so serious that I went to the doctor (didn't want to pay the emergency room visit) but it was bad enough I couldn't sleep for two night because of pain. Had this happened before the weekend I would have gone to my regular doctor but things never seem to work that way.
Sunday was supposed to be Isi's birthday party which had to be canceled due to vomiting the night before by Isi. Of course this is the night that Ted went out with some friends to a football game and I can barely take care of Isi because of my fingers. My amazing girls came to the rescue helping me clean Isi up all evening along with whatever else ended up in her path including myself. This led to the fact we were going to be awake along time that night and maybe the kids and I can watch a scary movie. The kids are getting older, what could be the harm? Well I came across a movie that I had never watched in it's entirety and thought it being something a little older maybe the kids wouldn't be as scared of it. We all watched "IT". It's still just as scary as ever! Hera refused to even look at the 'Clown' Jack-O-Lantern pattern when we were carving pumpkins.
To back it up a little more, Tuesday we went to court to try and 'Mediate', with the neighbors after tragically losing our dog. The good news is we settled and I think everyone left satisfied. Ted made me a proud woman standing up to three lawyers. Yes, that's right, they had three lawyers. I wish I could say more however I have signed a confidentiality agreement and am supposed to keep my mouth shut. I feel we can mover forward but I don't know if I'll ever be able to find any forgiveness for them.
I am ending with pictures from 'Crazy Hair Day' at school. I used wood skewers in Hera's hair to hold it up. These photos were taken after school, but before school, both Hera's braids stood straight up. They also have streaks of black in their hair which I learned would be much better to spray outside. That hairspray crap has a way of ending up all over the bathroom including up your nose from breathing it. Athena is getting too cool to do anything too crazy so hers is just messy with black streaks.



Stay in touch,
Hugs and Kisses,
The Sfikas Family

Arizona Sunset

I am finally back! We are getting back into old routines after having an awesome visit with my Mom and Terry. We went to Sedona to site see and visit the art show, we went to the Grand Canyon overnight where we saw the Canyon for 30 seconds before being caught in a downpour with hail which made us spend the rest of the evening drying off in the hotel. Thank goodness the next day was good and we saw a deer, a coyote (6 feet from the car), a raven, drove by a freshly killed skunk which stunk up the car for an hour, then on the way home we were stuck in an extra two hours worth of traffic due to an earlier accident. We made visits to the Botanical Gardens and the Zoo then ended with a Sunset Jeep Tour just north of where we live. Here are some of the pictures from it.

We all took turns shooting a 22 caliber gun.

We each had six shots and I hit my target, woohoo! Ted was aloud an extra six shots with a larger gun but it still never helped him hit the target, na, na, na, na, na, na. Woman rule!

Mom are Terry also tried out their gun shootin' skills and apparently Terry has a really amazing shot. When I told Athena about this she asked, 'Has Terry ever killed someone ?' I couldn't stop laughing.

Everything else is going great here. Isi is officially saying too many words for me to keep up with. Our 'Biometrics' are done, just finger prints and a photo. I don't know if we are now done or if we might have an interview to do also. As for me, I have been on a cleaning marathon and am driving the whole house mad. Even so I think they are all catching the cleaning bug because I even managed to get the kids to start going through all their things without my help. Yup, I see a fantastic garage sale in April.

Arizona sunset.

This is the hat I designed for Hera. The ribbing wasn't very strong so I made this daisy chain with stretchy cord to help give it a nice fit. The yarn if soft and has just a hint of sparkle. I have already started a different one for Athena and can't wait to see how it turns out.

Till next time,

Charmaine

Mix and Taste

Taste, testing and....

mixing things up.

Isi loves having her little cooking set out with some goodies while mom fixes something yummy.
Isi's last allergist appointment went great. She is responding to her meds well, which now she only needs to take as needed, her skin cleared up, and we took a few things out of her diet just to be safe.

Things are all going well around here. I started yoga classes and am loving it. I am hoping to somehow get out twice a week, I really need to get out of the house a bit. My mom also just arrived in town with Terry last Wednesday. Looks like we will be heading up to Sedona tomorrow for a little scenery and art shopping, then off to the Grand Canyon next weekend. That should mean some good pictures coming up.

Here is Isi hanging out watching one of Athena's soccer games. Too bad I had the camera on a bad setting and none of my pictures turned out of her. I can tell you, Athena is going to be a much better player than I ever was and her outfit rocks so I can't wait to show it off.

We had a really, really, really late birthday party for Hera due to friends and herself being out of town. We took her just today to a pottery painting studio where the kids got to go crazy for 2 hours. These are our friends Jenna, Jordan, Christina and Shea.

Friday the 21st we are off to have our Biometrics done for the Green Card. Pretty fancy term Biometrics, should be interesting. No, this does not involve retina scanning although that technology does exist. The government will now officially know more about us than most people in the US. I haven't decided if I am more excited about getting the Green Card or kind of freaked that we are doing all of this for government records.

That's all for now, I hope you all are doing well and you'll check back in soon.

Love The Sfikas Family

Isi's new words - (H)Appy Day, help (hep), cheers, pretty, home, turtle (tootol), yummy-yummy, Anna (for Athena), and hun.

Dashing All the Way

Dash Point State Park in WA.

Isi and Dad throwing rocks in the creek at Dash Point.

Piece of drift wood at Dash Point.

Looks like I am almost all caught up and we have started the crazy school year off at a very high pace. Isi and I are now part of a Mom's group and meet once a week, I am swapping kids with a friend two mornings a week, Athena is playing soccer twice a week not including games start next weekend, Hera has started Choir and goes twice a week in the morning, both start Chess this week and Hera will also start dance. So much stuff and somehow we survive. Foreseeing how busy we would probably get, I officially am packing around a planner. I can't even begin to tell you how much of a lifesaver it has been.

Isi has had another allergy attack since the trip and we have had to take her to an allergist. I feel better doing this because she has now had several good attacks. We tested her for 18 airborne allergens and 8 common food allergies. She did awesome with all the pin pricks and only decided she didn't like them when we were almost done. She reacted immediately to dogs! That really, really sucks. The only other thing to be concerned of is Soy but the result may mean nothing.

Ted turned 27 (in his mind!) last Thursday. I tried to take him out to buy some new clothes, since his fit horrible with his weight lose, and made the big mistake of taking Isi. I thought she would enjoy getting out a little but she decided she would run non-stop everywhere through Macy's. She had a blast, I was exhausted. I actually had blisters on my feet from my sandals from chasing after her. My other kids never did this. Needless to say we only found Ted a pair of pants and went home. I cooked Ted an amazing diner of steak with a savory sauce, home made french bread, some mixed veggies, and Greek potatoes to help make up for things. Now I should be able to get away with stuff (like buying new clothes) for a long time after a meal like that.

I am currently working on a knit, lace hat for Hera and should have it done for my next post (Knock on wood that I don't now have to frog it because I said that). In the meantime here is what I knit for Connie's baby, Ryder, along with what Athena and I sewed and embroidered for him.

This sweater has jungle leaves, a tiger, an elephant and a giraffe (cut off) for buttons. I loved this sweater so much when I made it for Isi I couldn't help to do it again.

Athena and I embroidered all around the larger puppies and their is one more in the middle of the back. I had to hand sew almost the whole thing because it was too small to go through the machine. I ran it through the washing machine to make sure it wouldn't fall apart.

Hugs and kisses from all of us,

Charmaine

Isi Milestones; She is climbing on all the furniture including dads sink where she can go as far as turning the sink on, is completely fascinated with the toilet, can say yes or no when you ask her a question, can say bear, blanket (just today), shoes (and say it as if she is calling them when she wants to wear them), Josh (neighbors boy), Isi, fly, no way, and make tons of animal sounds, and attempts to sing the alphabet, twinkle twinkle little star.

The Wedding

Ted (hubba, hubba!) and his youngest sister, Katherine.

Soula, Yiayia, Papoo, Ted, Katherine, Hera, Isi and Athena.

Gus (Papoo) and Ted.

I love Isi's crossed feet in this photo. She has done this since she was born but now that she is older you don't see it so often. There was a man in the background of this picture and I am pretty proud at how well I got rid of him.

At the reception, while diner was taking place, Isi decided she liked to lie down in the middle of the dance floor all by herself.

Theia Stephanie (Isi's Nouna), and Ted paired up for the ceremony.

This was the lollipop made from Canadian maple syrup that was supposed to help me keep Isi in her seat. It didn't help! She decided she had to run up and down the main isle so I missed most of the ceremony. I tried, sometimes they surprise you and behave awesome and sometimes they really, really don't.

All my gorgeous girls.

Everything at Chris and Artie's wedding was beautiful. Ted was the MC. I missed all the speeches because of a little monster. Even though I started wishing I hired a nanny I was honored the whole family could take part on such a beautiful day of two people who are so special to us. I had my hands so tied with the baby I am counting on some of you to send me a few pictures because these are seriously, the only ones I have (I love taking lots of photos).

Yasas!

Charmaine

Seattle and Whistler

While in Vancouver we couldn't resist going down to Seattle for a few days. My friend Rachel and I have been talking of doing a cruise for years around Seattle and through the locks so we finally did it. We spent some time at the aquarium, snagged some grub and off we went on an evening cruise. If you look closely, Mt Rainer is in the background of this picture.

A beautiful beach to visit in Seattle is Dash point. It's great when you have kids because it is shallow a long ways out and is usually pretty quiet. The kids all took turns burying each other in the sand.

Braedon, Athena, Hera and Kaj.

We crammed so many visits into a few days it was nuts and I would do it all over again. One of our best visits was a playdate for the kids at the school. I was so happy to see so many of the girls friends turn out, play and have pizza!

Anna, Athena and Isabelle at Maywood Hills Elementary.

A silly attempt to try to pose with Isi in a picture.

After arriving back in Vancouver we made a spontaneous last minute decision to head on up to Whistler for two nights. I am so glad we did this, it was a blast and a good distraction from the death of our dog which we had found out about on the way up.

The girls with an Inukshuk

We went hiking and swimming, and the kids went rock climbing, the luge, and all kinds of activities just for them, and I went white water rafting. Great, great time. We even saw a Mama bear with two cubs stroll by from out hotel room!

When we came back we were off for a barbecue than the wedding in downtown Vancouver. I have a few more pictures but that will have to wait till next time.

See you soon!

Charmaine

Home, Sweet Home

We are finally home! It's been a long month so keep checking in because it is going to take a few posts to catch up.
Sadly I am starting off with the news of our beloved and loyal little guy, Java, has passed away while we were out of town. We miss him tremendously and he will always be in our hearts.
Shifting gears from death to life, my good friend had a handsome baby boy! I was very anxious to get up to Vancouver early to be able to see the baby asap after being born. I thought for sure I was going to miss her having the little guy but he decided to wait for Auntie Char. Good boy!
Up next I am posting Isi dancing with her doll at the Greek Food Festival. Isi couldn't get over the dancing and music. The kids even participated in a Greek Dance lesson. The next day I had the worst food hangover in my life. I think the human body is only able to process so much garlic at a time.

It was great to see some of Ted's family from Greece. The kids played great with the twins and they taught each other some new words. Hide and Seek, along with Cosmic Catch (basically an electronic version of hot potato) were the big hit games played where everyone could participate without trying to translate too many rules.
The weather was great and Isi still insisted on being almost naked all the time. This is something that is starting to become a regular, bad habit. What are you supposed to do when your kid is screaming at the top of their lungs in public trying to rip her clothes off? Is it legal to let them walk around in a diaper?

To wrap things up for today, here are a few pictures of Vancouver from the Sea Wall outside our cousins apartment. It was a little cloudy but warm and always beautiful.

This was Ted before a bird pooped all over him! In his hair and all over his shirt. Supposedly it's good luck, (whatever makes him feel better)! Thank goodness he was able to shower at his cousins and borrow a shirt.

Stay tuned for more,
Charmaine