Good Job

Looks like Isi posted my blog before I was ready, little mischief. Now I really better finish it. Before I go on do you see Ted's smile? Just thought I would point that out.
The weather has been awesome here. It's been a cooler summer than the last two years hovering between 35 and 40 degrees Celsius. It has been a very active monsoon season which keeps the evenings and mornings cool and it's awesome to watch all the lightning activity at night.
It's been a while so lets see if I can fill you in on what's up down here. Starting with the most present we had a great time yesterday with Ted for his birthday. We went out for lunch where I had the waiters sing to Ted and bring him a little cake. Then we actually had him convinced that the surprise outing we were planning was to Costco and he was thrilled. Goofball, that had us girls giggling for an hour before we finally fessed up! We actually took him out to 'Dave and Busters' which is like a giant Chuckee Cheese for adults where you can take your kids, and you can drink alcohol. Now that's how to do it.

Isi is growing in leaps and bounds. She says all kinds of sentences like, 'I can't swim Ana', 'I pind (find) it', 'Cut it out', and 'Good job'. She has also decided she needs to be my mum and will get a towel to clean my face or the marker that was on my arm yesterday. She packs a purse where ever we go which makes all the ladies go crazy over her and has her lipstick inside which she is constantly applying. Isi has also figured out how to use the computer. Her favorite site is Barbie.com which she can actually play games and has no issues moving around the mouse to click on what she wants. Crazy how fast they pick things up.
The girls are settling in to another year of school, 5th and 7th grade. Hera is doing great, as always and Athena is turning into a little lady wearing makeup and spending a lot more time on her appearance. Thank goodness because I was worried it wasn't going to happen. Hera I still have to remind to shower! Hera is about to start Hip Hop dance, and Athena has already started soccer. Isi will be ready to take dance classes when she is three so I am counting down the days. Athena is also saving for a cell phone. All her friends have one but we have been really tough on her about it and she has to save up for a years worth of payments, save a percentage to her bank account, and pay for her phone. It's a lot of responsibility and she has to prove to us she can handle that. At the rate she is working and saving she may have it before Christmas, yikes!

Above I tried to get Isi to smile by sticking out my tongue, it totally backfired.

I am now working on Wednesdays and Fridays at 'Bubbles and Paws'. It's working out well, now I just need more clients. Things have really moved along better than I could imagine in the last six months. I am still awkward and have a lot to learn but look forward to seeing how much I change and improve over the next year.

Other than that it's been a pretty quiet summer. We are starting to plan a trip to Mexico for my Dad's 50th and my aunts 40th after Christmas. We are almost ready to book. Ted has been traveling like crazy for the air miles to make it much more affordable especially since we are bringing the kids. I can't wait and am dreaming of beaches!

With Love,

The Sfikas Family

Happy July!

Beautiful Sofie after a morning of being pampered.
Happy July! It's been pretty cool here for July and I am trying to not complain even though I am soaked in sweat after taking the dogs for a walk at six in the morning. The last few days we even had some cloud cover and that has been a huge relief and we even had an awesome storm in our area a few nights ago. The thunder and lightning can be pretty cool this time of year.
We spent 4th of July at Big Bear Lake in California with the dogs and kids at a friends house. It was a really great short get away. We went early Friday and took the kids to the beach that evening where they played charades for about 2 hours waiting for the fireworks. You think they would have been bored but charades ended up really contagious and even the adults were playing. We did tons of walking, some hiking and even had a grown up night out. It was very interesting going to a bar in Big Bear on fourth of July since it was full of Hells Angels, patrolled by an entourage of cops and then to top things off I was hit on by a woman who's hand was swollen from punching another woman who she thought wasn't nice to her. It was definitely an interesting night in a town that can be very quiet.
Above is the gorgeous Sofie who is my first neighborhood dog I have groomed. I asked if I could practice de-shedding her before she was shaved to see if it would help. Labs have tough outer guard hairs that help protect them from water, cold and even shelter them from sun and when you shave dogs with hair like this they lose that protection. Unfortunately results were only good for a couple of days and she is coming back today to be shaved. My de-shedding program hopefully will work better on a dog with longer hair. I'll have to hunt down a new guinea pig. I already have a few lined up this month and look forward to what a learn next.

I rescued this big bug out of my swimming pool last week and very much alive. This insect is called a Cicada and you hear them fairly often but they are pretty rare to see so I was very excited and had to take a photo. Doesn't it kind of look like a cross between a moth and a cockroach?
Toby and Jackson taking a quick break from rough housing.

Other than just hanging out at home we have had a special guest staying with us. Meet Toby! He is only a few weeks older than my pups and very adorable. He has been hanging out with us all week and goes home today. I think my pups are going to be a little sad when he goes since they all have become pretty good buds. They won't miss him for long though cause he'll be back again in a few weeks for another stay. Helping take care of neighbors dogs and grooming them just makes me fall in love with dogs even more and I can't wait to meet the next one.
Hope you all have a great week with a little sunshine,

Love the Sfikas Family

Parties and Lipstick

Hera's party guests.

What a crazy month, I don't know how on earth it went by so fast.

We had the kids birthday party's at the end of May so more kids could make it before taking off for holidays. We hosted Mystery parties for each of the kids with Ted as the host. They were great and a lot of fun. Athena's was probably more fun since the kids had stuff they had to do to make themselves look guilty and play out making for a lot of participation and you didn't have to be really smart to figure out the mystery. Both girls had sleepovers, even though I promised myself I'll never have a sleepover again last year and the year before, and both times the kids were so loud I went downstairs to sleep with them. Worked like a charm. Thank goodness both are now done for another year. Poor Ted at one point in the evening said to me during Hera's party, "I don't think I can do this."

Athena's party girls.

I am almost done my grooming course and would like to take on an internship. Between this and having to severely penny pinch lately things were getting pretty stressful but somehow that lead to the right people coming into my life at the right time and things are just working out. Funny how that happens and I just can't help thinking that somehow when you are heading the right way doors just open, such as I am already lining up business.

Clara before grooming.
Clara after grooming. You have no idea how long this took because Clara is incredibly squirmy. What you can't see is I trimmed her ears, tail, feet and around the eyes. Jackson isn't on here because I tried to use clippers around his eyes. Not a good idea with a wriggly pup.

My mom is undergoing tons of tests right now to try and pin point a partial blockage. We are hoping that someone cancels with Dr. Evans so he can look at her soon so she can finally go in for surgery. It's incredibly painful for her and I can't stand waiting another week for doctors to do surgery. Unless her intestines burst all we can do is wait. Anyone looking for a career should think of becoming a "Butt Doctor" and moving up to the Terrace area.

Did I mention last month I backed into Ted's car! Yup, while Katherine and Vince were here. Just had to get that out since Ted is embarassing me with it when we are out with friends. Now no one can give me the, ' You did what?', look. Now they'll just look at me like,' At least I didn't do that.'

I have an interesting fact to share with you I just learned, a Monsoon is defined as "any wind that reverses its direction seasonally." So it's a little more than freak thunderstorms and winds and officially started this June. Haven't seen any storms yet but can't wait to see and admire them.

Little Isi found my lipstick and she thinks she is gorgeous. Wish I could show you her face when she saw this picture.

I miss all of you!!!

Extra big hugs,

Charmaine and Family

My Little Balerina!

Here is my sweet little ballerina. Little Isi dances ballet everyday. I can't wait to put her in classes when she is three. Hopefully she stays interested for a while.
We recently enjoyed a fantastic visit with Katherine and Vince. The photo above is from the 'Out of Africa Safari Zoo' which has some awesome animals and a really great tiger splash show. The weather during that day was horrible and we actually could have used winter rain gear. We didn't get to do the whole park because of the darn weather. It was very expensive for a Zoo so far out of our way and don't know if I would go back but it was definitely worth going to once.
We did lot's of shopping and cooking and just hanging out. I hope they come back soon. Vince made an amazing Carbonara. It was a huge portion that lasted several meals but no way did one single noodle get wasted.

During Katherine and Vince's stay we were invited up to Vince's uncles cabin for the day. The kids had an awesome time and where even horseback riding. Can you believe Isi on this huge horse all by herself? Isi was in heaven and it was almost impossible to get her off. I have never been so close to a horse that I remember and actually was leading him around, that was pretty cool.
I'll have to add more puppy pictures next time. They are growing too fast and really starting to lighten up. The girls and I took them swimming with very interesting results. Clara hates the water and will try to get out as soon as you put her in, while Jackson wants to keep going and will actually turn away from the way out if you bring him to the stairs before he is ready to come out. The most interested thing they did was when Clara was frantic to climb out of the pool in the wrong spot Jackson came along, grabbed her by the back of the neck and yanked her out. I was completely amazed. I wonder if that's what they'll be doing to us when they get bigger?

Check out more photos on facebook!

Love Charmaine and family

Glasses and Puppies!

I hope you all had a wonderful Mother's (woman's) Day. I had a relaxing day catching up on lots of sleep and then my girls gift (along with gorgeous hand made cards) to me was to babysit Isi while Ted and I went out to diner. Perfect! Turns out Athena also glasses and here she is sporting one of two cool pairs. Their are way too many fun frames to choose from so that Athena almost found it impossible to not be excited about them. One of the pairs I got for her has clip on arms so you can change them to different colors and designs. Too cool. She'll have to wait a year before she can get contacts (which she really wants) for her focusing to become strong enough to tolerate them. Funny thing is we never suspected she needed glasses like we had with Hera. I had taken her to the doctor for shots when she did crappy on the eye chart. Even though I don't have a lot of faith in eye charts I thought to make her a visit to the eye doctor just to be safe since we're covered, and sure enough she is near sighted just like her Dad and Hera. Wonder if Isi will take after me and be glasses free. At least we come from families that have good teeth. I would rather pay for glasses than braces.
Here I am showing off the girls and puppies. I am officially so busy that house work is being prolonged in some cases for weeks. Along with being tired with these five it is just hot enough to turn anyone into a snail. We are actually supposed to hit 100 F this weekend. Ouch, I'm not ready for it!
We had swimming pool issues the last few weeks to finally discover tubes and filters and everything was clogged with leaves. We finally cleaned everything out and I had shocked the water to clean it better and Ted decided to run the pump all night to keep the water moving. The next morning Ted tells me ' I fixed the pool problem', I am thinking 'what are you talking about', I look out the window to find a completely empty pool! Ted and forgotten to turn the back washing system off! I can't believe no one woke us up in the middle of the night to see where all the water might be coming from! Now it's crystal clear and ready for the hot weekend cause we're going to need it.

Clara and Jackson have already bonded deeply with all of us and grown like weeds. I can't pick both of them up at the same time anymore and I am sitting on the floor in this picture to get them together. The white in their coat is slowly coming out, I don't look forward to their first hair cut cause their colors are so cute right now.

Sending Love,

Charmaine and Family

Hello from Beautiful, Sunny, Glendale!
We just had a fantastic visit with my Dad and Patty for a week. I don't know if this is a photo they like very much but it's one of my favorite of them. I still sometimes can't believe they finally made it down and had a little taste of sunshine. We were as laid back as could be between the kids and two puppies. We did manage to pull of a day road trip north to see Montezuma's Castle, and Montezuma's Well, cut through Sedona and drive back home through Jerome. We should have stopped and took some pictures of Jerome because the views were FANTASTIC! The whole little mining town is all built on a cliff and just amazing. The other big event while they were down was Castle's and Coasters. Now some of you know I am a huge chicken when it comes to rides, even with my influence Hera went on the big roller coaster with Gramps and Patty which had two loops. I admire how brave she is though it doesn't make me any closer to getting on something I'll end up upside down on. We all had a blast and can't wait till their next visit.

Now time to show off our adorable new family members Jackson (above left) and Clara. They are already ten and a half weeks old and growing fast ( Clara 1lb a week and Jackson almost 1 1/2 lbs a week. They are awesome if you can handle continuous peeing. Thank goodness I have lots of help and hard floors.
These two are very different but very bonded and never leave the others side and heaven forbid you try and separate them to bath or train because the other just goes nuts.

Jackson is on the move all day and hard to keep up with. He is also the king of getting into things. He has figured out how to open the automatic garbage can, climb on chairs (below is Jackson in his chair) and how to climb up and over the baby gate (Yup, so much for baby gates). Even so he is our big fluffy teddy bear and likes a good snuggle when he settles down.

At two pounds less is sweet little Clara. Clara loves to be loved and give love. She is the first to sit nice for you and loves a good belly rub. As sweet as she is she has a crazy wild side and is always coming up with new attacks on her brother like jumping off the little brick flower garden wall to knock her brother clear across the yard. She is also most determined to figure out toys by jumping on them and hitting them with her paws as well as barking (she is the loud one out of the two, I think I only have heard Jackson bark twice). Little Clara seems very calm and cautious at first but when she lets loose she is by far the more energetic one.

We are all loving these two pups tons and have lots of fun with them and can't wait till they have all their shots so we can show them off. That will be in another 10 weeks (groan) because of a bad parvo season down here. Oh, well, better safe than sorry.

I look forward to talking with you all soon,

Hugs and Kisses,

The Sfikas Family

Free At Last, Free At Last.....

'Free at last, free at last, thank god almighty, I am free at last' (MLK).

As most of you already know we have our GREEN CARD!! WhooHoo!! I can actually apply for a SSN card. I can't tell you what a big weight it is off our shoulders that we now can't get kicked out of the country. I think we will have to throw a party.

It's been a really great month. We had an awesome visit with Ted's sister Soula and her kids. It was great to have all the kids hang out and little Alex provided us with tons of laughs. I can't believe ten days went by so fast. Hopefully we can do it again sometime soon. In the photo are Hera, Kallista, Alex, Athena and Isi.

The kids are all doing great, just passing there cold onto me. I advise anyone who has a bit of a cold not to try 'hot yoga'. I thought it would help me sweat it out, it sure did, I was on the couch the whole next day and even had to go to the doctor to treat an eye infection. Thank goodness I am feeling better now, maybe I had a lot of toxins to release.

Today is one of the most exciting days for us because Ted is driving back from Seattle as I write this with two gorgeous wheaten pups, Clara and Jackson. It was getting too difficult to try and get them on the plane and noway were we putting little pups in cargo, so Ted decided to drive. I don't know how we are all going to sleep tonight! Ted will make it home tomorrow evening hopefully close to diner time.

As for me, I started a dog grooming course since these pups are going to cost a small fortune to groom. So far I have completed the first two tests. It is really exciting and liberating for me to do something like this since I have been home taking care of kids for so long. Maybe it'll even turn into a paying at home job down the road. The coolest thing is I can do pretty much the whole course over the Internet during my own time.

With some exciting weeks ahead I can hopefully find the time to share with you all more pictures and stories. Take care!

Love The Sfikas Family