Petopalooza and Many New Firsts!

A Big Sunny Hello from all of Us!

We are enjoying some gorgeous weather here along with many fun events that have been going on. Last Thursday was Isi's very first pre-school concert. It was adorable!! After the children sing they are released to sit with their parents for the rest of the show. This is when I discovered for the first time that Isi took off for the swing set and can 'pump' all by herself? When did that happen? Isi has also decided she wants to be even more independent. She put herself to bed the other night. That's right, a kid who wanted to go to bed with no help and actually fell asleep! Okay, as proud as I am I must say I am feeling a little rejected. The next night Isi decided to sleep with Athena. This was their very first sleepover together. Again she got ready by herself and slept all night with Athena. Isi has even decided I am not aloud in the bathroom with her anymore. What the heck happened?? She wasn't like this at the beginning of last week!

For a long time I have been looking forward to attending 'Petopalooza' held very close to my house. The photos are of the pups taking part in 'Lure Chasing'. This is so Jacksons calling. He was so fast by his second run that the event co-ordinaters asked me to join their club. That would be very cool. Clara on the other hand, likes it but is more interested in other dogs. As for the photo below, both dogs were not supposed to run together. Hera was holding Jackson while Clara took her turn. Jackson wanted to go again so bad he tore away from Hera and chased the lure with Clara. It sure got Clara running (she is behind Jackson) and the crowd laughing.

Besides the Lure Chasing event there was tons of booths set up for anything you could ask for your pets along with a few other events that were a blast to watch that we didn't participate in such as 'Dock Jumping', 'Obedience', and even a 'Flying Disc' competition. Maybe next time we'll try something else.

We even won a basket that was raffled off full of some pretty cool stuff for pups, that made Isi's day!

As if one day isn't eventful enough, the same day as Petopalooza Isi took part in an early Easter Egg hunt. Athena and Hera were a big help hiding eggs and helping the little kids get all their eggs.

Isi pigged out on almost all her candy at the park! Needless to say she slept very well this night.

Be in touch again soon,

Have a great week,

Love the Sfikas Family

Blue Dogs and Dirty Dogs!

Hello From all of Us!
One of the things I have been experimenting with lately is color on dogs. I thought temporary tattoos would be a lot of fun and something a lot of people don't do that would add a little extra income. My dogs have hair too long for a tattoo (below I'll tell you about a poor attempt to tattoo Clara) but I needed to test the color to see how long it would last, how easy it would wash out and also if it would be messy, rubbing off on stuff when dry. I call Jackson my "oops" dog since he is always the one I experiment on and it doesn't always turn out, so this time Hera helped me turn my dogs head blue!! You can imagine the attention we get when we go for a walk. I think it turned out pretty cool. After a week the color faded and most of it came out in the first wash so now he only has a hint of blue. Good to know if a client didn't want color for a long time. The funny thing is a tried to use a blow pen to put a heart on Clara's rear end and that has stuck wash after wash as a silly pink blob, guess she was the 'oops' dog this time. So much for being 'washable'. Thank goodness it at least dried pink cause when the pink blob was even slightly damp it looked like she had a really, really ugly wound.

I have finally started buying a few plants hoping to start growing a few veggies in some large containers along with some colorful flowers. I have a bell pepper plant doing awesome along with some chives but my tomato's and parsley had an unfortunate life span thanks to two hair balls that thought they would eat them.
Isi's big highlight are her earrings. They are gorgeous on her. The girls were so easy to take care of when they were little I thought Isi's would be the same until she lost one of them. Trying to get a new one in has not been an easy task especially when they are hoops, I'll have to buy her something a little easier to change out that won't irritate things more.

I have been taking many pictures of dogs I work with to start a book people can look at when they come in showing off my work and also helping them choose lengths and styles they may like. This dog came in severely matted and, as you can see below, very dirty! Below I had already started shaving him down when I realized I should take a photo, you couldn't even see he had eyes when he first walked in. He was such a good little mutt, usually they want to eat you when they have lots of mats cause it hurts but he was a very good boy and there was actually a cute dog under all there.

As for the rest of the family, Ted hasn't been traveling and it has been wonderful to have him help around the house and with the girls. He has started to play hockey a few nights a week and feels especially well after a cortisone shot in his knee for an old injury that has plagued him for years.

The girls just had a nice, slow spring break hanging out with friends. We needed to slow down after that nasty cold that went around, no one was recovering from that very well including Isi who is recovering from a sinus infection.

Now we are counting down the days that Theia Kash and Vince will be coming down, only two more weeks! Also coming up is another soccer tournament ( the Far West Classic, and I can't tell you how much Athena is a natural at the sport ). Athena's team is awesome placing 1st and 2nd in most tournaments. They are at an age where things are getting very exciting to watch.

See you all back here soon!

Love The Sfikas Family

Disneyland 2009!

We are finally feeling recovered after a wonderfully, busy few weeks. Teds parents and sisters along with the kids came down and we all took off to Disneyland together. Below Isi is freaking out and skipping as we are walking into Disneyland for the first time.
After two awesome days in Disneyland I attended a Groom and Kennel Expo. It was really cool to be able to take classes and get up and personal with people well known in the industry. They also had tons of cool stuff to buy and grooming competitions to watch. While I did that the family spent a day in Sea World and the next day in Universal Studios.

We bought Isi this dress after meeting Princess Belle, Ariel, and Jasmine. She got to sit on their lap and chat with them. It was darling!

The girls were off doing the big rides while Ted and I took Isi around the park doing all the fun little kid things. Isi couldn't be more happy meeting all the characters. Ted and I did do a few rides together and I finally went on Space Mountain and nearly peed my pants. What can I say, I am definitely not a roller coaster junkie. Can you believe Teds mom went on the Matterhorn? Fun ride.

I am only now finally fully unpacked and catching up on house stuff but would do it all over again.

Till next time,
The Sfikas Family

Mexico!

We are back! I would never think we could have so much fun in only 5 days, but did we ever, and it was made even more fun because we met up with family (Brent and Char, Jan and Kenny, and of course Dad and Pat).
I was starting to worry we wouldn't make it on vacation after Jackson got sick and we weren't able to board him, I caught a nasty cold, and Ted obliterated his toe nail thanks to the corner of a wood bench he dropped on it. Somehow everything worked out thanks to help from neighbors and Ted's toe not becoming infected and a speedy recovery for me.

Even with a few clouds the weather was beautiful and warm. Our hotel was awesome with us landing the best suite in the house on the ground floor with the beach right outside the sliding doors. The kids had a blast playing on the beach, (where you could walk forever), swimming in the pool, pigging out on strawberry slushies, and, of course, some fishing off the beach (no luck there). From our beach you could see whales, porpoises, fish, and manta rays all leaping out of the water, very, very cool! The water wasn't safe for swimming in our area but that didn't make the beach any less fun, in fact I think all the waves made it even more fun.

On Tuesday of our trip the girls and I went on an awesome fishing trip with Gramps. In the picture are all the Durados we caught which we brought one back to the hotel and they cooked us a fantastic fish diner for our group. How cool was that for the girls to catch diner? We also caught a needle fish and Gramps will tell you all about the 'huge' fish he caught that are not in the photo (I have already embarrassed Gramps enough so I won't go into too much detail).

On the Wednesday we took a horrible bus ride into Los Cabos. It was insanely crowded to the point if you weren't claustrophobic you still started to feel like it (Hera had to stand the whole time with her poor face at but level) and it was long. Once off we enjoyed the downtown doing a little shopping (Isi's now favorite toy is the cute little guitar above), we got severely harassed to buy junk, and we swam with the dolphins (picture above with us in our wet suits). Very beautiful city, but even so we were happy to pay a taxi back to the hotel and take it easy for the evening.

Thursday we celebrated my Dad and Jan's birthday a little early so we could participate before leaving Friday afternoon. We had cake, too much to drink, live music (very interesting), and tons of laughs.

I have tons of great photos to share so keep an eye on facebook or join up if you aren't already cause there will be some stuff you don't want to miss!

Big Hugs and Kisses from all of us,

The Sfikas Family

Isi in the Spotlight!

Looks like this post is going to mostly be about our littlest star of the house. Does she make an adorable snowman or what? She was so cute, the teachers really do a great job with all the kids.

When we were decorating our tree this year Isi found this old tree stand and decided to make it her own tree and that made for a one of a kind, Isi creation. Her little tree is still up right beside the big one.

Here little Is is hiding with a mouth full after I caught her sneaking chocolates the other morning. She definitely knows that was a big no no.

Our Christmas was beautiful. Athena got her new cell phone and it is awesome. Ted managed to hide it in the cushion behind her while she opened gifts Christmas morning and when she was all done he phoned her on it. Her reaction was priceless. Now we are already dealing with her glued to the phone texting all day.

Wish you all a beautiful Holiday and Happy New Year,

Love the Sfikas Family

Happy Holidays!

Happy Holidays! Hope you are all enjoying the season. We kicked off the weekend with Hera and Isi's dance show. Hera was a reindeer and awesome on stage and Isi was a little snowman, pictures of her to come. Great show, I am so proud of the girls. I learned a lot about being a stage mom, we had to get up at 6am to do hair and makeup for the rehearsal in the morning, I ran to work from the theater to work, ran back to the theater straight from work in my ugly clothes I got the girls ready and finally sat down only because Hera was willing to watch Isi behind stage. It was crazy but worth the memory and we plan on being much better prepared for the next one.

Here is Isi in the poncho my mom made for Isi from scratch. I love this photo and sweater on her.

Our biggest treat of the season was that Chris and Artie came to visit for a few days. I actually was brave enough to set foot on the golf course and give it a try. Turns out I am not too bad and maybe should go out a little more often.

Now there's some good looking men!

This photo is for anyone I may have missed sending. The first night Chris and Artie were here a drunk driver plowed into the brick wall around my house and actually drove off before we could get out to him. They caught him right away and my wall is already fixed. Thankfully no one was hurt and we don't even have to pay the bill or deal with the mess thanks to our HOA. Turns out our guest bed must be really cozy cause Chris and Artie had no idea anything happened till the morning.

I have been booked solid for grooming and can't wait for a nice long weekend with the kids and Ted. We'll be in touch soon!

Merry Christmas,

Love The Sfikas Family

Hello to all checking in! We have had a busy month and I am finally finding time to blog with hopefully as few interruptions as possible! Work has been getting pretty busy for me which has been really great. Ted has been traveling a lot again which is fine until your car battery dies at the soccer field on the day you brought all the kids and dogs, and the other nights where you don't get home till 9pm. Thank goodness Ted is very good at taking care of everyone and letting me sleep in on the weekends to catch up.
Finally I am posting pictures of the kids on Halloween. Isi is actually just dressing up for fun from the dress up set Auntie Connie sent and wore her birthday outfit trick-or-treating. I can't believe we got the scary outfit on her! I have to say she makes a darn cute Dorothy below and that is my favorite.

Isi just had a visit with the allergist last week and somehow tested negative to 35 different things including dog! As happy as I am for her I find it a little confusing because she has been sick constantly for the last 3 months. We are trying a nasal spray but I guess she may just be catching cold after cold. No more seizures, I just wish I knew what, for sure, caused the first one.

Isi has also finally started her new daycare this month and is adapting beautifully. We had to wait till she turned three to qualify for the part time, three day, program otherwise I could only do drop off or sign her up for the whole week. I miss the last daycare but saving all the extra cash is much more appealing.

Athena has finished the soccer season and will be trying out tomorrow night for the travel team. Fingers crossed!

Here, I wasn't quite ready for my photo, oh well. This is a necklace I beaded, even the pendant is beaded around. I need more time to do stuff like this.

Hopefully my next blog will be a little sooner, till next time,

Sending Love, The Sfikas Family