Greekfest

Ope! Even our dusty little California town has a Greek festival hosted by the local Greek Orthodox Church. At Yiayia's kitchen we got our fill of Souvlaki, Spanikopita, Tzatziki and other foods that are spelled with letters that don't exist in the English language. Oh so yummy.

And there was Greek dancing. Ope!

And loukomades, aka "Greek donuts".

And souvlaki, aka "meat on a stick"

And a Dude wearing a tourist tee.

Um, and, Greek snowcones??

Plus a bunch of people named Costos and Demitri and Achilles and Sofia and Athena and Zoe. We felt right at home.

And because there just isn't near enough video on this blog, here is a moment captured..OPE!

Make an on-line slide show at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Frog Hunting Season Again

After dark, our backyard is lately filled with frogs rustling in the bushes and hopping across the grass. So freshly bathed and dressed in pajamas and sneakers, Daddy and the girls tiptoed out with flashlights to see if they could catch a couple of these creatures.

It is purely a catch, observe, name and then release sport. And, we caught two last night and named them "Pickles" and "Pickles' Sister." We also took their photos for scientific purposes but when they started secreting goo because they were terrified, we let them go. We'll probably catch them again tomorrow.

At our house, even though we are 3/5 girls,
frogs are not icky, but cool.
(but I'm still not going to touch one.)

Even John Patrick got a closer look.

Chris the expert frog handler, has no fear and can bare hand the little buggers.

Half Birthday

Six months old! Six months old! I've had to count the months three times already to make sure I'm right. It seems too quick.

Already half of his babyhood is gone in a snap. I'm excited for this milestone, and applaud his new tricks like near crawling and sitting up unassisted, but I'm very sad as well. It's bittersweet, mixed emotions.

My baby, my last baby, is getting bigger every minute of everyday, with a dizzying, unstoppable forward movement. The sweet, sleepy newborn stage is far behind him and he's becoming a wiggly little Dude trying so hard to be on the move (but not mobile yet).

He's a really great baby. If I had known he would be so much fun and easy I would not have had so much angst about adding a third child into the mix. So far, he is a silent observer to all our antics. Carried from room to room and within reach of the action, but not yet a part of it. He'll be a participant soon. If only he could just reach...that...toy...

A very smart friend of mine once explained her three child family with this analogy: A new baby does not take love away from the other children, but adds love on top, like a layer cake. A three-tiered cake of love stuck together with chocolate frosting. I love that mental image and think we should have cake for dessert tonight to celebrate.

Happy half-birthday little Dude!

Mini Golf

My lovely friend Mariana came up to visit us for Labor Day and we took that opportunity to try out Miniature golf with the minis. It was only 87 degrees, so quite temperate for B-town. And the girls loved it, for about seven holes, then we walked the rest of the course.

Athena took it all very seriously.

Zoe required some assistance.

Little Dude so wished he could be part of the action.

Wow! I made it bounce against the curb and into the bushes. Yay!

Mariana helped Zoe with her hold.

My minis.

Every hole in fourteen was celebrated wildly.

Running from green to green got pretty tiring and
we only lasted less than half the course.
Afterwards we played some games. Zoe won this round of
aim water into the hole and fill up the balloon.
Look at that determination!

Hey there

"How you doin'?"

The End of Miss Bunny

Last night the beloved Miss Bunny was thrown up on. Athena caught the awful stomach bug that has been hitting our family one by one and threw up all over her bed, sheets, pillows and most special soft animals, without waking up.

We tossed everything in the washing machine, along with Miss Bunny, but she's filled with lavender and has not come out of this experience the same way she went in. She's extremely heavy now and her fur is no longer soft and kind of motley. I put her out in the dry, hot sun hoping she could bake away some of the moisture inside her, but now she's just petrified. She's been a treasured friend since Jill bought her for Athena at her baby shower, but I'm not sure she's going to make it. So, what to do? Find another Miss Bunny on the internet and replace her before Athena notices the transformation? Live with her in her altered state? Or make her disappear?

In other news, Athena is getting progressively better. In the morning she was quiet, but by the afternoon she was doing puzzles...

and by evening spinning and dancing.

Zoe was the first to get sick last week which changed our plans to travel to San Francisco to attend Uncle Ty's memorial. Instead Chris stayed home with the sick little girl, getting himself sick in the process. Now it's Athena's turn, on what would have been her first day of preschool.

So far, John Patrick and I are fine, hopefully we'll stay that way.

Anything for a Laugh

Athena and Zoe will do anything to make John Patrick laugh. He is the best imaginable audience. He is always interested, never too busy to pay rapt attention and responds with belly laughs and uncontrollable giggles and wide open mouth grins. He never laughs at anyone or anything as hard as he laughs at his sisters. Their antics usually involve funny faces, crazy sounds or suddenly showing up somewhere unexpectedly. His whole body shakes so hard with his giggles that he almost falls over and then he gets hiccups. I've got to get it on video, but whenever the camera comes out, he abruptly stops.

Today he started making his own "face" trying to get us to laugh at him. See how he's sucking in his lower lip? He kept cracking himself up as he was doing this and loving our reaction. I think we have another comedian in the fold.

Out of Control

Without a proper schedule painting will turn into swimming
which then becomes body art.

This has been a challenging week and one that has made me rethink how I perceive myself and how much parenthood has changed me.

We started this week with no daycare scheduled, no art classes, no outings or friends visiting. A free form, no expectations week to fill with whatever we feel like doing that day. We wake up when we wake up, watch a program or have breakfast, depending on our mood, leave the house or stay in, ate and napped whenever and whatever we decided. Sounds like an idyllic summer week, right? Ugh, no.

I've realized that this kind of unscheduled time is really a set up to being "out of control" and leaves me feeling vaguely anxious and miserable rather than relaxed and happy. Despite the fact that I think of myself as a laid back, low maintenance kind of person, I have come to realize I need expectations in order to get motivated. Since these little people came into my life (and especially since adding a third) I've changed into someone that thrives on structure, lists, schedules and routines. I can't get anything done if there isn't anything to do.

I know lots of people will think that an overly scheduled child will be stressed out or overstimulated, but that's not what I mean. My kids have daily naps and quiet time, it's just scheduled into their day. And we need that schedule, I've got to know what's coming next, otherwise everything is just a mess. Perhaps its because I'm too laid back and easy going. If I don't have something driving me, we get nowhere. And these little people are going places.

So look for a planned activities schedule full of sports, preschools, homeschooling and weekly play dates coming soon. Just one more week of crazy do-nothing summer to muddle through...

The Wonderful World of Food

Anyone who visited our house when Zoe was under a year heard all about my homemade baby food and probably was forced to try a taste or two. I have been so looking forward to this phase again with John Patrick!

We got the go ahead from our pediatrician at his four month well baby visit because of his size (18 pounds) and I still waited a couple of weeks so that Yiayia could be the first to feed him.

Now back at home, I've dug out all my old equipment and I'm so happy to be making baby food again. We're only on Stage One foods, so I'm not incorporating spice or interesting combinations yet (I found an old label that read "Pear and Tofu"). But soon. Yay!

It's a little bit odd that I embrace this because I am not a instinctual cook. For some reason, I get such joy out of the vast difference between homemade and store bought baby foods- the colors, flavors and variety, not to mention price - that I really feel like the very best thing I can do for my babes.

Sure, you can easily buy organic baby food (and I do for backup). And all but the worst baby food companies have stopped adding salt or sugar or preservatives. But, you see, when they mass produce the food they boil all the health and vitamins and life out of vegetables and fruit so it's nothing but a yucky flavored paste. I steam everything or mash it up raw. You should try my "Apricots and Apple Spice" - it is so delicious you'll want to spread it on toast.

So far John Patrick is totally taking to this new world of brightly colored food. We started with rice cereal to test his readiness. He could not get enough and screamed at Yiayia to feed him faster.

This is rice cereal.

Since then we've added mashed bananas (for breakfast he'll eat an entire banana), pears, sweet potatoes, and some apples which he thought were a little on the sour side. And, lastly, my favorite, peas!

This is apples.

And this is peas. Which took a little bit of getting used to.

Next on the agenda is winter squash, then perhaps some prunes and then carrots.

Beyond the added nutrition and health, making baby food is suppose to introduce your baby to a wider variety of tastes and flavors that will make them more adventurous eaters. However, Zoe who used to lap up my Super Baby Food porridge and whipped tofu creations, would now happily live on french fries and ketchup if given the opportunity.

Oh well, at least I can have my fun while it lasts.

Heidi and Josh's Wedding

Chris' cousin Josh married the beautiful Heidi over the weekend in San Bernadino. Mimi watched the little Dude back at the hotel, and Chris and the girls and I got all dressed up for the event.

Yes, Chris is dressed like a 70's porn star.

The girls enjoyed the ceremony, audibly gasping and whispering as the "princesses" walked down the aisle and then when they first caught a glimpse of the beautiful "princess bride." Athena was also terribly impressed by the little flower girl and that role in the wedding. I had to stop her from practicing and pulling flower petals out of arrangements and strewing them on the floor.

They got a little restless at the sit down portion of the reception, the dances and speeches. Games like "Go find Aunt Katie" kept them occupied for a couple of minutes, but not long enough.
Around 9ish, Chris and I made the decision to ditch the kids back at the hotel with Mimi and return to the reception to actual enjoy ourselves. We had a blast dancing and partying until last call, pretending for just a few moments that we were a carefree young couple with no kids.

The next morning our headaches combined with the very loud and boisterous voices of the kids reminded us why parents of small children don't do that very often.