Mason's Carnival

Seriously, between two kids, blogging, Facebook and Twitter, how is someone supposed to clean their house?

Anyway, last Friday the kids and I headed out to Mason's Preschool Carnival. Olive slept through the festivities so you won't see any pictures of her in this blog.

The carnival raised money for Mason's preschool and Mel made some AWESOME mini cupcakes for the bake sale. Check them out - they look like popcorn! I obviously was just trying to be a good sister by buying (and eating) the whole thing.

They had a really cool storyteller, it was the first time that Nikos had ever seen one and he was a little hesitant at first but he warmed up to him. Here's a pic of Maile, Mason, Kira and Mel (and Torina and Marisa) in the front row and then Nikos on the chair in the back.

Nikos and Grammy - check out Nikos' haircut!

Kira grows a little restless with the story and decides to take a walk.

Pop-Pop and Nikos explore the fairgrounds.

Grammy leads Nikos and Mason over to the "fishing" booth.

Mason fishes on his own.

Nikos gets some help from Grammy.

Tackling the obstacle course.

Waiting patiently for his balloon "bat" (sword.)

Jumpy House!

A Testament to Temperament

If this doesn't illustrate the difference between my two children than I don't know what does.

Receipt from trip to BevMo when Nikos was 6 weeks old: $350
Receipt from trip to BevMo when Olive was 6 weeks old: $75.

Ha. And for the record, I only bought two items when Olive and I went yesterday, I just happen to have expensive taste when it comes to vodka...and rum.

Random

A good friend of mine in Boston sent Nikos and Olive some Red Sox gear. For the first week or so after it arrived Nikos wanted nothing to do with the hat (Giants loyalty?) but now he wants to wear it all the time. It has become a favorite of his when we go out on walks and to the park. The other morning I woke up and went out to the front room and Nikos and Taki were both sitting on the couch wearing their Red Sox hats. Taki told me that Nikos "insisted" they both put them on. Bossy little guy.

On the way home from daycare.

Damn paparazzi.
I didn't get a picture of Taki in his Boston cap but here's one I dug up from after we went to Fenway in July of '06. So fun! And looove that watermelon beer I was drinking.

Back to the present...Olive, your friendly little garden gnome.

Olive, rocking the bed head. I mean, this head of hair can totally rival Suri Cruise in her first public picture.

Nikos on the "top of tuttle" at the park. If you press a button this turtle is supposed to spit water out of its mouth. Sadly, this feature only works about 25% of the time that we try it. Oh well.

And I know the quality of this picture is terrible but I had to post it anyway.

I had to take Olive in for an ultrasound to make sure she didn't have hip dysplasia. The pedi that discharged her from the hospital (who coincidentally was one of Niko's lead pedi's when he was in the NICU) always has baby girls that are breech checked for dysplasia. She was an absolute angel during the entire ultrasound, which lasted about ten minutes and we got the all clear at the end of it. Wahoo!

Opa!

Last weekend we hosted Greek Easter at our house. We celebrated with Greek food (and drink) and a great group of friends and family. Please enjoy some photos of the event - sorry there aren't more, I obviously started concentrating more on the ouzo than on the camera.

We have a small house and seating was limited so Nikos and Marco took one for the team and shared Niko's chair.

Kiwi
Ryan, Brooke and Reese amuse themselves with some of Niko's toys.

This $4.99 Walgreens stocking stuffer has totally paid off.

Brooke busts the adults shooting ouzo.

Sadie (and Makenzie) check out the wildlife (Bosco.)

Nikos poses with Papou and Aunt Annette.

Contrary to popular belief, there were actually more adults than children at this party (although the adults at the party without children may beg to differ.) The adults at the party did realize that a cooler full of ice and water doubles for a babysitter nicely.

How Do You Say Inappropriate in Spanish? And Also in Starbucksish?

Today at La Salsa I somehow managed to order my food with the left side of my nursing tanktop pulled completely to the side, flashing the cashier the entire left cup of my bra. What? I didn't even get a discount. Sarah swears that it wasn't like that when I got out of the car but I don't know if I am really buying that. At least the UPS guy wasn't there.

In other news, please enjoy one of my latest Starbucks experiences.

Scene: Olive and I are in line at Starbucks. It is before nine in the morning so I am feeling good about making it a) out of the house so early and b) to Starbucks via feet as opposed to car. So what if I didn't get a chance to shower in the morning...not everyone showers every day you know. The line is rather long so they have taken my drink order, made it and delivered it to me before I even get up to the cashier. And my spinach feta wrap is already ready too. Wahoo!

Nice 60ish Woman in Front of Me in Line (who has been giving me smiley face since we walked in): Here let me get that for you (slides drink and wrap down counter towards register.)
Me: Thank you so much, I really appreciate it (rolls stroller packed with diaper bag, Olive and cleanup bags for Bosco towards register.)
Nice Woman: It's tough going isn't it.
Me: (Thinking that I maybe I should have showered. Do I look like that much of a mess?) Yeah, some days it's a real challenge!
NW: I am more than happy to help out someone in your situation.
Me: (My situation??) Oh right, thank you so much.
NW (to cashier): I've got that (motioning at my drink and food.)
Me: Oh my gosh, you don't have to do that.
NW: Oh no no. I was once in the same boat. (Looks pointedly at my bare ring finger and lowers voice dramatically)...my first born was born out of wedlock.
Me: (Oh sh*t. She thinks I am a single mother, that is why she is buying* my breakfast. Should I say something? *Sale has already gone through at this point.)
NW: (Possibly picking up on the torn look on my face.) Don't worry, I found me a good one and he loved my Matthew like he was his own. (Squeezes my shoulder. I repeat, squeezes my shoulder!)
Me: Thanks, that's what I am hoping for!

I'll have you know that in order to fix my karma, at a subsequent trip to Starbucks I bought the drink for the person behind me in line.

We Love Olive!

Looks like we are still in the honeymoon period with Nikos and Olive. He just loves to hold her, kiss her and always wants to say hi and see what she is up to. Here are some cute shots and a video I took of the two of them.

Hangin' with the Roberts Family

Olive and I have been fortunate enough to spend a lot of time with the Roberts family lately, here are some cute shots I took of them.

Kira - always a good subject!

Last Saturday I took both kids into the city to meet Grammy and Pop-Pop upon their return from their cruise to South America. Of course I forgot to take any pictures with Grammy and Pop-Pop - duh! After we dropped Grammy and Pop-Pop at their house we cruised over to the Roberts house to check out Mason's new (hand-me-down) firetruck bed that he has been wanting to show Nikos. Nikos LOVED it. Melanie assured us that it would be handed down to Nikos after Mason was done with it. I assured her that we would need to buy a bigger house in order to accept this lovely gift.

First up he kicked the tire to make sure there was enough air in it.

It didn't take him long to master driving one-handed.

Mason decides it's safer to observe Nikos from the back of the truck.

While I was supervising the newly anointed fireman, Mel got this great shot of Olive smiling with her cousins.

Ouzo

More Greek Easter to follow...
PS - I am not crying...this is my post-Ouzo face.