WTF

DUDE. I just tried to complete my post from Brooke's bday party last weekend and I got an error that said I had too many pictures in the Picasa storage for my blog so I need to upgrade for more storage. What? Boo. Has this happened to anyone else? I guess my only choice is to cough up the $5 a year for the extra 20gb.

Tricks and Treats

Olive shows off her new party trick.



Nikos shares his first (caffeine-free) frappuccino.

Strawberry, Strawberry

On Friday the kids and I met up with Mel and the kids and her friend Torina and her two girls at a Strawberry Patch. The Roberts and the White kids were little pros at the selection and collection of strawberries. My kids, on the other hand, needed a little help.

Kira ready to collect some berries.

Nikos, still a little confused about the object of our jaunt. This could come from the fact that I told him we were going to go to a farm (whoops - patch, farm...whatever) and he then inferred that we were going to be cowboys. From there he started on about how we were going to pick strawberries off cows and then make sure the cows didn't scare the ducks away. What? Maybe I should have shot down this theory before we got to the patch but it was a little too late for that.

Once he realized he was picking strawberries it was NO HOLDS BARRED. No strawberry was safe - including those that were green, covered in mud and a little bit rotten.

Although you weren't supposed to eat the strawberries I had a hard time explaining that to Olive, so I just gave in and let her go crazy. (Good parenting, right?)

And the group shots.

Love these - Mel called for funny faces and check out Nikos - he totally looks down to see what Mason is doing and then imitates it!

We had lots of fun and came home with a few pounds of strawberries. Next up: cherries!

Walk This Way

Four years ago I walked in the Avon Walk for Breast Cancer in Long Beach, California and had an awesome experience. The Walk itself is 39 miles and the proceeds raised go towards the education, and prevention, of breast cancer. I walked in honor of my Aunt Sandy - or "Anut". While the walk itself is pretty exhausting, it was such a moving experience! I couldn't convince anyone to do it with me in 2006 (the $1800 in donations you have to raise is pretty daunting!) so I went to the walk alone. Of course, you know me, I started chatting with a few girls at the beginning of the first day and ended up walking all 39 miles with them. When I later told Taki that at first I couldn't find them on the second day (there are a LOT of people) he told me that they were trying to ditch me on purpose so they didn't have to listen to me talk for another 13 miles. What?!

So this year I decided to not put strangers through the misery of listening to me talk for 39 miles straight (or 26 the first day and 13 the following) - this time I will make MEL listen. HA! We will be walking (and talking) in September in Santa Barbara.

I'll be keeping track of our training walks and other trials and tribulations and liveblogging from the event as well. If you have been touched by breast cancer at all or would simply like to donate to the cause, please visit my donation site. And - you can also split up your donation and pay it off in as many as 5 months!

Anut Sandy, sporting a brave face in the midst to Mel and I kicking her butt at Crazy Bee Rummy - hey, that's my story and I'm sticking to it! (All comments by Mel, Anut, Kristin or my Mom about this matter will be automatically deleted from the blog.)

Smile! You're On Camera

I finally got around to ordering Olive's letters in her room(truth be told I was feeling a little guilty since 4 had his letters up before he was even born!)

Nikos requested I take his picture while I was photographing the new addition in the room.

(I'm obviously not that tall - I was standing on the train table.)

Next up I tried out the self timer on our camera. Obviously this is a learned skill...but Niko did find it super fun to run over to the camera with me, hit the button and then run back to the chair where Taki and Olive were sitting.

First attempt
...obviously I need to find a new pose.

Take 2

Whoops. But don't you love it how Taki, who obviously knows we are not going to make the shot, is basically leaning around me to get his mug in?

3rd time...is not a charm.

I mean, did I read some handbook on how to pose for unflattering shots??

And finally, the only semi-decent one in the bunch.

This camera experimentation caused Nikos to want to go camera happy. Pleas enjoy some of the shots he took when we gave him the cheap camera.

Let's just say for the meantime we are pinning our hopes to a baseball scholarship as opposed to photography...

I Love LA!

As an early Father's Day gift I surprised Taki with a flight to LA for a quick 19 hour trip to see his friend Dave's band play by the beach. (The "surprise" factor may have had something to do with the fact that I was afraid he would say we couldn't go...but that is neither here nor there.) Dave's band, Chubby Tangent, was getting back together for a one night to play a charity show.

Grandma came to the babysitting rescue again and came over to our house Saturday morning so we could catch our 1pm flight. We remembered our drink tickets this time so we started out with a rum and Coke Zero for me and a beer for Taki. The flight attendant was nice enough to treat us to our second round shortly thereafter - sweet! We end up landing in LA a few minutes early and have to wait - in our seats with our seatbelts fastened - for our gate to open up. No big deal, right? Ha. Did you remember I was with Taki? He tells me he "really has to pee" to which I say "are you freaking kidding me? Can't you hold it??"...I'll interrupt this story to give you some background so you can more accurately appreciate the situation. He peed right before we got on the plane. We got on the plane at 1:00. He has peed once on the plane. It is now 2:00. REALLY?
The story ends with the flight attendants calling up to the cockpit so they could get permission for my husband to get up and pee. Nice.

Okay, back to our fun weekend. Jeff and Sarah (who drove down) graciously picked us up at the airport and we headed to the bar and met up with our friends. So fun!

Jenn, Me, Sarah and Kelli at the bar

Paul Lemire playing as the opener.

I think the lack of buttons can only be explained by the abundance of beer.

Jeff, Two-button Taki and Nego.

Gus Gus

The band during the Q&A portion of the show.

Jayme's tiny belly
Old roomies - we're just missing Shana!

And this was our view 19 hours after we left to go down to LA...

Great weekend!

14 Things We Love About Olive

WOW. Olive is 14 Months. How did this happen?

14 Things
1. Loves to smile!
2. Wow, girl has attitude. If you don't give her what she wants right now and I mean RIGHT NOW you are doomed with lots of screaming and tantrum throwing.
3. Loves mac-n-cheese and oranges (among others)
4. Goes to bed between 6:30 and 7:30
5. Favorite books include That's Not My Dolly, a Wocket in My Pocket and The Going to Bed Book
6. Just started to experiment with crawling! A big fan of the army crawl right now
7. Sleeps through the night
8. Let's me dress her in anything (as opposed to her brother)
9. Speaking of her brother - LOVES him

10. Secretly learned how to drink through a straw and kept this knowledge to herslef until I let her sip on my Starbucks (chai) straw while boasting "she hasn't learned how to drink through a straw yet." Doh!
11. Still prefers Puddy to Bosco
12. Likes mommy the best and tends to cry when I...leave the room/enter the room when she hasn't seen me/pick up Nikos
13. Still uses the pacifier when she is sleepy or cranky (even though I am already nervous she is too attached to it)
14. Is such a FABULOUS second child that I am constantly asking Taki if we can have a third. (PS - absolutely not making any leeway on this right now.)

Happy Mother's Day!

First of all, by now you have visited everyone else's blogs with their adorable Mother's Day pictures of them with the kids. I know, so cute. Enter the Romios blog. This Mother's Day Taki and I went to VEGAS and left the kids. Yes, you are hearing (reading?) it correctly. I know, horrible mother. Truthfully, when I planned (and booked) the trip I didn't realize it was Mother's Day weekend (I know this may sound like a broken record since the Girls' Vegas trip for last year was on Father's Day!)

Anyway...on Saturday morning Taki and I flew to Vegas to meet up with some good friends from college. YAY VEGAS!

I'd also like to state for the record that I don't believe in Staycations. (I blame my parents for this.)

After the flight we met up with Kelli and Ted and Jen and Gus at the Palazzo (yes, we are very fancy.) First up - the pool! Jenn displays a selection of our poolside beverages.

Next up, lots of drinking, gambling, drinking, eating, gambling and drinking, Apparently, no pictures for the rest of the night as I was having too much fun. Or we didn't want any evidence. Whatever.

The next morning I stopped to take a picture of the display in our hotel (or the Venetian? - it's all a blur.)

And then I forced Kelli and Jenn to take a picture with Humpty.

What a great weekend! Thanks to Grandma for babysitting. Wooohoooo.

I Love LA!

Weekend (19 hours) in LA - thanks to Grandma for babysitting. Watching Paul Lemire, next up Chubby Tangent.


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FOUR!

Four (Jack IV) graced us with his presence at our EBHH last week. All of the adults lamented the fact that we haven't had one in awhile, but holy cow there are 11 of us now!

Here's a group shot during dinner. Fun things about this picture: both Taki and Jack are wearing SI Alumni shirts (shocker). Jack IV! Nikos is actually eating something.


Sarah and Four.
This picture is kinda sucky but it shows how we distracted the kids at the end of the night - catching the butterflies coming out of the elephant's trunk. That is Marco in Niko's blue helmet in the background.

A good time was had by all and we were thrilled to have baby Jack join the party. Can't wait for the next one!

Vegas Baby Vegas

Someone should warn Taki that if he falls asleep on our flight to Vegas there is a strong chance someone - okay me - will steal his cocktail.



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Attention Attention!

Serial nap skipper, NoNapNikos attempted to once again laugh in the face of Peaceful Quiet. However, his evil (from his naptime perspective anyway) Mother finally pulled out a W for the parents. I don't mean to gloat - but we ARE going on 2 hours here.







- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone