Gift Gluttony

We spent Christmas Eve with the Cecchins again this year - it was great watching the kids together.

Marco giving a cute smile for the camera - Nikos too busy opening his gift from Marco.

Olive smiles for the camera.

Ha, this one kills me. It's can be difficult to look like a stud in skinny jeans and a grinch shirt, but I think he pulls it off.

Next up - the hug. This goes the way they usually do.

Don't ask about the hairbow. It was a bad decision. There was a little bit of overaccessorizing going on. Instead direct your attention to Olive - notice her grip her new Jessie doll - so cute!

Annual tree shot.

And now - on to Christmas day!

Posing by the tree (Niko's choice of pose.)

Olive chills in her new chair.

Checkin out her Woody and Bullseye.

Nikos opening one of his two requested gifts "Thomas crashing into a mountain." (Btw - when he opened this he was excited but acted like he had never seen it before. Who knows what he was talking about.)

He wanted me to take his picture as he pressed the button that made the howling winds sound.

After Nikos opened the Thomas and his Walking Talking Buzz (no pics) he just wanted to go to his room and play with his stuff - we seriously had to talk him into opening their big gift (the kitchen). Lesson learned.

And finally - Christmas with the cousins at my parents' house (postponed from Christmas day for until a few days after since the Roberts kids were sick.) All the kids posing with their gifts (with the exception of Olive who was clinging to the Baby Snow White that Santa brought her.)

Wonderful Christmas filled with family and friends!

You Can Take the Girl's Mother Out of Antioch...

Ahh...it's a proud day in the Romios household.

A December to Remember

Wow, we were a busy bunch of holiday revelers last month!

First up, Nikos' preschool holiday party. Each class had a different theme in their classroom - there were a few Christmas rooms (including one with Santa), a few Hanukkah rooms and a Kwanzaa room. (Remember - we live in Berkeley!) :)

Niko and all his classmates decorated little lanterns to hang on a tree in their room.

Here's the tree with the finished lanterns. (In the back you will notice a train track the kids made - they picked a train theme for their classroom and have been working on it all year.)

Here we have Nikos (still holding onto a pout from when I yelled at him for throwing sand when we first go to the party) in front of his teachers Andrea (on the left) and Laurie (his favorite!)

The kids decorated pine cone ornaments for our tree.

We then headed into the room next door (I think it was the 4's classroom or the older 3's - I can't keep track!) and celebrated Kwanzaa. The kids were most excited about the guinea pig - who had nothing to do with Kwanzaa, but was, neverless, the class pet.

Olive settled in for the long haul after the guinea pig hid in her house.

And I had to include this one of Olive in the little kitchen in the classroom. Not sure if you can tell from the look on her face but girl was holding her own. A little girl next to her tried to grab the pot that Olive as playing with and Olive squealed "NO TANK YOU." (Ironically these were the same words she used when I tried to sit her on Santa's lap later that night.)

We had a great time hanging out at the school with all of Niko's friends and their families.

A few days later we headed out to Livermore to visit Deacon Dave's Christmas lights with my parents.

A view of some of the lights.

Olive checking everything out (don't you love her Santa skirt!)

Nikos enjoys the lights (to read: attempts to unstring a set...great.)

Inside the house.

The number of lights on the house this year...

More holiday happenings to come...

Twenty Eleven!

I know this entry will make my posts out of order (and thus drive me a little crazy) but wanted to post it since it is timely. Resolutions to follow shortly.

Yes, We Had a Tree This Year

I know I am waaaaaay behind again (especially since we took our tree down yesterday) but here ya go...

Once again we headed to our neighborhood treelot (Home Depot) to select our Christmas Tree. We went through the same charade where I made Taki open up a bunch of them because I figure the ones that were already opened had been rejected for some reason by those that had come before us.

Nikos checks out some trees. We decided to go Noble Fir again since they seem to hold the heavier ornaments better.

Olive and her crazy pigtails enjoyed tugging me back and forth to look at different trees.

Hmm - seems like she has a penchant for flashing people. Must come from her father. Obvs.

Once we found "the One" we loaded it up on the car - the correct way this time thanks to advice from Mich.

Nikos waits for Olive to join him in the Tree/Car picture.

Still pretending to be an only child...

Olive shatters his daydream.

And for my fun blast from the past.

2007 - Nikos 6 months. We picked up the tree right after our Santa visit. Wow, so scheduled and getting things done. Go 2007 Heather!

2008 - Nikos 18 months. Wow, one kid and I had my sh*t together. Notice the fact that his shirt displays a car with a Xmas tree loaded on it? Seriously, I had more time on my hands (oh and more money to buy cute Xmas tree shopping attire.)

2009 - Nikos 2.5 years, Olive 9 months

Until next year...

Playtime

We've been so busy lately but here are some cute shots of the kids.

I tried out a new indoor cafe and playplace in Oakland. The kids had a good time exploring and I had a better time being appalled about how most of the nannies there were completely ignoring the kids they were with and were instead chatting with each other. Made me happy that we don't have our kids with a nanny.

Olive was very proud of herself figuring out the slide all on her own.

Next up - rocking baby.

I need to get her to stop bringing that baby into these kinds of places since other kids just think it is the playplace baby. I then get to hear Olive screeching "No tank you , No tank you, my baby!" when they attempt to steal it. Luckily the nannies stop their charges from wrenching the baby from Olive's arms...oh wait, I guess I'm the one that has to deal with that.

Nikos spent a lot of time in the ball pit.

After leaving the playplace we cruised over to Two Thomas Park to take in some fresh air.

Doesn't the track suit kill? Ha!

Nikos is pissed because Olive decided she wanted to drive the "Mickey" (??) car.

Bouncing Buzz

Olive practices her jumping (bouncing) skills.