A Round of Shots

The girls went to the doctor today for their annual checkup. Sammie has remained in the 50th percentile with a height of 50in and a weight of 61lbs. Erin has improved and is nearly at the 50th percentile with her weight at 27lbs and the 40th percentile with a height of 33in. They are both healthy and both required vaccinations. Erin went first (after Sammie volunteered her) with her second dose of HepA. She did pretty well. A few tears, but she she stopped shortly after I picked her up. Sammie got her second dose of the chicken pox vaccine and her first dose of HepA and it did not go as smoothly. I had to restrain her pretty tightly. Poor thing. After all was said and done, they were both sitting on the table side by side with red puffy eyes and tear stained cheeks! Such a sad sight!

The Infamous Belly

I noticed the other night that Erin is tall enough to rest her belly on the coffee table! The first picture isn't too flattering but better shows her belly. The second is the typical pose of anyone that is all belly! Plus you can see her mussels cause her belly goes flat at the tip as she breathes in. Both of the girls have doctor's appointments tomorrow, so we'll see how they are growing!

Another Weekend Slips By

Saturday morning George took the girls to their swimming lessons while I headed to the church for the vintage fashion show. They had a good time except for Erin peeing in her high chair in the cafe. She's doing really good, but every once and awhile. . . George also said she was confused the first part of swim, waiting for me to show up to swim with her, but quickly accepted that I wasn't coming and swam with her dad. The show turned out well. I was extremely nervous and Rena had to keep reminding me to smile, and my knees were knocking so bad I had to keep moving to prevent myself from falling! I'll post more pics from the show as I get them. The only picture I have now is of this dress. I saw it and though how beautiful Angie would look in it! She's always loved the color green!After the show, George headed to work while I took the girls shopping for a gift for Katarina's baptism. We came home for dinner and then the fighting started. Erin can be such a bully sometimes. She cracked Sammie really good in the head with one of the magnetic refrigerator toys. Needless to say, they were both in bed a little early! Sunday was church. Both of the girls are enjoying their Sunday School classes. Next stop was the baptism, no time for naps. After the equivalent of 2 church services the little ones (Erin and Giovanni) were worn out, but no time for a nap yet. We headed to a very nice luncheon following the baptism. The kids had fun. Sammie ate a ton! (She must be growing again!!) Erin danced with her baba and both of the kids "attacked" Katarina! They both love that baby SO MUCH!! It's very cute!!

Sammie waiting patiently for cake after eating 2 pieces of chicken, a huge salad, green beans, and a mountain of potatos!

I teasingly told George that the usual American image of a daughter dancing with her father is the daughter standing on the father's feet as they move slowly around. Of course, the Greeks have their own way of doing it and it's just as cute! Erin definitely has her yiayia's dancing spirit! She was the first one on the dance floor, arms in the air!

Once we got home, we watched the Browns game that we had recorded, and they won!! My one friend's theory is as follows (in his words): "by the way, i think i figured out why we won. Jesus must not like the browns but your friends were distracting him with a baptizing so he couldn't put the curse on them this week. i freaking KNEW it...Jesus is a steelers fan" I laughed out loud as I read this at my desk this morning! He may be on to something!! The girls are having fun watching the games with us. Sammie is trying to learn as much as she can before we take her to her first game in November. She is really excited about going!! Erin realized that the players were running and got very excited, "he running, he running, he fall down!" Such a ham! She also randomly yells "go browns!!" I love it!

Taming the Mane

I took Sammie for a haircut tonight after Greek school. It took the poor girl 15 mins just to comb it out. She cut a few layers in and framed Sammie's face. Very cute! Then she asked my opinion. I felt the back (the trouble spot) and it was still very thick so I asked if there was anything she could do. Then we were introduced to the greatest hair cutting tool every! I have never heard of this miracle being that my hair is like corn silk! George knew of their existence and rolled his eyes at my excitement. The name of this God send: Thinning Shears!! (Can you hear the choir of angels singing hallelujah?) After her shower tonight, I brushed and blow dried it and could tell a difference. I'm excited to see what it will look like in the morning! I'll be sure to take pics in the morning to post later. I did forget the before, as usual, but there is a picture from before church yesterday. Close enough! I'm crossing my fingers that this works!

What's a Week?

Life is crazy! The girls started Sunday School today. Sammie moved to the 3rd and 4th grade class and Erin started in the 2 and 3 year old room. They have a bigger class than they expected so I, along with 2 other moms, stayed to help out. It was a lot of fun! Sunday School is just the start of a very busy week! After church, I had rehearsal for the vintage fashion show. Monday starts Greek school for Samantha. Tuesday is gymnastics. Wednesday is free (for now)! Thursday is Greek dance and my water aerobics class. Friday I have full dress rehearsal for the fashion show. Saturday, George is taking the girls to swim while I prepare for the fashion show. Last but not least, our friends are baptizing their daughter next Sunday! Add to that the extra hours George has been working since they are still in their busy season and the extra hours I'll be working at night due to a girl quiting!! Crazy! I can't even imagine what life will be like once basketball starts! I need more than 7 days in the week!!

Other than a busy schedule, things are going well. Grandpa's getting stronger and stronger, Erin had a good potty day today with no accidents, Samantha started the gifted program at school this week (Mason seems to be having a very positive affect on her!!) and is excited about her upcoming haircut. She's really been struggling with getting it clean during her showers and I don't blame her! It's super thick! We decided today to take her to have it trimmed and thinned out, but rehearsal ran later than expected so we weren't able to go today. Hopefully, it will help! I'll try to remember to take before and after pictures!

Coming Out of the Dark!

Finally, we have electricity again!! We managed fine camping in our house. We used our propane camp stove and borrowed oil lamps from grandma and grandpa as well as stored some food in their freezer and used their washer and dryer and bath tub (thanks grandma and grandpa!!). Since we live in the city, we had water and our water heater is gas, so we had hot water (very important)! Still, it's great to be back on! Of course it could have been worse. This link shows pictures of damage from Ike that's much worse that our few days in the dark!!
http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2008/09/the_short_but_eventful_life_of.html

Matching Sisters

The girls wore their matching dresses to church today and everyone remarked how cute they are!! I love dressing them alike and want to get as much of it in as I can before Sammie refuses. Father Nick asked George and I to chair a new couples group at the church. The first meeting is October 14th at 6:30 and is geared towards married couples in their late 20's, 30's and 40's. The group is mentioned on page 52 of the September & October Koinonia. Please join us if you're interested! After church, I had the girls pose beside a pumpkin. Erin decided to lick it, which made us all giggle! "Please don't lick the pumpkin" is now on our list of things we never thought we'd say!

Rub a Dub Dub, Two Babes in My Tub

Vanni and his new puppy and football.

Erin's orange kitty with pumpkins on it.

Sammie's new kitty Diamond.

We watched Giovanni for a few hours on Saturday. I decided to venture out of the with the 3 kids while George was getting dinner ready. We headed to build-a-bear so the girls could use the gift cards they received for their birthdays. The kids picked out their animals quickly, but there was a reasonably long line to have them stuffed. By the time we got to the stuffing machine. Giovanni and Erin were no longer interested. Sammie filled hers first, followed by Vanni, who was scared of the noise and sat on my lap as I pushed the pedal. Erin ,who was terrified the last time I took her, loved pushing the pedal down! After the filling, the girls cleaned their animals and then they all got to pick out an accessory. Sammie picked out a carrier, Erin picked out shoes (no surprise there!), and Giovanni found a football. Con got to our house the same time I got home with the kids and we all sat down for an excellent meal!! After dinner, I decided to give the toddlers a bath together. So freaking cute! They were both standing at the tub waiting to get in and I realized they have the same rear end! Con said that must be the Foradis butt! Unfortunately, I didn't get a picture of it. Maybe next time! They had so much fun playing together. Erin even helped to wash Vanni. I sang songs from the YMCA's parent/child swim class. I usually do with Erin and I knew Vanni would know the songs too. George remarked later in the night that I was just trying to prove that we could handle 3 with no problems! Lol! The first step is a bigger house!

Samantha's Birthday

Sammie chose Carrabba's for her birthday dinner. We were talking about the mussels they have there during dinner the other night and she was dying to try them! We ate family style, ordering a few items and sharing everything. The waitress brought over pizza dough to keep the kids occupied while we waited. What a fun idea! Sammie got a birthday sundae with a candle, but no song, so I sang! I can't believe she's 8!!

Apparently, eating tiramisu is exhausting work!

Sammie also openend her presents from nana and papa while we were there!

We Survived the Birthday Party!

After many late nights and much preparation, the party finally came and went really well. Everyone enjoyed the food (George is such a great cook!) and my first attempt at an all from scratch cake worked out fantastically. It was great to see most of the family get together and the girls had a blast. The party continued on Sunday when Con, Lindsey, and Giovanni came over to celebrate and George cooked us lunch on his new grill. Thanks to everyone who came and for the beautiful gifts!! We're so blessed to have such a generous family! We know that it's not easy to get both of them gifts at the same time, but we figure it's better than trying to get everyone together for 2 separate parties in less than a month!

Watching the Browns game Sunday

Sammie seeing her basket ball hoop Saturday morning before the party.

DIY. . .Sort Of

There should be a disclaimer displayed on HGTV that home improvement is not as easy as they make it look (at least not for us)! In preparation for the birthday party, we have been trying to get a few things done around the house. We like to DIY as much as we can but sometimes it requires a professional, so we hired people to seal the driveway, clean the carpets, and repair and stain the deck. Unfortunately, the driveway and deck were not done 100% properly, but at least the carpets were amazing! Then we saw some things in the house that we could do ourselves so we replaced the toilet seat, fixed the curtain rod, stained the bathroom vanity and installed a new bathroom sink, faucet and towel holder. Of course nothing goes as expected and the drain for the new sink didn't line and a new p-trap needed to be installed, which took me over an hour to finally get it to stop leaking! The joys of home ownership, but I wouldn't have it any other way!

Before-What a mess!

During-The wood looks great!After-A beautiful chocolate color (that needs another coat!)The newly stained bathroom vanity with new hardware.

The new white on white marble sink and Moen faucet. Gorgeous!

Work

For any one's who's curious. Here are some of the people I work with. There was a diversity fair at work where they had food and displays for several nationalities representative of Aultman/AultCare Employees. Some of my co-workers wanted pics of the events and then the photo shoot began.

The web team-Raza, Jessica, and myself

Raza and our boss Jacqui

First Day

Wednesday was first days for both of my girls. Sammie started 3rd grade at Mason. She was so nervous the night before and that morning, but once she met her teacher, Mr. Smith, and settled into her desk she was fine. I was more upset than she was and had to fight back tears as I drove off! Today she didn't even want me to walk her to the door stating that she was in the 3rd grade now and was too big to be walked in! So cute (and independent. Where does she get that?)! Sammie also had her first day at the Jewish Center on Wednesday and had a great time. Two kids from her class also go to the Center. Erin started at the Aultman Child Care Center. I sat with her for a few minutes while the class was reading a book with animal sounds. I told her that I had to go and she gave me a kiss and sat down with the other kids. No crying!! I hope everyday is like this. We'll see tomorrow morning.