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.

Stark County Fair

Saturday we visited the Stark County Fair. None of could resist the fresh milkshakes from the dairy barns! They are the best and we look forward to this treat every year! We walked around to look at most of the animals. The pig auction was going on so we watched a few pigs come down the runway after being sold. The girls really enjoyed seeing all of the animals. They even got to get up close with a couple of calves, hold a baby chicken and pet a bunny! I almost had George talked into getting a rabbit. . .almost. Maybe next year after a couple of beers! :) We wondered through some of the exhibition barns and what I call the "free barn" where the politicians hand out everything! Sammie got an airbrush tattoo, "Just like my Aunt Angie!" What a good role model that Aunt Angie is! Lol!! We've learned that Erin gets very restless in her stroller. She likes to stand up and turn around and in doing so found the peep hole which we now call the "Erin Bubble"

After the fair we headed home for naps and then off to Nikki and Jeff's for a BBQ. There was a ton of excellent food! Sammie loved playing with Nicholas (who started Kindergarten this year!) and Erin got to spend some time playing with Giovanni.

Bits and Pieces of Today

The girls waiting for yiayia to come in the morning. They do this most Tuesdays and Thursdays, especially Erin. She sits there and calls for yiayia until she gets here.
My babies holding Katarina. Sammie was very excited to hold her. Erin kissed her a million times and was very concerned about her and why she was crying and what she was doing. It's so cute to see how fascinated kids are by babies.
This is the spider that lives on our deck railing. He's big (half dollar size) and scary and we have all stopped using the railing when going up or down the stairs. I don't want to kill him since he is a spider outside just doing his thing, and I'm too scared of him to move him. I guess the guy who's repairing the deck will have to handle him this week!
Update: This is a barn spider: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barn_spider
The spider in Charlotte's Web is a barn spider!!

The Cleveland Getaway

Stop 1: Geauga Lake Water Park

The kids had a blast! A very cool water park. Slides for all ages, a play area, wave pool, and the usual body slides. Sammie loved the funnel ride and the body slides and Erin loved the wave pool. We're thinking about getting season passes for next year. It was really sad to look across the lake at the remains of the amusement park though. Both George and I have great memories of our many visits to Geauga Lake throughout our childhoods!

Stop 2: The Greek festival at Saints Constantine and Helen in Cleveland

It was so nice to see Aunt Cyndi and Uncle John!! The lady making the Greek coffee knew George's grandfather and said George resembled him a little. The food was awesome and we got to see their dance troupe preform. It was huge and well organized!

Stop 3: The Hotel

The hotel allowed dogs which barked widely for about 20 mins as the kids were trying to sleep, but other than that a great hotel with an excellent breakfast! Thanks for the recommendation Con!! Stop 4: The Cleveland Zoo and Rainforest
This is such a beautiful zoo with great exhibits! The kids always love seeing animals. The only incident this weekend was me getting stung by a bee. We think it may have hit a nerve cause it hurt really bad! It was a great little runaway weekend and we couldn't have asked for better weather!! A nice little break before the mayhem of school, swim, and now gymnastics!