Friday, June 24, 2011

Greek Fest 2011

Last week-end I spent most of my time working at Greek Fest. The weather was awesome so that helped bring out the crowds. I was working on the food line, my job was to dish out the rice that went with the meals, lamb and chicken. We also had pastistio, moussaka, spanakopita, triopita, dolmathes, Greek salad, and feta cheese with Greek olives. That was just inside the building. Outside were gyros, souvlaki, saganaki, loukamathes, and a few other things. They also have a carnival going on, so there was also carnival food. On Sunday, Father's Day, the kids and I went to the cemetery and planted flowers. We then went to my sister-in-law's restaurant for lunch, of course it was delicious! All of her family was there, we haven't seen two of her kids in such a long time. It was a very nice visit. On the way home from there, we stopped by the fest, the kids hadn't been there yet. They had such a good time riding the rides, especially Helen. She loved the Tilt-O-Whirl, she rode it twice. Although I think if I would have let her, she would have went on it all day! Robbie played some of the games, he doesn't like going on the rides. On our way out we bought Noah a hat, he was the only one without a Greek baseball cap. He wears it ALL the time, even to bed! We stopped by the honey puff(loukamathes) booth and picked up two large orders. Our last stop was by the dance floor to watch some Greek dancing, I could watch it all day. The girls pulled up a chair, the boys on the other hand were bugging me to go. I thought it was appropriate we spent part of the day at the fest, it was where Peter spent his last Father's Day. We had a good day.

The kids started Vacation Bible School on Monday, they love going there every summer. Ted is one of the counselors this year, his first year doing it. He is helping with the Kindergartners, he enjoys it very much. He can't believe these little kids want to spend so much time with him, they follow him everywhere. The other day he went to put all the name tags at the table and drop off his cap and folder. He turned around and saw his whole group of kids. I heard him say to them, "You know you can go with your parents now, right?" It was so cute to see him interact with them. That evening they were all in the backyard playing freeze tag, Ted hasn't joined them in such a long time, it was very nice to see and hear. Helen started summer school, she loves going to school. She is constantly correcting me when I just say school, she says, "No Mom, summer school." She's too funny!

Helen has been wearing the new jeans all day, there are a few tweaks we need to do, but nothing that can't be fixed. Helen LOVES them...we will keep you posted on our progress!!!

Until next time-
Take Care,
Sue

Friday, June 10, 2011

Summer Break Is Here!

I just got back from getting my car checked out. I have had issues with the transmission and was worried it was coming back. It's still under warranty so I thought now is the time to get it looked at. Luckily it's not the transmission, it's something to do with the front differential and the four wheel drive going to the back of the car. My car is old, it's a 1999, but we bought in December 1998. I know sooner than later I need a new one, I just can't afford it at this time. I'm hoping it will hang in there and be good to me!

Summer vacation has started, the kid's last day was yesterday and Helen's is today. I now have a seventh, two fifth, a fourth, second, and first grader under my roof, they grow so quickly! Noah graduated from Kindergarten on Wednesday. I took him out for lunch at the place of his choice, he chose IHOP for pancakes. I was hoping for Chili's or Red Robin, but that didn't happen. When we were done we stopped at a greenhouse to buy some veggies for our garden and pick up flowers. He was such a big help, he carried the flats of flowers for me, and I didn't even have to ask. He has gotten so big, and so mature from the beginning of the school year. It made me a bit sad. All of them are becoming more independent, it's hard for me to adjust. I need to let them do things, it's a hard habit to break.

Helen has had some issues at school, I'm glad the end of the year is here. It's not the teachers, it's the other kids in her inclusion class. She is at that age where they know there is something different about her, but don't quite get that she is still just like them. There are the few who will never get it. Some of that comes from the parents, they don't get it themselves and so they can't convey to their kids how wrong it is to tease. Now that I think about it, that's everywhere, it's not just with special needs kids. Bullies can be put into that same category. Ted has one in his class, the parents are no where to be found. In fact, the kids that cause the most problems at the school, are the ones whose parents I never see. In a perfect world....

Until next time-
Take Care,
Sue

Thursday, June 2, 2011

Out of Respect

Last week we had a death in our family, our sister-in-law's dad passed away. It didn't feel right for me to write, he read our blog religiously. One day he was riding his bike and working around the house, and the next, laying in a hospital unconscious. He died less than two weeks later. He was always so good to us when we would visit Savannah, GA, his town. It is such a beautiful place to visit. My sister-in-law is doing okay, it's never easy losing someone we love.

On a different note, Noah turned six last week and he graduates from Kindergarten next week. The rest of the kids are done with school at the end of next week...YIKES! Now that they're older, I'm hoping they will help more around the house. I want to start getting some work done this summer so I can have a little extra income coming in, times are tough! They keep asking when I'm going to put the pool up, all I see are $$$$$! We don't have a huge pool, but every extra expense adds up. Besides, our weather has been so wacky, just like everywhere else in the U.S., it's crazy. It's been much cooler than usual here, it's only just recently started warming up. I want to make sure we have more warmer weather than cooler before I put it up. I have made some plans for us this summer. We are going to meet up with friends at the beach, we have a very nice one in our town. I have a friend who's in-laws have a lake house, we're going there, and a friend who's parents have a cabin in Northern WI that we've been invited to. Robbie's best friends parents have a cabin near the Wisconsin Dells, so we may go there for a little getaway. I'm keeping my fingers crossed it will all work out.

We are still waiting to hear from our pattern makers. As soon as the samples are sewn, we will start to send them out for you to try on and give us feedback.

Until next time-
Take Care,
Sue