Trick Or Treat !

This was a night of juggling! To make a long story short- Vayda and Ravyn went to friend Jojos house to trick or treat so dropped them off.
Then Elanee, Maya and I met friend Emily in Romulus. We collected her then joined with our neighbors Jeff, Tina, & Saige and friends Lindsey, Ryan

and their little guy Jordan to walk around their apartment complex. We bumped into some girls from Girl Scouts and they joined us.
Everyone was very welcoming and friendly. It was a nice time.
Chocolate always makes a girl smile!

We took Emily and Saige home with us where the girls promptly did the big dump and sort all over the kitchen table. Now they are all in the family room watching movies and enjoying a sleep over party.

Halloween night- getting ready

Tonight is Halloween. This year I told the kids to please just surprise me!

They did by doing such an awesome job with ALL items we had around the house.

(A no $$$ Halloween!!! Yippee!)

Vayda turned herself into a pretty victorian porcein doll. Ravyn was the harvest goddess from an online video game. Her mom made her costume from scratch! No pattern. Wow.

Maya Rae combined a dancers dress and an old Halloween costume for a dramatic devil.
Elanee cracked us all up with her insane 80s prom queen costume. She used my prom gown, combat boots, arm warmers and a rats nest of a wig.
Grrrr!
They are ready to go ;)

Beyond World War Two

Vayda has always grumbled about Social Studies. She says 'all they teach is war war war'.

That does seem to be the general theme of things. So, this year I told her to plan her own SS program. She chose a number of countries she wants to know more about.
Because I am German- and she is half German- she decided to start with Germany. It occurred to both of us that Germany is an old place with a vast, rich history but the only thing anyone ever teaches about Germany is the ugliest part of its history...WWII.
I told Vayda she could choose her own format but she had to "prove" to me that she learned something. So, she chose to do a lap book. This is just a file folder with info on all sides.

Always a corn ball!

She put a world map on the front and colored in Germany. A little context always helps.

Her study was mostly done online but she also checked out several books from the library. She focused on things that are relevant to her like clothes...old and modern.

And, music. Who knew Germany has a metal band that is similar to Metallica !?!

And, food of course. German chocolate cake is on the list. We are planning to buy several items and have some friends over for a buffet style dinner of German foods.
She turned the back of the lap book into the German flag and touched on classical music and German made vehicles. She spent several weeks reading web sites about German culture and learned so much more than shown here. It was an excellent project that made her appreciate the culture.....and created a renewed interest in Social Studies.

Drying clothes

Clothes Wracks

Well over a year ago we were out viewing a home our family friend, Tommy, had renovated. As we were enjoying our tour I noticed the laundry area and comment that there wasnt much room for a clothes dryer. Tommy matter of factly stated that the buyers could use clothes wracks to dry their clothing. He said that he grew up using them. I instantly thought how that could never work in our home. After all we have TONS of laundry and who wants wrack with underwear hanging sitting in the living room!?!? Days later it dawned on me that we could put wracks in the bedrooms!!! So, I went to Walmart and got each of the kids a wrack for their rooms plus one for the kitchen (for dishtowels & napkins). I invested in a nice big fancy one for Jody and I as we have to share and our clothing is the biggest. Turns out that with the winter forced air heat, the clothes dry really quickly. The kids take their wet clothes to their own rooms and hang it themselves. I actually end up handling their laundry LESS. Since we upgraded to the front loading washer last Xmas things are even better. The washer rings out the clothes to almost dry so I am able to do several loads a day and everything is dry by the next morning.

Maya at school in October

This is Maya hard at work on a school day in October. :)

How lucky is she that she can dress like a scarecrow on a Tues in mid Oct? I cannot help but think how many 3rd graders would love to pull that off. Here Maya is learning about Aulstralia using her Top Secret Adventures program. Its lots of fun!

Jody turns 51 !

On Tues evening we celebrated Jodys 51st B-day. I made him chicken parm and spagetti for dinner. Vayda kindly made his chocolate cake. She thought it was very funny to upgrade him from age 51 to 381 ! (Fun with recycled Bday candles;) Maya gave daddy a box of great gifts including a beaded bracelet and necklace. I remembered his Bday then forgot so I didnt get him anthing :( but he had just returned from a great weekend of play watching and dinner out with his dad and step mom so I dont think hes too neglected.

I'd bet there is a picture of him at his 4th Bday that looks just like this one with the overalls and everything :)

Meet Javari

Javari Walter Mylonas

Born to Angelica Gomez and Jonathan Mylonas

August 1, 2008 ~ 8 lbs 2 oz...20 inches

This little guy is the cutest thing I have cuddled in a LONG time! He is oh so sweet!!!!

He looks just like his mommy, I think.
The day we met him he was interested in all the visitors and was very busy making lots of drooly bubbles :)
His Aunts Elanee and Vayda really enjoyed getting to know him.

Javari found Maya to be a very interesting girl.
Angelica says I am a 'step-grandma' now. ahhhhhh! Could she be sweeter?
Uh-Oh. I think that makes me old. I dont care. That little guy is just to adorable to pass up.

Visiting Angelica

The girls and I made the trip to RI and Mass in order to visit Angelica and meet John and Javari.

This was a humongous deal. The last time the girls all saw each other Angelica was 4, Elanee 2 and Vayda 3 mo!

Now Angelica is grown and is such a SWEET young woman. She lives with her boyfriend, John and has an adorable little boy, Javari.
Pedro came to see everyone. Elanee and Vayda havent seen him in 3 yrs (and another 4 prior to that) and Angelica only saw him once since she was 4! This was his first time seeing Javari. It was intense for all of the girls as they all carry mixed feeling about Pedro. It was just great for them all to experience something truely positive with him. Babies have the power to make people forget their misery ;)

Pedro's sister, Aunt Millie, came to see everyone too. She is super cool! The girls and I all really liked her alot. Just an all around, easy to like, person.Elanee helped Angelica with lunch. She learned to fry plantains.
One of the most impressive people we met was John, Angelica's boyfriend and Javari's dad.

I was seriouly impressed by him. Hes just 19 and a wonderfully attentive father. He spoke highly of being there for his son. But, more impressive was the way the baby watched him and responded to him. That was proof that he was walking his talk. I think Javari is a lucky boy to have such a solid, dedicated father. John is proof that no matter what you come from you can choose your own reality.
Angelica was so happy to be with her sisters again after so long. It was just sweet.
Making this trip was a big effort for me but it went SO well and I am SO happy I did it. I had always hoped that Elanee and Vayda could connect with Angelica at some point. I am just happy that I was able to make that happen for them now. I am also happy that Angelica grew into the type of person I'd want my girls to know. Its just awesome for them~for us all~ to have this connection.

On Saturday Heather's stamping group met in her dinning room.

I met two very nice ladies~ Josselyn and Monique.

There was lots and lots of chatting, scrapping and stamping. Heather made this awesome paper cake to keep her cake plate company.

I thought I was sick of stamping but with all the cool new (to me) stamps and new papers and do-dads~ and cool company~ I was in stampin heaven! I ended up making 25 cards over two nights.

Taveling to RI

This past weekend Elanee, Vayda, Maya Rae and I made a long drive to Rhode Island. We stayed with my friend, Heather, and her kids Madison, Harry and Carrie. None of us have seen each other in several years so it was a regular reunion! The kids had a great time hanging out.

Heather and I spent every night up way too late stamping and chatting.
It was a great time :)

Sciencenter Monday

Monday was a free day at the Sciencenter in Ithaca if you were the proud owner of a particular bank card. We are so I jumped on the freeby.
The girls and I always have fun at the Sciencenter. This time we saw cute frogs
and giant tad poles.
There were nasty giant cock roaches....YUCK!!!!
There was this cool hovercraft chair!

Maya got to ponder the wonders of make believe atoms in a micro lab.
We all had fun with the infared camera. Mayas nose was really cold.

We discovered that the wiggling suspension bridge makes mom sea sick :P

What a fun afternoon.