Greek Elections

We just had Greek elections on Sunday for town hall positions, like the mayor and governor positions. Both Arthur and his mother voted, I can vote after living here for 10 years, although I don't think i will get involved in it. But I would like to say one thing, the Greek government would save a lot of money if they didn't do the advertising that they do. Every person on the ballot hands out an envelope with 4 pieces of paper in it and on each page is the list of people running. The person who gives you the envelope has their named checked so you see who brought. The crazy thing is that every person on the ballot hands out these envelopes to every household. The government is probably spending millions in printing up these papers and for what? Arthur didn't even open them because they were all the same, no extra info about the person you are voting for, just a list of names with a check mark next to the one who dropped them off. We will use them for scrap paper, so I guess that's a plus.

Recent weeks

So sorry for not writing in a while, it has been rainy and cold here so it is very hard to make it down to KokaRoka with the kids, since baby Kat has to be wrapped up like a mummy and Nik runs around inside yelling his head off, so not very conducive to writing a blog. Right now Nik is outside because it is sunny and he is blowing a whistle, inside Kat is sleeping and ΓιαΓια Katerina is making bean soup (every Friday), Arthur is cleaning the two rooms that left this morning. A couple of weeks ago we had a sunny Sunday and we went on a ride up to the Lake. On the way we stopped at the village that Katerina grew up in and picked up some chestnut's.Baby and I watched from a safe distance as Arthur and Nik picked up chestnuts.
This is my attempt at a Lemon Meringue Pie, I thought I did a pretty good job. It tasted good but maybe a little too lemony, the custard was a little runny so I might try a different recipe next time. ( now nik is crawling on me the baby has waked up and I am running out of time to type)
We have also (Nik just stuck his finger in the babies mouth) introduced the baby to solids. Here she is having her first egg, it didn't go over well because she was already hungry and wanted to drink milk now. That same day she had some ice cream and seemed to like that better, uhoh another sweet tooth in the family (Nik just ripped his shirt).

I'm off to go check on Nik he is outside somewhere and they are fixing the road with tractors and stuff so not so safe, bye chat later.

A little bit of noise

I had to hide the camera off to the side because when she saw it she would stop making her little noises. She does a lot of this little talking even when she wakes up it is just small sounds. She hardly ever cries really loud only when she is super tired or when her brother hits her.

Baby Kat 4 months old

Here she is in a sweater that Arthur wore 40 years ago, I have a photo of Arthur in this sweater and they look very similar. The Nike pants are from Jon and Kelly and the cute shoe/socks are from Auntie Jeanie all in Texas. Both Kat and I love her little rocker chair that Dad and Rhonda bought, it lets her sit up and look out at the world.

Such beautiful skin.

Always wiggling.

And Talking.

Oops done with this photo shoot!

looking at the past when Nik was 4 months old.

How I Spank Nik

With a Meat Tenderizer.

and Time Outs

A Bag instead of a Dunce Cap.
totally kidding on both photos, this is all of Nik's imagination at play.

Here's my pretty girl. She's still a baby thank goodness. She loves to Coo and Wiggle. Patience should be her middle name because she is very good at just chillin' while other things are happening around her. Her head control is getting stronger so good things are too come.

WHAT WE ARE DOING

Making Wine. As Nik would say "doin", because I ask him all of the time "Nik what are you doing?" When he is out of my sight and being very quite, it normally means up to no good. I look and sure enough, flour all over the kitchen, washing powder all over the bathroom, all of the sheets and pillows on the floor of the bedroom, no room is safe to put this kid in without adult supervision.
Here he is posing in the vineyard with my frappe that he confiscated and took as his own. He really loves to pose for the camera as long as its on his own terms.

Very beautiful grapes in what I like to call the Napa Valley of Greece. This location is between Trikala and Larisa about one hour from our house, the guy we bought grapes from has about 14 acres of grapes, we were in just one of his locations. Lucky for us he had the grapes already picked we just came and had them transfered into our crates. The way it works is on the way in they weigh the vehicle and then after you load up they weigh it again and the difference is how much the weight of the grapes is and this is what you pay for.
We crushed the grapes that night, I helped hold the machine and removed some of the stems and leaves. Arthur did the hard part of lifting and transferring of grapes and later grape juice and remnants. The juice is now fermenting in two big barrels, ready to become wine. Will we make ouzo with the leftovers, I don't know but I will keep you posted.