OPA!!! OPA!!!

Cronia Pola! Christos Anesti! (Happy Easter, Christ is Risen) Today our family celebrated Greek Easter. We did it a little different this year, and had it out at Stavro and Amanda's property. I was really glad we did, because George has built a four wheeler track out there, and it was allot of fun riding around. We had traditional Greek Food, and of course the Lamb roasted on the spit. I was very proud of myself because I made George's all time favorite Greek dessert, Galacoboreko. It is allot like an egg custard, and it takes some patience in the kitchen. I was a bit worried of how it would be received by my father in law, after all, he is a professional. He really enjoyed it though, and so did George. I am eating some right now. (: We had about 20 people. All of our Greek Family and a few friends. Pam, Andrew, and the boys came by, as did Amanda Lily's American Godfather, Dan. We all had a good time. Steven and Pam's son Caleb were the one's having the most fun though.....Steven drove Caleb around the track for a good hour. It was really nice to enjoy each other's company, and of course a little Ouzo and Opa!

Clowning Around

For April Fools Day this year, our Awana club(kids church club) had all the clubbers dress up as jesters or clowns. Steven decided he wanted to be "Super Clown". We have a cape and superhero shirt, so he wore that and I painted his face. I was very apprehensive about painting his face, but it actually came out really cute. He was very excited to share in the fun with his Sparkie friends at church.

Amanda Lily on the other hand had NO interest in having anything put on her face. She's always been really particular about stuff like that. She gets upset over it, so I didn't push the issue. I told her that all of her friends would have their faces painted and be dressed up, and I didn't want her to feel bad about it. When we got there, she saw them all, and was actually very happy with her decision to go as "Amanda Lily". If it would have been something like Princesses, she would have been all over it. She thought the clown thing was very "silly" You really have to know her to understand what I am trying to get across. She is just very set in her ways, like she knows what she likes and what she doesn't, and there is no changing her mind or talking her into anything.

If any of you ever do need to paint your kids faces, there is a wealth of instructions on the web. I even learned that clowns never have their top lip painted! Who knew?

St Augustine and Crescent Beach

We had a wonderful family vacation at St Augustine and Crescent Beach. We had to cut it a couple of days short because of bad weather, but what time we did spend there was wonderful. We even came home with a couple of more pets to add to the Kountanis clan. "JJ" and "Fallie" are our new hermit crabs. We did a train guided tour of St Augustine, putt putt golf, and of course a couple of lazy days on the beach building sand castles. I did get slightly sunburned, but what's new? Steven and Amanda Lily tanned nicely even through SPF 50. I guess it is their Greek blood, because I know they didn't get that from my side! Anyhow, I'll let the photos do most of the talking, as I have lots to unpack, and still more Spring Break to plan! (:

Construction Time

George and I are having our "dream pool" put in the back yard. We have been saving since we moved in, and are excited that prices have gone down drastically for the pool we are building. Our old house had a pool, and we knew it was going to be something the kids really missed, so they are happy it is finally coming as you can imagine.

I used the situation as a lesson for Steven. Amanda Lily is a bit young to grasp money and savings, but Steven gets it. He has been buying his own toys since he was 5 and started earning an allowance. (of course both grandma's still contribute to his stash of toys, but George and i do not) (: If there is something he wants, he has to save to get it. He earns money buy washing the dogs, cars, and vacuuming. His money is then divided into 3 cups.....SAVE, CHARITY, SPEND.

When he gets enough in the CHARITY cup, we do something of his choosing with the money for others. The last thing he did was buy Sophia, his cousin, a toy. Not that she needs it, but he was so excited to do it, that I let him. My personal favorite thing he came up with was to buy books for his school's library. He told me most of the books "have yellow pages", and he thought Mrs. Google, the Librarian, would appreciate some new ones. Our school is 80 years old, and I tell you some of the books must be from the first day they opened the doors. Anyway, we went to Books A Million, and he picked out 3 books. He was so proud to give them to the Librarian. She was really touched by the gesture as well. He has also bought ingredients to make cookies and took them to the Eustis Firehouse. My son is such a thoughtful person. He has always been very much aware of others feelings. He is much nicer of a child than I ever remember being. I am so proud he belongs to me. (: He says something daily that touches my heart. I often wonder where he got his big heart. This post has gotten away from my original story, so I'll get back to that. I just wanted to suggest that you all set up a system of checks and balances with your kids. It really helps them not become entitled to stuff.

Back to the pool. Hopefully in 6 weeks we will be swimming in it. My sweet husband has been working so hard in the backyard to get it ready. He and I have transplanted our lemon, orange, and fig trees. That job morphed into making a place that I can grow some vegetables and my herbs. He even built a wall around it to make it pretty. The biggest job of all was moving my oak tree. He used a tractor to do the job. He really doesn't care for the oak tree, and wanted to get rid of it completely, but the kids and I put a bird feeder in it when we moved in, and it has quite a following of birds. So, we begged him to keep it, and he agreed. All the birds still come. The cardinal actually swooped down at our dog Roxy this morning and we all laughed. So, for now, my backyard looks like a bomb went off where we have pulled up the irrigation and capped off the lines. And the dirt gets traipsed into the house. It is hard to keep up, but will be well worth it!

I have a few photos I have been taking to scrapbook of the whole thing.

Spring Fling Cupcakes

Tomorrow is the last day of school for the kids, then we get an entire glorious 10 days off!!! Woo-Hoo! We are super excited to being heading to St Augustine's Cresent Beach for 5 days.

Steven's class just completed two days of state required testing, so I called Mrs Keyes to find out if I could bring in some cupcakes to celebrate their hard work. She was happy to have me bring something in, just as she always is. Steven asked that I make them blue, and I figured why not, since blue is a spring color. I used Easter sprinkles out of the dollar bin at Target.

They turned out so cute, that I had to share the idea. They were SIMPLE to make, and can be used for any occasion, included a Birthday party. The Big Idea is to take any sprinkles of your choice and roll the cupcakes in them, only getting sprinkles on the edges. I am hoping to redo them for George's next Birthday using Bucs colors. How cute would that be? Anyhow, use your imagination, and customize them to your party theme. You'll end up saving allot of money. Besides, who doesn't like a cupcake????

Amanda Lily Photos

Hey everyone. If you look at the blogs I follow, and click on "Simply Splendid", there are some of the professional photos we had done of Amanda Lily, on her blog under "Starring Amanda Lily"
She posted them a couple of days ago, and I am sooooo happy with the outcome. She took over 1000 photos of Amanda Lily in 2 hours! So far, she has only been able to upload around half, and is still working on the others. If any of you are thinking of having AWESOME photos taken of your little ones, I highly recommend Paula. Once I choose a favorite, I am having it oil painted onto canvas for my Mothers Day gift. (: So far, its the one with the flower headband and the pink dress, but like I said, I haven't even seen half of them yet, so we will see!
Hope everyone has a great weekend!

First Grade Field Trip

Today was our class's trip to the zoo! Mrs. Keyes told me not to worry about coming in with Steven until around 9:00, because the buses weren't leaving until 9:15. I thought, perfect.....she is giving me some extra time to get our lunches packed, etc. Well, Steven was fully dressed from head to toe on top of me in my bed at 6:30am chanting "field trip, field trip" So, I dragged myself out and went ahead into school at 8:00. George took Amanda Lily to breakfast, then they were off to the restaurant. She really enjoys helping set up at the store anyways, but that is another blog.

We rode the big yellow bird, because I didn't want Steven to miss the whole experience. It was windy, but not overly hot, so we had a good time. I was having throw backs to my childhood. I'm not sure how many of you have been on a school bus lately, but they haven't changed much since our day. Steven has begged me all year to ride it to and from school, but I just look at him and say "honey, you just need to get over it....you are not riding the school bus" It is totally me, and I accept it, but it's just not gonna happen.

We had a nice lunch in the park area upon arrival, then broke into groups and toured the park. I found my friend Trish who was chaperone for Ben's class, and we navigated the place together. I was really surprised at the animals they had there. Not that it's Lowry Park Zoo, but it was fun for the kids to see the alligators, leopards, elephants, emu, snakes, lemurs, eagles, and my personal favorite....kangaroos! Another really cool looking animal was an alligator monitor. It was like this giant lizard looking thing with fluorescent spots. They also got to feed the mountain goats, which was super cool for them.

Some of the photos show Steven with our group, as well as one on the bus ride where he was sitting with his Spanish Teacher Sra. Catala, and his good friend Kaitlyn.

Zoo Animal Cookies

Stevens First Grade Field trip is coming up on Thursday. I thought it would be fun to make Zoo shaped animal cookies for him to take into class. Amanda Lily and I have been working on them this morning. She is so precious. She knows they are for Steven's class, and she still has no problem working hard on them. (Of course, we made a couple heart shaped ones for her to eat as well.) Anyhow, since my blog is morphing into recipes and cooking advice, I thought I would share this super simple recipe I use for the cookies.

Vanilla Sugar Cookies

1/2 cup butter

1 cup sugar

1 egg

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 3/4 cups flour

1 tablespoon milk

1 teaspoon vanilla

1/4 teaspoon salt

Cream butter and sugar, add egg and mix. Add remaining ingredients and mix until smooth. Refrigerate batched dough for at least 2 hours. Roll out dough in batches, working quickly so that it doesn't become sticky. Also, be sure to dust your surface with flour prior to rolling dough out.

Cut into animal shapes. (I got mine at Joann's) Place on an ungreased cookie sheet and bake for 8 minutes. I only baked mine for 5 minutes because the animal cookie cutters are mini's, so adjust time in oven according to size of cookie.

One word of caution, remember to work quickly with the cookie dough or it will stick.

Risotto instead of processed rice

A couple of months ago, I did a blog on Nutrition. Jennifer commented on her love of Rice A Roni. I have been meaning to post this recipe for her, but keep forgetting. It is for an Italian style rice called Risotto. You can find it in any grocery store, and it is easy enough for even a novice cook to make.

1 cup risotto
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons butter
1/2 cup chopped onion
3 cups free range organic chicken broth
Sea Salt and Pepper

Warm your oil and butter in pan and saute the onion. Throw a pinch of coarse sea salt in the pan a minute after the onion has started cooking, to bring out the water in the onion (as well as the flavor) After the onion has a glossy look (maybe 3 or 4 mins), add the risotto and cook stirring for 3 more minutes. Stir in broth one cup at a time, allowing it to be absorbed by the rice before adding each cup. The risotto will come to a good consistency gradually. Add pepper to taste.

Above is the most basic of recipes. There is allot you can do to spruce it up to your tastes.
My kids favorite risotto is made with tomatoes and parmesan cheese.

1 lb roma tomatoes or cherry tomatoes, cut up
1/2 cup freshly grated parmesan cheese (buy a block of it in the deli section)

Add tomatoes and cheese after most of broth is absorbed. The cheese gives the risotto a very creamy texture. The possibilities are endless with risotto. I've even made a sweet potato risotto before!
!
My next recipe I post will be for couscous, another great starch for your side dishes

Visiting Nanny

For the past two weeks, we have had house guests. Mom, Larry, and Tre' have been here, and we have had lots of fun. One of the highlights of their stay was a trip we took to Monkey Joe's. It is alot of fun for the kids, and it wears out their energy. We went on a Thursday after school. Steven told me that he wants to have his birthday party there, so we will see.

We also got a chance to go and have a visit with Nanny. I was so glad to see her. And she of course was happy to see us. The kids made her day. We ran around in her yard playing tag and she sat on the swing and just soaked it all in.

While we were in Wildwood, we got lucky and saw 3 trains. For those of you who don't know, my son is train crazy. He has been since he was 2 years old. We always thought it was a phase, but no.....he loves trains. There is even a documentary series on the Discovery Channel called "Extreme Trains", that is his very favorite show. Maybe one day he will help engineer the train that will travel from NYC to California. Who knows?

Anyhow, here are some photos from our fun times together.

Strawberry Jam

Scroll to bottom of post for strawberry syrup/jam recipe

It is strawberry season! The children and I met some of our friends (Mia and Heather) out at the strawberry patch this past Wednesday. We all had lots of fun picking the berries and playing with "Haus" the resident dog. Heather made such a fuss over that dog that I was certain she was going to slip him into her car on the way home. He really was a great dog. Which, it goes to figure. The entire place is surreal. It is like when you are there you are in another world. Rows and rows of strawberries greet you when you first pull up. Then there is the quaint little strawberry store that is actually an old barn where they have you pay for your pickings, and offer a selection of strawberry delights. Fun for the kids is the tire swing that hangs from this huge old oak tree. Heather and I sat at the picnic table watching them play. It was a beautiful day, and she and I decided that if the place ever goes up for sell, we are buying and moving our families out there!!! LOL (Up the hill is a large two story house where we would all live)

Amanda Lily and I are making strawberry jam today with our flat. We are celebrating Papou's (grandpas) birthday tomorrow, and one of his favorite things it our strawberry jam. He loves it on his toast. So, we are hoping to fill a mason jar with the good stuff, and give it to him as a gift.

Here is our super simple recipe:

STRAWBERRY SYRUP/JAM

2 pounds fresh strawberries, hulled

4 cups white sugar

1/4 lemon juice

Crush berries (in batches if you need to)

In large saucepan, mix together all ingredients

Stir over low heat until the sugar is dissolved and blended

Increase heat to high, and bring to full rolling boil

Boil, stirring often for about 20 mins

Poor hot mixture into sterile jars, leaving 1/2 inch of headspace, and seal

After jam has cooled, eat up or refrigerate.

Quick Dinner Idea

scroll to bottom of post for baked apples and baked potato soup recipes

Today has been a pretty chilly day. Tonight is supposed to be even cooler, so for dinner I made potato soup. While in NC last week, Trish made it for lunch one day. It was incredibly comforting and warming to the tummy, so I was inspired to make it today. While cooking, I thought "this couldn't be easier, I should blog the recipe for my friends."

Baked Potato Soup

Peel and chop up 5 baking sized potatoes

Boil in one box chicken stock (I use wolfgang pucks organic free range broth from publix) until potatoes are tender

Mash potatoes with potato masher, or use your spoon and smash them on the walls of the pot

Add milk, a little at a time, until desired consistency.

Season with butter, salt, and pepper.

Stir in a little cheese

While soup is cooking, bake up a few strips of bacon. (optional)

Add the bacon and a couple snips of chives. (optional)

For those of you who have not read my "nutrition" post, all the ingredients I use are organic. You can even find bacon at publix that is hormone free and grain only fed.

Dessert is super easy as well.

Baked Apples w Pecans

Core some apples (however many people are eating) and set aside in a baker

Stir a few chopped pecans, brown sugar, and a couple pats of cut up butter in a small bowl

Put mixture inside cored out apples, cover with tin foil and bake at 350 for 25mins

Serve warm with a scoop of vanilla yogurt and sprinkle with cinnamon

YUMMY.

North Carolina

One day while visiting my friend Trish, something caught my eye. She has one of those nifty photo frames that allows you to upload digital photos and it scrolls through. I noticed one of the photos was breathtakingly beautiful. She told me it was a picture taken at her Mom and Dads place in North Carolina where they have a second home on the "tippy top" of a mountain. Within minutes of conversation, she invited us to go up with her family for a weekend. I jumped at the offer and the trip was planned and airfare purchased in only a couple of days. We were all so excited for the trip because Steven, Amanda Lily, Ben, Josh, and even little Gracie have become close friends, and I knew they would all have a great time together. We adults have done our fair share of bonding as well, and find allot of pleasure in just chatting and hanging out. So, we knew we were all in for a great time.
The cabin was awesome, and Ms. Patsy (Trish's Mom) was a wonderful hostess. She made me feel right at home, even giving up her kitchen to me one night to make dinner. She made us feel like just another part of the family. The nature was just as breathtaking as the photos in Trish's frame.
By the time our flight landed and we got our rental car, it was dark on Thursday night. We drove up and up. I told Trish once we arrived that when she said "Tippy Top", she wasn't kidding. We would have never made it up the mountain without 4 wheel drive.
It did not snow while we were there, but we all jumped into the SUV's and went down the mountain to Maggie Valley where we found "Tube World" The boys slid down the artificial snow while Amanda Lily and I built snow people. The weather really teased us because it was VERY COLD, just no snow......our rental car's doors were even frozen shut!
We went on a nature walk and the kids had a blast throwing themselves down the incline and rustling around in tons of leaves. They even climbed up a huge rock.
Another good time was watching Larry and George sling the kids down the front lawn on cardboard and snow saucers. The photos don't do the front yard justice, but it is a pretty steep hill that the kids loved running and throwing themselves down on.....or just rolling. Watching them made me dizzy. I also got a kick out of wondering which were the bigger kids, the children or dads.
The boys went off on the four wheeler in search of firewood, and we roasted marshmallows on sticks to make smore's.
It was such a relaxing, laid back weekend. None of us wanted to leave. We are so blessed to have good friends in our lives who are willing to share their lives with us.


PS....Amy, you are the reason I am still blogging. I almost abondoned my blog completely until I got your comment. (:

PSS There are photos in the slideshow on the right