Summer Fun 2011--part 3

What a big girl!! Ella ready for her first day of Pre-K (Sept 6, 2011)

Sept 12, 2011--Heritage Builders homeschool group tour of Bar B M Farm in Brownsburg

Sept 12, 2011--Nicholas feeding an apple to a horse. Each child was given half an apple to feed to one of the horses in the barn.

Sept 12, 2011--Ella riding Paris on our field trip

Sept 10, 2011--Niko and Mommy anxiously awaiting the first bite of yummy food at the Greek Festival

Sept 10, 2011--Ella and Nicholas at the Greek Festival

Aug 27, 2011--Mommy and Mae at White River Gardens at the Indianapolis Zoo

August 27, 2011--Ella and Nicholas at White River Gardens

Summer Fun 2011--part 2

July 21, 2011--Visit with Biggerstaffs (Isaac is 4 1/2, Alex is 22 months)

July 8, 2011--Mae Mouse playing at McCloud Nature Park

Playing in the creek at McCloud Nature Park

July 6, 2011--Ella with preschool friend Caroline White.....having a very fancy playdate!

July 1, 2011--Lenn, Niko and Ella climbing at The Commons (awesome free indoor playground in downtown Columbus, In.....one of our day trips during staycation week)

Mae playing at The Commons

June 28, 2011--Ella checking out the giraffes at the Indy Zoo.....we visited the zoo one day during our staycation week (June 25-July 4)

So I've set a lofty goal for myself.......I'm going to try to get our blog updated before baby. That means I have a little over 3 weeks to get caught up. We'll see how that goes!!

We had a great but very hot summer. Time seems to be flying these days. Our kids are growing like weeds and it's such a joy to watch them interact (most of the time!).

Summer Fun 2011

Mae Mae and Ella in pretty dresses from Meemaw

Ella and Nicholas making snickerdoodles for Daddy for Father's Day

June 8, 2011-- Nicholas at Camp Allendale

Nicholas and his new friend Aiden at Camp Allendale

Mae Mae enjoying the sun (but not really enjoying the sprinkler!)

Big fun in the sprinkler

Fun Moments in May

Nicholas at Pole Day at the Indy 500--May 21, 2011

May 19, 2011--Ella and Nicholas at Ella's end-of-year preschool party

Ella with her "Preschool Diploma" that she received at the party

Cute girls--Caroline, Ella and Natalie

Little League

Our Little Slugger

Niko at bat

Boys in the dugout.......Lenn was the dugout coach for most of the season and his job was to keep these boys in line......a big job much of the time!

Nicholas played his first season of Little League this spring and had a really great time. His coach, Dimitri, was a super teacher and was very encouraging to this group of little boys. Nicholas is pleased to report that they finished the season at 7-3.

Nala

Sister

This particular trashbag-destroying-incident involved rags covered in blue paint

The infamous downspout episode

Nala fishing with Lenn on a pontoon at Cabin Hill in Goshen

Yesterday was a rather terrible day in the life of our family. I really don't know what I want to say. I don't know how to express in words how much it hurts to have lost our dear Nala. She was not a perfect dog but it is some of her naughtier moments that come back to mind so fondly now that she is gone. She always wanted to please us and sometimes she chose to present her latest wildlife capture as a gift to us.......I remember her with mouthfuls of dove or bunny.......once she even presented an entire family of baby bunnies. On another occasion, because she was a retriever and had good hunting blood somewhere deep in her ancestry, she captured a chipmunk in our neighbor's downspout and in the process actually tore the downspout from the brickwork on this neighbor's house.

Nala used to like to do laundry, as Lenn and I referred to it, whenever we would be away from home for awhile and leave her behind unattended. She would find whatever articles of clothing of ours that were within her reach and she would scatter them about.......her act of expressing loneliness or displeasure at our leaving? Sometimes she would act out her separation anxiety by completely destroying any available trash bag........leaving a huge mess. Once when she was on vacation with us in North Carolina, we locked her in a hallway and came home to find that she had actually chewed up the doorknob in order to escape. Smart girl.

She loved produce........especially tomatoes and bananas. She used to pick the ripest, nicest tomatoes right off of the plants in our backyard and then would eat them. Or when she ran out of ripe tomatoes, she'd settle for green ones and then just drop them in the yard. But her favorite treat was bananas. She could beg like nobody's business when someone was eating a banana. I got to the place where I never denied her a bite of my banana......I knew it brought her such joy and I didn't really care if I was rewarding bad behavior........she was an old girl, after all. She was entitled to some quirks in her old age.

We rescued Nala from the Golden Retriever rescue when she was about 3 yrs old. The first day we got her, we brought her home and had a housefull of college friends over for a visit. There were two young children in the mix and here we had just adopted this dog that we really didn't know very well and yet we were all immediately comfortable letting these children love on her and crawl all over her. She was truly the best family dog. She loved all of her people. She endured much hair-pulling and having her tail stepped on and ears tugged as we worked to train these children of ours how to be gentle with our doggie. She was exceedingly patient. And she had a special fondness for her Papas. Papa Don would always present her with a dog bone when he would visit and she would hold it in her mouth and wag her whole body and make this characteristic Nala-sound of pure pleasure. Papa Carl was also near and dear to Nala as he would often walk her whenever we would visit Carl and Evelyn in Nappanee. She loved to be on duty with all of the squirrels in Carl and Evelyn's backyard.......she never caught one but boy did she try time and again.

I can't believe how fast our 9 years with her flew by. I was not at all ready to let her go and yet I had too much respect for her to make her endure even one more day of a life that had lost its beauty. She was such a constant in my life and it feels so empty to not have her here with me. I knew it would hurt to say good-bye to her but I guess I wasn't prepared for this much heartache. So many friends and loved ones have expressed kind words of sympathy and I know that we are not alone in our grieving. She was well loved by many and will always hold a very special place in our hearts and in our family. I miss her so much.

A Heartfelt Good-bye to Grandma Pauline

My dearly loved grandma, Pauline Demas, passed away this morning in Columbus. She was 93 years old and lived a wonderful, long, full life. She was mother to twin boys, grandmother to 4 boys and me (the only granddaughter......a really great position to be in my whole life!), and 8 great-grandchildren.

Grandma had not been herself for quite some time but today I'm choosing to reflect on the ways that I will remember her. She was fiercely loyal to her family......she was always my #1 cheerleader whether I was playing in a piano competition or competing for fair queen......whatever the event, she was always very supportive and frankly thought I should win every time (which I didn't.......1st runner up at the fair). She stayed actively involved in my life for as long as she was able. I spent a lot of time at her house over the years and the memories are fond. Mom, Dad and I would frequently meet Grandma and Grandpa halfway from Vincennes in Bloomfield or Bloomington and I would go back to Columbus with my grandparents.

Grandma had the most amazing dress-up clothes. She had saved dresses from 40 or 50 years ago and would let me play with them. Oh my. And her shoes......boy did she have shoes. It was very sad to me when my feet outgrew Grandma's shoes (by a country mile......I wear a 9 and she topped out at a 6 1/2!!). And then there was the jewelry. Grandma had such beautiful things and she wanted to share them with me and let me dress up like a grown up and be a little lady.

I remember fondly cooking several Greek dishes with Grandma. A special tradition was the kotopita (chicken pie) or tyropita (cheese pie) that we would make at New Year's. The tradition was to hide a coin somewhere in the pie and whoever finds the coin in their piece will be lucky in the coming year. Grandma learned to cook wonderful Greek food as an act of love for her Greek husband. We have all reaped the benefits of this ethnic fare!

Some of my college friends will remember Grandma's letters that she used to send. She would decorate the envelopes with stickers and it always brought a chuckle beacuse after all, I was an adult in college receiving stickers from my grandma. It's interesting how time can change one's perspective......now as a Mom who understands how busy life can be, I see Grandma's letters and stickers as a sacrifice of time and a labor of love. Just the fact that she wanted to stay involved in my life is a testament to her love of family. She was an encourager and a friend to me.

I feel blessed beyond words to have experienced such a close relationship with my grandma. I know of many people who have never known this kind of closeness with a grandparent. It is so difficult for me to say good-bye and to let go of this defining relationship in my life. I have never known life without my grandma in it.......I suddenly feel older, less child-like. I am so thankful that she was able to spend time with Nicholas, Ella and Mae. I am saddened to realize that they probably won't remember her. They always call her "Yia Yia" which is Greek for "Grandma". Maybe Nicholas is old enough to remember Yia Yia as he gets older. And we will always be able to share stories and pictures with our children to keep her memory alive.

I am really grieving today and I realize that there is blessing in the grieving as well. To me, the grieving speaks of the love I have for my grandma and the closeness of our family. Praise God that I will be able to see my grandma again one day in eternity. Until that day comes, I will hold these dear memories close to my heart.

I love you, Grandma.