Just a Little Bit...

Hey everyone,

Long time no talk! Or type I guess I should say. Anyhoo I just thought I'd let you know that I plan on writing a new post or 2 this week with some new pictures, so don't give up on me yet! Antonis and Lefteris will be reopening the restaurant tomorrow so we've been trying to make the most of his last couple of weeks home before he starts another year of basically 24/7 work....ok it's not actually 24 hours a day but it is 7 days a week so that's still pretty rough. But since I'll be all by my lonesome in the evenings from now on...after Eleni goes to sleep of course...I'll have a little bit of ME time to do such things as update this blog. YAY! Honestly I really miss doing this when it's been a while between posts....I guess my nonsense ramblings have some sort of therapeutic affect or something. Affect or effect? Ugh, damn you Mr. Jarvis and your grade 7 English class...the only thing I remember from that class is putting tacks on his chair on a daily basis and waiting for the day that he actually felt them when he sat down. That day never came. How is that even possible? Anyway, the point to that story is my grammar is garbage because I was juvenile delinquent. Just in case you were wondering. And what does any of this have to do with today? Absolutely nothing. I just got lost on a tangent. As per usual. But for some reason I feel oddly attached to this little story so I can't bring myself to delete it. Also as per usual....

I should really stop this train before it completely derails, but to get everyone else back on track I suggest you check out another blog.....this one to be exact:

http://lesvosimprints.blogspot.gr/2013/02/breathtaking-winter-days-gossiping.html

Yet another stunning piece by my good friend Torsten! And Eleni adores him as you can see by the photo...I don't know how he does it be somehow when he points HIS camera at her, it works. When I point MY camera at her she either freezes, tries to grab it away from me or as of lately, yells at me.
He must teach me!

So, enjoy the gorgeous photos of Molyvos in Winter and of course our beautiful little Eleni.

Type to you soon!

A Canadian Penguin

Hey!

I recently had an interesting conversation with a person here that I thought was very cute. So cute in fact that it inspired this morning's playtime...which of course led to today's baby photo shoot....

I don't know about you but I've noticed time and again that when people from different countries get together a common topic of conversation tends to be about each other's countries. And why not? I like learning about other countries and cultures and people. You never know, just when you think you've completed your list of Must See places to go to in your lifetime, you could meet someone that makes you realize you need to add another country to that list. So I really don't mind when people over here ask me questions about Canada. I like it actually. Some are probably just trying to make conversation but I'm sure there are at least a few who are genuinely interested in learning about our beautiful hunk of rock. Either way, I'm happy to tell them all about it.

There are the common questions: 

1. What's the population of Canada? 
2. How long does it take to fly there from Mytilini or Athens?
3. What's the time difference? 
4. If you're in Vancouver and you want to go to Quebec to see Miltos and Valerie, how long does it take to get there?

The answers to these questions usually shock and mystify. Especially the last one because often they already have guessed that it would take quite a few hours...by car. When I tell them it's about 4 or 5 hours by plane....BY PLANE?!?! Yes. By plane. Canada is massive.

But it's the not so common questions that are really fun...even if they don't get quite the same reaction as the last one. 

Here's the conversation I had recently:

Them: "Do you have penguins in Canada?"

Me: "Ummmm, no"

Them: "Oh. But it's really cold there right?"

Me: "In some places yes but not always and not everywhere"

Them: "Oh. But I saw on tv that you have polar bears.."

Me: "We do have polar bears"

Them: "And you have those people that live in ice houses..what are they called?"

Me: "The people or the houses...?"

Them: "Eh, both"

Me: "Ice houses are igloos and the people are Inuit" 

Them: "Inuit? I thought they were Eskimos or something like that"

Me: "Yeah it's not really politically correct to call them Eskimos anymore, now it's Inuit"

Them: "Why?"

Me: "Ummmm, I don't know actually"

Them: "Huh. Ok. So some parts of Canada are really really cold, so cold that some people live in igloos and you have polar bears"

Me: "Yep"

Them: "But no penguins?"

Me: "Nope. No penguins. Why?"

Them: "Oh I was just curious"

I'm sure you can already tell but "Them" was about 7 or 8 years old. I thought it was just so cute that of all the questions you could ask he wanted to know if we had penguins. And clearly he'd put some thought into this because from his interrogation about polar bears and igloos etc, I think he'd already decided that there must be penguins in Canada because why wouldn't there be if you have all those other things? 

Ok so we don't have penguins in Canada. But because no one's ever asked me that before, and because his logic was pretty good and almost had me second guessing myself....I present to you the first ever

Canadian Penguin

There's no penguin hat in this one but she's so proud of herself for being able to stick her tongue out on purpose now...and to sometimes spit with it...so I had to throw it in anyway

And as for another thing I just can't help but throw in....here is the stupidest question anyone has ever asked me about Canada:

Them: "How do you say 'Cheers' in Canadian"
Me: ".......it's 'Cheers'"
Them: "Oh it's the same as in England!"
Me: "........"

Jump up Jump up and Get Down

Hello!

Ummmm....Soooo....how's things?? I don't know, I typed 'Hello!' and then I had no idea what to say next so I've been sitting here staring at the computer screen, hoping something funny will just pop into my mind...but I just sat here for a full 10 minutes and nothing popped other than the cork in the wine bottle (all by itself, I swear!) so I'll just start telling you about what's been happening lately. 

I took a bit of a break from the computer lately because sadly a good friend of ours passed away in a car accident last week and I just haven't been feeling chatty. But things are slowly starting to get back to normal around here so I think it's time to start doing the usual day-to-day stuff again even if we don't particularly feel like it. But that's how it is isn't it? After these kinds of things happen you never can wait for the day you wake up and say to yourself "Oh good, I'm over (insert issue here) now, so today I'll get back to being myself again!" You have to push yourself. And eventually you realize you do feel like yourself again but you're not even really sure when it happened. So that's what's happening over here. We're pushing.

Lucky for us we have our beautiful little Eleni Sofia which makes the process a hundred times easier...

Going for a car ride! 

She gets excited to ride in the car but she's usually sound asleep within 2 minutes of strapping her in. 

This day was a rare occasion...she made it 5 minutes. 

Just enough time for a couple of smiles for Mommy and her annoying camera.

So in getting back to normal, Antonis was home for a few days with us but then it was time to go take care of the olives. I didn't help out this year because our grove is on a really steep hill and it would just be way to hard picking olives with Eleni strapped to my back, so her and I have been at home playing while Baba slaves away under the trees. Most people tell me "Lucky for you!" but I actually like picking the olives, even though it's ridiculously hard work and you feel about 100 years old for about a week after. Anyway, they'll be finished in a couple of days but it started raining today so Antonis will be home with us until the sun comes out again...probably just enough time for him to stop walking around like a geriatric and he'll be back at it.

Even though we've had some beautifully sunny days (definitely not today), it's been pretty chilly at night so our new wood stove has been put to good use. And finally....I have a photo of it for you:

So the house is warm and cozy and smells like cinnamon because I leave a pot of water on the top with a few cinnamon sticks and cloves and whatever else I have in the spice cupboard that smells nice.

 
It has this cool little compartment on the top so you can cook stuff in it, so that's been wintery and lovely. Also handy since our normal stove electrocuted me for the last time a few weeks ago and now we need a new one. It was on it's last legs for a while so we knew the day was coming but thankfully we had the wood stove in before that happened or we would have been eating sandwiches for the last twenty days.

Here's one of our creations: chicken and potatoes with garlic, onions, lemon, oregano, salt and pepper. It was DELICIOUS! It's amazing how the simplest dishes taste a million times better when they're cooked over a real fire. On the side we had a salad and some tzatziki...of course. Since then we've made all kinds of stuff in the wood stove: pork with tomatoes, garlic and peppers, bread, perogies (hand made, not the frozen kind...you can't get those here and actually when I told people I was making perogies nobody knew what the hell I was talking about), stew, a lot of chicken, and I've roasted every vegetable I can get my hands on. Except lettuce. It's been great! And Antonis of course had to do the "I told you so!" speech because in the summer when we were talking about getting a wood stove, he told me he wanted one we could cook on. I told him to go stuff it because I already live like a pioneer woman in most areas of our life and I'll be damned if I'm going to cook over an open fire too...actually I think my exact words were "This isn't Little House on the Prairie, we already have our garbage picked up by a donkey and we can't flush the toilet paper! What more do you want from me man?!?!"... but I'm a mature adult and I can admit when I may be wrong. The thing is though, I wasn't totally wrong because I still haven't figured out how to cook rice or pasta however, everything we have made has been really easy to do and way tastier than it was in the stupid electrocuting death trap I've had to use for the last 3 years. So I will admit that I might have overreacted a tiny bit...and that's as good as he's going to get out of me.

We've also noticed lately that Eleni has been exhibiting some super-hero-like skills. She's so fast, all we see is a blur followed by a rush of wind!!...kidding...here are a few blurry pics of Eleni excitedly trying out her Jolly Jumper for the first time this past weekend.

Woo hoo! Got a clear one! 1 out of 35...not too shabby!

So the Jolly Jumper is a huge hit! She hasn't really figured out how to jump yet but she thinks it's pretty fun to spin in circles and toddle around...toddle, shabby, what's up with my language today? Anyway, she loves the Jolly Jumper so it's become a regular in our playtime line-up.

That's about all really. It's now 11:30pm here and I'm totally ready for bed. Eleni's either getting teeth or she's just so over excited about having Baba home because she's changed her sleep schedule drastically. She used to go to bed around 8, wake up about midnight for a bottle and immediately fall back asleep until 7:30 or 8am the next morning. Now she goes to bed anytime between 7pm and 9pm...she wakes up at 11pm...then 1am...then 3am, and that's the worst one because she wants to play at this time for some reason so it takes about an hour to get her back to sleep...then she wakes up for the day between 5am and 6. And this is what she's been doing for the last 2 weeks since Antonis has been home. The proper Mommy thing to say would be "It's been challenging but it's just a stage and we'll get through it"....stage my ass, this is hell! If she doesn't get out of this "stage" soon Molyvos will be out of wine and I'll be forced to run through the village like a raging, screaming lunatic, throwing condoms at everyone of child-bearing age. Not pretty.

On that note, I should probably go to bed.

Good night!!

Happy Birthday to ME!!

I can't believe how late I am with this blog. My birthday was over a week ago, and as my brother so lovingly pointed out....actually let me just give you his exact words:

Happy Birthday sister! I hope you wandered through the village informing everybody it was your birthday and how they should begin celebrating your day immediately, anything less and you have changed!

 He knows me well. I'm a big fan of telling everyone and their dog it's my birthday so I can have as many people as possible celebrating with me at the same time. Yes, I have been known to walk up to complete strangers and say "Guess what! It's my birthday!!" and walk away....no regrets...it's my birthday, I can do what I want...

But this year was a little bit different. Actually it was completely different. I hate to say it Kev, but I think I DID change. I didn't mention my birthday AT ALL! No joke, I didn't say anything about it during the week leading up to January 7th, I said nothing the day of, I even planned to get together with my friend Torsten for dinner the night of the 6th, fully knowing there was a very good possibility that we'd be out past midnight and subsequently the first hours of my 32nd year....but my lips were sealed. And I don't even know why! I'm usually priming people for the big day during Christmas! Here's my line:

You might want to ease up on the rum and eggnog because you know what happens next week? 

That's right, it's New Years Eve, and we all know what happens on New Years Eve. 

But do you know what happens the week after that? 

IT'S MY BIRTHDAY!!!

So pace yourself, we have 3 weeks of this to get through!

And I say something like this to everyone, as if my birthday is a part of the Christmas/New Year's holiday and everyone just can't wait for it. At least, that's what I did for 31 years....I really don't understand what happened this year.

Does this mean I'm officially old? Or am I finally becoming less self involved? Is it both? Did I turn the oven off?....wait....

Anyway, I don't know why or even when I decided to keep quiet about my birthday...but as it turned out, I didn't even have to tell anyone. 

They all remembered anyway! 

So as I said, on the evening of the 6th I got together at our restaurant with my friend Torsten. Torsten is the one who writes the blog I told you about a week or 2 ago. We met at 8:00pm with a few other people which was lovely. Around 10pm our good friend Kostas walks through the door...he was carrying a big box from Tzalikis, a local cafe that makes the most amazing cakes and pastries and ice cream. He came over to me, gave me a big hug, said "Happy Birthday Darling!" and handed me a box loaded with slices of my favourite cake from there: mille feuille

There are no pictures of the mille feuille. I apologize. It was eaten to fast to even think about taking a photo. Actually I'm not sorry at all, that cake was amazing!...no regrets...it's my birthday, I can do what I want. 

Then not long after Kostas arrived, a bunch of our friends started showing up. It also happened to be the last night the restaurant would be open until February (the guys close every year for about a month...they work 7 days a week so a month off is necessary), so I just thought everyone was getting together for the last Alonia night we'd be able to have for a month. Anyway, Torsten and I moved over and joined everyone for drinks and food and then at midnight.....the lights went off...and everyone started singing happy birthday.

They all remembered! 

I was so surprised! I've never had that experience before. I didn't realize how nice it is to have people remember your birthday without having to tell them. Of course my family and my close friends from childhood always remember, but I've only known these people a few years....but they still remembered.

I'm still smiling about it!

Anyway, I didn't get any pictures of our celebration at the restaurant but Torsten did and they're up on his blog, so here's the link:

http://lesvosimprints.blogspot.gr/2013/01/a-contradictory-night.html

After that we went to Pirates to continue the party

Too many wines that night...I'm definitely getting old...

Sarandos, my birthday DJ

Antonis and my lovely Maria

Desparately trying to get a group shot but everyone keeps moving...or is that me?

Crap! Failed again!

Got it! Finally! Sort of...

Eleni didn't come out with us, she was with Yiayia and Papous but I couldn't help but throw in this super cute picture of her...she was purposely ignoring the camera

My 3rd or 4th birthday cake...this one was made by Antonis' mom

And just one more super cute Eleni picture. 

Actually, I added this one because it makes me laugh so hard when I look at it. 

I don't know if Yorgos really hates getting his picture taken or if he just makes this face without meaning to but he always looks super pissed off in pictures hahaha! And it's funny because he never ever gets pissed off about anything.

I've completely lost control over here...this is just way too funny! 

I'm seriously squealing with laughter and slapping my knee!

Is it just me? 

Maybe you had to be there

So that was my 32nd birthday! It was definitely way better than last year's, when I was so ill from morning sickness that I couldn't even get off the couch and even the smell of water made me sick. Massive improvement! Oh and the next day...the actual day of my birthday, Antonis made me dinner and I stayed in pajamas all day. Also amazing!

Now I'm off to update my calendar to make sure I can return the love and remember everybody else's birthday this year.

Bye!

Oooooouzo

 Dear Ouzo,

It's been over a year since you and I were together. 

You may have felt as though I had abandoned you, 

and from the bottom of my heart

I missed you too

But finally the opportunity presented itself...

We would be reunited

And it is with deep sadness and regret that I have to tell you this 

my dear ouzo 

but it seems as though you and I may have grown apart over the last year

It's not you, it's me

We're just in different places in our lives

You're great.

You really are but...

well quite honestly you're just too much of a headache!

Maybe sometime in the future, if all is meant to be

our paths will cross again

but for now my sweet ouzo

This is the end.

Love, 

The Unreasonably Hungover Mommy

 It's all true. After about a year of not drinking and being ridiculously healthy in every way possible, ouzo and I just don't seem to be compatible anymore. It's really too bad because I love the stuff but I'm going to have to stick to having just one glass every once and a while from now on....

Last Thursday we decided to have a girls night at the restaurant...well just us girls and Apostolis. He's 4. He really had no idea how lucky he was. Although he did tell Dina that he was going to come to her house sometime when her husband wasn't home, and if her husband showed up while he was there that he'd quickly jump out the window....so maybe he does get it. Anyway...

It was really nice to get out and chat and eat yummy food....and of course have the first sip of ouzo after over a year! We had spicy rocket salad with pine nuts, parmesan cheese and balsamic...pork slowly cooked in tomato and pepper sauce...feta saganaki...salt cured sardines...chicken tigania...white beans in fresh olive oil. So delicious! And everything pairs so well with ouzo. It's just that, ouzo doesn't seem to pair with me anymore.

After 2 glasses, I took this picture

I was sitting down, with my elbows on the table and I absolutely could not take a picture without moving and turning the whole thing into a blurry mess. This wasn't the only one either, this is just one in a series of about six that made me realize I was getting the party started a little too early. Seriously, 2 glasses and I was already doing that laugh...you know that laugh...after we've had a few we all have that laugh that's just a little too loud and almost boardering on obnoxious. If everyone else has had a few they don't notice it because they're doing that laugh too, but when you're the only one...yeah they notice. And the next day I wasn't laughing at all. Since when does 2 drinks lead to sloppy photography and a hangover???

Things have really changed.

But you know, this whole experience has made me realize just how much I appreciate the relationship I have with wine...

And with my wine glass held high...

Cheers to our budding Greek Lover! 

Maria (his mom), good luck to you!

Dina, lock your windows!

Check this out...

Hey guys,

Just a quick one for today....

I just want to share with you a blog you may be interested in checking out. It's written by a very good friend of mine here on the island. Like me, he's a Foreign Local...that's not an official title, it's just the one I've made up to describe us non-Greeks who call Greece home. Anyway, I think it's a beautifully written blog and his photography is absolutely stunning. His focus is on Molyvos and sometimes other areas Lesvos, and since my photography skills couldn't even be considered skills I thought you might be interested in seeing what  Molyvos looks like through the lens of someone who actually knows how to use a camera....

Here's a link to one of his most recent posts....there's a very sweet photo of Eleni and I in this post that I'm in love with:

http://lesvosimprints.blogspot.gr/2012/12/a-cynical-world-in-turmoil.html

Just to let you know, I have a couple blogs in the works right now...one about an all girls ouzo night and one about last night's quiet dinner that turned into a pretty amazing and totally unexpected birthday bash. Mommy was a social butterfly this week and actually has something to talk about that isn't baby related for once! But I'm sure by the time I get around to finishing the posts I'll have found something else about Eleni that I have to brag about...

I hope the first week of 2013 has treated you all well!
Talk to you soon!

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year everybody!

I hope you all had a great New Years Eve!

At the last minute we finally decided we'd spend midnight at Antonis' parents house, then Eleni would sleep there while we went out. I had a hard time dealing with leaving Eleni to stay the night but I told everyone I wasn't leaving until I'd given her her bottle and she was sound asleep....so that's what I did and knowing that she was asleep made it slightly easier to get out the door. I did spend the majority of the night wondering if she would wake up and cry because she didn't know where she was but then I'd just take another sip of wine and dance a little. The more sips I had the easier it became. Also I wore the stupidest shoes EVER so my feet were killing me before we even got to the bar...but that helped distract me from thinking about Eleni. Maybe the totally useless (although gorgeous) shoes were a blessing in disguise.

Overall, it was a good night. Neither one of us had been out for about a year so no one expected us to show up. It was pretty fun walking up behind people, tapping them on the shoulder and saying "Kali Xronia!" ("Happy New Year!") and then waiting for the look of complete and utter shock. Hilarious! Other than that we drank way too much, danced until our feet bled (actually that was probably just me and my stupidbutsexy shoes) and stayed up until the sun came up. First we went to Retro, then we went to Like and after that we went to Bazaar but Bazaar really sucked because the DJ was playing all the worst Greek music and only in 10 second intervals because he was either too drunk or he has a serious case of Attention Deficit Disorder.  Either way he should probably pick a new career. Also some loser kept stepping on me and when I told him to stop he actually wanted to fight me. So then I told him to piss off and then he was all like "What's you're name? Let me buy you a drink" Yeah right buddy. My brother in law is four times your size and he's not impressed with you right now so seriously, piss off.  We ended the night at the restaurant at 6:30am with a few of our friends, eating massive plates of pasta. And when Antonis fell asleep in his second plate of spaghetti carbonara, we all decided we'd done all we could do to bring in 2013 and we went home.

Actually Antonis and I went to his parents house to pick up Eleni, and then we went home. He's probably going to kill me for telling you this but, hmmmm where to start....well, Antonis had a VERY good night. While we were at his parents house, I went in to see Eleni (who was already awake and smiling and ready to start the day...her theo Lefteri got there first so she was giggling away to good-morning hugs and kisses and tickles) and when I came back to the living room Antonis was sitting on the couch with his head all the way back, his mouth wide open and he was snoring so loud it was like a freight train was running through the house.

I shook his shoulder and said, "Baby, Eleni's awake lets go home" and he said "yeah just a minute, I'm on the balcony".....ok?
Then I tried again, I shook his should and said "Baby, we have to take the baby home now" and he says "why are we at the bakery?"....the bakery? Lefteris and I are killing ourselves laughing by this point so I said, "yes baby we're at the bakery, do you want a cheese pie or a sausage pie?" and he says "I don't want anything, I want to go home! But you should get some (I don't know what he said here) to take home"....ok
So now we know he's ready to go home but he's still asleep and snoring in between his nonsense ramblings, Lefteris is leaning up against the wall to keep himself from falling over he was laughing so hard and I already had fallen over and was trying really hard not to pee myself.
Then I started packing Eleni's diaper bag. I couldn't find the empty bottle from the night before so I was asking where it was, and that's when Antonis got up. He jumped up from the couch and ran over to the kitchen sink, knocked over everything that was beside the sink, picked up the mug tree (I don't know what these are actually called but they're like the shape of a tree and you hang can hang about 6 coffee mugs on the 'branches') anyway he picked that thing up, put it in the sink then turned the water on full blast and drank out of the tap for about a full minute. After that he says, "Lets go, we have to hurry and get the baby home" and he walked out the door......ok?

So Lefteris carried Eleni for me and I grabbed all her stuff and we headed home. Now what I did not anticipate that night was that Antonis would have such a "good time." I thought we could take turns looking after Eleni throughout the day so we could at least get a little bit of sleep.....but that didn't happen. We got home at 7am and Antonis went to bed until noon. He probably would have slept longer if I hadn't gone into the bedroom, ripped the blankets off of him and yelled "you're getting up right now and if you don't, you don't want to know what was going to happen to you!" (my one and only new year's resolution: calm down and find a better way to communicate when I'm pissed off....12 hours into the new year, FAIL! Actually, less than 12 hours if you count the loser that was stepping on me at Bazaar but meh, he deserved it). So he got up at noon and I was supposed to go to sleep for an hour and then we'd go to his parents house for New Years lunch. But I couldn't sleep. To make it through the morning I'd had a massive mug of coffee and a can of Coke. For those of you that know me well, you know that I don't do caffeine at all. Maybe I'll have a cup of black tea...on a crazy day I might have 2 cups...but I very very rarely drink coffee and I NEVER drink Coke. But that morning I had both. Worst feeling ever! Somehow it was like all the caffeine only affected my nervous system and anything that I didn't need at that moment. So my insides felt like they were on high speed and ready to take on a marathon and win it, I could move my fingers and toes so fast it was unbelievable, my hair felt like it was standing on end....but the parts of my body that I needed to work, didn't. My arms, legs, eyelids, everything necessary to take care of a baby felt like I was running in deep water. Impossible. Luckily Eleni has a lot of toys that you can just sit her in or lay her down on and she's happy to just play her little heart out as long as you sit beside her and talk or sing to her. I could handle that.
Anyway, so I didn't manage to sleep at all. We showed up 2 hours late for lunch at his parents house, which didn't really matter because Lefteris did it too so that was fine. We went home after an hour because I was so tired and cranky that I couldn't stand to listen to anyone talk...so that was that. Good times!

So the next day wasn't much fun but New Years was great! I think the next time we go out we either need to plan to come home A LOT earlier or else I'm just going to make sure I have the "really good time" and leave Antonis on sole parent duty the next day.

If you're wondering, he's been forgiven. Actually I didn't really get that mad. After all that caffeine I managed to have my "I'm so mad at you!" lecture over and done with in about 3 seconds and Antonis couldn't even argue because I talked so fast he had no idea what I'd said. Argument over. Maybe that should be my new New Year's resolution: ingest copious amounts of caffeine before starting an argument with your husband. It's so much more time efficient.

Anyway, here are a few pictures from New Years Eve and New Years Day. Unfortunately the minute we got to the bar the camera batter died....what else is new?! Whatever, I'm just glad we still had the camera after that night because Antonis was carrying it the whole time and he doesn't even remember being at the restaurant or his parents house....

Cutting the Vasilopita. So as soon as the clock hits midnight on New Years, everyone does the usual kisses and hugs and wishing everyone a happy new year, but when that's done the Greeks cut this cake. They sing a song while the head of the house makes crosses in the cake, like it's about to be cut but they don't cut it right away...not sure why but anyway. Finally after they finish singing, they start to cut the cake. There's a coin hidden somewhere in the cake so before they cut each piece they say who that piece will be dedicated to, and if you get the piece with the coin in it it's going to be your lucky year. The first piece is for Santa Claus (St. Vasilis...that's why it's called Vasilopita, basically that means Santa Claus pie), the second piece is for the house, then the next pieces are usually in hierarchical order so Dad first, then mom then the kids in order of oldest to youngest and so on. Anyway, Papous got the lucky coin this year. Last year Eleni got it even though she was only the size of a kidney bean at the time.

Side note: you might notice that my husband is now sporting a ponytail

I'm slowly getting used to it but he keeps stealing all my hair ties...

Vasilopita

 Eleni on New Years Day wearing her little plaid skirt, one of the many Christmas presents from my parents. 

Seriously, can she be any cuter???!!! 

"Eleni honey, nice girls don't lift their skirts up"

"What are you talking about Mommy?"

Loving her new teething toy from theia Evi

"Would you guys stop taking pictures of me already?! Yes, I'm wearing a tiny kilt. It's adorable. Get over it!"

"I'm serious, stop! I JUST WANT TO PLAY WITH MY FROGGY!!!!!"