Me: Great. Where do you want to have the party? Gymnastics?
Mara: No! Bouncy party!

Me: Are you sure, you loved Thane’s gymnastics party.
Mara: No, Bounce Bounce Bounce

….

Jay and I scout out places and try to pick the least evil bouncy party. A tough task. Have I mentioned how much I do not like bouncy parties?

Place booked. Reserved. Small snag with booking it same day as a friend’s daughter’s Sweet 16 (more to come) but all in all no snags with date. Got one RSVP no.

Nouna works on invitations and creates an awesome Hello Kitty invite. I buy favors and plan her outfit: the Hello Kitty dress from H&M I got in Sweden.

Invitations Sent. Cake Pops ordered (Yes, Cake Pops, not cake. Easiest thing ever)
….

Two Weeks Before Party:
Thane: Mara are you excited about your party?
Mara: Yay, Bouncy Hello Kitty Party!!!
Thane: Don’t you want to have a Toy Story party and be Jesse???
Mara: Yay, Toy Story Party! Woody!
Me: Umm…but you love hello kitty. [Looking at Jay for help.]
Jay: [Shrugs shoulders] She does love Woody.
Mara: Hello Kitty AND Toy Story
Me: [Leaves Room]

Later…
Mara: Hello Kitty, Hello Kitty, Hello Kitty
Me: Oh Thank God.

…
Day of the Party

It’s my party and I will cry if I want to gives new meaning to a 3 year old who did not nap enough. She falls asleep in the car and we get set up while she naps with Jay. Waking her up is no small task. But she does, and warms up after seeing “Bouncies!!!”

The rest can best be shared with pictures! It was a fabulous party in no small thanks to everyone that was there. So much fun and only a few tears. We had a fantastic turnout and the kids were exhausted by the end. Thanks so much everyone! Happy 3rd Birthday, Koukla!

Maybe Aunt Joann will post the video of Uncle Terry.

Christmas Eve

Now this is how to celebrate Christmas.

Santa had some elves helping him wrap the mountain of Christmas presents last night way past midnight. Luckily, the children fell asleep around 9. The visiting Elves, Thanos and Madeleine went back to the North Pole last night when Santa arrived. Jay and I watched A Christmas Story and wondered how early the kids, who could barely contain there excitement to fall asleep, would wake up to see what Santa brought.

7:50 am arrived when I finally looked at the clock and the two kids still sound asleep next to me.

A few minutes later (after Pappou was woken up by an excited Thane and Mara) we were all awake though and checking how good Santa thought we had been this year.

Apparently, we had been very good.

Special thanks to Pappou, Nouna Nina, Uncle Jim & Aunt Diane, Uncle Terry & Aunt Joann, Aunt Sue, and Miss Tiffany for being part of our morning…even from afar.

Pappou is on the couch sleeping
Jay is upstairs bathing the kids
Spanakopita is cooking in the oven
Cookie Dough is in the fridge waiting to be cooked

CHRISTMAS IS ALMOST HERE

And what would Christmas Eve be without an interpretive dance/breakdancing/aerobics/hockey drill dance tribute to Jolly Old St. Nick???

The kids are besides themselves with excitement. Thane keeps running to the tree and asking to open more than the one Christmas present allotment. Mara is getting excited off of Thane’s sheer excitement.

It is a wonderful life.

Merry Christmas Eve everyone!!! Love you!!!

We decorated outside for Halloween this year and it was awesome. Spiders and spider webs, pumpkins and scarecrows. The kids loved it. We loved it. The house was so much fun to come home to at night.

Halloween came and went and there was no mistaking it. Our decorations were not fall or Thanksgiving, they were 100% Halloween. We live in a Nazi patrolled HOA, so we knew there was an expiration date on those decorations, and now, well into November, they were starting to smell sour.

Looking longingly at our front doorstep, I realize that I have shortchanged this beautiful home so many times, calling it small, apologizing for it even. We did a great job with Halloween and I was so sad to see it taken away and replaced with nothing. It gave me a whole new appreciation for our home.

This weekend was quieter for us, if you can call 2 birthday parties and 1 hockey practice quieter, so I decided it was time to take down the Halloween decorations and…decorate for Christmas! We had to go up in the attic anyway for the winter clothes. Might as well do both!

So up in the attic I went and down came everything. It looked like Hurricane Fani hit the house.

Two days later we had (most) of the clothes put away and all of the not fragile Christmas decorations up. To fully take advantage of the huge ceiling we have, we got a new prelit tree. It was so much easier to put up. Well, for Jay anyway. I exerted about the same amount of energy watching him.

Our New 9 Foot Pre-Lit Tree

And a new 9 foot tree needs new decorations. Our trees are always rather barren anyway. Working on it. Thane and Mara had fun putting on the Star Wars and Toy Story decorations that they picked out this year.

All the wreaths are on each window outside, 4 total.

Last night, after everything was up, the elves, Thanos and Madeleine, made a return visit.

Mommy: ~Slamming a box down on the ground, not heard by anyone in the living room.~
Mommy: ~Rushes into the living room~ “What was that noise?!?!?”
Thane: “I don’t know.” ~Seeing my big grin~ “Let’s look!”
~Several minutes of looking ensue while I direct them to the dining room
~And then the dining room table
~Kids, will you just look up?? I cannot stand the suspense!
Mommy: “I think it came from above the table!”
Thane: ~Finally looking at the light~ “Thanos and Madeleine found us! They’re back!”
Mara: “And they brought spiders!”
Mommy: ~Maybe I should have picked a cobweb-free zone for their first arrival spot~

On a very positive note, I had two angels for children last night. Thanos and Madeleine’s arrival (with a new skirt for Madeleine) prompted very good behavior. Thane was especially excited to see them and brought Star Wars gear (decoration, shoes, etc) down for them to see and then told them about his hockey bed. He was very happy they came back to visit.

I received my list last Thursday and went through the 25 names to be recited. I am pleased to report that it was a struggle to get to 25. On the list, was Giagia, Mom Hansen, David, Amber, Dad, Paco, Grandma and Grandpa, Uncle Chris, and so on.

The next day, Friday night arrived and so did the start of Halloween festivities. Jay and I walked in the door with our usual stride.

**CRASH** **SHATTER**

Jay and I look at each other. Is someone in the house?

I walk towards the stairs and notice a frame has fallen and shattered from the windowsill. It is one of my dad. The picture is fine but glass is everywhere.

I look at Jay and then at the wall and say, “Hi, Dad. Guess we were not talking to you enough.”

Shortly later, we head to the car, the kids dressed as Jessie from Toy Story and a Zombie, in honor of his Plants vs. Zombies addiction. Off to zoo for Ghouls at Grassmere.

(Click the photos for bigger images)

At the zoo, Thane was a hit in his light up Zombie skin and Mara was Belle of the Ball , Western style.

Towards the end of the night, we came across a preview for the new DinoTrek exhibit. It’s an upcoming Dinosaur Exhibit at the Zoo (no, not real dinosaurs). There is a sign with a date announcing its start.

It does not say:

**COMING SPRING 2012**

or even

**COMING MARCH 2012**

No, instead it gives its date to the day…

**COMING MARCH 16, 2012**

aka…Dad’s Birthday.

Wow, guess he really wanted to be a part of our Halloween.

Mr. Incredible and his escaped con took their kids, Jessie (only costume she would permit) and a knight and then a Yellow Clone (ie. Storm Troopers before they were bad) to 4 different parties in 2 days.

Do you know what the problem is with Mr. Incredible? He does not have any pockets! Where oh where does he keep his wallet?

So, wallet is now misplaced. All through the weekend and into Tuesday. When Jay gets pulled over for expired tags (Sept ’11) and does not even have a driver’s license to show, we decide we should probably look.

When we get home, I agree to empty the dishwasher (the bain of my existence) while Jay looks upstairs. As he is heading up the stairs, he yells down to me:

“Tell your dad to help me find my wallet.”

**Pause**

**Pause**

**Pause**

**CRASH**

**Pause**

**Pause**

Jay: “I did not do that. I was nowhere near it.”

Jay’s hockey stick, which had been standing in our bedroom for weeks without movement fell to the ground.

5 minutes later he found his wallet.

Happy Halloween Dad!

Happy Birthday!

I know you still read the blog so I wanted to let you know all of us are thinking of you. Mara picks up my cell phone still and says, “Hello, GiaGia?” She wants to talk to Pappou more and more, but she still thinks of you and wants to chat on the phone. Thane points out pictures of you whenever they come up on the computer and says, “There is GiaGia.”

The other day we were talking about Daddy’s birthday coming up and that your birthday was on the fifth. Thane started to frown and told me that GiaGia was going to miss her birthday. I told him we would celebrate it for her and think about her.

We are busy as ever, and before you say it, yes, I know, I am overdoing it. That’s the funny thing, after 34 years with you, I can still know what you would say, even without you saying it. Mara is in soccer and scored a goal the other day! She looks very cute in her pink shorts and pig tail braids. She is definitely your granddaughter though. She is loving her dresses and all her different shoes. She is even letting me do her hair now and there is enough of it for me to do something with. As you say though, “Who does she look like???” I don’t know but she is certainly a cutie, getting more beautiful everyday. Smart as smart can be too. Her teachers all say it and I see how quickly she picks things up.

Thane is as rough and tumble as ever. He is doing really well in school and has started to write and read (in that order!). He is liking the new Greek school we are going to as well. This week they learned how to do the cross and he lit a candle for you. He is having fun with hockey and soccer too. We are looking at new schools for him for the fall. He is very excited.

Jay is great and is helping me out so much at home. It was easy(ier) to go away last week knowing he had it all under control (although he was as much of a softee as me and let the kids sleep in bed each night). We even got a date night for our anniversary and are going to see Wicked next month. I think I will wear one of your scarves.

Last night, we decorated the outside of the house for Halloween and it looks really good, all the neighbors have commented on how much they like it. You would love it…maybe, if you did not tell me it was tacky. Still…I think you would have liked it.

Time to put Mara to bed. Love you much. Think about you everyday. Miss you. Watch over us.

Stef

I woke after midnight to someone trying to use their key card to get into my room. Apparently this was not the wording I chose when speaking to Jay…I said someone trying to get into my room…and that conjured a different image. The different image was pretty accurate in my mind though. Phone was out and my cell could not call the front desk. The hallway’s emergency lights had shut down. Panicked, I called Jay. He looked on his phone and did not see anything going on in Boras. OK. Deep Breath.

A few minutes later another unwanted visitor arrives at my door. And keeps trying. I hold the door closed (not that they could open it) and say hello several times without a response. I finally give a firm, self-defense class worthy “Stop!” That gets the point across and they move along.

Full disclosure, it was pitch black in the hallway. My door was like 3 doors down from the elevators. It was Friday night and there was a bar downstairs. People probably just coming my way and moving down until they opened their own room successfully. None of that mattered.

Terrorism aside, I finally calmed myself down enough to go to sleep. Around 3:30 I woke up again….all the lights and the TV went on full blast. Probably should have done something about that in the first place.

I found out later that some of the people we were there with had an early flight that morning and had to make it out their room and down 5 flights of stairs with the light from their cells. There were apparently people sleeping in the hallway that they had to walk around. At least I did not have to do that.

Boras has its roots in textile, so it is reflected in much of the city.

We first headed to the market which was celebrating the start of the weekend with a festival. The roads were closed and the street was packed with people. The vendors were selling everything from souvenirs to clothes to flowers and food.

I met up with a lovely Greek couple there too. I was able to speak some Greek to them and learn about his recent arrival in Sweden from Greece and their baby on the way. We had such a good time talking I lost track of time and had to catch up with the team.

After the market tour, we walked some more and saw the famed Pinocchio statue. Its purpose or meaning in Boras is quite unclear but it is quite a sight. Several restaurants around town bear its name as well and it has become quite the attraction despite its unknown origin.

After that, we headed for another short walk (Boras is a very walking town) and found a wonderful Thai restaurant for dinner. More on that with the food post to come.

Turned out, that same football team had a big match that very night. We decided a few of us would go to the game, braving both the cold and the rain. I went and bought a new Elfsborg scarf to cheer on the team (and it was a futurAAe purpose, too, black and yellow for the Steelers and ‘Dores).

There were 14,200 people in the stadium. It took us awhile just to get to our seats. We were way under the canopy so we were protected from the rain and cold. When we made it to the top, we had to climb across this beam to get to our seats. Notice the hand rails.

The game was action packed. Final score was 3-2 and we won! It was a good thing, because Stefan looked rather anxious when the score was not in favor of Elfsborg!

The team did great and the pace was fast. Stefan told us that most of the exceptional players get picked up pretty quickly by the higher paying leagues. They continued to do well most of the game but at one point Elfsborg had a shot at an empty net, the whole stadium was on its feet, and he missed. Ugh.

The rain was really coming down but we were nice and protected in our upper level seats.

This was the winning goal.

During half time, we went to the main area and I got Thane a T-Shirt. It says, “When I grow up, I want to play for Elfsborg.”

After dinner we went to Burger King, because at that time of night the options were McDonald’s or Burger King. I am not sure how much things cost but I did notice some differences to the menu…mainly doughnuts and beer.

At work the next day, I wore my Elfsborg scarf all day, in the office. I got many compliments and lots of people saying they had also been at the game. When I went to the H&M store later that day and checked out with some goodies for Mara, the same cashier who on Tuesday had greeted me with a very English “hello” started telling me how much my purchase was in Swedish. I am a local already!