Greek Food Festival 2012

Tonight, we attended the Greek Food Festival, held every year at the Greek Orthodox Church. We love going to the festival to sample the gyros, pastitsio, spanikopita, tyropita, souvlaki, and other greek specialties. We always have a great time, especially George whose love for Ouzo grows every year.  We only got a few pics this year, but that's enough to show how much we love Greek food! Here they are...

 



We enjoyed ourselves, but after wading through a sea of people, I am happy to be home.

Happy Halloween, 2012

The night before Halloween, we spent our evening eating dinner, doing homework, and then...carving the jack-o-lantern for our front porch. This year Danny designed the mouth and nose while I cut, scraped and did the eyes. The best part was watching the kids' reactions as they pulled the "guts" out.

In all, the mess was worth it because our pumpkin turned out grand.

We all went to bed tired and happy and excited about what Halloween had in store for us.

Every year on Halloween, Danny's school has a "Book Character Day" where the kids dress up like their favorite book character and have a parade in the morning. Danny dressed as Shaggy from Scooby Doo, and because Shaggy doesn't go anywhere without Scooby, Scooby had to tag along to school with him.

Because his outfit was so cute, we talked him into dumping his other costume idea and continuing the look for Halloween night. Megan also dumped her previous idea, and decided to dress as a chef cooking up some delicious candy to hand out to the trick-or-treaters.

They were both too cute, and I found myself a little sad that they're both growing up, but still happy they're willing to dress up and have a good time. We hope you all had a very Happy Haloween as well!

Our Halloween tradition, the Pumpkin Patch

Our Halloween would not be complete without a trip to the Faith Presbyterian pumpkin patch every year. This year, because October has been crazy busy for us, Halloween snuck up on us, and we almost missed our annual tradition. We found some time last Saturday afternoon to head over there and pick out a pumpkin (or five) before they were all gone. We always get great pics there and this year was no exception. Here are a few pics of us having fun.

I can't believe how old my kids have gotten!

Catching up...my new job

Just after my last post, on October 12th, I started my new job as an IT Business Consultant Manager at the Florida Department of Financial Services, Division of Information Systems. In a nutshell, my new job consists of analyzing legislation for IT impact, overseeing the IT budget, creating Legislative Budget Requests, and improving business processes in the division.  That weekend, George and the kids helped me move into my new office. The highlight of my new office is the set of windows with a lovely view of the Florida Capitol and some other downtown buildings.

Only one other year in my 15 years in state government have I had a window, and you never know how much you appreciate windows until you don't have them for a while.  My plant, inherited from DBPR, appreciates it too!

Here are some pics from the move. I'll spare you the butt shots that George always manages to get of me. Be warned, these pictures include several images of silliness and kids being kids.

I really appreciated their help, and we got a lot accomplished in a very short time. My family rocks!

Volunteering again!

This weekend, Megan, Danny, and I volunteered at the Second Harvest Food Bank...



sorting out food that will go to needy families in the area. Three hours of hard work on a Saturday morning does a body (and in this case a soul) good. Danny even saw his third grade teachers there - they had volunteered to paint the offices. Lots of college-aged volunteers, but none that would be peers with mine. They had fun anyway, and stayed focused on the task the entire time. I am so proud of my kids!