Monday, May 21, 2012

Easter 2012

Easter weekend began with Good Friday service at our church. Good Friday brings so many emotions to light. It's a time to reflect how much Jesus sacrificed for us and it always in turn makes me realize how much I need to constantly should strengthen my relationship with Him. I felt a lot more emotional during the Good Friday service. It was probably a mixture of being pregnant and extremely hormonal and realizing that this was the first holiday that Pope Shenouda III was not going to be a part of. 

During the Good Friday service our church recreates many of the same events that occurred at that time. The deacons carry a cross in a procession both inside and outside of the church. 



Stella, Jonah and Sophia participated in the procession. 

Procession around the outside of the church.


Easter midnight service is on Easter Eve and church is dismissed at midnight. During the service the lights in the church are dimmed and the Resurrection is recreated. 

This year Todd and Jonah wore argyle vests and they both looked very handsome!


Jonah took Communion with Gido during the liturgy. He is definitely Gido's buddy and loves him! Can you see the resemblance (they are essentially twins)?




As with every feast/holiday, we head to Teta & Gido's house for a HUGE food feast! What can I say, Teta is a pretty phenomenal cook and well we can never get enough grape leaves.


Teta and her babies!

Daddy and his babies!


Gido and his little miracles!


Teta & Gido with their grandchildren.


Todd wanted to join in on the love too!

 Sophia, Teta & Gido!


Stella, Teta & Gido

The next morning the kids woke up to find that the Easter bunny had left them goodies! Since Coptic Easter and American Easter did not coincide this year Stella had a soccer tournament the weekend of Coptic Easter (that's why she has her soccer uniform on in the pics below). Unfortunately, the weather did not cooperate and Stella only played half of 1 game and remainder of the entire soccer tournament was rained out.

This year just like every year, the kids got so many baskets and loot it was impossible to keep track of who got what! Between grandparents and great grandparents, there are baskets and candy to last the entire year through. This year the Easter Bunny tried to promote hygiene and education. That's right, the Easter Bunny brought fun new tooth brushes, soap, books, games and sidewalk chalk and NO CANDY!

Stella and Jonah find their Easter goody bags from the Bunny!

Jonah found his Easter eggs!

OMG, look at how exciting Easter eggs are!

Later that morning, Jonah hung back with mommy while Stella and Todd headed down to Cincinnati to her soccer tournament (not yet knowing that it would be rained out). Look at these big brown eyes! Can you get enough???...


Happy Easter! We are feeling very blessed knowing that Baby Layla could make her appearance at any time and will be joining our family!

Happy Valentines Day from The Langley's


Who needs roses or chocolate for Valentines Day when you've got these 2 sweeties to come home to! Valentines Day was pretty low key as I had to stay home with 2 sick kids; both Stella and Jonah had strep throat. Stella was so disappointed that she had to miss her Valentines Day party at school but understood that she was contagious. She and Jonah relaxed most of the day in their pj's and watched Disney together. 



Valentines Day is not a huge production at the Langley house. This year each of the kids got a little bit of candy and a sock monkey from us and we spent the day like any other day. For Valentines Day dinner I we had a heart shaped pizza from Papa Murphy's (the kids got a kick out of it). 



I attempted to make heart shaped brownies and failed miserably......





Of course since I was pregnant during Valentines Day and thus a lot more hormonal,  it was a great time to reflect how much love I have to share with these 2 little love bugs and how much I would love sharing it with 1 more (baby Layla)!


Happy Valentines Day!

Coptic Orthodox Christmas 2012

While Christmas had come and gone, we still had to celebrate Coptic Christmas on January 7th. In traditional fashion we went to church on the eve of January 7th (Jan 6th) to attend the Christmas service


We got all dressed up for the occasion and headed to church around 9pm. Jonah wore a suit for the first time ever and he looked quite adorable, I must say. This was also the first year that Stella and Sophie did not wear the same dress. I suppose as they get older they each have an opinion about their clothes and this year decided to dress differently.

After the liturgy, around 11pm or so, in typical fashion we headed to Teta & Gido's house for the feast! Yes we eat a feast at midnight in celebration of our Lord's birth. Once we get to Teta & Gido's house it's hard to keep everyone in their church clothes. Everyone wants to change into their pj's or comfy clothes so getting pics of everyone dressed up can be challenging to say the least.



Gido and his twin- what can I say but these 2 absolutely adore each other! It's comical because many of their looks and mannerisms are identical.

Well with Christmas and Coptic Christmas in the books there is so much more to look forward to in 2012!