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!

Christmas 2011

OMG- it's nearly May and I am just now blogging about Christmas. Where has the time gone? Let's see, we found out we were pregnant in the fall, the holidays were a whirlwind as always and then the past few months we've been trying to wrap our heads around the fact that we will soon have 3 kids. 

First we had our Church Christmas Party. The kids LOVED it. They sang songs (hence the jingle-bell in Jonah's hand) and got to see Santa. Stella had a basketball game this day so she couldn't stay for all of the festivities.

Jonah and Stella hanging out!

Jonah and Teta hanging out!

Gido and his mini-twin

We decided to put our tree up the weekend before Thanksgiving because we would be traveling the week of Thanksgiving to Orlando (see our 2011 Thanksgiving blog entry).

Jonah wanted to help decorate the tree too!

Our Tree!

I wanted to make this holiday season different from most. In addition to Stella's Lego Advent calendar we tried to do as many crafts and baking projects as possible.

First craft was building our first gingerbread house. I had never built one before and found a pretty neat kit at  Toy's R Us, so I figured we'd give it a shot. Let's just say that this task required A LOT of patience! You had to assemble sections of the house and let it dry before continuing to the next section. Try explaining that to an eager 8 year old that only wants to get the house together as quickly as possible so that she can decorate it with candy (the fun part of course). It took some time but Stella loved every minute of it!

Then one evening Sarah and Sophie came over to make cookies for Mikey as a surprise. Sophie made homemade snickerdoodle cookies and they were yummy!

Then it was time for Stella and I to make Granny's infamous sugar cookies. We called Nana and got the recipe and had so much fun cutting out shapes and icing them! Stella and I had a blast making these while Jonah frequented the kitchen to keep tasting the yummy cookies.

First batch!

Icing the cookies.

Jonah was our cookie taster.

Our final project was making our "Cookies for Santa" gifts. We made these for friends and family and they were a hit! Stella loved measuring and layering the ingredients. 

Measuring the ingredients.

Our jars before ribbon and tags!

We found out the sex of Baby Langley #3 just a few days before Christmas so we decided to reveal the sex of the baby Christmas Eve with our family. The cake read "We are having a..."  Mamoose cut into the cake and well what do you know, it was PINK! We're having a GIRL!

It was PINK!

In standard Christmas tradition, we had Christmas Eve at Mamoose & Papaw's house and well with so so many kids this year it's not much of a surprise that chaos can ensue! Yes this year there 2 more little ones; Gabriel and Lucy (Todd's sister had twins in June of 2011).

Jonah loves books!

Jonah wanted to open everything.

Stella and Sophie opening their gifts

The kids went to town opening their presents

Jonah attempting to open the girls presents.

Jenny showing Lucy her present.

I love my Scotty.

Stella and her Gab-ster Fish.

Momoose sitting in her rocker!

and Papaw in his recliner.

Stella is pooped from opening so many presents!

Jonah assisting in the clean up effort.

Would any evening be complete without a little Ryan planking? 

We loaded up the kids and all of their loot and headed home. We had to get home in time for the elves to deliver our Christmas pj's. Yes every year, they ring our doorbell and leave our Christmas pj's at the front door. After we put our Christmas pj's on we put our cookies and milk for Santa and some carrots for the reindeer's. Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night!

The next morning the kids came down the stairs to find what Santa had left them...

Heading down the steps!

Oh my look at all of those presents!

Jonah wanted to help everyone open- even Stella!

Santa must have loved his cookies and milk!

Here the kids are wearing their pj's from the elves and enjoying some of the little goodies that were in their stockings!

JP loved his Disney Cars camera.

Stella loved her video rocker.

SLAM DUNK!

My favorite Soccer Mom!

Stella got a new laptop!

and new skate shoes. 

After the presents were opened and we cleaned up, it was time for our traditional Christmas Day Family Breakfast. We had Cinnabon Cinnamon Rolls and let the kids enjoy some time playing with their new toys before we loaded up the car and made our way to Nana & Papi's then to Teta & Gido's house. 

Before leaving the house Jonah thought it would be a great idea to jump on a pile of Christmas shirt boxes that we had stacked by the door to take out to the recycling bin. Hence the "war wound" scar on his face that  will appear in every Christmas Day pic!

"Hi, my name is trouble!"

How cute are these 2 Langley boys? Jonah LOVES Uncle Scotty and calls him "cot."

Jonah and Uncle Scotty!

Stella, Gabriel and Jonah.

Stella & the twins; Gabriel & Lucy.

Who invited  this guy?

Nana opening her Nana necklace from the kids.

Nana & Papi's Christmas present!

Who knew that opening presents could be so tiring....Time for a quick nap before we head to Teta & Gido's house!

The final stop of the day was to Teta & Gido's house! Stella was so excited to go see Teta. She said "Teta always buys us too much!" Try explaining to a 8 year old that Christmas is not about presents but remembering the reason for the season. Although, Stella was correct, Teta went overboard yet again this year and even had a stocking for Baby Langley. 

Sophia and her American Girl!

Teta & Gido's pride & joy!

Stella loved her OSU shirt from Gigi!

and watch...

My silly girl!

Jonah loved his Spongebob Mr. Potato head.

I'm not sue who invited this silly girl!

MINE!

Mikey LOVED his Steamboat Mickey!

Teaching JP to play the guitar 

Couldn't you just eat him up!

"Mommy help me open my toys!"

Wow a remote controlled car!

Stella giving JP a ride on his new plasma car. 

Wow- although Christmas was jam packed with many activities, celebrations and get together's it was so much fun. We look forward to many more holiday celebrations and to think that there will be 1 more Langley joining us in 2012. We are so so BLESSED!