Welcome to the world!

Welcome to the world, little Abraham (you'll have to trust me that he's a cutie - the photo doesn't want to load, so I removed it)! And congratulations to our friends Fr. Matthew and Rachel. I was so honored to be included in the support party Rachel put together for her birth. She called me at about 2:30 in the morning on Tuesday and I was at the hospital by 3. Rachel did an AWESOME job handling the contractions and laboring and little Abe was born at 5:30 am. Birth is an amazing and miraculous event. In many religious traditions, giving birth is even recognized as a time in our life when we come closest to God - the mother (and father) participate with God in the creation of a new life. I am so happy I could be there to see it and support Rachel in having the natural birth she wanted. It was fun to get to play with my camera to photograph him, too. We wish Fr. Matthew, Rachel and their two wonderful boys MANY YEARS!

It took me a couple of days to rest up from that event, but I've still had a pretty busy week. Yesterday I volunteered in Emmelia's kindergarten classroom and had a blast helping the teacher and making art projects with the kids. It was nice to learn names and get to know some of the kids she's going to be in school with for at least the next 6 years.

We're heading out soon to visit Emmelia's Godparents. We are all really excited to see each other again - it's been too long since we've been able to just have a visit without a major life event going on at the same time. It's going to be the longest drive we've ever taken with the kids, but hopefully they'll sleep through much of it.

Here's a LO I did today, even though I'm still recovering from the loss of my "stash" of scrapping goodies. Credits for Wildflowers are here.
Last night while we were doing laundry in our AWESOME new washing machine, we watched the movie Ostrov again. It is a really wonderful movie about a Russian holy man ("staretz"). It's a Russian film, but has English sub-titles. I highly recommend it!

Well, best be off to pick Emmelia up from her first soccer practice and start packing! Have a wonderful weekend!

Easy come, easy go

I changed my settings to no longer allow anonymous comments. While I love getting comments on my posts, I've found that anonymous ones stress me out unduly. So now you have to sign into your Blogger account to leave me a comment, but I hope you will take the time to do that, because I like hearing from you.

Last night our washing machine kicked the bucket. It was one of the original Maytag Neptune front-loaders. Yes, the one with all the complaints and the class action lawsuit. We seem to have gotten a couple more years out of ours than most people, so I guess we can't complain too much. I just didn't want to have to spend so much time today researching washing machines and finding a suitable replacement. We ended up going with another front loader (I'm never going back to a top-loading machine) that is pretty much the same model (slightly fewer temperature settings and spin RPM) as one of the Consumer Reports top-rated machines. And not only did Lowe's have EXCELLENT customer service, but they can get the machine to us tomorrow morning for a cheaper price than anyone around. I'm very impressed with Lowe's today. Not so much with Maytag. Here is a photo of our new washer:
The Deac also called and asked (I didn't even think to ask this when I called and ordered it) if it will be going on sale for Labor Day and it is! That means we get an extra 10% because of Lowe's 30-day price-match guarantee. And because it's an energy efficient unit, we get a $50 rebate from the City. So, all-in-all, a good deal for an unexpected expenditure of funds.

Emmelia is doing wonderfully in kindergarten - she really loves it and seems to be more mature already. I am volunteering in her classroom on Wednesday and I'm looking forward to meeting her classmates and seeing how they all interrelate. Karate went well today. Since last week, she's talked a lot on her own about doing a better job with focusing and paying attention. Even though she was tired today, she did a great job at both of those. Sensei told her she would earn a stripe if she'd participate more in class - volunteer to show him what she knows, instead of waiting until the group does it. I am kind of in awe of how he gets kids to be focused and motivated. He's a good read of how children operate.

Maura had her first full day of Preschool today. Last week they transitioned from the Toddler II room into Preschool by spending an increasing number of hours there each day. Today was the first day she was completely in Preschool and not in Toddler II. We've been talking for a while now about giving up her pacifier when she goes to Preschool. She didn't seem to really want to do it, though, so I haven't pushed it. This morning when I was dropping her off, she took her pacifier out of her mouth and insisted on taking it and giving it to her Toddler II teacher before gong back to the Preschool room. We were both sort of amazed that she'd come up with this on her own... This evening, she never asked for it, even when going to sleep. We'll see what happens in coming days - I'll be interested to see if she really has decided she's outgrown the plug or not.

We had a good weekend until the washer died. There will be a few photos of the weekend in my Flickr account soon, I hope. We didn't get the things done around the house that we needed to, but we visited with friends and relaxed a bit. Friday I took the girls to a local end-of-summer festival. It was less fun than we hoped. On Saturday we went to a co-workers house in the mountains to help her celebrate her newly-earned Master's degree. It was a lovely day for spending time relaxing in the mountains. That evening we had a cook-out with a few other friends and played a different variant of our favorite game, Munchkin Fu. It was a blast! Yesterday we invited some folks over for dinner as they are about to have a baby and their time for socializing will be gone for a while. It was good to see them. I'm invited to the birth when it happens and I'm excited to go. It will be my 4th or 5th birth, not counting my own two. She is so ready to have this baby! He should make his debut in the next couple of weeks, for sure.

Bumming

Yesterday when I tried to connect my external hard drive, it made some strange knocking noises and wasn't recognized by the computer.... yep, it's toast. I know this sort of thing is nearly inevitable, happens all the time, etc. But I was still pretty cavalier about procrastinating any kind of back-up. {{sigh}}

Luckily, all my digital photos are backed up on our home computer and I will be burning the more recent ones that haven't been burnt to DVD yet VERY soon. Good thing I have Flickr to archive photos, too. BUT - ALL my digiscrap stuff is gone, as are my 3 most recent layouts. One you didn't even get to see yet - my layout about Emmelia's first day of kindergarten. I did upload it to the galleries, so I guess you can see it here. But those 3 will never be printed out for the girls' albums.

I guess I'll just begin again to re-build my "stash" from what is out there now. I actually don't feel overwhelmingly upset about it. There's a certain resignation one has at events like this. Not much I can do about it - should've backed up, but didn't. At least the drive is under warranty.

Anyway...

On Wednesday it finally happened - something I've been expecting for a while and wondering how it would be taken. Emmelia's friend Rebecca, who started karate with her, got a stripe on her belt and Emmelia didn't. I know it's because Emmelia was horsing around in class, not paying attention to Sensei or listening, talking loudly. She was really a pill - she always gets that way when she's tired and this first week of school has been tough on her. So, after class, she immediately came over to discuss the unfairness of R. having 3 stripes while she only has 2. She said what I expected her to say: "I don't want to do karate anymore." Sigh. WHY is my child so competitive? I really try not to instill an overly competitive nature in the girls, but they seem to be genetically predestined to it. It will cause them endless hassle as they grow up. Anyway, we talked a bit about how she can still earn a stripe by listening better and paying attention, etc. Then, on the way home, Emmelia changed her tactic on it - she decided she wanted me to sign her up for karate class EVERY DAY - so she could have ALL the stripes. Sigh... at least she does enjoy it.

I got some great photos of the class on Wednesday. You can look at them over in my Flickr account, but here's one of Emmelia and Rebecca practicing step-punches with Sensei.

Emmelia is really loving kindergarten so far. Like I said, it's exhausting for her, but a lot of that is no longer getting naps. Today she took an apple in for her teacher. ;-)

Hope you all have a wonderful weekend! Ours is blissfully not-too-busy. Just a couple of things on the schedule, so that is nice. I might actually have time to do some laundry!

My baby started kindergarten!

Yesterday was her first day and she did great! She was a little nervous beforehand, but both the Deac and I came along to drop her off. The teacher let us stay for a few minutes and by the time we left she was playing happily. There were a lot of other parents there and even though we were *technically* the last ones out the door, we weren't clingy or anything. She went with half her class yesterday and the other half went today (so she go the day off) and everyday classes with everyone begin tomorrow. This week Maura is also transitioning to the Preschool room at daycare. She is MORE than ready for this move and has been anticipating it for quite a while. Here's my two beans yesterday morning before I dropped them off:
Our family gathering this weekend was a lot of fun. It was great to see everyone and the girls had a blast playing with their cousins (first cousins, once removed) Kayla and Luke. I got a couple of fun shots with my camera:





















There are some other photos over in my flickr badge, too!

I went to a meeting for new soccer coaches last night and am excited to be coaching Maura's team. There really isn't much involved for the under-4 age group. The point is simply to help them have fun. Plus, I found out Maura's very bestest friend in the whole universe is going to be on her team! They are both excited about that.

Today is the first day this month for which nothing is written on our home calendar - no wonder we have been feeling exhausted with almost constant scheduling! We do have a few things to do tonight, but nothing too strenuous and it will be nice to spend time as a family.

Our Disney trip is all planned for this fall! Here's a basic breakdown of our itinerary:

Day 1 - we arrive in Orlando around 4:30 pm and will head to our Disney resort via shuttle. Dinner at Downtown Disney.

Day 2 - Animal Kingdom day just because of the way character dining worked out (but we have ParkHoppers, so we can always change our minds and go to more than one park in a day). That night, Halloween party at Magic Kingdom.

Day 3 - Magic Kingdom day. Breakfast at the Crystal Palace with Pooh and Friends. Dinner at Cinderella's Royal Table with the Fairy Godmother.

Day 4 - Epcot day. Lunch with the princesses at Akershus.

Day 5 - MGM Studios day. Breakfast at Playhouse Disney's Play-n-Dine with the Little Einsteins.

Day 6 - check out, get rental car and drive to Sanibel Island for the next 4 days before we fly home! It will be so fun and a much-needed vacation! We are all excited.

One last thing - I found a great resource today that I'm really excited about! I've been listening when I can to Ancient Faith Radio, but it turns out they have podcasts! One of them is a podcast of Orthodox children's books being read aloud. I know the kids will love this and subscribed immediately! I also subscribed to a couple others. Now to find the time to listen.... But I thought some of you might be interested in this as well. Happy listening!

Last week of summer!

Whew! What a BUSY whirlwind the past two weeks have been! I thought about blogging often so I could catch up on events, but then I got sick with a sinus infection and laryngitis and just didn't have the energy. But I'll try to give a brief synopsis.

Last week our Bishop was in town. He is situated in Wichita, and his diocese covers many states here in the middle of the country. Since there are 7 Antiochian Orthodox parishes here in the northern Colorado area, he just comes for a week and visits each parish during that time. That makes it easier on him travel-wise, and cheaper for the parishes - they don't each have to pay for a flight and hotel, etc. The other nice benefit is that we get to go visit the other parishes when he is visiting. It was lovely - just to see people and clergy families from other parishes that we don't get to see that often. The fellowship and friendship was like a mini-retreat in a lot of ways. We all had a good time, even though it was busy!

Last week we found out that Emmelia HAS been accepted into the school we hoped for! We are SO excited about that. It is an awesome school and we'd managed to get our hearts set on it even before we heard, so we were very glad she gets to go. Kindergarten starts this coming Monday! So this week has been busy with getting final vaccinations, filling out enrollment forms, buying new clothes for school, etc.

The Deac started his new job this week, too and he LOVES it! He's like a pig in slop - he is really happy to work in a team environment with intelligent people and not have a long commute. We need to do a few things like figure out insurance and retirement plan stuff, but that shouldn't be too hard. So far, he is working a "normal" (daytime) work schedule. No word yet on when/if he will move to an evening schedule.

Emmelia got her second stripe in karate! She is really doing well in karate and is starting to do better in violin, too. It was a hard summer for violin - I think we were so busy that it was hard for her to stay focussed. Maura will start lessons with her in 2 weeks, and I think that will help. They will be able to practice with each other and hopefully be less distracting to each other. Yesterday I decided to volunteer to coach Maura's soccer team this fall. I know nothing about soccer, but the Youth Soccer Association is willing to train me, and this way Maura will have a team. They were really begging for coaches because they had a lot of interest. I think it will be fun to get out and kick the ball around with a bunch of 3-year-olds. Emmelia got assigned to the team we were hoping for, as well! Four out of the seven kids on her team all know each other from our La Leche League chapter and the coach is one of the local LLL leaders. I really think, if we can choose a mascot, that we should incorporate breastfeeding somehow - name the team after a mammal or something. Anyway, I was worried about the time commitment for coaching, but for the 3-year-olds, they only do a 30-minute practice (which is actually optional, but I think would be fun and doable) once a week, and play one 30-minute game on Saturdays. I figured I'd have to go to the practice and games anyway, you know?

We have our fall Disney trip all planned and paid for! We have a few reservations for character meals to plan, but in general we're set for a much-needed vacation. I can't wait! We haven't bought a new car yet because interest rates are so high! If we can find a lower rate, we might move quickly.

We saw my Mom last weekend for lunch when she was up this way to go to a sculpture show and this weekend we'll be going to a BBQ with family in the Colorado Springs area. I'm looking forward to seeing relatives we haven't seen since my Dad's funeral, and the girls are looking forward to playing with their 1st-cousins-once-removed. We are also getting ready for a road trip out to Iowa in a couple of weeks to visit Emmelia's godparents and their family. It will be really nice to see them, but the longest drive we've done since having kids.

I got a *little* bit of scrapping done in the midst of all this, but wish I could've managed more. There is so much to do at work that I haven't even had the routine breaks I'm used to that allow me to work on a layout. But here's the 2 I've done most recently:

Rebecca's 5th Birthday, using Christine Beasley's new "Date of Birth" kit:

And I love this new kit Amy came up with, called "Five Alarm" - I think I'll have several LOs to do with it once I find some time. I mean, these photos for the Firetruck LO have been waiting to be scrapped since 2005!

It's here!

And I love it! I can take real photos again! I haven't gotten to play with it a ton, but I took a few photos and you can look at them over in my Flickr badge if you want. How fun!

Please say a prayer for Fr. Nicholas, a friend of ours and local archpriest who suffered a massive heart attack on Wednesday. We visited last night and he seems to be doing better than the initial prognosis, but his condition is still critical.

We don't have much planned this weekend. The Bishop is visiting, so there will be many activities for that over the next week or so. I also would love to have a yard sale to help pay for our upcoming Disney trip and need to go through and organize stuff for that. It seems overwhelming, but would feel so good to get organized!

Hopefully I'll be able to play with the camera some with the girls this weekend, too. Have a good one!

Checking in

I just wanted to check in quickly and share a couple of layouts I made this week. My new camera should arrive today (fingers crossed) - I can't wait to play with it!

Meanwhile, we are looking into finally getting a new car and replacing my 20 year old Volvo wagon that has 300,000 miles on it. It's been a great car, but it needs about $1,000 in work (which is about it's total value), and we've been putting off the car loan/payments. So, we may bite the bullet on that one soon.

We're also in the process of setting up the vacation to Florida we've been planning for this fall. I personally find the *planning* part to be overwhelming and stressful. I know we'll have a great time once it is set and we are there. But there are so many scheduling issues and costs to juggle right now that it's a bit hard to figure out. We are going to Walt Disney World and also spending some time with family on Sanibel Island. At Disney, we are going to do Mickey's Not-So-Scary Halloween party and some character meals. Other than that, we need to pin down details and get tickets!

Well, with no further ado, here are the layouts. The credits are here for CHP and 3rd Birthday. Leave me a comment and let me know what you think!

I did this one for the "Map of Me" challenge at SOTB that my friend Amy coordinates:

And, Chris Beasley came up with these cute "Code Words" so I did this LO and included those to get CT credit (but I also really like what it adds to the layout):