Nora's 1st Birthday in Indy

Life is busy.  Such a cliche, but so true.  No matter how hard we try, it has become increasingly difficult to make time for our family and friends, especially those that live out of town.  It's a delicate balancing act, but we hold these relationships near and dear to our hearts, so we make time for those special people and precious moments.

In the middle of the school, hockey, new house chaos, we decided to make a trip to Indy (Noblesville) to visit the gang.  It had been several months since we had the chance to spend quality time together and it was sweet Nora's 1st Birthday.  We had not missed a first birthday for any of our Indy friends, and we just couldn't break tradition!  Late Thursday evening, the kids and I made the 4 1/2 hour trip.  Erin and Travis graciously hosted us for two nights.  It was a full house, but the Cobb family welcomed us with open arms.

Surprisingly, the kids traveled extremely well, both there and back.  Helaina has always been a great traveler, and recently, Zach has been able to make the longer road trips too! We used to have to schedule all our drives during their naps or bedtime, but now, I can pretty much pick up and leave no matter what time of day, and know the kids can tolerate a 3 or 4 hour trip! Alleluia!!!

Here she is, sweet Nora and she's 1!  

Zach has changed so much in the last few months.  For the first 2 years and 3 months of his life, he couldn't look at a TV for more than 5 minutes without being bored and losing attention.  This guy kept me on my toes 24 hours a day, no break, only when he napped and slept at night.  Then, one night at the Wilson's house just a few weeks ago, he watched Iron Man.  Oh my goodness! He is now obsessed with Super Heroes.  All he talks about is Super Man, Iron Man, Batman and mean witches.  So Daddy bought him a DVD with all his favorite super heroes and wallah, he watched the whole entire movie!!!  Alleluia, now I can take a shower!
So, keeping in mind his new obsession, I think he visited the right house if he wanted to be a Super Hero!!!  Thanks Nolan, for sharing all your awesome costumes and toys.  We had so much fun!  

Helaina and Spider Man (aka Nolan) caught a toad together!

Little ones were taking afternoon naps and big kids were watching a movie for quiet time.

 Another favorite...all 7 kiddos together again! Girls in their tutu's, a few super heroes, and a couple other children...love them and their momma's to pieces!

Saturday morning at the apple orchard.  Thanks Uncle Travis for our delicious donuts!

We traveled back to MI on Saturday afternoon because we have Sunday School bright and early Sunday morning.  This week Helaina learned a new work that she was very proud to show off, flower arranging. 

Helaina and the Khoury girls.  Love them to pieces too! We are so grateful that they are sharing more time together at church and also at preschool.  Alina and Helaina are at the same school for their 4 year old class, and soon, we'll be neighbors!!!  Looking forward to our kids growing up together, just like their Daddy's.  

Zach goes to school...

Last Thursday (1 week ago) Zach had his first day of school!  Well, sort of.  It's a Parent/Child class, and I am with him the entire 2 hours, however, it is held at a school, in a classroom, with a teacher.  I already have anxiety thinking about how he is going to handle preschool next fall.  It's not the idea of school, in fact, he's obsessed with going to school, it's the panic that is going to set in when he realizes that mom can not go with him.  Yikes!!! Until then, I am enjoying my uninterrupted 2 hours of time this sweet boy. 

He has his own locker.  He's recognizes the letter "Z" and loves to find his locked upon arriving at school.  The stinker REFUSES to look at the camera when I am taking a picture though so every picture shows the side of his chubby cheeks.

Snack and story time. 

Finger painting, he loves to make hand prints on his paper.  So far, he has impressed me with his behavior at school.  He's a wild child at home, but his attention span is getting longer and he is following direction much better.  He plays nicely with the other kids during free time, sits for snack and story time, but would rather go head first down the slide during our outdoor time.  He's all boy!  

I laugh out loud just looking at this picture.  We were in the mall shopping for gifts last weekend and Helaina randomly asked if I had my camera in my purse.  I did and she asked if I would take her picture next to "this person."  I am not really sure who she thinks "this person" is, but it makes me smile every time I see it.

Last Friday was a great day for our family.  We closed on our new home! For the most part, things went as expected and are falling into place nicely.  We plan to stay at Randy's parents' home for a few more weeks while we finish some interior work, sod and sprinkler system.  The kids are excited to move into their new home and start playing with all their new friends in the sub.  I love looking at this picture, knowing that so many wonderful memories are going to be made inside those four walls.  We are anxiously awaiting the move and the chance to entertain and share our home with our family and friends.  

Back-to-school, Part 2

Everyone in our family seems to be enjoying the school routine.  Zachary gets quality alone time with me on Tuesdays and Thursdays.  Today he was living the dream...watching his new Nemo movie (thanks Grandma and Papa) while eating a Popsicle and lounging in his Cars couch.    

Sissy is so proud of her 4 year-old, all-day preschool.  This particular school night, she wanted to wear Daddy's shirt to bed as her nightgown.

We went to visit the old neighborhood and our special friends, the Wilson family.

This is definitely going to be one of those pictures that will haunt Zachary one day in the future! That's what you get when you hang out with a group of girlie girls and you're the only boy.  Hopefully we'll have some more boy dates where we crash cars and jump on the couches.

But this particular night, he thought he was super cool in a tutu outfit.  

Speaking of back-to-school, we opened our Level 1 atrium for Catechesis of the Good Shepherd at church!  It has been a looong, but truly fulfilling 2 year journey.   A group of woman from our parish have built this program from the ground up, and I am now a certified catechist.  Randy has been so patient and helpful through this process, but as parents, we have made the choice to send our children to public school.  With that choice, it was obvious that we needed to provide to our children a solid, Orthodox Christian education from a young age and this is how we've chosen to do that.  So here's a peak at our Montessori-style Sunday School for children ages 3 to 6 years old.

LIFE IN THE PRAYER CORNER  

(Thanks Grandma Catherine McGinley for sewing all 6 of our altar cloths that we will be using in the atrium each Sunday.  They are beautiful.)

THE PARABLE OF THE GOOD SHEPHERD

THE ALTAR

LITURGICAL COLORS AND VESTMENTS OF THE PRIEST

"MISS KIM" standing outstide our room!

These past few weeks have literally been a blur.  Randy is out of town for a couple days again this week for the Red Wings' training camp.  We're still living at Randy's parents, and they have been such a blessing in helping with the kids. We've also had to enlist Aunt Abla and our awesome cousins as we have had numerous appointments for the house, meetings/class/orientation at church, and all the chaos that fall hockey brings to our family.  Closing date is set for Friday.  We're keeping our fingers crossed that the builders will have some issues cleared up before that time and then we'll officially be home owners again!

4 Year-Old Preschool

Today Helaina started a new journey at a new school.  She is in full-day preschool, 2 days a week.  We spent the weekend getting ready to "go back to school", and she was very excited to begin her first day.  This will be the only transition for her in school for awhile, as she'll remain there till 5th grade.  

Mom and Dad definitely had a small-hiccup getting her out the door though.  Right after this picture was taken, we realized that we had locked ourselves out of the house with no car keys or cell phones.  Luckily, after a short moment of panic, our neighbor let us use their phone and we tracked down a spare key from Aunt Abla.  Helaina arrived just in time for breakfast with her class.       

Zach was upset that he couldn't stay and play in class with his sister. He'll be happy to know that we're starting a Mommy/Toddler class next Thursday.

Just a few photos from the Michigan State Fair this past weekend. I have never met 2 kids who love to have their faces painted more than Helaina and Zach!