Easter Video

Gabriela Zoe had fun cracking the eggs and getting her hands red from the dye (I added some american food coloring which proved not a good idea because it got everyone's hands red!) Oh well...I'll know next year :o)

Easter

Oooooooooo

Stephen: Christ is Risen GZ: He is Risen Indeed
Enjoying the treats from her Easter Basket
At church with daddy and his helper/friends

Tsoureki

(Since we got engaged Stephen and i have celebrated two Easters...the American with the church and american family and the Greek with our Greek family. Let me say that Easter is my favorite time of the year...beats Christmas in some ways, so I savor the fact that we celebrate twice. Last year on American easter I had just given birth so I was in bed and not feeling super...so I really enjoyed having some lamb and hanging out with Greeks for the Greek Easter a couple of weeks later. This year Stephen got home on American Easter Sunday somewhere between 5:30-6 p.m. it was a little embarrasing for me to walk down our street and have our neighbor's kids give GZ their Easter eggs because she didn't have any...very sweet of them by the way! Anyhow, so we had already decided to do Greek Easter at our home...and even though in my traditions there are no such things as Easter baskets and eggs filled with candy I decided to make a basket for GZ and go all out, bought some Easter decorations...dirt cheap because they were on clearance 'after the fact' and let the house fill with the sights and smells of Easter. So now that I sort of vented my frustration and explained why Greek Easter was so important for me this year, I'll talk about the day of, and our Greek traditions.)

During 'both' Holy Weeks we watched Easter movies (in fact we are still watching them because we just do not have too much time for TV) we watched Jesus of Nazareth, The Robe, a few days ago we finished Ben Hur and we are waiting for Quo Vadis and then we are going to watch The Ten Commandents musical (as oppposed to the really long Charton Heston version), and finish the Easter movies with The Passion. See in Greece some people greet each other with 'Christ is Risen' 'He is Risen Indeed' until the day of the Pentecost...so we are still on schedule :o)

On Good Friday I colored our eggs as tradition calls for because we color the eggs red to remember the blood of Jesus that was shed for our sins on a day like that....both Good Fridays were gloomy days. I also made the traditional tsoureki with the red egg in the middle, its a sweet bread and by far my favorite bread of the season...and I make a really good one...no bragging i just have a great recipe.

On Sunday we got dressed up, went to church and remembered and celebrated that on a day like that Jesus Christ was risen...awesome thing our pastor did something I don't remember him doing before...he greeted the congragation with 'Christ is Risen' How special for us :o) When we got home our house was filled with the aroma of the lamb slow cooking!!!! We eat lamb on Easter because yes its Greek tradition but the tradition has rich meaning...we remember how Jesus was the sacrificial lamb through whom we are forgiven. This Sevi came first and brought us more yummy tsoureki and some amazing spanakopita!!! It was so much fun that she was able to join us so that we can see her and she was able to enjoy some time with GZ. A little bit later Papa and Grandma joined us and we had our 'drunch' (lunch and dinner combined) Hmmm all the food was really tasty...and the lamb was just so delicious...if you think you don't like lamb you have to let me make you some...and you may change your mind. I had chicked in case someone didn't like the lamb but noone touched it!
After we ate our food we cracked 'tsougrisame' our eggs. One person says 'Christ is Risen' and the other person says 'He is Risen Indeed' as the hit their eggs together. Now the cracking of the eggs I believe I heard that it symbolized the opening of the tomb. The game that accompanies this fun tradition is that the person whose egg is the last one standing uncracked is the winner (of nothing in particular) and we say 'ahh your egg is wooden' :o) And then we eat our eggs!

The food was good our tummies were full so we decided to go for a walk in the hot hot sun...I do not know how good this idea was but besides the heat it was fun to get out of the house and walk, look at the flowers. When we got back we just hang out and played a movie game and when it was time to put the baby to sleep our guests also headed home. It was a fun fun day...thank You Jesus, for dying of the cross for our sins, rising from the dead so we can have eternal life too and telling us to remember and celebrate!

Valentines Day

Well Valentine's fell on a Saturday which may seem like crazy to everyone else but for us it was perfect. we were able to go to F and hang out with family. Actually auntie Jodi took care of GZ while we went to have lunch. We found out they had loads of fun going to the park and sliding down on the slides. A new experience for our baby girl I might add. Stephen and I went with no reservations to Olive Garden and even though their lunch wait was 40 minutes eventually we thought about the patio and we were seated immediatelly!! A christmas gift card paid for our lunch!!!! and then we went to see Inkheart in the theater. A very nice and much needed time for the two of us to be together. Afterwards we met grandpa and grandma for dinner and they got to see their baby girl. And that is how our Valentine's day went down and wrapped up :o)

New Year 2009

Since the year 1999-2000 I have spent every New Year in Santa Cruz where our friends/american parents live. The last 5 years I think we have incorporated of baking the New Year's Cake, Greek tradition, with the coin. This year Jesus got it!!! This year actually Stephen due to his job could not leave before the actually 1st of the month. So we drived up on New Years Day. We left at Gabriela Zoe's nap and she got to take her two naps in the car. We arrived in Santa Cruz in enough time for dinner! I was a little sad because I did not get around to making the New Year's cake...but as soon as we arrived Kathi had made it!!! It was great to spend a few days with Kathi and Charles. Also their three grandkids would come to hang out with Stephen and play wii. We all had a good ol time :o) We did spend most of our time inside...since Stephen got addicted to wii, I got my hair dyed with red and blonde streaks and Gabriela Zoe had fun exploring a new house. On Sunday we went to church and the we headed to the beach where Gabriela Zoe as soon as we arrived she fell into deep sleep :o) it was great walking around and breathing the clean fresh air.
That Sunday after we put Gabriela Zoe to sleep we drove down to L.A. to go to Disneyland. We spent the night in a hotel...well we arrived at 2:30am that's why we chose to go straight down to Anaheim. The next day Monday we got to go to Disneyland and use our year passes :o) Gabriela Zoe did not get to do any new rides besides the carousel in California Adventure with aquatic animals instead of horses. She really likes it...I tried to get a video but for some reason it did not record fully. We also got to go to the Mickey Mouse club house while Stephen went to the tower...brrr and she danced and clapped her hands.. she enjoyed looking mickey, minnie, daisy, donald, goufy and the human on stage :o)
Next time i want to go the Alladin Show...I heard that it is really good!

Gabriela Zoe's first Christmas

We seem to have a pretty set pattern on how we spend Christmas....since my parents do not live close by we always spend Christmas with the Larkin side of the family. But to start from the beginning...on Christmas Eve we got to hang out and have dinner with the Patsaouras side of the family. My uncle Nick and tia Sylvia's house where we got to see my cousins Alexi and Tanya and their cousins, ucles, aunts and nieces from tia Sylvia's side. We tried taking pictures because I want to make a book for Gabriela Zoe since we only get to see most of that side of the family once a year. However, the pics did not turn out great soooo next year we will make everyone pose :o) We had to leave a little bit early because Stephen had to be at church to help out with the Christmas Eve service.
On Christmas day when Gabriela Zoe woke up we used our nativity set to recount the christmas story and then we got to open our gifts. Gabriela Zoe had tons and tons of gifts to open since the package from Greece had arrived on time (not a virtue we can claim as our own however). Our gift to her was her red minnie mouse outfit she wore later that day and her little walker/stroller. We are glad that our gift was a real hit :o) One of the other fun gifts she got that all of her little cousins loved as well was this little duck singing the chicken dance as it is called in America. When we got done opening our gifts we headed out to Stephen's cousin's house Bobby and Shannon and there we hang out with the family and had the amazing Christmas breakfast!!!
For the late afternoon and evening we headed to the Larkin's house for a quiet time with family, opening gifts and eating some more :o)
The day after Christmas after hitting Target for after Christmas sales (if you wait a few days later you may find less but the price is also less...I found that out later), we went to celebrate Papa Stu's birthday. Usually we hang out at aunt Sherryl's and uncle Larry's home but this time we got to spend it at the grandparent's home. Grandma Franceen was especially exited to get to use her awesome Christmas china. Unfortunately I do not have any pics from that day...but I am sure that soon enough I'll find some :o) Gabriela Zoe had fun hanging out and getting to know her cousins, I think once she starts walking there will be no stopping that little girl gang...poor little Owen (the first great grand boy born in the Smith side of the family!)
Well that sums us our Christmas adventures...we spend it witlh family, shared stories and laughed...good time and it was awesome to have everyone come together!

Thanksgiving 2008

This year we hosted Thanksgiving at our home...we had one friend from church, le grand parents and great grandparents. First they all watched the game (I was cooking)...which I don't know if it ended in a satisfying way for Stephen (Cowboy fan) After the game we hang around since I was still cooking and then we had dinner. Our menu was: turkey, greek stuffing, green beans alla grek, sweet potatoes and apples casserole, spanakopita (spinach pie), bread and cornbread. For dessert we had banana and pumpkin bread, pumpkin cheesecake, sweet potatoe pie and oatmeal cookies...talking about a full tummy when all was said and done. Before our dinner everyone shared what they were thankful for this year...there were some tears of joy knowing that two of our loved ones went to be with the Lord this year. And we rejoiced at the new life in so many areas one of which being our precious angel Gabriela Zoe. I thank God that I enjoy being a mommy sooooo much! Hope your Thanksgiving was good too!!!

Mother's Day

We started on Saturday when we went to the women's brunch at our church with momma Karen and the baby...most of the time was spent nursing, from then on I started to bring a bottle to such events. Then we went to celebrate with Grandma Franceen at their house and on Sunday we went to our parents house with the other side of the family. Since we were there we spent the night and had a good time :-) Enjoy the pics

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year Friends and Family hope you have a wonderful year. For New Years we did our traditional trip to visit Charles and Kathi...my american parents. Because of Stephen's work I didn't think we were going to go this year but Stephen is such a wonderful husband and planned it all out and let me know that we get to go. So we drove Sunday evening and arrive at 10:30p.m. and we stayed until Wednesday afternoon. During our stay we did not do a whole lot besides attending the Prayer and Prophesy at the Coastlands which is also a tradition of preparing for the New Year. The Lord spoke to us like every year reminded us of His promises and gave us some direction. We also spend a little bit of time with the boys grandchildren...Stephen had lots of fun playing around with Aidan and Brennan. The rest of the time we were at home relaxing, eating and sleeping. We are so thankful for Charles and Kathi and how they always make us feel so comfortable :-) Around this time is our 1/2 year wedding anniversary so we call it our 1/2 anniversary spot...so we thought maybe next year we'll leave the baby with grandpa and gradma, but that thought was quickly given way to the fact that Kathi probably wouldn't let us come without the baby :-)

Christmas

The Christmas celebration is a three day celebration for us. It starts with Christmas Eve when in the afternoon we get to hear the carols over the phone...only this year because of ichat we actually got to see our friends in Greece, we sang with them danced and showed off my little pregnant belly. Then we went to have dinner my side of the family...it is great to have this time to see them since it's one of the few times in the year that we get to see them. After that we went to the 9:45p.m. service at the church. We stayed late because Stephen had to clean up before we went home. Unlike other years once we got home we started wrapping presents (other years that is a job done many days before because I treasure seeing all the gifts under the tree). Around 12:30a.m. we read the Bible story, thanked the Lord and exchanged our gifts. The we kept wrapping so by the time we went to be it was 3;30a.m. Christmas day we got up early to join the family at Bobby and Shannon's for breakfast and exchanging gifts. After the morning activity we relaxed, talked and played with the kids until it was time to clear out so they could get ready for the rest of their day and we went to aunt Sharon's. There we relaxed more even took a nice nap after lunch :-) Around 7 p.m. we went to the parent's house exchanged immediate family gifts and then played Apples to Apples and ImagineIff with t he fam and the Woods who were in town. The next day we went to the other side of the fam. where we celebrated also Papa Stu's birthday. It was a fun Christmas with family!!! Next year we'll also have the baby...how exciting :-)
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Music of Christmas

Since early October I spent many weekends practicing with the Church choir of the annual Christmas show !!! It was tiring and sometimes I had to "Press On" but the weekend came and it was such a blessing to know that I was part of a celebration where people got into the Christmas spirit but more importantly there were a lot of people that accepted Jesus Christ as their Savior.

Thanksgiving

This year since the house was just a mess we took a little break from our Thanksgiving tradition of having it at our home and went to our parent's :-) A lot of the family was there including the newest addition...little Briley. It was a wonderful day of relaxing, hanging out with family and eating delicious food :-)