These are some photos from March that I didn't get around to posting 'til now. Note in the first one that Nathaniel is innately a Yergo- he's using his waistband as a pocket while he sleeps. Next thing you know, he'll be holding his arm straight up in the air too...

Spring Concert

Monday was Ariel's first school concert ever and it was a choral performance. The theme was 'take me out to the ballgame'. Only the Kindergarteners and the First Graders performed, as they split up the grades and rotate performance schedules, trading between Christmas and Spring concerts.

Well, Ariel was one of the first kids in to line up on stage for the first graders, and we immediately spotted her. MawMaw, PawPaw and our friends from church, the Stumps, were there with us to watch. We all stood up and waved and she started waving and jumping up and down. She was so excited. But apparently, not quite as excited as the kid next to her. He kept jostling himself around, and when the music started, he started dancing and doing weird moves with his arms, perhaps trying to do some kind of ghetto dance. It was hysterical!

The kids did a decent job, though it was a little hard to hear over the canned music playing thru the speakers. I will have to say that the sound system was 100% better quality than the ones we had in school! Anyway, it was a fun little event, and a memorable first one at that!

I just had to post a couple of pictures of our sweet babies. They're getting so big!

Yesterday apparently was Super Lamb's birthday. Did you know that? Yup. He was 9 and now he's 10. Nathaniel informed me of this on Monday night. He was talking about the pretend cake he was gonna make and everything, and then Daddy overheard. "What about a real cake? Oh, I know which cake Super Lamb likes!" Of course, everyone knows he's referring to Rainbow Chip. Nathaniel was so excited at the idea and proclaimed, "That's Super Lamb's favorite!" And so, we made birthday cupcakes for Super Lamb's 10th celebration. I don't know why he's turning 10, as in reality the kids got it from my mom about 4 yrs ago. But, that's beside the point.

We sang Happy Birthday to Super Lamb, and then a second round for Grandma and Aunt Kim's birthdays, which are also this week. Dustan just sat shaking his head in disbelief that I was actually doing it. Too funny. Nathaniel was so happy. He even made Super Lamb a card. How adorable is that? Can't say that it's cute, because he has informed me that he's not cute anymore. Yup, right from is own lips. He told me this week that, "When I was a baby I was cute. Now I'm just cool." It was hysterical!

I didn't get any photos of the cupcakes, but I did of Nat and Super Lamb after the party. And yes, Super Lamb was busy using the computer. That's how he learns! Now, who's coming over to help us eat the cupcakes?

Yesterday was the aftermath of holiday celebrations. The kids had a hard time falling asleep the night before, and then to get up and ready for school - well, it started ok, but by the time 7:30am rolled around, they were already picking at each other and whining... this lead eventually to a complete meltdown by Miss Ariel when she couldn't find her shoes for school, and she completely lost it. She was sent to her room and missed the bus, all because she hadn't taken care of her shoes on Saturday. Well, she did settle down eventually, but was almost late to school. So, I warned her about her behavior at school that day, and anticipated perhaps some problems by the end of the day.

So, fast forward 3 hours and it was still hectic around here, and the school calls. It's her principal. Uh.... ok... so, I am waiting for the worst after the morning I'd had, and then he starts in.

"Mrs. Yergo, we had a meeting with the teachers and it's been decided that Ariel is one of our shining students here at Orendorf." What? Then he goes on to say that she is a great role model, very well behaved, does her work like she should, participates and helps in class, and has greatly improved on her reading. And then he brought up the fact that she had brought a book in to read to her teachers a little while ago, and how she read it so beautifully and with feeling, and it made them cry. I had to smile about that, 'cause I knew that when she had asked to take it, that her teacher would either love it or ignore it. It was the Grateful, Grateful book with Art Garfunkel music. Being grateful for what God gives you is a major thing around here, and so I am glad she likes the book and made it a point to share it on her own accord.

Anyway, it just goes to show you that even though bad moods happen, and frustrations, your kids do listen to what you teach them, and it can easily affect others. Always trying to do the right thing, even when others don't seem to be watching, is extremely important because God always uses the unexpected. ; )

Western Easter

This year was a little confusing for the kids, because we celebrated Western Easter which happens to be the same as Orthodox Palm Sunday, and then this weekend will be Orthodox Easter (Pascha). But they learned the story and enjoyed the service. And then we went to MawMaw's for dinner and the egg hunt. Very exciting stuff. We had a fun time, though truly, even though the family is all "Christian" no one really takes it to heart and actually lives in a dedicated way, so I never feel like it is a true celebration of Christ, but only the secular observation of the holiday. But as our Priest said, "It's not a matter of putting Christ in or taking Him out of something, it's a matter of putting ourselves in Christ. "

In any case, here are the photos of the day.

TBall

Well, tonight was our first evening of juggling kids' schedules. Thursdays have been, since January, Ariel's ballet class. Today we added TBall to that. The practice follows ballet just a half hour later, which doesn't give us much time to get changed and drive 20 minutes to get there. But it is just enough- unless you don't know where the field is and then show up at the wrong one. (whoops) But in the end, we made it, just about 15 minutes late, and Ariel had great fun. She is one of two girls on the team, and she was excited to see her classmate Tyler was playing on her team too.

What makes this particular day even more special than to mark the baseball season and the fact that our kids are now playing team sports (I am getting older), is Nathaniel. We all know that he tends to be quite the sensitive thing, but today his normal drama was compounded by his weariness from staying up late last night and by the fact that Mommy *gasp* made him wear his sneakers. yup. That was the problem that started the craziness tonight.

What used to be the coolest, fastest sneakers ever, are now "stupid shoes, Mommy. I hate them!" Yeah. So, I asked,"What is wrong with them?" And what do you know, it is because he can't get them fastened the way he likes them to be. (I knew this for at least a month, but he changes his mind on things so often, you can never tell what the problem will be on any given day)

Mind you, they are velcro, and you would think that it would be fairly easy to put them on and go. But with him, he has this need for tightly secured shoes. He wants them so tight that they actually create wounds on his feet. Yeah. Blisters, bruises, even gaping holes and broken toenails, bloody messes because he just HAS to have them tight! What is that all about? I have no idea. I think maybe there is something wrong with the nerves in his feet or something, because he doesn't complain about the sores that show up on his feet- except when I clean them with peroxide and put ointment on them so they don't get infected. Good grief. At that point, you can hear him screaming down the street. ; )

Soooo, the drama of the sneakers. Yes. I forced him into the car and buckled him up because he just wouldn't move on his own accord. Then Ariel started yelling at him for screaming, and crying that her ears hurt 'cause he's too loud... then the Mommy wrath came out and they settled down. ; ) Within 2 minutes Nathaniel was asleep. Thank God.

Well, fast forward thru a fun ballet class- Nathaniel still sleeping in the car- Ariel gets changed in the car, and he slowly wakes up. Then I am attempting to find the field with no address or map, and hoping Ariel doesn't start complaining about getting carsick, as we were on country roads, and it felt like a rollercoaster. Finally we found the field- hooray. Nat throws another fit about the shoes. Grrrrr. I am losing my patience... I drag him, crying, to the field, looking around to figure out which guy is the coach... after a few minutes, he showed up. Asked him if he was the Phillies coach. Nope. The Braves. What???? So he called the guy with the teams schedule. Uh, yeah. We're supposed to be at the highschool field. Ok then.

After getting to the right field, again with the dragging of my son, switching between trying to entice him with the idea of making new friends, which he loves, and threatening to set him alone until he was quiet (he is such a Momma's boy, that he of course clung even more to me so that I was tripping over him, and he was begging me to carry him), we met the right coach. Nice. Then since Nathaniel refused to play, we watched Ariel practice batting and she's pretty good. Yes, the coach was pitching the ball. They didn't introduce the stand tonight. Don't know why, but whatever. But the last pitch she hit bounced off towards the bottom of the bat near her hands, and it jumped back up and hit her in the eye/brow. "Great," I thought. "And just in time for Easter and pictures." She had a bright red spot for awhile, but she didn't complain. She is a tough cookie. Guess I'll check it out in the morning.

So, after all the crying and hub-bub, Dustan showed up near the end of practice, and tried to get Nathaniel to play ball. Didn't work. He just turned the waterworks on again, and he has a runny nose right now, so having snot everywhere was not helping. Nat just couldn't be convinced.

Later when we got home and had a snack, we went for a walk to the playground. By this time, he was in a great mood, and was talking big about Tball, and how he loves to play and he'll be so fast, and hit the ball far and.... good grief. Let's hope he sustains some of his newly found enthusiasm for the next practice on Tuesday. Let's really hope!

Tricky Tricky

So, I am attempting to figure out these confounded backgrounds and coding issues to get the stinkin' advertising or error buttons off the screen. Please bear with me as I try to get it right. Hmmmm... in the meanwhile, I do like the background. Ah, here I am again wasting time on things that really aren't important, when I could be blogging some more stories or reading or spending time with my Sweetie who is sighing next to me. Think that's my cue to go relax for the night. ; )

Writing, writing, writing

The thing about blogging is, you're supposed to write something. So, yeah. It's been a little while since I've written, but not necessarily because I didn't have anything to write about. It has been an interesting journey, this past month. This is the first year have have participated in Great Lent. So, I've been *trying* to do some reading up on it, along with books about Orthodoxy, devotionals and being in a Bible Study. So, a lot of meditating on religious matters, and just a lot of everyday things going on, along with a not-so-motivated me, has meant a drawn out process that didn't really accomplish a whole lot. But, sometimes learning new things slowly helps you think about what is important in life and helps the morphing into a new creature a little easier on self as compared to going cold turkey or "biting off more than I can chew"....

In any case, I have learned some things about church history and tradition, a lot of which I have always wondered about, and now know why certain things in the church I grew up in always bothered me- it's because those things were not the way it's supposed to be. Things such as how often to take communion and what that exactly means in the first place. Other things like worship, holiness, being set apart from the world, not building up treasures here on earth, the honor in martyrdom (though in some cases I think even this was a matter of pride for some), confession, the commandment to forgive, church government that does not sway in the face of societal changes... the list goes on in more and more detail as I learn more and ask more and so, I am satisfied that I am growing on this journey, be it irritating at times and dissatisfying at others; I know that even the 'boring' parts of life are needed foundations on which to measure other things. There is always something to learn. So I am happy.

This year we will be attending Pascha at the church we've been attending, the name of which is St. John Chrysostom Antiochian Orthodox Church We are getting excited about celebrating it this year. You can look here to read what Pascha is. This year Pascha falls a week after the western church's schedule, so we get to celebrate 2 weeks in a row. It has been an interesting adventure so far, and we are looking forward for this most blessed and holyday to arrive this year!