Lots of Snow!

It has been snowing...wait, let me check...yes, it is still snowing. It has been snowing for 26 hours now (I can't say for sure if it snowed all night last night, but it started at 8:40pm Friday night and has been snowing since we woke up this morning). We really do love snow, and have had a lot of fun with it, but this is really a LOT of snow.

MJ loves to play in the snow. I think Joey wasn't very happy with snow being higher than his knees. Sheila is still trying to figure out how to walk well in her boots. After working so long on the driveway only to watch the pavement disappear before our eyes with continuing snow... we decided to stay in for the afternoon and keep warm. We wanted to decorate the trees (I just picked up our second one from freecycle...yay!) but we are going to work on that tomorrow. We are sad to be leaving all this snow as we are heading to St. Louis on Tuesday...maybe it will snow a *little* there.

I guess we need to move the ladder

Sheila is quite the climber and can already make it up and down the slide in our basement by herself. She decided to raise the bar however by trying to climb ladders. Last night we managed to get a video of this. She had PJs on at first, but the feet were slippery. I thought I shouldn't post a diapered baby on the blog, but after Mary's post I guess naked babies are okay.




And this is not at all realated to the ladder, but a month ago during their K4J class, the boys made these churches. K4J is a really cute religious ed. program and last month their virtue and mission was to "love the church" I was pretty impressed with MJ's stained glass noodle window which he did entirely by himself (a teacher wrote the words on the bottom)

Sheila's birthday

Sorry for the delay in posting this. I really love snow, and if there is any on the ground, I make sure my family spends as much time in it as possible, and that usually means neglecting any chores that must take place inside the home.

Sheila woke up on her first birthday and I think she realized she was a big kid. First, she helped herself to some cheerios. We relaxed most of the day (except for my crazy idea to go to the post office to renew my passport which lasted from 12:30-2pm and everyone was going crazy). We finally had a late dinner and birthday celebration. I think she enjoyed her dinner and cake. Her brothers were desperate to try to help her unwrap her presents but we insisted on letter her try it herself. I think she got the hang of it near the end and was particularly interested in trying to rescue this furry thing from the red box.


Of course the day after her birthday we all got such a great gift...it SNOWED! We all played outside a little, but then I realized Sheila had a fever. I think it's just a cold and fever, but she's been hanging in there (and is cutting her 2 top front teeth).

Remembering last year

As I was rushing around yesterday, I remembered how Dec. 3rd 2008, I was out putting up Christmas lights knowing that I'd be too busy pretty soon to get them up. This time last year, we had just gone to the hospital and were getting closer to meeting our little girl. Finally at 7:38pm last year, Sheila Mercedes was born. We were pretty happy.

Halloween 2009

This Halloween shall be especially remembered, because it was the day we put up our hammock. A 6 year anniversary gift that was a little late in arriving, but very worth it. Because of this, we spent half of the day playing around outside in the leaves. As usual, it started getting dark, I could see our neighbors gathering for the party in the cul de sac, and we were very late getting out the door. This year one family put a lot of time into making a haunted forest in their backyard. I'm not really into spooky stuff, but their efforts were neat. And despite on and off drizzling rain the neighbors pulled off the cul de sac block party this time complete with a grill and tent. At 6pm we began our pumpkin carving and by 6:45 were dressed and out the door! We got an extra pumpkin b/c Mario decided to make his office fun by having a pumpkin carving contest on Friday afternoon. Which of course, he won. I suppose it's bad that I'm just used to him winning everything, it's just the way he is. (He thinks it was the pumpkin carving knife in between his pumpkins eyes that made him win).

As for our costumes... Joey initially picked Blue Lightning McQueen. I had a feeling he would go for that idea, but then once he got the box on would not like it. It was so fun creating this car the perfect shade for Blue Lightning McQueen (*which is Joey's favorite car and is almost as important to him as his blanket). Before I put the final paint job on the box, I had him try it on. He said he didn't want it anymore and wanted to be a boy. Apparently this isn't the first time a Suarez has wanted to be a car but then changed his mind. After explaining to him that he had to dress up as something, and recaping his Halloween costumes from the previous 2 years, he decided on Luigi. Which is funny, b/c after seeing MJ excited about being a Jedi on Halloween night, Joey decided he would be one too. I think it confused a few people when he said he was Star Wars (clearly looking like Luigi). If he had told me before we were heading out the door, I probably could have changed his costume, but he did this so secretly, I don't think it bothered him.

Our cute cat.

Luigi (well, clearly with this light saber he made out a k'nex he is a character from Star Wars)

A Jedi (no one in particular)

The police officers who are trying to keep the above characters in line.

ND vs USC

2 weeks ago, Christian kindly invited Mario to use an extra USC ticket that I believe he won somehow. Rather than having a guys only weekend, I invited myself and the kids along. We had a great time...I hope we didn't hold the guys back too much. Thank you for thinking of us Christian!

Sometimes not having a ticket to an ND game is just as fun. I stayed out at my family's tailgate with my mom, Erin, and some of their old college friends and their kids. When Joey and Sheila were napping, I slipped away for a nearly 2 hour tour of the campus. I packed my rollerblades and was able to move very quickly. The campus is very quiet and still during a football game, so I was lucky to get mostly people-free shots. I really have very little knowledge of the game itself, so I avoided all heartache from watching it.

Meething Baby Cecilia

Mario and I were fortunate to meet baby Cecilia last Sunday. We took a quick trip to Manassas to drop off some meatballs and dinner for the Tompkins and the Kazas, and then made our quick visit to meet and hold Cecilia. She is so adorable and very peaceful! Oh, I miss sweet newborns. Mary and Ryan seem to be very comfortable and happy parents!

And here are a few other pics from the weekend...watching the ND game...

and hanging out Sunday afternoon.

Fun weekend

Friday night we went to our first local highschool football game. We've been thinking about it for awhile. I think the kids had a good time. We picked a good game too (the homecoming weekend game). Ahhh...high school memories.

Saturday morning started very early with the Catholic consignment sale where I had a successful shopping and completed Sheila's fall/winter wardrobe, got some more jeans for the boys, and picked up a few toys.

I got home and we quickly threw everyone in the car to go to baby AJ's baptism. The kids looked really cute, and I wished we had taken pictures. At the reception things got exciting as Sheila pulled a wall-heater over on herself and got a bruise on her cheek. Later MJ and Joey were wrestling and Joey got kicked in the face, as i was consoling him, MJ casually plopped down on the floor next to me, and I either heard a pop or saw his eyes pop. It was clear he dislocated his elbow. We took that as our cue to finally leave and drove back home to our hospital. We decided to let Mario try to fix MJ in the parking lot of the ER. With a little twist and a pop, it was back in! Way to go Mario - saved us our ER copay.

Sunday we went apple picking at Marker Miller orchard. We went during their apple festival weekend which seems to have been a mistake b/c it was super crowded. But we really did have a fun time.

Way to go Bobby!

Trip to ND vs Washington

Up until we left on Thursday evening at 8pm, we debated whether or not we should make the trip. The forecast for Saturday was cold and rainy, whereas it was going to be beautiful in Ashburn. We decided to go anyway. Friday was overcast and chilly, but not so bad. So we were able to walk around campus a lot with the kids. As the day progressed, I suspected MJ was getting a fever. After some tylenol and a good night's sleep, his "mystery fever" was gone. The rain held off most of the morning. My mom took the kids back to the hotel during the game, when it finally started to rain.

Mario and I had a great time in the game. We submitted to our usual role of crowd ralliers as we consistently cheered and yelled at appropriate times and encouraged our fellow fans to join us. The game was intense, as we suspected it would be. It was also really wet...but knowing our kids were safe inside and warm, while we had ponchos and super rain coats, we were just fine. When Washington scored that sliding touchdown at the end, we sat down and Mario said, "I don't know how we're going to win this." In my joking way I said "milagro" and then explained how it would take a miracle. Then we heard the play was under review... overturned... okay 1st and goal. We can do this. In my optimism I said, "This will be like one of those games that will go down in history....that cold wet October 3rd game vs. Washington" The fans in front of us half turned and smirked a little. The same fans who also asked me if I was a cheerleader since I seemed to know all the cheers. "Nope, just a student."

As we all know, it pays to be optimistic. What a game!!!

MJ Vision

"That is really scary...do that again."

Other walking kids

I've recently taken a trip down memory lane in search of images and videos of all of my kids around 9 months old. It has been so fun to look at Joey and MJ when they were younger. So many parts of their personality were already evident back then (especially in hindsight).

So, for a little comparison (which means absolutely nothing, and no parent should compare their children). Perhaps comparison is the wrong word... for fun, here are some videos of the other kids when they started walking.

MJ walked at 9 months old just like Sheila. This was not the best video of it, but this video also very well captures his chubbiness.




Joey was also a pretty physical and atheletic kid, but didn't walk until right at his 1st birthday. I think some of it had to do with his toe which was a little special when he was a baby. I have a few other videos of Joey walking, but this one also captured our sweet MJ when he was 3.

9 month stats:

MJ - didn't have any b/c he was in Bangkok, but here are his 6 month

MJ (6 month) W:27lbs 2oz H:28 3/4 inches

Joey (9 month) W:27 lbs 10oz H: 31 tall inches head:18 1/2

Sheila (9 mth) W:20lbs 6 oz H: 28 1/4 tall inches head: 18 1/4

Sheila is in the 80% for height and weight and 95% for her head size (guess she's smart too)

MJ and Joey were both over 20lbs by the time they were 4 months old. So Sheila is still small to me!

She's Walking

We've been waiting for Sheila to really take some good steps on her own before we could say she was really walking. She seemed ready much earlier than her brothers. But while she is very physical and a tough girl, she seems cautious and balanced about walking. This video doesn't doesn't fully capture all of the steps she can take, but it was the best we got from today. Plus, she looks so cute in this dress, I just had to share.

Far too long...

It's been far too long since we have posted. Much has happened, and I don't think I have proper time to recap it all. But here are a few pictures from September.

Football season is here.... Go IRISH!

We have been working on remodeling the basement (just recessed lighting and paint).

I have many helpers.

Joey helps by keeping himself busy with other things. He did this pretty difficult puzzle all by himself.

Where to begin...

I get emails like this a lot, but felt this one was really worth sharing. I don't think it matters where you stand on health care reform or abortion, I don't see how it would ever be neccesary to have a Planned Parenthood clinic inside a highschool.
From the American Family Association:

Obama's plan will put Planned Parenthood clinics inside your child's school.
Yes, you read that right. Under an innocuous-sounding section titled "School-Based Health Clinics," H.R. 3200 will authorize Planned Parenthood, as a "sponsoring facility," to run a clinic during school hours on the grounds of public schools, with absolutely no accountability either to parents or school administrators.
All this will be done at taxpayer expense. And unlike the rest of the bill, which isn't slated to go into effect until 2013, these clinics are scheduled to go into schools next fall.

http://capwiz.com/afanet/utr/2/?a=14010941&i=75572208&c=

Florida is kinda nice

The kids and I rounded out our August vacations with a trip to Florida to visit with my parents. Being on vacation without Mario was a little sad, but we can't have everything I guess. As with any large trip, getting there is half the battle. My parents suggested I try to fly with the kids, and found tickets so we'd all arrive in Orlando at the same time. I went into the trip very positively and really, all the kids behaved even better than I imagined. I guess it depends on the ages of the kids and their tempermants. MJ helped roll a "daddy suitcase" through the airport, and I pushed Joey and Sheila in the double stroller. Security took me about 5 times longer than anyone else, and the agents paused and seemd the need to recount as I walked by with my little crew. I also had a largely empty plane both going and returning. So I had 2 rows to myself for the 4 of us. Sheila fell asleep during take off; the boys played a bit, read books, watched a movie, and then fell alseep during the movie. MJ woke up as we were landing and got to look out the window, and Joey stayed asleep until we got to the gate. The way back was also really great.

Oh, and we had a fun time there too! Sheila thought this table looked dangerous, so of course she liked to play under it.

I think the boys had fun, but were a bit apprehensive about the seaweed that was around the first day (no doubt it came in from all the storms...which did not affect us at all.) MJ turned impressively tan despite the 50 sunscreen I put on him.

This day turned out nicely as it was a beautiful Sunday, halfway through our trip, and we went to mass at a lovely church. And then while the little kids were napping, I was able to take MJ to the pool by myself. He is quite the fish now - he can almost swim the width of the pool, and dared to jump in the deep end. But since he's afraid of the drain, he did this weird spin move to catch the ledge as he was landing, and unfortunately cut his chin. It wasn't very deep, but enough that I worried about it. We didn't want a scar that would be annoying when this likely to be hairy kid starts shaving. We took him to an urgent care and the doctor put some Dermabond on it. And I beat myself up for a whole day because MJ couldn't go in the water anymore.

But the trip was more than just beaches and pools, and we enjoyed hanging out with the Keppel grandparents. We definitely had a fun time (and I think my parents had a good time too).

Lots of traveling

We've been all over the East coast the last few weeks, and I haven't been able to sort through all the pictures. Mario's mom has added a few slideshows of pictures from our recent vacation on their family blog, so you are welcome to check that out if you are curious as to what has been going on with us. Here are a few pictures I wanted to add to their collection.

These are from our visit with Christian and Michelle's family in North Carolina for little Christian's baptism. I am completely amazed at Michelle's energy for having just had a baby 2 1/2 weeks before the baptism and yet preparing for a major sacrament, party, and large group of family to stay. Also, their house is so neat and well kept. Michelle, you will have to share your secret with me, though I'm pretty sure even with the great tips I won't manage to keep my house as well-maintained as you have.

The baptism was quite lovely. Christian David was very well-behaved (he nearly slept through the entire ceremony). I enjoyed meeting Christian and Michelle's friends. Their baptism party afterwards was so much fun and I am impressed at how relaxed they were - this is another thing I will try to learn from them.

Sunday we went to mass, then off to the Dixie Grill for a delicious brunch, and a visit to the USS North Carolina battleship museum. I have so many more great pictures, but haven't sorted through them yet. So, here are four as an appetizer.

Mario's mom came down with another van-load of Suarezes on Sunday afternoon. Here we are at the end of Mom's birthday celebration on Monday.

My fun weekend

I have fully recovered from a crazy mid-July weekend, and feel I must post about it before it gets too overdue. I'll try to keep it brief.
First, Thursday July 16th, Mario and I went out to celebrate our 6 year anniversary (which was really on Sunday, but we were too busy to celebrate it then). We went to The Tuscarora Grill in Leesburg, which is known for it's fine dining. This particular night they were hosting a beer tasting event. It was actually really fun. Normally you are seated with other people at a table, but they set up a special table for us on our anniversary. We tried 8 beers and had 6 courses of excellent dishes paired with the beer. All of the beer came from Lagnoitas brewing co. in California. I should try to find the menu again because the food was awesome.

Friday, Mario's company had their annual Mexican Fiesta held at a partner's home. One of Mario's favorite parts of this party is the sports competitions. I've been pregnant on and off for this party, but he insisted I join him this year to play. We started off with a little 3 on 3 basketball, and our team won. I haven't played basketball in years! Then we played volleyball and our team won again. It was nice being able to play sports together again.

I went home to shower while the babysitter continued to take care of the kids and Mario stayed to enjoy the fiesta. I then went out to begin the celebration of Erin's bachelorette weekend. We made some very cute headbands that night (I had no idea those were still in!)

Saturday I left the kids again to go to two winery's for tastings. We also had a bridal shower for Erin at the second winery. I went back home to play with the family for a bit, and then Mario drove me to DC to join the rest of the bachelorrette party for dinner at Firefly and a night out on the town in DC. Mario was very sweet and picked me up that night (yes, he put all the sleeping children in the car, drove to get me, returned home, and got the sleeping kids back in bed). Our evening didn't end until 3am!

Bright and early at 7am, I was up again on Sunday to drive back to DC, this time to co-host a Baby shower for our friend Andrea (the very adorable pregnant one in the middle). Sheila came with me this time and I think had fun trying out all of the new baby gear.

Mario was incredibly generous the whole weekend and did a great job taking care of the kids. He even managed to finish the railing to the front porch of our home that weekend. I'm lucky to have such a great husband! And what a way to celebrate 6 years of marriage!

Work around the house

It's been awhile and we've been working on a lot of things. I'm borrowing this post that Mario made on the Suarez family blog. Hopefully I'll have another update soon.

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Here are some changes we've done recently...

First, we redid our deck, b/c when we moved in, we had this:




And now we have this:

Another before angle:



And an after angle:


We also added a new wood railing to our front stairs. For full effect...

When we moved in:




After some work:


Now:

4th of July weekend

Nothing says lets celebrate America like taking on some home-improvement projects. We decided to go with refinishing the deck since Mario had the extra days off work. The threat of rain prevented us from fulling finishing the deck, so I don't have complete before and after pictures. But if your deck looked like this, wouldn't you want to do something about it?

The actually staining of the deck isn't so bad... kind of like painting a room in your house. There's just a lot of prep work. Mario was master of the sander. I found it was a bit stronger than I am.

So I was stuck with the tedious task of setting the nails that had popped up back in the deck. I'm only smiling b/c MJ asked me to. I am glad I learned to sink nails and eventually got into a pretty good groove.


This is what happens to our home when we do projects (especially outside ones). The kids entertained themselves pretty well. This is a very creative home made out of patio cushions that were quickly tossed inside to clear the deck for work. That night I thanked the children's guardian angels for keeping them alive since we didn't watch them that much all day.

I do think it's nice that the kids see us doing projects. MJ certainly enjoys it.

He really loves power tools and has taken several still shots of the various tools we own. Typically he has to pose them in the exact way they are on their boxes or the front page of their instruction manual (which he loves to read and thinks are his magazines).

Despite all the work, we managed to celebrate the 4th in a more conventional way of a BBQ at our neighbor's house. It was great getting to hang out and get to meet more of our neighbors and all of their kids. Plus, a few of the men had some great fireworks so we all enjoyed a very nice show on their lawn.
Mario didn't like that I let Joey use a sparkler on his own. (I still did it after taking this picture, but I held it with him).

I have a cute video of the boys and their sparklers as well as the 2 dozen neighborhood kids, but I didn't know if you'd find that interesting.

What would a blog post be without a picture of Sheila and one of her cute faces?

Oh, I have to get a video of her crawling before it's too late. She continues to improve in speed. Our new song for her is sung to the Spiderman theme song tune "Danger girl, danger girl, goes wherever the danger is"
The projects did not end there. Sunday I returned to Home Depot to rent their 14 ft ladder (which after renting the sander on Friday, I think they began to recognize me). With more threat of rain on Sunday, we couldn't work on the deck. So we moved inside and replaced the chandelier in our foyer. It is now my new favorite part of the house to stare out. Mario still amazes me with all the new things he takes on. His only comment is something like, "The more I do, the better I get at trying new things."