Mario and Tricia

Happy Birthday Isabel Kiera!

2012-01-20T05:15:00.001-08:00

Isabel's siblings really helped her enjoy her first birthday. Of our children, she may have understood her 1st birthday better than all of them because of this. The night before, they hyped it up for her, and all day long she heard praises to the "birthday girl." Sadly she had a cold on her birthday. We enjoyed our relaxing day, reminisced about her birth and looked at her newborn pictures. She played a lot with siblings and we had her "due date friend" Kelly & her family over to play in the afternoon. I selected Isabel's dinner which somehow became tradition for the 1st birthday -thought she eats everything I definitely could have picked something else.

After dinner all the kids were a bit crazy and poor Isabel bumped her head on an end table. But all was well again by the time she opened her presents. She was so loved by her godparents...thank you! Mary, I'm sorry I forgot to give her your present, so she'll get it this morning. Michael, I didn't give the Christmas gift at Christmas, so she got both on her birthday. We instructed the big kids several times to let her open her presents, and after much patience, she figured out the concept and was really enjoying each new gift. We had to carry her away kicking to have her cake, but once she saw it she reached for it and was excited about that too.

Our baby is 1!

2012-01-19T09:28:00.001-08:00

I can't believe Isabel is 1 already! It was only 1 year ago that we were able to great the newest addition to our family - isn't having babies so exciting?! I've selected way too many pictures of Isabel, especially the ones which highlight how tiny she is.

7 years of MJ

2012-01-19T08:30:00.000-08:00

We thank God for the blessing of our enthusiastic, caring, inquisitive first-born son. On Jan 16, 2005 you changed our lives for the better. We love you Mario!

The seventh birthday

2012-01-16T09:31:00.000-08:00

We went a little crazy and decided that since MJ had no school on his actual birthday and since we hadn't played with cousins or the Franzonello's in a long time, we would maximize play time together by having a sleepover. Tommy, Peter, Catherine, Tony, & Xavier made Mario's birthday SO special. They had dinner together Sunday night, went to bed with a 6 year old MJ, and woke up with a 7 year old! We hear this may have been Xavier's first sleepover.

Our guests made all of the usual birthday fanfare so much more special. We had pancakes, eggs, and bacon for breakfast; ordered pizza (and had a few sides like blueberries which MJ loves) for lunch. The kids played well together - the weather was nice and they spent some time at St. Theresa as well.

Mario created another great cake based on MJ's request. The Kaza family was sure to bring 3 presents: a super bouncy ball, a soccer ball, and a super amazing water gun. The Franzonellos know our family well and got us some Cars 2 figures. By 4pm all of our young guests had left.

Our family party continued as MJ requested steak, rice, and broccoli for dinner. It was extra special that just as we were saying prayers and as Dad Mario was saying extra blessings for MJ, I looked at the clock and noticed it was 5:56pm -precisely the minute he was born. We all took a moment to enjoy that fun fact. Before we even cut into the steak, Joey had another greatly confusing line, "This pork looks like chicken?" Well, whatever it looked like, each person in the family licked their plates clean.

Thank you to the Franzonellos and Kazas for giving your kids to surround Mario on his birthday. Thank you for the notes on the blog and the phone calls. Mario really enjoyed giving the recap of his day and each time he shared his story it made him more excited about all that was done for him.

Now to get ready for our next birthday...

A E I L S

2011-11-18T11:15:00.000-08:00

I was just writing names on rubber bands for our large family gathering in Albany next week. As I got to my family, I realized that my daughters have almost the exact same letters for their first name.

What do these letters spell?

A E I L S

+ h = S h E I L A
+ b = I S A b E L

This is how our football Saturdays begin

2011-11-09T19:47:00.000-08:00

Both MJ and Joey are having a great time with football this year. We've figured that MJ is the only player on his team to run for a touchdown, throw for a touchdown, and catch a touchdown pass. MJ is on the light blue team. He is the center this play and wearing a navy hat.

Here's the touchdown reception.

And this was just a few plays later

Happy Halloween

2011-11-01T07:43:00.000-07:00

What's happening in Ashburn?

2011-10-24T06:41:00.001-07:00

I've been having so much fun reading all the posts from the other families and enjoying all of your pictures, I realize we haven't posted anything in awhile.

Our fall schedule includes Mon - CCD class I teach at St. Theresa (Joey is in my class), Tuesday - MJ baseball game and football practice, Wed are FREE, Thurs football practice for MJ and Joey, Saturday football games from 8:30am-Noon. I love Wednesdays because we have nothing to do! Mario and I are coaching Joey's team this year and having a lot of fun with it. Isabel and Sheila seem to go enjoy all the action.

We also really enjoyed the ND gamewatch that so many family were able to make. We were especially happy that Aunt Raquel and Alfonso as well as Aunt Loli joined in on the fun. Aunt Loli shared many amazing clothes with me (THANK YOU!!!) and visited with us on Sunday. She was so generous and bought the kids very fun gifts of bubbles and some wooden games that they all really love. Aunt Loli, we had such a great time with you!

Also in this slideshow is a picture of Isabel after our ER visit. In hindsight the situation is not so terrible, but in the moment it was a bit scary. Very long story made short - I thought Isabel may have swallowed a water balloon and her abnormal cranky behavior, drooling, and "twitching" made me think we should check her out. After 2 x-rays and a few hours she calmed down and we felt that at worst she swallowed it but it probably reached her stomach and she would be fine.

Also back-tracking to September pictures I don't remember if I posted but they were exciting occasions. MJ's first day of first grade. And Joey can ride his bike without training wheels!

Too many pictures to comment on, but at least now you are a bit caught up on what is going on in Ashburn.

Time for piano lessons?

2011-08-21T07:36:00.001-07:00

MJ participated in Piano Express last week. It was a piano immersion from 9am-2pm M-F. He definitely learned a lot in the week and since he's been home on Friday he's been playing more and "writing" his own music.

He advanced himself through the workbook and got to this more challenging (and recognizable) song where he needed to play both his left and right hands simultaneously.

So, piano lessons are expensive. I know we'll eventually pay for them. I already seem a bit overwhelmed by our fall sport commitments and was thinking I could maybe order the primer level piano books that his instructor said he uses and try to go through the books with him myself. I have no training in the piano, but I can read notes to sing. Mario thinks I'm nuts and he's probably right. MJ certainly enjoys this and I'm happy to say his love of "getting it right" through video games is translating into getting it right on the piano. And you can be sure I'd rather him spend an hour playing the piano than playing the Wii.

So, here's our little guy trying to be like Uncle Francis!

Random July photos

2011-08-02T10:29:00.001-07:00

I just love this picture of Isabel

Half Bath

2011-07-26T06:38:00.001-07:00

We enjoyed the result of the upstairs bathroom so much, we jumped right into the next project. I was really happy to find the original pictures of this bathroom from when we moved in. Man, this house needed a makeover! We definitely stretched our imaginations to see its potential...and now we are finally making that a reality.

Upstairs Bathroom Remodel

2011-07-26T06:37:00.001-07:00

I appreciate the cool collage that Mario made with the bathroom remodel pictures, but I wanted to post them this way so that if you wanted to view them bigger you could. Mario also did a great job of copying the angle of my before pictures exactly - although, I may not have picked the best angles in the first place. You'll just have to come visit us to see these in person.

A recap of May

2011-06-18T17:30:00.001-07:00

Seeing as we are well in to June, I am going to recap May (minus Mother's Day, Luke's ordination, and our bathroom renovation). First a note, after the ordination and being embarrassed by Sheila's hair, I've made an effort to try to do something with it every day. As soon as she pulls it out, I'd do it again. After a week, I think I successfully trained her to be vain. (great)

I think I have captions for most pictures...these are the events:

Joey's first football team and game
Mario's second football season
Trip to Charleston, SC for a wedding
Hanging out with the Hanson family
Field Day at St. Theresa
Ashburn Farm Summer Kick Off on memorial day weekend (games, food, fireworks, FUN!) Sheila was super brave to go on the ride and wanted me to spin it more. Many a kid got sick from it - we all made it off okay.
MJ's Kindergarten graduation

Happy Easter and 30th Birthday

2011-04-25T14:34:00.000-07:00

Thank you for all the birthday wishes. I really had the BEST birthday! God perfectly planned my 30th birthday to fall on Easter - so that's really all I needed. Mario and the kids outdid themselves with treating me so wonderfully. Thank you to Tabitha and Babu for hosting Easter and Tabitha for making so many delicious meals for me (my birthday wish was to not have to think about food, but to eat until I was stuffed - so I was definitely at the right house). Mario made a superb cake, the weather was gorgeous...I really couldn't have asked for me. My other birthday desire was to take many pictures - Mario, who doesn't like to take pictures - doesn't realize how lucky he is that he got away doubling up on Easter and birthday pictures.

A few fun ones from the end of March

2011-04-10T06:21:00.001-07:00

I couldn't let this picture of our sweet Isabel go un-shared. And while I was at it, I included a few more from the end of March and early April.

I think I have captions for many of these pictures.

That's my brother!

2011-04-03T13:48:00.000-07:00

Bobby, you are awesome!

Stuff from March

2011-03-24T07:51:00.001-07:00

Mary and Sarah are so inspiring. I really should be taking more pictures of Isabel - she is so very sweet! She is such a content baby. One cute thing she does which probably all babies do, I just don't remember, is that after she wakes up from a long nap, of course she needs to nurse. But after nursing she puts her arms up in the air and does this big stretch which is so adorable. It must be hard work to sleep all day and then eat. :-)

This slideshow includes Mario's 33rd birthday celebration (and my amazing idea that he needed sunglasses, even though he said he didn't need anything) and MJ's birthday party with kids from his class. He's never had a "friend" birthday party as we are usually so fortunate to have the Kazas come over to celebrate. The weather turned out to be beautiful for his sports themed birthday party. We made the football pinata and it was a big "hit" (oh, I am so funny). But really, we made it through 2 full rounds of all the kids taking turns at it, then had to bring out the metal bat! I really didn't think it would make it that long. It's amazing what newspaper, flour, and water can do! I really liked Mario's decorations for the cake. We were thinking even more extravagant, but kept it simple. I think it worked well. There is also MJ's end of the season basketball party and Isabel's 2 month picture. I was happy that I remembered to get 1 picture of her at exactly 2 months. For those who are interested in weight gain, Isabel remains at the 92% for height and 97% for weight (13lbs 9oz). She's 1lb bigger than Sheila at 2 months, so to me she looks pretty chubby - quite delicious.

St. Patrick's Day

2011-03-20T18:32:00.001-07:00

Sorry I'm so late getting these up. We also had a very fun St. Patrick's Day. Shepherd's pie for lunch, and for dinner corned beef, green mashed potatoes, and cabbage (I'm skipping this next year and substituting asparagus or something). The kids enjoyed their green dyed sprite which they call the Leprechaun drink. Mario got the green hat from his teacher in school who is from Ireland. For dessert this kids cut out the shamrock jello shapes on their own and we also had green frosted cupcakes. Oh, and the green shamrock plant was from a student in my K RE class...such a sweet gift and it is such a nice decoration.

On another note - have you noticed that we have successfully brought back the name Sheila? As I'm typing there is an AT&T commercial- I think it's been running since the superbowl - and the girl the guy is supposed to be dating is named Sheila. I think I heard that name used in another commercial for a car. This is probably all because people have seen our Sheila running about, have realized how cute she is, and have now decided to use her name.

Isabel's Baptism

2011-02-20T18:03:00.000-08:00

I know there are many other pictures out there from all the different cameras, so I'd love to get them together at some point. But here is a start.

Thank you to everyone who made Isabel's baptism such a special day. Deacon Luke celebrated a beautiful baptism, and we are thankful godparents Aunt Mary and Uncle Michael were able to take time from their busy schedules to be with us.

We were happy to have a crowd of beautiful families witness Isabel's joining the Catholic church. Let's hope we didn't also share too many germs.

In our traditional growing family picture - we have 2 more children to our group. The lighting wasn't the best, but the kids were all looking the right way and I think the composition was nice.

Happy St. Valentine's Day

2011-02-14T10:33:00.000-08:00

Isabel's gift to me was being SUPER smiley when I picked her up from her crib this morning. And here are a few recent Isabel photos.

The Birthday

2011-02-09T20:35:00.001-08:00

Joey says he had a really terrific birthday, and I'm glad that he is able to be so happy without the bells and whistles and over the top celebrating that I could have done. Simple blue decorations and a blue birthday cake made him so happy. For 2 months he's been talking about his chicken nugget, macaroni and cheese, and green bean dinner. I tried to negotiate a more exotic meal for him, but then realized that he was doing exactly what he should do on his birthday which is get the meal you really want to eat. Every other night, Joey is the last one at the dinner table trying to stomach down meals he isn't interested in. So, tonight, he got exactly what he wanted. Plus, I got the dino shaped chicken nuggets...yeah, I'm a good mom. Then we reminded him he hadn't even opened his presents. Seriously, he's just a happy kid.

He also got a special skype call from Daddy (who called on his lap top from the restaurant where he was dining in Tennessee). You'd think that we would do that more often, but this is the first skype call we've had with Daddy.

Thank you for all the birthday wishes and phone calls. Joey really does enjoy talking on the phone.

Joey Boy

2011-02-09T13:07:00.000-08:00

Happy 4th Birthday to our sweet Joey Boy!

And here's a slide show with some more pictures

1 week old

2011-01-26T20:12:00.001-08:00

I know some of you may have wanted another picture or two of Isabel, but I went a little bit nuts. We took many pictures the last few days, especially today, since she is now 1 week old. The best way to describe Isabel is sweet. She is just a happy little baby girl. All the love, attention, noise, etc around her doesn't bother her one bit. She sleeps so much, and still sleeps at night - and when she's awake she is pleasant... (please I hope I don't jinx myself).

Isabel coming home

2011-01-23T11:52:00.001-08:00

These are a few days late, but I wanted to get them up, because it shows how excited these big kids were to meet their new sister.

In all of Isabel's 4 days of life, she has shown a very laid back personality. She seems to put up with most discomfort without a fuss. And of course, noise, love, and kisses from her siblings are all a normal part of her life.

Where did her name come from? We have liked variations of Isabel "God's promise" or "God is my oath" for 4 years (since before we had Joey). And Mario always liked the nickname "Izzy" which finally grew on me. We were slightly concerned with the popularity of her name now - but we had been calling her Isabel/Izzy for the last 9 months and just could not change. Isabel will reflect her hispanic background. There is a St. Isabel, but we also like to think her name references St. Elizabeth of Portugal - who to many Spanish people is called "Isabel".

Kiera "key-air-uh" reflects her Irish background. This was in the running with Maura - which I really like meaning "Little Mary" but we weren't sure about having Maura as a middle name so close to Suarez. Kiera has so many different spellings and a few different pronunciations. But they all mean "dark-hair or dark-skin". We're hoping she'll have dark hair and it looks like she may.

As for her birth story - it was not nearly as complicated as it may have seemed. Being 5 cm at 40 weeks 5 days, with GBS+ ...we decided to try for a breaking the water induction. I was already a little low on amniotic fluid, and with the few mild contractions I had, her heart rate seemed to dip a little (meaning the cord may be compressed)...this was a little worrisome. After 4 hours of not being in actual labor and waiting for things to pick up, we agreed to a "whif" of pitocin, which was all it seemed my body needed. They started the low dose of pitocin at 4:20pm, and Isabel was born at 6:37pm.

Isabel Kiera

2011-01-20T09:53:00.000-08:00

Welcome Isabel Kiera Suarez
1/19
8lb10oz
6:37pm
20 in

MJ's 6th birthday

2011-01-17T17:46:00.000-08:00

Mario had a very fun birthday celebration. We let him open one of his presents just after his yummy pancake breakfast (the Sonic Colors Wii game) which he was allowed to play far more than would normally be allowed. We were mostly relaxing all day as a family and played games together. Then we picked up Grandma Keppel from the airport who arrived in time for dinner, cake, and presents.

Mario and I laughed the whole time we were decorating the cake. Sorry to be a disappointment - we usually save the "fun" cake for bigger parties and have our Suarez family cake for our small family. But this one - requested to have white frosting and red icing - it just didn't work. I picked up the wrong type of frosting and it "bled" everywhere. Oh well... MJ liked it, and it tasted good.

We appreciated all the phone calls and blog comments. MJ felt like a very special boy on his 6th birthday. We're all a little sad that his sister did not arrive on his birthday, and it seems she really wants to take her time and make some grand entrance.

Happy Birthday Mario!

2011-01-16T07:00:00.000-08:00

I'll never forget the day our MJ was born. He was such a sweet boy and still is. It is so fun to watch you grow older...we are proud of you big guy!

Christmas song

2010-12-25T19:36:00.000-08:00

Christmas Day

2010-12-25T19:02:00.000-08:00

Chriastmas Eve

2010-12-25T19:01:00.001-08:00

Our first Christmas home and completely alone...and I think it worked out well. We missed all of you, and tried to fill the time with as much happiness and craziness as possible (the crazy is pretty easy for our family).
Tricia and the kids delivered 10 plates of cookies to our closest neighbors. We made sure to give the priests a few extra cookies on their plate.
Mario took over sugar cookie baking and decorating.
And all the kids were VERY excited on Christmas Eve and Christmas day.

24 hour babymoon

2010-12-12T19:14:00.000-08:00

Tabitha and Babu agreed to repay Mary, Ryan, Mario, and I for our babysitting favors by working an amazing weekend for us all. I don't know all the details of Mary and Ryan's weekend (we are excited that you have your new place) but I do know that the very Sat-Sun that the Kazas agreed to watch our children turned out to be the day they helped Mary and Ryan move into their new place. So, I believe it was an amazingly self-giving weekend for the Kaza family.

We are very grateful for your gift of a 24 hour babymoon. From 1:30pm Sat to 1:30pm Sun we were quite free and able to relax. Mario and I had a great time! It began with checking into our hotel in downtown DC (thanks to some Hilton points), then bowling in the White House bowling alley, dinner at the Hotel Palomar in Arlington and then drinks and dancing at the rooftop lounge of the W Hotel (very close to the White House with a great view of the Washington Monument). It was fun to enjoy some relaxation in this city we are so close to, yet often rush in and out of for events.

The White House bowling alley may have been the coolest thing we have done. My friend Andrea works in OMB and has access to some fun White House things. This just happens to be one of them. After passing through 2 security check points, wandering the halls of the White House and connecting building to find the Secret Service office in order to get the key to the bowling alley, navigating the basement tunnels beneath the White House, we finally found the Truman Bowling alley. It was a lot of fun just getting there. We have lots of pictures of the bowling alley (modest, but if it's good enough for presidents, it's good enough for us). Mario sat in each chair knowing that at least one president had sat there before him - similar to the stash of the bowling shoes and bowling balls in there. It didn't hurt that I happened to win (115); but I had a lot of fun regardless of that.

Then we had time to change and get ready for the Booz Christmas party at the Hotel Palomar and then the W Hotel in DC. We stayed out until nearly 2am and definitely had a good time (our little baby girl enjoyed dancing with us).

We returned to happy children who seemed to have such a fun time with their cousins! Thank you so much Tabitha and Babu for looking after our 3 crazy kids!

Sheila is 2!

2010-12-04T19:59:00.001-08:00

Sheila seemed to really enjoy her second birthday. She had been sick on Friday with a fever and cough, but slept a lot and I think that helped her recover for her big day. The boys were so excited for her birthday, they woke up early (I was afraid they were going to wake up Sheila) but instead they helped me finish decorating before she woke up. We think she enjoyed her special decorations.

Mario and I were both surprised by how well she understood the concept of her birthday. She walked around saying "Happy -day" and that she was "Two!" We'd say from another room, "Where's the birthday girl" and she'd call back "Right here!"

We spent a good deal of time decorating outside and raking leaves today. And just before dinner we went out to check the lights, and she seemed very excited about them. I wonder if she felt it was all for her birthday?

She enjoyed a yummy dinner with Suarez meatballs, spaghetti, and steamed fresh broccoli. Mario did a great job making and decorating Sheila's birthday cake (MJ suggested the sprinkles and Joey said we should use pink frosting).

Thank you for the birthday wishes and thank you Godfather Christian for the great gifts. The outfit is so cute, and the puzzle is so girl and perfect for Sheila. She also received new crayons, markers, fairy wings and tutu, a new baby and mommy backpack, magformers (which she really loved...another engineer?), a bouncy ball bought by MJ and Joey, and a rocking horse (she doesn't really need to know that we got it from a neighbor).

- and the first picture in the slideshow is from our trip to the dentist on Thursday. The boys had been before and this was Sheila's first cleaning. She did a great job and they were impressed with how she cooperated. The kids really love all the prizes they get from the dentist (the dentist goes to our church!) -

2 years of Sheila

2010-12-04T05:35:00.000-08:00

You've always acted older than you are, and I still can't believe you are 2!

Happy Birthday to our sweet, adventurous Sheila!

Thanksgiving

2010-11-30T09:51:00.001-08:00

Here are a few pictures from our Thanksgiving in St. Louis. Bobby and Suzanne have one of those nice cameras so they have most of the nice group shots.

Happy Halloween!

2010-11-01T06:08:00.001-07:00

Our Halloween was not as "exciting" as the Kaza's. Though, I did paint my shirt orange and was using a hair dryer to try to get it to dry in time. I used kids' washable paint so it made my shirt kind of crinkly.

Mario had to work a lot right up until we left to go out and party. But we were able to throw together this costume for him which ranged from a Private Detective, to a Police Officer, to Wyatt Earp.

Sheila was a little sad that she couldn't be a dinosaur like her brothers, but quickly got happy for her princess costume. And while I really wanted to be a matching princess with Sheila, I felt I should maximize my belly opportunity while I have one.

All the kids really enjoyed trick or treating. Joey's enthusiastic "Happy Halloween" that he said to neighbors as he left was later joined by his get to the point, "Can I have some candy?" whenever they'd open the door and then pause to comment on the cute dinosaur costumes.

Our neighborhood Halloween party was fun as usual. Though these neighbors really make the Haunted Woods in their backyard pretty spooky. But none of the kids woke up with nightmares, so I think all went well. I however, woke up without a voice - I guess a combination of my cold and too much Halloween partying will do that to you. It's funny because I can only whisper and Joey and MJ have been whispering back to me this morning.

Happy All Saints Day!

MJ's Mom song

2010-10-05T19:35:00.001-07:00

MJ made this song for me a few months ago and I've been wanting to share it for awhile. I seem to be complaining a lot to Tabitha about my deeply emotional first born son. He feels everything so very deeply, and this is just the upside of the coin. I must admit, when I'm upset and he sings this, it does help me out. And after he's asleep, I sometimes get it stuck in my head and it keeps me going when I have to clean the kitchen. I'm not certain what makes him want to sing this to me, but he finds his own time to do it. For this video I asked if I could record him, and I think he was a little shy and quiet.

I should also mention there is another version of this song called "You're my dad". I think you can guess what it sounds like.

After posting this, I searched our other home videos that I just put on the computer and came across this one. I believe this is a more original version of MJ's song for us, but if you ask him to sing it today, it will sound like the first quiet video I posted. This clip is a little longer as it includes both of MJ's songs PLUS a bonus Joey song which. (Joey's song was a one-hit wonder and has not been sung in our house since...but it is funny). If you cannot tell, Joey mentions "a picture of dark blue lightning mcqueen" at the end of his song which is why MJ and I laughed. Also, it is just a coincidence that MJ is wearing the exact same pajama top.

Busy September

2010-09-21T18:31:00.000-07:00

I've been wanting to post about all of our activities, but it seems with the end of the slow summer days came busy fall days and I've been too lazy to do anything at night.

So, going back to all the way at the end of August, the kids enjoyed their final days of heat at the pool and MJ enjoyed his first day of Kindergarten! I've forced myself to become more of a morning person, and the little breath of fresh air as we take the short walk to school has helped. I was not 100% sure of our decision, but seeing how things are going well and that St. Theresa was just awarded the Blue Ribbon of excellence (I believe Luke's parish school won that last year) I'm feeling better about things. Joey and Sheila have enjoyed their time together, and it is fun to see Joey being the BIG brother.

We went to ND's first game of the season vs Purdue. We enjoyed the pep rally (where my embarrassing TV clip was filmed) and our traditional trip to LaFortune to buy their bagged bulk candy. The kids had fun at the tailgate.

And on the walk to see the band play.

The weather was gorgeous, my mom watched the kids, and Mario and I enjoyed a very pleasant date at the football game.

It is so hard not to think about my pregnancy with MJ as I go through this one. Exactly 6 years ago, I went to ND's first home game with Mario while carrying a kicking little MJ. His youngest sister also seems to like football!
We stayed Saturday night so we could go to mass at the Basilica on Sunday and have another casual walk around campus before leaving.

The kids were very helpful in the car as usual, though I have now determined it is best to give them all Dramamine just in case. Sheila is the only one who has actually gotten sick (on a short drive to Baltimore) but MJ and Joey have both complained about symptoms. Even the drowsy kind doesn't make our kids sleepy. Fortunately, they are usually pretty happy in the car. Sheila can sometimes get antsy, but she knows how to work Mario's i pad. We have a video of her hitting the home button, scrolling through pages, selecting and playing the app she wants.

Pretty scary... incidentally, this was Sheila's last day in diapers. We got back Sunday night, and on Monday Sept 6th I began the rigorous potty training that worked so well for Joey. She's in big girl underpants, and I wanted to get a cute picture of her with them on, but haven't seemed to get the right shot yet. While I had scheduled this potty training week a month in advance, I did not anticipate her learning to climb out of the crib at the same time. It is not recommended to go through 2 major transitions at once, and I know why... it drives mom crazy! Sheila would get up out of bed saying she had to go to the bathroom, and as we were training, I had to comply. This resulted in some pretty late bedtimes for both of us. The potty training has stuck, and now we are on the right track to getting her to stay in her bed and lay down.

The following weekend, MJ had his first flag football game. Mario is the head coach and he is really enjoying it. He is a really good coach, though at this age the game is a little different. MJ was the quarterback for his first game, and I have a few pictures of that I will share in a slideshow later.

We don't want to leave out our sweet Joey - who while not achieving many "first" milestones is doing quite well. We are making an effort to keep him from getting lost in the shuffle. I wanted to post about his first K4J "Kids for Jesus" class which he attended last year in the shadow of MJ. But his first class this year was on Friday, and Mario also had a special plan for Joey that day and offered to take him in to work. Joey had an awesome time and is still talking about his special day with daddy at the office.

And just last weekend, Mario invited his office to our house for a BBQ. We've known about this for awhile; I had grand plans to have the house in perfect order to put the best foot forward for family life. The plans didn't all work out (there are still fingerprints on the doors and windows) but still, I think the BBQ was a success. I believe it was our best tasting BBQ ever - I'm not sure if I can say it b/c it's sounds like I'm praising myself too much, but it was really a Tabitha style party. I chopped and prepared for HOURS and every item on the menu save one (Sabra Hummus) was home-made. We had an amazing BBQ skirt steak which Mario got the recipe from a restaurant in NJ, Jerked Chicken (not on kabobs which saved us some time), sliders, guacamole, mango salsa, Tabitha's salsa, fresh cut veggie tray, fresh cut fruit salad, chocolate chip cookies and brownies.... gosh, when you list it out like that, it doesn't seem like it should have taken me so long. The other plus to this BBQ on Saturday is that after the kids were asleep and we started the ND game, I just couldn't keep my eyes open. I'm sure this drove Mario crazy, but I literally woke up as the announcer made the last call of the game. I was in a bit of a daze, realized I should be somehow helping Mario emotionally, but quite refreshed for taking such a nice nap.

A Fair Family

2010-08-20T17:47:00.000-07:00

I have a 4 minute video interviewing MJ and Joey about their new sibling with guesses on the birth day and boy/girl. It is very cute, but I'll save that for later. MJ thought a boy would be nice "like him" but that a girl would make us a "fair family" 3 boys 3 girls. MJ said he also wanted us to find out if it was a boy or a girl but to surprise him on his birthday - because this baby is definitely coming on his birthday after we have his cake and presents.

Hopefully this letter tonight was a good enough surprise for him.

MJ's new obsession

2010-08-05T08:24:00.001-07:00

Mario takes on new...well they are like obsessions - every week or so. A book we got from a neighbor is kind of like a child's dictionary but sorts by categories too. So, there was a page on birds and he is now very into birds. He can tell you what each one of these are and I get questions all day long like "Which is bigger a bald eagle or a stork?" He's also into dinosaurs and prehistoric mammals after watching Ice Age. So he alternates running around pretending to be a sabre tooth tiger and at the grocery store a few days ago he told me he was being an ostrich. MJ sure makes life fun!

Trip to Florida

2010-08-02T12:40:00.000-07:00

Last week the kids and I went to Florida to meet my parent's at their condo down there. I was set to drive the almost 16 hour drive, but the morning I was set to leave, my dad convinced me to fly. So, we flew out Monday night and had 4 full days of fun, returned Saturday afternoon (to Mario who was working very hard on this insane project). The kids traveled very well. We only got minor sunburns on Wednesday that cleared up by Thursday (I guess staying out at the beach for 3 hours may do that to you!) I'm very glad for my parent's hospitality and for the opportunity to take the kids there. They all really love the ocean (except for seaweed which makes them crazy for some reason). Sheila is almost too brave and adventurous in the ocean which kept me on my toes. But it was a very good time overall. As usual, I wish I took more pictures. We went to some pools there as well, but I have no pictures of that. MJ was happy to show off his swimming talents, and Joey (who is very brave in the water and loves to wrestle with MJ at 2 1/2 ft deep) learned how to float better with floaties and kick himself around - which I find is a necessary pre-step to learning to swim. So, we were happy for him. Sheila also enjoyed using the ring floats as well.

7 years ago...

2010-07-19T18:51:00.001-07:00

I made the best decision of my life by marrying Mario! We've had a great 7 years and lots of reasons to celebrate.

We had a fun weekend celebrating our anniversary since we knew Mario would have to go back to Newark today for work. Friday night we had a babysitter lined up for us to go out to dinner. I planned on something close by, but Mario felt we should really celebrate such a special occasion. He Mario picked a fabulous place about 35 minutes from our house. It was fun driving along the countryside of VA to get there (in Paris, VA). I'm not sure of the history of the Ashby Inn, but is definitely a fancy restaurant. The chef takes great pride in his creations and the menu is full of amazing food utilizing ingredients from the local VA farms. Each dish was paired with a wine by the sommelier. Mario will have to take us back sometime when I am not pregnant so I can really enjoy the blending of flavors. We ate outside and enjoyed a fabulous view with a tasteful live band playing some music for us. Later in the evening, there was a hint of a thunderstorm with far off flashes of lightning and a nice breeze. Fortunately it didn't rain on us.

For appetizers I had the green tomato gazpacho with grilled parmesan crumble, bacon, olive oil espuma. Mario had the rockfish seviche with honey, espellette, puffed wild rice, sour cherry granite. We usually each pick an entree and split them, but we both wanted the smoked beef rib loin with triple cooked potato, rosemary, beet vinaigrette and we were very happy with our choice. For dessert we had the grilled creme fraiche pound cake with blueberry syrup, salted butter ice cream. The chef brought us extra treats in honor of our anniversary. One was a gummy like dessert and the other was a lemon caramel which was incredible. I gained 2 pounds that night, but I think it was worth it, and baby Suarez was happy. http://www.ashbyinn.com/

I've included other pictures in the slideshow. Our other very exciting news of the weekend is that MJ passed the swim test! He had to swim one length of the pool (50 meters I think) and then tread water for 30 seconds. We didn't think he'd be ready to do it on Sunday, but with both Mario and I at the pool with the kids, we had time to practice with him. MJ was determined and he did it! We were so proud of him, but he was equally proud of himself.

Backtracking a little, I have pictures from our fun sailing event thanks to Booz&Co and the Kaza family who watched our kids for us. It was the first time it rained in about 2 weeks, so it was a very wet sail. But we got to actively participate and trim sails, steer the ship, as well as hang out with coworkers, so it was a fun time.

Rounding out the slideshow are a few kid pictures. Joey passed out on the kitchen floor...I guess he was tired. He fell asleep around 5pm and we decided to see if he could make it through the night, which he did and slept 14 hours! Sheila is very interested in dressing herself now, and while she can't put everything on by herself she has her own opinions of what she should wear.

The final picture was taken at 4:30am this morning. Mario found me on the bed in Sheila's room since she was up vomiting in the middle of the night. He was about to drive to the train for work...but we have made an effort to have a picture together on our actual anniversary and this is what we got! Although, I think it does show our love in action.

Mario in a comic

2010-07-17T13:11:00.000-07:00

Mario has been working long hours as usual, but on top of that, he has always managed to spend time recruiting for the company. As a way to thank the people who have helped bring new talent to the company, they made this comic of them. Some other form of compensation/reward should be coming later for all this hard work, but in the meantime, we thought this was pretty fun.

Baby #4

2010-07-09T10:42:00.000-07:00

I'm 13 weeks pregnant with "Baby Gh" I probably should verify the spelling and name with Mario. With his unusual humor, Mario nicknamed this baby after Ghandi in hopes that this child would grow up to be peaceful. Baby Gh is possibly due Jan 16th (MJ's 6th birthday) and he is VERY excited to have a new baby for his birthday. This being my 4th winter baby, I've been able to compare pregnancies pretty well (and I am already much larger than I was with MJ (sigh)). But with their potential shared birthday, this has been especially fun.

Baby Gh at 8 weeks taken on 6/8/2010 exactly 6 years after....

Baby MJ at 8 weeks, taken on 6/8/2004

And today all 4 of my children were incredibly cooperative during our 1 1/2 hour visit to the radiologist for this ultrasound. I had not intended to bring my 3 out of womb children with me...alone...but I did, and we survived. As you can see based on these 2 images, Baby Gh was moving quite a bit. Though baby often found a cozy position all curled up and face down.

Baby Gh at 13 weeks

That's my brother!

2010-06-30T13:08:00.000-07:00

As you may know, Bobby has been in Japan as a starting pitcher this year and is doing very well. Here is a recent article about him - at the time he was 9-1 and now he is 10-1. Way to go!!!

http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/sb20100624j1.html

So after each game, they pick two "heroes" or MVPs to interview. Bobby has been picked several times. A few things of note: there are lots of fans still in the stands after the game (baseball truly is a favorite sport in Japan). I think the bear microphone is cute. Bobby has a translator - the guy in blue standing standing next to him. In this hero interview, the other teammate is quite the jokster and was making up his own interpretation of what Bobby was saying. Fortunately, it seems people knew that he was joking.

http://www.tv-live.jp/vod/20100518_heroFG.html

Weekend with family

2010-06-28T19:55:00.001-07:00

We had a terrific weekend with all of our family in town. Really and truly, Christian & Michelle did visit (though it seems as though my pictures don't have any of them present)... I just didn't take enough pictures. Thanks to everyone for making the long and short trips to Ashburn this weekend. Thank you Tabitha for the endless supply of food, Mary for the delicious cookies, and the incredible clean up crew!!!

I know the kids had a great time with their cousins - and we are still catching up on sleep today. Some of these slideshow pictures picture:

-the daytime fireworks
-how much Sheila loves Cecilia
-a small frog found by the boys, he made it away alive
-bedtime for the first sleepover night
-4 handsome boy cousins (who were all well-behaved in church)
-a few nighttime fireworks

First summer vacation

2010-06-21T08:26:00.000-07:00

It feels like we were gone for so long, but really it was only 9 days. I don't think it helped that the days before leaving for the trip (you know, those crazy days of cleaning, packing, preparing) we were sick with the stomach flu. But we left on time Friday June 11th and headed for Chicago for my friend’s baby shower. We made the 12 hour drive (despite a tired mommy who just had the flu on Thursday) and arrived at a fancy Marriott in downtown Chicago. (Mario flew to Chicago for work). The kids really enjoyed the city and I wish we could have stayed longer.

Saturday during the shower, Mario and the kids went with Jeff and his son Joseph to Two Toots (a fun restaurant where they serve hot dogs and hamburgers on a train the runs around all the tables. Sheila and Joseph (almost 3) were really cute together.

Sunday, Mario flew to NY and I drove with the kids to St. Louis. I learned that you are contagious with a stomach bug even after you feel better since I got my friend Emily and her son Joseph sick, my mom and my sister. I’m not certain they will invite us back again. J The kids and I had fun in St. Louis with the Keppel family, and my Grandma was visiting too.

Then Thursday we headed to ND for my cousin’s wedding. The rehearsal dinner was at Fiddler’s Hearth (an Irish pub). Sheila is definitely Irish - she can’t help but dance when she hears music and was compelled to climb on the table and start dancing there too. The wedding was fun, and it was nice to reminisce about our own wedding at the Basilica almost 7 years ago.

We arrived 11pm Saturday night (after buying some fireworks for our 4^th of July celebration) and spent most of Sunday relaxing and enjoying our family. We did get out to see Toy Story 3 which was really cute. I’m so excited that we will be seeing so many family members very soon!

We are happy to share...

2010-05-25T13:12:00.000-07:00

Updates

2010-05-18T20:33:00.000-07:00

We just got back from an amazing weekend in Connecticut. We were fortunate to witness Luke as he became ordained a deacon. I've never been to an ordination before and it was so amazing - I highly recommend going if you ever have the opportunity. Photos from the ordination are on the Suarez family blog. Here are a few pictures from our recent family visits.

Bobby in Japan

2010-05-03T13:21:00.001-07:00

My brother is now pitching in Japan. I think it was a pretty exciting deal for him, and of course a great life experience. I guess there was some big game or series for his team and they won. I'm impressed by the crowd's enthusiasm. Hopefully these video links will work.

The game highlights
http://www.tv-live.jp/vod/20100429_digestFBs.html

The post-game interview - I love the mic with the mascot on it.
http://www.tv-live.jp/vod/20100429_heroFBs.html

A birthday I won't forget

2010-04-25T18:31:00.001-07:00

Our plans for the weekend were to be in Charlottesville from Friday afternoon to Sunday morning for the Darden 5 year reunion. So, I knew my birthday would be a bit different but memorable. Friday night we left the children with a babysitter (nursing student from UVA - who we had arranged for both nights) and went to the first reunion event at the downtown mall (for those who were able to visit us there, it's a really fun part of town). It was so fun to catch up with so many friends, and I believe half of the class was there (which is a lot as far as 5 year reunions go at UVA).

Saturday morning, Sheila gave me my first present of the day...she fulfilled her name of "Danger girl" by jumping on the bed, falling off the bed, and cutting her nose on the nightstand. Right away we could tell she'd need some stitches (there are 2 lacerations). So, Mario kept the boys and I rushed Sheila over to UVA hospital. There are 2 hospitals in C'ville, I delivered MJ at the one with the great birthing center (Martha Jefferson), but the last time I was at the UVA hospital was for Mario's surgery. I guess reunion weekends are all about bringing back memories. :-)

Sheila was quite the trooper at the hospital, and for the first half hour impressed everyone who came to check on her. She was calm and cooperated as everyone did everything to look at her nose and check her out. Then I guess she got bored of the whole thing and was a bit ready to move on. Nothing a few distractions couldn't fix. We finally decided the best treatment was to have the doctor on call for faces, who was a plastic surgeon this shift, come and repair one of the lacerations with a stitch. So, Sheila was given a topical anesthetic, strapped in that pappouse thing (I've now done this with Joey and Sheila), and she got 2 stitches on the bigger laceration on the side of her nostril, but the one in the center they only felt the need to apply dermabond glue. Sheila is healing very well and it appears as though the doctor did a great job. I was told to keep Sheila from running around too much on Sunday (hah!) and for the next year I need to make sure she has sunblock on her nose whenever she is outside. Everyone at the hospital was really nice and I got more birthday wishes from almost everyone who worked with us.

Mario and the boys joined us when it was all over with some great birthday cards, and one of my favorite C'ville lunches (sandwiches from the Market). Mario had a lot of work to do this weekend and is leaving for Germany on Monday, so we took this incident as a sign that we should head back home and take things easy. We packed up, drove home, and then I had a delicious meal at Outback including the surprise singing waiters and an ice cream sundae to share with the family. We watched half a movie with the kids, I was showered with more hugs and kisses from them, and we tucked them in bed.

MJ has been interested in that he was born in Charlottesville, so we took him to his first home... good old Ivy Gardens.

And now I have more babies!

After our yummy meal at Outback. Yes, you can take a self-portrait with 5 people in the picture.

I need to get a better shot of Sheila's nose...this was taken by either MJ or Joey.

What a day!

Catching up

2010-04-20T20:40:00.000-07:00

It would be easier for the reader if I uploaded each picture and gave it an individual caption, but I am short of time and thought I'd take the short cut and make a web album slideshow. We've managed to keep ourselves too busy these last few weeks, but I realized that it is largely b/c I make my own "trouble". Our new adventure is a free play set that someone was giving away that was only a few miles from our home. I convinced Mario to help me take it apart and after a long weekend filled with drama as to whether it could actually come apart, it is now sitting by the side of our house. It has been pressure-washed and waits sanding and staining and then re-assmebly with all new hardware. I think we are all now really excited about it.

In the meantime, we have been enjoying the spring weather. I've not tested this theory, but I think our kids spend much more time outside than other children. This is partly due to the private and safe location of our house and partly due to their neglecting mother who encourages them to "go find something to do" I do think they are having a lot of fun though.

Pictures in the slide show include:
1. Sheila continuing to act older than she is
2. Sheila having fun on her bike.
3. All 3 kids on their bikes (and my nice old neighbor taking care of his lawn)
4. MJ's homemade kite inspired by a windy Saturday
5. The kids hanging out with the "drawing table" and all it's creative mess behind them
6. MJ's picture of the Pirates Veggie Tales (thanks Kaza's for letting us borrow your movie - whether you knew we had it or not)
7 - 10. A series taken by Joey of his adventure with Sheila one morning (Joey has been into picture taking lately)
11. Another Joey picture - of his blue lacrosse made out of Magformers (just like Daddy's) Thanks Kazas for the great toy idea... we are thoroughly impressed by Joey's building skills
12 & 13. Cleaning up after all our fun!

To expand on #s 7-10:
On one of our unusually cold spring mornings, I was helping MJ to breakfast and chatting with him, when I heard Joey and Sheila off somewhere playing. I thought to myself, "It is so nice that those two have learned to have fun together" After awhile, I began to wonder where exactly this fun was taking place, and the mommy radar alerted me to potential danger. I searched all of Sheila's most fun places - the bathrooms - and then realized I had forgotten to put away the bunk bed ladder. Sure enough, she and Joey were up there happily playing. And it was so nice of Joey to capture all of their adventure on camera (he took a dozen or so more pictures).

A special time with the Kazas

2010-04-11T19:36:00.000-07:00

We just had a fabulous time with the 7 Kaza children as they spent the night here. We feel so lucky to live near enough to the Kazas so that these cousins can have special weekends like this one. Here are a few pictures from our visit together.

Happy Easter

2010-04-05T15:57:00.000-07:00

We didn't bring our camera to the big family celebration on Easter, so we are awaiting those pictures. But here is a good start.

Our 15 month old is toilet-trained

2010-04-01T05:30:00.000-07:00

Okay, so this is a bit of an April Fools Joke. I've been wanting to do a family post for a month, but we've actually been sick for most of March and while it hasn't slowed us down during the day, getting up for 4 weeks in a row with fevered kids or coughing and wheezing kids has been a little draining. Sheila is not toilet-trained, but 1 month ago she started using the toilet. Her first attempt was to stand like her brothers, but as amazing as she is, this did not work. Instead she now balances herself on the big toilet (I haven't yet gotten out the little ring to put in for her). I'm not really engaging her in this training yet as I think it is a little too early, but still I find it impressive. Oh, and the picture is Sheila eating some turkey stick or something like that. Mario thinks that is cool.

Mario has been traveling and working so much we haven't seen much of him. So one Friday we went to Tyson's to meet him for dinner. Here are Sheila and I at the Cheesecake factory.

We built our own fire pit! For these cool spring evenings.

Joey has been very determined to ride his big boy bike with training wheels. It is a little too tall for him, but now he's got it down and he can really move.

MJ is a drawing and writing machine. We go through a lot of paper each day (thankfully dad brings us scrap paper from work that we can use). MJ can also climb trees by himself...we are so glad we can tell him to "go climb trees" when he gets restless and starts climbing furniture in our house.

This is what happens when Joey gets the camera. We have a lot of pictures like this.

SPRING! These daffodils(?) were growing all over in our grass. Last year they were cut down mercilessly by the lawnmower. This year I dug them up and transplanted them. A little risky this time of you, but at least they won't be cut down.

This was from awhile ago

2010-03-25T11:27:00.000-07:00

For those who know the cute babies involved in this video, this is especially for you.

Here come the Irish

2010-03-19T19:18:00.000-07:00

We celebrated St. Patrick's Day twice (last Sunday, since Mario travels during the week and would be gone, and then on the actual day). For our first Irish meal we had the corned beef and cabbage and the best green dessert I can think of!

I did not get as many cute pictures of the kids as I had hoped on either day. Joey got Sheila's bad fever illness so I'm going on my second week in a row with a child with a 101-103 temperature. If I'm incoherent I blame it on the lack of sleep and if MJ gets sick next week, I'm done for. We planned to make shamrock sugar cookies as well, but ran out of a key ingredient and I couldn't decide between leaving Joey in the car with his burning up fever while I shopped with the potential of him being stolen or me being arrested OR dragging his very tired hot little body through the store getting everyone sick and exposing him to more germs. So... no cookies. But we did enjoy our first viewing of a VHS tape of the life of St. Patrick that I got from freecycle. I haven't used a VCR in years, and it was a lot of fun! And yes, MJ did ask, "What is that thing mommy?" Ah, old technology.... We completed our feasting with a Shepherd's pie and some Irish music. Sheila was inspired to dance, but certain Irish songs seem to make my boys think of football. So all the efforts I made to get a cute video of the kids dancing this year were replaced with the boys tackling each other in the family room.

Jello is a weird dessert, but I guess I've done this in the past and Mario asked to do it again. At least it's fun to make and looks pretty.

3 years of Joey

2010-02-09T09:00:00.000-08:00

3 years ago at 4:31pm we welcomed our second baby boy Joseph Patrick to the world. He broke the mold at 9lbs, 8oz; 21 ¾” long, 14 ¾” head circumference

I've spent way too much time making a slideshow with pictures of the first three years of Joey's life. Who says the middle child doesn't get any attention? I apologize for all the pictures, but it was hard to get rid of any more - and I had to have some of Joey with his cousins. With all of the pictures, I hope we were able to capture the many sides of Joey's personality.

Could we have 2 ft less please?

2010-02-08T18:46:00.001-08:00

Since two of my children are about 3ft tall or less, this is just TOO MUCH SNOW to have fun. Reports say Ashburn got 34.5 inches of snow over the weekend. And now we are going to get 10-20 more inches on Tuesday-Wednesday. REALLY?

Snowstorm 1

2010-02-06T08:55:00.001-08:00

This probably isn't accurate, but we have 27" and it is still coming. I am not a tree-hugger, but we have lost branches to 2 of my favorite trees and I hope they will survive. Other trees are bending over by the weight of the snow. I'm sad for the tree damage, but the snow is kind of fun. Making forts and an igloo should be easy. Mario and I have already shoveled the driveway a couple of times, but we will still need to do the pipestem and I hear our cul de sac may not be plowed. When taking pictures, I had to stomp through snow all the way up the inseam of my leg.

Seriously, I love snow, but I think we've had enough now. Thank you.

Bobby may be in Japan but he'll be on TV in the US this weekend

2010-02-04T10:26:00.000-08:00

Watch "Faith Bowl III" on Sunday, February 7, 2010
Faith Bowl III, a half-hour, round-table discussion by sports celebrities about the challenges of living the Catholic faith and the challenges to family life amidst the public arena of professional sports, will air on several Catholic television broadcast outlets and networks Sunday, Feb. 7, 2010. This is the third consecutive year that Family Theater is producing Faith Bowl in collaboration with Catholic Athletes for Christ and the Knights of Columbus.

This year's program features:

Mike Piazza, a retired catcher after a 16-year career in Major League Baseball, mostly with the New York Mets and Los Angeles Dodgers. He was a 12-time All-Star and the 1993 National League "Rookie of the Year."
Mike Sweeney, a designated hitter for the Seattle Mariners in 2009, a 15-year MLB veteran and five-time selection to the All-Star team as a Kansas City Royal.
Bobby Keppel, a relief pitcher for the Minnesota Twins. He appeared in 37 games in 2009 and was the winning pitcher of the Twins' playoff game with the Detroit Tigers for the American League Central Division title. He is the Faith Bowl III moderator.

Among scheduled broadcasts on Feb. 7 are:

EWTN at 5 PM (EST/2 PM PST)
CatholicTV, Boston at 5:30 and 10 PM (EST/ 2:30 and 7 PM PST) airing on cable systems throughout New England
Nationally on Sky Angel IPTV and its website: www.catholictv.org

I love this snow!

2010-02-03T05:19:00.000-08:00

We woke up to some beautiful snow this morning. The lighting was beautiful with the early morning sun trying to peak through the clouds. So I rushed to put my boots on and take a picture. Sheila saw me and immediately got her hat and gloves...so she joined me for picture time. The church is off to the right behind our house and I think it's cool that it looks like the light is coming from that direction.

The backyard...you can't even see the church through the snow covered trees.

When Joey woke I asked him excitedly about what was outside. He kind of grumpily said, "I don't like the snow on the cars, now I have to go brush it off." I guess someone in this family has to be practical about all of this.

Winter Fun

2010-02-02T18:37:00.000-08:00

It's been awhile since we did a recap of our family life.

MJ has been drawing, writing, cutting, and creating many things lately. While this is very sweet, it has also led to some messy scraps of paper on the ground. We are proud of his creations and are happy he is learning how to clean up after himself. He's still having fun at school and his teachers say he is a very good friend and student. He had "Dad's night" at pre-school last week and it was very sweet. They went to McDonald's for dinner and then to the pre-school where they did a few activities and made a wooden piece of art. He said he really enjoyed hanging out with Daddy. MJ has also a recent fascination with cooking after watching the food network with us one Saturday. He has come up with some interesting sugar/water things, but when he tried to put milk and OJ and lemonade and bacon into a drink, we decided we should draw the line. So, tonight he helped me make some real dinner, and I think that was satisfactory to him.

We've been thinking that since Joey is almost 3, he should be rid of the pacifier. When we try to negotiate different ways of him handing over the one blue pacifier he has left, he says he'll do it and then of course we'd trade it in and get him a bigger blue pacifier. Blue, specifically light blue, is still Joey's favorite color. He wants everything to be blue, and if it isn't really blue, he'll pretend it is just to make himself happy (I bet you didn't know our silver Odyssey is in fact blue). I am making a conscious effort to have Joey be a helpful big brother and not just ask MJ to always help out. Joey likes it, but unfortunately this has led to unusual arguments where MJ and Joey fight over who gets to be the helper first. (sigh) Joey has recently decided that playing in the snow is an okay thing, this has made the winter so much better for us. He's been known to cry and whine when he is all finished playing in the snow, in fact, one time MJ, Joey and I were out last December, he cried nearly the whole time. Hey, he was the one who chose to sit on the hill instead of sled and have fun - I guess tough love works sometimes.

Sheila is still quite the climber. But she does have INCREDIBLE balance, so I find myself letting her sit on tables. I think this is a bad habit both she and I have to break. She's starting to say a few more words - but even without them is quite capable of conveying what she wants. She still thinks she is as old as her brothers and it is fun to see her play with them. Her adventurous spirit has carried over to the outdoors and she loves the snow. If she senses we are getting ready to go out, she immediately gets her hat and boots. We think she has a similar intense personality to MJ's. Of course, every child is different, but at the moment, we are seeing her similarities to MJ as a baby. We are a bit concerned with her small size, though I guess she is 75% and on track. We just had such huge babies before, we just don't know what to do with this normal size.

Here are a few pictures from the last few weeks. Last weekend we had a lot of fun beginning with some snow Saturday morning. All the kids had a ton of fun sledding on the hill behind St. Theresa. Then after a good nap, we took them all the the DC auto show. This seems to be an annual event for our family. Braving the falling snow proved to be worth it as the snow kept the big crowds away. It was so great being able to climb in and out of the cars without waiting in lines. The same snow from the weekend is still here now (and being snowed on top of even more). We made 3 snowman, got a picture, and then Joey and MJ tackled them. Did I share that video of Mario tackling the giant snowman? I think I should.

Sheila getting ready to go out in he snow.

MJ and Bumblebee at the car show

I guess this is her car.

This IS Joey's car, the last one he played in before we left. Notice it is light blue. He buckled himself in and says that he is talking on the phone. I didn't know this car had bluetooth built in to the seatbelts. It was sad, because Joey actually thought he was going to take a car home. So the whole time we were leaving he whined and cried about wanting his blue car (we stayed out until 9pm). They somehow were still awake when we got home and Joey said sleepily "I was just crying in the car because I wanted my blue car" You can probably understand why he now calls our Odyssey blue.

Happy Birthday Teresa!

2010-02-02T05:51:00.000-08:00

We hope you have a fanastic day!

March for Life

2010-01-24T20:07:00.000-08:00

My parents flew in Thursday for the March for Life. The threat of terrible weather kept my mom home to watch the kids. The weather was horrible when we left Ashburn but, quite wonderful in DC. I was happy to run into several ND friends, Luke, Anna, many Clavin extended family. We're sad Mario and I couldn't be there together as this is the 10th anniversary of our meeting at the March for Life.

In case anyone was keeping track of it, Fr. Jenkins (Pres. of Notre Dame) did come to DC this year for the March for Life ... my dad was also pleased to shake hands and exchange a few words with him. Hopefully, all of the other marchers were a witness to Fr. Jenkins about how important this issue is.

Mario's 5th Birthday

2010-01-17T13:24:00.000-08:00

Mario thinks he had a pretty great birthday yesterday. He woke up to some fun birthday decorations and then had cheesy eggs and chocolate pancakes with cool whip and syrup for breakfast. We played for a little bit and got ready for Daddy to come back from London. Picking him up from airport was such a special treat and it was so nice to have our whole family back together again. When Joey and Sheila were napping, Mario and Daddy went to see a movie at the movie theatre. MJ says he likes hanging out with Daddy. We had a delicious dinner after Mario finally decided to have spaghetti and meatballs with peas and broccoli for dinner. And then presents and the Suarez chocolate cake! (with a few mint oreos crumbled on top) Some of his favorite presents were the Prep and Landing book and 20" doll of Lanny and all the kids liked his new Lite Bright cube (thank you freecycle!) Mario enjoyed all the birthday phone calls (and we are sorry if he was distracted...he had a very exciting day!)

MJ got Lanny for his birthday, while Joey and Sheila got Wayne and Magee for belated Christmas presents.I'm not sure what these crazy boys are doing, but Sheila has decided this week that she likes to smile for the camera.

Happy Birthday Mario!

2010-01-16T07:49:00.000-08:00

Our little boy is not so little anymore. Happy 5th Birthday Mario! You are and always were very cute!

Our quick trip to London

2010-01-13T21:43:00.000-08:00

I am a terrible mother who abandoned my 13 month old who I encouraged to sort of stop nursing... all 3 children on the brink of getting the chicken pox, with my mother who must be insane for taking on our mess...for 3 1/2 days. We left Saturday morning for London and I returned Tuesday morning, and everything went superbly well! The kids loved having my mom around b/c she actually pays attention to them. Sheila did give me the cold shoulder when I returned as Mario had predicted, but after a few minutes of holding her with her not looking me in the eye, she agreed to let me nurse her again and all was well.

Quick recap
Saturday: spend first 6 hours crying on and off for having left our children
Saturday night: arrived late, went out for a bit
Sunday: walked around a lot, Brittish Museum, found a CATHOLIC church - Westminster Cathedral, amazing Indian dinner
Monday: Mario worked in the morning while I walked around more: Trafalgar Sq, St. James Park, Buckingham Palace, Westminster Abbey, Big Ben. Parliament, National Gallery; lunch with Mario's boss, Imperial War Museum (spent a long time there, I guess Mario likes history), ice skating outside of the Natural History Museum, then took the tube to the East side of London to see the Tower of London at night.
Tuesday: get up at 4am to catch the plane back home in time to see MJ's Christmas program which had been rescheduled due to snow before Christmas.

(It was worth it!)

Christmas continued

2010-01-01T07:03:00.000-08:00

Other highlights from the trip were a few home improvement chores. Mario shared his electric skills by replacing 7 light fixtures in my parents' house. My mom gave us permission to remove the wallpaper in the upstairs guest bathroom. But once that was down, we just had to finish the project by painting the walls and cabinets.

Also, we were sad to leave the feet of snow in Virginia, but managed to get snow after Christmas in St. Louis which turned out to be 2 great sledding days. We took the boys to sled on the old sledding hill I went to as a kid (my parents live in a neighborhood with a golf course...hole 2 has a nice big hill!) The second great snow-sledding day happened the day we planned to leave, but Mario let me take MJ out while he packed up the car. We still were able to leave by 11:30am and arrived at 3am in Ashburn, just when it started to sleet/snow there! So, we unpacked the car, and woke up to MORE snow (I'm in snow heaven this winter!)

And as a final note of fun, my parents bought us a Wii and sent it to our house (they did not seem happy with us doing renovations on their home for free). The boys' tried canoeing together. MJ got the nickname "strong-arm" and Joey "left-turner" as holding his oar in the water seemed to be his best move.

Merry Christmas!

2010-01-01T06:57:00.000-08:00

This year we spent Christmas with the Keppel side of our family in St. Louis. The 15 hour drive is long but definitely worth it. We had a great time... poor Ceali had the chicken pox, but she may end up giving it to our family (I did not vaccinate Joey and Sheila in the hopes they would get it naturally and build up their own immunity to it). So we'll see how that goes. We had a delayed Christmas dinner b/c of the illness, but it worked out well b/c then Kathy was able to join us (she has been working in Japan and spent Christmas in Seattle with her boyfriend's family). Suzanne and Bobby hosted an AMAZING dinner and then we were able to exchange our family gifts.

Lots of Snow!

2009-12-19T19:53:00.000-08:00

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

2009-12-16T08:03:00.001-08:00

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

2009-12-08T09:13:00.000-08:00

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

2009-12-04T06:04:00.000-08:00

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

2009-11-01T20:09:00.000-08:00

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

2009-10-28T18:45:00.000-07:00

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

2009-10-27T11:18:00.000-07:00

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

2009-10-12T06:34:00.001-07:00

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!

2009-10-07T18:17:00.000-07:00

Trip to ND vs Washington

2009-10-05T11:02:00.000-07:00

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

2009-10-05T10:52:00.000-07:00

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

Other walking kids

2009-09-28T20:35:00.000-07:00

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

2009-09-27T20:44:00.000-07:00

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...

2009-09-22T18:34:00.000-07:00

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...

2009-09-10T18:39:00.000-07:00

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

2009-08-30T10:54:00.000-07:00

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

2009-08-19T21:10:00.000-07:00

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

2009-07-30T20:51:00.000-07:00

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

2009-07-26T13:09:00.000-07:00

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.

-----

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

2009-07-06T20:43:00.000-07:00

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."

What kind of toothbrush do you use?

2009-06-25T11:29:00.000-07:00

I was asked this at the dentist on Tuesday... I tried to figure out why that mattered as the only answer I could think of was "green?" The hygienist wanted to know if I used a manual or electric toothbrush.

I know we've had a good discussion about movie ratings, but I had to post a few pictures from our quick visit to NY last week. Mario had a conference in New Jersey, so the kids and I tagged along to spend some time with family in New York.

We first made a suprise visit with Grandmama and Grandpapa. I never tire hearing Grandmama's stories and the boys had a great time playing. I'm so happy they were able to play where Mario played as a child and hopefully they will have some memories like their dad had from his youth. It was hard to stop the fun to take pictures, and I hope I didn't overstay my welcome in doing so.

Two of our four Mario's

Then we stopped by Michael and Sarah's who generously hosted our very tired crew. As an added bonus, Luke was also visiting them at the same time. The kids had a great time scooting around inside the house and running in the front yard. I especially enjoyed watching Sheila and Michael Jr. play together. It was hard to pick only a few pictures of them. Michael really knows how to smile for a camera. This was definitely Sheila's favorite toy at their house.

Michael and Sheila shared so well, she even let him suck her hand. Of course, since Sheila likes eating her feet it wasn't a big deal for her.

It was so wonderful to see sweet Maria. She is growing so quickly! Maria was a very generous cousin and shared her toys so well. I am looking forward to returning the favor very soon!

6 months

2009-06-12T05:33:00.000-07:00

This post is a little late, so I have to post it soon and I'm going to attempt to put it behind Michelle's birthday pictures. Our little baby Sheila became half a year old on June 4th. Here's a recap on how our other babies looked at 6 months old.

Superman Mario James!

Joyful Joey!

And now there is Sheila.
Is it any wonder that a big concern of mine at her check-up was if she is a healthy weight. I mean, I began to question failure to thrive. Since this is so fun for me, here's our 6 month chart. Blogger had trouble with my chart, so I saved it as an image and then posted it - weird. Sorry it is blurry. The second row is height and the third is head size.

The doctor insists she is growing fine. Still, the last time MJ or Joey weighed
17 lb 10oz they were less than 3 months old. Oh well, we still think she is adorable!

Perhaps her brothers are just giving her a good workout?
The following are not related to Sheila's 6 month celebration but are just fun.
We are so happy we got the SAMs chairs and enjoy rocking on them. Here are the boys watching one of the storms from last week.

As you already know, we were very lucky to have Luke stay with us last weekend. We had so much fun. Here's a playful moment between godfather and godson.We miss you Uncle Luke!

Trip to PA

2009-06-01T21:26:00.000-07:00

We made a quick trip to Pennsylvania Friday night to Saturday night to see Bobby and most of his family. He was in town for a baseball game about 15 minutes from my grandparents' house and Suzanne and their new daughter Maryn flew out to suprise him as well. It was nice to hang out Saturday and take pictures at the Keppel "farm". I had fun attempting to take a "photo shoot" with my family. I don't want to bore you with all of the pictures, so if you are interested, I put more of them on facebook.

We had a great time hanging out with Bobby, Suzanne, Maryn, and my grandparents. The moms and their newest babies.
We were able to go to the baseball game that night to cheer on Bobby's team (Rochester Red Wings). We were extra lucky that he was called in to pitch for an inning.
We all had a great time, especially MJ. We didn't get home until 2am Sunday morning, but the first thing MJ wanted to do when he woke up was play baseball.
Monday it was back to work, so I decided to get some weeding and mulching done in the backyard. Do you think this is poison ivy?
I researched a lot about poison plants today and I thought it was so I proceeded with caution. I left the kids to fend for themselves as I took care of all traces of poison ivy in our yard. Poor Sheila was very upset with me, but I think she'd be more upset if I picked her up and gave her a rash (let's hope that doesn't develop in the next few days).
Mario worked from home and had to tolerate the episodes of sadness. He came down to entertain the kids. This is his idea of a "photo shoot" for Sheila.

She did not like it when I tried to put the glasses on her. BTW, girl babies definitely have a higher-pitched shrill-like scream than boy babies.

May Days

2009-05-27T09:55:00.001-07:00

A few weekends ago, we made the trip to Notre Dame for my sister Kathy's graduation. Mario and I were able to make it to some of the events sponsored by ND Response. There was a mass followed by a rally on South Quad which had some great speakers. Mario and I met through ND RTL, so it brought back memories to share an experience like that again, this time with 3 little children between us.
Me and Kathy (as taken by MJ)

Memorial Day weekend started with a dessert party at our friend's place in Georgetown on Friday night. They are expecting a boy in August. We've decided Sheila and AJ can date sometime in the future - but we won't tell them about that just yet. We didn't plan to stay out very late so we could get up early and start adding insulation to the attic, but the kids were so well behaved we didn't leave until 11pm.

Saturday morning we started the insluation, more on that later, and then in the afternoon/evening we had a great time at our first Summer Kick Off in Ashburn Farm. We loaded up both double strollers with kids, food, drinks, and chairs. They had some rides, and we foolishly tried to get MJ and Joey to ride the kiddie ferris wheel on their own first. Joey was excited, but MJ was screaming. We made them go on anyway, which soon led to 2 screaming kids. Fortunately the music was loud, so you couldn't hear the screaming too much.
Later I was able to ride the scrambler with Joey alone. Then MJ decided he was brave enough - here is my "Look at how big you are MJ, see you can try new things!"

Another one of MJs crazy poses.

At 9:00ish there was a really cool fireworks show set off on the field on the opposite end of this pond. All the kids liked it! Woo-hoo!
Finally our attic insulation story: It was a dusty and dirty job, which probably would have gone faster without our kids around, but they were pretty well-behaved for most of it. It got too hot to finish it all in the morning, so we finished the rest after the Summer Kick Off. Here's a picture of us finally finished around 2am! There was a lot of clean up, however, we are still happy we did it on our own (probably b/c we saved $1400 by not paying someone else). Our house seems a lot cooler, especially the upstairs. So we are no longer baking in the middle of the day - it's amazing what R-60 can do. If you plan to do a project such as this on your own, we have some tips.

Sunday morning came too quickly after our short night of sleep, but we were very happy to be able to celebrate Elisabeth's First Holy Communion in Manassas. I'm sure this is the first of many parties at the Kaza farm -it was SO much fun! I'm not sure how many kids were there, but I'd say about 40. Little groups of children would bound off together to explore the many fun areas all over the Kaza's 11 acres. Okay - so Kolbe nipped at Joey and ripped his shirt, probably only adding to all of our dog phobias, but we really had a great time. The boys even fell asleep there (something that for some reason was hard for them to do in the past) and Tabitha and Babu graciously offered their guest bedroom for Mario and I to crash there as well.

Mary and I attempted to get a picture of the babies, but smiley Joey couldn't help but step in as well. I have a cute cropped version of this on Picasa, but couldn't crop it properly here, sorry. Mary may even have a better picture of this as we were using 2 cameras.
Oh - and the Marshmallows! The bonfire was a big hit.

The guys stepped out for a "man-date" to see the Star Trek movie (I was jealous). Here they are with smirks just before leaving. It seems they didn't realize they would be leaving us with sugared-up kids and a huge after-party mess. The SO owe us!I have a feeling this is only the beginning of the fun for these boys.
Monday we really just relaxed, and it was so nice. We had plans to put up the chandelier in our foyer, but it will wait until this weekend. We picked up some water guns and had our first blast in the afternoon. Even Joey got in on the action. I have half a dozen other cute shots of MJ and Sheila playing together - it was so hard to pick just one!
Sheila has entered a new phase in baby self-entertainment. It's always nice to be able to plop a baby in the middle of the floor with some toys and let them play. Besides sitting, she is rolling and scooting and moving a lot. I'd prefer if she waits a long time before crawling - she can take her time.

Blogging Spree

2009-05-12T20:46:00.000-07:00

I can't help myself....too many cute pictures to share!

Joey loves to hang out with Sheila.

MJ loves to make Sheila laught.

More of MJ's amazing creations. The little cars characters are from some show that reminds me of Bob the Builder which MJ found online. He's kind of obsessed with them right now. Both of these were models of the little yellow car on the left.

This was the newer model he made this morning.

Enjoying our Saturday

2009-05-12T20:34:00.000-07:00

Mario found a frog while mowing the lawn on Saturday...the boys thought it was pretty cool.

We stopped our work to take the kids on a bike ride to the park nearby. I'm so happy MJ learned to ride without training wheels and is so fast and capable...he can really keep up. And here I was worried about not being able to haul 3 kids on a bike by myself. Sheila is a bit young to be in this carrier, but with Joey next to her, she was quite cozy and feel asleep in less than a minute.

I should have altered the lighting in this picture b/c it didn't come out well.

Sheila woke up and had a mark on her face, poor girl. But nothing keeps her down.

Mother's Day

2009-05-12T20:31:00.000-07:00

I had a terrific Mother's Day and just wanted to share some pictures that Mario and the kids allowed me to take b/c it was Mother's Day and that's what I wanted done. At first I was just going to get a group shot, but then I thought I'd like one with each of the kids alone. I hope all of you mother's out there were given special treamtent as well. In the first two pictures, you can see part of our new wall that we built and a few of the shrubs and trees we put in.

Our front porch is changing (new rocking chairs from SAMS which we use a lot since we spend so much time outside). And this black railing is soon going to be replaced by 2 white wooden railings to match the porch. This is Mario's vision and he usually has a pretty good eye for things.

Having fun

2009-05-07T19:15:00.000-07:00

The rain has kept our family inside, which I guess is alright since we are all sick again anyway. Just another cough/cold which seems so much like the one we all had last month. (I thought there were no tag-backs).

MJ, Joey, and Sheila have been giving us so many reasons to smile. We continue to be impressed by MJ's building skills. Is it normal for a 4 year old to create things like this with Knex? This is a car. A few nights ago when it was past the boys bedtime, I heard a familar snap, click. I realized MJ had drawn plans for something and then was trying to build it.

Joey continues to have the happy joyful personality we all assumed he had, but now he verbalizes it. My favorite word of his right now is "okay" and he says it a lot. And he always says it in such a happy way. Like tonight, after he got out of bed when he should have been asleep, I was less than happy, but his response to my stern, "Joey, get back in your bed" was "Okay!" We're also impressed with his reasoning skills, which I guess he's always had, just now he verbalizes his thoughts.

And Sheila is just a happy 5 month old baby. She's starting to smile when she sees a camera (as every Suarez baby should). I know I have some pictures, but I haven't put them on our computer yet.

It's a shame our slide keeps breaking. Good thing we have some handymen living with us.

MJ took this picture of Sheila and I. Could have been better, but not too bad.

Pictures!

2009-04-27T18:07:00.000-07:00

I guess we actually have had our camera since Saturday. It's so small they put it in our mailbox, and we are bad about checking our mail promptly. Today was another hot day and we totally enjoyed it like a summer day (except that I was out doing some odd yardwork on a hot day, but it was good to get it done). We got a pressure-washer yesterday which I am so happy about. It successfully cleaned a patio set I got from free-cycle, so it was definitely worth the purchase. The boys played in the sprinkler while Sheila hung out in her stroller, on a blanket, or on the deck, and I did some work. Then we had some popsickles while sitting on our new teak rocking chairs (great deal from SAMS). We had dinner on our deck again (I see this happening a lot this year as the sun is shaded by the house and it just makes for a very relaxing and fun dinner). And then we enjoyed some more of the daylight hours playing in the backyard. It will be sad when Mario has to go back to real work and will travel every week. We are so spoiled that he doesn't travel AND works from home.

Some pictures from our after-dinner fun.

And finally, some before and after pictures of the work on the front landscape.
This is the shot the sellers took for the front of their house. Notice the very large foundation shrubs and trees on the corners of the house.

This is a sort of before picture... obviously, this was after the wind knocked half the tree down.

And here we are. Nothing big and crazy. You can see the walls we added (on the left of the house and on the right corner by the garage. I'll need to take a close up of them since we worked so hard on them). The plants are obviously small, but the goal is when they mature they will be of a good scale and won't cover the windows. The small dogwood was the same tree we transplanted from the backyard. It's blooming and appears to have survived the move.
One more close up to come.

Post without pictures

2009-04-26T05:15:00.001-07:00

So, I think in my last post I mentioned how we lost our camera. A new one is on it's way, in the meantime it's been very hard to be without one. We've taken far more videos than usual to try to capture the cute moments. We've continued to work on the front landscaping and as soon as we get a camera I can get you a good before and after picture.

Friday was my birthday and I was very spoiled. Thursday night I cleaned like a madwoman so I wouldn't feel that I had to do anything Friday (my birthday gift to myself). I woke up to a beautiful and delicious birthday cake that Mario made for me. (That's usually my least favorite thing to do for myself on my birthday). Mario and the kids showered me with gifts throughout the day. The kids and I went over to my friend's house for our rosary group where there were more than the usual kids and moms. The weather was great and we all had a great time (and another cake). Mario returned from his short day trip to Charlottesville with our favorite sandwiches from the area so we quick had one of those before getting the babysitter for the evening. We went to a wine tasting held in our big community, met some nice people, had some good wine and a fun time. And I returned to a house of sleeping children. It was our first time leaving all 3 of them with a babysitter and she did a great job. I feel that I'm a pretty lucky 28 year old (except that I have no picture to prove that yet...but will soon).

So much to say...

2009-04-14T19:16:00.000-07:00

I have composed this post several times in my head as there have been so many exciting things happen in such a short time.

Backyard Play Area:
It all started 2 weeks ago when Mario and I completed the play area in our backyard by shoveling and wheelbarrowing 5 yards of mulch to our backyard along with 1 ton of sand for the sandbox. (Wed April 1st) I hosted the rosary group among our friends here and some of the kids were able to enjoy that new playground. (Thurs April 2nd)

This is what the back corner used to look like (well, it was even worse and overgrown..all woodsy... the fresh new grass was what we had grown on our own last fall.)
The completed play area.
It's really nice having the sand box.

Retaining Wall:
We decided to build a retaining wall on the left front side of our house to help level and balance it with the right. We went with a dry stack method using natural fieldstone. We started with a bit of prep-work on Friday April 3rd. Saturday we continued to work on the wall. Sheila had a growth spurt and needed more milk, so when I wasn't hauling stone or nursing, I was eating and drinking as much as possible to feed her demands. The kids were actually really great in letting us get half the wall finished. That night we went to a small birthday party.

The kids helped outside sometimes, but also entertained each other well inside.

Joey is toilet trained:
I was determined to begin an official "3 day potty training" of Joey on Monday April 6th. So, despite our landscape being unfinished, I went ahead with my plan. I was completely amazed by Joey's success. Mario was skeptical of the plan and was not pleased with a half-naked Joey walking around for 3 days straight. However, he has agreed he cannot complain as it worked.

Sheila likes naps and can roll over:
Sheila and I have this agreement that she can sleep/eat/play whenever she wants as long as she is content. As a result, I just hadn't been keeping track of a schedule for her. So, starting with Joey's potty training on Monday, I thought I'd actually put her to sleep in a crib rather than let her nap wherever she happened to be. And it worked. I'm glad she can sleep just about anywhere, but happy to see she can also nap on her own in a crib. And Thursday night (April 9th) she decided to roll over. Sure, this is our 3rd baby to accomplish this, but it is still just as exciting.

MJ's bike without training wheels:
My original compositions of this email left it that MJ was just beginning to try to ride without training wheels. But Friday April 10th, I was able to watch Tony and Xavier while their new brother was being born. It was a beautiful day and MJ and Tony were out riding bikes with some neighborhood kids while the 3 little ones were napping. All of the sudden, MJ realized Tony was riding his bike without training wheels and he simply had to be able to do it as well immediately. So with a little bit of help, and a lot of determination I let go and he kept going! It was really great. That night, Mario worked with MJ even more and he continues to get more confident.

Sheila's 4 month check up:
This could have a post of it's own, but I learned she is healthy and doing well. I also took all 5 kids (mine plus the 2 I was watching) to this appointment. It was long, but the kids all did really well.

This doesn't exactly fit, nor is it a great picture of them, but I think Joey and Sheila look a lot a like.

A lesson that people are more important than things:
We captured all of these events on our camera of course, but Saturday morning, I realized that I lost my camera. (I am really good at this it seems). It was very painful to lose all those pictures and not have a camera for Easter, but it was also a great lesson for me to realize that people are more important than things. Plus, I will have to be much more careful with our next camera.

Not our Easter outfits...actually taken on Palm Sunday.

Easter:
I'll have to borrow some pictures from the Suarez family, but we had a fabulous Easter at Tabitha and Babu's house (the last huge party they will probably host at their current home as they are about to close on their new home later this week).