Beach 4

I wanted to try to get the family on the beach picture, but really did it at a bad time. It was later in the day, windy and cold. Maybe some other time...

I forgot to mention that Joey is taking a few steps on his own. I guess we should call it walking, but he has yet to really take off across the room. He would like to prove that he is a great climber. He climbed up this step-ladder by himself. Papa took advantage of the Kodak moment.

Oh, and here are MJ and Joey waiting for the cake.

Uncle Bobby and sweet baby Caeli.

Joey's First Birthday!

Our little Joey is now 1 year old (as of Saturday Feb 9th). Who wouldn't like to celebrate their birthday at a beach? Thankfully, we were able to get him to a doctor on Thursday, so after a few doses of his medicine he was happier for his birthday. His first activity as a 1 year old was to play catch with Daddy.

Here is the crew who celebrated with Joey on his birthday.

And, as I promised myself, I asked Mario to decorate Joey's cake. (We were unable to get it out of the glass this time - a few tools short in the condo kitchen). Mario did 90% of it, but made sure we all contributed to the icing in some way. Even MJ added a squiggle for his brother.

Mmmmm... chocolate cake!

Beach 3

There are several pools in Ocean Village (where the condo is) but this one is closest and heated. Sadly, infants aren't allowed in the big pool. This didn't seem to bother Joey who loved the baby pool. It was the perfect depth of water for him to kneel. He could even sit without getting his head underwater.

Here are Joey and MJ totally interested in baby Ceali who is beingheld by Aunt Suzanne. They really liked Ceali a lot, and I'm sad they were too sick to really hang out with her.

Beach 2

Joey was also very intersted in the ocean. It was a bit too cold to swim, but he tried to crawl into the ocean several times.

MJ was excited about the ocean. Then he thought it was cold. Then he liked it again and played in it. Then a wave tossed him over and Grandma rescued him (he didn't like that so much). He was very brave and wouldn't let that scary experience keep him from the water, and sure enough was back in it again the next day.

Beach Trip

I have many photos to share...probably too many. But I guess we've been gone for over a week, so it makes sense. Sadly, I cannot figure out how to upload more then 4 pictures at a time. So this will have to be in MANY installments. (I even tried making the pictures smaller, but that didn't work). Anyway, Monday Feb 4th we headed out very early in the morning to take our 7am flight to Orlando, FL. Mario was flying that morning to Little Rock, so we were able to hitch a ride with him to the airport. The flight went really well. My very tired boys both slept part of the flight (Joey slept for almost the whole thing). The plane was only 1/3 full, so we were able to have 3 seats together. It was quite pleasant.

We stayed with my parents at the beach on Hutchinson Island (near Ft. Pierce, FL). Bobby, Suzanne, and Ceali who are living in Florida now, visited almost every day. It was so nice to spend time with them and to see little Ceali who is 3 months already and growing up so fast. Sadly, we brought colds with us, which got worse while we were there. We ended up finding a doctor for Joey (who had an ear infection). But we are all doing better now. Here are a few pictures from our first day at the beach.

Of course, Joey tried to eat sand, but I was impressed how he wasn't going for it all the time near the end of our trip. He was very interested in a sea gull and crawled right after it.

baby fish and spiritual kids

Have I posted about our baby fish... I think I have. They continue to make me happy. I think the mom is still pregnant. But I'm super happy that there are 5 baby fish!!! I thought I saw a few more hiding under the rocks...and sure enough, there were. They are all big enough now that they swim about freely (well, there's one tiny one who still hides occasionally). It is too cute! I think these are the 2 bigger babies.

I failed to mention in the last post the fun date night that Mario and I had on Saturday. So, yes, we met 8 years ago on the March for Life. And we considered the Sunday before the March our first date since I hung out with Mario and a few of his friends. He decided to boldly pay for everyone's dinner. Well, of course I had a camera with me to take pictures of our trip to DC. Sadly, I lost 1 roll of film... I still remember one cold group shot that Mario, his friends and I took in the snow in Georgetown. We also failed to remember the name of the restaurant where we ate. So, last week, I did a bit of internet hunting, and in a short time came upon a restaurant with a logo that was quite familiar. I went ahead and made reservations there and kept the evening a surprise for Mario. Mario is terrible at trying to be surprised and kept asking for me to spill the secret (which I did not). He walked in and didn't really get it, so I thought I had failed. But as the dinner wore on, we realized we both remembered different familiar things about the restaurant, enough that it might actually be the place. I joked that too bad he still didn't have the same credit card he used. Sunday, Mario did an even shorter investigation of his Quicken accounts and found the credit card statement for that evening. We did in fact, dine at J Paul's in Georgetown back in January 2000. After that we visited the Tombs and the Dubliner (both of which I remembered without investigation). It was fun to retrace our first date night steps...even when we didn't really know we were on a date.

In another random topic... I think kids really are naturally spiritual. I think I may have commented on some of the faithful things MJ has done over his short life. I wasn't aware that it could start before the age of 1. So, maybe this was just coincidence. But today when we were eating dinner, we remembered that we forgot to say grace. So we all put down our utensils, and then Joey took his messy hands off his tray and folded them together, looked up at us and sat quietly. We prayed, and when we finished, he went back to chowing down. Coincidence???
We also say prayers before we go to bed, and sometimes MJ insists he should say them on his own...which I must, must, record before I forget. At the end of the Our Father, he says something like "deliver us our weevles". Well, we also pray for friends and family, and MJ chimed right in with several tonight (I'll only mention a few). He prayed for Daddy who is traveling, Mommy so she could be patient, and MJ so he wouldn't be naughty (are these things I pray for often???)

DC Auto Show

Last week, I was so exhausted, I almost quit or at least took a break from one of my volunteering jobs (as a counselor at First Choice WHC). After I decided to keep going at it, but being more prepared for the long days full of multiple activities, I realized that I had just finished a week full of many activities: birthday parties, guests, snow!, the March for Life... all things that I enjoyed, but that took us out of our ordinary stride. Anyway, things seem much better this week (then again, it is only Tuesday). But by Thursday night, Mario is supposed to come home, so I consider Friday the weekend. :-) Here is Joey giving me a high-5 for our good efforts.

Actually, this is a 2 week old photo... sad I hadn't even posted it yet. We've decided that it is fun to play with Joey. He is just so happy on his own, but it seems he really soaks in all the social stuff going on around him. For example, when he picks up tiny things he could choke on (paperclips, popcorn kernals, coins) he willingly hands them over when I ask. I was amazed when I saw Molly's little Elizabeth do this at a young age... I don't think I trained MJ that well when he was a baby. I really think it's b/c Joey is immersed in an already kid-disciplined world, so he just kind of gets it. Let's hope this carries through.

This weekend, we treated our boys to the DC Auto show. Actually, I think all my boys were very excited about the show. Really, I was just along for the ride, but it was fun to see them all so happy!

The day turned out very well...we were about half an hour late for our visit with Luke. He drove down for the day to stop through our place and the Kazas. Both boys fell asleep in the car and napped a perfect amount so we could have adult conversation and then also let the boys play with Uncle Luke when they woke up.