Fun with cousins

The Kazas have done so much for us since we've lived so close, we were very happy to be able to help them a little this Tuesday and Wednesday by taking Peter and Tommy to stay overnight. (Mario was actually gone in Charlottesville then, so it was just me and the 4 boys). This "favor" for them, was really a treat for me. We had a fabulous time, and I cannot wait to have the cousins together again. The conversations these kids had were amazing, I wished I had written them down when they happened, but I do remember some conversations about which sized dinosaurs eat people and what a dryer actually did (MJ added that it makes clothes get dry).

They played very nicely together (for the most part), and I think it was good for MJ to see what it really means to be obedient, as Tommy and Peter usually did what I asked right away. They also called him out whenever he was being a brat. Today, MJ was like a different kid - it's like he understood me better. So, when this wears off, I must kidnap, err, babysit, the Kaza children again. And it must be overnight as that was one of the most interesting parts. MJ was so full of enthusiam at dinner time that he couldn't stop saying things like, "This chicken and pasta is DELICIOUS, don't you think so Peter? Oh, thank you Mommy for this delicious dinner!" And "This is such a fun sleepover!!!" After bath and books, I was all ready to get my boys up to their room to be cozy with the Kazas in the guest bed, but MJ wanted to stay with his cousins. I thought he'd sleep on the cushions I set up on the floor, but instead I found all three boys in the full sized bed in our guest room. And they slept great all night.



Both nights after dinner we enjoyed some play time at the church playground behind our house.

Tuesday went so well, I ventured out for some errands on Wednesday. We returned a few things to some stores and I even managed to shop for maternity clothes at Old Navy. Their treat for all of this was to ride the train around the mall.


In fact, the whole day was lovely except that we learned Wednesday afternoon that there is a leak in the main service line to our house (which may have been going on for 2 years) and it will cost between $4,000 - $10,000 to replace it. Who said owning a home was fun???

Well, anyway, thanks Tabitha and Babu for letting me watch Tommy and Peter.

Our new house

This is a LONG post!!! But it has been awhile, and so much has happened, we have to catch up. So, we've been here over 2 weeks, and I still don't have a good family picture of us in front of our house. We started up projects around the house even before all of the boxes were unpacked, so we've been keeping busy. Here is a picture of my parents and MJ in front of our new house when they came to visit last week.



Mario's first project was to mount the TV above the fireplace. This is the same TV we had from our townhouse, but looks more fun mounted on a wall. I'll have to take a better picture of it tomorrow.
This is the kitchen (of course) and below you can kind of see Mario's wall-mounted TV in the family room.

Next, he added the "hotel shower bar" as some may call it to our bathroom upstairs. There are 3 bedrooms upstairs and 1 bath (the main bedroom suite and bath are on the main level, which is kind of fun). This bar is only about $40 and really makes a shower seem bigger (we highly recommend this project).

Above is our "upstairs bedroom". The master bedroom on the main floor is where we keep all of our things in the closet and we mostly use that bathroom. It's actually kind of convenient to have all of that on the main floor with 2 kids. And then at night, we are upstairs for if the boys need us (me) at night. And as my parents can attest, the bedroom on the main floor becomes a pretty nice guest suite.


These 2 are from the upstairs bathroom. Mario would like to make-over all of the bathrooms some day, and we already have a double vanity in mind for this one.


We really want to make use of our .45 acre lot and so feel clearing out some of our woods in the backyard, seeding for grass, and building a fence are top priorities. MJ liked to help Mario a lot. After over 2 days of work and many fun hours with a chain saw, we realized we had WAY too much stuff to haul away and hired some people to come and remove our yard debris. They started today and should finish tomorrow and it is so exciting to get that finished. Then we can seed quickly and have Mario start on the fence. Meanwhile, Mario had more time to help me with projects inside. We'll get to that later.



Last week, my parents visited for a business related trip for my dad, but then 4 days of help from them. My dad shared his expertise and helped us take care of some mole crickets eating our lawn, as well as help us gather the new yard tools we would need for this yard. My mom really helped with just about everything, cleaning, unpacking, watching the boys, but her most exciting task was to paint the half bathroom on the main floor. She did an amazing job (as you can see). I almost thought I was allergic to paint as I was sneezing like crazy when she started. 2 days later, I realized I just had an annoying cold.


Half bath before and after. Great job, Mom!


So, I'm free to paint again...and that is what we did this weekend. I'm sorry that none of these after pictures are fully finished and decorated, but it shows the major impact of the new look.


Living room on the main floor.


Joey likes his new house, and wanted me to take a picture of him while I was running around the house getting these other pictures.


We admit with these projects, our kids have had a lot of play time on their own. We found that Joey "hid" all of the toys on the right in this sub woofer while we were working. Note - if you buy a speaker like this with a hole, and you have children, this may happen to you. At most, MJ put in 3 cars when he was a kid... we were impressed with all these blocks!

We moved in

Well, we are at our new home. We have not been blogging as much as I'd like lately even though we've been here 1 week already. I'd like to blame our lack of blogging on some unusual circumstances such as Verizon was unable to set up our FIOS until Wednesday, and until that same day, our house was a construction zone getting new plumbing. We also have been taking time planning which projects to tackle first in our first home. Anyway, we are slowly moving in and emptying boxes, but we love our new house. We love the yard (though Mario has begun the extensive yardwork to reclaim what has overgrown), and the driveway/pipestem/cul de sac are great for the boys to ride their bikes, which they have done plenty of. We also enjoy the incredibly short walk to chruch (and the playground that belongs to the school).



Here is one picture to explain our construction zone with the pipes. This was the last day of their work when they were patching the holes and painting them. The best part of this whole thing was that we had the sellers pay for the work...well, that and we have all new plumbing now. (FYI, the house used to have polybutelene pipes... not health hazardous, but prone to leaking and no longer being used to build homes.)

I didn't even think Joey could ride a bike, but I guess after watching his brother do it so much, he wanted to try. Our driveway is to the left of Joey, this long part in front of him is the pipe-stem to 3 other homes, and then you can see MJ in the distance going to the cul de sac.

MJ really enjoyed working outside and helping Daddy landscape.

We call this the shrub that was eating our deck... and yes, I guess it was a little pretty, but it blocked our view from the side yard.

Have you missed us (fixed)

We've been going crazy with the thought of buying our first home, packing, and moving in less than 3 weeks. (Plus, I only have 3 weeks left for my year-long video course...but I've been cramming and am almost done). We've managed to try to have some fun times despite being so busy.

MJ and Joey (and Tricia) built this cool construction together.

I think it's so cute when MJ puts his underpants on backwards.

And here are some pictures of the lake that we will miss if we move.

Taking it slow

Things have been a bit crazy around here. Every day this house purchase seems more real, as does all that must come with it. Only 11 days left until the movers arrive on Saturday August 30th. I think it was hard a bit on MJ not knowing what was going on, but since the boxes have come out, he's had fun creating forts in them. Joey was sick over the weekend, and has been taking it slow...although, for the last hour before bedtime tonight he really left a path of destruction wherever he went: books pulled off the shelves, blocks dumped out of boxes, kitchen utensils pulled out of draws, paperclips pulled out of the desk and dumped on the floor... all of this while I was trying to make dinner and was helpless to stop him.

Despite the craziness of getting ready to move, we are trying to slow down and enjoy our last days at this place. We've walked our lake nearly every day (and MJ has enjoyed riding his bike "really fast" around the lake). Here are a few pictures of the "taking it slow" times.

Joey is an independent kid who helps himself to what he wants... including peanut butter. Mario and I laughed a bit, b/c as soon as I saw him with it, I smiled and grabbed the camera. Immediately after the picture, I took the peanut butter away. We think Joey was confused.

MJ and Tony riding around the lake. We will miss the lake, and being in the same neighborhood as the Franzonello's. Tara says that even after we move, she will allow me to walk around the lake with them.

Joey has been spoiled with Daddy around more with his new project. Appearantly, I'm not good enough to read books with if Daddy is around.We uncovered these bunny ears as we were packing. Mario felt I should trash them. The were from the White House Easter Egg Roll, and I have no idea why, but it was hard for me to get rid of any of the fun things the White House gave us for free. (I think I will keep these ears though for next Easter...they are so CUTE!).

Goodbye Paget Terrace

Sorry the pictures haven't been working. I double post all of my posts by first putting it on the Suarez Family Blog and then copying it over here. It appears to work from my computer, but I guess the pictures aren't happy for you guys.

Okay, so we still have 6 more days of living here, but we were all dressed up for church and I thought it would be a good time to take a picture. Mario thought I was crazy, but agreed to my plan. We stuck the camera on a ladder in the street and used the self-timer. I am impressed with how the boys look at the camera when no one is there (actually, I think they like the blinking light). Joey says only a few words clearly, "please" and "cheese" being two of his favorites. So it was cute how after I pushed the button and as I walked us in to place he was already saying "cheese".

The stacks of boxes continue to grow around us and yet we still have so much more to pack. How did we collect all this stuff?

Have you missed us?

We've been going crazy with the thought of buying our first home, packing, and moving in less than 3 weeks. (Plus, I only have 3 weeks left for my year-long video course...but I've been cramming and am almost done). We've managed to try to have some fun times despite being so busy.

MJ and Joey (and Tricia) built this cool construction together.

I think it's so cute when MJ puts his underpants on backwards.

And here are some pictures of the lake that we will miss if we move.