Happy Birthday Joey!

Our little Joey is now 2 years old! I had a lot of fun searching through pictures from his first 2 years of life, and I apologize for posting so many. I couldn't decide which ones to get rid of.


2 months old - on a road trip to Notre Dame - already quite the traveler
2 months old - happy kid
5 months old - ready to drive
5 months old - love the baby rolls
1 year old - always adventurous
13 months - deep in thought
1 1/2years - we won't be looking down on you at this angle for much longer
1 1/2 years - Such a big boy!
1 3/4 years - a creative kid who loves football

We love you Joey! Happy Birthday!

Celebrating Life

My sister-in-law just posted this on our family blog... I thought they were pretty neat videos.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4AqPRcF7ZC0

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-qj3nWy7HMs

SNOW!

We love SNOW! I've been asking for it all winter, and it finally arrived, the week that I am supposed to drive to St. Louis alone (well, with the 3 kids). We had to delay our trip one day, but staying to play in the snow was well worth it. I guess those visitors from New York decided to share some with us after all.

First we headed over to the hill behind our old townhome - still the best hill that I know of in Ashburn.
In the afternoon, we decided to take the short walk behind our house to the hill at St. Teresa.

This hill isn't as large, but it has some perks. It's close... so some day the kids could come here on their own. And the parking lot to the church is lit, so I think we could manage to get some sledding in at night if we wanted to.

There's a park by it, so if you can brave the slippery steps, the slide is well worth it. The kids were getting some good air at the end of the slide. I wanted to catch MJ as he flew off the end, and Joey decided to run by. They ended up missing each other by a few inches.

This is how Sheila spent her first snow day.

Our second snow day had a nice cover of ice that was not too thick. It added a little extra zip down the slopes. Eating ice is a little different than eating snow, as MJ will be able to share.



And here are a few attempts to get the kids smiling.

MJ's birthday

MJ feels he had a pretty great 4th birthday. Daddy had been working from home several days that week, so he went into the office. But it was okay b/c MJ woke up and had some creme de menthe squares for breakfast (part of his birthday food request). He got to hold baby Sheila and play with Joey. Then we braved the bitter cold and went to SAMs for a few things and had pizza for lunch. After SAMs he played some more and then watch me make his yummy cake... he was very excited. We had hamburgers, french fries, and mixed vegetables for dinner as per his request. He was able to enjoy the Suarez birthday cake and then opened his presents - his favorite toy was a WALL-E he could take apart and build again.

We were then extra lucky to celebrate his birthday again on Saturday with more family. The Kaza crew came up from Manassas, as well as the Tompkins and Franzonello's. MJ was happy to be surrounded by so many people to celebrate with. Mario did an amazing job with MJ's cake. He really has a knack for this... I throw out an idea and then he goes with it. The pictures don't do this WALL-E cake justice. My attempt at a WALL-E cake involved a print out of the little robot (see above photo). Needless to say, I have not taken a cake-decorating class. The kids really loved the cake, and I have a great video interviewing the children and which parts of WALL-E they consumed... interesting discussion for a birthday I must say. Thanks to everyone for all the birthday wishes for Mario. It made him feel so special.

Encouraging Pro-Life News

I emailed many of my family members about this already, but thought posting it on a blog might be easier.

You've all probably seen the FOCA novena email that spread like wildfire in the past couple weeks. There were some major errors in that email- FOCA is not going to be signed into law next week. Luckily Rich Doerflinger sets the record straight:

http://www.lifenews.com/nat4740.html

Somewhat related: USCCB has a postcard campaign against FOCA, I think it's going to be starting in parishes this weekend and running through the 2nd weekend of Feb. I’m not exactly sure how effective it will be without knowing the exact rep's for the people signing, along with the delay in sending snail mail to congress. Email and phone calls are usually more effective. But this will also do a lot to educate Church-goers about FOCA and get them more involved. Here's the info.

http://www.usccb.org/prolife/issues/FOCA/

If you wanted to see how your representatives vote on pro-life issues or if you’d like to email or call them, you can check out National Right to Life’s website. Along the right column are links to the Legislative Action Center, Representatives scorecards, and Finding your Reps.

http://www.nrlc.org/

Happy 4th Birthday MJ!

Happy 4th Birthday MJ! 4 years ago, at 5:56pm the birth of 8lb 11oz little boy made us parents... he's not so little anymore. (5 minutes old)
Sheila is definitely more his coloring (3 weeks old)
He was a domer from the beginning (3 months old)
Who is that cute boy in the mirror (10 months old)
He was famous in Thailand (11 months old)
Getting ready to be a big brother (1 1/2 years old)

A big truck driver (2 years old)
He's always been very deep (2 1/2)


He loves Joey (2 1/2)
What a cute kid (at least I think so ... 3 years old).

Fun observations

Our family has noticed a slow return to normal life after holidays/new baby/traveling/vacation from work. My New Year's resolution is to try to be a bit more present to my children and enjoy them as they grow. Since Joey was about 1, I didn't have to play with either of them very much MJ and Joey entertained each other. I really have enjoyed playing with them more and watching them. Here are some things I noticed...

Joey loves Sheila:
He now realizes that pink pacifiers belong to Sheila. Of course, I can't stop him from giving her kisses all over her face, so really keeping germs from spreading is going to be tricky. Fortunately, no one has been sick yet. I can't recall why his shirt was off for this picture. Judging by Sheila's pjs, my guess is Joey got cereal all over his shirt.

Joey's affection for Sheila is pretty deep and I need to watch her carefully. Once I left her on the loveseat while I carried a box downstairs. When I returned, Sheila was up on Joey's lap. I asked MJ if he picked her up, but he was in a different room. Sheila was quite happy being held by Joey, but he really can't do it on his own. (the above picture was staged and I put her in his arms).

Boxes and brothers are fun:
Mario got a new office chair, and the boys got a big box. The boys are very entertaining when they play together. Joey tries to imitate MJ, but really just likes to play around other people. This week we have been working on talking rather than pushing to get what we want. Of course, they slip up. Such as when they were fighting over some Fisher Price Little People. I saw some arms flying and reminded them to behave. Then I saw Joey wrap up MJ from behind and pull him backwards away from the toys. It was a pretty sweet move.

MJ is a big helper:
MJ helped feed Sheila today some of Mommy's milk in a bottle. This is our "just in case" preparation... she may only get 3 bottles a week (and it really wasn't a whole feeding) but just in case I'm away from her and she is starving, I have some milk frozen and ready for her. MJ was very happy to help. Of course, he couldn't do this alone, but really loves taking care of Sheila. The video of this was pretty cute as MJ explained how Sheila doesn't drink the same milk he drinks...like what we buy from the store.