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.

Our growing kids

Sheila is already one month old and I'm trying desperately to keep her little. Fortunately, we have a large family and babies are born all the time, so I can imagine how fun Michael and Sarah are having with Michael Jr right now. (Keep the pictures coming!)

Here is cute baby Sheila when she was 10 days old (I'm so sad I didn't include this in our Christmas letter)
2 week old Sheila

1 month old Sheila
Yes our baby is 1 month old. She weighs 10 lbs 14 oz (90%). She is 22 3/4 in long (95%) which makes her the tallest baby we've had at 1 month... she is even taller than Joey, they must have measured her wrong. Head 15 1/4 (90%). She loves to babble and coo with her daddy.

So as not to forget the other members of our family - here is how everyone else is doing. Mario seems to love pictures of our kids being zombies watching TV...here they all are watching Wall-e.
MJ and Joey love the new GeoTrax that Santa brought for Joey. MJ has already created a few scenes straight out of action movies going on in his head. This is the second of two scenes where little people are hanging on for dear life. As you can see, if the man falls off the train, he will get eaten by the large lady bug in the background (which MJ mysteriosly claims is his "shop vac")

Mario has been working on the boys' football skills. MJ is pretty good, I'll have to show a video soon. Even Joey likes to get in on the action.
MJ is quite the conversationalist. Yesterday at lunch we had a long discussion about God. He asked, "Does God protect us?" "Does God play with us?" "Does God have angels? Does He have sheep? Does God have cows?" (why?) Because MJ saw a cow in the church the other day (little nativity scene by the alter).
Joey does not talk as much as MJ yet, but is no longer a silent giant. He has passed the adorable age of cuteness with quiet compliance. However, we still think he is cute. He's also starting to stand up for himself when his big brother tries to control him (sometimes MJ gets confused and thinks he's the daddy who can tell Joey what to do).

Baptism recap

We are so happy that Christian and Suzanne were able to be at Sheila's baptism during this busy time of year. We were even able to pull more family together to have a proper celebration for her. We are blessed that so many family members gave up their holiday time to celebrate with us. So, despite a few annoyances with paperwork, a slightly cranky priest, and a "drive through Baptism" as Suzanne called it, I think we had a good time.

Our family waiting for the priest to arrive.



The whole party outside (it felt like a Spring day in December). We still love our new fence.

Sheila and Natalie
I liked this picture of my brother Bobby holding Sheila (if you look closely you can see "Life" written on his shirt).
MJ liked holding beautiful Sheila.
Happy grandparents of 2 grandsons and now 2 granddaughters... the tiebreaker is coming this April.

The Farm

After Christmas, we traveled 3 1/2 hours or so up to my grandparents house near Allentown, PA. There the whole Keppel side of the family was gathered (my grandparents, their children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren). I think there were 29 of us (with #30 on the way from Bobby and Suzanne).

This is our crew just from my dad's branch.

We drove up Friday and returned Saturday afternoon. Sheila has joined her brothers and so far seems to be a pro at road trips... here is a picture of all 3 of our kiddos sleeping on the way back. (You can't really see Sheila, but she's in the seat on the right where the mirror is).