Remembering last year

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

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

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

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

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!

Trip to ND vs Washington

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!!!