MJ's new obsession

Mario takes on new...well they are like obsessions - every week or so. A book we got from a neighbor is kind of like a child's dictionary but sorts by categories too. So, there was a page on birds and he is now very into birds. He can tell you what each one of these are and I get questions all day long like "Which is bigger a bald eagle or a stork?" He's also into dinosaurs and prehistoric mammals after watching Ice Age. So he alternates running around pretending to be a sabre tooth tiger and at the grocery store a few days ago he told me he was being an ostrich. MJ sure makes life fun!

Trip to Florida

Last week the kids and I went to Florida to meet my parent's at their condo down there. I was set to drive the almost 16 hour drive, but the morning I was set to leave, my dad convinced me to fly. So, we flew out Monday night and had 4 full days of fun, returned Saturday afternoon (to Mario who was working very hard on this insane project). The kids traveled very well. We only got minor sunburns on Wednesday that cleared up by Thursday (I guess staying out at the beach for 3 hours may do that to you!) I'm very glad for my parent's hospitality and for the opportunity to take the kids there. They all really love the ocean (except for seaweed which makes them crazy for some reason). Sheila is almost too brave and adventurous in the ocean which kept me on my toes. But it was a very good time overall. As usual, I wish I took more pictures. We went to some pools there as well, but I have no pictures of that. MJ was happy to show off his swimming talents, and Joey (who is very brave in the water and loves to wrestle with MJ at 2 1/2 ft deep) learned how to float better with floaties and kick himself around - which I find is a necessary pre-step to learning to swim. So, we were happy for him. Sheila also enjoyed using the ring floats as well.

7 years ago...

I made the best decision of my life by marrying Mario! We've had a great 7 years and lots of reasons to celebrate.

We had a fun weekend celebrating our anniversary since we knew Mario would have to go back to Newark today for work. Friday night we had a babysitter lined up for us to go out to dinner. I planned on something close by, but Mario felt we should really celebrate such a special occasion. He Mario picked a fabulous place about 35 minutes from our house. It was fun driving along the countryside of VA to get there (in Paris, VA). I'm not sure of the history of the Ashby Inn, but is definitely a fancy restaurant. The chef takes great pride in his creations and the menu is full of amazing food utilizing ingredients from the local VA farms. Each dish was paired with a wine by the sommelier. Mario will have to take us back sometime when I am not pregnant so I can really enjoy the blending of flavors. We ate outside and enjoyed a fabulous view with a tasteful live band playing some music for us. Later in the evening, there was a hint of a thunderstorm with far off flashes of lightning and a nice breeze. Fortunately it didn't rain on us.

For appetizers I had the green tomato gazpacho with grilled parmesan crumble, bacon, olive oil espuma. Mario had the rockfish seviche with honey, espellette, puffed wild rice, sour cherry granite. We usually each pick an entree and split them, but we both wanted the smoked beef rib loin with triple cooked potato, rosemary, beet vinaigrette and we were very happy with our choice. For dessert we had the grilled creme fraiche pound cake with blueberry syrup, salted butter ice cream. The chef brought us extra treats in honor of our anniversary. One was a gummy like dessert and the other was a lemon caramel which was incredible. I gained 2 pounds that night, but I think it was worth it, and baby Suarez was happy. http://www.ashbyinn.com/

I've included other pictures in the slideshow. Our other very exciting news of the weekend is that MJ passed the swim test! He had to swim one length of the pool (50 meters I think) and then tread water for 30 seconds. We didn't think he'd be ready to do it on Sunday, but with both Mario and I at the pool with the kids, we had time to practice with him. MJ was determined and he did it! We were so proud of him, but he was equally proud of himself.

Backtracking a little, I have pictures from our fun sailing event thanks to Booz&Co and the Kaza family who watched our kids for us. It was the first time it rained in about 2 weeks, so it was a very wet sail. But we got to actively participate and trim sails, steer the ship, as well as hang out with coworkers, so it was a fun time.

Rounding out the slideshow are a few kid pictures. Joey passed out on the kitchen floor...I guess he was tired. He fell asleep around 5pm and we decided to see if he could make it through the night, which he did and slept 14 hours! Sheila is very interested in dressing herself now, and while she can't put everything on by herself she has her own opinions of what she should wear.

The final picture was taken at 4:30am this morning. Mario found me on the bed in Sheila's room since she was up vomiting in the middle of the night. He was about to drive to the train for work...but we have made an effort to have a picture together on our actual anniversary and this is what we got! Although, I think it does show our love in action.

Mario in a comic

Mario has been working long hours as usual, but on top of that, he has always managed to spend time recruiting for the company. As a way to thank the people who have helped bring new talent to the company, they made this comic of them. Some other form of compensation/reward should be coming later for all this hard work, but in the meantime, we thought this was pretty fun.

Baby #4

I'm 13 weeks pregnant with "Baby Gh" I probably should verify the spelling and name with Mario. With his unusual humor, Mario nicknamed this baby after Ghandi in hopes that this child would grow up to be peaceful. Baby Gh is possibly due Jan 16th (MJ's 6th birthday) and he is VERY excited to have a new baby for his birthday. This being my 4th winter baby, I've been able to compare pregnancies pretty well (and I am already much larger than I was with MJ (sigh)). But with their potential shared birthday, this has been especially fun.

Baby Gh at 8 weeks taken on 6/8/2010 exactly 6 years after....

Baby MJ at 8 weeks, taken on 6/8/2004

And today all 4 of my children were incredibly cooperative during our 1 1/2 hour visit to the radiologist for this ultrasound. I had not intended to bring my 3 out of womb children with me...alone...but I did, and we survived. As you can see based on these 2 images, Baby Gh was moving quite a bit. Though baby often found a cozy position all curled up and face down.

Baby Gh at 13 weeks

That's my brother!

As you may know, Bobby has been in Japan as a starting pitcher this year and is doing very well. Here is a recent article about him - at the time he was 9-1 and now he is 10-1. Way to go!!!

http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/sb20100624j1.html

So after each game, they pick two "heroes" or MVPs to interview. Bobby has been picked several times. A few things of note: there are lots of fans still in the stands after the game (baseball truly is a favorite sport in Japan). I think the bear microphone is cute. Bobby has a translator - the guy in blue standing standing next to him. In this hero interview, the other teammate is quite the jokster and was making up his own interpretation of what Bobby was saying. Fortunately, it seems people knew that he was joking.

http://www.tv-live.jp/vod/20100518_heroFG.html

Weekend with family

We had a terrific weekend with all of our family in town. Really and truly, Christian & Michelle did visit (though it seems as though my pictures don't have any of them present)... I just didn't take enough pictures. Thanks to everyone for making the long and short trips to Ashburn this weekend. Thank you Tabitha for the endless supply of food, Mary for the delicious cookies, and the incredible clean up crew!!!

I know the kids had a great time with their cousins - and we are still catching up on sleep today. Some of these slideshow pictures picture:

-the daytime fireworks
-how much Sheila loves Cecilia
-a small frog found by the boys, he made it away alive
-bedtime for the first sleepover night
-4 handsome boy cousins (who were all well-behaved in church)
-a few nighttime fireworks