Christmas song

Christmas Day

Chriastmas Eve

Our first Christmas home and completely alone...and I think it worked out well. We missed all of you, and tried to fill the time with as much happiness and craziness as possible (the crazy is pretty easy for our family).
Tricia and the kids delivered 10 plates of cookies to our closest neighbors. We made sure to give the priests a few extra cookies on their plate.
Mario took over sugar cookie baking and decorating.
And all the kids were VERY excited on Christmas Eve and Christmas day.

24 hour babymoon

Tabitha and Babu agreed to repay Mary, Ryan, Mario, and I for our babysitting favors by working an amazing weekend for us all. I don't know all the details of Mary and Ryan's weekend (we are excited that you have your new place) but I do know that the very Sat-Sun that the Kazas agreed to watch our children turned out to be the day they helped Mary and Ryan move into their new place. So, I believe it was an amazingly self-giving weekend for the Kaza family.

We are very grateful for your gift of a 24 hour babymoon. From 1:30pm Sat to 1:30pm Sun we were quite free and able to relax. Mario and I had a great time! It began with checking into our hotel in downtown DC (thanks to some Hilton points), then bowling in the White House bowling alley, dinner at the Hotel Palomar in Arlington and then drinks and dancing at the rooftop lounge of the W Hotel (very close to the White House with a great view of the Washington Monument). It was fun to enjoy some relaxation in this city we are so close to, yet often rush in and out of for events.

The White House bowling alley may have been the coolest thing we have done. My friend Andrea works in OMB and has access to some fun White House things. This just happens to be one of them. After passing through 2 security check points, wandering the halls of the White House and connecting building to find the Secret Service office in order to get the key to the bowling alley, navigating the basement tunnels beneath the White House, we finally found the Truman Bowling alley. It was a lot of fun just getting there. We have lots of pictures of the bowling alley (modest, but if it's good enough for presidents, it's good enough for us). Mario sat in each chair knowing that at least one president had sat there before him - similar to the stash of the bowling shoes and bowling balls in there. It didn't hurt that I happened to win (115); but I had a lot of fun regardless of that.

Then we had time to change and get ready for the Booz Christmas party at the Hotel Palomar and then the W Hotel in DC. We stayed out until nearly 2am and definitely had a good time (our little baby girl enjoyed dancing with us).

We returned to happy children who seemed to have such a fun time with their cousins! Thank you so much Tabitha and Babu for looking after our 3 crazy kids!

Sheila is 2!

Sheila seemed to really enjoy her second birthday. She had been sick on Friday with a fever and cough, but slept a lot and I think that helped her recover for her big day. The boys were so excited for her birthday, they woke up early (I was afraid they were going to wake up Sheila) but instead they helped me finish decorating before she woke up. We think she enjoyed her special decorations.

Mario and I were both surprised by how well she understood the concept of her birthday. She walked around saying "Happy -day" and that she was "Two!" We'd say from another room, "Where's the birthday girl" and she'd call back "Right here!"

We spent a good deal of time decorating outside and raking leaves today. And just before dinner we went out to check the lights, and she seemed very excited about them. I wonder if she felt it was all for her birthday?

She enjoyed a yummy dinner with Suarez meatballs, spaghetti, and steamed fresh broccoli. Mario did a great job making and decorating Sheila's birthday cake (MJ suggested the sprinkles and Joey said we should use pink frosting).

Thank you for the birthday wishes and thank you Godfather Christian for the great gifts. The outfit is so cute, and the puzzle is so girl and perfect for Sheila. She also received new crayons, markers, fairy wings and tutu, a new baby and mommy backpack, magformers (which she really loved...another engineer?), a bouncy ball bought by MJ and Joey, and a rocking horse (she doesn't really need to know that we got it from a neighbor).

- and the first picture in the slideshow is from our trip to the dentist on Thursday. The boys had been before and this was Sheila's first cleaning. She did a great job and they were impressed with how she cooperated. The kids really love all the prizes they get from the dentist (the dentist goes to our church!) -

2 years of Sheila

You've always acted older than you are, and I still can't believe you are 2!

Happy Birthday to our sweet, adventurous Sheila!

Thanksgiving

Here are a few pictures from our Thanksgiving in St. Louis. Bobby and Suzanne have one of those nice cameras so they have most of the nice group shots.