getting into the Christmas spirit....

quick update

So, Elvis is officially on vacation now for the first time in over a year!! We are here at mom and dad's house enjoying a couple of days before we all head up to Virginia to celebrate Christmas at Marty's house. We are hoping for a white Christmas! It would be the first time Elvis and suzy have seen snow.

New update: Suzy is walking like a pro now! She and i went to myrtle beach to spend the night with Elvis for his bday, and when he walked in the door, she walked from one end of the hotel room to the other all by herself! And she hasn't stopped since. What a great surprise bday present for Papi!

feliz cumpleanos elvis!

Today is a special day as it marks 27 years that Elvis Ronald Henriquez Mancia has been in this world. I can say without a doubt that he has brought light to this darkened world with his grace, humor, wisdom, insightful teachings, merciful heart, servant's attitude, and gentle spirit. He's a outstanding husband and such a loving daddy. Plus, he's pretty nice to look at too ;-)

Te amo Elvis! Feliz cumpleanos!

A visit with the Vuljanics!

Suzy and I had a great visit with one of my dearest friends from college, Brooke, and her two amazing kids, Aaron and Lydia. Suzy loved Brooke's cooking (as you will see) and loved hanging out with these cool kids. Aaron, being very wise for his age, said, "Suzy is cuter than these grapes." Thanks Brooke for having us! Can't wait to play with yall again!

Birthday Bash!

Suzy celebrated for several days, starting on Wednesday when Marty, Sara , and Anna came down along with Sara's parents. David, Lucy, Lulu, and Nissa also came down that night so we had a house full of fun and lots of baby girls! Suzy is 1, Nissa is 10 months and Anna is 9 months. Suzy had a ball playing with the girls! here are some pictures from the days before her bday.

Suzy started off her birthday with special bday pancakes:Thankfully, she got a great nap that day and woke up right before her party so she was ready for all the excitement! Her party was owl-themed, including the plates, decorations, and most of her sweet bday gifts were owl-related as well. Thanks everybody! Here are her owl cupcakes:

Suzy and Anna provided the musical entertainment for the party:

Even Granny and Memaw were able to come for the fun!

(look for Memaw under the cupcake pinata!)

Suzy also entertained everyone by taking some steps on her own:

She was a very happy bday girl!

Happy birthday to the sweetest, funnest, biggest personality-ed little girl i know!

Thanks to everyone who drove so far to celebrate with us!

Suzy's 1?!?! Already?!

Here's just a little sneak preview of Suzy's bday blog which i hope to work on soon...my big girl is pooped (and sick) after an awesome Thanksgiving/Birthday weekend with a house full of family and friends.

More to come soon, I promise!!

weekend in myrtle beach

Suzy and I went down to Myrtle Beach on friday to spend the weekend with Elvis and get completely spoiled!! It was a perfect weekend spending time together as a family and eating yummy food (nice that his company pays for all of his food!), shopping in the outlets, walking on the beach in the perfect 75 degree and sunny weather, and enjoying the pleasures of staying in a free hotel room just a couple of blocks from the beach. I just can't say enough how perfect it was to be with our little family on a practically free vacation. I have just been overwhelmed today thinking about how thankful i am that we are able to have this little break from our normal life and enjoy this time being near my family, especially with Suzy's birthday coming up. How in the world could this have worked out? What an appropriate week to feel so thankful!

some pictures from this week...

Here are some pictures from the airport (Suzy was asleep at first)

trying to wake up, snuggling with Papi:snuggling with ENanny:we met elvis halfway between myrtle beach and wilmington last night for dinner:

suzy loves helping with the dishes...and crawling into the dishwasher...and licking all the food off our plates (she LOVES american food apparently!)and she loves finally getting to wear winter clothes!

we made it!

Thanks for all your prayers...Suzy and I made it safe and sound to NC Friday night! We were greeted at the airport by Elvis (flowers in hand), ENanny and Granddaddy...it was the first time in all my travels that i have arrived at an airport and been greeted by all three of them together! it was the best feeling ever to know i wasn't leaving behind someone to go see another.

Suzy did awesome during our 2 flights...for the first time in her short life, she did not take a morning nap and fell asleep about 30 minutes in the front pack (thank you once again Josh and Danielle for the Ergo baby carrier...it saved my life!!) before our flight which was perfect timing i thought. However, when i got on the airplane i found myself face to face with........the flight attendant from hellllll.......... first she got onto me about having the diaper bag in front of me on the floor because i was in a bulkhead seat, which i understand, except the other flight attendant had just told me to put it right there. Then, she said i had to take suzy out of the front pack for take off and landing. What?? wake up a sleeping baby on a plane full of people?? How in the world could she be safer out of the front pack where she could easily fall out of my arms? Anyways, i was very calm and just explained that this is how i always travel and i did not want to wake her up. She very rudely explained that she would show me in the rule book and "good luck with not waking her up". The awesome thing about the Ergo baby carrier is that you can fold the arms down and she stays snuggled up to me so i did that, but my new bff said that was not good enough and had to take her legs out too. Anyways, i got it done without waking her up, but there went my chances of sleeping as well because then she could definitely fall out of my arms. She ended up sleeping only like 20 minutes of the 3 hour + flight, but she was content playing and crawling on my hand (literally) the whole flight. And of course her Leap Pad i brought along for entertainment decided to stop working. But, everything was fine, and after a 2 hour lay over, we were on our way to wilmington. It was a tiny tiny plane and of course she pooped a big nasty one as we were waiting in line for take off. That means i could not get up and change her and that everyone could smell it. After a while i was able to get up to change her, but can you believe there was no changing table in the bathroom! how could this be?!?! It's like being in el salvador! Except in a 2 ft square cubicle in a moving airplane with no help and nothing but a prayer that wipies would desinfect the toilet seat enough for me to change her on that. And that she wouldn;t try to roll all around and climb up the wall like she does at home. She did great, and i got her changed and she was asleep in just a few minutes.

It has been great catching up with elvis, mom, dad, and the grandparents, and the weather has been perfect to go walking on the beach the past few days. Suzy LOVED walking (holding our hands) down the beach and playing in the sand. She's also loved showing off all her new tricks to ENanny and Granddaddy now that she is walking up to 5 or 6 steps at a time now by herself and repeating everything we say (today's new word was "flower").

Today Elvis had to go back to myrtle beach so he can go to work tomorrow (which by the way he is totally impressing everybody there and loving his training!). Tomorrow will be my first day as a work-and-study-from-home mom, so i hope it goes well! I'll try to put up pictures soon!

and the tradition continues...

If you know our family, you know we have a history of ¨creative¨Halloween costumes. You may remember my grandma, Memaw, and her bikini costume from a couple of years ago. This year she and her roommate Ronnie were sweet ballerinas. 91 looks good on you Memaw!!

And here is another sweet little punkin´, our niece Anna. Can´t wait to see you sweet thang!

halloween and quinceanos

Halloween isn't really celebrated down here (at least not in Christian circles), but when Elvis spotted this outfit in a thrift store down here, how could we not get it for Suzy?? Especially when we end up calling her "punkin" more times on a daily basis than we actually call her "Suzy"?

You may remember Suzy's halloween costume from last year:

So she's keeping with tradition!

Last night we had a big event...you have heard us talk of our friend Pastor Jose Luis with the 7 kids....well, last night his oldest daughter had her 15th birthday party...her "quinceanos" which is a HUGE deal down here! It's basically like a wedding. Elizabeth had 3 different dresses that she wore during the evening, this first one being one that my mom gave her:I got to help cut the cake!
Dress #2
Her attendants:

Proud papa:The cake (complete with a fountain underneath):
Dress #3 :
Just a couple of the siblings:

Suzy was tuckered out after all that partying:

We're kinda sad around here...Elvis leaves tomorrow for Myrtle Beach! But we are so excited about our reuniting next week!