Merry Christmas!!!

From Mary and Ryan. We love you guys! See you soon!

Thanksgiving and Preggers Update

Hello everyone!

I hope this post finds everyone well, and still in the Advent spirit, especially this third week as we are called to Rejoice! amongst the crazy traffic and Christmas shoppers. Our traffic has definitely increased here in South Bend because our mall is the only, or closest, one for some of those living in the northwestern and eastern parts of Indiana. Some people travel at least 45 minutes just to come to a mall! It's too funny because I remember Tampa having at least three malls to choose from, and they were all 10 minutes apart from each other!

Speaking of South Bend, Thanksgiving with the Tompkins and Lantigua's was full of so many wonderful memories!! Unfortunately, I did not take as many pictures as I hoped to, but my mom made up for it, and hopefully someone can teach her how to post them because there are some great pictures. The family was here for a whole week, and stayed in our apartment from Wednesday to Sunday! Thanks to the generosity of our friends in the area, we were able to collect blow-up mattresses, a banquet table, and lawn chairs; and everyone fit just perfectly! Thanksgiving Day was full of very delicious food, beautiful thanksgiving words, and lots of singing and dancing in typical Tompkins (and now of course Lantigua) fashion. It was a wonderful Thanksgiving that we will cherish forever!

I am not sure what Teresa is thinking here. lol

The banquet table.

The girls busy at work in the kitchen.....

.....while the boys rest in preparation for the big meal.

Our beautiful, delicious Turkey cooked perfectly by Dad.

Our 2nd Thanksgiving.

Other memories from the trip: We did not get any snow the few days after Thanksgiving as incorrectly predicted by the weather men, but we received plently to make up for it the following week. The kids were so excited to finally see and play in real snow!! Also, the boys were able to go out to one of the Notre Dame fields, and practice their field goal kicking skills. The girls each had one boy assigned to them to keep track of their score. Of course, I kept track of David's score, and as I remember correctly, he won by at least 10 points. lol. Just kidding. Actually, Robby was the winner! He beat my Wisconsin full scholarship kicker husband! (I still believe David let him win. lol). Here are some pictures of the kicking competition.

David kicks....

He scores!!

The score-keepers

One day while the boys went to the College Football Hall of Fame here in downtown South Bend, the girls stayed home and decorated our apartment for Christmas.Isn't it soo pretty??

Finally, here are some group pictures before Joe left for the airport to go back to Ave on Saturday.

Like I said, I didn't get many pictures, but I am hoping my mom will be able to post some soon. We had such a great time!

Now for the preggers update.....I am 20 weeks, and feeling the baby move in full action! When the baby moves, instead of popcorn popping or butterflies, it feels like a hardcore bump or kick! David can even feel it now when he puts his hand on my belly. It's so amazing! Also, I have my 20 weeks ultrasound this Wednesday, December 17th, and David and I are so excited to find out the sex of our baby! Any guesses or bets?

20 weeks!

And last but not least, as I promised, here is our Halloween picture. For Halloween, David and I went to a Murder Mystery party at our friends' apartment, for which we were assigned character roles . The theme was Roman Ruins, and David was Maximus Testerous, and I was Cleptopatra. I was very proud of myself because I figured out who the murderer was! Nope, it was not David or I; I mean, how could it be? Look at us....we could never hurt anyone! We are all beauty and riches; I am summarizing our character descriptions of course.

Besides the usual daily routine, David has been very busy trying to finish his term papers. Please keep him in your prayers! While he has been busy, I have been able to get some Christmas shopping done and spend time with some of my girlfriends. Tonight I am planning to bake chocolate chip cookies! Yummy.

Well I think that is all for now! I can't believe in 10 days we will be home in warm sunny Florida with all of you! We are so excited! Until then, we love you all very much and you are in our prayers!

What Jack and Christina's Baby will look like if the baby's a boy...watch....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xBSYD0dQCAw

hilarious...lol

Ryan's 1st Suarez Thanksgiving and My 1st Thanksgiving as a Tompkins :)

While there are a lot of stories to tell about our Thanksgiving here in VA (like, say, my flat tire adventure, Ryan's wild Jenga tactics, or our sleepover with the kids) I'll just make this a picture post, since pictures speak louder than words. Besides, we will all be together in person in just a few weeks and then we can exchange stories then! So exciting.. we are looking forward to it. :) Here are some highlights: first, me with Raquel the day before Thanksgiving:

Here we are on Thanksgiving day together:
With my mom, who worked so hard to prepare the meal!
With Tabitha, the hostess:
The dessert table:

I finally captured one of Simon's adorable smiles on camera:

Showing off the 26 lb. turkey!

A group shot:

Now for the day after Thanksgiving; I think that holding a sleeping baby is perhaps one of my favorite things in the world :)
Ryan is a beloved uncle to these guys!

We had a sleepover of all the kids at our apartment...an event which was talked about weeks in advance. We definitely treated them to a good time! First, we watched Wall-E and, thanks to our handy dandy air mattress, it was a very cozy movie theater!

Ryan kept a fire going to roast marshmellows, for some s'mores!

In the morning Ryan and I made the kids a pancake breakfast... Ryan is really an expert pancake maker.

With the gang: Playing football with Raquel:

Luke stopped by our apartment before heading back to the seminary, since he hasn't seen it yet. Here we are:

Alright, that ought to do it :) We are anxiously awaiting some pictures from the Tompkins and Lantigua Thanksgiving in South Bend! We will see you all soon! Love, Mary and Ryan