Christmas in the Burg

Now don't be shy when it comes to posting yours ;)

Merry Christmas!

We hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas. We missed those of you who couldn't be here with us!

We can't wait to see your pictures!

MERRY CHRISTMAS POTTER'S VILE!!!

MERRY CHRISTMAS FAMILY!! WE MISS YOU GUYS ALL SO MUCH!!
IT'S STRANGE HAVING NOT ALL OF YOU HERE. I WISH YOU WERE HERE!:)
DID YOU GUYS LIKE MY QUOTE FROM IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE?
WE WATCHED IT YESTERDAY!YA KNOW WHAT THAT MOVIE ALWAYS BRINGS
A LITTLE TEAR TO YOUR EYE BECAUSE IT SHOWS HOW WONDERFUL LIFE CAN BE!
I HOPE YOU GUYS ARE DOING WELL.
YOU GUYS ARE ALL IN OUR PRAYERS.WE'LL BE DOING
A TALENT SHOW SO PRAY FOR US PLEASE!
WE LOVE YOU.
TERESA, OR AUNT TERESA. XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXO.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY JESUS!!!!
HAVE A WONDERFUL CHRISTMAS!:)GUYS!:)

The birthday recap

Here is a picture recap of Ryan Jr.'s day yesterday. I don't have any pictures from the first part of the day (I have 5 cookie orders to thank for that) but once the cookies were shipped, I was able to focus on taking more pictures. Ryan Jr. spent the day doing all of his favorite things; reading books, blowing bubbles, wrestling with Cecilia, and unstacking the dishwasher. He even managed to sneak a crayon or two when my back was turned, and when I would catch him and yell at him "NO EATING CRAYONS!" he quickly threw the crayon away and obeyed without putting up his usual fuss. I think he was just in a really good mood because he knew it was his special day. Thanks for all the blog comments, phonecalls, and messages! Ryan Jr. had a wonderful and very happy 1st birthday.

Happy 1st Birthday Ryan Jr.!

Just wanted to post a little birthday slideshow of my handsome Ryan Jr. who I cannot believe is 1 year old today! Time sure flies when you're having fun. :) Enjoy!

Photos galore!

Recent and not-so recent videos

Here is a little random assortment of videos from the past month or so I hope you will enjoy. We really enjoy all the videos and pictures of our nieces and love to look at them again and again! Cecilia can't wait to see her cousins next week. Here is a video of her "singing" Once Upon A Dream. You'll hear her saying "you...you..you" and then "know...know...know," all the while holding Buzz's hand as she dances.

 

Pretty unique singing talents, wouldn't you say? Not quite like her cousin Sofia, but we are woroking on it. :p Now here are some videos of Ryan Jr. cracking up watching silly Daddy. We just love his laugh!

I posted this on facebook, but just in case I thought I'd include it. I love how she gasps in excitement every time she paints a stroke! She loves to paint. Maybe she can paint with her cousins when we get together?

Cecilia was making Ryan Jr. laugh, so I took a video to post on the blog because we just LOVE the videos of Isabella cracking up Veronica!

A little clip of Ryan Jr. during one of our family dance parties, which I highly recommend when the weather is bad so you can't go to the playground and you need an alternative means of tiring out the kids before bed. :)

Here is a video from last night. We did our family grocery shopping and ran a few errands and didn't get home for dinner until close to 8 pm, so we made a quick meal of hot dogs and french fries and baked beans. We rarely buy soda but there was a sale and so we picked some up and had it with dinner. Cecilia was thrilled when Daddy offered her some of his caffiene-free diet coke but she kept calling it "sody" instead of soda. When I tried to get her to say the "da" properly it came out as "duck." So Ryan tried to capture her weirdness on camera as she excitedly talks about her "sody":

And lastly, here are some videos of Cecilia when she was around Ryan Jr.'s age. It's fun to compare siblings and it made us laugh to watch Cecilia taking her job of dusting the shelves very, very seriously.

For comparing their dancing skills (sorry for the annoying song):

AMU Fall Semester

Hey Dear Family!!

After having undergone a recent interior technological conversion, I have been experiencing a rather consistent and sincere desire to post comments and pictures upon this blog. I believe, with the most heartfelt intentions, that this would demonstrate wonderful skills in trans-communal interactions. HAHA. Geez, if that sentence doesn't speak for itself, I'm not sure what will. I'm kicking my butte over with stress and hard work. Last week, the Chamber Choir was in rehearsals and performances for more than 12 hours; I just recently finished two papers, and a test this past week. *phew...let me wipe the sweat from my face*

But I am lovin it. I love having my day completely full of activities: singing, studying, going to Mass, socializing as breaks. I've turned the library into my personal office. So far, I have four A's and a B. I want to bring that B up to an A though.

Singing was going well....I performend well in a recent performance. That's GOOD, not just in itself, but also because I needed to recover from my blooper on the Panis Angelicus. The reason that went poorly was because I was just thinking way too hard about technique and totally forgot to just will to sing beautifully. Learning experience! But now, I have come across another struggle in mastering this new technique. Pray that I get it; that I sing for the glory of God and the creation of joy in music-making!

To paint a more vivid picture of my life at AMU, I thought I'd give you a picture of my bedroom. I know mother and the girls will appreciate this. :) That silly pumkin over there was done at the sleepover with Robby, Joe, and Nickel. I love his face--he's just so precious.

Haha, and then the big one: Sadie Hawkins 2011!!! My first time asking a guy EVER...it's tradition though, so it's okay. I felt like I wanted to be more fully a part of the fun at Sadies, so I asked the hulk to go with me. Actually, his name is Dennis...the only reason why I asked him was...well, do I really need to explain?? lol Besides noticing his great body haha, (it's kinda hard not to, because he's known on campus as the guy who never wears a shirt because he likes showing off his muscles *vomit* but seriously he can dish it), I saw him praying on the Rosary walk a couple times. ( Mary I think you might appreciate that. :) Then, I thought we'd make quite the pair...that is, if I do say so myself. So, we went as the Hulks. Robby jumped in there and made our picture complete.

Having Robby here is such a blessing! Every time I see him, I feel at home, at peace, and a little bit of the love that's waiting for me at home. During this past week, I've woken up quite a few times, wishing that I could just keep sleeping. But then, I think about coming home for Thanksgiving and I count the days in my head...not with exact numbers of course, because I still haven't made it to that level....Then, I feel better. I can't wait to see you all!!! It's gonna be a blast! And if I throw any of my moody fits, just snap me out of it! I love you all. May God bless you.

Our ham's latest accomplishment!

All Hallow's Eve

Angela's and Teresa's pumpkins all aglow :)

A sailor and Chet full of candy with a stomach ache.

Blinking eyes ;) in red and green on the shirt.

Angela is actually in her pj's for all these pictures because she had already taken off her sailor outfit by this time :) Love to all, Mom and Dad

Ryan's birthday

Here is the slideshow recap of Ryan's wild and crazy 26th birthday celebration. The partying actually began on the weekend, when we had a special brunch after Sunday Mass in Ryan's honor, and continued on Tuesday with a special baby-free date to a yummy Mexican grill restaurant called Qdoba. For the big day, Ryan requested bacon, egg, and cheese sandwiches for his birthday dinner, and he specifically asked that they be made with toasted bread and not bagels (weird, right?), so that's what he received. Unfortunately I was unable to make him a homemade apple pie which he wanted instead of cake, because I discovered yesterday that I ran out of sugar! So, his pie will have to wait until after our next grocery shopping, and it'll serve as an excuse to celebrate his birthday further. :) He really enjoyed and appreciate all of the phonecalls, texts, facebook, and blog messages, so thank you very much. He says it was a great birthday! 

Happy Birthday Ryan

To a loving, thoughtful, holy man, we cherish and love with all our hearts, our son Ryan!

You are a light in the world, a beacon of what it means to be a Catholic husband, father, and son ;) We are so proud of you and so thankful that God gave us you !!

May the Lord always bless you and keep you and your beautiful family.

We love you very,very much, Mom and Dad

October

Being that both girls are sleeping, I thought I would take advantage of this rare quiet time and update the Tompkins family on the Lantigua's busy month of October!

The month began with Natalia's baptism on Sunday, October 2nd. Because this is most likely our last year at Notre Dame, we decided to do the baptism at Notre Dame in the Log Chapel. It was a beautiful event as we were joined by our wonderful community of friends.



The month continued on with lots of adventures like a pumpkin patch and Zoo Boo, trick or treating at our local zoo. Sofia who now refers to herself as Miss Sofia, has entered a very defiant stage, expressing her independence and will very freely and testing Mommy and Daddy's patience. Nevertheless, she has also remained her sweet, cuddly self! She loves the Sound of Music and sings the songs everywhere we go, like tonight at dinner in a very quiet restaurant!

Natalia has continued to grow very chubby, much to my pleasure! She is also talking alot! Most monumental, she began giggling! It is the sweetest thing. She started it yesterday in the car on our way to trick or treating. She was smiling at Sofia in her car seat and just started giggling at her! Natalia adores her, as long as she does not get in her face. :) She especially enjoys when Sofia dances for her.

David and I are doing well. David has been applying for jobs the past few weeks. Nothing that would bring us closer to family had opened.....until....last week!!....a Moral Theology job at CUA!!! Of all the positions that are opened, this would be the most ideal but also most competitive! So please pray for us as we enter a vulnerable process and learn to let go and let God!



We are so excited to see all of you in just a few weeks! All our love!

Halloween in Indiana

Pumpkins

We got into the season down here in Naples, too! We picked up Vanessa and Robby on Saturday evening and on the way into Naples we spotted a a pumpkin patch (if it could be called that) and stopped to check it out. The pumpkins were too expensive and most of them were rotting, so we just took a few photos before heading to Publix to find our perfect pumpkins. :)

Anyone up for following the yellow brick road?

As you can see, this poor pumpkin patch has been picked over and suffered some flooding.

All is not lost, however, because Robby found a special friend.

A quick dinner for the hungry explorers. Of course our pumpkins were invited to the feast.

The dinner was a belated birthday celebration for Vanessa, which was followed by a movie, alcoholic drinks for Joe & Vanessa, and ice cream for Robby and me.

We woke up on Sunday morning and got to work on our pumpkin creations. We had to break for mass and lunch, but that didn't phase us the slightest bit. We completed our master pieces and then took Robby and Vanessa back to Ave Maria. :(

Robby's scary pumpkin.

My flower power pumpkin.

Vanessa's adorable pumpkin.

Joseph's suh-weet Batman pumpkin.

We left the flash off to capture the glowing pumpkins... sorry for the dark faces!

Silly siblings. :)

Pray for mercy from THE PUMPKIN!

Lots of love to you all! Keep the pictures and posts coming!

Boo!

Unlike the Virginia Tompkins, we never have a theme! Jack refuses to participate, so I have fun dressing up the girls! I wanted to make the Christmas box a tradition, but I didn't have a box big enough! Coincidentally, the theme is the same since Veronica will probably not fit into this outfit come Christmas. Isabella was our little fairy. She refused to smile for me, she was being so shy! The weather was perfect, cool enough to keep the chocolate from melting! Enjoy the pictures :)

Halloween in Virginia

Here's our picture recap of Halloween 2011:

Now let's see everyone else's!

Different Homecomings

Robby's soccer team comes to Clearwater to play. We all went out to cheer them on and see Robby. He played in his first Ave soccer game :)

Then we went to Ave to see him in another soccer game! This time he played for 20 minutes ;)We also got to see Joe and Nicolette and stay overnight in their new place! So fun! We also got to hear Vanessa sing at the president's inauguration the next morning ;)

First homecoming for Vanessa and Robby after we dropped them off at Ave in August. We were so excited !!!

Cheers! Here's looking at you, kid ;)

Vanessa's 21st Birthday

Vanessa wanted pink champagne :) Dad didn't object, of course, and he added to the celebration with smoked salmon, brie, crackers, and goat cheese. We spent the afternoon in the backyard enjoying the weather and the family! More pictures to follow. Love to all, mom and dad

Happy Birthday!

For your big day today, I thought I'd post an old picture of you and Jack. It's one of my favorites of you two. :) Such a cute couple!

I hope that you have a wonderful day, that your husband spoils you, that your sweet little daughters are well behaved for you, and that you eat a BIG piece of cake in my honor. :) Happy birthday Christina! With love from the VA Tompkins family.

Happy Birthday Christina

We love you very much, Christina! Many blessings and prayers :)

Love, Mom, Dad, Angela, and Teresa

Cute Videos

So one evening I was cooking dinner and things were very quiet... this is what I find :) it was such a sweet moment!

Veronica will sit in the bumbo on the bathroom counter while we get ready - now she keeps herself busy :)

So sweet :) best friends already!

During dinner, Veronica randomly giggles at her little ducks. She loved it when I jiggled them. I wish I could post the entire video of her giggling. It went on for over 5 minutes!

Florida Fun

It has been a busy couple months for the St. Pete Tompkins. We went to the zoo, Veronica's ears were pierced, we celebrated my Dad, Elizabeth and Andrew's birthday's (all within one week of each other), and wrapped it up with a vicious virus! Thankfully, Isabella's blood work numbers are getting better (she was poked seven times in one week!) and Veronica's blisters/sores are almost gone.

Isabella has really grown up and is looking more and more like a little girl! She is such a sweetheart. She amazed me with how brave she was with all that happened over the past week. She loves Veronica so much! The two of them are so sweet with each other. She loves to mimic me in all that I do. Her new thing is unscrewing EVERY bottle/container (no matter what is inside... which has been lots of fun) and turning on and off light switches. Also a little update: her next hearing test will be November 9th and depending on the results, speech therapy will soon follow.

Veronica is changing and learning every day! She is rolling around all over the place and her balance for sitting is getting better! She loves to get her hands on everything and play in her exersaucer. Jack and I get a kick out of her bouncing in it. She loves to talk, squeal, smile and laugh. She is a very happy baby! We can't wait for all the cousins to play together!

Jack & I are doing well. We both agree last week was probably the most difficult week of our entire marriage. We were so strong and supportive to one another, but we definitely felt like we were not going to survive. We're almost 100% back to normal :). Our lawsuit is still ticking away. We have to wait until January before we even discuss a trial date (ridiculous). We don't know how long the typical wait is for trial once we have this conference. One thing is for sure... we're getting good at waiting :). As my Grandma Bauer always says... "Offer it up". Might as well make some good out of it! We love you all! Enjoy the pictures!

Amazing!

Birthday recap and Spiderman video

Here is my birthday recap slideshow. It was a great weekend-long celebration, and I really appreciated all of the phone calls, texts, and facebook messages. I felt very loved. Thank you to all of you!

Now for another little video of Ryan Jr. taken tonight. A little boring at first, but just be patient and watch until the end. :)

Cecilia is 2!

Just wanted to share our pictures documenting Cecilia's big day today. She was incredibly happy the entire day today, from the minute she woke up and found her birthday decorations downstairs, until her party tonight with her cousins, and then seeing Grandma, Grandpa, Aunt Teresa and Aunt Angela on the webcam was the icing on the cake. We could tell that she felt very special and loved. She is our sweet girl! Thank you everyone for you phonecalls, messages, gifts, blog posts, and well wishes. Cecilia appreciated every single one and you all made her 2nd birthday very, very special.

Happy Birthday, Cecilia!

Here's a birthday kiss from Isabella :)

We love you!!!

Big News

TWINS!

(Just kidding!)

Hello dear family! Here is a little update as to what's been going on with the Naples Tompkins family. I've included some photos of Ave Maria's first football game and then some pregnant lady (and man) pictures hehe. Joe has been working hard at law school during the week and during most of the weekends too. But we still find time for a movie and the Bucs game on the weekend as we rest up before the next week. I have been working, sleeping, and counting down the weeks until I will (hopefully) be free of this pregnancy sickness. Last week I got to see Mom, Dad, Angela, and Teresa twice! I had to make a work trip up to Tampa for meetings on Monday and then they all came to visit on Thursday/Friday. It was too short of a visit, but we were excited to host our first guests in our new apartment... hopefully they will come to visit again soon! We love to see our family. :) We're really looking forward to Thanksgiving!

Baby had it's first check up yesterday and it's already 9 weeks old! (So that means possibly only 3 more weeks of sickness? YES!!) We chose a doctor at the recommendation of Krista Henley (AMU alumni) and I really like her so far. Plus, the clinic and hospital are right down the road so I don't have to miss much work for appointments. At this first check up, I was able to hear the baby's strong and fast heart beat, as well capture Baby's first photos. The baby seemed more than happy to have it's picture taken and wiggled it's little arms! Based off this first ultrasound, the doctor believes that May 12th is Baby's ETA... we're hoping it wants to stay cozy for a few days longer because Joe's law school finals are set to go through May 12th! So far, Baby's favorite foods are turkey/cheese sandwiches and saltine crackers... lots of saltine crackers! My sister, Carissa, has been huge help these past few weeks. She has done the weekly grocery shopping and even cooks dinner once a week for us. Joe has been extra helpful with the household chores, even though he has very little free time!

P.S. To echo Mary's request, could you all please email some family photos to me, too? I have none whatsoever and think Mary's photo wall is a great idea! poschnic00@hotmail.com

Now for some photos! Here is a photo of the Ave Maria cheerleaders and football team on the sidelines. We think the new green and blue colors look really nice.

First pregnant lady photo! 8 weeks along here.

And we'll end with the first pregnant man photo? He's having a celebratory drink at least!

The Ave Maria Victory March

Well, here we go...I'm starting a rebellion again....Mr. Monaghan has refused to listen to the cries of the people. After winning the fight song competition, he has again tried to insert the Valdres March (aka The March of the Penguins) as the school fight song by playing it at sporting events. We all know that I won this contest fair and square. So, unfortunately, I'm now running out of time b/c football season is underway and traditions are being made. I need to get the word out about the true fight song, but I first need a title. For example, Notre Dame's fight song is called the "Notre Dame Victory March" and Michigan's fight song is called "Hail to the Victors". So, to give you some ideas, here are the lyrics:

Rally Sons of AMU
Cheering Loud with voices true
Lift high her name
For our game will bring her fame.

Cheer loud and Cheer Proud
Gyrenes will make them flee.
Send high the battle cry
We fight til victory.

Fight, Fight, Gold and Tanzanite.

All sing and give her hail
With her we’ll never fail
We’ll pray Ave, Ave, Ave
Til they have given way.

Ave, Ave, Ave, Ave, Ave
Ave, Ave.
Ave, Ave, Ave, Ave,
Ave Maria.

“Ave Maria”… FIGHT!


So far, I am leaning towards: The Ave Maria Victory March. I know, I know...it is the same as Notre Dame's, but there's no copyright on the words, "Victory March". lol If nothing beats that, I'm going to go with it. Also, you can listen to the first rough draft of my song by listening to it here. Stay tuned for there's more to come!!!

Love you all,

The Rebel Scum

Picture request

Hello family,

Instead of sending out a group e-mail I figured it might be easier to simply blog this instead. I have been meaning to make a picture wall along the staircase in our house of pictures of our immediate family. I was wondering if it wouldn't be too much trouble for you all to send me a recent picture of your families? It doesn't have to be a formal picture or anything, just a recent photo that includes all the parents and kids. :) I'd really like to have each sibling represented on the wall, as well as our nieces. Jack and Christina, Marisa and David: would you mind sending me a picture of just your girls as well? Depending on what kind of frames I end up getting, I may be able to include a picture of the girls alongside your family photo. Mom and Dad, is there a recent picture of you all that could be e-mailed to me? You can send the pictures to mebs1586@yahoo.com.

Thanks in advance. I'm really excited to get started on this project so that we can have more pictures of you guys in our house.

A funny video

Just thought I'd share this video of  Ryan Jr.taken tonight after dinner. He kept trying to grab the ice cubes out of my cup but would close his eyes and gasp at the coldness when he actually did touch them! We were laughing and laughing but unfortunately this video was taken towards the end of his silliness, when he was starting to tone the gasping down a bit. I wish you could've seen it, it was so darn cute!

To make you smile...

...or laugh :)

Growing and learning in September

Happy Fall everyone! Here is our latest set of pictures of the girls! Natalia is growing very quickly, already weighing 11.5 pounds! She loves to smile and talk to us all the time. I think she is already feeling the need to keep up with Sofia. Sofia is learning to be a good and gentle big sister; and always giving us a big laugh with the interesting things she has to say and the imaginary world she creates. We love and miss all of you. We are very excited for Thanksgiving!

Pro-Life Signs

I know some of you do not have (or check ;D) Facebook, so I thought I would paste this on the blog. Mrs. Jeffries asked us for these photos to use for pro-life signs. They are located near Christ the King on Dale Mabry.

Beach

We've really enjoyed the videos of Cecilia and Ryan Jr, so I thought I would share these with you from our Miami beach vacation.

Mary, you mentioned Isabella being a ham for the camera. Well, here she is in action :)

Veronica had to get used to the wind, but she's still a happy baby! And a bonus clip of Isabella at the end.

Videos

Here are some videos to accompany the picture update. :) Ryan Jr. showing off his muscles:

This is the "wet cloth game" Ryan invented. Who knew a wet cloth could be so much fun? What cracks us up is Ryan Jr.'s shaking and closing his eyes in anticipation of the cloth!

Cecilia just being Cecilia at breakfast time. You can hear her "talk" which is to always pick just one syllable of a word to say.

Cecilia thinks it's hilarious when Ryan Jr. slobbers on his cup like this. I think the best part of this video is the very end when Cecilia sneaks some food off Ryan Jr.'s highchair.

This was taken during football watching yesterday. Ryan Jr.'s fake coughing noise has been one of his favorites lately. Enjoy!

August and September

Hey everyone! It's been so long since we posted so I figured I'd back up to the month of August to do a little picture update of what the Virginia Tompkins have been up to. We have had a busy summer since Joe and Nicolette's wedding, with lots of pool trips and outings, as well as a trip to New York over Labor Day weekend for my Aunt Raquel's wedding. Ryan is working hard at CACI and has been playing flag football on the weekends in a Catholic pick-up league. He's excited that the Fantasy Football season has started, and he looks forward to beating you all like a drum. I have been enjoying the research phase of my "cookie business," tinkering with different cookie and icing recipes and experimenting with shipping methods, and I have already gotten some orders. I had so many awesome suggestions for a name, but I keep going back to "Mookies" as my favorite so far. :) Cecilia and Ryan Jr. are both getting crazier all the time. Cecilia has been talking a lot more and continues to put her own little accent on words. For a while, her version of "yes" was a German-sounding "Ya!" but now it has morphed into "Yesh." Last night, as we watched the Notre Dame game, Ryan and I were cracking up as Cecilia repeated almost everything Ryan said during the game, whether it was "Yeah!!" or "NOOO!" or "Oh maaan!", Cecilia's voice served as Ryan's echo. Ryan Jr. is growing up and is very much "all boy"": hyper-active and always looking for ways to wreak havic and destruction, make messes, and annoy his big sister. Because he spends all day trying to walk, climb and jump, he is constantly getting bruised and beaten up, and always looks like he's been in a fight, as you can see from the pictures:We have really been enjoying all the activity on the blog, as well as having the opportunity to webcam with many of you. We cannot wait to come visit FL again soon, and in the meantime we'll be in touch. :) We love you and miss you all!

Pictures....finally!

Update

Isabella's surgery went very well. From the moment she left our arms to when the doctor came in to discuss her surgery was maybe 20-25 minutes? They removed the fluid from her ears and put the tubes in. He said her hearing should come back right away, but we are to wait 3 weeks before her hearing is tested again. That appointment is scheduled for 9/28. They removed part of her adenoids since it was infected. They looked down her throat and discovered her airway is smaller than normal. This explains why she's more prone to croup. He said it should only get better as she grows. The results for the sinus culture and the tissue sample for reflux should be in around Tuesday. I will update you with those results once I receive them. Thank you for your prayers!

Prayers please :)

Yes, I am asking for prayers... again! Isabella's procedure will be tomorrow at 10:15am. Please keep her in your prayers. Especially at that time, if you remember. I will update you once we have the results of the tests. They said it takes about 5 business days. We pray that they will discover the underlying issue. Thank you so much! We love you all!

HOLA!

Here are some pictures from this month. We stayed at a family condo on South Beach in Miami for our vacation. The vacation wasn't what we were hoping for, but in the end we at least felt like we had a vacation. To make a long story short, upon arrival we learned the balcony overlooking the beach (which is the best part of the condo) was under construction. So not only were we stuck in this little one bedroom condo without a view other than the windows, we had to listen to constant drilling, hammering, and Hispanic men singing while we were trying to relax. The singing was pretty funny, though :). Since the balcony was under construction, they locked the back gate to access the beach. In order to make it to the beach, we had to walk away from the beach toward Ocean Drive, then down a few complexes on Ocean Drive, then back towards the beach through public access. It was at least a 10 minute walk... lugging two kids (Isabella not wanting to hold our hand), a chair, beach umbrella, bag of towels, and our camera. Yeah it was exhausting. They open the gate for the condo over the weekends, so the last night we were able to experience that luxury for the first time. Oh what a difference that made! Oh and another exciting moment was when the air condition stopped working only 2 days after our arrival. The AC decided to freeze over, so Jack spent an hour or so holding a blow dryer in order to defrost the ice. At least it got our air working again. Our vacation wasn't a smooth one, but we did have a nice time. We needed a change of scenery and it was nice to have Jack home all day for the week. We even stopped to visit Joe & Nicolette on our way home!

We hope you all are doing well! I really want to see some pictures from everyone! Especially some updates of baby Natalia?! We love you!

A little help, please?

Hello Tompkins family! I just wanted to ask for everyone's help for a little project Ryan and I have started to work on. I've always played around with the idea of starting my own "cookie business" selling my hand-painted sugar cookies, and lately have been giving it more serious thought. I have begun experimenting with different sugar cookie and icing recipes, and expanding my cookie cut-out collection. I was wondering if you guys could help me come up with a good name for my business, since Ryan and I can only think of uncreative things like "Cookie Creations" "Creative Cookies" "Mary's Cookies" or Ryan's only contribution, the slogan underneath the name: "Put your money where your mouth is...literally." Obviously, we need some serious help with the name, so please offer any ideas you might come up with!

Next we will need volunteers to taste test the cookies and give me some idea of how I can successfully ship them. I think it'll take some trial and error to find out the best shipping method, and I hope you can help me out with that. :) Thanks in advance for your help everyone!

Happy Birthday Mom!

(Cecilia refused to cooperate despite receiving many spankings)We wish we could be with you to celebrate your special day! We will be thinking about you and praying for you. We love you Mom! HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

Veronica giggling :)

Here are a couple short videos of Veronica giggling that I trimmed from our home video. Enjoy!

The Real Man of Steel

Mary, I (David) thought you would appreciate this photo whereas Ryan, not so much.

A Video of Natalia

Natalia Maria

We are very happy to officially annouce the arrival of our little sweet Natalia Maria! She was born on Monday, August 1, 2011, at 2:08pm weighing a tiny 6 lbs, 6 ozs and measuring 19 inches long.