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!