Paoletti Family: April 2009

Friday, April 24, 2009

Almost a blur

Dominic's facination with superheros has grown and now includes the Flash. He has been racing around all over the house and outside ever since I scored this awesome costume at a garage sale this weekend. It is pretty darn cute! He practically lives in this costume. We have had a few trips to the grocery store as Flash and the other shoppers find it greatly amusing....mainly because when he is wearing this he can't walk anywhere....he has to run! Here is a shot of him running at the speed of light---luckily I have a fast shutter. 4.24.09

Thursday, April 23, 2009

Happy Spring

Our neighbor is a 1st grade teacher and she called to see if we would like to babysit the baby chicks from her class, over the weekend before they went to live happy lives at a farm. We of course said "yes!!" At first I was very worried about the safety of the poor fluffy babies but in about an hour the kids adjusted to the "rules of chick holding" and did quite well and handling and cleaning up after them. Not one of them was squished too hard or dropped from to high-- thank goodness. The morning after we got them Dominic woke up at 6am (he normally wakes up around 7:30 or 8am) so he could go and "see the chickens" then he proceeded to come and wake me up to tell me that "the baby chicks are very hungry, get up mom and give them more food!"

It was so awesome having them here as pets for three days....but I will have to say that I was quite alright when they had to go back to the school....my house was starting to smell like a farm. Notice in the first picture that Isabella has 6 baby chicks sleeping in her lap ...that is quite an accomplishment for our little "mother hen." 3.27.09

Saturday, April 11, 2009

Family Easter picture

It was too cold this year to take the picture outside so here we are all dressed up ready for church. 4.10.09

Easter Breakfast 2009

We had blueberry muffins, cookies, hard boiled eggs and homemade Easter candy. 4.10.09

Easter Peeps

Thanks to the book "Owen and the Marshmallow Chick" peeps will forever have fond memories in this house. The kids look forward to them every year Dominic especially has fondness towards them since he and Owen have a special bond since they both love their "blankies." Here are the customary peep eating pics. 4.11.09

Finding the Easter Baskets 2009

The kids didn't take much time at all to find their Easter baskets this year. I think that the Easter bunny is going to have to take it up a notch next year to make it more challenging. Dominic's was behind the trash can and Isabella's was buried inside the library book box. 4.11.09

Personalized Easter Cookies 2009

The tradition continues, here are the kids with their prized cookies. Just wouldn't be Easter without all this sugar. 4.11.10

Friday, April 10, 2009

Time to dye the Easter Eggs

On Holy Saturday we have the tradition of dyeing the Easter Eggs for Easter. The kids had a great time coloring eggs and being creative. 4.10.09

Thursday, April 9, 2009

Seder Meal

Last year we did our first Seder meal on Holy Thursday in honor of the last supper. Isabella had such fond memories of it that after Christmas she starting asking me "when are we going to have the last supper again?"
This years Seder was pretty successful and we got to actually say most of the scriptures and readings since the kids we so involved. They had their fill of wine (sparkling grape juice). Notice that "Sarah" Isabella's doll also was part of the celebration. Isabella made sure she had "wine and bread" too. 4.9.09

He has my heart

Dominic and I had some alone time today while Isabella was at class and we played Legos. We were going to make a rainbow but we decided to make a rainbow heart instead. Dominic was pretty proud of our creation. 4.6.09

Friday, April 3, 2009

Our first pet: meet Bubbles

Having baby chicks in the house made the children really want to have a pet so we decided to let the kids pick out a fish. I did some research and found that Betta fish are the easiest to take care of so off we went to the pet store to buy a new pet. They picked out a beautiful blue & purple Betta fish and all the fish supplies.
In honor of the big occasion we kicked off the morning with fish shaped pancakes, Isabella insisted on wearing her "fishing hat" for the day and after breakfast we put Bubbles into his new home. He is thriving and the kids do a great job making sure he is well fed. 4.3.09

Why do I Blog?

There have been some questions as to why in the world I would want to waste my time blogging. To those questions here is my response: First off....let's face it I am not a blogger. Blogging requires thought, opinions, issues and I just don't have time to type about those kinds of things when I could be posting pictures of my incredibly funny kids. Besides who wants to hear my opinions anyway? Probably no one and frankly I don't blame them. So the real reason why I blog...I know you are thinking I am going to say "for you" but to be really honest that isn't it either. I mean, I am happy that people can log on and keep up to date with what is going on in our life and see the kids grow up. But the real reason I blog is for my kids. This is their online scrapbook. I would consider myself to be a pretty creative and crafty person. I aspire to scrapbook but I just don't have the time or the space to do it. So instead I try to capture their childhood in pictures and words: the funny things they say and crazy things that they do. Someday they will get online and read about what they were like and know why we are so crazy about them. The best part is that I don't have to deal with glue or archival paper and the internet scrapbook can last forever.

What we are up to now:

Dominic is a big 6 year old now. He continues to be filled with joy and enthusiam everyday. He still loves super heros and celebrated his birthday with a Justice League birthday cake. He adores our two cats, Stella & Krypto. Every free minute he spends "loving" on them. I am amazed at what the cats will tolerate. He is really enjoying his first year of Kindergarten and is becoming a good reader. He gets to take art classes and piano and is doing great in both. When he isn't playing with cats he is building with Legos or playing super heros.
Christina continues to work one night a week teaching and is now homeschooling a 3rd grader and a kindergartener. She is also is teaching kindergarten phonics and 2nd & 3rd grade book club at the homeschool co-op. Her life is pretty scheduled with children's activities, class planning and all the fun that comes with taking care of a family. This year the whole family started taking piano lessons. Who would have thought she would start learning piano at her age! Also this year they started teaching Natural Family Planning as a couple for the church. Bringing God's plan for love and marriage to those who will embrace it. In September she got to go for 3 days to Colorado to visit her friend Gina. It was an amazing weekend of relaxation and fun adventure. She is hoping it will be an annual event.
Michael's continues to work hard to support our family fun. He is now a Creative Director at his company Salva O'Renick and is enjoying the challeges that come with his new role. This year he was the 8 & under coach for the Metro Lazers track team and really enjoyed working with the kids. In his free time he love to play superheros with Dominic and draw with Isabella. He has also enjoyed teaching NFP for the church and is so grateful for the graces that have come from teaching.
Isabella is growing into quite the little lady. She turned 8 over the summer and continues to be a voracious reader. She is currently loving the Classic Starts series and American Girl Mysteries. Her favorite 3rd grade subjects are history and spelling. She was in a constant battle with long division but there seems to be somewhat of a truce lately between the two. She continues to love her art class and is really enjoying our new family music lessons. She has an amazing ear for music and a natural talent for playing. She loves all her book clubs that she is currently in...there are 3! In her free time she loves to be creating something, playing with her dolls or reading.
Family: this year has been a wonderful year of joy in our family. We got to take a few vacations. In June we had a few days in St. Louis and in August we got to have 5 days in a cabin in Southern Missouri.