Paoletti Family: February 2012

Monday, February 20, 2012

Tinkertoys + chocolate = hours of fun

Dominic took all his Valentine's candy, mixed in some Tinkertoys and turned our living room into a battle field where Batman could fight crime. Who knew chocolate was so versatile.

Book Club: Baby Island

Baby Island by Carol Ryrie Brink is one of my favorite books from childhood. It was so exciting to get to read the book and discuss it in the girls book club. We pretended we were on an island with our own "babies" and we had island snacks as we discussed the book. 2.20.12

Sunday, February 19, 2012

Happy 92nd Birthday Grandpa

My sweet grandpa turned 92! It was so great to see his family around him celebrating his life. As a bonus I got to hold my new niece Ava. 2.19.12

Saturday, February 18, 2012

Spy Party

Looking Sharp

Spy training

Dominic's friend Isaac had a spy birthday party. It was super cute. The kids did spy training, decoded messages and ate some cake. Dominic really got into it and dressed up.

Wednesday, February 15, 2012

what I needed to hear

"Do not think that love in order to be genuine has to be extraordinary. What we need is to love without getting tired. Be faithful in small things because it is in them that your strength lies."-Mother Theresa

Tuesday, February 14, 2012

Romantic table for 4

We could go out on a fancy date to a restaurant but it wouldn't near as fun as a candle lit table for 4 that includes chocolate dipped strawberries and sparkling wine and two boxes of chocolates. Sharing it with my super cute kids makes it priceless. 2.14.12

Valentine's Day 2012

The kids did an amazing job making their Valentine's boxes. I am so proud of their creativity. We had a great Valentine's breakfast with scones & eggs. 2.14.12

Wednesday, February 8, 2012

History Fun King Charlemagne

Studying Charlemagne in history prompted some fun activities making crowns and learning more about kings. 2.8.12

Sunday, February 5, 2012

Super Bowl 2012

Super bowl...what a great reason to eat yummy appetizer foods and watch commercials. Oh, I hear there is some football that happens in between. Fun family tradition. This year Dominic wanted to stay up to see who actually won the game. I think he likes football.
2.5.12

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.