Paoletti Family: December 2008

Wednesday, December 31, 2008

The Many Faces of Fun

There is excitement, surprise, anger and some sadness. I love them all! 12.31.08

The tradition continues: Fondue fun on New Years Eve. The kids really had a good time this year dipping, frying, and eating. What is more fun than eating your whole meal off a fondue stick? Happy 2009 to everyone! 12.31.08

Monday, December 29, 2008

The last minute family photos

Thanks for coming Paoletti's! 12.29.08

Sunday, December 28, 2008

The little Hulk

Over the past few weeks Dominic has seemed to really take on the essence of "boy" --he is very interested in attacking people, tackling, pushing, hitting--he gets this really angry looking face and starts growling and then he just attacks. We were able to get a couple pictures of our little "David Banner" as he transformed into the "hulk" it is pretty funny. 12.28.08

It is just my size!

Dominic and his prized snowman. Isn't he cute? 12.28.08

Saturday, December 27, 2008

Silly is in the Genetics

The other day Isabella was asking me "do you know where I get my silly?"
I said, "from your Dad?"
she said "no, from my Papa of course!"
There is no denying it...that is where the silly comes from. 12.27.08

Flying Fairies, Doll house assessories & Chugging Trains

Grandma & Papa always know what will make these kids smile. Look at Tinker Bell fly! 12.27.08

Seeing things in HD

If you know Michael --you know that he is a big technology geek (I mean that in all sweetness) So you can imagine his excitement when his parents, brother got him a Blu-Ray player for Christmas. See that big smile on his face? That didn't leave all night. He also got some new Blu-Ray DVD's. He is so giddy. Thanks Paoletti's! 12.27.08

In Harmony

Uncle Jeffrey and Amie got the kids awesome harmonicas for Christmas. This of course will be lead to our family finally getting musical. I am trying to teach Isabella Jingle Bells...but all she wants to do is make her "own music" go figure. 12.27.08

Gun Control

After their short bout with cowboy/cowgirl fame (Halloween) the kids apparently made the impression that they liked guns. Papa Paoletti got cap guns...(also known as "the guns that smoke" in Dominic lingo) and a mighty powerful marshmallow gun. I am still amazed at the amount of dried up marshmallows that have turned up around the house. Luckily most of the ammunition from this gun gets eaten if found by the kids. 12.27.08

Crazy December Weather

So here it is the 26th of December and it is 68 degrees. A day ago we had three inches of snow on the ground. Tonight we are under a tornado watch, flash flood warning and we are expecting snow/freezing rain tomorrow.

On December 27th we woke up at 5am to the sound of roaring winds and breaking glass. We put the kids safely in our bed and ran out to get our patio furniture inside to protect them from the 80mile an hour winds.
It was then that we noticed that the wind had broke out the window to the office. We then did our best to stuff towels into the 2inch gaping hole that was left after the wind tore the outer window pane off. The temperature continues to fall and I think it will be pretty cold in the office today. But we are safe...tired but safe. Crazy weather! Who would have thought that this would happen in December? Not me.

Thursday, December 25, 2008

My sweet little Sheperd boy

Does it get any sweeter than this? He is such an angel. 12.25.08

Nativity 2008

Our annual tradition on Christmas is to put on our own little nativity play. Isabella was casted as Mary (again), Dominic was a sheperd and Joseph, I was a sheperd, Michael was the donkey. There were various animals that helped to keep the stable warm...even a tiger and a couple turtles! Sarah (Isabella's new doll) played the part of the angel with the star. It is always so sweet to see the kids playing their parts. Dominic was especially sweet with his little lamb. 12.25.08

Oh my

I think I failed to mention in the other Christmas post that Isabella got her first set of make up. She wasn't really sure where to put the make up since there were so many different varieties --she had to try them all. I do believe she has lipstick on her cheeks, forehead and her nose if you look closely. She thought it was beautiful. 12.25.08

Introducing: Sarah Elizabeth Paoletti

Christmas day brought forth a new member into our family, a little girl that Isabella named Sarah Elizabeth. She looks a lot like Isabella did when she was a baby, pig-tails and all! Isabella is a perfect mother and has barely let her out of her sight for the first few weeks. She feeds her and puts her down for naps. She even has Dominic babysit her while she is doing school. She is going to be an excellent mommy when she grows up. Right now she is just praying to get another sibling to love on...until then, Sarah will do. 12.25.08

Christmas 2008 Brief Recap

The day started full of anticipation and joy. Christ is born this day. The kids were so filled with wonder and excitement for the day. Dominic got a John Deere Gator toy and was really thrilled to get a big boy water bottle similar to mom's. Isabella's favorite presents were her Sleeping Beauty doll that came with a PRINCE and she was over joyed to get a new baby doll that she named Sarah Elizabeth Paoletti (more on that in another post).
When we asked the kids what their favorite gift was after the day was over they both said "the Tinker Bell book!" Isabella got Joseph to add to her nativity set and Dominic got his first piece: baby Jesus. We had a wonderful breakfast of cinnamon rolls and fruit cake. (this was my first attempt at fruit cake --it actually turned out pretty good. The kids were not to thrilled with it.) 12.25.08

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.