Paoletti Family

Thursday, December 25, 2008

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

The Christmas of the Lolly Pop

2008 Christmas was a joyful one but there was a key element in this years Christmas that will always stand out. This was the year of the Lolly-pop. The kids got them in their stockings and I don't think they put them down the whole day. They just kept licking and biting on the all day but even with all that licking they still didn't make much of a dent in the sucker...it is almost like the everlasting gobstopper. 12.25.08

Christmas Sing a long

I am a bit crazy for posting such crazy pictures of myself. But this was too fun. Isabella and I were singing our hearts out to the Oakridge Boys song: Jesus was Born today. The Oakridge Boys album signified Christmas when I was growing up and I am so glad to pass on the tradition. It is pretty cute to see that Isabella knows the words by heart. ahhh memories. 12.25.08

Merry Christmas to you and your Family

Hope you had a Blessed Day celebrating the birth of our Lord. We had such a peaceful Christmas. The kids were overjoyed and woke up quite early (ok Isabella woke up early and we had to wake Dominic up). They were most happy to get a Tinkerbell book from Santa. Isabella got a beautiful baby doll which she named Sarah Elizabeth Paoletti. Dominic got a circular saw and a play doh ice cream shoppe--which they played with most of the day. I will post more pictures from the day when I get them uploaded. Merry Christmas!

Sunday, December 21, 2008

Buhman Christmas

We got together with the Buhman family for our annual Christmas dinner. Here are some pictures from the present opening. Dominic was pretty thrilled to get some John Deere tractors ...they pretty much entertained him for the rest of the day. Isabella had lots of fun playing with her cousins and getting some fun toys as well. 12.21.08

Saturday, December 20, 2008

First snow of the season

We got to get out and sled and the kids had so much fun. Dominic was much more comfortable in the snow this year than last year. He was so excited to go sledding. Isabella was really excited to go on a sled by herself. She only ran into a tree once....she wasn't hurt. 12.20.08

Monday, December 15, 2008

Candy Land

What do to with all the candy from Halloween and the fall parades? hmmmm why not make a gingerbread house complete with all the amenities? The kids and I spent a afternoon making the gingerbread and then another afternoon putting the fun all together. It was quite the labor of love. Now for the big question...."when are we going to eat it?" only time will tell. 12.15.08

Sunday, December 14, 2008

Santa's lap

My mom invited us to her work Christmas party for the kids and despite the cold snowy weather were were able to come. The kids both were brave enough to get on Santa's lap. Isabella asked for a "prince and carriage" we are thinking she meant toys....? Dominic asked for a "tractor." 12.14.08

Saturday, December 13, 2008

Feast of St. Lucia

In 1997 I had the opportunity to study abroad and live in Sweden. It was so awesome that I was able to be there in December to witness first hand the Swedish feast of Lucia in full form. It really was a 24 hour party that was topped by a girl selected to be St. Lucia, bringing "light" into Sweden in a time of darkness. This is the first year we have actually celebrated this wonderful feast in true form. The kids and I made Lucia Buns and we prepared the oldest daughter (aka Isabella) to take on the role of serving the family o the morning of December 13th. She woke up very early on her own and prepared a plate of Lucia buns, she started the coffee pot and set the table all while wearing the traditional St. Lucia outfit. It was so cute. Well worth all the preparations. 12.13.08

Wednesday, December 10, 2008

Snow

The kids got to play at a friends house in the snow. All that snow and they were most interested in playing in the drain! Go figure.
12.10.08

Friday, December 5, 2008

The annual tree picture fun

It is that time of year again. Time to get out the ornaments and lights and jam to Christmas music as we decorate the tree. But that is not the real fun....the real fun is taking 500 photos of our family in hopes of getting just 1 that will actually work for our Christmas family photo. We only had to use one pack of M & M's to bribe the children to cooperate during this family fun tradition. Here are just few of the photos from the day.12/5/08

Wednesday, December 3, 2008

Cobweb Christmas

This Advent season we have been doing a unit study with Christmas books. Today's book was Cobweb Christmas and we made spider cookies as our project. They were pretty messy to make and eat but very yummy.

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.