Paoletti Family

Sunday, December 25, 2011

Christmas Morning 2011

Here are some photos from Christmas morning. I got the gift of warmth... a heated blanket. Michael got some new shirts.

The kids got their new Nativity pieces Bella a king and Dominic an angel. Isabella got some new books and pink Legos. Dominic got Legos and ninja gear.

Wii have Christmas fun

The kids got the new Cars 2 Wii game and steering wheels from us for Christmas. Looking forward to some family driving fun.

Christmas with the Bray Family

We had a lovely time in Chad & Oksana's new house celebrating Christmas.

Wrapped up in fun

Hard to resist kids basking in trimmings and trappings. This might be a tradition. 2010

Saturday, December 24, 2011

Painting cookies is something Michael did with his mom when he was a kid. We have been doing it for a couple years. It makes for some very beautiful creations. Isabella made a host of angels. Sometimes these creations are too beautiful to eat. Yummy. 12.24.11

Happy Christmas Eve

We have a family tradition, decorating Christmas cookies on Christmas Eve. I surprised Isabella with matching aprons just in time to cook up some cookies. 12.24.11

Friday, December 23, 2011

Making Ornaments

We decided to paint our own ceramic ornaments this year. They turned out beautiful. 12.23.11

Thursday, December 22, 2011

BW goodie gift exchange 2011

Not sure how we came up with this brilliant and fun gift exchange for the whole family but it was a great idea. Each member of the family picks out a $3 treat and wraps it (sometimes very creatively) and then we do a gift exchange. You can either open a new gift or steal one from someone else. Fruit treats, guacamole, soda, candy, cookies ....all is fair game. This might become and annual tradition. The kids love it. 12.22.11

Wishing you a Christmas fillled with Laughter.

This should have been the Christmas picture for this year.
12.10.11

In lieu of a Christmas Letter

If you want a brief recap of our lives over 2011 you can scroll down on the right side of the page and read "what we have been up to." This is faster but much less interesting than scrolling through a year's worth of blog pictures.
If you have a chance please leave a comment. Always nice to know that someone besides me looks at the blog. Have a blessed year.

Tuesday, December 20, 2011

The power of Gift Giving

This afternoon Dominic was a picture of obedience. Asking what he could do to help out, saying "yes, mom" after I asked him to do anything. Cleaning without being asking. It really was a Christmas miracle. After he was done I said "Dominic do you know what makes me happy?" he responded "no" I then said "when you are being so obedient and helpful." He then followed up with "yes, but does it make you want to buy me presents?"
In his defense I suppose I have mentioned several times that bad behavior will result in very few gifts. I guess I know he is listening. If I can get several days of this obedience it will be worth it all! 12.20.11

Sunday, December 18, 2011

Nativity Play 2011

Here are some pictures from the Nativity play the kids were in this week. Isabella was one of the lead shepherds and Dominic played a Roman guard and Melchior the King. Both had speaking lines in the play and they did awesome. Look at last years play here and here. 12.18.11

Tuesday, December 13, 2011

Happy Feast of St. Lucia

For the past few years we have been making Lucia buns (Lussekatt) and fully celebrating the feast of St. Lucia as they do in Sweden (even though St. Lucia is Italian). Isabella and Dominic get up early in the morning and make breakfast & coffee for their parents. Isabella dresses as St. Lucia and Dominic for the first time, dressed up as a Star boy and helped "Lucia" prepare for the festive morning. Next year hopefully we will have the time to make the traditional star boy hat (which is pointed and white with gold stars). The kids got creative with their Lucia buns this year and made some that were really tiny, a few mangers with baby Jesus buns and even an advent wreath with pecans for candles. We top off the morning listening to my Swedish Christmas CD which includes Lucia songs. The kids LOVE dancing around to this fun music. Here are some pictures from Lucia days past: 2010 , 2009 , 2008 12.13.11

Sunday, December 11, 2011

Merry Christmas 2011

Wishing everyone a very Merry Christmas from our family to yours. 12.11.11

Thursday, December 8, 2011

The Legend of the Candy Cane

I love the story of the candy cane and how it brings the real meaning of Christmas back into focus. The candy cane represents a "J" for Jesus, a shepherds staff in honor of the Nativity, and the blood and water that Jesus shed on the cross for our salvation. Today we celebrate the candy cane by drinking hot chocolate with peppermint cream & candy cane stirring sticks. 12.8.11

A caroling we will go

Isabella's Little Flowers group went Christmas caroling at an assisted living home. They sang songs and handed out candy canes to all the residents and all the girls looked so cute. 12.8.11

Tuesday, December 6, 2011

Happy St. Nicholas Day

We love to celebrate Feast days. Breakfast with candy cane pancakes, money, candy, & gold coins in their shoes from St. Nick. Getting to wake up in new p.j.'s to open new ornaments a Christmas book from mom & dad. A great St. Nicholas day for everyone. 12.6.11

Sunday, December 4, 2011

Decorating the Tree

Such a magical time, getting to pull out ornaments and make the tree sparkle. The kids look forward to it every year. Everyone has their favorite ornaments to put on the tree.

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.