A Paone Thing

I am quickly falling in love with my new found independence since discovering my phone GPS .  No more paper directions for me! Woohoo!

It’s been a busy month and it’s only the 19th. Justin came for a weekend and then had to get back to work. My sister, Renee and her husband, Alex, returned from the mission field. My other sister, Maya, and her family move to Houston on the 23rd. We are having mini family reunions every time we turn around.  So much catching up to do, although you’d wonder why in this age of constant connectivity, free wi-fi, unlimited cell phone minutes and Facebook. I think my answer to that would be that there is too much to keep up with that I short circuit. Ugh! Back to the simple life.

The kids are enjoying the last days of the pool here. Jude just loves the water and he has learned (sorta) to swim short distances underwater and to blow bubbles. Violet’s still taking swimming lessons and learning to be a pro 4 year old swimmer.

Nothing else real  new to report on this end except the quest for the perfect place to live I see echoed on everyone’s Facebook status updates these days. Between my friends and me, we should single handedly be responsible for picking up the housing market — at least the rental market. Heh.

I was treated to a 6:00 a.m. game of baby charades today. Jude crawls out of bed this morning and immediately starts with “Bo! Bo! Bo!” as loudly as possible.  I pry my eyes open and try to understand what he needs so desperately, but I just really don’t get it. He realizes he need to be more specific, so now it’s “Deedo! Deedo! Bo! Bo! Bo!” This dense mamma is still clueless, so he finally goes over to the bookshelf and gets the “Incredibles Video” off the shelf.  Arg! (And no, I don’t let my kids watch videos at that ungodly hour. And also don’t usually let my 1 & 1/2 year old watch videos like Incredibles. Double Arg!) These times of wild, craziness will settle down soon and standards will go back up, Jude and Violet.

Violet’s gotten really into this science book explaining the Human Body.  We got to the page with a big diagram of the human heart and she asks… “Mom, so where does Jesus live in this heart?” I thought of how to explain that one, but then simply pointed to one of the compartments and said, “Probably right here in this little blue room.” Heh. What are you going to say to a 4 year old?

We love you, Justin, and miss you already! Jude and Violet send their love and Jude sends one of his signature screams (or two).  Happy Father’s Day!

And dad, happy father’s day to you too. It’s been fun getting a chance to work with you again. May this year bring many exciting twists and turns and (Lord willing) goals accomplished! Yeehaw!

It’s been a long week, but I’m sitting here at my parent’s house with Jude napping, so I thought I’d catch up my  blog.

We ended up taking almost a whole week to make it to Texas, but we enjoyed the trip, so it was worth it. We met up with Sam and Maria and co. in Las Vegas. I had no idea how cheap hotels there are if you go during the week. The kids were in awe at all the flash and dash of the place. We went out walking one night and stopped in at a few hotels. Treasure Island and Bellagio with the dancing fountains were awesome, but the…. Venetian. Ah, I was wowed with that place. You feel like you’re walking down the canal in Venice headed to St. Marco’s square. It’s got the canal, gondolas, singers, shops, bridges and the village houses that are above the shops. I’ll have to post some pictures although I doubt they would do it justice.

We watched a show or two, and Justin, Sam and Maria and I all spent a few minutes down in the casino. Maria was the only one who came out ahead on the black jack table. I think the attraction the kids loved best was… the hotel room? Yep, these kids are easy to please. Bouncing on hotel beds… first rate entertainment. Jude also learned a new word… “TV”.

We tried to swing the Grand Canyon, but it ended up being very uninviting weather wise, which is surprizing for this time of year. It was freezing with cold wind and then finally rained and sleeted. We high tailed it out of there and got back on the road. We were just so thankful we hadn’t tried to pull off camping there the night before. That would have been a very chilly nightmare.

Anyways, we are here now and are settling in. Justin just took off for Chicago this morning for the new job. Weep. We miss him already. I hope it won’t be the full 3 months before we see him again. Somehow it doesn’t feel as far as California was, but I know it’s a long haul. We’ll be counting the days.

I am house hunting, car hunting, unpacking me and the kids, packing my husband, trying to help two kids adjust, and doing a million things at once. Being here feels like the ultimate test for a multi-tasker. So many goals, so little time. I need to pace myself, I think. Ah, well….

The other day I was rummaging through the Encinitas library book store and came across a book entitled “Start late, Finish Rich, a no fail plan for achieving financial freedom at any age” by David Bach. That wouldn’t typically catch my interest, but being that we are entering a new phase of our lives and are launching out as a family for the first time, I thought I’d check it out. Turns out it’s a great book  with a lot of good, practical, realistic advice on staying out of debt, how to save for the future, ways to bring in extra income on the side so you can save for your future,  and even amass wealth, along with a lot of good common sense counsel for how to be penny wise and how you can build a nest egg with any amount of income. It’s been a big help to Justin and me in guiding and shaping our financial goals and plans. Of course, our end goal isn’t “riches” per se, but having something saved up for the future is definitely on our list of goals. I highly recommend “Start Late, Finish Rich” as an encouragement that it is possible for anyone to start saving today in little ways and reap great results with time. David Bach also wrote a new book that I just ordered called “Start Over, Finish Rich” which has post recession updates. I haven’t read it yet, but I’ll let you know if it’s worth the read.

We recently read “Who Moved My Cheese” by Spencer Johnson, where the characters in the story set out into “The Maze” to find new cheese stations and new cheese. If you haven’t read it, I highly recommend it and it’s an easy read. Anyhow, it struck a chord with us with all the changes all around. I thought it might be fun to add a new category to our blog and make that our online journal of our quest to find our new “cheese.”

So, starting June 9th (if all goes well), we enter “The Maze”.  I can’t quite believe it’s “Maze time” for us. It hasn’t registered yet, but anyways… tennis shoes are on and here we go. Pray for us! This is our biggest adventure yet as a family and I’m pretty nervous. Excited too, but also a teeny weeny bit scared! Things are coming together though and as our adventure unfolds, we’ll keep you posted.

Happy Mother’s Day, mom and Sandy (on Justin’s behalf) . We love you both and are so thankful for not only being wonderful mothers, but great teachers and home schooling not only Justin and I, but all of our wonderful siblings. I have a lot to live up to.  I think I have my hands full with 2, but you both proved it can be done successfully with a whole lot more than that. Love to you both.

And to my sister, sisters in law and fellow mom friends, keep up the good work. Where would I be without all your advice, sympathy, great ideas, kids for my kids to play with and companionship. You’re the best!

And one final special reason to celebrate this day… it’s the day I first met Justin. He moved out to California 8 years ago on Mother’s Day. The rest is history. Thank you for making me a mother, Justin. Our kids are the best thing that’s ever happened to me. Sure, they make me crazy and have given me quite a few gray hairs, Jude’s made me a little hard of hearing, sleep in’s are a little hard to come by, but it’s so worth it and every day just gets better. (till their teen years anyway)

I am enjoying my new Canon camera. It turned out to be my birthday and Christmas present combined. Ordering from Amazon turned out to be the never ending nightmare, so I switched to another vendor (Adorama Camera) and I am now the proud owner of a Canon Rebel. Arg. That was an ordeal, but it’s made the enjoyment of my new camera toy that much sweeter. Phew!

Turns out my little Canon S2Is made it all of 50,000 pictures and videos and is still plugging along.

Now, with fresh inspiration — on to the next snap the next 50 K. Nyahaha.