A Paone Thing

The day when our brothers, David and Titus (David) have their birthdays! Here’s to two wonderful guys who have helped shape our lives and make us better older brothers and sisters (I hope). We love you both and pray you have an exciting year ahead and a fun birthday.

I had to tell Violet today that Windy, a dear friend who helps me with the kids part time, is leaving Monday. Here is a sneak peak at Violet’s thought process.

Me: Violet, did you know Windy’s leaving in a few days to go live with her mommy and daddy?

Violet: Mommy, what about Windy’s lipgloss?

Me: Violet, I don’t know about her lipgloss, but I’m going to miss her.

Violet: Mommy, who’s going to watch us when Windy leaves?

– There you go. Took a little while for that to kick in. Glad she finally came around.

We will miss you, Windy (and your lipgloss). Thank you for all your help with the kids. Safe journeys in sunny Florida.

Justin and I just got back from enjoying Avatar for a second time. It really is an awesome movie in 3 D and, if you watch it in Mexico, it’s half price. Heh. I just wanted to see it again in a theatre as the 3D feature is 90% of the experience, well, that and the amazing scenery and concepts for Pandora. Anyways, if you haven’t seen it in 3D, you really should check it out.  Of course, now that it’s apparently the highest grossing movie of all time (thanks to ticket prices being doubled for 3D) I’m pretty sure it’s the wave of the future and there will be plenty more such experiences for me to feast my movie junkie eyes on.

Ah, someone commented about my blog and how they used to read it. I am sure I’ve lost most of my readership with how unfaithful I’ve been. The thing is…. okay, to be honest, what took over is Shutterfly photo books. They started sending me these deals I couldn’t resist over Christmas. (Justin’s not allowed to comment). I ended up making photo books for Christmas gifts for some folks, which is fun, but slightly time consuming. Pretty much any free moment I would get was spent building, tweaking, editing, checking, changing - arg! And just when I thought I had enough, I had to go make a few for myself and catch their new years sale. I am a total sucker for deals, I’ll admit. So… that’s my real excuse for being absolutely absent from BOTH Face book and blogging. Well, that and helping to plan Christmas events. That always swallows up any available time at this time of year. Anyways… I plan to get back to blogging soon.

In other news, my good friends Nic and Sherry arrived last night. I still can’t believe they came back to San Diego. I thought they were gone forever, but here they are with 3 beautiful children to show for their time away. Violet spent a good part of the day being insecure, overwhelmed and shy, but she had a blast tonight, pulling out every toy she had to impress Riana and Jude enjoyed having Daren around, a little boy to be rowdy with. He gave him the “i’ll see if you still like me after I beat you over the head with a tinker toy stick.” and Daren, after a few tears, did pass the test and was rewarded with a sweet, I’m sorry hug afterwards. Let’s hope Daren survives.

We had vacation and got to spend time with friends — Steve and Linda, Feli, Michael and Amy, Phil and Paula. Phil and Paula have a cute little apartment. I didn’t get to see the college crew’s pad, but I hear it’s equally cute. Oh, one major highlight had to be the Munchkin game Justin and I played with Kenji and Jer. It’s a very silly take off on games like Dungeons and Dragons. Anyways, the big news is I actually won. I’m feeling very proud of myself considering Jer and Kenji (and Justin) are all very intimidating to play with. I’ll probably never repeat that, but the feeling was… priceless.  We spent quality time at the San Diego Wild Animal Park on a number of days. I’m going to have that place memorized, but the kids love it.  Going through their pine tree botanical gardens made me miss Yosemite though.

The kids are doing well. Jude is understanding a lot these days. He does very well at shaking his head for “no.” He has a whole sentence that means “yes” though. Like “voovooovooo dadadad dididibabia” or something like that. He shakes his little finger at you if you tell him “no”. I haven’t figured out if that means “I get you. I heard you say ‘no’. Now excuse me while I do it anyway.” or if he really is just sassy and saying, “don’t tell me no.” It feels more like the former, but hey, I’m the mom. Don’t we all give our kids the benefit of the doubt on everything?

Violet got a few more cavities filled and did just great. She’s now the proud owner of a few “Aurora” teeth and a Cinderella tooth, I think. She looked a little like she had a lipo job on her lips for a few days though. She’s still growing like a little weed, or beanstalk? I think she may be growing out of the princess dress phase. She doesn’t seem to care about them all that much anymore. Ah, well. I think the tom boy phase may follow. She’s started wanting to take pictures. I’ll have to post a few when I get a chance.

Have you seen the new books Activated Ministries just got in? I bought a set for Violet and Jude last week and they’re Violet’s favorite books for now. They’re created by Daniel Miller and his company, Golden Quill in England. I was very impressed. You should check them out if you get a minute. Jude loves their Baby Bible and Violet’s favorite has to be “the Camel’s Nose.” We’ve had a little war going on when we have to choose a book to read. My favorite is the “Rock in the Road.” They are well done, good art, funny, simple text, are stories I’ve loved growing up, and they keep my kids’ interest.Very nice

We’ve had a fun new years eve and day and I’m off to bed to catch up on all the sleep you lose staying up on New year’s eve. Arg!

Here’s to praying it’s a good one!

Phew. It’s been a whirlwind of a month. We visited family for thanksgiving and instead of flying back, decided to drive. Heh. The kids were much better than I was expecting, thanks to one Baby Einstein video and the Little Mermaid. They may have the videos memorized, but we made it back in one piece without too much trauma.

Visiting family for the holidays was such a treat. Justin and I loved seeing all the relatives and the kids enjoyed it too. Violet and I had an ice skating adventure and the kids saw their first snow of the year going through Texas. We also got to spend the day with Justin’s siblings and my family at the annual Texas Renaissance Fair, which was lovely, as usual. My favorite part though was getting to see the Tartanics perform. They were awesome!

We’ve been back for a few weeks now which have been spent feverishly preparing for christmas events, laundry, decorating, laundry, shopping, laundry, hosting, more laundry. Ugh! Can you tell I’ve had a bad laundry day? -

Then, to top it all off, I’ve actually lost my camera the day before Christmas. Very scary. I’ll be tearing apart my room tomorrow and seeing if I can’t track it down. If not, some unsuspecting soul may find their camera mysteriously missing for about 24 hours. Nyahaha. (with permission, of course).

Christmas, here we come!

And a small birhday P.S. Happy belated birthday, dad! I love you!

As I’m brushing Violet’s teeth the other night I asked her she liked her “Ariel” teeth — what the dentist told her was happening as she drilled/filled her cavities. Violet told me,  “Oh, yes. I like them. I still need to get my “Cinderella” teeth. After that I want some “Jasmine” teeth.” Heh. I guess she’s planning on a few more cavities. Ugh! Thanks, Dr. Layla.

We made it to Houston. We’re here at my parents’ for the next week, chilling and catching up. The trip went much better than I expected. We’ll see how the trip back goes, however, now that Jude knows the drill.  The kids are enjoying meeting the Grandparents. Next stop… thanksgiving day.

Happy Birthday, Mom! I love you and pray and wish for the best for you this year. I’m a zombie tonight. I’ve been up way too late making those “bedroom slippers” for you and dad for your birthday and christmas gifts. Heh. Okay, so don’t be disappointed when it not slippers– It’s a surprize, I have been burning the midnight oil on this, so am not altogether here right now. I love you a lot though and wouldn’t be here today (in more ways than one) without your love, faithfulness and dedication. I’m going to be a flat failure as a mom compared to you, so could you just raise my kids. Nyahaha. Just kidding. I really do admire you all the more now that I’m faced with juggling kids, work, marriage, friendships, family. How does anyone do it? Well, you did it very well, in my humble opinion and I’ll be picking your brain for tips when I see you in a few weeks.

Love you and hope you had a blast for your birthday!

Happy birthday, honey! Sorry you’re feeling sick. Hopefully that delicious hot chocolate and those pancakes Violet made you this morning have made you feel a little better.

We love you! Thanks for being a great dad and a wonderful, patient husband.

Jesse, Justin got your text message this morning. He was very touched. He wanted to call you yesterday for your birthday, but was pretty sick.