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!

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)

Justin and I just spent the afternoon with friends and fellow birthdayer, Tom, and Eva over at a Seafood and Wine festival. If you are ever in Ensenada (Mexico) in late April, I highly suggest you check it out and sample all the local wine and 100 different ways to cook seafood from the best local restaurants. I was very pleasantly surprized. We enjoyed ourselves till the very end. I will definitely attend again if I’m in the area.

Violet this morning: “Daddy, Jude and I have a lot of energy, so that’s we can run around a lot. You and mommy don’t have so much energy, so you can’t.”

Arg… Am I getting old? I watched ‘Up” with Violet last night and had to explain aging. I guess that may have brought this on.

It’s this weekend, April 18th, folks. Be there or… be a bad mom? It’s at the same high school as usual. You can probably do a search of my blog to find old posts that discuss it with the info. I’m feeling lazy today.

Violet turned 4. She’s grown so much in the past 4 years into quite the young lady and is growing up way too fast. This year she’s playing a major part in the planning of her birthday party and is proving to be quite the organizer. She knew right off what she wanted as a theme — an all girl pajama party. She wants glow in the dark decor and purple cupcakes. She woke up this morning with even more plans and details. I love this kid! Happy birthday, baby girl!