Sylvie turned 7. This has been quite a year for our girl. She is the most "squeaky wheel" in our family - so very verbal and wears her emotions on her sleeve. The end of 1st grade was very difficult in the friends sector, and we decided to meet with a child therapist. After the summer and having a break from friends, thing went well. Now, in December, we are having issues once again with anxiety, so we are back in therapy. She seems to really understand that she has these out of control feelings and runs through the house causing chaos, and then is very apologetic. BUT most of the time she is so so incredibly sweet, plays so well with everyone, loves her friends and writes songs and poems for them. She cares intensely for all of her relationships, friends, family and pet. She puts a ton of effort and energy into everything. This year she met a new best friend, Lily, and that has been so much fun. We went on a few adventures with her family and I'm sure she'll remember that she and Lily went to see "Frozen" together. What a pair- they are spunky, fun, silly and lively- so full of life!
I would say this year was really the end of "babyhood" for Venice. Especially with her 2nd birthday, she has turned full-on toddler on us! We love her little words, she's like a parrot repeating things like crazy in her sweet adorable way. And she wants to play play play play play. She plays well with toys now- and can understand a pretend tea party, or a silly make-believe hunt for monsters. Sylvie especially has taken her under her wing and will play hide and seek and dress-up with her. On her birthday we met my mom at the mall and stopped in the Disney store. They gave her a crown from the Sophia the First series and she has been very in tuned with her "Fia" ever since. Sylvie and I have made her an amulet and found purple dresses to put her in and call her Sophia and she eats it up. She also follows in Sylvie's footsteps by being in love with Ariel and all things Mermaid.
Me- I got bangs! But aside from that, in January 2013 my hopes came true and my old company hired me back on. We spent the first day of work measuring a cold, dusty space and I should have known this was a clue to how this year has gone. I worked on about 30 projects, measuring most of them. Stepping on glass and avoiding empty mousetraps. These projects that previously had been only in schematic design came to life and wow we were a busy company! I also gained a co-worker so that has been fun. And seeing some of these projects built is an awesome change. This company still feels like a good fit and as my husband said, I hardly ever complain about anything with my job, so I'm keeping it for awhile!!!! My favorite project was not a breadwinner, it was drawing an existing 1909 Prairie Style Home in Oak Park that had been remodeled nicely from a duplex to a single-family residence. It was just so neat, and I enjoyed laying out options for how the family moving in could use it. Looking forward to another good year with the company.
Jorge is still with his company. He has flitted around different projects and spent a lot more time at home. Not much traveling this year has given him a chance to really bond with each of our kids. He spends hours helping Logan with his video game projects, finding amazing things for Venice to enjoy watching, and teaching Sylvie to sketch. He helped make a laptop Christmas present a reality for Logan and loaded it up with his favorite things. He's been my helper this year, though we have had a few fun date nights. He did sneak in a week in Las Vegas this fall for work, a bit of a memory from all of his travels there. By far the most fun were our family trips, especially the Indiana adventure to get the puppy. Jorge makes it so much fun to travel and be on vacation time, and just enjoys the heck out of life. Hoping this year is another good year for his company and he gets to touch an awesome project.
Carly the puppy of course grew the most! She's 6 months old and such a keeper. She is very different in personality than our Abby, but I think she needs a family like ours. She is so intense, intensely loving us, wanting attention, looking to party it up at any given time. She and Venice go with the flow on all of our adventures, which is so appreciated as our family has so many places to be. We hired a dog-walker service and my friend Michelle walks her most of the time when I work. She loves the walks and her puppy training class. Can't say she has much self-control yet, but we're always working on it. All of the kids adore her. Venice wakes up and asks for her, pets her, tackles her, pulls on her, gets in trouble, and then goes right back for kisses. Carly takes it all and loves on her anyway. Logan especially has befriended this dog, she is always at his side. Sylvie likes to bring the dog up to her room and claim her bonding time privately or with her friends.
We did not fly as a family this year but we had a quick decision to get a new-to-us car instead of spending $ to fix the old one. It was a weird transition at first but we are all used to the car now. And we took the new car for our trip to Indiana. We also went to visit mt brother and sister-in-law in Ann Arbor which was fun!
Logan was on a soccer team. It took a crew of adults to shuffle him to practice and then religious ed on Wednesdays and we all liked the Saturday games. He is proud of the goal he scored and looking forward to playing again.
(My Aunt Carolyn and me as a baby).
I experienced two deaths this fall, and one earlier in the year. One was a friend from college. Not that he was my best buddy, but the idea that someone my age, with kids, could get cancer and die within a short time, was horrifying. Many friends from our college church St. John's came out to give him a good singsong sendoff and it was like a mini-retreat bringing me back to what and who I was back then.
The other death was very difficult. Aunt Carolyn is my dad's sister and with the death of his own dad when she was 3, he was her protector. He was hit so hard with the news that she did not make it through what should have been an easy surgery. She was diagnosed with cervical cancer and had a heart attack at her hysterectomy recovery. My parents and uncle's family spent hours and weeks dismantling not only her life and her house, but also the legacy of my grandmother and great aunt who had lived there. Very sad but a testament to a beautiful life. There is something about hearing a eulogy that makes me strive to be a better person. My Aunt Lorraine also passed and at her funeral they played "Gentle Woman" that just runs through my head as a reminder of what I want to be.
On a more upbeat note- my father in law Chef Paco had a year to remember! The family restaurant the New Rebozo opened a second branch and between the tv and newspaper and magazine coverage, a visit from Robin Williams, and plenty of silliness thrown in, they had an awesome year! Paco was asked to do a monthly cooking segment on tv and his personality is just shining through. He is awesome with the kids and so much fun! My mother-in-law, brother and sister-in-law cannot be left out of this either as they have all pulled their lions share of work getting 2 restaurants to stay running and amazing!
I already posted about this one but Logan turned double-digits! That's a huge thing. We've been doing this parenting thing for a decade, and wow it's been a wild ride! We celebrated 16 years of marriage and in a few days it will be 17. Pretty soon we will have been married more years than not- how crazy huh?
Well this year has been dedicated to our kids health and happiness. They are our world and hopefully this year we can focus a bit more on us and our relationship together as well! Happy New Year everyone!
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