9 years old / jonas encarnacion armenta

Dear Jonas,

You turned nine almost a month ago.  I always write a letter on all of your birthdays on the day but i guess i was being a bum and kept putting it off until later.  On your birthday, there were so many people here.    It was a kid party, with about 20 boys and girls running around our backyard.  Friends and family, all here to wish you a happy year.

I can't believe it has been nine years since I had you.  That is a lot of years ago that I became a mama.  When you were born, we didn't know what you were going to be.  When they said you were a boy, it just felt like, of course and when we named you, dad and I looked at each-other and said "Jonas," because we already knew who you were going to be.

My sweet and hard headed jonas, oh how i love you my son.  This year is going to be so great for you. You are a third grader and already proving how smart you are.  You are going to be in the spelling bee because you are a great speller.  And if you don't win the third grade spelling bee, that is okay, because you have already surpassed your daddy and i in the smarts department.  I only wished i could have been bright enough to be a part of something like that as a kid.

You are acquiring your own style.  That is beginning to become important to you.  I try to encourage you to dress exactly how you want to dress, whether friends disapprove of or make fun of your choices.  Not that that has happened, but I just want you to stay strong in your choices.

You love spending time with your friends.  Always planning your next sleep-over or friend visit.  Your brother often feels left out.  He's the little one that looks up to you and wants to be your best friend.  He doesn't understand that it is because you are older.  Please be kind to his feelings, as he loves you so much.

Cooking is still your utmost favorite hobby.  You are getting really good at it.  Oftentimes cooking us dinner and desserts.  Sometimes you have recipes in your head that are made up.  You make them and sometimes they turn out and sometimes they don't, but that is part of the whole creative process.  Learning, succeeding, failing - a true chef in the making.

You come up with things to do every weekend, afternoons.  Always doing, thinking, creating.  That is my Jonas.  The little boy that has had a mind full of ideas, since, forever and always, and so forth.  The little boy that throws birthday parties for a chicken, that has yard sales and bake sales, that gives everyone the silliest of nicknames.

We are all proud of the boy you are.

Love you,
Mom

Jonas/9 years old

the chase, the hug - jonas and mavis

Nov. 4 2014

It was an uneventful day, but there were a few things that stood out for me.
I don't want to forget them because that is how I forget the beauty in every day.

**Jonas was home sick.   He lay on the couch all day looking and feeling ill. He was so calm and quiet.  Not like my normal joni, who is usually loud and energetic. Still nice to hang out with him during the day.

**I was finishing up washing the dishes when Paloma walked up because she needed to wash her hands.  She got up on her stool next to me, washed her hands, then began helping me with the last of the dishes.  She was so happy she managed to clean a pot. Showing me with eye's wide and a smile to match.

**After working on Angus' home work, we began working on upper and lower case sight recognition. He recognized all but four letters.   I was so proud of him.  He's also getting better in sounding out his sight words.  He's so smart and funny.
**only thing is Angy was telling me he didn't like how long school is and I agree but I just tried to encourage him.  I wish he went only half the day.  I feel like my baby is forced to leave me for so many hours when he is still so little.

The end.  For today at least.

In the paper

Miah was in the Arizona Republic today. 

The kids and I drove to buy it because we were excited their daddy was in the newspaper.  Of course, he was out working so he heard about it over the phone from his proud pops, Jerry.

Jeremiah has worked so hard creating a name for himself.  It's funny because he has been in many magazines and we get equally excited about them, but it was special to let family and friends know they can pick up the local paper and see him in it.

Love Cycles truly is a representation of the hard work and perseverance he has put forth.  I remember when he first started working on motorcycles in our back porch.  With a dream of creating and visions he had of bikes he would love to own.  He started putting together bikes and selling them.   Many people liked his work and soon a few of them asked him to build them a bike.

I remember the day he decided on the name for his shop: love cycles.   I was not surprised.  You often hear of motorcycle shops with tough or rough or too cool names that are meant to represent the ruggedness that is associated with motorcycles, but not his shop.  It would be all about love.  A love for old motorcycles, for riding them, working on them and being inspired to re-create what once was, with his own spin to each one.

He has come a long way from that back porch.  He has a business that he should be so proud of because it was created with his own two hands. It has brought with it the rigor associated with owning a business, but it has also brought many wonderful experiences that could not have happened otherwise.

The kids and I are proud of all of his hard work.   We have nothing but gratitude, but most of all love for our Miah. 

This moment

No words,  nothing but a single photo to express a moment in time.

Just us girls

I am so lucky to have some free time with my beautiful girl.  Usually we spend our days in the car, at the shop, running errands, or dropping her off at grandma and grandpa's house.   

The past two weeks, I haven't had to work so much at the shop.  Paloma and I have been playing and getting to spend some special time at home.  Or we peruse target or the local thrift store. But mostly we prefer being at home. 

Most of the play that takes place is the two of us pretending we are princesses.   

Usually it goes like this

 (in Palomas words):

"I'm the queen and you are my sister."  

We tell each other how brave and beautiful we are. We help each other. 

Or

"I'm the queen and you are Hans, the prince." And we dance, or we beat up witches or rescue puppies.

Or

"I'm a ballerina and you are my dad, the king."  She dances and I get the bad guys.

Or

"I am a princess and I have a lot of puppies and you are going to buy them."  

When I look at her in her dress, her crown and her jewelry,  I just can't not play.  I mean,  look at the photo above.  My heart is ready to burst at that sight.

So, when jeremiah calls me and asks me what I have been doing while he is slaving away at work, well I have to tell him the truth. I did some housework and also Paloma wanted to pretend.  Most of the time I am doing this or that around the house while she fills our mornings with long, drawn out scenarios.   She even tells me what to say.

She often asks when I will send her to ballerina school.   Which I need to remember to look up.  She loves dressing up in sparkly skirts that we found at the goodwill.   

She is so head strong and at times difficult. We get past the fits and tantrums.  She is definitely a bright, curious,  intelligent girl.

She sings to me. She dances so sweetly.  She has such a wild imagination.  She tells me I am beautiful all the time.  Some days I haven't even showered and she compliments me.

There are days I ask her if there is anywhere she would like to go.  She just says, "I want to go home. "

We are always going here-and-there that it's nice when we have days where it is just my lom's and I, with the house to ourselves.  Not a boy in sight.  

We enjoy our time together, just us girls.