Happy New Year from the Prietos!

Dearest Family and Friends,

This blog has been used precious few times this year as a way of tracking the comings and goings of our family, but hopefully it will serve its duty as a way to bring you warm New Years Greetings as we kick off 2017!  We did not make a Christmas card this year, but thank you to those who sent beautiful cards from your families.  We love to hear the updates, and see your happiness!  For those of you who will not make it to the end of this letter, I will wish you here a very Happy New Year!  So much love and happiness to you all in the coming year.  May it bring more joy than we can imagine!

I've read a lot of mixed reviews of 2016 as a whole, and I have to admit, around Election time our hearts were very heavy.  That blow was hard to shake!  However, I just looked through our photos of this year in order to choose a few to add to this letter, and in our very small sphere of the Prieto Family Living on Planet Earth, 2016 was full of happiness and joy and riches - not wealth, but riches in health, thriving kids, new experiences as a family, and challenges that brought growth, maturity and new understanding.  All in all, a lot for which to be thankful.

Happy New Year!  The Acorn Drop in Raleigh on New Years Eve.

As the very most special highlight of the year, in January we welcomed our new little baby boy - Luca Armand - into our family!  He is delicious, and provides us as parents with constant joy (and not a little anxiety with his climbing antics).  It's a good thing that Gigi and Orion adore him so much, because he truly does require a lot of work - from everybody!  Somebody grab Luca from the stairs!  Somebody clean up the toys that Luca threw all over the floor! Somebody take the marble out of his mouth!  Somebody stop him from getting to the toilet!  Somebody run and get me a diaper!  He is practicing his walking now, and can go about 12 steps before falling down.  He climbs the stairs in a heartbeat, and is the only one I can count on to always love my cooking.  He's a perfect 3rd child - easy, friendly, and always game for a nap on the go if that's what the day requires.

Another highlight of 2016 was our family trip to my homeland of Hawaii in May.  Since we live in North Carolina and Hawaii is so far away, the last time we went was 5 years ago.  However, my dear friends from high school had the idea last year to have a reunion in May of 2016.  So, we saved our pennies and we were able to take the whole family across the country and half way across the Pacific Ocean for a 2-week trip to paradise.  Somehow, we managed the miracle of balancing our time between my Uncle John and Aunty Lani and their crew over on the Big Island, my best sister friend Lindsay Gibson and her crew over on the North Shore of O'ahu, our dear friends TD and Gavin in my hometown of Kailua, and a solid weekend of enjoyable reunion events with school friends from my childhood.  I want to say "high school" friends, but many of us actually went from 1st grade through 12th grade together.  This trip brought so much happiness: it was the first time in Hawaii that I felt as... adult as I felt this year.  Going with children and seeing them play with their cousins, seeing the islands for the first time as a full-fledged parent, connecting with very long-time friends with the level of depth that we enjoyed...  it was really a special gift that we will treasure for a long time. Thank you to all of you who made that trip so enjoyable!

The house I grew up in!

In the world of the big kids, this year has been a year of family fun, loving learning, and getting used to what it means to be a student.  Orion amazes us with his focus and work ethic.  He often scopes out a place where adults are working on a project (raking the yard, painting the fence, spreading gravel, etc.) and then helps out until the job is finished.  His contribution may be small, but I can't tell you how many people have come up to us to tell us stories of how he saw a need, pitched in, and worked until the job was done.  A true mini-Marcos!  Lately he has been really interested in talking up older girls, riding his bike (which he learned this summer), building anything, playing games as a family and cooking with mom.  Here are some recent Orion-isms...

While driving down the road...
Orion: When we are driving fast and the windows are open and we are listening to this music my body feels like a party!

At the donut store while Gigi was at school...
Orion: Can we buy Gigi a donut?
Metta: No, it will melt in the car before we can pick her up.
Orion: But I want her to be happy!

Listening to Michael Jackson in the car...
Orion: Michael Jackson died, right?
Us: Yes...
Orion: It was because he took too much medicine, right?
Us: Yeah...
Orion: Which flavor do you think it was?  Cherry...?  Or maybe strawberry?

Orion: When I am a parent and have my own kids, I can make my own rules.

Orion turned 4 this year!

And played on his first soccer team with Coach Marcos!

This year Gigi started 1st grade at the Emerson Waldorf School, and we really hit the jackpot with Gigi's teacher, Ms. Ritz!  She is a class act, and will be Gigi's teacher for all 8 years of grade school if we remain in the area, since Waldorf teachers move up with their class each year.  Gigi is many things, but mainly a designer, artist (creating "art" out of our recyclables), builder, thinker and dreamer.  Personality-wise, we are differently paced, and I have to constantly remind myself to be patient because she is a brilliant day-dreamer type and I am often in what I like to call, "business mode".  She is much less extroverted than Marcos and me, but has really come into her own as a grade schooler.  She has a strong sense of self, and is happy to play alone or in small groups with friends.  She loves crafting, stories, playing outside, and jumping and balancing on things.  I'm thinking about signing her up for parkour.  For Christmas Marcos bought her the book "Good Night Stories for Rebel Girls" (a must read for every girl!), and she is in love with the book and all of the stories of girls and women who dared to be bold and change the world around them.  She comes across as rather unassuming, but watch out world: this girl is on fire!

On the first day of winter break...
Gigi: "I wish I didn't have break!"
Me: "Why is that?"
Gigi: "I really like Ms. Ritz!"

Listening to music in the car...
Gigi: I love Coldplay!  When you listen to them you feel like a movie star!

Gigi: Mom, I really want a pocket knife.
Me: Gigi, I just don't think that it's appropriate to get you a knife.  I don't feel good about giving a 6-year old a big blade.
Gigi: But mom, I would only use it for emergencies, like getting a balloon out of a tangle!  Plus, you can teach me how to handle a knife.

Gigi and Ms. Ritz!

My mom, "Tutu", still lives 10 minutes away and we get to see her a few times a week.  She is such a blessing, for us and the kids!

Gigi LOVES Luca.  I have hundreds of photos of her smothering him with love.

Gigi turned 6 this year!

And I guess that brings things around to us adults.  Let's start with Marcos.  Marcos is a great guy, but you already knew that!  Big things in Marcos-land this year were becoming an American Citizen in time to vote in the Presidential Elections, receiving a promotion at work, and a few short solo trips to visit his family in Utah and for a conference in Austin, TX.  He was also a great help to the Parent Organization at Gigi's School, and he coached Orion's little soccer team this fall.  Importantly, Marcos and I made the very difficult decision almost exactly one year ago to bow out of the Mormon Church after years of being really, really involved, so that has given us more time as a family, and more time with Marcos around on the weekends.  We have loved having the time to really center our lives around our family and explore things together - hiking, art exhibitions, neighboring towns, and Sunday brunch with friends!  Mmmm....

Marcos and his family in Utah

The newest American on the block!

Thanksgiving in Spring Lake, NJ.  A really great week spent with my dad and his clan! 

And finally, there's me, Metta.  I spend most of my time taking care of the kiddos and steering the HMS Prieto.  Although I find my family work satisfying, other things that have fed my soul this year are my ventures in hip-hop dance, the many thought-provoking books I have read, gal time with close friends who expand my world, and my leadership positions at the Emerson Waldorf School.  I am on the Board of Trustees again this year, and I am a co-coordinator of the school Parent Organization.  This year as a Board member I sit on the Diversity Committee and the Development Committee, and have enjoyed the stretching and learning that has come along with these roles.  In addition, with our departure from the Mormon church, this year has been a year of stepping more fully into my voice and embracing some of the beautiful mystery that is a part of living, it was a year of slightly shifting social worlds, of recognizing the power of dissent, and the courage of aligning our decisions with our true Moral North.  It has definitely been a year of pushing my evolutionary edge!  These kind of years make me extra thankful to have the love and support of my family and loyal friends.

Apparently I like to.... make cakes.

Ahhh... Botany Bay.  A magical side trip on my Gal's Weekend with friends in Charleston, SC.

And that's a look at 2016!  Thanks for being important to our family, and for the memories we have made together in the past.  Here's to many more for the future!  Happy 2017, and all of our best wishes for connection and joy with the people you love the most.

Lots of love, aloha and amor,

Metta and Marcos, Gigi, Orion and Luca Prieto