Merry Christmas! Buon Natale! ¡Feliz Navidad!

Well, now that the Christmas cards have gone out, and with a note about our annual letter, I'd better get writing!

We've had a good 2011,and hope you have too.

We started the year with 2 grandmothers moving in the area! Letty (Belita) moved to a new condo in Bonsall, just about 15 minutes from us. She's got a nice place just above the pool and spa area, and is still making little adjustments here and there to make it her own. Lillian (Nonni) moved down from Vacaville to Oceanside, just on the other side of the freeway from our home. We love having both around, and the kids enjoy being able to see their grandmas almost any time they want!

Sofia started taking dance lessons this year, and although our vacation didn't allow her to perform in the studio's annual recital, she enjoys it tremendously.

In just a few months of starting she had already learned many dance terms, and could perform ballet moves upon request (chassé, plié, relevé, sautée). We look forward to this years recital in June, when she will show all she has learned and loves!

We headed to Colima, México, for Easter and the wedding of one of Raúl's nieces. A new Mexican city for us, a truly enjoyable trip!

Speaking of our vacation this year, we were able to head to Cancún, México, for a week in June. What a wonderful, if hot, time we had. A few days to explore Cancún, a day trip to Playa del Carmen, time at two Mayan pyramids, in Cobá and Tulum. And LOTS of swimming! It was quite hot and humid during our trip, although we only got rain 1 day. We stopped in Mexico City on the way to and from Cancún, and got to see many family members. A truly enjoyable trip!

Just a few weeks before our vacation we actually expanded our family. Before you jump to conclusions, let me say: we got a dog! A puppy to be more precise. He is a happy English Springer Spaniel, and his name is Marshmelo Brownie, due to his coloring of marshmallows and brownies. He is quite a sweetie, although as he grows he's getting more energetic! The children really enjoy their little dog, and "Melo" and I often walk to school together to pick up Raul.

We got the opportunity to see Raúl's cousin Alex Segura at the annual Comic-Con convention in downtown San Diego. Alex is an up-and-coming comic book author as well as PR-man extraordinaire. This was the first time we experienced the craziness that is Comic-Con, but it was a great time! Can't wait to see you again next year, Alex!

Raúl started 2nd grade at our math and science magnet elementary school just down the road from our house. He loves his teacher, Mrs. Ramos, who reads to the class every week, and gives them many opportunities to be creative in writing and artwork. Mom Lisa has gotten more involved in school this year, taking on the role of PTA Treasurer. Sofia attended school 3 days per week this year at All Saints' Preschool and Kindergarten, in the Pre-K "Panda" class. She will quickly inform you that Pre-K is NOT the same as Pre-school! Her brother often works at teaching her arithmetic and writing, even though she's just mastering letters and numbers this year! She is completely looking forward to starting Kindergarten "at the big school" next year.

"Big" Raúl is working away with AT&T. How much he enjoys it depends on the day. We are all lucky enough that Raúl is able to work from the home office. He does however make visits to the San Diego office, or business trips out of town.

Along with the children and PTA duties, Lisa is trying to keep busy in the business world as well. Last year Raúl and Lisa made the acquaintance of the owners of a wonderful winery and B&B in Mexican wine country, the Valle de Guadalupe just east of Ensenada. We all hit it off so well, one of those instances when you can't believe you've only just met, you feel as though you've been friends for years! Through discussions of hotel design and event planning, Lisa's business A Majestic Affair has been named the exclusive Wedding Planner for Viñedos Malagón! Owners Joe & Rachel Malagón have built a new event venue and we are trying to develop a new business opportunity for us all.

In addition, Lisa has also just launched this month (December) another business - Popcorn Mamma. Popcorn Mamma is all about hand-crafted gourmet flavored popcorn. Personally developing interesting flavors and recipes, and initiating places to make sales, Lisa is very excited about this new enterprise. The first foray into sales was at the elementary school Holiday Bazaar, where we sold out of all the bags we brought to sell, and got a lot of good feedback on the flavors we were tasting that night. We certainly hope you'll be hearing more about Popcorn Mamma in the years to come!

We have so much to look forward to in 2012, and hope to continue to travel all over with the kids, and visit with family and friends both here at our home and afar. (If you are EVER in the San Diego area, we sure hope you'll get in touch and get together with us!)

Enjoy all the wonders this season has to offer, and all our best in the year to come!

All our Love,

Raúl, Lisa, Raúl (7), Sofia (4)

... and Marshmelo Brownie, too

Back to School!

We are heading back to school! Raul is starting 2nd grade at our local Magnet Elementary School, Casita Center, which is focused in Math, Science and Technology. Just 3 days in and he says his teacher, Mrs. Ramos, is "really fun!"



Sofia is now in Pre-K at All Saints Preschool, at their downtown Vista location. She has Ms. Leah and is meeting lots of new kids in her class of about 12-14 children.



We are looking forward to what is coming too - Sofia's birthday in October, Halloween (the kids HAVE already chosen what they want to be), and then major holidays Thanksgiving and Christmas, with more birthdays and a few holiday weekends thrown in! This is how our time flies!

Happy Fall! Come visit us in San Diego soon!

2011 wow

Well all things are going as planned 2011 Summer is here and we have done our vacationing for the year. Cancun and Tulum it was relaxing and fun. Raul is going into 2nd grade and as you can see from the photo both Raul and Sofia are growing quickly. More entries to come it seems we have moved to Facebook more than our blog so sorry for the sporadic updates.

Bernardo's eye

A photo taken by my Cousin Bernardo / Una foto tomada por mi primo Bernardo

School's here!

Well, 5 months since the last post. We had a great summer! Went to Disneyland and Legoland, and even Mazatlan and Mexico City! Now, school's back - Raulito is going to KINDERGARTEN! He's such a big kid now! We're looking forward to some cooler weather to come (not really wanting rain yet, just a little cooler...)

Our bamboo is growing up in the back and we look forward to more backyard time. The garden this summer was interesting - not so many tomatoes, LOTS of cucumbers!

Sofia will be 2 in just a few short weeks, and then Raul will be 5 in December... Birthday party plans are fully in the works!

Hope to see you soon!

It's Q2

Raul says the blog must be changed... "Afterall, we're going into Q2." Really - too much work!

Hey, NFL Draft weekend... making Raul think about the next Steelers season. how many months away is that?!

Vegie planting has begun... Peas, spinach, lettuce, okra, cucumbers... hope they all grow, and I'm totally into sharing you know!

and here come May - hopefully a new trip to D-land (our code for the land of Disney) and I sure hope I get into that new Small World! I've been wanting to see it, was told it's so good, dazzling even!

Well, welcome Spring '09! We've been waiting for you to arrive.

Holidays 2008

Dear Family & Friends,

So, I just want to know - does time go by exponentially faster when you add just one more child to your family? Or is it just me? I cannot believe it. It was just yesterday that it was 2007, wasn't it? Hmmm.

We are still so blessed to have 2 wonderful, beautiful, healthy children! Raulito turns 4 this month and has grown to 45” tall and at least 45 lbs too. He attends pre-school 3 days a week and really enjoys his friends and even doing homework. (yes - homework for Pre-Kindergarten!) Sofia had her first birthday in October, and started walking December 1! She takes after her brother in growing like a weed - already 31" tall. She is a real little go-er and definitely has her opinions on what she wants. She's also quite a little crack-up, and has the best smile.

Our family lost out this year, when our little cocker spaniel, Chico, passed away in February. He was starting to show his age pretty fast, so it wasn't a total surprise, but still was a blow. (Thank you to Abuelita Leti & neighbor Raynelle for all they did during that time!) Raul & I miss him a lot.

Our family travels this year have been a little closer to home, while Raul has had some business travels taking him literally to the other side of the world! We went up to Northern California several times this year, including February for Nonna Lil's birthday and a trip up to Tahoe for some REAL snow (I don't know how many feet there were, but it was WAY above our heads and even the cabin roof!) We took 2 wedding trips in April, for the nuptials of friends Rob & Alyssa in Napa, and Craig & Abby in Madison, Wisconsin. Sofia was baptized in Mexico City in May, with a side trip up to San Miguel de Allende. If you've never been, we completely recommend it - a lovely town with a great colonial feel, but still a small town.

We've visited with Nonna Lil, and Abuelita Leti here at our house a lot, and visited Grandpa Raul, Shari & Michael on our trips up north this year.

Raúl changed positions with Akamai Technologies at the beginning of the year, taking on an international territory. He visited offices (and made friends) in London, Madrid, Munich (including during Oktoberfest), Paris, Mexico City, Monterrey, Mexico, and Bangalore, India! Unfortunately, Akamai made some hard decisions and changes in November, so Raul is now looking for a better position elsewhere... A Majestic Affair, Wedding Planning and Coordination Services, has still been on hold, but since we know where we are going to be for a while, I have high hopes for a more active 2009.

This, our family website is kept pretty up-to-date with photo albums of the kids and a current note or 2 in our blogs. We also both got on Facebook this year, which makes it so easy to keep up with friends and their goings-on... If you do FB too, look us up!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! Our friends are often on our minds and we hope all is well with you now and long into 2009.

With love,

The Dejú Family –
Raúl, Lisa, Raulito & Sofia