2007's Top Ten

I visited my sister Tara and her family in Arizona last New Year's and they let us in on their family tradition. They list the Top 10 Events of the year. These are not necessarily your favorite or even good, just the most significant. It seemed basic, but after sitting with them and really thinking about it and coming up with 10 things, it proved valuable. It was thought provoking, reflective and fun. So here we are, New Year's Eve 2007, and before I begin planning how I'm going to do things so much better next year, I'm going to reflect on last year...

1. Longs came home (indefinitely) from Bosnia and Eagan was born! (ok, that may be two things but it was a busy year!)

2. Our first family road trip (10 days of family fun through California in May!)

3. A visit from Andrew's sister and her family last April. Not only did we love having them here for Easter but we visited Disneyland and Sea World and therefore had passes for both amusement parks for the rest of the year!

4. Skelly family reunion in the Outer Banks, NC (1 week, 1 house, 13 adults, 11 kids under 7, priceless fun!)

5. Adam started walking (he was 16 months before he was really walking, ugh!) and talking (we are very happy to hear lots of words and even two sentence phrases after having experienced the worry and frustration of Jason not talking until 2 1/2).

6. Andrew and I both lost a Grandpa (Alton Skelly, Sr. in January and Ralph McCambridge in July)

7. I started homeschooling Stephen. (It's been challenging and rewarding and time consuming and we're barely halfway done!)

8. Our church merged with another and we now have a new name, a new location and new friends! And as great as that is and has been, there's a nostalgic part of us that misses New Harvest, the Boys and Girls Club, and the gym.

9. We weren't pregnant for a whole year (that was last year's New Year's Resolution :) giving me a chance to have two elective surgeries (a painful screw removed from my pinkie and a stapedectomy to restore hearing in one ear.) Both were successful, praise God!

10. The kid's experienced their first organized group activities (swim lessons, ballet and soccer).

HAPPY NEW YEAR TO ALL!!!

LOVE, The Skellys

Gingerbread Houses

For over 20 years we've been building gingerbread houses with our cousins. We go to Aunt Edie's house and build and decorate houses together. It's fun to build the houses but really it's a reason to get together at Christmas time without actually getting together on Christmas, which has just become impossible with our growing family. So Thank You to Aunt Edie and Sara for baking all 13 houses for this year's event. I thought we'd never build that many but 12 houses went home (Lindsay's job kept her from finishing her doghouse). This year was particularly special because we were all there, all 6 of Grandma's grandkids (Sara, Jocelyn, Robert, Casey, Amy & Lindsay) and all 16 of her great-grandkids! Grandma put it best as we tried to corral the kids for a group photo when she said, "this is all my fault!"

For pictures of the gingerbread houses check out my shutterfly slideshow: http://skellyfamily.shutterfly.com/

Christmas Choir

Jason and Beth sang in church the Sunday before Christmas with the other 2-5 year olds in their Sunday School class. They sang Mary had a baby and Away in a Manger, so cute! It was a bit chaotic with all those kids, teachers and parents but adorable, nonetheless. It really amuses me that we as parents force our children to stand on stage so they can be cute and we can take pictures but then half of them cry, fewer than that sing and the others look around and wonder over all the fuss. The best part is that no matter what they did while up there, they always seem to be proud of their "performance" after we clap and they get to leave the stage. Some sort of performance sense of reality, I guess. I have to brag a little because Jason was fabulous. He sang out and did all the hand gestures, and standing there a head above the rest he really stood out in his shirt and tie (which he picked out himself so he could look like daddy, awww...) He is the oldest in the class so I guess I should expect him to do a good job but I was truly impressed and proud of his performance. And even though she was really nervous, Beth quietly stood next to Jason and did all the motions while mouthing the words. I wish I could upload the video I took so you could see how amazingly cute and amusing they all were but until I get a more modern video camera, you'll just have to look at the pictures and imagine :)

Christmas Anacrostic

It's really part of California from Disney's California Adventure but here's my twist:

A is for Adorable, Awesome, Amazing (my three kids)

O is for my oldest kid (and the most amazing husband)

L is for Love (do I need to explain that one?)

Big Brother

I grew up the oldest sibling, and I like it that way but this picture makes me a little jealous of Beth. She has the best big brother ever! And as Adam's growing up and becoming more interactive, he's getting into the benefits of older siblings, as well. Siblings may fight and fight and fight but they also love each other, play together, entertain each other and support each other. I love that my kids have each other. Some days when the sharing just isn't working or the tattling seems endless, I need to remind myself of these moments where I catch them casually watching TV together all curled up in one ball just wanting to be close to each other.

Days later...I actually witnessed Beth tell Jason, "I'm scared of this part [of the movie], can I sit in your lap?" And I caught the result on film again.

Thanksgiving Premiere

Thanksgiving is many people's favorite holiday. I've heard reasons like I love the food or there are no gifts, it's just about family. And while those reasons are nice, Thanksgiving isn't my favorite holiday. It just seems like another reason to get together and eat. And while I like eating and spending time with family and having my husband for a four-day weekend, I've just never felt anything particularly special about Thanksgiving. Well now that I have kids old enough to learn and create holiday traditions, I have reason to make Thanksgiving meaningful. Thankfully, my sister Casey and her family did that for me. For our Thanksgiving at Aunt Edie and Uncle Kenn's (happy turkey day birthday to you, Kenn!) the Longs put together a First Annual Thanksgiving Day performance. The boys created a cardboard Mayflower and costumes, and with Dad Stacy as narrator, they performed the story of the First Thanksgiving for all the adults. Jason and Beth were so proud to be pilgrims, and even Adam strutted his stuff as an Indian. It was an educational, funny and entertaining success. Beth still wears her pilgrim hat weeks later! And after all is said and done, I must admit that the food and hanging out time with the family was pretty special, too.

(This picture of Caleb, Tori and Beth is after the play. They created their own adventure of kings, pilgrims and indians...I don't think Pilgrims fought with swords but go Beth!)

Put a little love in your heart

Beth had her debut Saturday night. She's been taking ballet and her big performance was fabulous. OK, it was 3 year old fabulous. She did her whole dance with pride and elegance, and the smile on her face when we all started clapping at the end made the nine weeks of driving her to lessons completely worth it! Her dance was to the song "Put a little love in your heart" hence the heart costumes.

She was so well behaved in class and worked so hard that we're going to let her continue and take ballet again next session so I'll be driving and watching them sashay and plie and pique for nine more weeks. Honestly, I love it. I'm very proud of what a great student she is and I can't wait to see her continue!

18 months

Adam is at one of my favorite and least favorite ages...all at the same time! Somehow at this conflicted age of 18 months Adam can endear and infuriate all at once. Take last night...as he dumps a full glass of water onto the kitchen table, he proudly looks up and says, "drink!" What's a mom to do? It's this amazing transition from infant to toddler, and it's unbelievable to watch him as the lights go on and he discovers and interacts more every day. He's talking and learning new words constantly. He understands basic commands, get your shoes, sit down, pick up the toy. I love it!

The problem is he's in that frustrating transition from infant to toddler and it drives me nuts to try and communicate with him while he's babbling and asserting his independence and opinion constantly. He's also very curious and to that end climbs and opens and dumps and finds (he appears with things we didn't even know we owned). And he thinks he can talk so he gets very angry when he babbles a sentence complete with proper tone and inflection only to have us stare at him and pathetically ask, "what?" I realize he's brilliant and we're the ignorant ones so we just plod on uncovering the mystery that is Adam remembering to enjoy him while not pulling our hair out!

(At least he still naps.)

More pics of Eagan...

We've visited more and wanted to show a couple more pictures of baby Eagan. He's had his first bath, good food from mommy, a lot of naps, and plenty of love. He is so cute and perfectly wonderful, and mommy and baby get to go home today!

Jason, Beth and Adam were very excited to meet their cousin but the actual meeting was very hesitant. Turns out they didn't know he'd be that small. Jason says that Adam wasn't that small when he was zero. True, Adam was two pounds heavier but I think their memory of how tiny a newborn really is may be fuzzy. When we got home Beth told us she wanted to hold baby Eagan. We had to remind her that she was scared to stand near him back at the hospital! We'll try again at their house in a few days and see if the nerves have gone away.

Happy Halloween!

We pulled out our fall decorations and old Halloween costumes this week. It was a lot of fun trying on old costumes and remembering past pumpkin celebrations. Jason can amazingly still fit into his m&m costume he wore when he was 9 months old and he wanted to wear last year's Superman costume all week! However, on Halloween night, they each wore what was originally planned: Cars race car driver for Jason, Cinderella (is anyone suprised?) Check out her glass slippers :) and Nemo (Adam's a big fan!) We went to our community's Hullabaloo event where there were bounce houses, games and too much candy! We met up with our cousins and had a lot of fun! For lots more pictures of Hullabaloo and our church's Harvest Festival, click on the shutterfly album's link in the right column.

Eagan Benjamin has arrived!

Casey had her baby! He came into the world at 11:04 am on 11/04 weighing 7 lbs. 7oz. and measuring 20in. long. Mother and baby are doing well. Grandma and Aunt Jocelyn got to be there for the very speedy delivery and were very happy to share in the joy.

He's an adorable and very easygoing, alert baby. The nurses can't get him to cry, and although we know they're supposed to do that for health reasons, we're thinking it may be a good thing that he's so mellow! He's nursing well and doing all the other things babies are supposed to (he went pee pee before they could even get his first diaper on him!)

Eagan is blessed with four proud big brothers who all want to know, did I look like that? And although Caleb seems a little hesistant (maybe he's worried about losing his status as the baby or maybe it's just the shock of seeing someone so small that looks like him) with Daddy's help he did hold him and give him a good look over.

It's going to be fun to see who little Eagan becomes as he grows. He has a very special family and is going to be a very special boy! We can't wait!

So Cal's on fire

Yes, you've heard the news by now. And for many of us, it's getting old and frustrating, but I thought I'd give a quick take on our situation here amongst the firegrounds...Eating dinner Sunday night, we noticed an ominous black cloud out our back window. I commented, looks like rain but that doesn't make sense considering how dry and windy it was that day (thank you, Santa Anas). And then it was really dark and I thought, it's fall, days are getting so short! But then we looked out the front window and it was still light out, blue skies! So at roughly 5:30pm, dusk, I took some pictures of the smoke cloud coming our way. Four days later, we still have orange skies, people have lost homes (no one we know although both our pastors have their cars loaded up prepped for evacuation), and we're all going very, very stir crazy from being locked inside a very hot and stuffy house! It's been in the 80's and we can't open the windows due to poor air quality! I don't want to whine considering what others have lost but it's been a challenging few days. In conclusion, we're not in danger and are doing fine except for cabin fever and sinus headaches. We're just praying for rain to clean the air and for safety for all our brave firefighters. Consider praying with us...we need relief!

Pumpkin Time

Even though it's rather hot this week, it's finally starting to feel like fall! We went to the local pumpkin patch with our cousins running through the fields of rotting pumpkins and watching the pumpkin launcher send pumpkins into the hillside with a bang (a new attraction this year). We then went back to their house to carve them. Jason asked Daddy to carve angry eyes while Braden went for the classic. Gage and Nick both got creative but I have to admit, Caleb's is my favorite (good job, Casey :) Overall, it was an afternoon of creativity at its best (we got to play with mush and use knives, what could be better?) And the results are really impressive.

PS Casey is very pregnant, check out her adorable pumpkin belly! We're eager for baby Long #5 to arrive any day but probably not until early-November. And while we all want to see him and hold him, etc...we all really just want to know his name! They're not sharing until he comes into this world so we're all trying to patiently wait, ugh!

Coming soon...Halloween costumes!

We found Nemo and Beth is tall...

We went to Disneyland recently when Grandma Judy (that's her with Adam in the submarine)came to town and thanks to a quiet mid-week visit, the line was finally short enough for Nemo's submarine ride. We waited less than 30 minutes. The kids loved it. Jason's favorite part was Bruce the shark, Beth loved Nemo and Crush and Adam...he seemed to like all the bubbles best but maybe he'll tell us more in a few years. As for me, I miss the mermaid but Darla was an amusing replacement. Conclusion...we'll ride again (as long as the wait is not hours like it was all summer!)

In other Disneyland news...Beth is officially 40 inches (according to Disneyland anyway). This means that much to mom's chagrin, she's tall enough for Thunder Mountain and Splash Mountain. She loved them both, actually rode Thunder Mountain twice. Mom was super nervous for her on Splash Mountain and just kept telling her the story of Brer Rabbit so she would focus on that and the inevitable Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah ending.

And that is exactly what she did! That's us in the back of the log, mom's red shirt , Jason in front of us and Beth's blonde hair (she's sitting next to mom). Technically, she's even tall enough for Space Mountain but she doesn't need to know that. It's scary enough that Jason's asking to go. I promised he could go when he turns five (that's in January! How did that happen so fast!)

As long as it's a waffle

Jason and Beth had blankies (actually they still both have blankies) and so it only fits that Adam has blankies, as well. He has ended up with two: one yellow and one white. He has a slight preference for the white but will take the yellow. Really, the true criteria is the texture. You see, his blankies are waffle. They are plain, simple hand-me-down blankies (get used to it kid!) but they are waffle textured. Jason and Beth never really cared for them; however, I liked them so I may have pushed them on Adam a little bit :) Conclusion, now they are 100% his and he loves them desperately. The funny thing is many of the kid's pajamas are waffle. In a time of need, Adam knows that he can go into either Jason or Beth's pajama drawers and find a waffle shirt or pants to cuddle with. Yes, even before he could walk he knew which drawers to crawl to and open for a waffle fix.
The other day he found his own pair of waffle pajamas in a pile of folded laundry (yes, that meant he knocked over a pile of folded laundry, thank you, Adam!) He wrapped the pajamas around his shoulders, almost like a cape, and ran around the room happily playing. I caught the moment on film, and even though it's not a perfect shot, you get the idea. It's nice to know that if we ever, yikes, lose the precious blankie, we have substitutes in clothing!

The Cat Whisperer

Considering Beth's attachment to animals this summer, we shouldn't be surprised but Beth is obsessed with our new kittens. She's constantly asking to hold them or for help getting them out of their many hiding places. You see we have two scaredy cats. They hide from us and never come to us willingly. We figure it's a combination of personality and living with three kids under 5. It's a bit of a bummer at times but maybe best considering our family. And Beth doesn't care, she still wants to hold them and play with them all the time. So regardless of their nature, she has developed a way of catching them and carrying them and she holds them more than anyone. We don't know how she does it. She disappears into a bedroom and emerges later carrying a cat. Her only scratches are from holding them too near Adam when he screams and they flee with full force (as do many adults at the sound of his screeching!) She is developing a bond with them but if you ask her she'll tell you she still wants a dog :)

As for their names...Jason kept the name from the shelter. So our more outgoing (and that's not saying much) kitten is Chantelle. Beth's kitten (the super-shy skittish one) is Jasmine...this week. Last week she was Cinderella and next week...we'll keep you posted :)

Go Scorpions!

Today was Jason's first soccer game, our first event of this sort as parents. It was exciting, amusing and did we really just give up our Saturdays for 9 more weeks? Well, at least Jason loves playing. I told him after the game what a great job he did and he replied, "that's becase I want to win!" It's a good thing we don't keep score at this level. He'll be winning every week!

We put Jason in soccer because I realized I'm lazy and will do anything to stay inactive, and Jason will happily sit with me all day and do nothing but read books. I don't want my kids to be lazy and hate activity so we're turning to sports for some inspiration! And today Jason ran a lot and loved it, yea! And for never having played beyond his one 20 minute practice earlier this week, he had a good understanding of the game. At this level they only play 3 on 3, no goalies. But when the other team got the ball, Jason would head for the goal to protect it. We were all incredibly impressed with his natural instinct to protect the goal. And our mellow easygoing boy was quite the agressive player out there. All those years of teaching sharing did not mess up his drive to steal the ball! We'll see how he progresses but it looks like we'll be doing this soccer thing for many, many years! Go scorpions!

Chartreuse

Jason's a special child. Although he was saying barely 10 words by the time he was 2, colors were some of those words. We believe he spoke colors early on because he couldn't sign or use other ways to communicate them. Nonetheless, he has always been very interested in colors (especially green). After watching a color episode of Blue's Clues, he became obsessed with mixing colors so Andrew, being the engineer he is, made a color wheel for Jason on the computer. Now we have children who know the colors magenta, aqua, and chartreuse, to name a few. This all happened over a year ago now but I recently realized that he's growing up and going to be five soon. It's no longer impressive and he won't have his cute toddler voice for very much longer. So because they grow up too fast, I will cherish these few seconds of video for a lifetime because this is my son saying one of his favorite words in the same way he's said it since he was 3.

Rock Angel Trio

Beth and her two cousins, Ella & Mina, are "The Rock Angels" inspired by their t-shirts from Grandpa Al & Anja bought at Hard Rock Cafe in Edinburgh, Scotland. When they put their shirts on, they become an amusing force not to be forgotten. It was truly amazing to see these girls playing together. Beth has seen them only a few times in her three years but she loves her cousins, loves being with them on vacation, and loves being a Rock Angel. It's amazing how a shirt can bond people. Now back home far away from her Rock Angel sisters, she still wears the shirt all the time, the second it comes out of the washer. Literally, she caught me folding the shirt and took off the shirt she was wearing to put on the Rock Angel shirt! Hopefully the trio will be reunited again soon but until then, rock on Rock Angels!

Skellys in the Outer Banks, NC

The CA Skellys went on vacation to see the rest of the Skelly clan (or at least a big chunk of them). We spent a week in a beach house in Nags Head. And by we I mean 13 adults and 11 children ages ranging 9 months to 7 years. Some may think that's too many for one house but despite a squabble here and there over who's turn it is to blow the bubbles or use the pink pool ring, it was a fabulous week. We had beach access, which was fun, but the real fun was in our own private pool. Most of the cousins could spend the entire day there. We did manage to get them away for a moment here and there to visit tourist sites like Kitty Hawk's Wright Brother's Memorial, the Lost Colony, and Bodie Island's Lighthouse. I'm working on sorting through the over 500 pictures from our time together and I'll somehow organize them into a Shutterfly slideshow for anyone interested, but until I finish that here's one snapshot of the entire clan.