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.

Our newest family members...

Yes, after talking about it for years, we adopted 2 tortoiseshell kittens from the shelter yesterday! We agreed to get a cat years ago. We even bought a litter box months ago and feeding bowls 2 years ago but we just haven't found the right cat. I've always had great cats and always come across them when I wasn't necessarily looking so even though I knew we wanted a cat, I wanted it to happen naturally rather than force it (OK, that may sound bizarre but a cat is a long commitment and I don't want to get stuck with a cat not meant for our family). Anyway, there was an article in our paper about too many animals at the Irvine shelter and a special deal they're offering (only $65 and buy one get one!) So we went to look. Now I've looked before and nothing ever felt right. And the first kitten they handed me, I thought no. Well then they brought us these two 4 month old sisters and I fell in love. And more importantly, they were calm and relaxed around our three young children. They let Beth carry them and Adam even squealed his ear piercing squeal with little reaction. One curled in a ball and fell asleep on my lap. Jason got to feel a cat's purr. We've found a perfect fit for our family. We pick them up after our trip to NC and hopefully by then we'll have names for them...any ideas? Andrew suggested Soap and Water so he could tell the kids to wash their hands with soap and water and then they could let the cats lick them clean, ha, ha...Stay tuned for names and oh so many pics of our kids welcoming them to our home.

PS And for an added bonus, we brought Stephanie and Stephen with us (this was supposed to be a casual look before we all went out to dinner) and they ended up with a kitten, too! They're picking Roxie up today...I'll be sure to get a pic of her, too :-)