Valentine's Day in NC

One benefit of living on the East coast is the ability to visit Andrew's family much more often. The kids love this because there are 5 cousins their age to play with and laugh with (and fight with :) We drove up Valentine's Day weekend for one such visit. It included a visit to Monkey Joe's where the kids could bounce and jump to their heart's delight, many hours of playing in the backyard while the daddy's and papa worked on the tree house, and a date night for all the parents (yes, that means we left 8 kids in one house with one babysitter, poor thing, but as you can see, they take good care of each other :)

We all enjoyed dinner out after bouncing at Monkey Joe's.
Uncle Johnny getting smiles from Jillian, just what he needed before heading back to work!We even celebrated Jason's birthday. It was a month ago but he wanted to have cake with his cousins. The kids loved being with their cousins and can't wait to go again!

Jillian at 4 months...laughing!

Jillian is 4 months old! She's grabbing on to toys, focusing on people intently as they talk to her, wanting to sit up and stand....And on the day she turned 4 months old we were blessed with her first laugh. I was in the kitchen digging in the pantry as I made dinner when I heard it. I knew immediately what it was and ran over to her (she was hanging out in her swing watching me make dinner). She did it again! And hooray, the camera was right there so I immediately started the video and she did it again and again! So here's her third laugh and her fourth and...

It was soooo sweet hearing her voice that I got teary eyed. How do our kids do that to us over the simplest things? I think her laugh got me more than any of my other kids because she is so quiet. She doesn't coo or babble much so it's not like she made happy sounds and they slowly turned into a true laugh. It was sudden and beautiful. And yes, if you take the 30 seconds to watch the video you get to hear me trip over my own kid's names. I didn't do it much before, but four kids put me over the edge so Beth is often called Jill, Adam is Andrew, and my favorite, when I call Jill Beth and then while trying to correct myself, Jill is called Bill...that's life!

It's still snow cold but out we go!

It's still winter, still cold...but we have to get outside and get some fresh air. And to be honest, we just need motivation to get out of our pajamas before dinner! So today we were going to brave the cold. We got bundled in jackets, gloves and hats. And we actually played outside for at least 15 minutes before the kids starting begging for hot cocoa. Beth might have lasted longer if she had dressed the bottom half as well as her top half. Adam didn't want to wear his jacket. He chose to wear his Diego sweatshirt instead. Maybe if I actually chose their attire, we'd last longer outside but then I'd have to stay out there with them and 27 degrees is too cold even when properly dressed! Check out this poor squirrel. It lives in our back yard. The recent winds just blew his tail all around. The kids were amused. I wished I could bring him inside and make a warm bed for him.

Snow Cold

Snow!!!

Starting back in October, this California family has been slowly learning the meaning of cold. We've learned that sweatshirts are not enough to get you through winter so everyone got a new coat. We've learned that sunny days can still be freezing. I explained that it was cold enough to snow one icy day back in November and Jason got super excited exclaiming, "it's snow cold!" We now use this term to decide just how many layers are necessary. This most often applies to Beth who hates wearing pants. It has to be snow cold for her to wear tights or, gasp, pants! While we're not living in blizzard weather, we've had a handful of snow flurries, and even got to play in a little bit of snow in Pennsylvania at Christmastime. Maybe someday we'll even get snow here in our yard. It could happen...they tell me.

Here's a picture of a snowflake...yes, that's how much snow we've had. Exciting, huh? It was actually pretty cool to see the intricate detail of each flake, beautiful! However, it was night and I couldn't get a super close-up photo...

Jason tried to enjoy the snowfall but it was really cold! Why does it have to be so cold to have snow? I know the science of it all but really, snow is so fun except that it's so cold! We need warm snow we can play in.
Considering how much gear we need just to play outside, it's a wonder we ever leave the house! The best has been when we've left the house and realized we forgot jackets. Adam's worn Jason's sweatshirt before and we've turned around and gone back home to retrieve forgotten gear. I miss California!

Time for a haircut

Is it really time again...why does boy hair seem to grow soooo fast!

Happy New Year!

Yes, it's been a few weeks but it's still January so I figure I have time to talk about our New Year's Eve celebration! For New Year's we had a nice dinner and we ate on my Grandma's china. I have never done this before (used the china, that is, I've eaten dinner many, many times before). We've had the china for years but it was in the garage in California. I finally have space for it in our new house and decided New Year's Eve was a perfect night to bring it out of hiding. It was fun. It felt very special. We had a great night. Thanks Grandma!

I think eating on china will be a New Year's Eve tradition (hopefully we'll use it other times, as well!) Our other New Year's Eve tradition is to list the top 10 events from the year before, the good, bad and otherwise. I did it in 2007 and here's 2008:
1. Ok, the first is obvious but to put it in writing...the birth of our 4th child - Jillian Esther Skelly - the best birth ever! (I love my kids equally but the actual birth - she wins)
2. Moving to Georgia because Andrew's job transferred him. Leaving California was horrible. I still miss everyone and everything from there.
3. Lots of traveling - a weekend in Big Bear playing in the snow and sledding (first time for the kids), Jocelyn's first trip to North Dakota (where Grandma grew up) for her Great Aunt Esther's funeral, our trip across the country where we saw the Grand Canyon and family and friends we haven't seen in years, and finally our recent Christmas trip to NC, Pennsylvania, Maryland, DC, and Virginia. Our kids visited 8 new states this year, and I have now been in 44 of our 50 states!
4. Moving into our first home! Jason has asked to be in a house with two floors since he learned to talk, and we really just needed to get out of our teeny tiny rental back in Orange County. There's lots of work to be done (anyone like to paint?) but we really do love our house (if only we could take it with us and move somewhere else like NC or back to CA?)
5. New addictions for the family - Cable TV and Webkinz on the computer. Personally I watch too much Food Network and Andrew plays Webkinz too much. The kids have really improved their computer skills and having DVR on the TV means we avoid most commercials so it's not all bad :)
6. Bed Rest. This top ten event really mixes with the others as it became a big part of moving and leaving everyone and adjusting to our new home. I had to leave the safety of a world that took care of me for an unknown world here in Georgia where I knew no one!

7. First year of school for Jason...sort of. We're officially homeschooling Jason for kindergarten. We had a private school picked out in California where he would be at school only 3 days a week, what we saw as the best of both worlds, but life changed and here we are in Georgia with him home mostly full-time. We do attend one-day a week enrichment classes with other homeschoolers but otherwise we're all home together and I love it!
8. Our 1st Thanksgiving Hosting. Who thought it would be a good idea for me to host Thanksgiving at our house for Andrew's family when I had a newborn? I did :) It was fun, we ate a pretty good meal, and we were all together. I might even be willing to do it again, and maybe next time I'll remember to set the table, use a tablecloth, napkins, the nice dishes...

9. We added 2 nieces, Zemenay and Lydia, totalling 17 nieces and nephews for Andrew and me.

10. And finally, we learned that God is the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow. He's the Alpha and Omega, beginning and end. We found a great church here in Georgia and realized it's just an extension of the church body we knew and loved in California! Whether we're in California or Georgia, He is the same.

Jillian at 3 months

She's growing soooo fast, this tall, thin beauty we call Jillian, Jill, and sometimes Jillie. This month has brought grabbing at toys, recognizing faces (although it takes a few seconds of staring before you get the "oh, it's you, I like you" smile. You can see that on this video narrated by Adam...)

big smiles that we're all eagerly awaiting to turn into giggles, and strength to hold her head high. She loves faces and will stare at you and continue staring and staring until you finally have to turn away (she's a pro at playing the staring contest game).Beth loves making her sit or even stand up, and she's strong enough now to handle it!

Wow, Jillian, you are growing up too fast! What will next month bring? Maybe sleeping longer than 6 hours without feeding, maybe rolling over (does that mean I can't leave you on the couch anymore!) and maybe that giggle we all know is in there waiting to erupt!