Tuesday, December 21, 2010

Skoch Christmas 2010

This past weekend we went to Hastings for our Skoch Christmas.  My dad and Maggie boarded a plane for Europe today and so we had to move things up a few days.  It was an adjustment, since we're all used to the same routine- Christmas Eve-- 6pm Children's Mass followed by Hunan's Chinese Restaurant for dinner.  Then wake up and have presents, breakfast, etc.  This year my mom would say, "Oh it's not really Christmas" when we'd find ourselves trying to recreate our 'norm'.  I kept saying..."But mom- this IS our Christmas!"  It actually turned out to be a great weekend. 
On Saturday we got to watch Tim and Tom play in their respective basketball games.  This meant a lot to me because we don't normally get to see many sporting events since they usually play on week nights.  Afterwards, we went to Hunan's (just like it was Christmas Eve) and feasted on yummy Chinese food.  On Sunday we got up and went to Mass at 11am and then had Santa's brunch at Lochland Country Club.  Again- another wonderful treat.  The food was so great and there was quite the spread.  Plus Jack got to meet Santa for the first time.  He did fairly well, but didn't quite know what to do.  So, we didn't get a smile out of him.  After lunch we headed home and after a nap, we opened presents.  This is our 2nd year to draw names for Secret Santa.  I think after two years of trying Secret Santa out (instead of everyone purchasing each other gifts--that would be 100 gifts, if you don't count Jack) we've decided it's really fun and a good way to keep people on their toes.  Jack really enjoyed playing with his aunts and uncles, and he couldn't stop talking about "Gramma and Ye-Ye's" house when we got back to KC.
We're thankful for good weather to travel in and another wonderful weekend spent with our family. 
The Skoch Christmas tree 2010:
Jack meets Santa for the first time:
Trying to get a good picture, but Jack wasn't cooperating:
 
Upcoming this week is Christmas with Reid's side of the family and we're very excited to have 2 full days off together (Fri/Sat).  It will be a much needed and appreciated weekend together.
Merry Christmas to all and may God continue to bless each of you in 2011!
Until next time...

Monday, December 6, 2010

You know it's Christmas when....the Ugly Sweaters come out!

This past Saturday Reid and I hosted some friend's over for an Ugly Sweater party.  This year we came up with some doozies and Reid even found cute reindeer antlers that I adorned with Christmas balls.  And we're getting double the use out of the sweaters, since we have another party this weekend!  
I think this is a definite framer...good Christmas cheer!
Until next time...

Friday, December 3, 2010

The Hulk!

I received a text message from Reid, yesterday while I was at work. 
It read: "Jack just plopped next to me on the couch with his milk....He got it out of the fridge himself!"

Oh my--one more thing to watch out for.  Next thing I know, he'll be bringing me the ketchup bottle so he can "DIP"! 

Other news- Teeth #14 and #15 are here!  I knew it wouldn't take much longer.  Now lets just get #16 through so he can sleep easier and quit chewing on everything!

Until next time...

Friday, November 26, 2010

Happy Thanksgiving 2010

We had a wonderful day today with the Kirby/Calvert families for our Thanksgiving celebration.  We feasted on turkey, dressing, and all the fixin's!  And we think there might have been as many dessert dishes as there were side dishes!  (That's a good Thanksgiving if you ask me)  :)  It was fun to see the kids playing together and our niece, little Miss Ella showed off her crawling and her singing skills. 
I'm always so thankful to have a family here in KC.  God knew how important my family is to me, when He found Reid for me.  His family is wonderful and I'm so blessed to be a part of it. 
We hope you enjoyed time with loved ones and have taken time to thank God for all that He provides.  He surely is SO good! 
Happy Thanksgiving 2010:
Until next time...

Bazaar kind of weekend

Last weekend (11/19-11/22) we went back to Hastings to visit my family.  There was so much to do with so little time (as always).  But, it was extra special because we were all under one roof together.  You might say, "Oh you celebrated Thanksgiving early?!"  But that was not the case.  Our Catholic school in Hastings, has an Annual Chicken Noodle Dinner/Bazaar.  It's this giant event that raises lots of money for the school.  When I was in elementary/middle school I spent so many hours and dollars on games, food, cake walk, buying trinkets from the Attic Treasures, buying pickle tickets, and playing BINGO!  In high school, I de-boned chicken for the massive batches of homemade noodles.  I mean, this event is HUGE!  It is definitely nostalgic for me to go back.  I haven't been since I graduated and it was fun taking Reid and Jack.  My mom asked me to knit a few scarves to donate to the craft booth.  I set a goal for 6 (in just over a month) and exceeded my goal with 7 total.  Knitting is a passion of mine and I was happy to share it.  And the scarves sold SO fast!!  Next year, I'll have to start sooner so I can donate more.  Below you can see a few pictures of the scarves.  I forgot to take a picture of the 2nd scarf (it was blue). 
We also got to celebrate 2 Skoch men's birthdays!  My brother JohnMarc turned 22 on Sunday 11/21 and my dad's birthday is tomorrow 11/27.  Mom ordered this cool cake to honor the "past and present" Jayhawks.  :)
The birthday boys:
It was a fantastic weekend and we're excited to go back for Christmas in just a few short weeks. 
Until next time...

Wednesday, November 17, 2010

20 months today

Today Jack is 20 months old!  That means in 4 months I will have a 2yr old...WOW!  I decided to take a few pictures to show you his "favorite things" of the moment:
Cheese!  Tried to get one to show how big he is.  He's just over 30lbs!
Jack loves to read ANY book!  He especially loves books about letters, numbers, & colors:
BLOCKS-Great grandma Peggy gave these to him last Christmas and he's sure enjoying them now.  Mostly loves the letters, numbers, and picture on each block.  We're also using them to learn about colors. 
And of course, soccer.  Note that he wears them, kicks them, and even has one he could sleep with (stuffed soccer ball).  I think we've got a future star on our hands.
We're sure loving our little guy! 
Until next time...

Tuesday, November 16, 2010

Lucky #13

Jack has been teething for what seems like an eternity now.  But the last 2 months have been particularly rough...on shoes, toys, his cups, spoons, books (he kind of sounds like a dog on paper).  He's been cutting his eye teeth...or at least I think that's what's going on.  Finally yesterday I noticed that one of them has broken the gums!  Thank goodness; maybe it will be a bit of relief for the little guy.  He just can't gnaw hard enough sometimes, so I can only imagine what he's feeling. 
So now, his tooth count is up to 13, thanks to his bottom right canine.  And I have a feeling the rest will be following soon.
Until next time...

Monday, November 8, 2010

Grandma's 80th

My grandma Eleanor Skoch (my dad's mom) turned 80 on 10/30/10.  On Halloween, my aunts put together a party for her at Crestview Manor, her residence.  It was a good turnout with lots of friends and family.  We made the trip to Seneca that day to see Grandma and it's always a bonus when we get to see other family members.  Jack and Emery modeled their costumes for us.  Thanks to my Uncle Les for taking and sending the pictures to me!  Here are a few great shots from the day. 
The grandkids + spouses at the party (and 2 great grandkids) with Grandma Eleanor:
I think this one looks like Jack's "rawr-ing" like a shark and Em's thinking "What is this kid doing?":
CHEESE!  Emery is 8 weeks older than Jack!  So fun to watch them grow together:
Lauren and Jennifer- BCF :)  :
Until next time...

Friday, November 5, 2010

Halloween 2010

We had such a great time this Halloween!  Jack did his first trick or treating as a shark.  On Tuesday we went with my friend Amanda and her son Owen to Liberty Middle School.  The students decorated the halls and rooms as different movie themes (children's movies) and handed out candy.  It was nice and warm and a good practice round for the real deal. 
On Halloween night, he went around his grandma Judy's neighborhood, he went with his cousins around their neighborhood, and around our friend Lacey's neighborhood.  He would walk up to the houses and say, "Knock knock knock" and then when the door was opened he said, "Cook-er-eat!"  That is his version of "trick or treat".  He really got the hang of taking one piece of candy and placing it in his bucket.  And then he'd walk around making sure no candy fell out.  We got him to start saying, "Happy-een," which you might guess translates to Happy Halloween.  It was such a fun week!  Here's some pictures from our adventures:
"Mummy's Boy"- perfect shirt found on a kids sale:
Owen and Jack:
My little shark.  This make me think of his future "First day of school" pic.  He was just so good at standing still against the wall and cheesing:
Mommy and Daddy had a costume party on Saturday night- Sandy and Danny from Grease:
Halloween night at Grandma Judy's:
Happy Halloween from the Kirby's:
Reid taking Jack up to the spooky house:
Our little shark trying to bite through the wrapper of a Kit Kat:
Digging for more candy!:
Hope you had a safe Halloween.  Until next time...

Tuesday, October 26, 2010

Weight check

Just a quick update- today we had to go for a weight check for Jack.  Turns out that was a laughable appointment.  Jack weighed 30.4 lbs today!  Dr. Cattaneo said that likely the scale was off last time, because his weight jumped (on the growth chart) way too much.  No more worries about his weight anymore (I was never really concerned).  I asked to check his height for the baby book, and he was 34.5 inches.  He's a growing boy!  He looked 2x the age of another 18 mos boy we saw at the grocery store last night.  But healthy baby = happy mommy. 
Until next time...

Monday, October 11, 2010

Multiple blogs within a blog

Well, here I am in the 2nd week of October and I know I've been poor at getting this thing updated.  Again- it's likely a result of how busy we are!  So, I'm going to write short little snipits of what has gone on in the month of September and early October. 
We've had an extremely busy and exciting last 6 weeks!  Some highlights:
*I got accepted to William Jewell acclerated nursing program.  This program will allow for me to attend 12mos of school and have my RN, BSN.  It's going to start in May 2011.  It's close to home, a beautiful campus, and most importantly, I'm SO excited to get into the physical health side of things.  I know that I have the potential to be a great nurse and I cannot wait to start.
*We upgraded our Cobalt to a Chevy Equinox.  It just happened to work out and ended up being a good deal and it has already been a huge blessing as far as space goes.  We were quite crammed, seeing that we're all tall people.  Jack was kicking the seats really bad in the back of the Cobalt and now he has at least a foot of space between his feet and the seat. 
*Jack and mommy took a trip to the KC zoo on 10/2 with some friends.  Jack's friends Owen and Gabby and Anthony all got to come too, with their parents.  Jack got to see one of his favorite NickJr characters, Diego the Animal Rescuer.  He was at the zoo visiting kids.  This month and next, all KC residents get in free with a utility bill-- you can sure bet we'll be going back soon! 
*On 10/9, we went back for our 2nd Annual Carolyn's Country Cousins pumpkin patch visit.  This year we went with my friend Cortnie, her husband, and their two kids.  It was so fun to see Jack run around and play on all the toys.  He wanted to see everything.  We took a VERY dusty ride out to the pumpkin patch and decided it wasn't worth standing out in the 90* weather, so we went back and enjoyed some pumpkin donuts, pumpkin bread, and cider slush...YUM!  Jack got to play with his friend Gabby around the play yard.  They are too cute together.  They walked around holding hands and just looked like a miniature old couple wondering around.  They played on the pirate ship, went down slides, banged pots and pans, went under the tire tunnel, and pet some of the animals.  On the way home he was asleep within 5 minutes of leaving the patch.  The heat and fun wore him out!
*Later that evening, my mom and Lucy arrived for a short, but very fun visit.  No school today (10/11) and so they got to hang out for two days.  We ate lots of good food, shopped till we dropped, and they got to enjoy some good quality time with Jack.  He just loved having them here and really loves his Aunt Lucy.  He says, "Llluuucy".  :)  It's just too adorable.  I'm so thankful they were able to come and visit.  Its a very long trip, but my mom is right: we're just going to have to work at making this distance thing work! 
Jack news:
*Jack had his 18 month check up and got a good clean bill of health.  He's right around the 90th percentile for both weight and height.  His weight did drop some, so we're heading in for a weight check in 2 weeks.  I know it's likely because we went in right after he had the flu and had no appetite.  We'll just take him in an double check.  As many eating issues he's had, we might as well just make sure he's still on track.
*Jack has been talking up a storm.  He is an incredibly bright young boy.  We feel very blessed and are excited that he's learning so fast.  In the last real post on Sept 1, Jack was just starting to count and recognize new letters.  Well, by 9/17, his 18mos mark, he was saying his alphabet and counting to 10!  Now he can't count to 15, on his own and he can count to 10, with some prompting, in Spanish!  He also recognizes all of his alphabet and will point out random letters everywhere we go.  Last night at dinner he saw a 'W' and said "W, X, Y, Z".  He likes to sit in a "pool of blocks" and pick up random blocks and tell me what they are.  Now, I'm not sure how all of this came about, but I've said it before and I'll say it again, I know that NickJr has helped teach him these things.  And they advertise it as "preschool on TV" and they aren't kidding!  Dr. Cattaneo, his pediatrician, couldn't believe it and had to show him off to the rest of the office, he was so excited. 
*Not only is Jack counting and saying his letters, he's started talking in short sentences.  While Grandma Skoch and Aunt Lucy were in town, he was very talkative.  Last night while shopping, my mom walked away for a minute and he said, "Grandma, WAIT!"  At the grocery store, he was riding in the cart and grandma stopped to look at something.  We kept moving and Jack yelled, "Come on grandma!"  I had NO clue that he knew what "wait" and "come on" even meant!  He has also been saying "Bless You" when someone sneezes.  He'll also say, "Daddy work" when I'm at home with him at night and his daddy comes up in conversation.  If you ask Jack "Why?" he responds, "Cuz".  I was trying on clothes to go out the other night and I asked Reid, "Why do you like this one, over the other?"  Jack yelled from the other room, "CUZ!"  I guess he was sick of me trying on clothes too.  (Boys will be boys!)  :)
We're really looking forward to a fun rest of this month.  Jack's daddy's birthday is on Sunday and his Grandma Judy's is next week!  Halloween will be here before we know it and we have lots of road trips coming up as well. 
Thanks for checking in on us.  Happy Fall! 
Until next time...

Sunday, September 5, 2010

18 mos pictures

We took Jack to JCPenney's last night to take a family photo for his 18 mos "milestone". Unfortunately I can't get the print to save to my computer, so I'll have to try to share the link. They turned out GREAT, even though he was being a little stinker. We're happy to share his smile.


https://viewimages.jcpportraits.com/sharealbum/sharealbumlist?rndId=1283656299&uId=1120605
 
Until next time...

Wednesday, September 1, 2010

Let's Count!

Jack's been doing so many new things recently and I wanted to share.  When we were visiting cousin Emery a few weeks ago, Jack really took to the magnadoodle, so when I saw one on our recent kid's consignment sale for $4, I couldn't pass it up.  His new love is "coloring" and this is a great way for him to color without all the mess.  I've also been writing things and having him guess what it is, or I'll draw pictures of animals and he makes the appropriate sound.  He's a sharp one.  Last night he started counting!  Ok, it's not like he said "1, 2, 3, 4, 5" but he knows the sequence of the numbers he said.  We were stacking some cups that we have (with numbers on them) and I said, "eight" and he goes "nine, ten!"  I looked at him in amazement and thought it was a fluke.  So, I tested it again and he said, "Nine, ten!"  I am amazed at his ability to absorb so much and now the regurgitation is coming at fast rates.  He also is able to recognize letters.  While we were watching our favorite programs on TV last night, the letter 'S' came on and he said "S!"  Then came "R", "M", and "D"!  Anyone that says TV can't be educational is NOT watching NickJr.!  :)
Here is an updated picture of our smiley little guy:

Another funny photo:  Jack is also really entertained by walking around in "big people" shoes.  He even tries to put on his daddy's flip flops, while he has socks on.  It's just the funniest thing. 
Thanks for visiting us.  Here's wishing you a happy holiday weekend.  Be safe and enjoy the last few days of summer! 
Until next time...

Tuesday, August 17, 2010

17 months

Today, our little guy is 17 months old!  It just seems unreal, how fast this time has gone.  I don't have much in the way of stats, since his next check-up isn't until next month.  However, he does have a pretty bad case of diaper rash, so we happened to be at the doctor's office last night.  On the way to the scale I guessed 28 lbs and sure enough, he weighed 28.4 lbs!  That's only up 1 full pound in 7 weeks.  But, he's quite a bit more active these days, so I'm not surprised. 
He's keeping us busy at home.  He's really starting to talk a lot more.  My favorite is the way he says, "milk".  I appreciate his ability to let us know when he's thirsty, however do not mention anything about his milk, unless you're prepared to give it to him.  We've noticed that we have to spell things out already because otherwise he gets mad if we can't deliver it to him. 
Last weekend we were away for one of my best friend's weddings, and grandma Judy kept him.  She told me he was walking down the hallways, knocking on the doors, saying "knock, knock".  He's very smart and I'm enjoying the new ways of communication.  The wedding we went to was my friend Sarah, who married Patrick Altenhofen.  It was a stunningly, beautiful ceremony and reception.  I was so honored to be part of the wedding and I'm so excited for them to spend their life together as one.  They are great friends of ours as a couple and just wonderful people to be around.  Patrick's family was fun getting to know and it's fun for me to have common roots with him; both our grandparents are from the same part of Kansas.  In fact, the groomsman I walked down with used to work with my cousin! 
Together at the Rehearsal Dinner:
Sarah and her bridesmaids at the beautiful Rehearsal dinner:
Sarah and Patrick Altenhofen!:
Sarah and her bridemaids taking fun pictures:
Two weekends ago I took Jack to visit my cousin Jennifer and her boys, Patrick and Emery.  Emery and Jack are 8 weeks apart and it was so fun to see them interact, now that they're both walking and talking.  They sat across from each others at mealtime and just "babytalked" the whole time.  They'd shake their heads at each other and mimic movements.  They spent time enjoying their favorite TV programs together and sharing emery's toys.  We had a blast taking them to the zoo, the farmer's market, shopping for "mom time", and playing in the fountains.  We're looking forward to the Atchison's visit this weekend for some baseball!
Jenn and me with the boys (paying attention to something else) at the zoo:
Fountain fun:
Bathtime for the boys:
Hanging out in diapers, watching the Backyardigans:
Some of Jack's current favorites:  Dora the Explorer (still- in fact we were in Payless yesterday and he only wanted to try on the pink Dora tennis shoes, instead of the Buzz Lightyear for boys), PB&J sandwiches, building blocks, kicking a soccer ball (or just kicking anything on the ground), going outside or "bye-bye", playing with our phones (he picks them up and says, "how" which we think is hello), walking around in mommy and daddy's shoes, wrestling with daddy, and storytime with mommy before bed. 
The last 17 months have flown by.  We're blessed with an intelligent, smiley little toddler and we can't wait to see what's in store for us next!

Friday, July 30, 2010

A mouth full!

Well- it's finally pushed through...tooth #12!!  It's been a long road for this last molar to break the gum surface.  Jack has been teething on everything and I believe this tooth may have caused the most discomfort for him.  But, finally the skin has broken and hopefully some relief is in sight.  I can't believe this kid has 12 teeth!  He's experiencing chewing his food in a whole new light...or maybe just experiencing chewing, period.  He used to shovel everything in and now he actually chews.  :) 
Until next time...

Monday, July 26, 2010

Do do do Dora...

Jack's vocabulary is expanding at a rapid pace.  He loves Dora the Explorer right now and has started saying many words that are related to it; for example "map" or "Dora Dora Dora" or "Aww man" (Swiper the fox says this when he gets in trouble) and don't forget "Boots", Dora's best friend.  And sometimes Dora explores in a car and Jack's shouting "car, car" at the TV.  I think his favorite word is "map" (see the map peaking out of backpack below?).  Every time Dora comes on the TV he gets excited and dances to her song.  Then it's "map map map map" for the rest of the show. 
Hopefully you're having a good Monday!  Until next time...

Thursday, July 22, 2010

Phillips Family Cruise 2010

Well, I'm finally getting a chance to update about the last couple of weeks.  Reid and I went to Mexico on the Carnival Cruise lines FUNship Ecstasy. His grandmother turned 80 and wanted her 4 kids and their families to go on a cruise.  It was an AWESOME vacation for us. 
It was also Jack's first vacation to his Grandpa (Ye-Ye) and Grandma Skoch's house in Hastings.  I'm so thankful they agreed to keep him.  He was there for 9 whole days!  I was really anxious about the whole thing when I left him there, but I knew he was in good hands.  My mom said he did wonderfully.  He definitely kept them busy!  My siblings were chasing him around all week.  He loved to run around to the different rooms (since its a big circle around the fireplace), flip the lights on and off, and play outside in the backyard.  He was spoiled with all the space he had. 
At the beginning of the trip to drop Jack at the Skoch's house:
We left Friday morning the 9th after Reid got home from work at midnight that night.  We drove 2 vehicles from KC to Houston, where Uncle Jeff's family lives.  We were all getting so anxious and it was hard to sleep.  More family arrived late in the night and it was wonderful to catch up with everybody.  After rearranging the bags, we piled in the cars drove to Galveston to board the ship. 
We had these great "Phillips Family Cruise" shirts made for everyone:
We spent the first evening on the ship, exploring all the fun things to do.  There were comedy shows, game shows, a casino, performances, and dance clubs.  We got to have fun umbrella drinks and enjoyed some simply amazing food.  The dining on the ship, by itself, is worth the money.  We felt like royalty being served such fancy meals every night. 
Our first port was Progresso.  It was a culture shock to me.  The town was quite small and seemed rundown.  However, there was a great little open-air market where we got fantastic bargains on some souveneirs.  They wanted to sell us their stuff pretty bad so we were able to make some deals.  And they had a BEAUTIFUL beach (see next photo).  While we were on the beach, the locals were selling everything from jewelry to singing (people would stop and want compensation for a serenade).  It seems like this was how many of the locals made their living.  I spent the day with Jeff and his girls, while Reid explored the Chichen Itza ruins.  It was a great day!
Here is a picture of us as a night of dinner:
Our second port was Cozumel.  That was awesome and such a difference than Progresso.  As soon as you got off the ship there were big, fancy shops with LOTS of shopping.  Reid, 2 of his cousins, and had chosen to go to the Playa Mia Beach Break Deluxe.  Basically it was all you can drink/eat Mexican buffet and water toys.  There was a water trampoline and slide in the middle of the ocean you could swim out to.  You could also check out the paddle boats.  I just laid out and drank some pretty great margaritas.
Me and Reid enjoying the sun: 
Margarita #1 for the day!  I was in heaven...margaritas and beautiful beaches...what else can a girl ask for:
The rest of the time was spent enjoying the ship.  Reid won a round of trivia and got a little trophy.  We played pitch on the lido deck until late at night with the family.  Then after the parents went to bed, we explored the dance clubs.  I would definitely do that again. 
Here we are on the last night with the sunset as we were sailing back to Galveston:
When we got home life picked back up really fast.  We met my mom halfway to get Jack.  I was so incredibly excited to see my little buddy.  I couldn't believe how fast he grew and changed. He came back saying like 10 more words and he knows what so many things are.  It was like his vocabulary exploded while we were gone.  He knows car, ball (of every shape and size), book, block, dog, woof woof, duck, Ye-Ye (Chinese for grandpa- and Grandpa Skoch wants to be called Ye-ye), nana for banana, and so much more.  He is holding "conversations" with us.  It is just amazing to see this little boy emerging.  Other than new words, Jack has his 12th tooth coming through.  He has 4 top and bottom in the front and then his first molars on top and bottom are through.  The last one (bottom right) is popping through as I write this.  I can't decide if teething is worse as a toddler or infant.  He's really growing up so fast. 
Until next time...