Kate and the ABCs

Here's a little video I took today of Kate saying her ABCs (with some help from Mommy). She has really come a long way with her speech in the last few months. She loves the alphabet and recognizes pretty much all of her letters. She especially enjoys playing with her LeapFrog magnetic alphabet set, which has been a great learning tool. Enjoy!

Thanks A Latte: A Thank-You Gift Idea

I posted this on Roof With A View last month, and I thought I'd share it here as well ...

It's that time of the year ... time for lots of gifts--wedding, graduation, thank-you, etc. In our family, we have a ton of birthdays in May and June as well, and those presents add up quickly. Even with all of these big gifts in the budget, we still want to give a token of our appreciation to those who have helped us out at the end of the school year (or for whatever reason), and I came up with this little goodie a few years back. It is still working out well for us--at least, no one has said otherwise. LOL!

I found this stamp (at Michaels, I think) that reads "Thanks a latte" and depicts this cute little guy holding a cup o' joe. Well, I like to use this stamp in a card or to make a tag ... and add a Starbucks gift card ... or a nice bag of coffee with a mug ... etc. ... etc. Think of the possibilities!

Several years ago, I used the stamp with Starbucks gift cards as thank-yous for a bunch of folks who helped me move. Last week, I gave my daughter's preschool teachers Starbucks gift cards and the little cards you see in the photo (along with a brief personal note and a few dozen doughnuts). I have used it to help express our appreciation other times over the years as well.

I am always looking for ways to show our gratitude in gift form ... without breaking the bank. Feel free to share your ideas, too!

Leaps-N-Bounce

One morning while we were at the beach, Anne and I took Anna-Claire and Kate to Leaps-N-Bounce, an inflatable bouncy-house place. We were looking for something to do with the younger girls while the older girls enjoyed the pool with some friends. Turns out, Leaps-N-Bounce was really close to the rental house, so it worked out really well. And we found some coupons, so we were all set! Kate and Anna-Claire had a big time running around and jumping. It was a fun activity--we highly recommend it for those rainy days at the beach ... or something to do to take a break from the sun and heat. Check it out!


Ready to go! This inflatable was just for toddlers, and the girls loved it.


Lots of laughs ...


A-C climbing the slide


Anna-Claire got to the top of this big slide, but then she wasn't so sure she wanted to slide down. Anne went up to help her out. :o)


Having a blast!


Thanks, Leaps-N-Bounce, for a fun time!


See ya next time!

Father's Day (and Mother's Day, too)

Tanna and Kate after church on Father's Day

We had a nice Father's Day--went to church and spent the rest of the day relaxing at home, which was great! Tanna bought some steak at Costco and fixed himself (and me--LOL!) a wonderful Father's Day dinner. I asked him if I could cook him dinner or if he wanted to go out, but this is what he wanted. :o) He got a great deal on some NY Prime, so he was pleased.

We don't really do big gifts for each other, but this is what Kate got her Ah-Pah for Father's Day:


She made him a handprint giraffe at toddler camp, and I framed it for her to give to Tanna. :o) Miss Jane helped her make the sweet footprint card. And I picked up the cool pen set at the Metropolitan Museum of Art shop, which was going out of business. (Everything was marked down, and I got some sweet deals!) Oh yeah, and Tanna also got one of his favorite '80s movies to add to his collection. ha ha! (said in your best Pee Wee voice!)


Here are Tanna and Kate the next day--I meant for her to wear this shirt, which reads "My heart belongs to Daddy" on Father's Day. But after we got home from church, it became a PJ day because we didn't go anywhere else. So she wore the shirt the next day.


Lately, Kate likes to open the little ottoman in the living room, throw out the blankets and climb in herself.


Oh yeah, here is a pic from Mother's Day. I don't have too many photos because we flew back from San Francisco on that day. But here's a snap of Kate in her "I *heart* Mommy" shirt that she wore for the occasion. She is holding the cute card that she got me. :o)

Centennial Olympic Park's Fountain of Rings

Yesterday, I took Kate to the Fountain of Rings at Centennial Olympic Park. We had been to the children's museum, and I brought Kate's bathing suit along so afterward we could walk over and check out the fountains. Tanna and I thought Kate would love splashing around in them. We were wrong! LOL!

The place was packed, and Kate liked watching all the kids playing in the water. But when I tried to take her up to the fountains, she was having none of it. I even tried to show her how fun it could be--especially the little fountain area for toddlers. Alas, she was content to watch from a distance. Oh well, at least it was free!

We came straight home, and--since she was already dressed for it--we hit the pool for a few minutes before eating lunch. She liked that a lot better!

I took some photos and am posting some of the signs. I searched and searched online for information about the Fountain of Rings (specifically, information about kids splashing and playing in the fountains, etc.), but all I could find was info about the water show. Maybe I was looking in the wrong place. Anyway, maybe these pics will help someone out there ... Enjoy!


Overall view with CNN keeping watch over the flocks by night ... and day. (It is a 24-hour network, after all.)


Caution! If you take a photo, your reflection may show up in the sign! Caution!


Be ye advised


Content to watch from afar


This is about as close as she got (after I put her down), and this didn't last long.


She liked walking around the sitting area.


Back at home, Kate is happier to play in the pool (or at least on the steps).


"POOL!" One of Kate's favorite words these days. In this photo, she is actually pointing to the pool and saying "POOL!"

Riley's County Fair Birthday Party

The Birthday Girl--I can't believe she is 6 years old!

Riley turned 6 earlier this month, but we celebrated with a county fair-themed party at her house back in May. Robin decided to hold the festivities a few weeks early because Riley's actual birthday was during our beach vacation. Plus, having the party while school was still in session meant more classmates might be available (and not on vacation themselves). :o) It was a wonderful celebration--everyone had a great time!

I have found that several blog viewers come here after searching for various birthday party themes. Likewise, I am one to search the Internet and blogosphere looking for party ideas. So ... I am including lots of photos of the decor and food and such ... as well as family pics for the relatives. Enjoy!


Come one! Come all! Here is the invitation--it was designed to look like a ticket and turned out really cute. Robin framed one to use as part of the party decorations.


More party decorations






Some of Riley's artwork helped set the scene--too cute!


My sister Robin is going on another mission trip to the Czech Republic next month. Riley decided to collect balls for the mission team to take to the children there.


Party favors


The spread ... so colorful!


Suckers and candy apples. Who knew candy apples were so hard to make? Carrie and Robin were up well after midnight the night before preparing them.


Robin borrowed this popcorn machine from work--it was a hit! She had little bags for all of the kids to put their popcorn in. So fun!


Cake Walk--ready for walkers!


And here are the cakes. Robin and the girls made them so everyone would win one at the cake walk.

Riley *loves* party games. Party goers played a few games to earn tickets--then, there were prizes for who collected the most tickets. I have some photos, but I am not sure if the parents want pics of their kids on the Internet, so I'll just stick with pics of family for now. :o) The kiddos loved collecting tickets, though! It was a lot of fun!


Kate and Anna-Claire had so much fun in the play house.


Boo!


The kids loved playing on the swing set, too.


Kate got a balloon fix, that's for sure! (She has a balloon obsession going on lately.)


OK, I just love these photo banners. This one is from Pottery Barn Kids. Here's Robin, Riley and Rebekah smiling from the fair!


Riley, Rebekah and Steven have a turn with the banner.


Greetings from the fair!


The Birthday Girl ... flying high!


The Skaggs fam


Riley and Rebekah


Riley with Grammy


Tanna and Kate--Kate was digging the Cheetos!


Family pic! What a fun day! Happy Birthday, Riley!

A New Journey for Our Family

We want to share with you some exciting news--and to ask for your prayers. Our family has officially begun a new journey to adopt a baby from Korea!

We have always been open to adoption in addition to having more children biologically. We actually started this adoption journey last year when we completed a preliminary application. We were then put on the list to start the process this year, 2009. At the beginning of the year, however, we were hoping to conceive another biological child. At that time, we were hesitant to move forward with adoption plans because if you are expecting a baby during the adoption process, then your case is put on hold. For our program, you cannot adopt a child until the youngest child in your home is at least a year old.

In the meantime, we received a phone call from our adoption social worker, who encouraged us to go ahead and move forward with our process. After praying about this, I decided I would wait for Tanna to bring this up without any prompting from me. And he did! So we started the formal application process.

Not too long afterward, I found out I was pregnant. But I was waiting to tell our social worker out of fear of having another miscarriage. I kept stalling and didn't respond to her e-mails a couple of times, trying to wait as long as I could (because this news would halt the process for the time being). Finally, my stalling time had run out, and I had to tell her that we were expecting a baby. This was after we had seen a heartbeat, but before we had even told our family that we were expecting. Of course, we were then put on hold for adopting--and our spot was given to another family.

Then we had the miscarriage.

The next week, I contacted our social worker and explained that the very thing I had been fearing (and why I had hesitated to share the news of our pregnancy) had happened. She expressed her condolences, of course, and told me that we would be put on the waiting list for 2010.

Then, the NEXT week, when I was at the beach, she called me completely out of the blue. She said that for reasons unknown to them, a family had dropped out of the program, which is very rare. She also said that we could take the open spot, if we were ready to move forward. And WE ARE! We had to hurry and get our formal application completed ASAP after I got back from the beach, and earlier this week we had our first big meeting with our social worker, going over all of our home study documents and requirements.

And so here we are--we are starting our home study process, which includes a TON of paperwork and background information, individual interviews, doctor visits, and (toward the end of the home study) a home visit. After this is complete, all of our documentation will be sent to Korea. And that's when the real waiting begins. Typical post-home study wait time for our program, we were told, is about 12 to 16 months (not as long as I was thinking, actually) for a referral ... and then, if the referral is accepted, another few months after that for placement. (But we also were told to be flexible--flexibility and patience are MUSTS--and to understand there are no guarantees on the wait time, etc.)

We are hoping to complete our paperwork and home visit by the end of July--so this will be a very busy month for us. We sure appreciate your prayers as we begin this journey!

P.S. The photo was taken after we got back from our meeting with the social worker. I meant to take a picture at the agency office, but I forgot.

Whoever welcomes a little child like this in my name welcomes me. --Matthew 18:5, NIV