Hometown Heroes

In April, we were invited to a little last minute ceremony (as in, we heard about it the day before) where everyone from SD's base who has served in Kuwait, Iraq, and Afghanistan since 9-11 was recognized and received some awards for their services.

Part of the celebration was held here, in the A-10 hangar where SD works. 

SD has been deployed to all 3 locations, and while the ceremony was seriously overdue, it was very nice to have this time of thanks and recognition.

Here's part of the flight line where he works, with the Boise foothills in the background.

The younger kids enjoyed some of the cake (the rest of us had GF cupcakes at home).

And the medals and plaques were very nice. SD has some of them displayed on the wall in the office now.

He tries to play this kind of stuff off, being modest and all, but we're really proud of him!

I've never really considered us a "military" family. I guess mainly because we're in the National Guard, and he's not classified as active duty (unless he's deployed), which means for all you non-military folks out there that we can live wherever we want, not on any military bases, and not having our lives dictated to us when it comes to where we're stationed, and for how long, etc. We LOVE having that kind of freedom over our family life!

Sorry for all the black smudged out photos, Internet security and all. If you want a non smudgy photo, just let me know.

Wow, check out my beautiful, growing family! Amazing! I even had a pair of high heel boots on in this pic, which means my oldest son is even taller that it appears in real life! Or I'm even shorter, either way.

On our way home, a typical scene...LA and KW goofing off, EJ doing her own thing, and IK trying to tune them (and all their noise) out. Out of her seatbelt while driving,...yeah, that's totally safe.

Me driving of course, and SD and I laughing at the joys of our kids.

It was a short and sweet little ceremony, but very nice nonetheless.

My Artistic Child

Soooo funny how entirely different children are. While IK and LA excel at sports, it's never been an area of much interest for EJ. She's tried a few different sports before (soccer, basketball, volleyball, gymnastics) but nothing's ever been the right fit for her.

She's far more interested in everything related to arts and crafts of all kinds, and she's incredibly talented with music. This is her 2nd year playing the cello.

We're starting to see so many little signs of her wanting to grow up and at least look more mature (notice the stylish black boots? The earrings?)

Just like IK's soccer games, EJ's concerts have also become MUCH more enjoyable! Last year we sat through many squawk fests listing to new musicians squeaking their way through learning to play violins, violas, and cellos for the very first time.

But oh my word, what a transformation they've gone through in just 1 year! Now her concerts are really amazing, and totally enjoyable to sit through and listen to them play!

When the concert began, EJ put on the funniest, little serious face, with tightly drawn lips. She was doing some serious concentrating! I don't think she realizes how serious her face becomes when she's playing.

Come on, pretty girl, you have such a beautiful smile, let's see it! I can't believe how long her hair is getting too. The concert was very fun to watch, and SD actually made it for a change too.

She doesn't look that happy here, but trust me, she was. And now her birthday is coming up. She just took her party invitations to school today, and she doesn't know it, but mommy is very busy these days making all kinds of fun presents for her that I know she's going to love!

Spring Soccer 2010

Last Saturday FINALLY concluded a very long and tiring spring soccer season. It's amazing how demanding the schedule ends up being, even though only 2 of our 4 children are involved!

But when LA has practices every Mon. & Wed. night, and IK has practices every Tues. & Thurs. night, along with church activities for IK and EJ on Wed. nights, games for IK on Friday nights, and games and referee work for LA and IK every Sat.,...yeah it becomes a pretty grueling 2 months!!!

We were all very glad to see another season come to an end! But the kids had a lot of fun playing, as usual.

Watching IK's games at the high school level has become so unbelievably enjoyable! They're no longer the little kids who simply run around in a giant mob after a ball in a totally random direction. No, they know how to play, and some are very good at it!

Every time I see this next picture (below) all I can think of is "seriously, who put this grown up, man face on my little baby boy?" Guess he's not so little anymore, huh?

And this one makes me laugh, because it's funny to see how crazy tangled they become during some of these really fast plays! How DID they get into this position?

Something that's always been very interesting about IK when it comes to playing soccer, is that he's predominantly LEFT footed. He's right handed and all, but when it comes to playing soccer, he's a major left footed kicker. Which can be a really good thing because most players are right footed, which can throw off your oponents.

When he's not playing, IK still works as a referee, and he's very good at it! He's certified once again this year, which means he makes a ton of money! Seriously, he refs an average of 3-4 games each Saturday and makes over $100 every 2 weeks! Not bad for a part-time job!

He can even ref for other soccer leagues if he wants to, which means he could continue this part-time, seasonal job each spring and fall and make a LOT of money during soccer seasons to help him not need to work at other times throughout the year.

It's truly been such a blessing for him to find this opportunity to practice working his first job, receiving decent paychecks, etc. He's learned all about tithing and saving, and now he regularly tithes 10%, puts half of what's left into savings for college, and then keeps the rest. 

And lately he's even been donating half of his leftover spending money to a local food bank...totally on his own, I didn't even know about it until he told me later. Yeah,...such a good boy, with such a HUGE heart!

Here's IK with SD bringing snacks to LA's game. So, speaking of LA, she had a great season too!

LA's been playing soccer since she was 4 years old...and absolutely loving it! Which is why we couldn't figure out all season long why she turned into the biggest whiner and complainer EVERY single time it was time to go to practice or to a game.

The she would get to the practices and have a great time, and at the games she would turn into this amazing, super player, scoring tons of goals and showing how talented and unstoppable she's become on the soccer field!

She's so good in fact, that her coach has been trying to convince us to switch her into the competitive league for next year (the more than double cost of registration, travel to games outside of Nampa, etc. are some of the reasons why we said no). LA's more than happy to continue playing in this recreational league for fun.

Such a cute, tiny little goalie! But don't let that dress of a jersey fool you, because she's a very good soccer player!

We think she was such a complainer all season because she just wants to try some new things, namely she's mentioned cheerleading and softball, which we told her she could try and still play soccer, so I think that's the plan for now.

Who knows, with as good as she is on the field, she could end up receiving a college sports scholarship someday? We haven't signed her up for soccer for next year just yet. If she wants to try cheerleading, she can easily do that in the winter during the upward basketball program at church, or she can play fall soccer and spring softball, we're leaving it up to her.

IK plans to try out for the high school soccer team again (hopefully not sick with 2 ear infections and strep throat during the tryouts this fall!), but he's also planning to sign up to play in this rec league again just in case.

Haha, Good One!

Yeah, that was pretty funny, huh? Me...trying to catch up on my blog. Ha! 

I had really good intensions, though. I went through tons of pictures, got them all ready to post, and then my husband (whom I've been referring to as "ship #1" for the past few weeks because of our extremely busy schedules that have left us acting just like ships passing in the night) asked me if I wanted to watch a movie with him, so of course I wasn't about to pass that up!

And then the story goes on with all the usual busyness of life and my catch up on blogging opportunity was gone. This week my husband's nickname has been changed from "ship #1" to "child #5," but I'll leave the explanation for that one to your imaginations. :o)

So, despite the fact that I have about a million projects in the works right now, I'm really going to try to make an even bigger effort to catch up at least a little on my blog.

Hmmm...what should we start with? How about a lot of the random, misc. fun parts of life that have kept us so busy lately. First, believe it or not, there actually has been time for resting (who knew you could look this cute just watching TV?):

Building forts in the living room during sleep overs:

Playing on the computer, esp. PBS.org:

Riding on bikes and roller blades in the neighborhood (yes, while sporting some of my new hair bows!):

And tons and TONS of playing on the swing set in the backyard!!!

We just built this beast last summer in the extreme 100+ degree heat last August, so the kids didn't have much time to spend on it last year. But this year has been a totally different story! They've been out there almost every day and it's been INCREDIBLY wonderful for them (and me!) to have such a nice play area right in our back yard where I can keep a close watch over them.

Originally we layed down a layer of plastic beneath this play area with intentions to cover the whole thing in sand, like a giant sandbox, but didn't have the money just yet to purchase that much sand. So this year, since the grass and weeds have decided they like this location anyway, we pulled up all the plastic, mowed, and are planning to let it all fill in with grass.

Yup, this is exactly how kids should spend their afternoons & evenings when they get home from school.

Look at that funny little face,...he didn't know how to swing. So his big sis, EJ, tried to teach him.

And it worked! At least a little bit, and KW's content enough with that for now. That, and convincing his sisters to push him on the swings sometimes too. OHHHHH, the giggles that can be heard from our back yard when all 3 of them are out there playing!

And when the girls are at school, KW drags the dogs out there to play with him and doesn't seem to mind at all that he has the entire thing all to himself. He sings, plays all kinds of pretend, and has enormous amounts of fun.

He even tells mommy to take his picture after he comes down the slide and poses for me. This little guy, seriously LOVE him!

Holy Neglected Blog, Batman!

Sheesh! Could I be any more absent from my blog these days?!

Yeah, to say life's been a whirlwind this month, seriously doesn't cover it! How on earth can I possibly sum it all up? Okay, here's my best shot, looking back through our pics, I realized there's tons of updates from April I still haven't mentioned.

Alright, today's my day to catch up. I don't have time for my usual journaling/blogging, but at least I can catch up with some of the best highlights of our busy lives these days, right?

So let's go back and catch up where we left off, deal? So much exciting life stuff happening!

Mom's Day Recap

I had a really nice Mom's Day. 

(NOT Mother's Day, I've always hated the word "mother," because it is always said in a negative context. Seriously, when have you ever heard anyone use that word not in a negative connotation??? It's always in a negative sentence of some sort. Mom, mommy, momma, etc. on the other hand are not. Which is why my kids know NEVER to call me "mother!")

Anyway,...I had a great day. I had bought some beautiful flowers the other day, so those were fresh and pretty on my kitchen table. SD *woke* me up and we all got ready for church, which is SO much less frustrating and stressful now that church doesn't start until 10:00am!

LA gave me a really nice card she had made at school, along with a coupon book of nice things she would do for me (like giving hugs, clean the dishes, etc.). The kids all helped me clean the house, and late in the afternoon I managed to take a wonderful nap for a change!

The weather was finally beautiful for a change, so we spent some time outside playing in the yard. SD grilled up some steaks, I made homemade potato salad, cut up some yummy watermelon, and we had a very low key afternoon.

SD's just started doing some major clean up work in the backyard, and there's already SUCH an improvement! 

He tilled up this huge area, finally finished the new location for the dog run on the side of the house, and has torn down most of the old dog run area.

While we were making lunch, SD and a few of the kids grabbed the huge stack of stones we used to have throughout the yard (that got buried by weeds) and made a new walkway over to the gate by the dog run.

You can also see some large wooden boxes up against the fence and the house. SD's in the process of building me several raised beds so we can once again grow a garden (much larger this time!) and hopefully save on some groceries later for items we eat all the time (corn, carrots, zucchini, pumpkins for Halloween, etc.) 

I sure hope he'll find the time to finish these soon, otherwise we'll have to wait until next year to plant. Speaking of planting, this year I told my family they were off the hook as far as presents go for Mom's day, because I decided to buy my own gifts!

While the thoughts and good intentions are great, let's face it, kids don't often give gifts to mom that moms really want. So this year I decided to finally buy some of the things I've really been wanting.

First up, this beautiful new all purpose apron made by a friend of mine, MK, from church (who also has an etsy shop). I've been drooling over this gorgeous fabric for over a month and was so excited when I finally bought it.

It was packaged so sweetly with pieces of sewing patterns for wrapping paper and 3 packages of flowers to plant added as a free gift!

I absolutely LOVE that it's a half sized apron, not the full size that goes over your chest too, those always seem so cumbersome,...I remember from having to wear those when I worked in fast food restaurants several years ago, and the half aprons were always so much more comfortable.

This one comes with 4 large, deep pockets and has straps long enough to tie in back or wrap around in front. I simply LOVE this fabric and while I probably could've sewn my own apron pretty easily, sometimes it's easier and fun to buy yourself a present, right?

I also ordered a ring for myself that isn't here yet, because it's being personally engraved, but that was another special gift I've been wanting for a long time.

And finally, another gift for me, something I've been wanting for a very long time, several YEARS in fact, and finally went ahead and got it last month.

That's me on the table, getting my first tattoo! 

First, the initials, and then the large W in the background.

I took those pics upside down, so here's me at home later that same day. Most people don't know anything about this, which is good because I didn't get it for show, and unfortunately there's a lot of very judgmental people out there who can't respect the difference in opinions of others who see nothing wrong with tattoos and instead will judge you and think less of you because of them.

It's located in a rather private spot, way down low on the inside of my left hip, so most people will never see it. The design is simply a list of initials representing the most important people in my life. From left to right it reads: SKIELK, which stands for my husband, me, and our 4 children, and in the back behind all of that is a large W for our last name.

Now that it's fully healed, I took the photo above today. It's not very big, measuring about 2 inches wide by 1 inch tall, and no, it didn't hurt...at all. In fact, it was a mix between feeling ticklish and making me laugh, combined with wanting to fall asleep from the vibration of the needle.

It's been funny how controversial this ended up being last month when the news *accidentally* got out to my parents (thanks Bonnie!) who are the kind of people who absolutely don't like tattoos. And on the other side of things here, one of SD's brother's who is covered in tattoos for some reason decided to take it upon himself to suddenly be my personal gossip chain to all of my in-laws.

The stories behind all of that are way too long, funny, but much more than I have time to recap here. My explanation has been 1) it's really none of your business, and 2) you know, some women wear mother's rings while others,...well, I decided to get a tattoo.

And that's why I've included this gift as part of my Mom's day gifts, esp. since it has my children's initials on it.

***NOTE: I realize you may also be someone reading this who is opposed to tattoos, and that's totally okay. You're fully entitled to your opinions, and I respect that, but please also respect mine.

I waited this long to get it for a few reasons:

---I made it one of my goals/rewards after starting to exercise and lose weight last year,

---I made absolutely sure it's what I wanted, permamently,
---I made sure my husband also liked it,
---I waited until I found a very reputable, clean, and professional shop,
---And I've been waiting for SD, who was supposed to get one with me, but has never finalized his design, and I finally got tired of waiting.

Anyway, I absolutely LOVE it! It's very personal and special to me. Being a mom is a job I honestly never thought I wanted when I was a kid, but I'm so thankful my life turned out to be absolutely NOTHING like the way I had it planned out!

Seriously, being a mom is the biggest blessing I could ever imagine, and by FAR the best job in the entire world!!! It blows me away how truly blessed I am to be "just" a mom.

I'm off to go spend some more time being mommy. Hope you had an awesome Mom's day too!