December 2009
Dear Family and Friends-
Happy Holidays from our home to yours! We hope that 2009 has been a Healthy and Happy year for all of you. We hit a big milestone this year when our youngest, Caroline entered Full Day Kindergarten. We’ve had at least one of the girls home with us for the past 11½ years, so having an empty house during the day has been an adjustment! All 3 girls are now in the same school which has been great!
Caroline is 5 and a half and often makes us laugh. It’s well known that her father loves Politics and recently her church Primary Teacher shared this story with us. Caroline’s Teacher was sharing Scripture stories and after each story, Caroline would ask, “Can we talk about President Obama now?” After the next story it was “Can we talk about Glen Beck now?” and then “Can we talk about Mitt Romney now?” As you can see, there’s never a dull moment with Caroline. Caroline is adjusting to school quite well and is learning lots. She tends to be the most messiest of our children and seems to be keeping her room cleaner now that we have bribed her with a reward of $1 a month J
Madeline is 9 and a half and is in the 4th grade. She started playing Clarinet this year and is enjoying that. She earned her Yellow Belt in Tae Kwon Do in November. She’s our Social Butterfly and loves spending time with her friends. Madeline is infatuated with Shelties (a type of Dog) and is asking Santa for one for Christmas, it is the only thing on her list!!! Madeline’s been told that Santa doesn’t bring Live animals, so we’re hoping she’ll revise her list real soon..
Christine is almost 12 (in Feb) and is in the 6th grade. Chris is only about 2 inches shorter then Kadi now and is really maturing. Adolescence here we come! She went on a fun White Water Rafting Trip over the Summer with a friend and thoroughly enjoyed that. She continues to play the Saxophone in the School Band and just earned her Green Belt in T.K.D.
A big change for Kadi this year was getting off the Night Shift at Maine Medical Center! She is now an official “Day/Night Rotator” but only has to do a couple nights every 8 weeks. She is feeling like a different person, now that she is getting enough sleep J! 12 hour days are long (She leaves the house at 6am and gets home at 8:30pm), but John does a great job holding up the home front the two days she’s at work. This year Kadi has enjoyed being a Church Primary Teacher for 10 year olds and continues as Ward Activities Leader . We just pulled off the annual Christmas Dinner for 120+ people and it went really well, thanks to so many who helped! She has also been able to volunteer a couple days a month at the kids school which she has really enjoyed doing.
John is now known as our Wood Man! He installed a used Wood stove for us in our Basement this Fall to cut down on our oil consumption and that is all we have been heating our home with (besides the Gas Fireplace on occasion). We’ve been harvesting Wood from our land and John just loves his chainsaw J - John’s been dealing with lots of Domestic problems at work and finds that he’s not only a Police Chief, but also a Social Worker! He still continues to teach T.K.D and has really enjoyed watching his students progress over the last 4 years. 2009 has been a year of injuries for John. He injured his foot at a T.K.D Tournament in Feb, sprained his ankle while playing Wiffle Ball in May , had a much needed Sinus Surgery in June and gashed the bottom of his foot on a sharp piece of glass at Popham Beach in August- Ouch!!!! Then the kids and John experienced H1N1 - Swine Flu first hand. We’re hoping 2010 will be much more healthier!
Autumn , our 13 year old Golden Retriever is definitely in her Senior Years and often needs to be carried up the stairs at night. She’s been such a Wonderful Dog to us ! Max is our “fair weather” Cat. He loves to be outdoors when it’s warm and is definitely not liking the cold weather and snow. These days Max can be found under the Christmas Tree taking off the ornaments.
The Girls and John enjoyed being in a couple Tae Kwon Do Tournaments this year, one of which we traveled to NH for and then onto Mass to help celebrate John’s Grandmother’s 86th Birthday. John and Kadi were able to get away in June and went to a Memorable Wedding for Kadi’s cousin Peter and Stacey in Fairhaven Mass. - it was beautiful! As always we had fun the two weeks we went to our families Camp on Aziscohos Lake- the fishing was great there this year!! We also had a fun time at our Annual Kingman Cousins weekend! A big Summer Highlight was the first Skroski Family Reunion held at the original Skroski Homestead ( now John’s cousin Don and Ellens home) in Whately, Mass. It had been a hundred years since John’s Great Grandfather and Grandmother had settled in Whately. It was a great occasion to catch up and reminisce with family we don’t see often.
As we go through the hustle and bustle of the Season we hope and pray that you all have a very Merry Christmas and Joyous New Year!
With Lots of Love, John, Kadi, Christine, Madeline and Caroline
