Skrosk Family Updtes 2013

Skroski Family Updates 2013 Caroline- 9 and in 4th grade. Caroline started playing the Clarinet, loves to sing and just performed a Duet to the 2nd verse of Deck the Halls at the school Holiday concert. . Active kid with Rec Basketball (currently), Tae Kwon Do and played Field Hockey in the Fall. Performed Jazz Ballet and Tumble pieces at her Dance Recital in June and hopes to begin Dance again soon. Caroline has quite the sense of humor and is often trying to pull pranks on fellow family members  Madeline-13 and in 8th Grade. Recently earned the Triple A award at school (Attitude, Achievement and Attendance). Braces came on for Maddie in March and should come off in 2014. She still plays Trumpet in the Jazz and 7th/8th grade band. Attended our church Girls Camp for the first time and had another great Field Hockey season. One of her Big Highlights for Maddie was when she went to the One Direction concert in June- Kadi and the girls went with a couple friends and it was loads of fun Christine- 15 and in 10th Grade Is DRIVING! Has her Permit and hopes to go for her license in Feb or March. She continues to be busy with Early Morning Seminary, Debate Club and Field Hockey. Played Tennis in the Spring and enjoyed it. Went to an Especially for Youth church conference at UMASS in July and loved it! Kadi picked some of the Youth up and enjoyed being back on campus and pointing out quite a few of the landmarks from “way back when”  Kadi- Finds that there is never enough time to get everything accomplished that she “needs” to. Top job is “Mom” and “Taxi Driver” these days. Working 2-3 twelve hour shifts a week still, now in her 12th year at MMC. Committee work keeps her busy- whether it’s the Elementary School PTA or Scheduling at work. She is now the Relief Society Pianist at church and is thankful for the patience that the ladies in the Congregation have shown-YIKES- those skills really need to be sharpened! John- Completed 2 classes, Police Ethics and a Digital Photography class and is 1-2 classes away from getting his Bachelor’s Degree . He is still busy at work as always. In his 9th year of teaching Tae Kwon Do for our Rec Department. Thoroughly enjoyed the second year of being a boat owner, whether boating on the Kennebec River, Sebago Lake or on Aziscohos Lake at Camp- always loads of fun and great medicine for Stress relief! John recently started being an Assistant Coach for Caroline’s Basketball team and loves it. He is having surgery on January 2nd to remove the rod in his leg- YAY! Our Big Family highlight for 2013 was our trip to Florida in February! It was a fun filled 8 days- 3 days of Disney and 5 days of other fun- (Universal, Cocoa Beach, Orange Picking and just plain relaxing)! We hope you are all doing well and enjoying the wonderful Christmas season  We are truly thankful for each one of you and how you have touched our lives! With Lots of Love, The Skroski Family

Another year gone without Blogging.........Here's a copy of our 2010 Christmas Update that we enclosed in Christmas Cards-

Merry Christmas!
2010 Skroski Family Updates
Caroline: Age 6 and in the 1st Grade. Played Soccer this Fall and loved spotting and identifying Birds while out on the Field.She Started Tae Kwon Do this Fall, enjoys being in her big sisters class and having John as the instructor. One of the big highlights this year for Caroline, is that she is in the early stages of reading and doing really well! She’s also writing and came home recently with a paper asking, “Something special about me is” Caroline wrote, “I’m a Human”. Gotta love those 1st grade answers.

Madeline: Age 10 and in the 5th Grade. Loves doing Back handsprings in a Tumbling Class she started this Fall. Progressed from the Clarinet to the Trumpet in the School Band and enjoys singing in the School Chorus. Received a Ripstick for her Birthday and can often be found Ripsticking around our center island in the kitchen (which can sometimes drive Mom crazy). Spent her first week away from home with Chris at a 4H Camp in Western Maine where they both became certified in Water Safety.

Christine: Age 12, in the 7th Grade and now in the Middle School The transition has gone well and she just received an award for being “Student of the Month”. Chris loved playing Lacrosse in the Spring and Field Hockey this Fall. Continues to play the Alto Sax and plays in 3 Bands (7th/8th Grade, Jazz and a community B Band). First year in the Young Women’s program at church and really enjoyed her first experience at Girls Camp this Summer.

Kadi: Trying to keep up! Excited to have 2 weeks off from work,
First time to have the full week before Christmas off since she became an RN 14 years ago. Had a brief stint of Lyme disease in June, but thankfully caught it early and has no lasting effects. Kadi enjoys serving in the Relief Society at church and helps with the school PTO when she can. One of Kadi’s highlights for 2010 was having the whole family climb Aziscohos Mountain while on vacation at Camp.

John: Continues to love teaching Tae Kwon Do. He was excited to bring students to 2 different tournaments and also went with one of his students to a weekend TKD Camp in New York. Hoping to Test for his Black Belt in 2011 if his heal stays healthy. Gets his stress out by harvesting wood- we have yet to turn on our oil heat this winter, thanks to all his work out in the woods. Just completed his 9th year at his job and enjoys serving the people of Phippsburg. Turning the girls into Fishing enthusiasts and caught everything from Pike to Salmon this Summer.

Pets: Autumn our Golden Retriever has definitely entered her Senior years. She’s 14 (98 in dog years) and needs to be carried up and down stairs. She still eats, drinks and loves attention. Max the cat is the fair weather cat who hates to go outside in the cold. He can often be found harassing Callie (the new Fancy Hamster) and we’re sure to keep the cage cover on tight. We’ve inherited a double pawed stray Cat that we’ve named Melon. Thankfully Melon stays outside and is just happy to be fed.

We hope you are all enjoying this wonderful time of year that we have to celebrate The Saviors Birth. May the true spirit of Christmas be with you always!

With Love-
John, Kadi, Christine, Madeline and Caroline

Our Annual Christmas Letter!

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

Getting Financially Organized

One of my goals for 2010 is to get financially organized. I saw these helpful tips on THE TODAY SHOW, so thought I'd share. I've started our File System- let's hope I can keep it going throughout the year. My system lately had been just a large Tote Bag- stuffed with latest Bills, stuff to be filed etc. Anything is an improvement over that!!!!
http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/34619902/

Had trouble inserting the link, so you'll have to copy and paste :)

Merry Christmas!

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

A Few Reasons why we love going to Camp!

Visiting with Family the Sunday after the Reunion!

Visiting in Greenfield with Mom and Grandma

Girls with Great Grandma Burek


This Dog (Xavier) is HUGE, but extremely friendly

Mom , I want a Golf Cart for our House!
Dad with Chris and John
Fun in the Hotel Pool
Visiting Dzadiu
This is the last picture we have of the barn that is no longer there!
It has been torn down and will be the future place of Chris and Melanie's
New home.

The Skroski Family Reunion!

We went to the first Skroski Family Reunion August 15th at John's cousin Don and Ellen's home in Whately Mass. What a wonderful time we had catching up with everyone! Here are some of the fun facts we learned:
** The Reunion took place at the original Skroski homestead that was built in 1909. This is where John's Great Grandparents Frank and Helen raised their 7 children, one of which was John's Grandfather William. So that mean't we were celebrating 100 years of Skroskis in Whately, Mass.
** Frank and Helen each came over to the US separately from Poland and met in New York City.
** Out of the original 7 children, 5 of them had children and all of those five had children representing them at the Reunion. Aunt Wanda is the only one of the original 7 that is still living and she looks wonderful.
** The name Ellis Island assigned to Frank Skroski originally was Skrodsky - apparently that was the way his name sounded in his native dialect.
There was lots more that we learned!! Thank you Don and Ellen for hosting such a great event !
Wow look at the whole Clan!
John with his Dad, Cousin Ed and me

The sign and the original Home.

Fun Tractor Rides with this 1959 Treasure

Brothers with spouses - I think I was telling Christine "Just take the picture"

John and his Dad
Georgeann entertained the kids quite nicely

with Golf Cart and Tractor Rides.

They even went to visit the Alpaca Farm that Georgeann helps out at.

Skylar and Caroline having fun in the Pool
Chris and Melanie, almost celebrating their 1 year Anniversary

Christine and Helena
Maddy and Skylar having a blast in the Sand Box
Charlotte and Alexandra- this seesaw was awesome!
A Great Picture of Aunt Charlotte and Uncle Ed!

Peter and Stacey's Wedding!

My cousin Peter finally found the Women of his dreams! He and Stacey were married on June 20th at the Grace Episcopal Church in New Bedford, MA. This is the same church my Grandparents were married in and my Aunt and Uncle (Peter's parents). It also sits across the street from the house my Mom grew up in! It was a beautiful Wedding! The Reception was held at Wilbur Point under tents in the front yard of the Cottage. John and I had the whole weekend without kids :) - it was a great getaway for us! We are so happy for Peter and Stacey - Congratulations!