M & M's

You may be thinking at this point, "Wow, alot must be happening in the Skinner house, look how often she is writing on the blog!." To be perfectly honest this was to fun to pass up and since this is sort of like a journal of sorts, I wanted to share the M&M name in our home.

Last night as we were having dessert, yes our kids have dessert almost every night of some type and no I don't make it every night (can you say store bought cookies), the kids decided to have candy. Jeana came up with the name of Merry Mormons for M & M's and I just thought it was a cute way to say it and wanted to share with the rest of our family and friends. Feel free to use it, no trademark.

Copycat

So, a dear friend of mine, who is an INCREDIBLE blogger, got a new camera and posted a picture of her daughters eye on her blog. That got me thinking. I LOVE the color of James' eyes, not only is he the only one that doesn't have straight blue eyes but they are more a green/blue and so pretty. I tried to get some pics of his eyes like she did her daughter but found that Jimmy did a much better job at it which stands to reason since he has taken over 2,000 soccer pics with it in the last 4months. So, being the copycat that I am, I wanted to post a picture of James' eyes too. Hope she doesn't mind, and if she does I will apologize later with gummy bears and Jazmins or maybe BBQ. Thanks for the idea.

Sleep Reading

We have been trying really hard to read scriptures in the evenings with our kids. And up until the last couple days it has been sort of difficult getting Johnston to participate, however; we found a set of missionary scriptures and gave them to him and that is all it took. He can't wait to read scriptures now and really was excited to go to church and take them with him.

Normally with Johnston, we have him repeat after us a scripture. We use to have him say the "And it came to pass" but he got to the point where he wanted more. The other night we were reading and he actually fell asleep mid word. It was so cute and Jimmy and I were laughing while still trying to be somewhat reverent. Jimmy even had to finish the verse for him.

We are so glad that our kids are getting excited about reading the scriptures and reminding us about reading them as a family. It makes a wonderful end to our hectic days to spend some good time together.

Lose Something

Well, we've been in our house 6 months and although I'm pretty sure I have gone thru all the important boxes, those that are mine, I still have some stuff I can't find. I know I had them when we moved. I know I didn't give them away with the mounds of stuff I did give away while packing and moving. But still, the lost thing cannot be found. I have resorted to making one of them myself and my daughter of course had to point out that once I make it I will probably find what I am looking for, thanks Jeana. Oh, and all those Christmas cards that got out late, lost my addresses and found them in January. Surprisingly, my mind is basically still intact which is a good thing with everything going on in our lives. Let me give you a quick synopsis.

Jessica and Jeana finished the high school soccer season (we just got home from their banquet) and are now ref-ing for league as well and Jeana playing still on league with Ohana. The week isn't quite as busy for them but boy saturdays *whew*.

Jillian is playing not only league ball but is on the O'Callahan middle school soccer team, playing alto sax in school and piano out of school and still likes to go to the elementary school and help her old teacher out there.

Jordyn is taking gymnastics and piano. She loves them both and can't wait to practice both.

James is taking Karate and is having a blast. He has the best teacher and with it being at the rec center I have the best of both worlds. He keeps practicing at home and I think we have found his passion.

Johnston is as busy as ever. He waits by the door for his older sisters to get home and has them all wrapped around his little finger. He says some of the funniest things and has a ton of energy that I just wish I could bottle up.

Jimmy is still coaching and healing from his ankle injury. He loves coaching his girls and can't wait for games. Right now he is counting down til James is in scouts and he can do all the scouting stuff with him.

And I am just keeping busy as you can plainly see. Still looking for things that I have lost in the move that I know are still somewhere in this new home. Not only that, upon looking in our attic (something we did just recently) we found boxes and boxes of stuff that was just left here from the other occupants. Like I don't have enough of my own stuff to go through they left me theirs too.

But even with all that is lost, I am glad we are here at this home at this time. I feel like this is the place and like we've lived here for years already (even if the backyard is still dirt).

40 lbs

Today we celebrated my birthday with a family get together. It was wonderful and really nice to have everyone around. We always have a nice time talking and laughing. I received some fantastic homemade cards from the kids (aren't those always the best?) as well as cards/gifts from Mom, Dad, Joey and Jimmy and the kids. Jimmy was nice enough not to put all the candles needed on the cake saying he couldn't get the permits for it even with knowing Bart Eliason hehe.

The reason this is titled 40lbs is because of Johnston. After we blew out the candles and we sat eating cake he asked me how many pounds I was. I told him that I wasn't telling him that information when he told us he was 4 pounds. We told him I was 40 pounds or I was 4 pounds like him just add a zero.