AND THE WINNER IS....

JAMES! Thats right, pinewood derby was held today and James was first in the open class since he is not quite old enough to do it with the scouts (a couple more years though). Jimmy worked very hard to get the cars ready for the kids and every spare moment was in the garage doing something to them for the last couple weeks. Jillian and Jeana had a green and white striped car, for celtic of course, Jordyn had a cool looking truck, James had a white one that he drew out all by himself and Jimmy had his cool, red ferrari gt car. They all had a great time running the cars and putting them together, noone more than dad.

After the derby they all went to a lineman rodeo at Nevada Power and rode up in the bucket truck and had their faces painted among other things.

Sick Jordyn and other moments

Jordyn was so sick last week and missed 4 days of school. She was miserable and so glad to go back today. I have to say having a dr. in the family helps if nothing else but making you feel better when you call whining. By friday she had basically told her dad she was tired of tv. They changed her antibiotics and what a difference that made. She is eating like a horse making up for her lost meals I think. We knew she was feeling better when she started laughing again friday night. Can I say how much I love that sound!

Jessica is back from Hawaii. When she returned she had a new purse, shirt, sunglasses, sunburn hehe. She had a great time and didn't want to come home just yet but I am so glad she did. We missed her something awful. She does have lots of pics so we need to get them on the computer so we can put them on the blog.

Jeana spent her spring break doing mounds of math homework. She is constantly saying how her teacher must think she doesn't have a life. Leave it to Jeana! She also received awards at school for her grades and citizenship.

Jillian is our "concert pianist". She is doing wonderful with her lessons. Her soccer team played a game on saturday and did SO GREAT! She is always on the go so sometimes its hard to keep up with her.

James is building his first pinewood derby car with dad. There is an open race so they will be entering that. He drew out the car he wanted and helped dad cut it out. It looks like they may need to do a couple modifications on it but so far so good and he is so excited to be doing it with dad.

Johnston, i think, was so ready for Jordyn to go back to school and get my undivided attention again. He is a busy guy and every toy (polly and barbie included) is used as an action figure. And I can no longer just say what to a question I need to actually turn my head and see what he is talking about.

We are excited that Jake and Teresa have come to visit this week with Ava and little Hudson. Ava is Jessica's shadow and I think Jessica loves it! And everyone is totally in love with Hudson but who wouldn't be.

Hawaii Here She Comes!

Well, she's off! Jessica left for Hawaii with her high school choir tonight. Why is it I always ended up in Disneyland? I mean seriously, how much mouse can you take? Anyways, we went to the airport and after getting through the gate and security we didn't have much time before she was loading up with a bunch of other high school kids and chaperones onto the plane. I am sure after the 5 1/2 hour flight the chaperones will be screaming for some tylenol and sleep. Basically, the teacher informed the kids that their chaperone was to be treated as and listened to as they were basically God so I don't expect any issues on that end. Jessica's friend gave her a list of do's and don'ts and other than the 3 square meals, which I can't believe will happen, I agree wholeheartedly (thank you Patience). She has been working really hard on her songs lately and was extremely excited to go on this trip. Mom did good though, one big hug and no crying, Yah me! She comes back on Tuesday so I hope I can put a couple of her pics on the website. Until then, we are down one.

Colds, Pink Eye and Kids

Isn't it amazing how when one kid gets sick everyone gets it eventually. We started with fevers, than coughs, pink eye, flu, back to colds. I was even thinking the other night in bed how Jimmy seemed to be the only one untouched and totally jinxed myself because he woke up a couple hours after that sicker than a dog and sick all weekend. I wonder if there would be a market for a lysol or bleach bomb? You know like the bug bombs you see but these would take all the germs and kill them instead of bugs (actually if it did both that wouldn't hurt my feelings at all). Maybe I should contact these companies with my idea. I could end up rich lol. For now, we are doing eye drops, cough medicine and vitamin C, hoping to get better soon.

Daddy, the good helper

Johnston can just crack me up sometimes. Today he informed us that he is scared of aliens and monsters on the base (yes he did say the base). For those who don't know we live right next to the air force base. Now, I just know someone told him that on the base are monsters and aliens, probably one of his siblings mixed with to much scooby doo, so there we are. He also informed me of the help that he and James gave daddy with taking down the lights. Personally, I think it was more of a "Hey dad, think you missed a spot" and "Hey cool can I climb that ladder too and what exactly would happen if I stuck my finger in this socket here". When I told him that he and James were really good helpers he seemed pleased so tonight when daddy helped him shut the door he told me that daddy was a good helper. I'm sure it was only hilarious to me because of lack of sleep, because Jimmy wasn't laughing like I was, but it was cute. It makes you wonder how much you can miss with your kids as they grow and change. I remember Jessica being as little as JT and now she is wearing makeup, going to dances and in 9th grade being a teen. Time flies so quickly and I am constantly reminding myself to slow down and enjoy my kids instead of doing that one last load of clothes. Yes, they have to get washed eventually and sometimes we are grabbing things out of the dryer but isn't it more important to watch them grow up in person then in pictures. So, for those of you who know me well and speak to me often keep reminding me to slow down for this time in life, even when dirty diapers are a part of it.

Busy Busy Busy

The last few months have been incredibly busy here in the Skinner home. In November, we celebrated Johnston's 3rd birthday. December 10 was Jordyn's 8th birthday and we had a party all planned when mom and dad got really sick and it had to be postponed a week. We finally had her party and had 8 little girls over making gingerbread houses with graham crackers. It was so funny to watch the houses as they all fell in one by one. Finally, we all decided to have flat roofs and some were decorated with as much candy as the plate could hold. Of course, we had Christmas which was very fun as always in our house. We were able to spend time with Jesse for a few days when he came down. Jordyn had her ears pierced right after New Years and we had Michelle up visiting for a week from California. The new year began with a much anticipated baptism. Jordyn looked beautiful in her white dress and shone with her smile. She will be able to go to her first Achievement Day Girls here in a couple weeks. We were excited that Great Grandpa could be there to help in the confirmation. And all through this Jessica had soccer on the JV team at Eldorado High School where Jillian and Jeana continued practices for their league teams. Jordyn also began piano again and is doing really well remembering where she left off.

Ghosts and Ghouls

We had a great time last night at the Trunk or Treat. Jessica was Dorothy (cute again), Jeana was Pumpkin Spice (should have seen that orange hair), Jillian was Hermione from Harry Potter, Jordyn was the cutest mouse ever, James was the black spider man where Johnston chose to be the good spider man. Alot of candy was received by all six so you can only imagine my kitchen counter and at one or two pieces a day we will have candy around for quite some time. I ended up having to take pictures after the treating and unfortunately JT was sound asleep on the chair in the front room. Jimmy did a really cool thing with dry ice and dish soap to make bubbles and took it to the trunk or treat for all the kids. We were constantly surrounded while he made bubbles. He and James got all the information online and there were alot more he would have loved to do if he had had more time. All in all it was a great time and fun for the whole family.