All finished

Last Wednesday night I finished my final master's class! It truly feels so great to be done! Looking back, it seems to have gone by so quickly. However, there were a few courses that went quicker than others ;) Here is a picture of my cohort that I met with each week. They were a wonderful group of educators who I learned a lot from. Thanks for a great two years!

A little bit of a lot

It was a fun and exciting week in the Skala household. First, we were finally able to get Kelsey in her new pool. We thought she would love it just as much as she enjoys the big pools she has been in and the bath tub. However, I was surprised at how timid she was. I think the temperature of the water had a lot to do with it. All the water she has ever been in is usually pretty warm. This water was cooler. She did eventually start to like it and splashed away, but started off a little bit unsure of what she was getting herself into.


We bought a new car this week! We have been looking for awhile, and finally made the big purchase last week. We traded in the Stratus that Matt has had since college (moment of silence, please). The car was slowly falling apart and we felt we needed something safer to drive Kelsey in. We teeter-tottered between crossover vehicle, van(gasp!), and car. In the end, we settled for.......a Chevy Impala. We are very happy with our purchase and feel relieved to know this major decision has been made and we now can just enjoy our new ride :)
Kelsey tried out her toothbrush for the first time. She now has 6 teeth, and I figure it is never too early to teach good hygiene! I presumed she would just put it right in her mouth as this is what she usually does with most of her toys. But, when she felt the bristles, she was not too fond of the idea of putting that toothbrush anywhere near her lips. We tried many times, but she was not having it. We will have to keep you updated on her progress with this new "toy".


On Saturday night, Matt's Uncle Ed, Kelsey and I went to Fridley to meet Nate's girlfriend, Diane, and go to a polka dance. (For those of you who don't know I like polka music, now you do!) Matt was at a bachelor party, so we decided to keep ourselves busy! Kelsey has heard polkas around our house and in the car, but never live. When the first song played, she turned her head and gave a big smile. It seemed as though she did recognize it. I put cotton in her ears to help with the noise, and she even left it alone without the need to pull it out. It was a special moment for me to expose Kelsey to a live polka dance because I know Grandma Sandy was smiling down from heaven :)


Today, we spent the day with Matt's family. Nate and Diane came down from the cities, and we went to Stacey and Matt's house. We got together to celebrate mine and Mattey's birthdays. My birthday was June 18 and Matt's is this Friday, July 3. To kick things off, everyone except Grandpa and I had a water fight with squirt guns. I was holding Kelsey as she slept and boy, was I glad! Everyone was soaking wet when they got done! Thanks Kelsey for keeping Mama dry! After that, we just relaxed and played with the kids and tried not to get blown away. It was SO windy outside! Finally, we went to dinner at Pizza Ranch. It was a fun day!

There you have it! A big update on what we have been up to!

Loving books

Kelsey has become very attached to her books. She likes to sit on the floor and turn the pages. Her little fingers work very patiently to get from page to page. She even "reads" too. She has learned to say the word ball and seems to say it for every page in a loud, long "BAAAAALLLLLLL". Except, there is one book that says the word uh-oh and we can get to her say that. When we play in her room, she pulls every book off the shelf and then sits in the pile of books and looks through them. When we read to her, she sits so well and turns the pages for us. I guess we have a lover of books on our hands.

Happy Father's Day!

For Father's Day, we (drumroll, please) went to a baseball tournament! Matt is the head coach for the legion baseball team this summer. It just so happened that the only tournament for the summer was this past weekend. So we decided to make a mini-vacation out of it and stayed at a hotel Saturday night. After the games were done on Saturday afternoon, we took Kelsey swimming. She loves the water. She will pat it with her hands to make it splash and then giggle. After swimming, we ordered a pizza and relaxed as a family for the night. On Sunday, we woke Daddy up with big hugs and kisses! We had given him one present before we left (a slideshow of pictures of Daddy and Kelsey) and he got his second present (a scrapbook of Daddy and Kelsey) at the hotel. Mattey is such a wonderful father! Happy Father's Day!

Pool Party

We bought Kelsey a little pool for our backyard. We really like this one because it has a shade that you can put on to help protect her from the sun. Thus far, we think she has more of my skin tone, (aka extremely white) so any extra protection from the sun is a good thing. We just got the pool last week and put it together. We were gone all weekend, so Kelsey has not had a chance to go swimming yet. I hear they are calling for 90 degree weather this week, so I think the pool will be just the thing to keep her cool. Oh, and it is big enough for mommy to sit in it with her--with my SPF 50 on of course :)

Whee!

Kelsey went on her first wagon ride last week. Our neighbors were gracious enough to give us their old wagon. Score for us! Kelsey seemed to enjoy the ride. She loves being outside, so I think we will be getting good use out of it.

Way to Go, Brian!

Last weekend my brother, Brian, rode his bike in the MS150 from Duluth to the Twin Cities. That's 150 miles on a bike people! The race is divided into two 75 mile segments conducted between two days. All the money raised from the event goes to help research multiple sclerosis. Brian was sore afterward, but how can you not be? We are very proud of him! What an accomplishment!

Pictures

Piano Lover

Kelsey has recently taken a liking to our piano. At first, she would sit on my lap and just listen as I played to her. Then, she would ever so gently press the keys. Next, she began crawling over to the piano and reaching up to the keys to just barely reach where she could press them. Now, she sits on my lap and lets loose as she plunks away at the keys. If we are really lucky, she even sings a little :)

I can reach the keys!

Let me find the right song.

There it is! Now for some playing.

Very proud of herself

Making Owatonna Proud

We arrived home tonight after spending the past two days in St. Paul at the state baseball tournament. I will begin by stating my frustration that I forgot my camera! I am usually so good about bringing it with me everywhere I go, but apparently in packing everything else but the kitchen sink for our two day getaway, it slipped my mind. Thankfully, Nate's girlfriend Diane brought her camera and let me use it to snap a few photos. I will post the pictures I took and try to post more that we get from parents at the baseball banquet next week.
The boys began by playing at Midway Stadium on Thursday afternoon against Centennial. It was a beautiful ball field. However, even more beautiful was the sea of blue that came to support the team. Owatonna had a huge crowd which was so cool to see! Unfortunately, we lost the first game, but still had a chance to stay in the tourney with a win against Hopkins later in the day. This game was played at the University of Minnesota field. I have to admit I liked this field better, but the parking was more of hassle. Give and take, right? In a great ball game, Owatonna was victorious and kept their state experience alive. Today we played Eden Prairie back at Midway Stadium. Although we did not win, I felt a tremendous amount of proud watching the team throughout the tournament. There is something so special about a community coming out strong to support their high school athletes. Growing up, my family was a huge supporter of high school sports and attended games regularly. I am so happy that I have continued this tradition in my adult life. Once again, Matt, you made Kelsey and I very proud. We love watching you work with these kids and seeing them look to you as mentor. You are a wonderful coach and we love coming to your games to cheer you on. Good thing because there is a lot more baseball to come to this summer!

Coach Skala warming up the team

The Owatonna crowd showing support at Siebert Field

Siebert Field at the University of Minnesota

Mama and Kelsey cheering on Daddy's team

Kelsey sporting her Husky's shirt

Way to go, Mattey!

Discussing game plan in the dugout at Siebert Field

Nate, Diane, and Kelsey

School is out for summer!

Matt and I will officially begin summer vacation tomorrow afternoon. Our last day with students was on Friday. Tomorrow we both have to go in and finish up with checking out of our rooms. I actually have a lot to get done because I am switching rooms next year when I move to first grade. Matt is also very busy trying to get all loose ends tied up before heading to state for baseball on Wednesday and starting his new class for his master's. It is so wonderful that Matt and I share the profession of teaching because we are able to spend so much time together in the summer. We are both so thankful for this opportunity to be with Kelsey and be full time parents all summer. Kelsey is doing so many things everyday so we feel lucky that we will get to experience them all with her. We made our list of things we want to do this summer and it made me so excited for the next few months. I will try to get on here frequently to update on our summer of fun. Happy Summer!

Baseball pictures

The Owatonna Huskies play on Thursday at Midway Stadium at 12:30 and 5:30. It will also be broadcast on www.krforadio.com if you can't make it, but want to listen.

STATE BOUND!

They did it! The Huskies are going to state! Kelsey, Dave, Vickie, Connor and I left for Red Wing right after school yesterday to cheer on Matt's team. They had to play Rochester JM again in order to advance to state. Unfortunately, it took two games to get it done. JM beat us in the first game with great ease. I have to admit that I was pretty nervous. They threw a pitcher who was 22-0. However, the second game was a different story. It went 12 innings and the boys just never gave up. It was amazing. The fans and players went crazy! Kelsey of course was wonderful and stayed smiling the entire time. In fact, a parent made a comment that she was smiling even though it was 10:00. (WAY past her bed time!) We didn't get home until 11:30 and Mattey rolled in around 1:00am. We are all pretty exhausted today, but it was well worth it. We are SO proud of Matt! He is a phenomenal coach and works hard everyday to help make his players better. WAY TO GO MATTEY! You deserve it. I will post the games for state when the schedule comes out. If anyone can join us, we would love to see you there! (Pictures will be coming--check back!)