Sikorski Saga

Not yet, but Daddy will get mail during mail call very soon! Luella got all dressed up to mail her daddy a letter - fairy wings totally necessary! The girls also write their Daddy emails. Usually Kyla just lets them pound on the keyboard and then writes an interpretation. Daddy said those emails make him smile more than sprinkles and fresh avocados ! When Kyla told the girls Daddy said THANK YOU they both said, YOU'RE WELCOME!

Kyla was able to put a ponytail in Katja's hair and it stayed in for hours! Cute little ponytail! Katja started speaking understandable words! More than knowing animal sounds for cat, dog, bird, pig, cow and frog. She says, apple, purple, pizza, ewww , yuck, disgusting, please, thank you, welcome, Luella, baby, Momma, Dadda . Plus yesterday evening, Kyla swears she said her first sentence, " MMMmmmm , that's good!" in reference to grilled cheese and tomato soup for dinner. Of course, she doesn't perform for the camera, so no evidence. Side view so we can pretend Katja is smiling for the camera! Luella is in a new dance class. Same teacher, same dances, just different time slot and different girls in her class. We now attend the Tuesday afternoon class so we don't have to miss preschool Wednesday mornings. Luella is demonstrating a plie ' with a lollipop! Luella really loves being the oldest kid in a very small class. Her new class has 2 other girls, o...

Luella brought home her artwork. This one is "Drawing". Luella named this one, "Capture". Luella titled this one, "Sculpture" again. Luella gave this a kiss before she decided to mail it to Daddy! Katja decided to draw Daddy a picture. She gave it a kiss and then crumpled it. As Luella was at preschool this morning, Katja and Kyla mailed Tim his package of 7 dozen cookies, a Swiffer mop with dry and wet refill pads, lithium batteries for the digital camera and name tapes for his uniform that our daughters conveniently misplaced for him right before he left. Mom, this is a big box full of cookies and I don't even get to eat them!

Our musical dinner Thusday night - the girls singing Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes. They both did the hand actions until Kyla pulled out the camera. Then it was just Luella. Katja also knows where her facial features (to include cheeks) are, unless the camera comes out. Tim gave the girls a book for Christmas that he read in his own voice. It's the girls' favorite book because it's Daddy!

Wednesday Luella had preschool and dance class. The boys were rough-house playing and that made Luella a little sad, because she rough-house plays with her Daddy. During dance class Luella didn't do any ballet and rubbed her eyes frequently. As she went to change shoes for tap, she climbed onto Kyla's lap and cried that she missed her Daddy. We settled her down, she went to tap dance and we decided to make cookies to send to Daddy. Here's Katja doing a milk dunking taste test with Luella's milk when she wasn't looking! Luella showing off some of the banana nugget cookies we made and the Valentine's Nestle' Toll House cookies we baked. Luella was an awesome sous chef by mashing up the bananas, measuring out the dry ingredients and adding them, with very little help from Mommy! Luella smiling with the conversation heart inspired Nestle' Toll House cookies we baked and decorated. The one with fat frosting letters was the frosting included in the package....

Katja was jumping for joy when she woke up from her nap today! Tim sent his address: Tim Sikorski SOTF -W, HQ Unit 43501 APO AE 09367 He loves letters, homemade goodies and coffee. He said he doesn't really "need" anything right now but looks forward to any mail you feel like sending!

Saturday Ginger came to visit. Luella and Kyla got their hair cut and Ginger and Kyla got their eyebrows waxed. Then we went shopping at Target. We found cute heart shaped cake pans, so we had to test them out before Valentine's Day! Luella with the decorated cake. Wait! We forgot the sprinkles! They're tricky to put on because it's easy to get frosting all over your fingers, right Luella?! Luella, Ginger and Katja putting on sprinkles. Well, Katja eating sprinkles and Luella and Ginger mostly decorating the cake! Big smiles with our finished decorated cake! Ginger thought we needed a picture with Kyla in there too.

Fridays the kids bring home the artwork they made in preschool. Luella entitled this "Sculpture". This one is "Roller Coaster". Friday is Pizza, PJ and Movie night! The girls love the cheese (and sausage and pepperoni)! Movie featured tonight was "Sleeping Beauty" and in her prayers tonight, Luella asked God to give her more princess movies. Katja has not only boycotted her high chair, but now plates too. Little imp! Katja can say PIZZA clear as day, unless we bring out the camera. Second attempt to get PIZZA on video. The girls like watching Kyla take videos, while they're being shot. PS - While updating the blog, Tim emailed that he is in his official location and finally gets to unpack in his very own trailer. They said not to use Skype because it is a bandwidth hog and once they're out of bandwidth for the month, they are cut off. His internet connection makes dial-up look fast, but it is wireless in his room. The guy he is replacing has a f...

The 1970s hit "Tie a Yellow Ribbon (Around the Old Oak Tree)" written by Irwin Levine and L. Russel Brown performed by Tony Orlando and Dawn was about a prisoner released after 3 years wrote to his lover asking her to tie a yellow ribbon around the old oak tree if she still loved him. If there wasn't a ribbon, he'd stay on the bus, forget about us. Luckily there were about a hundred yellow ribbons on that old oak tree. After that song came out, the military adopted it for their own, especially during deployments. In keeping with that tradition, we tied a yellow ribbon around the tree in the front yard. No idea what kind of tree it is, but it's the gesture that counts! Kyla tried to get artistic with the American flag and the Service Star flag in the window. Giving the tree hugs! Love is everywhere! Finally got the girls to smile and look at the camera at the same time! It was such a beautiful day, we played with sidewalk chalk! Luella drew a rainbow with all her ...

Luella finally got her wish to go to school this year! We knew that when Tim deployed, we'd need to get into a routine and find time for Luella to socialize with people her own age. So in November we talked with our church's preschool coordinator and got on the wait list. She called and said there was an opening for the Monday, Wednesday, Friday class immediately if we wanted it. It wasn't our first choice because dance class overlaps on Wednesdays, but we wanted preschool for Luella. Here she is ready to go to school! Mrs. Debbie Couture (pronounced like Ashton Kutcher ) is Luella's teacher. There are four boys and one other girl in her class. They were very happy to add another girl to the class and that Luella isn't allergic to anything. There is one boy who is allergic to peanuts in the class, but the boy who's place she took was deathly allergic to peanuts and wheat. His mom made rice play dough , but it's apparently very sticky. The kids were happy to ...

Tim deployed in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom, again. This is his third deployment, second one since we legally got married and first one with kids. These were our last few moments before he and his boss had to head to the airport. They stopped overnight at the unit they're supporting and made their way into Iraq. Tim is there now, safe and sound, but not yet to his final camp. No address yet, but we'll post it when we get one. Tim said he loves letters, homemade goodies and coffee for those who love sending care packages. Here's Tim's Team Chief, MAJ Taylor, his wife and daughters Madelyn and Ella.

Luella loves Sunday School! Here is her picture from their lesson on Jesus' baptism. This is her first picture of trees that are recognizable trees! The little blue squiggle between the first and second tree is Jesus. A friend wanted a full length photo of Tim for a special project for the girls. So we had him pose in his Arizona gear right before the playoff game. Uncle Phil and Luella watching the PLAYOFFS! Go Cardinals! (We can say that proudly because they weren't playing the Vikings, and they were playing the Packers!) TOUCHDOWN! Another TOUCHDOWN and the Cardinals win their first round of playoffs! This was the highest scoring playoff game ever.

Kyla uploaded her phone photos and these were from January 6 th . Private Katja reporting for bath time! Luella didn't want to be without a helmet either!

Friday night, Rebecca Zimmerman came to spend the night with us before heading to a UCONN vs Georgetown Men's Basketball game. Kyla and Rebecca were platoon battle buddies at Advance Camp in 2000, both branched Engineers in the Army, so their paths crossed a few times. Becca and Tim were both stationed at Ft. Carson, CO together too! Becca brought a very cool name plaque for Katja ! It matches the one she gave Luella when she was born! Such lovely ladies! Tim made his world famous pancakes for Becca. Katja loved the Cool Whip spoon! Luella was sad she didn't get the spoon.