The 2011 Sikorski Seasonal Saga
The 2011 Sikorski Seasonal Saga
14887 Buttonwood Court, Woodbridge, VA 22193 * 703-763-3059
* 520-247-1276(Tim)/5355(Kyla) * katsikorsk@hotmail.com
Better updates than facebook with pictures and videos at http://sikorskisaga.blogspot.com – email for viewing permission
Merry
Christmas! We wish you a peaceful Christmas and a blessed New Year! Here is a
recap of our busy year.
In
January Tim built Kati her very own big girl bed shaped as a castle. We were
gifted a piano from Kyla’s cousins Tom and Francis Larsen. Kyla and Luella started
piano lessons with Ms. Annemarie Landry shortly after we got our new-to-us
piano. Kyla helped put on Luella’s preschool Christmas party which was postponed
due to snow. Kati got her first haircut and Luella got bangs. Tim deployed to
Nairobi, Kenya to work in the embassy. He took every opportunity to see the
country. He took boat taxis along the Indian Ocean, ate lots of fresh fish, and
visited The David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust where he fostered two elephants
“Tano” for the girls and “Shakuru” for our Pastor Kim Conway. Back home we
maintained our routine.
February
gave us tons of deer and snow in our yard. We said “see ya later” to Pastor Kim
as she took a call in Portland, OR. Kyla is on the Call Committee to help our
church find a new pastor. We spent Valentine’s Day in MD at Broom’s Bloom with
Ginger Hammerquist, the Evers and Jackson families. We had hibachi dinner with
the Jurist family, Ginger and Jackson family. In Kenya, Tim went to the Great
Rift Valley and Lake Nakuru National Park to see lots animals on a one-day
safari.
We
started March with a long weekend up north. We went to Ginger’s Change of
Command ceremony. We helped Lynn Jackson celebrate her birthday early with pedicures.
Stuart took the big girls to make crafts at Home Depot. The night ended with dinner
and a show when the kids performed a circus. The next day we drove to PA for Anna
Bullwinkle’s bridal shower. Tim visited giraffes at another animal sanctuary. Winter
seemed to let go; which inspired more parties and playing outside. Luella showed
off her artwork during her Preschool Art Show. Jeni Mullenix and Samuel Gonzalo
visited from Madrid to see us and the Cherry Blossoms and then we all went to
Anna Bullwinkle and Brian Malloy’s wedding in PA. Kyla made the bridesmaid
sashes and Jeni was a bridesmaid.
Anna
and Brian had an April Fool’s Day wedding with snow! We danced until we
dropped! Meanwhile, Tim visited Tano and Shakuru back at the elephant
orphanage, got bit by monkey and danced with Masai warriors. Our church’s Young
Families group fundraised for the MS Walk. We met Kyla’s cousins Naomi and Nianna
Light in DC while they attended conferences. The Evers family came for an overnight
play date. Kati loved playing drums during Kyla and Luella’s piano lessons.
ROCK AND ROLL! Over spring break we saw the
Jacksons and Ginger, stayed overnight in a hotel with a pool and saw “African
Cats” in the movie theater. We celebrated Easter with Uncle Phil and Aunt
Becky. The weather warmed enough for yard work and running through rainbows
from the garden hose. We ended the month watching the Royal wedding on TV,
drinking tea and eating scones.
May
began with news of Bin Laden’s death, nearly 10 years after Tim and Kyla
started their Army careers. Their careers began months before we became a
country at war, which is still at war. Kyla and Luella enjoyed Mother’s Day Tea
at preschool. Best part of the whole month, Tim came home! We took him to
dinner at Famous Dave’s for American BBQ and birthday ice cream. Kyla had the
waiter announce it wasn’t just Tim’s birthday, but home from deployment and
someone picked up our tab! Thank you! Tim started a new job working in the VAD
(Vulnerability Assessment Detachment) as the Operations Officer. He is still in
the same unit, just another section. Tim took Kati fishing for the first time.
Luella and Kyla played in their first piano recital. During the preschool picnic,
Luella got flowers from her “boyfriend” Aiden Meness. We started the next day
as many of our summer days, having a play date with Amy, Keira and Anya
Moorhead. Memorial Day weekend we decided to paint the first floor of the
house, replace blinds, make a wood box, expand the patio and organize the
garage. Then we went to Sarah Jurist’s birthday party in MD. On Memorial Day,
Tim took the girls fishing and Luella caught a turtle! We had the Kensrud family
over for their first welcome to the mid-Atlantic crab picking. We are excited to have our Minnesota friends
now living 20 miles due east in Maryland!
In
June we drove to Ft. Bragg, NC for Mark Yeary’s Change of Command ceremony. On
our way home, we took a family vacation to Outer Banks, NC where we played on the
beach and saw where the Wright brothers flew the first airplane. Later that month, Tim and Kyla went to Las
Vegas to help Angela Johnson celebrate her 35th birthday. We met up
with Tim’s brother Adam. The girls had their first sleepovers with the Wheelers
and Kensruds. On Father’s Day Kyla took Tim to see “Wicked” at the Kennedy
Center. The last weekend in June was busy with the girls’ dance recital. Kati
and her classmate Molly Schroeder danced a duet to “Pretty Ballerina”. Luella danced
ballet to “I See the Light” from Rapunzel and tap danced to “Toe Terrific
Tapping”. The girls had lots of support in the audience. Ginger came and stayed
longer to help watch the girls during Kyla’s first appointment to a Walter Reed
ophthalmologist for floaters in her eyes and scaly skin around her eyes.
Thankfully Kyla’s retinas were not detaching. Kyla got steroids and a follow up
appointment. We ended the month by having dinner with Tim’s college friend Bryan
Stech and his wife Molly.
July
meant lots of fishing in the Virginia State Parks. We stayed local for the 4th
of July parade and fireworks. We hosted our last play date of the summer with
Paige and Olivia Roden before they spent a month in England visiting their
grandparents. Kyla taught Amy Moorhead to
sew a skirt while the girls played. Mark Yeary and Joanna Tayber visited twice
in the process of moving Joanna’s things from NJ to NC. Kyla and Tim
volunteered during Vacation Bible School and both girls attended. Luella started
karate and she loves it. The girls had a play date at the National Zoo with the
Kensruds before Kyla’s follow up ophthalmologist appointment. She was
prescribed more steroids and a promise of an allergist appointment for her eyes
and skin if symptoms resurfaced. Later that week after swimming, Kyla’s
“allergies” blew up and the allergist appointment was made. Kyla’s been asking
for an allergist appointment since she came home from Iraq in 2004. Classic
socialized Army healthcare treats symptoms without finding the root cause, but
the price can’t be beat. Uncle Phil and Aunt Becky joined Epiphany Lutheran
Church.
In
August the girls had their first dentist appointments and did great! We celebrated
Kati’s birthday early by going to Famous Dave’s with Uncle Phil and Aunt Becky and
seeing “Cars 2” in the theater. National S’mores Day was August 10th
which we celebrated after finding humongous marshmallows. Our church’s Young
Families group took a camping trip to Westmoreland State Park over Kati’s 3rd
birthday. There was lots of rain, fishing, hiking, making shark’s tooth
necklaces, and fun memories. We discovered s’mores with dark chocolate Reese’s
cups are our new favorite. After the trip, Kyla had her allergist appointment
and is officially allergic to NOTHING.
She has non-allergy rhinitis and sensitive skin. She feels much better
not taking daily allergy medication, like she has since 2004. While Kyla was at
her appointment, Kati chipped her two front teeth. Her teeth are okay, but the
chips will remain until replaced with adult teeth. Luella made Mother’s Day in
August by having Tim make breakfast in bed for Kyla and drawing a picture of
Mommy and Daddy on a date. Both girls went to dance camp for a week and loved
it! We experienced a 5.8 magnitude earthquake with the epicenter just 20 miles
south of our house. Our cat Goobers became very sick and we had to put him
down. Hurricane Irene made landfall with lots of rain. It was a very traumatic
week.
Kyla’s
brother Kevin came to visit for Labor Day weekend now that he lives in CT
instead of HI. Tim and Kyla celebrated their 6th wedding
anniversary. We threw a Minnie Mouse/Princess birthday party for Kati and
Luella with a full house! Lynn Jackson helped Kyla make Luella’s fondant
covered castle cake and Kati’s Mickey Mouse cake. When Kyla and Lynn live in
the same state again, they’re opening up “Cake Mommas”. On Luella’s 5th
birthday we went to dinner at, where else, Famous Dave’s with Uncle Phil. Aunt
Becky was in the hospital for a 3-foot blood clot. (She’s doing better now.) Luella
and Kati started combo tap and ballet dance classes. Both girls started
preschool. Luella is in a Monday Reading Enrichment class and Tuesday-Friday
5-year old class. Kati is in 2-day a week 3-year old class. Both girls love
school! With each passing day of school,
the girls are gaining more independence and a bigger vocabulary. Tim started
online school for his Information Operations functional area, every Tuesday
night until April. We keep trying to tell ourselves it’s better than four straight
months in Kansas, right? Kyla started school for Cake Decorating. For Kyla’s
birthday we went to “The Lion King in 3D”. Kyla made her own birthday cake as a
final project for Course 1. Kyla built a new website for the church and is
continually updating information and putting up new pictures. She is also team
teaching Nursery-2nd grade Sunday school.
October
started with an overnight apple picking pumpkin patch birthday party with the Evers
in Delaware. Kyla provided before and after school care for one of Luella’s
classmates, Peter, while his dad went on a mission trip to Ghana. Kyla
continued piano lessons, but Luella stopped until she’s more comfortable with
reading and practicing music. We ran Tim’s 6th and Kyla’s 3rd
Army Ten Miler. Kyla ran with Ginger and got a Personal Record of 2:01. The Kensruds
and Aunt Becky watched the girls during the run. We met with Vanessa Bowman at
her unit’s HOOAH tent and Chief of Staff of the Army GEN Odierno walked in. Luella
noticed that everyone came to attention and she asked Tim why. He answered, “Because
he’s kind of a big deal.” GEN Odierno said hi to Luella and she asked him, “Why
are you such a big deal?” Tim almost died on the spot but the General playfully
poked at Luella and said he thought she was a big deal! We had our traditional post-race
lunch at Montana Ted’s with Juan Rebellodo. We missed Jenny Rebolledo as she
was home with their boys in AZ. Kyla started Cake Decorating Course 2 and made
cakes for the two families with newborns in our church. Kyla restarted the
Craft Group at church focusing on crocheting. We went to a pumpkin patch with the
preschool. The girls wore their Halloween costumes to dance class. Luella took
Tim to Father’s Night at preschool. The girls attempted to play in first snowfall
of the season, but the ground was way too warm for any accumulation. We went
trick-or-treating as a family.
November
started with our last week of watching Peter. Tim and Kyla celebrated their 7th
marriage anniversary in DC going to Georgetown Cupcakes (TLC’s “DC Cupcakes”)
and the girls stayed overnight with the Kensruds. We met up the next day to get
the girls back at Potomac Point Winery and enjoyed a wine tasting. We spent Veteran’s
Day weekend with the Rasmussens, Dan & Karen, Phil & Becky, and Kevin. We
toured Colonial Williamsburg and had dinner with Rebecca Zimmerman and her
boyfriend. The guys went fishing with Capt’n Bill – catching their limit in the
first hour and spent the next two hours trying for “The Big One” which got
away. We saw the colonists First Landing site. We came home to play in the
leaves and take Dan and Karen to the airport.
On the way there, our minivan was sideswiped. We were very thankful Tim
was driving using his training from last December in the horrible DC traffic.
Miraculously, Dan and Karen made their flight! The other driver’s insurance had
to pay $3,700 to fix our minivan and buy new car seats for the girls. We flew
to Phoenix to visit Tim’s family for Thanksgiving! Because DC traffic only gets
worse with rain, we missed our original flight. On the next day’s flight, the
pilots let the girls sit in the cockpit before takeoff! We stayed with Tim’s grandparents,
Tim and Wanda McIntyre. Thanksgiving was a full house with Steve, Kim and Zack
McIntyre from Phoenix; Matt, Kris, Grady and Kaeli McIntyre from Fresno and
Adam Sikorski from Rosamond, CA! That weekend we drove to Rosamond, CA to see
Tim’s dad, Mike (Dave) Sikorski. He took us to Disneyland for two days and we
stayed at the Disneyland Hotel. We loved seeing Tim’s side of the family! We came
home to get our fixed minivan back from the shop and decorate the house for
Christmas.
So
far this December Luella had her first Karate Tournament and won a trophy for
Listening and Following Directions, the only white belt in her group. Kyla took
a cake pops class to expand her cake decorating knowledge. Kyla played beautifully
for her Christmas piano recital. Uncle Phil, Aunt Becky and cousins Tom, Fran
and Kristen Larsen came and we went to dinner to catch up.
Our
plans for the rest of the year include driving to Minnesota to spend two weeks
with the Rasmussen family and friends over Christmas and celebrating Karen’s 60th
birthday party. Karen and Kati plan to get their ears pierced together for the
first time. Early next year Luella will test for her orange belt in karate.
Army-wise we are not sure what next year will bring with Tim’s job and future
assignments as September will mark three years stationed at Ft. Belvoir. Next
school year Luella will be an oldest kid in Kindergarten and Kati will be in 4-year
old preschool. Kyla will take more cake
decorating classes and continue volunteering at church.
Merry
Christmas and Happy New Year! Much love
from Tim, Kyla, Luella and Katja (Kati)
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