Early Birthday Present and New Friends!

We have been wanting to get Addison a swing set for a while now and once the house came off the market, we decided that we would get Addison one for her birthday. Since her birthday falls at the end of November and you never know what the weather is going to be like, we decided that we would go ahead and let her have it now so she could get some use out of it before the weather turned really cold.

This past Sunday was beautiful here and Addison had so much fun playing on it. We were so thankful to have a break in the rain (finally!) and enjoyed the afternoon outside. Addison found a snail in the yard and was quite interested in it as you can tell from these photos. She wasn't sure what to think of it and would "shiver" when it would start to come out of it's shell. She is SO my child! :)


Addison and Belle with "their" new swing set


Can't believe she is really turning "3" next month


She is actually REALLY good at the monkey bars and would love to do this without help!


Such a Daddy's girl and he loves it!


Wonder if they'll ever "camp out" up here?? Guess we will find how just how much she's like me if he ever asks... :)


Her new "friend"


Paiently waiting for him to come out...


Maybe he needs a little help???


I love this picture of her but she looks SO big in it to me. :(

Happy early birthday sweet girl! We love you!

Halloween Fun!

Our Mommy group from church had it's Halloween Party this past week and the kids had so much fun making a neat craft, enjoying yummy food and of course...each other! It's so neat to watch Addison as she starts to develop her own friendships. She is VERY into "she is a girl" and "he is a boy" right now and somehow she has decided that girls and boys are so different that they even eat different things...yep...you just never know what she's going to say these days!

Here are a few fun pictures from the morning:

Addison making her craft

Mrs. Cyndi helping the kids with their craft

Our saint of a host...Mrs. Jessica and Landon

Addison and her friend Gretchen (and NO Addison did not eat all of that food on her plate...nothing has changed in the eating department at the Skalon household )

Although, she did LOVE spreading this YUMMY frosting on her Halloween cookie and YES she did eat that!

Addison and Mrs. Jana (Jana and I teach Pre-K together at the church and she has such a PRECIOUS family! We heart Mrs. Jana!)

We are loving Fall at the Skalon house and looking forward to Halloween!

Birthdays Galore!

We had another weekend full of birthday fun at The Skalon household! On Saturday we got to celebrate Anna Kate's 1st birthday with her family and she was adorable! Addison had so much fun helping Anna Kate open her gifts and Melissa was so kind to let her. We have been talking so much about Addison's birthday party lately that I think Addison was a little confused about who's birthday this actually was. :)

Proud Mom Melissa and the birthday girl!


Landon, Addison and Mrs. Jessica

Addison loved singing "Happy Birthday" to Anna Kate and always loves an excuse to eat birthday cake! Speaking of birthday cake, my Mom made Anna Kate's cake and as usual she did an amazing job....

And Anna Kate LOVED it! :)

On Sunday, we celebrated Ethan's 3rd birthday and sadly I didn't get the chance to snap any pictures so I'm hoping Kate hurries and posts some so that I can steal hers. :)

Kate had Ethan's party at Imaginations at Play in Buford and the kids had a BLAST! They were running around everywhere (hence the reason I have no photos) and we can't wait to take the kids back there to play. Ethan got a HUGE birthday present this year...a new little brother...and he will tell you that Hudson was his birthday present. How sweet is that?? We love the Varn boys!

Happy birthday to Ethan and Anna Kate!

Fall Fun!

The Skalon family has definitely stayed busy the past few weeks and with Addison's birthday and the holidays right around the corner, it doesn't look like we'll be slowing down anytime soon. Oh well! We are blessed to have such wonderful friends and family to keep us so busy.

Last Saturday we went down with our church to The Garden, a homeless shelter for women and children, and did a Fall Festival for the women and children that are staying there. I was honored to be able to organize and arrange this event for them and I have to say....despite the cold...it was a huge success! All of the kids had a great time, and it was humbling to see these children and their home. We got the chance to meet some wonderful people and provide them with a day just for them. The kids enjoyed hayrides, a bouncy slide, pumpkin painting, face painting, a cup cake walk, and cotton candy and popcorn. I was so overwhelmed by the people that helped me plan this event and their willingness to do whatever it took to provide these children and Moms a fun day.

Here are a few pictures from the day...sorry there are a lot of them but all of them are so precious to me. As you can see...we all made some wonderful new friends and can't wait to go back!


James, Duke, Mr. Jim and Kris had lots of fun driving the hayride for the kids. Thank you Eric for letting us use your tractor and trailer!!!


James and some of his new friends


Even the ladies of The Garden enjoyed the Hayride!


Cheese!


Tennyson and Weatherly showing off their faces


So excited and even sweeter!


Sweet girls!


All smiles on his way to the hayride!


Addison picking out her pumpkin to paint


Some of the children painting their pumpkins




The kids LOVED the bouncy slide!


And so did Addison!


Our Pastor David and little Jada


Jessica and sweet baby Landon


The Skalon crew


Our sweet little girl!

Told you....Lots and lots of pictures (I took over 100) and what an amazing day! It was so neat to see our kids loving on these children and making new friends!

Addison played really well with a little girl named Jada and even had me get her out of the car when we were leaving so she could go back and give her a hug. We got to meet her Mom and learned that she had just turned 3 in October so her and Addison were just about the same age. It was so wonderful for me to watch Addison be so loving to that little girl. I hope she continues to want to love on everyone around her - she makes me so proud!

The Newest Varn Prince

My girlfriend Kate had her third son last Friday and he is ADORABLE! Hudson Parker Varn arrived very early in the morning on Friday and was 7 lbs. 10 oz. Kate was pregnant with her second son, Ethan, while I was pregnant with Addison and the kids arrived just 30 days apart from each other. We are all so excited that Hudson has arrived and can't wait to love on him!

Congratulations Cliff, Kate and big brothers Garrett and Ethan!

The Smith Family Comes To Town!

I was lucky enough to grow up in a neighborhood where our neighbors were more than just neighbors, they were friends. Even now, many years since my parents have left that neighborhood, they still keep in touch with most of those people and you can bet you will see their faces at all of the important events in their lives.

Duke and I have been lucky enough to make wonderful friends out of our neighbors as well. Last summer, the family that lived across the street from us moved and we have all missed them so much! They were in Georgia a few weeks ago and stopped by for a weekend visit and we had so much fun with them. All of the girls had so much playing together and it was like nothing had ever changed.


Yes, we are a cul-de-sac full of little girls!


The girls had lots of fun playing with Mr. John's prized landscape lights! Sorry, John!


Addison thought she was quite the big girl that night!


Such sweet and crazy girls!


Addison loves Mrs. Genny!


Mr. and Mrs. Smith


Our wonderful neighbors, John and Cheryl

We had such a fun visit and it was great to have them back for the weekend! It's so nice to have friends where no matter how much time passes...it's like nothing ever changes when you get together again.

Mayfield Dairy

Addison spent the day with my Mom and Dad so Duke and I could go to the GA game a couple weeks ago and they they had quite the day! They spent the afternoon at Mayfield Dairy where they took a tour of the facility. At the end of the tour, Addison got to get a scoop of ice cream that was bigger than her and as you can imagine...she was in heaven. They got some of the cutest pictures of her...lucky for Addison, they didn't get one of her in the hairnet they had to wear on the tour. Addison will thank her for that one day soon!

Who's leading who??? So very sweet!

Possibly the world's largest cow???

She'll love us for this photo one day!

She's growing up so fast!

Cheese!

Needless to say, Addison had a great day and was full of stories when we picked her up that evening! Cows now have a new meaning to her... :)

Happy 29 Years Mom & Dad!

Once again I am VERY behind in posting something on this blog but since that tends to be normal for me - I guess I'm not really behind if I already know that I'm probably never going to be caught up when it comes to this thing. :)

But I wanted to wish my wonderful parents a VERY happy anniversary. They have been married 29 years and I feel so blessed to have them as a loving example of how wonderful marriage can be. Funny how you appreciate your parents more and more the older you get.

Thank you for loving each other and providing a loving home for Adam and I to grow up in. Thank you showing us what a healthy marriage looks like and how two people can thrive when they lift each other up. We couldn't have asked for anything more.

Congratulations Mom and Dad! We love you!