Happy Holidays from The Linskeys!

Happy Holidays for the second consecutive year from Georgia! We enjoy Atlanta, but sadly we will have to say goodbye next summer and say hello to our new home in….Rochester, New York. Yes, another Navy town!!! Who knew! Todd will be running the NOSC (Navy Operational Support Center). It’s similar to his current job and he’d have been an idiot to say no to it. On the upside, there is no drought and really almost no chance of being hit by hurricanes or earthquakes. But, if anyone has a spare snow blower they would be willing to lend us please give us a call. So, what else is new? Todd has started running in races and finished his first half-marathon in October. He seems to like it, or he just really needs to get away from us. Kelly, bored with lying around now that the kids are all in various forms of school and longing for a change, had an appendectomy in the spring. That was about the only truly exciting thing she did all year. Most of the time, she is the chauffer and events coordinator for the kids. Sometimes, (sit down for this) she subs at Matthew’s preschool. Yeah, picture that! But, what you really want to hear about is the kids. So, here is what they were up to this year…



Amanda – age 11, 6th grader (argh!!!! MIDDLE SCHOOL!!!), future zoologist, learned that “Webkinz are finally getting boring, never try to rename your teacher’s chair, never let your sisters near your stuff, never let Matthew pretend to be a tulip, and mom and dad are starting to get stupid.” Yes, we’re almost there! She’s still in Girl Scouts, did swim team (“for the last time!”), sings in chorus, and plays piano. Her favorite subject? Nintendo and Pokemon. Bet you didn’t know they taught that in school. Actually, it’s science (where does she get that from?!?) For Christmas, she’d love…a new pokemon game. She would also like Allison, Julia, and Matthew to get Pokemon games. And Bucky, mom, and dad too. But, she’d play them for us if we didn’t want them. She’d also like a cellphone (because about half of the kids at her school have one – but she is so not getting one and just asks us to laugh at our reaction) and as many books as she can fit into her room.



Julia – age 9, 4th grader, wants to maybe be a lawyer, and definitely doesn’t want to be “the dude who eats all the weird food on the travel channel”. Me neither, Julia. This year, Julia learned long division, and, “like, other things.” She’s tried new sports (softball and basketball) and continued others (swimming, “car exercising”, and being blonde). Like her older sister, she has joined chorus and is a junior girl scout. This year, she learned, “Don’t sleep next to a sick person, don’t wind up the dog or ignore him when he has to go outside or feed him cheese, don’t take great-grandmothers on walks through poison ivy, never name trees, and don’t help your brother put on makeup or make him wear a tutu.” She would like a Cosmic Catch and Boom Blox for Christmas. Although they sound like diseases, I think they are actually games.



Allison – age 7, 2nd grader, future 2nd grade teacher or “cash cab prize girl”, Allison is our PGP – Princess Grumpy Pants. She got over her disappointment of not playing tackle football and instead played soccer and basketball. She is planning to try softball in the spring. She is our jock and seems to do well in sports. But,outside of sports, she often falls on her face (a.k.a “tripping on air”). Her most often uttered phrase? “I’m okay.” She also loves to sing…anywhere, anytime, and often as loud as she can. Allison’s other claim to fame is that she has the best hand-writing of all the Linskey kids combined. It might not be grammatically perfect, but it’s sure pretty! When she’s not being a jock, falling down, or singing she’s usually playing or “being a Brownie”. This year, she learned, “Geometry, trying not to fall in midair, not tormenting the dog…much, not telling classmates who your parents are voting for, and don’t get hit in the face by a basketball.” For Christmas, she’d like her other front tooth, a cell-phone, and a Pokemon ball.



Matthew – age 4 1/2, future Transformer or “Spiderman wearing a costume”, able to create letters with his body …and other things, has had a great year. Most importantly, he talks more! Although you may think this is bad, it is good. Check our blog for some more interesting conversations he has had with us that, sadly, can’t be put in the Christmas letter. Matthew likes snowflakes, going to two schools, playing soccer (which strongly resembles interpretive dance), and constantly finding new ways to make us laugh. He does not like getting hurt, having surgery, being in time out, or walking into things. This year, he learned, “Moms who go to the hospital don’t always bring home babies, never give the dog the phone, don’t cook by myself…ever, don’t try and crash your sister’s sleepover party, don’t change your underwear in front of your sister’s girl scout troop, and if you hug the prize machine at the dentist sometimes people will give you prizes just because you are so cute.” Since nobody delivered last year, he still wants a lifetime supply of Betty Crocker blueberry and double chocolate muffins. New for his list this year is “Bakugan.” Ohh, and everything he sees in any children’s toy catalog ever made and any toy store he happens to trick you into going to.



“Bucky” (seen frequently chewing on a metal sprinkler) is 83+ pounds of raw… inertness. We think he may have either horse, beaver, squirrel, or possibly trilobite DNA mixed in the chocolate lab. His favorite toy? Anything that you don’t want him to destroy…and hickory nuts. He ate our rake, he killed the grill brush, he really loves hoses, and as if that wasn’t enough…he chews up razor sharp chunks of hickory nuts for everyone to step on. He leaves them on the couch at night for us to find like little presents (where he hides them? No idea!) He’s actually a good dog and very lovable...in the way that a horse sitting on your foot is lovable.

We’ve had a few brave visitors this year, but we wish there were more. It’s not that far! Yes, we do still have a drought, but the water company doubled our water bills to make up for lower water usage so we’ve pretty much just given up on being “water responsible".

Have a wonderful holiday season and a Happy New Year!

Todd, Kelly, Amanda, Julia, Allison, Matthew, and “Bucky”