On the third day of Christmas

my true love did not give to me three french hens, thank goodness. Although it does remind me of that funny Office episode...

Christmas day! Emilyn thankfully slept in a little since we were at Kyle's parents so late. I made a yummy caramel roll, bacon, egg, and juice breakfast. Making breakfast was pure delight. The whole time I kept thinking, "I don't have to hand wash all these dishes!" We spent a leisurely morning in our jammies opening gifts and taking it easy.



We later headed to cousin Nick and Megan's for the big Skaufel get together complete with aunts, uncles, cousins, grandparents, and any other relative we could muster up. Emilyn had loads of fun playing with the kids and running around being generally crazy.


Fishing with Gus


Opening presents (yet again)



Grandma in Lyla's chair, man they sure don't make chairs the same as they used to.



An attempt at Grandma with the great-grandkids.


Having fun tickling everyone's feet.


Papa Randy serenading Anna.

On The Second Day of Christmas

So I spent the morning of Christmas Eve putting my kitchen back together. Kevin, Jen, and Jeff came later and we went to lunch to enjoy the traditional greasy Zips burger. We spent Christmas Eve with Kyle's family. Emilyn didn't last long in the Christmas Eve service unfortunately. She isn't the quiet type who likes to sit still (imagine that!). After dinner we opened presents. I wasn't sure how Emilyn would do, but she loved it! She was very methodical about ripping off tiny bits of paper and handing them to whoever was closest to her until the present was unwrapped. Then all she wanted to do was play with the pile of paper she had created.


Opening presents with Grandma.




The fam on Christmas Eve. Hard to imagine that next year both our arms will be full!

On the first day of Christmas

Christmas started on the 23rd for us. Kyle kicked Emilyn and I out of the house for what was supposed to be the day. He had a secret project to work on and needed us out of the way. I took the opportunity to visit Grandma and had her teach me the fine art of making traditional Norwegian Christmas krumkaka. It was amazing to watch her work. As I watched, she told me how her mother-in-law gave her the recipe, iron, and roller over 30 years ago and tutored the girls in how to make the traditional dessert. She has made them every year since then. After a few demonstrations, Grandma gave me a turn at the skillet. Mine definitely didn't turn out as uniform and pretty as hers, but maybe that will come with 30 years of practice.






Later Emi and I went to Mom's to wait out the rest of the day speculating what Kyle could be working on at home. As the hours crept by I became more and more impatient. He finally called around 7:00 and said I could come home at 11:00. I decided to just stay the night at Mom's rather than drive back to town that late. Kyle said that would be better because there were still some pretty strong fumes in the house. Jeff, Kevin, and Jen got in from Portland and Puyallup later that night. It was fun to be there when they got in. We stayed up way too late making bets on Kyle's project and woke up the next morning to a great breakfast. I haven't stayed the night at Mom's in a long time, I felt like I was 12 all over again...only in a good way.

Emilyn and I finally packed up and headed home later that morning. We were welcomed by a dishwasher and new kitchen counters! I just about cried...in a good way. I know it sounds lame, but after living without a dishwasher for as long as I have you come to appreciate the things most people take for granted. Kyle had worked long into the night making sure the dishwasher was installed correctly and all hooked up by the time I got home. What a guy!

New Things

I have officially been on summer "vacation" for 11 days now and I am a firm believer that time goes faster when not at school. I am loving being able to stay home and spend more time with my Emmers. I did my yearly dismantling of the classroom and was able to get some closure on the school year. Yeah!

Here is Emilyn "helping" take things down.


Emilyn is now very much into crawling around, pulling herself up onto things and cruising around. Which is incredibly liberating for her, but equally nerve wracking for me. She has taken a few little spills and gotten some little bumps and bruises to show for it. I didn't realize how un-baby proof my house is! (and how dirty my floors are - yikes, we now do baths more frequently)

She has figured out that if she stands on her tiptoes and stretches she can just barely reach the top of my desk to discover all kinds of fun things.



There are all kinds of new things growing in my garden. I am anxiously awaiting the arrival of some fresh peas, cucumbers, and squash later this summer. Here's to hoping I can keep things alive that long! Here is the master gardener at work, little miss green thumb.


For my birthday, Kyle got me a new camera. Yeah! I took a bunch of pictures, but when I put them on the computer quite a few of them had weird lines through them. Not so yeah. Back to Costco we go. Grrr.



With the hot weather, we couldn't resist getting Emi her own little pool. Even though the water was pretty cold, she LOVED it! She cried when I took her out.


Emilyn loves her cousins (okay so that's not so new, but I couldn't resist putting this one in).


And one last one...

My new favorite picture


Loving to stand up



Sleepy time with Teddy


Emilyn's new favorite thing is to pull herself up and stand in her crib.

Memorial Day

Brace yourselves for what I am about to say...I know this may create quite the stir and people will think I am crazy but I just have to get it out there. I don't really care for Memorial Day. There, I said it. Finally it's off my chest. I love what Memorial Day stands for. I think there should be more days to honor the men and women who have served our country and I definitely appreciate the freedoms afforded because of their sacrifices. But it bothers me that so many people see it as just a day off. A day to BBQ or a weekend to go camping. To those of you I know who have served or are currently serving, I extend my deepest gratitude. To Scott, Jeremy, Phil, Nick, Kyle's family members, my uncles, my grandpas, my dad. I thank you.

For me Memorial Day is an emotional day. As a kid we had a tradition of going to the cemetery to put flowers on my Grandpa Engle's grave. As we admired all the U.S. flags lining the roads in the cemetery we would stand there as a family and my dad would pray. Now I am the one standing over my dad's grave praying.

Even though it's been almost 10 years I still have an incredibly difficult time seeing his name written on that headstone. It's just so cold, so permanent. I know my dad and grandpas are in a better place because of what they believed, but it doesn't make me miss them less.

When I have managed to muster up the courage to go to the cemetery I end up standing there sobbing and blubbering like a baby. My eyes are red and puffy for days afterward and I get what I call a crying headache. I hate it. Last year the count of graves to visit went up again as we added Grandpa Skaufel...which made it even harder.

I didn't go this year, to the graveyard. I feel terribly guilty for not going. I know people in our family keep tabs on who has been there by the kinds of flowers or vases that are left. They are going to know I didn't go. Maybe they will understand.

Kristen sent me an email this week with pictures of various military moments. The one that got me was a picture of a boy being presented with a flag by a military gentleman wearing white gloves and a hat. the boy looks about 9 or 10 at the most, sharply dressed in a suit and tie, he is stoically standing there accepting the flag, but you can tell by the look on his face he is struggling to accept the fact his dad is gone. The extent to what people go through for our country amazes me. To the families of all our military personnel, I thank you.

Bloomsday

Contrary to what you may think from the title of this post, we did not do Bloomsday. I used to do it every year with cousin Stephanie and Grandma. We wore fanny packs filled with candy as "fuel" that gives you an idea of how long ago it was. Then it got popular and everyone started doing it. So I quit. Hey, don't give me a hard time and ask "why didn't you do it?" I put my time in people, now I get to be the one to laugh at the crazies the day after who complain about being sore. All for a shirt that you wear once before it becomes a good candidate for new pajamas.

We did however go to Uncle Neal and Aunt Jo's for the annual Bloomsday BBQ. It was fun seeing the fam. Grandma's brood of great-grandkids is growing rapidly. The number is up to 7 now! Here she is with all of them.