Under construction...

All right, I have officially completely messed up the format of my blog...and don't know how to fix it. It was my feeble attempt to make my blog cute like all my friends. I think this is God's way of telling me not to covet other people's things (and maybe to make better use of my time).

I get it. Now, how to get this thing fixed and updated... until that happens consider this page under construction. Please excuse whatever weirdness is going on.

The things we do for our children. Today I drank that completely gross glucose drink for my diabetes testing. If you haven't had the pleasure of doing this, it involves a nasty bottle of what reminds me of the mysterious McDonalds orange drink only doctored up with more sugar and a possible hint of something alcoholic. You have to drink the entire thing in less than 5 minutes and have to do it exactly a half hour before your appointment. Meaning whatever time that may be, you have to drop what you are doing and chug! (Sorry I missed the meeting Linds- now you know why) Bottoms up baby! I didn't throw up- thank goodness. It was a likely possibility considering what I had just consumed. My arm hurts though, apparently my veins were not having one of their better days. The tech had to poke around a bit to get the blood. Youch! I will find out hopefully soon if I passed or if I need to go back for the 3-hour test.

Everything else at the appointment went well. Baby Scottie (yes, we are calling him Scottie Scott) is doing well and amazingly not measuring big like Emilyn was. Sure feels like it though. Apparently I have only gained 7 pounds this pregnancy. I smiled at the Doctor when she told me that but thought in my head, "that's nice of you to say, but I'm pretty sure your scale is messed up honey. I don't pay your to flatter me. Besides that doesn't count the 25 or so pounds I never lost from Emilyn!" Anyhow, the count down is on with only 10 weeks to go! Oh man, I sure have a lot to do. Thinking about it makes me tired. I better get to bed. Hopefully my arm won't be so sore tomorrow.

On the fourth (and final) day of Christmas...

Yes, Christmas lasted four days in our house. Whew! On day 4 we went to Mom and Randy's for immediate family Christmas. It is always the best being with my brothers and sister and their fabulous families!


Mom and Randy


Playing with Uncle Kevin. Consequently Emi's spinning ball top toy ended up being a big hit, even with the over 20 crowd :) Thanks Uncle Jeff!


Amelia reading "Yummy Yucky". Gus and Emilyn sat and listened so well! (Not to mention Grammie)

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...