Sunday, May 10, 2009

The Skog Family Week In Review

SECOND UPDATE: All videos and pictures should be correct now. Good grief.

UPDATE: I've been informed that all of the video clips are of the same video. I will get that fixed.

May 3 - May 10, 2009

WHEELS GOES BACK TO WORK

Monday was the day that we had been dreading since the Little Rockstar was born. Wheels officially went back to work part time. For those of you who don't know, Wheels is able to work from home writing the help files for an accounting software company. It's a blessing that she doesn't have to leave the home but also a curse. Just try and type anything, let alone something technical that requires concentration, with a newborn strapped to your chest, a one year old hanging on your leg and a four year old Kelly Kapoor asking you questions and telling you random stories. Good times for Wheels... Our routine was to have Wheels work during any 'free time' ie: naps, while the girls play outside, etc. and then work in the evening once I get home to help out with the girls and household responsibilities. Strangely enough the week went better than we had anticipated (I realize I have now just jinxed us for the coming week) until the weekend. Saturday and Sunday we were home only long enough to sleep and eat a few hastily thrown together meals. In my defense you can't clean the kitchen when Toots is asleep so here are the final images taken late Sunday night.




Here is a bird's eye view of the kitchen.


Measuring cups and Oreo wrappers from the homemade Ice Cream KG made for Mother's Day. Notice the crockpot still out from last Sunday's roast. Luckily the crockpot was clean.


The Skog Kitchen - where sippy cups go to die... I might have shirked on my duties a bit. Back off.


SKOG FAMILY TUMBLING GYM

Even though we have our 'jumpy slide' as shown in a previous week in review, the girls have decided that while Wheels works they need to invent new games. This one is called 'fall on our faces and laugh and hope nobody misses the ottoman and requires a trip to the instacare' (Copyright Pending).




KG FIXES THE DUKE #2

The men of the Skog Family are generally quite handy and/or mechanically inclined. However, my old man, Big J, did not receive this mechanical gene and therefore it was not passed on to myself or my brother, Flanksteak. When I was deciding on whether or not to go work for a construction company awhile back Big J had told me a story (probably in confidence but blogs are no place for secrets or dignity) about working in a plumbing store while going to college. Big J is a CPA and was working at the store as the bookkeeper but occasionally would be left alone to tend to the customers. Once in awhile someone would come in and ask for a certain part and Big J would say, "Let me check" go in the backroom, hang out for a few minutes, and then return and say, "Nope, we don't have any in stock, sorry." I had similar experiences at the construction company but after the customer had unsuccessfully tried to explain it to me I'd usually say, "why don't you come in the stock room and point it out to me..." So back to the point of my story. The Skogs are currently a three car family which is very savvy. Rather than keep one of the cars for when P is old enough to drive in twelve years we are attempting to sell one of them. The one to go is 'Duke #2' - the second Oldsmobile that I have purchased from my Grandpa Duke and named affectionately for him. The Duke 2 has required some maintenance over the years but is actually running quite well now except for one minor thing, sometimes it won't start. I knew the battery was good and it just required a little jiggle of the cables and would fire up. I decided I should probably fix this before I put the Duke 2 up for sale. I swallowed my pride and headed up to the local Checker Auto Parts. As I walked into the store there was not a clerk in sight so I headed to the battery section and began to peruse for solutions. My non-expert diagnosis was that the bolt was too stripped and wouldn't allow me to tighten the connectors onto the battery. My thoughts were interrupted by a "Can I help you?" and I turned to see Crystal, the store manager. This nice young lady pointed me in the direction of this handy tool and less than one hour later the Duke 2 had a new side post bolt, a tight connection and a real sense of accomplishment. Isn't that special? ha.

ROAD TRIP TO OREM / FAREWELL TO MARC


Wheels' brother Marc and his family are moving to Colorado this week. My initial response when I heard the news was to rent my clothes in anger and disown him. However, cooler heads prevailed and Saturday we traveled to Orem to bid them farewell. All joking aside, we will really miss Marc and his family. Wheels' Family is spread out across the country and he was the last holdout in Utah. I'm trying to do a better job of understanding how hard this will be for Wheels considering the longest road trip required to visit my family would be a 1.5 hour drive to Eagle Mtn and her family is located in Hawaii, Nevada, North Carolina, Colorado and in a few months, Uruguay. And yes that was a sorry attempt to try and guilt any of the Wheelers to move back to Utah. We miss and love them all. Here are a few clips from the park where we spent the afternoon with Marc's family, Wheels' sister Marissa's family, and their little brother Jason. A few fun facts from the videos - Yes - Priscilla out swung (??) Marc and he gave up the challenge, Yes - KG used to be a champion tetherball player, you can tell from the swing pushing technique, and Yes - these are the most exciting videos you will see this year.









Before I end my report of Saturday's trip I wanted to add this. I am often asked, "What is it like in the vehicle during a Skog Family Road Trip?" Well, thanks for asking. Here is a brief insider's view of an authentic Skog Family Road Trip. Just like in Sweden there are beautiful blue eyed girls, lots of laughter, and dancing to Swedish Pop music (clothing optional). We are a very European and progressive family.





HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY

I would be remiss if I didn't pay tribute to Wheels and report on Mother's Day. Toots started the day of right and joined us in bed at 1:16 AM and gave Wheels a nice gift of no sleep to start the day off right.


Why so sleepy Toots? It's 7:30 in the AM and you have had a full night's sleep... (nope).


Side profile mug shot of our offender.


P and Lil' J wanted in on the party. We do have a Queen sized bed for those scoring at home.


P made Wheels this adorable little card at preschool. She dutifully hid it under her bed all week and gave it to Wheels first thing in the morning.


I hope all of the Skog Blog Mothers had a great day and we wish Marc the best of luck on his move. Until next week.

6 comments:

Kim said...

Happy mothers day indeed. Nothing like lack of sleep to make you ready to take on the day.

And as far as the kitchen pictures, is that ALL you got? I see that and raise you a bedroom and play room.

kg said...

I would have loved to post pics of the bedroom and playroom but I couldn't get through the doors of said rooms because of the piles of laundry and toys. Let's just say this - if you want to do 'Home Swap: Family Edition' and clean each other's houses I will take you up on it.

brohammas said...

Who climbed up on the counter for the birds eye view? I want a picture of KG taking that picture.

Jen said...

I want to know why after deciding to fix the Duke, you headed over to dad's to let him help you. I mean Aaron and Mike do live in the vicinity. Mom was quite proud of you and dad, almost got a little teary telling the story about how you guys replaced a little cable on the car.

Corbie said...

That story about Big J is the best EVER and that kitchen is what mine looks like after we've 'tidied up' (plus our crockpot would still have vegetables floating in it).

kg said...

Brohammas - The Skog Mansion is a strange layout and there is actually some kind of perch on the second floor that allows one to look down upon the kitchen. Everyone knows my pansy-fear-of-heights A would have never climbed up anywhere to take a picture.

Jen - I wanted to build Big J's confidence as well. It was a very tender moment.

Corbie - of course your crockpot would have vegetables in it because you would never cook meat in that thing. Weirdo.