Born May 24, 2007 at (depending on who you ask) 2:07pm after a long 9 month incubation period, our little precious (no similarity to LoTR) has arrived. Weighing in at a cool 7 pounds 14 ounces, he is one with which to cuddle. Granted he won’t be playing basketball anytime soon, as he’s only 20.5 inches long (tall?), we feel he scored by making it to us safe and sound.

Nicole and I are indebted to all of you for your support and prayers while we did our part to multiply and replenish the earth.

Tonight, during dinner, Nicole made reference to the dress (tutu) Brianne was wearing. Mainly, the fact it was showing her *ahem*, ‘boobs’. I proceeded to argue that that our child does not have ‘boobs’, rather a chest. Brianne then immediately countered with, “I not got GOOBS.” To which Nicole and I began to laugh hysterically at our clueless little princess.

Thus, the moral of our story, even when you feel your children are too young to comprehend your complex parental intercommunications; they are, and you’re not.

Following over a year of construction, 3 loan extensions, stressful nights, deep conversations, and a lot of hard work by Skowronek Builders, the McMillan Farms house is finally to the point we can get rid of it (hallelujah!) Even though the original plan might have been to actually move into the behemoth, the construction costs, added interest due to delays, and housing prices have put this puppy officially out of our league. So we’ve officially decided to sell our dream home. Though we won’t be able to enjoy it, I’m sure some lucky family out there will.

Craig’s List | Flickr.com | Zillow.com

A nightly occurrence at the Skowronek home is the inevitable discussion between Nicole and I regarding what should or should not be included in the ‘recyclables‘ bin. Had it been left up to me, the under-the-cabinet space used to stockpile our garbage and recyclables would have started as a single collective bin. However, as that decision was made for us by our builder, we now have yet another point of debate to captivate our lives. As a matter of fact, I find myself intentionally throwing so-called ‘recyclable’ refuse in the garbage in hopes of creating a brief spell of hostility in Nicole. Oh the thrill! Forget finances, sex and other trivial subject matters. Bring on a nasty, crumpled up, useless, used strip of Reynolds wrap and I’m good.

As part of our parental guidance strategy, Nicole and I occasionally discipline our children (okay, mostly Jaryn) by putting his toys in time-out (rather than putting him in time out.) On one occasion, we went as far as to permanently ostracize his RC car he had inherited from good ol’ dad by ‘throwing it away’. Obviously, I didn’t want to throw away my RC car, so we made it appear that the car had been eradicated.

Well, a few days ago I decided to resurrect the old thing (against my better judgment and Nicole’s wishes) and Jaryn could not have been more ecstatic. If you ever want to hear the excitement of a child compounded ten fold, just perform the miracle of resuscitating a long forgotten toy.

Anyway, last night we finally got around to putting in the new batteries but for some reason the pair would not function as we had expected. Jaryn was all about to throw a fit, when I realized the antenna had somehow broken off in the “eradication process”. In all my glory and grandeur I decided to resolve the concern by trying to place the antennae closer to the RC car, thinking that perhaps it was a communications problem between the two devices. Well hallelujah, the wheels began to spin and the engine was a purrin’ like a kitten. Granted you had to stay within one inch of the body of the car to make it work.

Now you realize I was moments from putting the poor thing out of its misery. However, after having experienced the splendor of wheels spinning and turning, Jaryn grabbed them out of my hands and began ranting, “see dad, it works!!!”. He then proceeded to bend down to position a functional remote control antennae close enough to a broken RC car to be able to send the life giving signal which enabled the wheels to spin and TADA, a living, moving work of electronics genius, all for about a foot or two until the connection was cut short and the Frankenstein Tyco was again, laid to rest just feet away.

But don’t you fret! My boy was on top of it. For each time he and the toy were separated enough to break the symbiotic relationship, Jaryn was on his feet, eager to position the antennae within inches of the car, again, bringing life to this otherwise lifeless being.

Yes, this ritualistic death and reincarnation scenario repeated itself the rest of the night with Jaryn screaming, “look mom, dad, it does work! Its not broken, see, it runs. Look, I just put the controller here, and it works, see!!” Oh to see a son jumping around wildly while playing a virtual game of leapfrog with his long lost toy.

Chalk another ingenious moment to my ever-aggressive and amazing son.

Apparently our flickr account is one of the top 10 searched on Google for the phrase “daybreak utah“. What’s even more interesting is that I have not done single thing to optimize for SEO.

However, in light of the fact that we are top 10, I think I shall exploit the new found popularity to my advantage!

Muhahahah!! (Totally kidding!)

In celebration of the new year, may I present the Skowronek family 2005. Happy New Year everyone!

Our yearly photo shoot turned out better than expected this year. We went up Little Cottonwood Canyon for this years excursion. I’ll be posting more once our Christmas cards get to their intended recipients (don’t want to spoil the surprise).