Rollin' Rollin' Rollin...

So life has definitely continued to get exciting around here. On Saturday, August 16, 2008, as we were preparing to go to the Beach, LeGrand started rolling. My initial thought (and it continues to be my only thought on this matter) was... "He's not old enough! He can't even hold his head up! Am I going to have a bobble headed roller???" Not only did he roll over once, he's rolled over multiple times.

The question I have is this: Why is it that we are so thrilled when babies do something (ie: rolling over, holding their heads up, sitting up, etc...) but when an adult does that, the thrill is just not there? I mean seriously! Margaret gets a treat for going to the bathroom... where's mine??? And I've been holding my head up for a long time. And rolling over. And sitting up... thank goodness I don't have those adorable little fat rolls that LeGrand has! Those I can see 100% why they're not cute on adults. Now - keep in mind that I am NOT looking for accolades when it comes to these little things that babies do for the first time that Adults have been doing for ages - I'm sure that Mom and Dad were just as thrilled when I rolled over for the first time, I'm just wondering - At what point do achievements in life STOP being thrilling? And SHOULD we pay more attention to the accomplishments?

Personally, I was hoping that LeGrand would have learned to at least hold his head up BEFORE rolling over and making it impossible for me to leave him on the couch without worrying about him rolling off...

What a Corny Festival!

So Andrew was cleaning off the driveway Saturday morning, when some friends of ours pulled up and asked if we were going to the Aumsville, OR Corn Festival. They have a parade, and everything. We didn't know anything about this festival, and it honestly sounded (pardon the pun) Corny. Until, that is, we found out that part of the festival involves selling corn for $1 per bag of 10 ears. Not wanting to pass THAT opportunity up, I changed my clothes, loaded the children into the truck, and Andrew and I headed to Aumsville. Once we got there, we found out that we were only allowed to purchase 5 bags per person. SO... we recruited the same people who told us about the festival to stand in line with us and purchase another 5 bags for us (they will likely NEVER tell us about another festival that involves purchasing produce cheaply again...). We ended up buying 35 bags of corn. (5 for Andrew, 5 for Me, 5 for LeGrand (apparently it doesn't matter HOW old you are, if you're in line, you qualify for 5 bags of corn...), 5 for Savannah, 5 for Margaret, 5 for Albert (who is cursing the day he told us about the corn...) and 5 for Dave (who is echoing the curses of his son, Albert...)) THEN, Margaret and I stood guard while Andrew, Savannah, Albert, Dave and Tami (Dave's wife - who was recruited by her husband) transported the corn back to the truck.

And then the fun began... Margaret loves to help get the green off the corn... mostly because she really wants to EAT the corn.

Not wanting to be outdone, Savannah joined in the fun! In the meantime, Andrew cut all the corn off the cob after it was blanched, and packaged it into bags. We currently have just over 40 bags of corn in our freezer. Most Sundays we would be napping or doing something else... this particular one we chose to have a family gathering (After the blessing), and then work on our food storage... we might be a little crazy, or maybe it's just that our family is a little corny...

What a Blessed Day!

As is custom in the LDS Church, we blessed LeGrand in church this past Sunday (yesterday). Andrew gave him a WONDERFUL blessing, and LeGrand didn't cry at all!

One of the traditions that Andrew had growing up is that "Dad" gets to find a blessing outfit for "Baby". Andrew was going to get Wranglers for LeGrand (because real cowboys wear Wranglers), but the closest size he could find was for a one year old... I guess LeGrand will have to grow into that privilege! Instead, Andrew got some little Osh Kosh overalls. We truly feel blessed to have LeGrand as part of our family! He is a joy to have.

Sunrise on the Farm

This is the view from our front porch - taken around 6 in the AM... Usually I would still be in bed snoozing at this time of the day, but Andrew and I were up, and happened to look out the window. This is the result. And for those who HAVEN'T been here for this view - we find it to be magnificent. The mountain that you see popping up is Mt. Jefferson.

And we're OFF!!!

I would say to the races, but that's not true, and I'm trying to teach my children honesty.

Instead, we're off to higher temperatures this weekend, and a whole bunch of fun.

Our weekend in PREVIEW...

Tomorrow (Friday) temperatures are expected to hit 104 and maybe plus degrees. We're having a swimming pool party. How perfect is THAT timing??? Before we do that, the children and I are going shopping with Grandma Stahr (Mom needs a new swimming suit that may help to hide the bulges, and Savannah needs a few more school clothes so she doesn't look so much like she's waiting for the flood that may never come...). We're spending the night at Grandpa and Grandma's house so that we can save on fuel.

Saturday, we're opening up a lemonade stand (and hopefully we'll be the first ones open) at Grandma's house for the morning. Savannah wants to earn some money, and I figure it's more needed than stealing other people's pencils and trying to re-sell them (you did so well, Ian...). It's supposed to be in the 100 degrees Saturday too. After the lemonade sale, we're going to visit some relatives I've never met, but who are celebrating their 60th anniversary! (I commend them for surviving so wonderfully for so long!) Then, we're off to the beach.....

I am so looking forward to going to the beach with the kids! Savannah and Margaret have been to the beach since we moved back, but I have not, and I LOVE THE BEACH! LeGrand is going to get his first introduction to sand... Andrew, unfortunately, has to work, so he won't be with us at the beach, but we're certain that this won't be the last time we're there.

We're going to have a blast and visit with Aunt Amber (I am really looking forward to that!), and make smores on the beach, and get all sandy (not so much looking forward to that...), walks on the beach, and more than anything, spend time with family! I promise to NOT forget the camera; to take lots of pictures, and to thoroughly enjoy myself. Further, I promise NOT to send you all postcards saying, "Ha, Ha! I'm at the beach and you're not!" because that would be just rude. I do, however, wish that you all could come...

On hens and eggs and other oddities...

And now... life on the farm.

We have a hen. Actually, we have 10 hens and 1 rooster. We USED to have three roosters, but that's a whole another saga in itself, and I'm afraid if I were to tell it, we'd have PETA (you know, People Eating Tasty Animals???) on our case, so you'll just have to use your imagination and pretend you're Elmer Fudd and it's 4 in the AM and it's not rabbits that you're hunting... (There. Did I give you enough to go on without giving you extra grody details???)

Back to the hen. This particular hen decided that she wanted to start sitting very still for very long periods of time. Really, she disappeared one day, and we didn't see her for days on end. Then, the other day, as I'm coming back from getting the mail, I see her. She's the same color as straw, so she was fairly well camouflaged in the dry grass- except for her BRIGHT RED comb on top of her head! In front of her is three perfectly formed eggs. Underneath her is 18 more eggs. We had NO IDEA that she was sitting on 18 eggs. This WOULD be a good thing if we knew that the eggs were safe to eat. We don't, however, know how long she's been sitting on the eggs, so they're currently sitting in a bowl in the refrigerator - waiting for me to scramble them and feed them to the pigs.

What a waste of perfectly wonderful looking eggs. Now... if only she'd lay more eggs and tell us where she's hiding them.......

The week in review...

So this week was busy. Andrew worked the entire week - YAY!!! Except for Friday - which he took off so that we could attend the wedding of our friend Eric Radimak (Justin, you know Erik...). It was so good to be in the temple, and LeGrand did wonderfully for his first time being left at a location that wasn't close to Mom for longer than 15 minutes! In fact, he didn't fuss until about 5 minutes before we got there to get him! (Such a wonderful child - we're singing his praises for that one! Unlike Margaret - who, at this same age, screamed the entire time we left her for another sealing; and she was in the same building!)

That was the majority of the day on Friday. The evening brought me to my very first Enrichment activities as the official Enrichment Leader. Although I would still much rather Young Womens, I'm trying to look at Enrichment as Young Womens for the More Mature. (Young Womens for Old Women was too much of an oxymoron - and we have plenty of Morons around, I didn't need to add one more...) The activity went well, I've heard. I was really late - due to my choice to stay at the reception until the Key Lime Pie arrived instead of leaving at our originally planned time of 5:30 PM. The pie was worth it.

I'm not really sure what happened on Saturday... It must have been something, since I know we didn't stay inside and pick our noses all day - but I honestly don't remember much about the day.

Sunday we attended ANOTHER wedding reception - equally entertaining... and then came home and I cleaned off my dresser. That is still an unfinished project - I'll get to it soon! Sunday night to Monday Morning, had Margaret wide awake and wired. Why, I'll never know.

It all started with a trip to the bathroom... And then the next few minutes were something like this:
Andrew: good night, Margaret. I love you!
Margaret: goo night Dadye! I yuve you!
Margaret: Dadye! Dadye! Dadye! Dadye! I yuve you! Dadye! Dadye! I need you! Dadye! Dadye! I talking to you!

Until finally, after some giggling on our part and some extreme crying on her part, Andrew went to go get her and snuggle with her. That lasted about 5 minutes, and then she went running off to bed, and I took LeGrand downstairs to bounce him to sleep. (Didn't hurt that the Cosby Show was on too!) Not 5 minutes later, here comes Margaret with her blanket and baby... to snuggle on the couch. I should insert here that it's now 11 PM, and I am almost asleep, LeGrand IS asleep, and we're all surprised that Margaret is still up and at it!

Snuggling with Mom was a novelty that lasted a grand total of 4 minutes. Then she was up, playing with the cards, tucking her baby into the carseat for whatever pretend trip she was going on, and a myriad of other things - none of which involved sleeping.

At 1 AM, I finally took Margaret to the bathroom and told her that she needed to go to sleep on the chair, we were done playing. So she got her blanket, took Baby out of the carseat, and climbed on the chair. I went back to my comfy position on the couch, and ignored the fact that Margaret was now on her way back upstairs because "I not aleep, I need a book..." And so, she got her own little books. And then, back down to the chair because "Mommy told me I have to leep on the chair", and her little songs until finally, at 1:30 AMish, there was silence in the house.

Sometimes I wake up Grumpy... Sometimes Savannah wakes up Grumpy - more often than not, we let her sleep... this morning, Savannah woke up Grumpy, and boy was she ever! She cried because she had no clean pants. She rejoiced when she could wear a dress. She cried when Savannah looked at her. I rejoiced when she went for a nap and Savannah went outside. And that was AFTER the largest Hot Chocolate that I could buy - complete with extra chocolate and whipped cream.

(It was also after I found some really cool old canning jars that will never be filled with fruit again - and a Romertopf clay cooker at Goodwill... it was a good shopping day at the Goodwill...)

And that brings me to now. The point where I wonder why I'm still awake, and if I go upstairs now and put LeGrand into his cradle, will he stay asleep, or will he wake up and I'll just be downstairs again??? I think I'll take that risk.

Applesauce, Zucchini Bread and Blackberry Muffins...

So this morning we ventured to Portland to see Andrew's old seminary teacher. While we were there, (at Andrew's parent's house), we spied a monstrous zucchini on the counter. After asking permission, we took it home. It's going to be made into zucchini bread... after I get the applesauce mess cleaned up.

Yes, I am canning again. This time, we got some apples from a friend, and I made 5 pints, and 2 quarts of spiced applesauce. This is the practice round for when I really do get some apples and can make a bazillion quarts. O.K. Maybe not THAT many, but enough to last for longer than a week! Speaking of a week... I need to make more peaches. we've already been through 5 quarts of peaches, and I only finished those two weeks ago! At that rate, I'm going to need to can another 150 lbs of peaches! Yay me.

As for the blackberry muffins... the girls and I raided our blackberry patch and ended up with 2.5 cups of blackberries. As soon as there are MORE, we'll be jammin'. For now, we're just making muffins. At least it's not the hottest day of the year!