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!

The one that accidentally got deleted...

I DID have this picture on the blog, but then when I was re-editing it to make it fit the way I wanted it to, I accidentally deleted it... oops.

This is his - "Don't bother me. I'm too cute to do that" pose. This is also one of the "cute" and not goofy pictures that I've taken of him...

Another Rock Stahr is born...

I couldn't pass up the chance to take this picture... he was just sitting there, and the glasses were just sitting here, and my little mind kicked into gear, and the end result... SUPER CUTE!!!

He even posed just so it looks like he's ready to join Margaret in a rousing rendition of "A dunbeep, a dunbeep! Dedus wants me for a dunbeep!!!" One of these days, she'll get her letters un-mixed, and we'll ALL be able to understand her instead of having to carry around a translator... (read: MOM...) Wouldn't trade her little conversations with me for the world though! She's figured out that things happen in sequence, and figured out that if she's not home, and Savannah's not home, and Mom's not home, and Dad's not home and Brother's not home, then NO one is home! (And she'll tell you that too...)

My little buddy...

Has grown an immensely over the past month. Tomorrow he will be four tuesdays old. Last night I weighed myself with him (and then weighed myself without him) to find out how much he weighs. If the scale is accurate, he tipped the scales at a whopping 10.8 lbs. I completely squashed them at a much higher weight. That's a gain for him of 2.7 lbs since we brought him home from the hospital. (And a loss of 25 lbs for me!!! - and I just now realized the reason that they weigh you in kilograms at the hospital when you have a baby. Knowing what I weighed before LeGrand was born is slightly depressing!!!)

LeGrand is currently sitting in the car seat sticking his tongue out at the warning label on the side. He's either tasting the air, or he's trying to see if he can touch his nose with his tongue. As for his growth (aside from gaining weight) he's wearing 3 month clothes (decided that he was too macho for the newborn or the 0-3 month stuff, I suppose...) He's started smiling at people (mostly when they're not looking), spitting up on Andrew (yay! At least I know he's not biased... but Andrew thinks it's absolutely disgusting - and rightly so...), and staying awake for longer periods of time. He's also sleeping for longer periods of time, but he's figuring out night and day schedules so I'm being able to stay in bed for a lot longer than in the past.

I managed to get these pictures of him the other day when I had a few free seconds... he had his eyes open - so I thought I'd get some good pictures! Most of the pictures turned out kind of goofy looking - he's apparently really photogenetic when he's asleep, and just looks goofy (as you'll see...) when I want to take his picture when he's awake...

Regrets...

Normally I'm not one to really have what I would consider to be regrets. However - there is a first time for most things, (I wouldn't ever have some of the firsts that others do - first drink, first cigarette, you get the picture?) and I am currently regretting that I took a fabulous bean bag to Goodwill. Not because I really ever SAT in aforementioned bean bag, but because it makes a great place to sit a baby, and I think LeGrand would have enjoyed reclining in it more than his car seat. After all, there are no buckles to sit on in a bean bag...

10 K Walk...

So our stake sponsored a "get out and move" activity this morning. I took LeGrand (who ended up being the youngest participant there) and we did our very first 10K walk! Of course, we were the last ones to finish, but we were also the only walkers (I met another lady who walked with me; her name was Maggie - and she was an absolute joy to walk with!) We started just after 9 am, and finished just before 11 am. LeGrand slept all but the last mile, and he only fussed a little because he was hungry.

I did have one lady tell me that she thought it was a bit early for me to be bringing a 3 week old out for a walk, but I very politely thanked her for her opinion, and signed up for the 10K instead of the originally planned 5K. Hey - if I'm going to walk, I'm going to WALK! And besides - her opinion wasn't asked for... but I was polite about it! And we walked anyway. I only regret a tiny bit doing the 10K, but that's because I think my socks got twisted halfway through, and my feet hurt. The walk was marvelous! Just the right amount of ups and downs, and plenty of water provided throughout the way, and the sun shone, making it a marvelous day to get out and move!

The end result, I'm 100% glad that I got out to move this morning!!!

Marionberry Cobbler...

The children and I went to a farm (e-i-e-i-o?)
And on that farm we picked some Marionberries... (e-i-e-i-o???)

The end result was that we came home with 7.44 lbs of berries and full stomachs.

With those berries, I made jam (who-da thunk it? Linda made JAM???)
And I made this really delicious looking cobbler.

The story behind the cobbler is that we have some good friends from whom I got this recipe. When they come to visit for dinner, Andrew specifically requests something with Marionberries in it. (Usually a cobbler.) So, several months ago, Andrew was doing some work for our friends, and she had made a cobbler. She also made the mistake of telling Andrew to help himself. He did save some for them... but he also came home with some for us. (No, he did NOT help himself to THAT - Jan sent him home with some.) Since I know this is one of Andrew's absolute favorite desserts, I called for the recipe yesterday.

Jan's Marionberry Cobbler

serves 6

the crust
1 c. flour
2 T sugar
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 c. butter
1/4 c. milk
1 egg, slightly beaten

the filling
berries (I used 8 cups or so...)
1 1/2 c. sugar
3-6 T cornstarch

combine all the dry ingredients for the crust - cut the butter in until it makes little crumb looking things; combine the milk and egg, and mix it in with the butter mixture until it's moist. For the filling - mix the sugar and 3 T cornstarch, then add to the berries. Mix until the sugar is dissolved. TASTE IT! If it's not sweet enough, add a little more sugar. If it's too syrupy, add more cornstarch. Drop the crust on the top in mounds (kind of like you're making dumplings). Bake at 400 degrees for 25 minutes. (If you make this in a 9x13 pan, double the whole thing, and cook for 45 minutes or until the top looks golden brown.)

So this dessert was really good served over ice-cream, but I didn't add enough cornstarch... and I cooked it until it was golden, but my crust was a little underdone - next time I'll cook it a little longer, and add more cornstarch. Then, I'm sure it will be perfect!

For the Cookie Dough Eaters in all of us...

Here's a recipe that doesn't need to be baked to enjoy!

1 c. butter
2 c. flour
1 tsp. baking soda
3/4 c. packed brown sugar
1 (3.5 oz) box instant vanilla (or chocolate) pudding
1/4 c. milk
1 tsp. vanilla extract
2 c. chocolate chips (or whatever you want to add in...)
1/3 c. baking cocoa (add only if you use chocolate pudding)

in a small bowl, combine four and baking soda (add cocoa here if you're using chocolate pudding) - set aside. In a large mixing bowl, cream butter and sugar until light in color; add dry pudding mix and combine well. Stir in vanilla extract and milk. Mix well. Add the flour/baking soda mixture to sugar/pudding mixture 1/2 c. at a time until combined. Stir in chocolate chips.

Enjoy eating this dough without worrying about eating raw eggs. Store in the refrigerator or freeze this dough in small scoops to eat whenever you get the urge for cookie dough. Perfect little snack. Works well in homemade cookie dough ice-cream...

* To make this into truffles... chill the dough; roll into 1-inch balls and freeze. Melt 2 c. chocolate chips with 1 T shortening in microwave or double boiler; dip frozen balls in melted chocolate and place on waxed paper to set up. Refrigerate leftovers (if there are any...)

Oh, to be two again...

and not know that to be the last one up the stairs and therefore the "rotten egg" is not a good thing. Margaret thinks it's the greatest thing in the world when she gets to be the "rotten egg". In fact, I have seen her jumping for joy at the prospect of being last! If only we could all be that good in the sportsmen like behavior area...

In other news, Margaret has progressed immensely in the whole "I can go to the bathroom in the toilet now" department. She still thinks she should get a piece of candy, but we're working to dispel that myth. After all, no one gives ME a piece of candy when I go to the bathroom! Hopefully soon, we'll be able to not worry about doing two loads of laundry every day just to keep the sheets dry...

LeGrand is growing rapidly. He still eats as though he is never going to eat again, but I am pleased that he's starting to chunk up. He still barely fits into the 0-3 month clothes, I've moved some of his outfits to the 3-6 month range... but his aim is impeccable when it comes to spitting up. He still manages to completely miss Andrew and does a great job of hitting me! (In public, he likes to keep my clothes clean and only spit up in places that it would be inconvenient and/or embarassing for me to clean...) Andrew thinks this is hilarious. I'm still looking for ALL the humor in being a mother...

More photos to follow later!

Why?

The dreaded Why? stage has begun...
Why?
Because you're two.
Why?

Some children never grow out of this stage... Case in point: Savannah.

Several months ago I was cleaning the toilet. I have discovered that sometimes, the only answer to a "why?" question is one that makes a child go... "I think I'll leave now before Mom blows up... that last answer was totally off the wall..." So Savannah is watching me as I clean the toilet, and she wants to know if she can scrub too. Normally, I would NOT turn down someone else volunteering to scrub the toilet, but since I had just put some lysol cleaner in to get rid of the hard water marks, I told her no. This is how the rest of the conversation went.

S: Why?
Mom: Because I don't want you to.
S: Why?
Mom: Because the cleaner I'm using isn't good for your hands.
S: Why?
Mom: Because it contains some chemicals that will hurt your hands, and I really should be wearing gloves when I clean the toilet.
S: Why don't you?
Mom: Because I don't have any gloves.
S: Well, why aren't you wearing some?
Mom: (totally frustrated at the turn this conversation is taking... "Because I want my hands to fall off!!!!!"

It was at that point, that Savannah simply looked at me and slowly backed out of the room... and she didn't bother me again.

Why???

Zazzle...

So I'm trying a new thing to get more of my photography out... I found a website that makes products and ships them within 24-hours. All I have to do is create the products! So... check out my little zazzle store at http://www.zazzle.com/stahrstruck feel free to pass the site along!

The girls...

So I thought I'd post this picture of the girls - it was taken the day we went to the park (for KFC and fun...) Margaret is saying "Cheese behind her hands - this is her method of making sure she get's heard... Savannah was trying to keep Margaret from going down the slide before I was ready for her to...

I love how our two girls love each other - in spite of the teasing and the torture that they put me through, at the end of the day, it's comforting and pleasing to hear them tell each other that they love each other before going to sleep. I can only pray that the love continues to grow and keeps strong as they turn into teenagers... after all, it's the love of a sister (or a brother) that helps to bind a family and make it stronger!

Just a side ramble...

So it's 80+ degrees outside, I've finally finished the peaches (32 quarts - if you count the quart that was eaten before it even made it to the hot water bath...), and I'm sitting here listening to Margaret singing, "Happy birthday... to you!!!" It's no one's birthday, but I'm sure it will segue into "A sunbeep" or "Tinkle Tinkle Yittle Stayr" relatively quickly.

LeGrand is asleep, and Savannah is outside reading "Dick and Jane". Interestingly enough, if I give Savannah a book, she is more likely to stay outside than if she has swings to play on - which she does, but she chooses to ignore them unless we have company over that she can play with. I have yet to figure out the whole logic behind that, but I'm not six any more, and therefore don't think like that. Personally, I like to think that I was a six year old who played on the swings... (I was going to say that I was a swinger, but it doesn't have the same meaning as what I wanted it to mean...)

On today's list of things to do... put the laundry away - and wash another load. Does anyone else hate laundry like I do??? Seriously - it's the one chore that I can't stand doing because it's never ever ever finished. As soon as I think I'm finished, someone takes clothes off and the whole process starts over again. It's no wonder that I'm prone to letting the clothes age on the floor before they get put away - they're just going to end up there! And I suppose, that's the same logic that Savannah tries to use when I ask her to make her bed... "It's just going to be slept in tonight mom!" Ah... the logic of it all.

A Quick Update...

Since I'm waiting for water to boil so that I can finish my peaches (75 lbs took a while to get ripe, and when they did... they were all ripe at the same time! So far I'm up to 24 quarts, with more left to fill), I thought I'd take a few minutes to update...

Today we're working on toilet training. So far, Margaret has managed to poop cherry pits into one pair of under britches, and wet three other pair. Apparently if you ask a child every 15 minutes if they need to go, the answer will be no. If, however, you wait five minutes, they will have already gone to the bathroom, and need a clean pair of under britches. I am SO not used to doing this - Savannah took care of things all by herself, and I didn't need to worry about the whole, "Do you have to go to the bathroom?" question every 10 minutes...

And that's the news from the house on the hill - where the men are out numbered, the kids are energetic, and the Mom is trying to keep up.

On Recovery and Other Such Nonsense...

Well - it's not really nonsense, this whole recovery thing. In fact, it's going rather well. For instance. On Thursday, we came home from the hospital. The girls both oooed and aaawed over LeGrand until it was well past their bedtime, and then then went to bed. LeGrand was up until maybe 11 PM, and then he, too, went to bed. Exhausted, Mom and Dad went to bed too. 4 hours later, Mom was up with LeGrand. And then another four hours later. But... at least I get some sleep, and I am NOT complaining.

Friday, we started the day out with breakfast at the church where 90% of the people were insistent that I should be home in bed... but they didn't really expect me to stay there! Then we went to barbecue at the Grandparents Stahr home. It was a lovely barbecue and the fireworks were hairraising for Mom, who kept wondering if Margaret was going to fall into the fire pit or catch her own hair on fire with the sparklers that she was flinging around. LeGrand didn't seem to mind the flinching that he was doing with each and every bang... Savannah, of course, LOVED the fireworks. It was well past midnight when we finally got the troops in bed.

Saturday, Andrew and Savannah picked, cleaned, and pitted cherries. I was lazy on the couch with LeGrand most of the day.

Sunday we went to church. Despite my telling Andrew on Saturday that I thought I had moved a bit too much and would most likely just want to stay for the first hour, I found that I felt wonderful, and stayed the entire meeting block. LeGrand slept for most of his first time at church - but that's o.k. there were others sleeping through most of church too! After church, we all slept - and I made 12 pints of Cherry jam. Building up the food storage one jar of jam at a time! (This now makes 12 pints of cherry jam, 18 pints of strawberry jam and 7 half pints of strawberry jam... at least we'll not lack sugar if we ever have a starving situation...)

Yesterday (Monday) the girls and I went grocery shopping, and I ordered 75 lbs of peaches for canning and jamming. We're starting them today.

And that's the update so far! I have discovered one important thing about LeGrand... he has two hollow legs. He started life with a double chin, and I'm convinced that he'll be roly-poly here very soon... the amount this kid eats, if it's true what they say about calories burned as a result of breast feeding, I'll be back to normal within two weeks without any physical exercise! Of course, I don't actually think that's possible, and have a good exercise program lined out, but this kid does eat a lot!!! The other thing I've learned about LeGrand... he hates having his diaper changed; and those "non-smelly" first few months worth of baby poop - aren't so "non-smelly" for him...

AND... I'm being summoned for the third meal of the past 20 minutes.

What a difference 2 pounds makes...

I looked to see if I have pictures of Savannah in her car seat the day that she came home... I don't. So all you can compare are pictures of LeGrand and of Margaret - LeGrand seems to fit in the seat a bit better than Margaret did! And he slept through being put into the seat... Oh well. Looks like the extra inches are a bonus too! It does appear, however, that both of the kids have open mouthitis... hopefully this isn't a sign of things to come...

Party like a Rock Stahr!!!

So the girls had a wonderful time at the beach with Grandma and Grandpa Stahr... they came home with a bit of an attitude - as you can see from Savannah's pose; she and Margaret have decided to become rock stars. Margaret even sings... "We will, we will... whop you!" Personally, I like that phrase a bit more than the original! The girls have come up with their own little rock star dance moves - none of which have ever been repeated twice.

We think the girls are both adorable in their little sun glasses - Margaret likes to wear hers to bed - Savannah can't find hers most of the time. Oh well. I have "put it down and can't find it-itis too."

Here HE Is!!!!!

Andrew and Linda are proud too announce the birth of LeGrand Johnson Stahr; born 1 july 2008 at 7:13 p.m. LeGrand weighed 8lbs 11 oz. and is 21.25 inches long. He loves his food, to be bundled, and to look around. (I know, you can't tell from any of these pictures that he loves to look around - he doesn't like the flash of the camera!)

His birth was quick - as in... Andrew almost didn't make it back from feeding the animals to see it... but Mother and baby are doing well and recovering nicely. Linda has decided to nickname LeGrand - "Bruiser" since he was a full two pounds heavier than either of the girls - and has earned it!

We love the fact that Savannah and Margaret are enamored with him, and we love the hair! He has longer hair than Andrew does! (Of course - that's only because Andrew just got his hair cut...) We're looking forward to many happy times with this little Bruiser! Personally... I'm glad he's on the outside now, and not kicking me in the ribs from the inside!!!

Family Home Entertainment

So a few weeks ago, we decided that we needed to take the girls on a picnic. We drove to KFC and got some of their really yummy chicken, then drove to the park where the girls had a blast playing. Turner isn't a very large town, and the park doesn't have swings or really much of anything, but it does have some great picnic tables and the slides were fun for the girls. They kept trying to get me to go down them, but I wasn't sure that I was ready to slide - especially since I was having a hard time breathing (due to a NASTY cold - and baby sitting on my ribs and kicking me whenever baby wanted to!)

Here are some pictures of the girls - just hanging around! Savannah has figured out how to do the monkey bars - and Margaret has decided that if Savannah can hang on something, so can she!

All Alone... And THOROUGHLY enjoying it!!!

We're all alone and not so lonely these last few and next few days... our little punkins are visiting Grandma and Grandpa Stahr and spending time at the beach! While I wouldn't mind going to the beach, I will admit that much has been accomplished here at the house with the girls gone... for example: I took an uninterrupted nap today; Andrew and I slept in yesterday; Saturday we sat around in 98 degree weather and then went out for dinner and went grocery shopping and went to get food for the hoglets and didn't even have to move car seats or find a babysitter!!!

The best part was that Sunday we rode the motorcycle to church and then to dinner at the Stahr's house. It was absolutely wonderful!!! And no, it didn't cause me to go into labor. Darn. I can't complain though, the weather was perfect on the way to dinner and home again - a little warm on the way there, and just a tad chilly in some spots on the way home because of the light rain, but I love riding with Andrew on his "bipe" (rhymes with pipe - if you ask Margaret), and wouldn't trade yesterday for anything.

I will freely admit that we got some mighty strange looks from people at church when they saw me riding behind Andrew - not too often you see an obviously pregnant woman riding a motorcycle; I simply told people: "drastic times... drastic measures." I do believe that this will be the last ride for a long time though - it's hard to fit three kids on a bike (and I wouldn't try)... and I think Andrew likes the solitude!

So the girls were dropped off at Grandpa and Grandma's house on Friday night... they have a swimming pool (kiddie size and collapsible) and it was warm enough that the girls went right in without waiting for swimming suits - and they will be there until Wednesday (unless we can convince them to stay a little longer...) On Friday, Margaret was in the swimming pool - completely naked since her diaper was bigger than she was because of the water, and Andrew noticed that she was blue around the lips and that her toes and fingers were starting to turn blue. "Do you want to get out?" He asked. "No" her mouth said... her head, on the other hand nodded. We let her play for just a few more minutes, then got her out and got her warm and in her pajamas. No sooner was she in her pajamas and dry than she headed over to the swimming pool... reaching for something inside the pool - Personally, I think she really just wanted to get back in the water - she leaned just far enough that the side fell in, and so did she. So much for clean, dry pajamas. Oh well. At least she likes the water and isn't afraid to play!

And now, since the girls are gone, I'm headed off to clean their room - or at least take the trash out before they get back and Savannah decides that the things I've thrown away aren't really trash! I'll post pictures of the new baby when the baby makes an appearance!

Nothing better than...

Waking up to hearing a two year old sing:

"Tinkle, Tinkle, yittle styar! How I ya ya what you ayar?" And then the remainder - in Margaret speak, which is getting better and easier to understand, but still not quite there.

There is also nothing better than hearing Margaret and Savannah tell each other that they love each other - or hearing the following conversation.

Margaret: "Mommy's home!!!" (this on my return from a Young Women's Activity, the girls were both in bed, but obviously NOT sleeping...)
Savannah: "I don't hear her..."
M: "She is! She is home! I see her!"
S: "She's not coming in here, we're in bed..."
M: "I get her."
S: "How?"
M: "Here, Mommy, mommy, mommy! Here, Mommy, mommy, mommy!"

I sat down I was laughing so hard... and no, I did NOT go in there. After all, I am NOT the cat...

Margaret has also named our rooster. His name is Rupert - mostly because that's what it sounds like when Margaret calls him... "Here Oooper, Oooper, Oooper!"

The girls are currently outside, and I am trying really hard to breathe through a congested nose and sore throat - probably a good thing the baby isn't on the outside yet, I'm sure a summer cold is the LAST thing that baby wants to start its outside life with. Andrew has said that he has never had a baby (never will, and never really wants to experience that - he'll leave that to the women...), but he can't imagine having a cold on top of being in labor. Really - HOW does one breathe through a contraction when one can't even breathe through normal life??? That's just misery on top of misery - according to Andrew. Personally, I'd rather have a kidney stone than try to breathe and not be able to and try to have a baby at the same time. But... I digress.

In other news, things are going well. We're as ready as we'll ever be for this baby (except that if it's a boy we're going to have to get a lot more things, since we have ONE outfit for a baby boy...) and we don't have diapers yet, but that will come. Andrew has work, and the girls are healthy. We are truly blessed. Andrew and I feel very strongly that our prayers have been answered quickly in the past few months, and for that, we are extremely grateful...

The Fastest Way to Gain 50 Pounds...

So several weeks ago, the young women in our ward did a fund raiser for Girl's Camp. One of the girls brought this cake to auction off, and I was lucky enough to get the recipe. I made it a few weeks later, and it has since been dubbed "The Best Cake I Have EVER Eaten" by Andrew. This is significant, since neither of us really are huge fans of cakes - most of them are too dry... but this one... it's definitely worth it!

HEATH BAR CAKE

1 chocolate cake mix (and everything you need to make it into cake...)
1 can Sweetened Condensed Milk
1 large package chocolate pudding
Hershey's Chocolate Syrup (NOT FUDGE SAUCE - or any other brand chocolate syrup...)
Caramel Sauce (the kind you would put on ice cream...)
Heath Bar Bits (or 4 Heath Bars broken into chunks...)
1 large tub Kool Whip

Make the cake as you normally would, except add the package of pudding and 1/4 c. extra water. Let cool for 10 minutes, then poke holes in the top of the cake with the end of a wooden spoon. Pour the can of sweetened condensed milk on top. Squirt chocolate syrup on top of that so that the cake is completely covered. Pour the entire jar of caramel sauce (I used an 8 oz jar) on top of the chocolate. Sprinkle the cake with Heath Bar bits. Refrigerate. Before serving, spread Kool Whip on the top as frosting, drizzle more chocolate syrup on top, and sprinkle with more Heath Bar Bits. Keep refrigerated.

There now. Have you gained your 50 pounds??? I think the first time I made this, I felt the poundage just packing on while I was putting all the toppings on!!! It's surprisingly NOT a heavy cake - not as rich as you might expect.

This recipe is, however, dedicated to my Dad - who was often (at least in my memory) one of my biggest critics when it came to cooking... And this is proof that I have moved beyond Hamburger Tator Tot Casserole ( although I do still make it on occasion...) Thanks to Dad for inspiring me to keep going even when I was frustrated at the recipe, and for allowing me to succeed (even when there were times that I KNOW he wanted me to move to another recipe!) and to fail because I have indeed learned from my mistakes. Someday, I'll be as talented a cook as Dad...

The dreaded days of summer...

Are finally here. Not that the weather has been dreaded, but Savannah was gloomier than Eeyore yesterday when I picked her up from school because she is all finished for the school year! I have NEVER seen a kid who didn't want to school to end - I think it's going to take some time for Savannah (and me) to adjust.

So we started the day by setting down some ground rules.

1. If it's sunny outside, the kids play outside ALL DAY LONG.
2. If it's rainy, there will be a craft or other project to do in the house.
3. There will be chores to do during the summer... bummer, I know, but some things never change.
4. Just because school is out, reading time doesn't end...
5. There will be no fighting with each other.

That final one ought to be interesting to see how it works - since Savannah and Margaret haven't had one-on-one all day time except on the weekends for a long time... but, I did let Savannah and Margaret know that should they choose to ignore the rules, a strict and long nap time would be enforced. (What they don't know, is that nap time is for me.......)

At any rate, I'm looking forward to a good summer with the girls (and whomever else we decide to add to the family). Andrew and I would like to go camping with the children, and there are a ton of other things to do with the girls that I would like to do - like picking strawberries to make jam and picking peaches to can and you name it... we'll probably think about doing it - except bungee jumping. Or sky diving... I don't know why ANYONE would jump out of a perfectly good airplane...

And now, I'm going to finish cleaning the house, since sitting for any period of time makes my feet swell up like balloons...

Long Awaited Photos of the House...

So this is the view of the house coming up from the freeway - at the end of our driveway.
This is what you might see if you were to drive by and look... Actually - if you're looking, this is exactly what you'll see today... the Rhodies are shedding their blossoms, and I didn't get the front weeded in time to get a photo of them in all their splendor, but there's always next year!









This is the house from the very bottom of the driveway - as if you were pulling in to the first driveway you come to. Our driveway wraps around the house, making it nice for trailers and other such items... and really nice for parking!

And this is the western view of the house. Because it is in the shade a lot more, you can actually see the Rhodies! (And that cutie in blue is Margaret... she skips everywhere she goes.)

The property...

This is the view from the back fence of the property (I spared all of you the picture of the trailer full of Cow Manure and Pig Scat...) you can see part of our garden - not the corn part, that would have involved the manure photo... but the house, the canning shed, the garage, and the swingset are all here!
This is looking towards the pasture... doesn't that fence look GREAT?! Andrew put it up all by himself. The little "pig-loo" there has three little piggies in it. We're good, unless they start building their own houses...
This is towards the south of our property. The Christmas Trees mark the edge of our land.
This is the view from the Canning Shed window... I'm so sad that I'll have to see this for the rest of the time we live here...! And I'm totally just kidding!!!

Not tagged, but...

Since very few have seen the house on such a gorgeous day, I decided to "tag myself" from my sister's blog and give you views from the front door, the sun porch door, and the side door. Don't worry, I'll also post pictures of the actual house for those who haven't ever been here, or who haven't seen the property!!!


So this is from the front door - the neighbor's house and her aunt's hay field... Not a bad view - the traffic is horrendous from 6-8 AM, and from 5-7 PM, other than that... it's a quiet little street!
This is from the sun porch. Unfortunately, it's a little hazy out towards Mt. Jefferson. The tall trees towards the front of the picture (before the orchard) mark the Eastern edge of our property.
And this is from the side door. Those tall trees are on our property - they keep the sun out in the summer, and the wind out in the winter. I was trying to get a picture of Rupert (the rooster) but he wasn't cooperating.

Freeze Tag, Anyone?

Since I was tagged a bazillion months ago, I thought I'd come out of the freeze and finally respond... Thanks to Charity for the "re-tag" via her blog!

The following are my ABC's:
A- Attached or single: Attached
B- Best Friend(s): Andrew, my kids, Amy Tuttle, Wendy Banner, and many more...
C- Cake or Pie: Pie, unless it's Death By Chocolate cake made by Wendy Wilson or Heath Bar Cake... YUMMM
D- Day of Choice: Sunday
E- Essential Item: My Camera
F- Favorite Color: Red
G- Gummi Bears or Worms: GROSS!! Nothing gummi for me!
H- Hometown: Wasilla, Alaska
I -Indulgence(s): Very Heavy Snowstorms in a Cup from Dairy Queen
J- January or July: July
K-Kids: Savannah, Margaret, and ?????
L-Life is incomplete without: Answered Prayers
M- Marriage Date: 23 April 2005
N- Number of Siblings: 6- Michelle, Charity, Patience, Justin, Brittany and Ian
O- Oranges or Apples: Oranges... unless they're the Honey Crisp variety or Granny Smith with Caramel...
P- Phobias or Fears: Failure
Q- Quote(s): Set yourself on fire with the Spirit of the Lord, and People will come to watch you burn!!!
R- Reason To Smile: Margaret and Savannah!
S- Season: Summer... I love the heat, and Winter... I love the wood stove!
T- Tag Six: Whoever reads this
U- Unknown Fact About Me: I love Crayola Crayons (and yes, I am picky about my brand of crayons...)
V- Vegetarian or Oppressor of Animal: Is Omnivore one of the choices? Because for me, nothing beats a great steak, but then again, there are days when all I want are vegetables...
W- Worst Habit: not folding the laundry as soon as it's finished - letting it age on the floor...
X- X-Rays or Ultrasounds: Neither. The less time I spend in any sort of doctor's office, the better!
Y- Your Favorite Food: Russian, Thai, or Fried Chicken with Rice and gravy.
Z- Zodiac sign- Virgo

On Sisters and Family...

So I was reading the blogs of my siblings (and Andrew's too, for that matter), and realized how profound and thought provoking some of their blogs are. And here I'm telling the world about nearly burning the house down!!! Anyway - I just started thinking about the things that I'm doing in comparison to the things that they're doing - and I think we're all doing fabulously, by the way, but I was inspired by some of the things that they're doing...

So, Charity - in response to the "unnecessaries..." Here's what I've cut out...

1. Unnecessary use of electricity. Call me crazy, but I am partway NOT looking forward to the return of the heat, because it will mean that I won't get to cook on my wood stove anymore, and I really like that... on the other hand, I will be barbecuing a lot more... hmmmmmmmmmm... I wonder which I'll like the best??? As for baking, we do have an oven, and it made a most delicious pizza last night. The other reason for the wood stove and the barbecue is that I really sort of despize my glass top stove.
2. Whole Milk. This is a hard one for me. I LOVE whole milk. The problem is that my pocketbook doesn't, and when I buy milk, it's a lot easier on me to just get 4 gallons of one kind, since that's what we go through in a week anyway.
3. Some who have visited for longer than a day have made the claim that we've cut out heat to our home... I'd like to take a few seconds to put this rumor to rest. We have, in fact, only cut out the wood stove that DIDN'T heat the house, causing those who've visited to be very uncomfortable (sorry, Justin and Melissa, Ian and Christen, Mom and Dad...) and have, instead, added a new wood stove that heats the house very well, thank you very much. So... for those of you having reservations about visiting because you're afraid that you'll freeze to death - just bring extra sweaters, and we'll leave the wood stove on for you!

And then again, there are days when I'd really like to cut out the house cleaning, the gas bill, the grocery bill, and the odd day that I'd like to cut out the children... but none of those are dispensable at this point in time. Ask me again when I'm dead... :)

Gallery Photos

Some of you know that I was invited to put some pictures in a Doctor's office to sell - kind of a gallery setting... I thought I'd share to see what you all think! Check out the new poll - let me know which is your favorite!





O.K. Since these didn't come out on the blog like I thought they were... they are:
The butterfly is called "First Flight"
The sea anemone is called "Not Anemone, A Friend"
The Peter Eiredale is called "The Wreck", and finally the tree scene is called "The View From the Living Room Window."

Let me know what you think!

Whoda thunk it?

So today is June 3rd. As of YESTERDAY, we still have a fire burning in our wood stove. This is NOT supposed to be fire season... Oh well. We have discovered (o.k., so it was mostly ME who made the discovery) that if you let the chimney get really hot, it breaks out in flames...

Thursday, May 22, I started a chimney fire. I didn't do it on purpose, although I did tell Savannah that we were trying to remodel, and I didn't want to go through the whole tear down phase, that it would be easier to just start from the ground up... she didn't believe me. Before I get too far into the story, I should let everyone know that we had no damage to the house, and that there was no smoke inside the house, but it was an adventure.

We had plans to go to Costco for a cheap dinner and a few other food items that we needed... unfortunately, I left the car in "on" position, and the battery died. This particular battery was old enough that we couldn't get it to jump, so we bagged the costco idea, and Andrew left to get a new battery. Meanwhile, I went back into the house and opened up both dampers on the woodstove so that I could get it hot enough to cook on. (yes, we are a bit old fashioned, but I wouldn't trade our energy bill for ANYTHING!) Pork Chops cooking well, I'm reading a book, and the kids are watching Brother Bear. Then Andrew came home.

The first I knew he was home, he came running into the house and shut the stove down, then ran back out of the house - leaving me wondering if he wasn't hungry... not two minutes later, he came running BACK in the house and told me that we had a fire. It took mere seconds for me to erase the "duh - it's in the woodstove" thought out of my head and realize that we had a chimney fire. So... thinking that the fire department needed something to do on a Thursday night, we called them. You have to know - at this point - that we live on a busy street. At the top of a hill, no less, so not only did the fire department from Turner arrive, they brought their own traffic control, the paramedics, the fire chief's truck, AND to make things even better, the fire department from neighboring Jefferson ALSO came. Apparently they didn't have anything to do either. Needless to say, the neighbors had a bit of entertainment, and we had the fire department as guests for the next 2.5 hours.

All ended up well... The porkchops ended up in the trash, and we had Costco for dinner after all. Andrew and I decided that we're NOT doing that again. As nice as it was to know that the fire department is really prompt, we don't need to get to know them THAT well. Especially since the fire chief's kids are school friends of Savannah's, and his wife is the president of the PTO. We'll stick to other ways of involving ourselves in the community.

My whole point to this entry was that it's JUNE, for crying out loud! We SHOULDN'T have a fire in the woodstove! But... we do, and it's keeping the house nice and toasty, thank you very much.

GREAT NEWS!!!

We FINALLY have high speed internet access at the house. Which is why, within a matter of minutes, there were 7 new photos of the girls on the blog! We'll be able to put pictures of a new baby on also - as soon as baby chooses to make his or her presence known. (well... i'm pretty aware of the fact that it's there - comfortable sleep is virtually impossible, and I look like I swallowed a rather large beach ball and then blew it up... but hey - we like the end results, so we're not complaining!)

In other news - Andrew and I are doing well. Spring is in full bloom here with the flowers out like there is no tomorrow - the roses are starting to really blossom, and the rhodies are having a hey day with their blooms. I'll post a picture of the house when I get the weeds out from in front of the stairs so that it looks like the manicured house it should.

Savannah has two more weeks of school - still not sure what we're going to do for the summer, but I won't be working, so perhaps we'll have a lot more fun playing and barbecuing and other such summer stuff. And I'm personally hoping for some warm weather here really soon...

Margaret has learned to get out of her bed - and last night came downstairs completely dressed again - I'm sure she thought that if she were dressed we wouldn't send her back to bed... boy was she wrong! Back in the pajamas, and back in the bed.

More news later! I have a house to clean before Andrew and I go out for a night on the town! (Any bets who will bet the better miniature golfer??? - if you put money on it, put money on Andrew, he's beaten me every time we've ever gone!) Love to all!

Margaret's first haircut...

This is Margaret with bangs... her first comment after getting her hair cut was... "NANA! I see you!!!" I guess I hadn't realized how much she couldn't see...
this is the "I don't want to have my picture taken" pose... after the long bath.
Savannah and Margaret - as previously mentioned that Savannah loves to have her picture taken... i couldn't get Margaret alone. Oh well... Good thing they're both cute kids!

Photos of the kidlets in the top of the Garage

This is Margaret - I asked her to put her hands on the side of her face... this is what she did. Of course, she also didn't want to be up there at the time.
Savannah and Margaret...
Margaret - she had just gotten out of the bathtub - an event that lasted for an hour and a half - Never have I seen such pruny skin! It took her longer than that to get her skin back to normal! So this is the photo that she posed for... just before we cut her bangs.
Savannah - the little poser when it comes to pictures! She loves to have her picture taken, and posed with NO problems when I asked her to.

Been a while???

It's been a LONG while since I posted anything to the blog - but... here's the most recent of updates!

Still no internet access at the house, and it's not easy for me to get pictures loaded from the library. Just know that the kids are still cute, Andrew is still handsome, and I've grown a basketball on my front.

Life is good in the Stahr home - Andrew is currently building me a canning kitchen on the cement pad that used to hold our hot tub (we never used the hot tub anyway, I'm sure I'll use the kitchen a lot more!), and it's incredible. I am increasingly more grateful for a talented husband! He has also taken the time to tear a wall out of one of our upstairs bedrooms (it wasn't being used, and walls are overrated anyway...). Having a house built in 1922 does get one's curiosity up on occasion, and Andrew wanted to know if we had insulation. We don't. But then - anyone who visited us this winter probably would have be money on that one and done fairly well... We have found some really interesting things - such as massive ancient beehives (or wasps nests, we don't know) and some old letters stuffed around the windows with such fun dates as July 7, 1932... we haven't read the letters yet, and are still hoping to find the sheets of uncut $100 bills that may have been used to line the walls... of course, the money is purely fictious, but we can always dream, can't we???

Savannah is loving school. Her reading skills have improved immensely - she loves to find new things that she can read, and is rapidly gaining confidence. With the change in the weather, her new favorite thing to do is to play outside... a blessing for MOM!!! She is a good sister to help Margaret on the swings (Margaret's favorite thing to do...), and loves to dig in the dirt. Last Saturday we had some incredible weather (the view from the house was awesome...), and I made a deal with Savannah that if she would play outside ALL day, she wouldn't have to clean her room. She took me up on the offer, and as hard as it was for ME to be inside cleaning, I cleaned her room.

Margaret just had her first haircut. Her response was, "NANA!!! I SEE YOU!!!!". Should have been a clue to me that the bangs were bothering her. At any rate, she can see now. We miss the cute hair that she had, and she looks a lot more grown up than I was really ready for, but at least she likes it! And, she's still cute. Her favorite things to do are to swing (she seems to think that she can swing on the swings no matter the weather - or how she's dressed...), eat grapes and cheerios (she's figured out how to open the refrigerator), and play with the toys. She's in massive denial about a new baby in the house, but will get used to the idea once baby comes.

As for me... Life is exciting. Baby is due on 7 July, and we're waiting to be surprised on gender. I've been feeling great (except when I stand with my hands over my head... low blood pressure - I have a tendency to pass out if I do that too frequently. The Dr. did tell me that if I pass out, at least it's a self correcting problem!). The other big news is that I was invited to hang some of my photography in a doctor's office in downtown portland (118 N Killingsworth), so I've been trying to get just the right pictures. It's been an adventure!

At any rate, I have three minutes before the computer kicks me off again... so, until next time...

TTFN!