The latest and greatest...

Since I'm sitting in the office freezing my socks off, and I have a few minutes while LJ sleeps... thought I'd put a little update in. For the record, the only reason I'm freezing my socks off is because it's wicked cold outside and has been snowing all morning. That and the fact that the windows in this room are 80 years old and let in all of the cold! (and it's around the corner from the wood stove, and apparently, heat doesn't travel as well around corners.)

That being said, all is well in Stahrville. Andrew is working 60 hour weeks at the temple, I am working 40 hour weeks at the same location. The only days we actually see each other for more than 45 minutes is Monday (when I am apparently a distraction at work - and yes, I'm flattered... Still.) since we both work at the same time and in the same location - I mean, building... and Sunday when we get to spend ALL day with each other! Saturdays we do get a little more time together, but we're both so tired from everything that's happened during the week that our date night Saturday went something like this:
A nice, romantic dance in the living room; Ordered in Chinese Food that Andrew went to go pick up; and then we snuggled on the couch to watch "Night at the Museum" and barely made it through the credits. I think I remember the first night's worth of work. We woke up when LJ started crying and needed some more food to fill his hollow leg.

We are, however, NOT complaining. I'd rather have Andrew working and being tired than not working at all. And it's good work that has possibilities. He's learning a lot about commercial work and even though it's something he's never really done before, he's a good hard worker, and that part of it shows.

As for the kiddos... LJ has now TWO teeth and is extremely mobile. He's working on the letting go part of standing up. I'm still not ready for this. He loves food of all sorts, and is mastering the art of eating green beans all by himself. So far, he's doing fairly well. He loves bread (thanks to Patience for the whole wheat bread recipe that really is quite tasty...) and just about everything else he can fit into his mouth.

Margaret is still going by her alter-ego "Sweetie Pie" and gets rather irate if you try to call her anything else. She tolerates "Margaret", but if you ask her what her name is she'll insist that it's "Wheatie Pie". And she's mourning the loss of her hair from her Christmas Hair cut. Even though I feel like I totally butchered that cut, it's the one that gets the most cute comments... She's now three, and still very into the dolls and Barbie phase. Her name for me is "Honey."

Savannah is doing marvelously at school. She is very into making and decorating cards for her friends and picking on Margaret. She is, however, getting better at NOT picking on Margaret and instead is moving towards teaching Margaret how do make and decorate things also. She loves to help me in the kitchen, and is a handy person to have around when my hands are covered in flour. I think this year will be spent in teaching Savannah some of the basics of easy cooking... She's lost at least 6 teeth and is still waiting for most of them to come back. She is getting better at Reading, although she's still not as enthusiastic about it as I am (or was... still trying to figure that one out...) but whatever enthusiasm Savannah lacks for reading, she more than makes up for in her love of Math. (again... still trying to figure that one out - but she has inspired me to do a little better at the mental math. We add numbers on license plates to see who can get the answer the fastest.)

And that's the latest... I'll get some pictures posted one of these times - they're sitting on the camera right behind the computer - but I'm low on energy. Ask me about pictures next month...

Not ready for this yet...

So I am for sure not going to leave the kids with Andrew all day again. Don't get me wrong - he's a WONDERFUL father, and does a great job with the kids... HOWEVER - he teaches them things that I don't want them to do! Good things, but things I'm just not ready for yet.

Prime example: Two weeks ago, I came home from work to find that Andrew had taken LeGrand's pajamas off and he had discovered traction on our wood floor. He was crawling. And now, it makes no difference what he's wearing, he's figured out how to get around without worrying about the traction.

Today - I came home to find that Andrew had taught LeGrand a NEW trick. He now goes UP the stairs. We stay behind him so that he doesn't fall, but again... something I was NOT ready for him to learn. After all - the little guy is still in his sixth month of age! The girls weren't crawling until seven months; I'm pretty certain that it was closer to ten months when they decided to learn the stairs.

Add to the adventure of the stairs and crawling, I caught LeGrand climbing onto a box yesterday. May I say again... NOT READY FOR THIS!!!!!!!!!! I thought for sure I'd have a few more months to not worry about what he's getting into. I should really stop thinking.

And that other tooth? It's broken through. I wasn't ready for teeth yet either. He's such a little smarty pants. Next week I'm expecting him to be running. Possibly teaching a class at the local university. At the rate he's going, I wouldn't be surprised if he was standing on his own. He is pulling himself up onto things and standing there very well - if only he'd slow down a little bit. I'd be perfectly O.K. with that, I must admit.

As for the other children - Margaret is still a "wheatie pie", but now she's also a little Einstein. Savannah is getting marvelous grades in school and still loves it - although she has asked me when spring break is. I'm not sure if she's trying to get out of school, or if she thinks that we'll go somewhere during spring break.

In other - and more positive news - Andrew will be working at the Portland Oregon Temple during the closure. And so will I. We're trying to figure out what we'll do with the young ones during the possible overlap (and if there's not an overlap, we're trying to figure out when we're going to see each other over the three weeks of shutdown). Me, I'm just glad that he has work. Thank you for your continued prayers for and in our behalf.

Now to answer Patience's questions: During the ice storm, we had wind and the weight of the ice break multiple branches off of our gorgeous trees that line the driveway. They littered the driveway to the point that we couldn't use the majority of the driveway. They are now sitting on the burn pile waiting for us to be able to burn them. That's first. Second, I'm wishing that life could slow down a little too.

I do want to mention quickly how pleased I am that our children are so willing to help... Andrew and I took the family to the church tonight for Family Home Entertainment. We cleaned the building (mostly the bathrooms - which were stinky... and the chapel and the dirty drinking fountains), and the girls were such good helpers! Margaret and Savannah both just tagged along with us as we cleaned. I have memories of going with my family to clean the chapel - I'm almost embarassed to admit that I probably wasn't the greatest of helpers; certainly I was NOT as enthusiastic as my children were to help this evening. I'm sorry Mom and Dad... I'll do better next time.

And that's the news from Farm Stahronthehill... Where all the women are strong, all the men are good looking, and all the children are above average. And this particular Mom just wants the baby to stay the baby for a little longer.

What have we been up to???

Well... that's a loaded question! Since the last post that had any relevant information in it, we've had three holidays and a birthday. No one has gotten married or had any babies, (not in this family at least), and we all survived being without all of our power for a week.

That being said, perhaps I should start at the beginning.

After Thanksgiving, the computer (not so fondly named "The Beast) decided that it was done working, and didn't want to work any more. And it promptly turned itself off, and clicked at us when we decided that we wanted to make it work. Fearing the worst and that we had a hard-drive issue, nothing was done. After all, it does take some amount of the budget to make things like that work - and the budget wasn't allowing. So... we went of line. Strangely, I didn't miss it as much as I thought it would. It was terribly inconvenient, but I didn't miss the hours spent checking e-mail and surfing the news on the internet. I did miss not being able to update news of our family and/or checking to see what the rest of my family and friends were doing, but... I found I had a lot more time to do other things. Odd how that works, isn't it?

Then came December. While I hate to admit it, Christmas kind of snuck up on us. We did, however, have the Christmas tree BEFORE the night before Christmas. It sat on the porch for a week. Part of that week, it was literally frozen to the porch. We brought it in to thaw it out, and it was decorated on Christmas Eve. (Ian and Christen, where were you???) Now... lest the rest of you think odd thoughts such as "I know the inside of the house is cold (it really isn't), now they're cooling the outside too?" Turner had a major ice-storm. In fact, the trees that normally stand tall and proud, were hanging limp and not so proud. One of them did us the honor of bringing down our power line too. But, only partially so that we still had enough power to run the refrigerator and the freezer. Don't try turning on the toaster or any other appliance or turn on three lights though, try that and you'll lose power to the TV or whatever else you're needing power to. We are grateful that although we couldn't flush the toilet or shower or wash our hands or wash our dishes or do our laundry, we didn't lose the meat in our freezer. And we are greatful that Andrew's siblings all came for Christmas, therefore giving us a really great excuse (not that we look for excuses, mind you) to spend multiple days and nights at his parent's house. (Thanks for the room...) We are also extremely grateful and thankful for the wood stove that kept our house warm... when we were here.

Andrew's birthday was a formal affair - all of his siblings and their respective spouses and his parents came for a formal dinner - all dressed up too! A huge thank you to Dad and Doug and Matt for coming early and helping with the mess that used to be our trees...

January 1st, the children went to new primary classes - Savannah to CTR 8 (she's looking forward to having Grandpa or Grandpa or Dad baptize her (it changes every time you ask her - and we're thinking that we'll just let Dad do the honors; we do, however, have 11 months to figure that all out.), Margaret is still in Nursery, but she's the oldest in her class - she'll be three in two weeks. Margaret has decided, for those who HAVEN'T heard, that her name is no longer going to be Margaret. She is "Wheatie Pie" to anyone to will listen. (Rough translation: Sweetie Pie) We're not sure where she picked that up, but since she is indeed adorable (all of the kids are...), we're going with the flow. We still call her Margaret, but reverting to Sweetie Pie works well when she's studiously ignoring us. I think it's a defense mechanism. Pick a new name and only respond to it and no other name. A great thought if you don't tell other people what your new name is...

LeGrand is just moving way too fast for my own desires. He started doing the "Army Crawl" sometime in mid December, getting very frustrated because he couldn't really go anywhere... and then, discovered exactly why. Mom kept leaving those nasty socks and long pajamas on! Cover the toes and the knees on a wood floor, and it's nigh impossible to get traction. Leave it to Dad to help figure that part out while Mom is at work. And now, he's decided that he doesn't need to have naked knees to move forward. He's bound and determined to go places. AND - to make things a little more interesting around here, He's in the process of cutting his SECOND tooth. I wasn't ready for either event. That being said, at least he's a huge fan of solid food. His favorites being fruits and smashed potatoes. Not always separate.

Oh yeah... and did I mention SLEDDING?? Margaret is a huge fan. Savannah too - but since we were sledding in the near dark, those pictures didn't turn out. Thanks to the "ARCTIC BLAST 2008", we had a marvelous WHITE Christmas and snow enough for sledding at least twice. What a marvelous time.

And now... I think that just about catches us up.

We're BAAAACK!!!

Thanks to Best Buy, a gross overpayment of some truly terrible auto insurance (and I'm not kidding about the terrible part... by which I do NOT mean that the insurance was good, as sometimes the words nowadays mean the opposite of what they actually mean...), and sheer desperation.



And that brings me back to the original point of this post. We're back on line. And had a wonderful Christmas holiday and marvelous December; and, while January has been a little stressful, it has indeed been good. We are truly blessed in all that we have and do.

Pictures and commentary to follow. For now, I'm going back to cleaning the kitchen and trying to figure out why our "sick" children are staying home from church when they're bouncing around the house so well. I think I'm the sick one - after all, I AM the one without energy... Oh well. I actually feel GRAND - despite the lack of energy. Wait... is it energy, or motivation? I'll let you figure that out...

Been a while???

Yes, indeed, it has. And don't hold your breath for thinking that there will be more frequent posts for another while. Our computer has crashed. We're hoping it's just an electrical problem with that room of the house, since the light decided it didnt' want to work. Bulb works wonderfully. Light doesn't. So... here's a quick 5 minute update.

In addition to getting ready for and celebrating Thanksgiving, having a successful open house and another successful enrichment and still ANOTHER successful bazaar and now getting ready for Christmas (not ready yet...)... The Portland and Salem areas of Oregon are experiencing a wonderfully white week. Not sure if it's going to be white for Christmas, but here's to dreaming...

We've had snow all week. I LOVE IT! I even like that our school district didn't keep our kids home from school all week like other districts did. Our kids had a 2-hour delay every day, but they still had school.

And now we're getting ready to celebrate my favorite time of the year... the season where we celebrate the Birth of Christ. I love this time of the year. Even when there isn't snow. Granted, snow makes it that much better, but for now... I revel in the thought of Christ.

May this new coming year bring all the blessings we need. And... lest I forget... Here's to hoping that we have a white Christmas!

Breathing Room

I've fallen off the earth. At least that's what it felt like this past week.

Crazy me, I decided to do a private craft bazaar here at the house. And I started mostly from scratch. Then, one thing after another, and the funds that I was planning on using to get materials went to something else, and I finally got started on my crafty adventure on MONDAY. So... my week was filled with fudge making, jam making, vinyl board making, vinyl block making, photo card making, no house cleaning, no laundry cleaning and very little dinner making. Add to that a 5-6 hour shift at the temple cleaning, and I was busy. Sometime in the middle of all that mess, my sister called to ask if I would put together a PowerPoint presentation on Ukraine, someone else called to ask if I would sing in church on 30 November, someone ELSE called to see if I would play my violin for TWO different events, and I'm in the middle of planning for Enrichment on 2 December. AND, I'm sure there's something else I've agreed to that I can't remember. I think my brain died.

On the plus side, the open house was well attended (despite the fact that there was poor visibility due to fog AND a baptism in our ward...) and I had a great time. I don't remember much of it except the Christmas Punch (no, there was nothing in the punch that shouldn't be in the punch - it was very non-alcoholic...), but since I fell asleep on the couch, I'm assuming that I had a good time.

Oh yeah. I finally got my web site up and running. You can have your own private showing of some of the things that I sell by going to Linda Stahr Creations. Enjoy!

AND... here are a few photos of LeGrand and Margaret... and me. My friend, Kristin Bell took the pictures, I think they're fabulous.

LeGrand's Latest...

LeGrand has a new trick. His new favorite thing is both endearing and frustrating. Endearing because he just gets such a kick out of it; frustrating because he likes to perform when I'm trying to change his diaper.

Two weeks ago, LeGrand started rolling. Not just the "I'm a little off balance and this is the only way I can be balanced again" rolling, but the actual "I can reach it if I just twist my body and... come on bum! It's time to move!" rolling over. And he likes to roll over after he gets his diaper off. But... who can resist the smile and giggles when he's done? Of course - he thinks it's a game that Mom will roll him BACK over and smile and giggle at him... I'm not helping, am I.

In other news, LeGrand tipped the Wii scales last night at 15.2 lbs... Mom tipped them at much higher. (No, we don't have a Wii. Wii want a Wii...) He is a staggering 28 inches tall. Pretty soon, he's going to be taller than Margaret... He wears anything from 6 months to 12 months - depending on the brand. He's growing faster than I think I want him to.

How long would YOU last?!

I'm always looking (even though I really shouldn't be) for new ways to waste time. Some of them take mere seconds from my busy day, others take hours and should just be thrown away. As I was browsing (or stalking if you prefer) blogs, I found this excellent time waster. My friend in Alaska writes an awesome blog, Scribbit, and I found this waster there. This is for all of you who can jump high, run fast, beat things up, or run away as fast as you can. Good luck.

I could survive for 54 seconds chained to a bunk bed with a velociraptor

Created by Bunk Beds.net

Tag... I'm taking it.

So my sister, Patience, who has a great blog (Mastny Family) tagged me. Actually, she tagged anyone who reads her blog because she wants to know more about anyone who reads her blog. Since I'm not sure what she knows about me, I'm responding. Who knows. Maybe you'll find something out about me too! Maybe I'll find something out about me...

First (she was tagged twice, therefore I get two tags to respond to...): Six random things about me.

This is probably the hardest, since other people can probably give random facts about me better than I can give random facts about me... but here goes.

1. I've been to the top of Mt. Whitney, highest point in the contiguous United States. It took me roughly 12 hours to the top and back again. I'd do it again if I had the chance.
2. I stubbed my toe really hard about 6 weeks ago, and I'm STILL waiting for the toenail to fall off. It's a really pretty purple color still...
3. I like living on a farm and eating by lamplight and heating (and cooking on) a wood stove. I don't ever want to watch during the slaughter process though - it sounds really gross.
4. I buy ALL my shoes from the kids section when I buy new shoes -they're cheaper, and I get more comments on how cute they are (maybe I should avoid the velcro and princess shoes...).
5. I buy almost all of my kids' clothes at Goodwill or DI or another thrift store.
6. One of my favorite things to do is grocery shop. I could spend HOURS there - when I don't have my children with me...

And now - the second tag. It's a question and answer thing... and you'll get to know more about Andrew too... we'll see how well I know my spouse...

Q: Where did you meet your husband? At a barbecue that a friend of mine was hosting.

Q: How long did you date before you were married? We dated for 6.5 months. Apparently short dating and engagements run in our family.

Q: How long have you been married? 3.5 years

Q: What does he do that surprises you? Yesterday, he dunked one of LeGrand's diapers. And he also told me that he would do the laundry. (We use cloth diapers - to alleviate any confusion on why Andrew would be dunking a diaper that we were going to throw away anyway...)

Q: What is your favorite feature of his? I love that he's a good, hard worker. Plus, he's "handy with a hammer" (That's what Savannah claims - and it's true!)

Q: What is your favorite quality he has? Andrew has the ability to do whatever he wants to do - and do it well. He built a fence and roofed a canning kitchen and slaughtered a hog - all things that he wasn't raised doing...

Q: Does he have a nickname for you? Well... up until last Friday, he just called me Linda. Last Friday my name became Mud when I put a hole in the side of his truck hitting the mailbox - almost immediately after he told me NOT to wreck the truck. I'm hoping to make the transition BACK to Linda soon. Actually - he still calls me Linda, but I sure felt like my name ought to be MUD!

Q: What is his favorite food? Mexican. Although we have had Chinese take out more than twice in the past three months...

Q: What is his favorite sport? Andrew doesn't really have a favorite sport. He likes to watch the playoffs of just about everything (although I've never seen him sit down to watch bowling or golf or rouchambeaux...)

Q: When and where was your first kiss? On the doorstep of my apartment on our third (I think) date.

Q: What is your favorite thing to do as a couple? One of the things we like to do is have very heavy snowstorms in a cup from Dairy Queen, more than anything though, we just like spending time together.

Q: Do you have children? We have rechargable batteries. Three of them. They don't sleep - they recharge.

Q: Does he have any hidden talents? Andrew makes really good omelets and fabulous breakfasts!

Q: How old is he? He'll be 30 on December 29.

Q: What is his favorite type of music? Some good, old fashioned Hank Junior! Or other old country music. He also likes Frank Sinatra. I know - not the most likely combination.

Q: What do you most admire about him? His ability to hold our family together when the going is tough.

Q: Who said "I love you" first? I did. On accident. I was talking to him on the phone, and when we hung up, I said, "O.K. I'll talk to you later. Love you. Bye." Kind of like I do when talking to my Mom. It was a habit that I just have never broken. After I hung up the phone and realized what I'd said, Andrew called me back to verify what I'd said. And I realized that I did, in fact, mean it.

Q: Will he read this? Probably not. There are no pictures. Andrew likes to see the pictures and doesn't really care what it says.

And lookie there. I answered all the questions without having to consult Andrew! I hope I got them all right!...

It's the Great Pumpkin! RRRRRUUUUUUUNNNNNNNNNN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Or at least get a really great scared face.

I haven't decided if it's the thought of being left in with all those pumpkins that terrifies LeGrand; if it's the color ORANGE; if his feet are cold, or if The Great Pumpkin is coming, and he doesn't look good...

At any rate, this picture makes me laugh. Hard. I shouldn't laugh at my son's apparent terror... I just tell myself it's the picture I'm laughing at - not the terror.

Pumpkins, Pumpkins - Everywhere!

Yesterday, I took LeGrand and Margaret to a pumpkin patch. I had ulterior motives. The obvious first being that I wanted to buy some pumpkins, and I didn't want to go to the store to do that. Pumpkins were $1.00 each. Any size, all for a buck. I bought 10. I'm going back today to buy another 26. NOT that I need that many pumpkins, but while at work at the temple, we were discussing what we'd done during the day, and my excursion to the pumpkin farm came up. I'm getting pumpkins for everyone so that they can do their own carving. I draw the line at sticking my hand into someone elses pumpkin goo. Works well for me, I end up with 26 ones... and the vending machines only take ones... Yay me!

The second reason we went is because I finally decided it was time to get my picture get taken. No, you won't find those shots today - my friend Kristen (not my friend Kristen in MO) took the pictures, and she's going to get them to me later. You'll find my pictures here probably sometime next week. And I wanted to take some pictures of Margaret and LeGrand.

It was a happy time... most of the time.

Margaret loved climbing on the massive pile of pumpkins - LeGrand wasn't so sure about the whole thing. Margaret was intrigued by the fact that her feet kept getting stuck. "Mom! I am tuck! My peet are tuck!!!"

Oh, to be two again and not worry about squishing the squash... And LOOK! It's that ever elusive when the camera comes on smile from Margaret!

Deep Freeze

Not much exciting has happened. EXCEPT for the fact that we've finally got a chest freezer. And yes, if I were to be crazy enough to stick my chest in it, it would freeze. I think I finally feel like an adult. When I was a kid, I thought that you had to have a super huge freezer in order to be a great adult. Now that I have one, I'm certain that it's not the case. Having a freezer just makes for more room for ice cream. Which we currently don't have any of. What a shame. I'll have to fix that. Soon.

Instead, this wonderful freezer that we have came from Sears and had to be special ordered. Yes, it's special. The thing gets down to -10! So if ever I really miss those cold winter days in Alaska, I'll just go climb into the freezer and ask someone to moniter the door until I want to get out.

What else do I find wonderful about this freezer? Well... not only does it have three baskets that hang on the top to put Sausage and Bacon, Beef Steaks, and Hamburger in; it has dividers that divide up the bottom of the freezer into either squares or rectangles - to suite our needs. It makes organizing extremely easy. No more of the digging and freezing your little toosh off just to get that last package of bacon! Now, the bacon is in its own little basket - shared only with sausage...

I am in food storage heaven.

Pressing Matters...

Did I say matters? I meant APPLES!

So, for the past few weeks I have been up to my eyeballs in various sorts of canning projects. One week we made Apple Pie filling and Grape Juice and Prune Juice and Canned Plums and Canned Apples and Apple Sauce and Apple Juice and probably a few other things that I'm forgetting as well.

Last week, however, I took a break from the canning and picked apples. One of the nice things about living in the country is that there are PROBABLY a few places to pick apples - either that, or neighbors who are kind enough to give you apples. Fortunately for me, there are both. Add to that some wonderful friends who love picking things too, and you've got a party!

A friend of mine found an orchard that had u-pick apples for 35 cents a pound. GREAT price, since in the store the same apple type is selling for well over a dollar. So, we went. The intent was to fill the back of a pick up truck with apples. Mind you, I was NOT about to PAY for that many apples, since that's a lot and I don't think his scale would have been able to handle that weight - but instead, we asked if we could pick up the apples from the ground.

How could this be? Well... we have hogs. We just didn't tell him that we only have 3 hogs, and that we were planning on squishing the juice out of the apples before giving them to the hogs. So... graciously, the orcharder (sort of like a farmer, only without the animals...) allowed us to pick apples off of the ground (and for his graciousness, we promised to come back next year and we also bought some apples - 110 lbs worth as a matter of fact...). Filling the back of the truck took the better part of the day - and I only wish I could have seen the look on Kristen's husband's face when she came home with their pick up full of apples...

That was Friday. Saturday, the fun began. And when I say fun, I mean work being fun...

A few weeks ago we purchased an apple press.

An OLD apple press.

And, after Andrew re-built the barrels and the tray that goes underneath it, we had the press up and running on Saturday! The end result? 55 gallons of delicious, crisp apple cider. (12 of which we gave away to those who helped in any way possible.)

The freezer is coming on Thursday. Until then, we have the majority of the cider in the refrigerator downstairs on the coldest possible setting (and we're keeping the door closed to keep the cold in...) and the remainder is in two of the three freezers we have downstairs. We've talked about opening a little roadside stand - but making cider is too much work to sell it for $6.00 a gallon - which is what the other stands are selling theirs for.

In the meantime - if we can get more apples, Andrew is up for turning the crank!

Phonics...

Savannah has been excelling in school; particularly as a reader. The other day we were on our way to school and Savannah said to me: "Mom, I know what those buttons there say."

Not wanting to miss out on what she might have to say, I said to her: "Oh yeah? What do they say?" Her response was classic: "AM and FUMM." And then came the kicker... "Mom, what's a FUMM?"

I was tempted to tell her it was the last part of the phrase the giant says when playing hide and go seek with you, but I didn't think she'd get it...

"Fee Fi Fo Fumm..."

Overheard...

So I've been listening to Savannah and Margaret lately as they play. Sometimes I intervene, and sometimes (like today) I wait to see what will happen. The following is an actual conversation between Margaret and Savannah.

M: "Banana, may I play wit your baby?"
S: No.
M: NANA! I ted, may I play wit your baby!?
S: No, Margaret. I'm playing with it.
M: Nana... (and then, holding up her fingers) One... Two... Bee... Pour... Bive... Tix... Seben...
M: MOM! Nana won't let me play wit her baby!

I quickly went out to the garage and shared that laugh with Andrew.

And then, with Savannah out of the house and Margaret in the bathroom, I hear this:

M: MOM! Tome twickly! I need you! I drop penny in toilet and it is in the way! I need to go bathroom!! Please tome help me! It is in the way! I tannot pee! The penny is in the way!

It should be noted here that Margaret had been in the bathroom for about 5 minutes, sitting... and I was at the point of telling her that she probably should just get up and try again later. Guess she just needed some thinking time...

Putting on a rubber glove, I went to her assistance. After which she said - talking to herself, I'm assuming since there was no other person in the bathroom... "All better. I finally did doe to dah bathroom... no penny in dah way..."

Sometimes it's hard for me to keep a straight face. It's better not to.

The Circle of Life...

For some, seems to revolve a lot quicker than for others. Now, I'm not talking about the mortality of people here, I'm talking about the fact that we seem to live in the Turner Triangle of Cats.

Seriously. We have had six cats on our property since December, and of those six, we have one. And we just got her Wednesday. Cat number 1, Sam, disappeared while we were in Coeur D'Alene, ID. He was an excellent mouser. Cat number 2, Tiger, disappeared the day after LeGrand's baby shower. Cat number 3, Oreo, disappeared the day after we got him. Cat number 4, Princess Tiger Lily (not named by me, by the way), disappeared two weeks after Oreo. Cat number 5, Kitty Cat, got hit by a car yesterday, and is still lying in the driveway. Don't ask me why - I don't know.

Who hit her? I don't really know. I have a sneaky suspicion that she was up under my car and the car poifed her out when I got close to the end of the driveway. Either that, or she ran out into the road and was hit and then somehow ran back to the driveway. OR... I could just own up to the fact that I may have run over the cat. How? I don't know. All I know is that I looked out the window and saw this little kitty who had just lost her ninth life. There is no more.

Cat number 6 is currently (I hope) hiding under the porch where she has been since we got her. We have seen her in the past 24-hours, but I haven't ventured outside yet this morning to verify her continued existence. Perhaps we need a full grown cat instead of a kitten...

Margaret seems to think that our squished cat is lying down and taking a "map". It's the longest nap I've ever seen a cat take! And it beats her walking around the house saying, "Our tat dead. I want to play with our dead tat..." (ALSO heard around here when she finally saw that the "tat" wasn't moving...) We're NOT letting her play with it.

So why do I write about such a morbid topic? I'm searching for suggestions on keeping cats alive in the Turner Triangle. At first I thought it was the chicken (I mean... Kitty) hawks. Then I thought that perhaps there's a coyote who likes cats... Now, I'm beginning to think we're just plain cursed and doomed to have mice around for the remainder of our lives. We're praying that this new cat stays. And we're not naming her. I've noticed a pattern: name the cat, and the cat disappears. Seriously. We have NO IDEA where they're going. There's not been evidence of cat pancakes, they just one day are gone. Vanish. Into thin air. Gone. Good thing it's not the baby...

I humbly stand corrected...

So apparently, I can't count. That should come as NO surprise to many of you; especially those of you in the same club that I'm in... the one that freely admits that there are three kinds of people in this world: those who can count, and those who can't.

In my counting of the amount of grandchildren (hence neices and nephews that I have in the family that I was born into and raised with), I somehow neglected to count LeGrand. My parents have 14 grandchildren. Four Grandsons, and 10 Granddaughters.

I also failed to mention that marrying into Andrew's wonderful family, gives me an additional 5 sisters, two brothers in law, one nephew and two more neices. Someone PLEASE let me know if again, I can't count... This extended family is a remarkable support, and I apologize for failing to mention them in my count!

I am, however, not sure if I can count my own children in when I consider my neices and nephews... however that works, I'm currently too tired to try to figure it out. Too much canning, not enough sleep. I MIGHT be finished soon... I'll let you all know.

Who ARE You???

A few weeks ago Andrew stayed with some good friends in Florida (good friends of his, I'm still getting to know them...). After looking at our blog, Andrew received the following comment: "Tell Linda she needs to have pictures of herself on the blog more for those of us who don't know who she is..." I LAUGHED! Seriously. Not that I don't LIKE having my photo taken, I'm just more often than not on the OTHER side of the camera, and I refuse to hold the camera in front of me to take my own photo. Too many bad photos...

However, I have been thinking a lot lately about that phrase "Who are you???" so, for those who don't know my likes and dislikes or really where I came from (that part's really easy... Heaven. Just like the rest of you...), here's a blog about me. Shocking. And I'll put pictures up later. Really. I will.

I was born in Alaska, and raised in Wasilla, Alaska. (No, I don't know Sarah Palin, and have not formed an opinion of her... yet.) I am the second daughter of David and Kay Pierce, and have a grand total of four sisters and two brothers in my immediate growing up with family. That family has since expanded to include two sisters in law and three brothers in law and thirteen neices and nephews (more emphasis on the neices part than the nephews - all of us girls with children have contributed 1 boy each to the family...) I have an associates degree in Humanities without ever taking an actually labeled Humanities class from Ricks. (Don't ask. I don't know.)

• I love crayons.
• My favorite ethnical foods are Russian, Thai and Mexican - with the occasional Cashew Chicken from the Chinese food menu.
• My favorite colors are deep forest green, deep cranberry red and a deep navy blue.
• I freely admit that I love scrapbooking, but I don't do it very often.
• I am obsessive compulsive at purchasing picture frames (LOVE THEM!) and fabrics that I don't do anything with... yet. I am, however, keeping that obsession under control by staying out of those particular stores...
• My pet peeves include grazing before dinner and people who leave their blinkers on when they're not actually going to be turning.
• I make fudge. And jewelry. And I do Photography.
• I don't wash windows. I can, I just don't.
• I am a recovering credit card addict. As a result, I don't have one. Occasionally, I crave one.
• I LOVE dark chocolate.
• I like reading good books. Sometimes I read a bad book because I don't know that it's going to be a bad book, and I'm intrigued enough to finish the darn thing hoping that it will become a good book, but it never works out that way.
• Strangely, I like the occasional whif of cow manure when you're driving down a country road. My mother always used to say, "Smell that money" because I think her dad used to say it.
• I LOVE Cookbooks. Ask Andrew. He'll tell you that I have way too many. You can NEVER have too many cookbooks...
• I collect miniature oil lamps.
• I've become obsessed with canning and preserving food... I'm currently, even as I type, drying pears and wondering what I'm going to do with the zucchini and cucumbers and prunes that are still sitting in my sun room... tomorrow. I'm processing them all tomorrow when I have two other people coming to help me.

And I could go on for hours. I'll save all of you the details though and won't. That ought to give you all at least a larger glimpse into the sometimes twisted and strange workings of my mind though... My dear friend Kristen (who actually admitted to me the other day that she hated me when she first met me - and I love her all the more for it...) is going to be the photographer on the other side of the camera for me one of these days. As soon as that happens, I'll post pictures of myself. Don't hold your breaths until that day happens though... blue is NOT a flattering skin color.

He's cute and cuddly and CHUBBY!!!

And I think we'll keep him that way - at least for a little bit...

This picture was taken at the beach - I think I may have gotten a bit of the elusive smile.

His laugh is pretty cute too. It's one of those "huh, huh, huh" type laughs that's infections and contagious all at the same time (and yes, I know that's reduntant). It's a laugh. By virtue of the noise one makes when laughing, it's bound to be redundant.

Oh well. I think we'll keep him. Doesn't make much sense to send him back now - Margaret is way too attached to her "nindle buh-ee". She asks him every chance she gets if she can "tuddle" with him. I'm still waiting for him to respond with more than a smile and a giggle.

Where in the US has Andrew been?

Does anyone else remember that computer game "Where in the world is Carmen Sandiego?" Personally, I can still remember the darn theme song, and it goes through my head everytime I hear someone talking about "Where in the world is ____________ (you fill in the blank here...)". So Andrew and I were talking today about the places he's been. In case anyone else is interested, he has been to the following states -all within the past two weeks, mind you:

1. Idaho
2. Utah
3. Wyoming
4. Nebraska
5. Illinois
6. Indiana
7. Kentucky
8. Tennessee
9. Georga
10. South Carolina
11. North Carolina
12. Florida
13. Alabama
14. Mississippi
15. Louisiana
16. Texas
17. New Mexico
18. Arizona
19. California
20. Nevada
21. Oregon

Places of interest that he's seen - or things of interest that I wish I'd been there to either see or do...

1. Dipping my feet in the Atlantic Ocean would have been pretty cool
2. Going to the Hampton Plaintation in S. Carolina would also have been tops on my list...
3. Visiting Tombstone, Arizona is someplace we're going to have to go back to see...
4. Seeing a real live Alligator in the wild. I think that's amazingly cool.

We have been blessed to know people all over the United States - Andrew has had a place to stay in many of the places he's stopped (Atlanta and Gainsville and Phoenix). But he's been to Paris and Vienna in the past two weeks also, and all without leaving the country! Andrew has seen the tail end of Ike, the sweltering heat of the desert, the suffocating heat of the south, and has put more miles on his truck that I can count.

I guess the good news is that he's picking the best places to have a family vacation before we get there... we'll know all the things that we want to see, and the places we want to go and all the fun things to do before we leave - AND he'll know the road system so we won't get lost! (BIG bonus!!!)

HOWEVER. Since Andrew has been gone Savannah started school and lost two teeth; Margaret had her first all over haircut; and LeGrand grew up, got his first job, shaved and went on his first date. Obviously joking on that one, but he did start laughing and sleeping through the night and gained about 3 lbs and grew 4 inches! Then again, Margaret did too. I put a little onesie type outfit on her this morning that Grandma purchased for her at the beginning of August before Andrew left to go to Canada for the first time. It was loose on Margaret then. It's too small for her now.

Me? I had my 20-14th birthday (today), and gathered about 7 dozen eggs and canned pearple sauce and apple sauce and picked apples and picked pears and fed the hogs and drove to Portland and hosted my first Enrichment Meeting (I'll let you know if it's a success) and tried to keep the house together... I'll let you know on that one too.

All I can say is that we're ALL ready for Andrew to come home. Mom's were NOT meant to be single parents. Still, we're happy and healthy and life is good.

Really? Lederhosen?

The girls and I went to Oktoberfest in Mt. Angel (excuse me: Mountain Angel... I forgot - Savannah doesn't think that it's Mt...) today. It was a wonderful day. The sun was shining, the birds were singing, and all around us were children and adults wearing lederhosen. I DID NOT feel left out in the least little bit. Something about the leather pants just didn't seem to be all that comfortable.

Margaret went on her first all by herself pony ride - and loved it. Savannah showed off her gymnastic skills by doing front and back flips on the little trampoline ride... LeGrand slept through most of it, and I just enjoyed spending the day with the kids.

The trampoline ride seemed to be the most popular. The line was the longest, and I don't think it was just because there could be only 4 children on at a time, and they let the participants bounce to their little hearts' desires for 5 minutes. The way the ride worked was simple. Each child was harnessed to a pair of antennae that could be adjusted according to the child's height. Then, they were instructed to jump as high as they could on their individual trampoline. Margaret doesn't understand the concept of jumping on a trampoline, so it was hilarious to watch her try to jump...she wasn't going very high very fast. Savannah, on the other hand, was clear up there in the air and having a blast! I'll post pictures as soon as they come back from the developer. (Which means you can expect photos sometime next March...)

All in all, it was a wonderful day. The food was horribly overpriced (which is why we only bought snow cones and ice cream - it was cheapest...), the booths looked great, and the streets were crowded. I got sunburned, and my feet are a bit sore from walking, but I got a little exercise so I'm not complaining. And then, Savannah and I had a great time on the way home counting scarecrows. We found one...

Swimming at Aunt Sheila's

The weather the weekend that we left for the beach was incredibly hot. We couldn't resist getting in the pool...

Savannah and Andrew especially enjoyed it. I'm not the water person that they are, and Margaret didn't like the cold as well as they did either. Looks like it was a blast though!

BEACH PHOTOS!

Yes, I am FINALLY getting beach photos on the blog.

Andrew left town just before we went to the beach, but before he did that, we went to a family gathering in Vancouver. The picnic we went to just happened to be within 10 minutes of the Mighty Columbia River, so we walked down to escape the heat and to have a little "beach" time with Andrew before he left. Even I got my feet wet here!

We had a marvelous time at the beach, despite the fact that it rained constantly almost the entire time we were there. So... these photos were taken on Monday night, the one night that we went down to the beach.

Savannah and Margaret played on the beach for a little bit - getting ready for night involved putting some glow sticks on... and some loving of Aunt Amber for a few minutes before someone said the word...

SMORES!!!!!

Before we got into the chocolate and marshmallow gooeyness, Savannah and I went for a walk where we ran into this man blowing bubbles (not biking backward, thank goodness...) on the beach. Savannah had the guts to ask if she could try - but not before running and trying to catch the bubbles! Something about bubbles... I was impressed with the bubbles, in fact, if I ever get around to it, I'd like to make a bubble blower myself - it's a pretty cool toy!

Finally... this is Margaret's way of keeping the smoke out of her eyes... I suppose you do what you have to do in order to keep your eyes from hurting!

We're all looking forward to the next beach trip... only the next time we go, we're praying for better weather.....

Total Blast from the Past...

I should preface this with the following:

I am a photographer who primarily uses a digital camera. Not because I don't LIKE my SLR camera, but because it's so expensive to develop film and it takes me at least 6 months to get film developed. Then who knows how long after that it will take me to pick the film UP...

That being said, I will now proceed with the real reason(s) for the post.

Margaret turned two and we celebrated with a Mr. Potato Head cake.

Grandpa and Grandma Pierce and Uncle Justin and Aunt Melissa came and we Wii'd (and whee whee, it was fun!)

Margaret Painted her face... Andrew told me to take a picture instead of being upset. I KNEW there was another reason for marrying him!!!

we had a bird live in our bird house... and let me take its picture!!!

And since this crazy computer keeps kicking me off... apparently it doesn't LIKE the blasts from the past and would prefer that we stay more towards the future... I'll get more recent photos up next!

Sleep... glorious sleep!

The long anticipated and much hoped for day has finally arrived. LeGrand is sleeping through the night! He's still not keeping MY preferred hours, but I'm pretty thrilled that he goes to bed around 9 PM, and wakes up at 5:45 or 6 AM. And I am NOT complaining. As long as I go to bed at a decent time, I'm getting good sleep... and so is he! Then, he's taking a good nap from 9 am to about 11 am (if I don't have places to go or people to see.) I haven't figured out his afternoon schedule yet - I haven't been home long enough to figure out what he's doing in the afternoons, but he sleeps well in the car as we're going from place to place!

In other news, I'm making pearple sauce this week. We picked pears from a friend in the ward, and they're just a bit too ripe. So, we're combining them with apples to make a good apple/pear sauce that won't be too gritty, but will be "the perfect blend of apples and pears". (Doesn't that sound too much like a bad advertising scheme?) After pearple sauce, I'm making just plain apple sauce from the neighbor across the streets apple trees. It might be a bit woody with the leaves and stuff, but I think if we get just the apples we'll be just fine.

AND... Andrew should be home sometime next week! I'm not anticipating that he'll be home by Tuesday (my 20-14th birthday), but since I have Enrichment that night anyway, we weren't planning on anything to celebrate. We'll celebrate next year.

Andrew is currently in Florida, heading to North Carolina to pick up a little trailer - then, he's headed back west to New Mexico where he will drop the trailer off. We're praying that he'll pick up another trailer or something to drag WESTWARD behind the truck to California, then another something in California to drag NORTHWARD and home. That's the plan. As long as everyone reading understands that their role is to now pray for this plan to work, we'll all be happy.

And I'm off. I think my brownies that I made for my Enrichment Committee meeting that no one came for are finally cool enough that I can think about frosting them with something that I really don't need to eat, but it's ever so yummy!

Finally!

I have finally finished one room of the house. We've been in the house for almost a year, and I have finally organized the office. There are books on a bookshelf (I traded fresh pears for a bookcase), the clutter is out of the corner, and the desk actually has a top! Is anyone else surprised? I knew it always had a top, but I think I was beginning to forget what it looked like! It's rather nice!

The floor in this room is incredible. I took the area rug out - I think I'll put it up for sale on craigs list or something like that - and the room is cool. I love the looks of the fir floors, and the fact that I can ENJOY being in here! So... it took a few days to get one room finished, but hey - now I can move on to the rest of the house!

The craft room is next... I think. We'll see how long that one takes! I think actually that room will take a bit more in the funding department. Unless... Do you think Ikea works on the barter system???

In case anyone is interested... I will post pictures as soon as Andrew gets back from Florida. He has the digital camera. And no, I most likely will NOT have photos of his travels - maybe the asphalt zipper he's towing... we'll see what photos lie in wait to be published!

What is this strange fascination???

With eggs? Seriously. I wonder if there's something wrong with me that I get so excited to find eggs out with our hens... The real excitement started last week when I watched a hen lay an egg. After watching that - I SHOULD have been turned off of eating eggs. Instead, I wonder if that hen feels pain... And then came the anger at the chicken who was EATING the eggs... (she's going to be chicken pot pie soon...) And now, it's just pure enjoyment that we can go out to the hen house (they're no longer free range chickens... the mess was too much to handle - they dug out the flower beds (one chore I don't have to do), they pooped on the porch, they scratched all of the dirt OUT of the flower beds and on to the driveway... and they chased the cats.) and find eggs. Our cannibalistic hen is in solitary confinement down at someone else's house. She's currently awaiting execution. That's Andrew's job. I don't chop the heads off of chickens - no matter how fun it is to see them run around without their little heads...

Yesterday, I gathered 5 eggs. And today, I gathered another 5 eggs. The day is still young. And I know we have some late layers. The hope is that we'll have 9 eggs per day. What we're going to do with that many, I don't know. There are some good cakes that call for a bazillion eggs... maybe I'll have to do more baking. At any rate - this strange fascination may have something to do with my desire to be more self sufficient - and eggs are just one more step...

I may have to award kudos to the one who can give me the best recipe using the most eggs... since I have 5 dozen that I purchased just last week!!! So... send your best! I, too, will search my own recipe archives for a great recipe. If I find one that's share worthy, I'll post it.

Back in the Saddle... Again.

With Andrew gone for the past few days, I will sadly admit that I have let the house go to the dogs. At least it would go to the dogs if we HAD dogs... Thankfully, I can only handle so much mess before going completely insane; so... today is my "get up and get moving, this house won't clean itself" day. I've already started on the kitchen - it still needs to be mopped. Next up is getting the clean laundry put away and the dirty laundry cleaned. Then we'll move to the office - which hasn't had the desk straightened in a while... and finally we'll get the bedrooms put back together. If there's time, I MIGHT even see about getting that pesky craft room (AKA the third bedroom...) cleaned up so I can see the floor...

And the best news about all this is that I have a grand total of 4.5 hours to get it all done in before I need to get ready to pick Savannah up from school!

That being said... The Race is ON!!!

Ode to a "Baby Brother"

Margaret's favorite question to ask me is this:

"Are you holding your baby brother?"

Since THIS is my "baby" brother, much time has been spent trying to explain to Margaret the difference between MY baby brother, and HER baby brother.

1. more than 20 years.
2. MY baby brother is no longer a baby.
Obviously.
3. I do NOT HOLD my brother. His wife
does.
4. Margaret's baby brother still poops in his
pants. I hope that MY baby brother has gotten over that phase in his life
now.
5. Margaret's baby brother barfs all over me... all the
time. My baby brother has not barfed on me since I was in the sixth
grade.
6. I don't call my "baby" brother a baby. He would
probably sit on me.

And one other... MY baby brother doesn't get candy for the tricks that he can do... such as rolling over; holding his head up; sitting on his own; and not going to the bathroom in his shorts... For that matter, neither does LeGrand... yet.
That being said and done - Ian and LeGrand are quite different - as you can see. Some would say that LeGrand is cuter - he's a baby. He's supposed to be. I do, however, hope that LeGrand develops some of the traits that Ian has - traits that I find to be wonderful and good strong traits - such as the fact that Ian was a great issionary (and so was Justin, for that matter... but Justin is not my "baby" brother by virtue of the fact that he has two siblings underneath him... I'll ode to him later...). Ian, like Andrew, is a good strong priesthood holder. And there are others too numerous to mention. I will, however, put this shout out to Ian's woodworking skills - he (and Christen) made the coolest baby toy ever! It rocks and rolls!!!

And so you see... I hope that Margaret figures out the question soon; and realizes that I am NOT holding my baby brother; I am holding my baby.

HOORAY!!! THE DAY IS FINALLY HERE!!!

While most mothers look to this day with a touch of sadness, there was nothing but excitement and gladness (and a little slowpokedness) here at the Stahr home this morning.

The long awaited and counted down day has finally arrived! Savannah is in the first grade!!! I think, however, that she regretted a touch the fact that she didn't allow herself to enjoy summer as much as she could when she walked into a class twice the size of her little kindergarten class. She still has the same kids in class that were there last year, only this year, they've decided to do split classes, putting some second graders in the class also... and Savannah looked as though she didn't quite know what to do. It will be good for her to stretch a little...

Savannah's first grade teacher is Mrs. Hammer, and Savannah sits in a group with two other girls - her friend Elizabeth from Kindergarten, and a new friend... Savanna. It may be a touch confusing for a while... we'll see if Savannah decides to use her first given name - Kylie - as a way to reduce confusion... (who knows - that may cause a bit MORE confusion...)

At any rate - it will be a lot quieter around the house now; and I may even get the laundry folded a lot faster! (I wouldn't hold any breaths though...)

If we lived with Captain Underpants...

So my good friend, Callie... excuse me - Boobie Chuckledunkin - sent me this e-mail. It made me laugh to the point that I thought it would be wise to share the information with everyone. See where you are, and what YOUR new name would be!

The following is excerpted from a children's book, Captain Underpants And
the Perilous Plot Professor Poopypants, by Dave Pilkey, in which the evil
Professor forces everyone to assume new names... So:
1. Use the third letter of your first name to determine your New first name:

• a = snickle
• b = doombah
• c= goober
• d = cheesey
• e = crusty
• f = greasy
• g = dumbo
• h = farcus
• I = dorky
• j = doofus
• k = funky
• l = boobie
• m = sleezy
• n = sloopy
• o = fluffy
• p = stinky
• q = slimy
• r = dorfus
• s = snooty
• t = tootsie
• u = dipsy
• v = sneezy
• w = liver
• x = skippy
• y = dinky
• z = zippy

2. Use the second letter of your last name to determine the first half of your
new last name:

• a = dippin
• b = feather
• c = batty
• d = burger
• e = chicken
• f = barffy
• g = lizard
• h = waffle
• i = farkle
• j = monkey
• k = flippin
• l = fricken
• m = bubble
• n = rhino
• o = potty
• p = hamster
• q = buckle
• r = gizzard
• s = lickin
• t = snickle
• u = chuckle
• v = pickle
• w = lickin
• x = dingle
• y = gorilla
• z = girdle

3. Use the third letter of your last name to determine the second half of your new last name:

• a = butt
• b = boob
• c = face
• d = nose
• e = hump
• f = breath
• g = pants
• h = shorts
• i = lips
• j = honker
• k = head
• l = tush
• m = chunks
• n = dunkin
• o = brains
• p = biscuits
• q = toes
• r = doodle
• s = fanny
• t = sniffer
• u = sprinkles
• v = frack
• w = squirt
• x = humperdinck
• y = hiney
• z = juice

Using this formula, this puts our new family name as Snicklebutt. So... from the Snicklebutt family to yours - enjoy!!!

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...