Disgusting...

There are few things more disgusting than being barfed on at 2:30 in the morning by a child that you thought was just fussing because she was uncomfortable. I guess comfort comes in many different forms. After all, My tummy ALWAYS feels better after throwing up... just never on someone else.

Overhead while sleeping...

Before I go into details, I have to explain that Savannah was responsible for ALL the meals yesterday (Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner...) She did a fabulous job with help from Mom, and is rapidly on her way to becoming an excellent cook.

Now to the story...

As I was waking up yesterday morning, I heard Margaret talking to Andrew. This is the conversation:

M: "Dad, you know those little round chocolate balls? That chocolate cereal that looks like Poop but tastes like Chocolate? Those are Cocoa Puffs.
We're having them for breakfast."
A: "What else are we having?"

Savannah made delicious smoothies, toast, and for those who could get the image of cocoa puffs looking like poop but tasting like chocolate out of their heads, cocoa puffs were included.

Lunch was Submarine Sandwiches and chips with Cranberry Juice to drink.

Dinner was Tortellini Alfredo with Broccoli and Ham. Garlic Breadsticks on the side, and Kool-Aid to drink. We had sherbet for dessert. There were no leftovers for ANY of the meals.

All About Caroline

She was born on February 26, 2010 sometime around 12:45 AM. Tipping the scales at 5 lbs, 10 oz, she was the smallest of the Stahr Children... (this particular photo was taken hours after she was born...) At 11 months, Caroline started walking. She was the EARLIEST of the Stahr Children to walk... She has kept her dark hair, and is currently working on getting some molars. She can't eat apples because they cause major diaper blisters (she can, however, drink our apple cider... haven't figured that out yet...), loves marshmallows, tolerates Hot Chocolate (it took her several hours to drink 4 oz...), loves dried strawberries and dried bananas (we found the freeze-dried ones in the baby food aisle), LOVES broccoli (sorry, Dad... all my children do...), loves Mom - especially at 2 in the morning... and gives fabulous hugs.
And now... she's 1. She celebrated in style, with White Chicken Chili and delicious Corn muffins (we thought they were delicious, Caroline picked at them and wouldn't eat them), and some pineapple cloud cake with whipped cream topping (she was more fond of the whipped cream than the cake...). Opening presents was fun too - although we should have ENDED with the baby doll, instead of starting with it. Until we hid the baby, Caroline wouldn't have anything to do with the rest of her presents. She sleeps with her baby, loves her baby, and looks for it when she can't find it. And she's not fond of sharing baby either... Here are some of the photo highlights from her birthday party!Enjoying the birthday cake... fistful at a time! (Above); Loving her new baby... (below)
It was only AFTER we hid the baby that Caroline was willing to even have anything at all to do with other presents. Note the baby in the photo of the wrapping paper... she would only pat the paper because she was so worried about her baby. Andrew helped with opening all the presents...
Little dress, tights and shoes from Grandma and Grandpa Pierce, and Aunt Brittany...

We certainly are grateful that Caroline (fondly called "Baby" by LeGrand...) is part of our family! We love her joyful little personality and the happiness that she brings to our home! We wouldn't trade her for ANYTHING!

Margaret's Birthday...

Was at the beginning of the month, but since Caroline is having a birthday this weekend, I thought I'd get Margaret's pictures up before next month!

Margaret had a Strawberry Trifle for her birthday cake, and was so excited to be 5 that she didn't wait for us to finish singing before blowing out the candles.

Fractions and Hearts

Who knew that a nine year old would try to make a PRIME number not Prime? She's trying to figure out how to make 11 divide equally. Or 19. And she's suggested other numbers that she things OUGHT to be Prime... 21 is NOT a prime number. Nor is 18. We're learning that.

I LOVE the learning process.

In other news, Andrew and I suffered a "Heart Attack" last night. With help from the babysitter. We had such notes as, "I'll help you clean this up." and "I love you. Apparently." Those were the ones that the girls told Taylor to write. She's such a good sport! The hearts led up the stairs, and ended up in a large pile on the floor outside our bedroom door. The girls were trying to help Andrew get in the Valentine's mood. I gave Taylor a box of Chocolates. She deserved it after a last minute "Andrew wants to take me to his Basketball Meeting and I need a babysitter can you come?" phone call. I may not let her leave to college this fall. Salt Lake is TOO far to commute for emergency sitting...

The Ball is ROLLING!

The ball is finally rolling on my new business venture: Princesses In Overalls. I got my very first order today (YAY!) after sending out a Facebook Blast and a link to my new business blog. The website isn't fully functional yet, but the blog will be updated regularly, and the website will be up and running by 1 March 2011.

SO... if any of you know little girls, have nieces, or granddaughters who love swirly twirly skirts, please check out the blog at http://princessesinoveralls.blogspot.com and PLEASE pass it on!

And that's what's new in my life!

What I learned about Barbie. Today.

I learned some things about Barbie today as I was listening to my girls play.

1. Barbie's clothes are really immodest. (I already knew that, it was just the first thing they said when seeing new clothes from someone else)
2. Barbie is so cute and adorable. Not words I would have used to describe her, but...
3. Barbie's swimsuit looks suspiciously like some of the dresses actresses wear on the red carpet... low cut in the front, no back and rather long in the leg with a very high slit in the back.....
4. Oh yeah. Back in the day (that would be when I was young) Barbie didn't have thumbs.

And LeGrand loves to play house with the Barbies. He gets Ken out and they pretend. Here's to hoping that Bud gets a brother. Someone to go out and shoot "nuns" with. Someone to play something OTHER than house with. Although he does make a mean pretend pancake!!!

Let it Snow... Let it Snow...

I know it's not much, at least compared to MOST places, but this amount of snow closed schools (not ours, much to Savannah's chagrin), and kept people from going places. It melted by the afternoon, but it certainly was exciting while it lasted.

Since this snow, we've had at least 6 other instances of snow that didn't stick and one tornado that hit 12 miles away from us. I went and got a pizza in the middle of it. I've never been in a tornado before, and just thought it was a fluke of the weather that we had major hail and temperatures 10 degrees colder than the pizza place 3 miles away. Some pretty nasty wind too... Hm. This isn't Kansas, people. It's OREGON. Just like most places, if we don't like the weather we wait 5 minutes. I just thought it was a weather thing. It was. A windy, twisty, destructive weather thing. It was good pizza.

Ralph the Night Hairdresser Visited...

When I was growing up, Ralph the Night Hairdresser came to visit. It was HIS job to cause the creative hairstyles that plagued us in the morning. Caroline's hair is finally long enough for some really good visits from Ralph. This was the first experience of bed head. It's since gotten MUCH better, (meaning the bedhead is more creative - Ralph is doing his job...) just no pictures. Caroline wasn't quite sure what to think of the flashing camera this early in the morning, but she loves to tug on her hair when she's going to sleep. I love that it's curly! (We'll post a picture of the curls after her hair is wet and she hasn't tugged them out...) Of all the children, she stayed the darkest, and her hair is definitely the curliest. This photo was taken about a month ago...

My Christmas Skirts project...

Savannah's Skirt. Complete with Savannah's legs. She loves her skirt because it spins out in a perfect circle.

Margaret's Skirt (one of two...)

Caroline's Skirt... (One of her two) These are some of the skirts that I made for Christmas. I'm still working on some of them, but each of my girls has at least one (Caroline has two...). They make up one of the products of a new on-line business I'm starting that has a goal opening date of March 1, 2011. They're fun to make, and, according to the girls, VERY fun to wear. If it weren't for laundry, my girls would never take them off. Sometimes even with laundry I think my girls will never take them off.

A New Boy...

So Bud has needed a haircut for a long time. The other day, I decided to take the plunge (I put it off because he doesn't like hair on him, and usually tosses himself around so it's nearly impossible to buzz his head nicely) and buzz the locks. Surprisingly, he sat amazingly still... under bribery of a cookie. (Aunt Rebecca, he's been coveting your Christmas cookies. You're getting fresh ones... Bud's going to eat the others.) I should get "before" shots to go with the "after", but I'm too embarassed by how shaggy he looks. So here he is a new boy. He'll tell you he's a man, but he's still too little for that. This is blurry because he couldn't wait to see the picture, and kept moving before I was finished. It's one of three that I took... all are/were blurry.

Are you Influenced???

As a child, are you influenced to choose a college by the clothing your parents put on you? If so... Caroline comes from a family where many are BYU Alumnus... Savannah wants to go to BYU Hawaii (can't say as I blame her...), Caroline is just cute. And look at her new trick! Personally, I think she's just super cute. Whatever college she decides to go to. After all, that's still a good 17 years away. We'll cross that bridge when we get there!

Bacon Wrapped Little Smokies

Since this is a popular item at our house, I'm sharing the recipe. It's Andrew's specialty - he makes them every time we have them... We made 150 of them for Christmas Eve, the cat's had the 5 burnt ones that we couldn't get out of the pan. We threw 145 cleaned off toothpicks away. They may make your arteries clog up just by THINKING about them, but they're worth eating.

Bacon Wrapped Little Smokies

1 pkg. Hillshire Farms Little Cheddar Smokies
1 lb bacon, cut into three sections
2 lb. pkg brown sugar
toothpicks

Drain the little smokies. Wrap each piece in 1/3 piece of bacon. Secure
with toothpick. Once all the smokies are in the pan, cover with brown sugar.
(some say 1 c. is all you need, we use about half the package.) Bake at 350
until the bacon is cooked. Cook for just a few minutes before serving. That's
it. Heaven on a toothpick.

Serve at your next gathering next to the veggie tray and see which one disappears first! I dare you. In fact, I DOUBLE DOG DARE YOU!

Christmas 2010 Highlights

I was going to do this two weeks ago, but I'll have to make do with only being 5 days late... If you're celebrating OLD Christmas. (It's on the Old calendar. Ask any Russian.) I should have a New New Year's Party... just for laughs. I don't have that much energy though.

Christmas was, for the most part, uneventful. I forgot to take pictures of the children with their presents... you'll have to wait for the tree pictures. They're not on the computer yet.

Savannah is completely and totally enthralled with "Little House on the Prairie". She wanted a bonnet for Christmas. Grandma Stahr made her one. (It didn't make it to the list until three days before Christmas...) She loves is, and is currently disappointed in herself for leaving it at someone's house the other day. I finished her skirt on New Year's Eve - she's worn it no less than 7 times since then. She was thrilled with the oatmeal under the tree... She loves Instant Oatmeal, so it's a treat to have it. It was gone two days later.

Margaret's skirt was under the tree... if it wasn't in the wash, she'd still be wearing it. She also got a bonnet for Christmas. She wasn't thrilled with the pajama bottoms I made her... they didn't have a shirt to go with them.

LeGrand got a toy gun for Christmas - He and Andrew went outside to shoot "nuns", and I'm really glad that it didn't take the batteries long to die. His other favorite toy was his "Ractor" that has really fun bouncy tires. He's only taken the tires off more times than he's actually played with the tractor, but it's been an adventure finding them. He loves to play with the Little People Nativity - they fit nicely into the LP bus that he has... he takes them to "Basketball games" and the Wise Men make super bus drivers. Sometimes, all the shepherds have a party on the roof of the stable with the angels. It's fun to watch LeGrand play pretend with the Little People.

Caroline wasn't all that interested in much this Christmas - except for the paper. She loves the little bug puzzle from Aunt Sheila - it's been a big hit around the house.

I took back all of the presents I got for Andrew and exchanged them for the right sizes and types... teach me to shop with a cold! And Andrew gave me some amazing Cast Iron. I find it funny that I'm thrilled by the thought of Kitchen Ware - but the bread pan makes pretty great meatloaf!

Perhaps one of the greatest things of this season was seeing the Radio City Rockettes and their beautiful interpretation of the Christmas Story. Read from the Bible. In Oregon. In a Public Performance. I was moved to tears, and very touched to have such a simple reminder. (The box seats weren't bad either! I may never attend another performance in any event without wanting that treatment... the free popcorn and sodas were a hit with Margaret and Savannah... as was the "free closet" that we had to hang our coats in.)

Christmas Eve was at our house this year, and dinner was a spectacular success. We had marvelous appetizers and home made napoleons for dessert. And I will freely admit that I broke the cardinal rule of entertaining and tried out at least three new recipes on my guests. And then thanked my lucky stars that none of them turned out like "Skurvy Pie" (that's a different story for a different day... Someday I'll post the recipe and reasons NOT to make it.)

And now... I'll close. I have dishes to do, laundry to wash fold and put away, a Christmas Tree to take down, two bedrooms to clean, Savannah to motivate in the scholastic direction, LeGrand's hair to cut, and photos to pick up before my client arrives. And sometime today, I hope to have time to breathe.

The Whole Family...

My Sister, Brittany, took this picture when she came with my Dad to visit this past summer. We were at Silver Falls, and found a great place to take a family photo. It will be out of date in another 6 months, but until then... it's all the children and their parents!

Thank you to Brittany for a fabulous photo, and a great time!

Almost Forgot... The Pumpkins.

Savannah's Pumpkin, LeGrand's Pumpkin and Margaret's Pumpkin. After finding giant slugs in the pumpkins that were on the porch overnight, the girls and LeGrand stuffed them with sawdust and put them on the burn pile. As far as I know, they're now entombed in sawdust and we'll have pumpkin mash when the pile degrades.

For Aunt Buh-Rittany

"That's Me! I am Bud! I have a "ninnen" on my hairs!" (Seriously, it's a direct quote from Bud who has been carrying this photo around for the last week...)

This particular hat is one that we got from Aunt Brittany. LeGrand found it one day, and wore it non-stop. He wouldn't turn it around to wear it properly, but the girls found it great fodder to sing: "Bud has got a bird on his head. Bud has got a bird on his head. Bud has got a bird on his head, he keeps it there all day!"

All Worn Out

This is what happens when you play hard and work even harder. She was OUT almost as fast and Andrew was!

A Quick Update

For those who haven't heard... We got a major surprise a few months ago.

Baby number 5 will be joining our family sometime at the end of May to the middle of June. There will be approximately 15 months between Caroline and the next baby. We are actually very excited about a new baby coming - it'll be a little stressful, but apparently, the Lord thinks I can handle it. I just wish He'd send me a preview of what He'd like for me to do for the rest of my life... so that I can approve of it - or at least have some sort of an idea what's going to happen!

It's PUMPKIN time!!!

Every year the children and I take a 20 minute drive south to Jefferson and purchase pumpkins. We pull our favorites off the pile, load them in the wagons, drag the wagons across the parking lot, pay for our pumpkins, drag them BACK across the parking lot and load them in the trunk of the car.

This year, we had two wagons and a wheelbarrow... fondly labeled "Pumpkin Barrow". Why do I make this drive to the Pumpkin Pile instead of going to the grocery store?

Economics.

Pumpkins at the grocery store are 18 cents per pound. Some of you are probably saying, "I wish I could get my pumpkins that cheaply!!!" On average, the pumpkins we purchase are a lot bigger than 1 pound. (We bought 13 pumpkins this year...) The rule at our house is that you have to be able to carry your own pumpkin across the parking lot (since that's usually the distance from the car to the carving location...). Margaret ALWAYS chooses a small one. Savannah ALWAYS chooses a large one that she ends up grumbling about because it gets heavier the farther she carries it...

LeGrand chose his pumpkin based on how heavy it was, Caroline is too small for a pumpkin.

Pumpkins at the Pumpkin Pile are $1.00 EACH. The big ones. The little ones. The medium sized ones. All $1.00 each. If figure that I average out to what I would pay for one big one at the grocery store.

And then... the pumpkins turn into Jack-O-Lanterns. I'll post those photos after we're done. These are destined to be carved this weekend. And if ALL of them get carved and there's not one left for pie, it's only $1.00 (plus fuel) to get another. I think I can handle that...