Marvelous Musings

We've been so busy having fun that I haven't blogged at all. This is an attempt to catch up with everything we've been doing.


Aubrey had her elementary school Hoe Down a couple weeks ago. She decided the night before that she needed a cowboy hat and boots, neither of which we had, but thanks to my friends, a couple of phone calls later, I located some. She was so excited to sing the songs and do the dances her P.E. teacher taught them. I really enjoyed watching her, and I even got to join in and do the Texas Macarena and Hokey Pokey. I did have a slightly awkward moment during the chicken dance... I happened to be standing right between Aubrey and her male P.E. coach, so when it came time to dance in a circle, I grabbed one of Aubrey's hands, and one of his. I wanted to turn to him and ask to make sure he knew we were just friends. I was glad when a little kindergarten boy came to join our circle and I got to hold his hand instead. The whole afternoon was so fun, I'm looking forward to next year's hoe down.




Later that day, we went to the rodeo with the kids and my parents. With Andrew really loving farm animals these days, it was a hit for him. We went to the kid's area, which I've never been to before, but it was so fun. They had a petting zoo and besides having a flamingo and a deer there, which was unusual, we found several other fun animals, and Andrew made friends with a goat that was just his size. After having its ears pulled and eyes poked, it was probably glad to see us go. Petting zoos are fun, but I always feel like washing my hands ten times after I leave.



Also in the kid's area they had all kinds of baby animals at different stations that had just been born. Aubrey really liked going from station to station and collecting a little card from each place as well as seeing all the animals. Aubrey had heard about pizza on a stick from another time we'd gone to the rodeo, so that's what she got. And it was as big as her head. She was happy to share it. We also enjoyed watching the rodeo, Aubrey was interested in it too for the first time ever, so that was fun. Andrew was happy during most of it, thanks to his interest in cows and horses, and also because he had his own seat most of the time.

We had an awesome Spring Break with Chad at home with us for a whole week! We got a lot of yard work done, which was good, because our yard was in serious need of a makeover. I also started a container garden, which hopefully works out. You can click here for the last gardening attempt I made. Long story short, I don't have a green thumb, I have a black thumb and the nice word for me is horticulturally challenged. This time around, I am still starting small, so let's hope we get better results.

And every good Mormon family needs a trampoline right? So, we hopped on the bandwagon. I had a family finance professor at BYU that had a soapbox about not having a trampoline (as it becomes a financial liability if someone sues you) so I think of her every time I'm jumping on it. Aubrey and Andrew both love it, and, I love it too. You can never be too old for jumping on a trampoline. Every summer when I was a little girl, when we went to Utah, we visited my great aunt and uncle's trampoline, and that was an event we always looked forward to. Now, I have my own trampoline in my own backyard. Man, I love the American Dream.








The front yard was returned to its former glory during Spring Break, and these Jasmine, which have come back from the brink. (Yet another well-intentioned gardening project). They're really taking off this Spring, so hopefully, they'll keep growing, because I love Jasmine, they're so pretty and fragrant.

This is what happens when you cross a little boy with chocolate pudding. In our attempts to help little Drew gain weight, we have fed him all kinds of fabulous yummy food, but I've never tried pudding. Well, we tried it. It was cold at the time so at first, he didn't like it, but when I put a little blob on his tray, it became edible fingerpaint. It was all over the place. He had a good time with it and it was fun to watch him. Whose bearded baby is this anyway?

This picture was just a random one I took but afterwards, I thought it looked like he was praying. "please bless my pudding to help me gain weight..."

It was even up his nose and in his ears. He styled his hair with it. It was all over.

Easter came sort of as an afterthought this year... it came so soon! It was lucky that I already had stuff for Easter baskets stashed away and had plenty of eggs and candy for an Easter egg hunt. Normally, our family does a String Hunt, which basically takes the guess work out of where the eggs are... you just roll your ball of string up around the house and it takes you to your various eggs and treats. We didn't do that this year, because Aubrey just loves searching for eggs so much, the String was going to slow her down.

Andrew was less than thrilled on Easter morning...

And this is why... his older sister got all the eggs, except for about five. Like I was saying, she was not going to be slowed down for anything.





He was happier later when his mouth was full of chocolate. I think he has made a small stash of M&Ms somewhere in the house because since last Sunday, I keep finding him with some kind of candy in his mouth and I have no idea where he got it. Speaking of, I think there's a smudge of chocolate on his chin in this picture. He's a boy after my own heart, that one is.





These shoes... I love these Easter shoes. They are SOOO Aubrey. If I had to pick a pair of shoes that best described her, I would pick these. They are happy, flashy, and fun, and ready to go anywhere. Not to mention they are the most sparkly shade of Perfect Princess Pink.






Chad is hoping this picture never sees the light of day... this is what happens when Andrew finds my makeup. Yes, Andrew, I always have trouble opening that compact also. I actually did not post a couple nicer ones, with Andrew using several makeup brushes on his face. Ah, yes, we're just a stone's throw away from Andrew carrying around a purse while wearing my shoes.

Remember that container garden? Well, welcome to Our (Not So) Bountiful Harvest. I am happy to report we are making baby steps in the right direction. And I say baby steps because, we recently picked some strawberries, here they are in all their minute glory:

Just so you get the right idea on the scale on these babies:



So, we had only two, and they were both only the size of a plain M&M, but boy oh boy, were they delicious. They were sweet and juicy and just the right size for getting stuck in your teeth. I'm hoping for a lot more of those. Hopefully, a little bit bigger next time. I've got a few ideas to make them grow bigger, but truthfully, I'm just glad the plants haven't died yet. I am wondering how the vegetables will do, but we'll just have to see. At the very least, I could serve a feast to an army of Lilliputians.

This small child has found himself so many different places lately. This is what happens when taking toys out of your toybox just doesn't quite do it for you. Andrew just climbed right into his one day last week. In retrospect, I think he's a genius... instead of taking his toys out one by one, to play with them, it so much more efficient to climb in with them. Then you're only putting one thing in, as opposed to taking several dozens out.


And lastly, Andrew is finally walking. And I mentioned it before, but it's different finally because he prefers walking... as in, when he falls down, he doesn't crawl, he gets back up and keeps walking. I am so excited for him... but excited in that cautious sort of way, because he's already discovered the benefits of being two feet tall. We're going to have to remove our stove knobs, among other things. Andrew demonstrates an unusual way of getting to standing position, which I have named "The Popper." He starts out with one knee down and one foot ready to stand, and then he just pops up on his other foot. I don't know how he decided that was going to work, but it cracks me up every time I see it.

(Yes, I did bribe him with chocolate, so, yes, I know I shouldn't be complaining that he likes candy so much, since I am sort of fostering that relationship.)

In other news, I recently downloaded the complete Book of Mormon and Doctrine and Covenants and October General Conference onto my iPod. It makes doing chores so much easier when I am listening to something, and figured this was a good option to listen to. I think I end up listening to more than I would sit down and read, so that is a good thing. I also have been enjoying my little stints at the bookstore. I really thought I wouldn't like going back, but I actually do and I look forward to it. I guess we'll see if that still holds true when we do the same thousands of embossings that we did last summer. I don't think I blogged about it, but it was awful... 8 hour days at the bookstore doing nothing but embossing. So, anyway, that should be interesting.

And now I think we're all caught up!

Old McDonald had a duck and a sheep

I recently put up a video of Aubrey's alphabet sounds, now it's Andrew's turn for the spotlight, with Animal Sounds.

I have been working with Andrew for months on animal sounds. Actually, I have been working with him to say anything besides mama, and figured that animals was a good place to start. He loves the book that he is "reading" in the video clip, but he has not even said so much as a moo until recently. All he can do so far is the Quack Quack (and notice he is on the duck page at the time) and the Baa Baa (on the sheep page). But this is progress.

I'm happy to report also, that the walking is really coming along. We're trying hard to get him to meet his milestones since we discovered he was slightly behind. ("Slightly behind" may be too generous as he is almost 18 months and just starting to walk). But he is letting go and walking, and he's climbing too, another milestone. We're getting him to drink out of a sippy cup, which may seem like a small thing, but is actually not, all things considered.

We've been trying so hard to help him meet his milestones, that now, when he is, it makes me a little sad. I love this sweet and loving little boy. He is so easy going and even tempered, quick to smile and easy to be made to laugh. He gets so excited to go outside, or to go on trips in the car or anywhere out of the house. But he is just as content to wander through the house and play with his toys and clap at them when he can make them light up or make noise. He loves having stories read to him. He is a mama's boy and I couldn't be happier about that. But he is growing up.

Sometimes I feel like I just want to freeze certain moments in time and have them forever. I love when I come into his room in the morning or after he naps, and his face lights up to see me, his mama, and he grins that priceless grin. I love that when I hold him, he will lay his head on my shoulder and pat my back with his little hand. I love that when I ask him if he will give me kisses, he always gives me two. In my world, where I am not always Happy Mom and I struggle sometimes from day to day, it is such a blessing in my life to have the perfect and unconditional love of my baby boy.

RASCAL FLATTS!!!!!

We have wanted to see Rascal Flatts in concert for a long time, and last year, at the rodeo, their concert was on Sunday, so we couldn't go. This time, it was on Tuesday, and even though I skipped Enrichment to go (and I'm the Enrichment Leader), we had to go see Gary, Jay, and Joe Don. So, we put on our jeans and t-shirts and headed down to the rodeo with our friends Jeff and Stacy.

I love seeing what people wear to the rodeo, as there is a wide range of acceptable dress. You can count on a a lot of tight jeans, cowboy hats, belt buckles and those string ties, but I'm always amazed and alarmed at the cleavage and the bare bellies hanging out, of which there are always many, us four not included.

I was so excited for Rascal Flatts, but almost as excited to see our friends Jeff and Stacy ride the mechanical bull, which they had vowed to do since not doing it last year. That was a show that did not disappoint, but you'll have to go to her blog to see it.

I just love the rodeo. I've gone so many times, it's something I have enjoyed ever since moving to Texas. I love seeing the animals, I love watching the rodeo, and I LOVE the food. It's all greasy and unhealthy, but you know, where else can you get one of these:

And where else can you walk around with a giant turkey leg like some kind of primitive carnivorous animal? It's all so very wonderful. I ended up getting a loaded baked potato and Chad got a barbecue sandwich, and then we shared something we'd never seen at the rodeo before, but had to try. It was.... Chicken Fried Bacon! I could almost feel my cholesterol rising as I ate it. After we finished our dinner, we headed to the carnival area where we shared a funnel cake and fried Oreos with the Kirkhams. And luckily for me, unluckily for Chad, due to the following mishap, he spent the remainder of the evening holding my jacket for me. What a gentleman.





The actual rodeo part of the rodeo is always fun, especially the calf scramble. There were a couple of gals who really got scraped up (and had their jeans torn in embarrassing places) in pursuit of their own calves... The calves stepped on them, dragged them underneath them, and generally made their catching painful. Everyone was really rooting for these girls, but I think only one girl ended up with a calf. I think they ought to give the other girl a calf just for her effort. It made me wonder if you have to sign a medical waiver to particpate.

The concert after the rodeo was great! It was exciting, and they put on a great show. They sang SO many songs, and it was wonderful. I was pretty excited, but if ever my excitement had waivered, we had two girls sitting directly in front of us that had enough excitement for the whole stadium, screaming and clapping and raising their hands up throughout the concert. I'm pretty sure they also sang along, to every song, and stood up at various times. So, despite that, we had a great time and decided that we have to come back and show Aubrey the rodeo. We've brought her before, but this year, I think she would appreciate it a lot more. Especially the fried Oreos.

Like You Stole Something, but with two L's

That's how I usually describe my last name to people, an idea given to me by Chad. Stolle is a tricky last name, but truthfully, I'm used to tricky by growing up with the last name Seil. There are times however, I am jealous of my sisters who married into common last name families, such as Smith, Miller, and Hansen. But, most of the time, having a tricky last name that is hard to pronounce and hard to spell to strangers and others comes in real handy.

Today, KJC Ventures calls (the place who gives you a free cruise for coming in for a short "presentation")

KJC: Hello, is Miss Stall there?
Me: Nope, there's no one by that name here.
KJC: I'm sorry, I must have the wrong number.

Even though we are on the Do Not Call List, we still get calls like that one and others from telemarketers. Luckily, we always know who they are because they mispronounce our name. And luckily for me, there are no Stalls, Stolley, Stolleys, Stalleys, who live at this address.

The Yuck

You can skip this post if you're squeamish around words like mucus and barf. Because, I just want to say I'M SICK OF BEING SICK!!!!!!!!!

I have basically been sick for about three weeks. I think I'm pretty much done now, but it might as well have been three years. I have had just about every symptom a sick person can have, except, by some miracle, barfing, which knock on wood, I won't come down with tonight. It started out innocent enough, a little sniffling, then, WHAM, I've got itchy eyes, tons of drainage, I'm sneezing, it's awful. That continues on for about a week, at which time it starts getting better. I venture out of my quarantined home, and WHAM, it comes back with a vengeance. This time with a severely sore throat and head, neck, and backache. I finally broke down and went to the doctor on Friday, after two weeks, and find out I've got a sinus infection. I started taking antibiotics for that, and Saturday and Sunday the sore throat intensifies to the point I cannot sleep because I am waking up having a hard time swallowing. Even if it was strep throat, which the doctor should have seen when I was there, I am already taking antibiotics, so there's nothing else they can do. Well, Sunday, the achiness turns into a neck so stiff I thought I had meningitis, seriously. I could not move my head at all. Well, all of that now is going away. But I'm not out of the woods, because I also noticed Sunday, I am getting, not one, but TWO cold sores. At the same time. So fun. One thing after another after another after another. It's so demoralizing.

Sunday, my family took pity on me, sweet little Aubrey decided to do something nice, so she made breakfast in bed. Here's my menu: (I love the spelling, it is so cute, as incorrect as it is, I will keep this forever).


I circled the things I wanted, Cereal, Toast, Banana, and Hot Chocolate. I couldn't have juice, (it's crossed out) because she realized we didn't have any. Can you guess what the other things are?



She also made a picture. She's never much dealt with details, keeping it simple, it's "Get Well Soon Mom"

There is another one on the door of my bedroom. She also made a book, which I will keep forever, written all by herself, that is written top to bottom, like Japanese, entitled

"My Mom"
Mom is sik
hr hed and hr lags hrt (My legs aren't hurt, but that's about the only things that aren't)
She is so prite
I like hr
I wishd tat she wus betr

I know the spelling isn't very good, but it's so cute to see her try. It was a ray of sunshine in the black cloud of illness that has been following me around. Call me a baby, but I hate being sick, especially, since I'm normally a very healthy person. And thanks also, to Chad, for picking up a whole bunch of slack around the house as I have become pretty much useless until just today.



I love these two.

So, hey, you might see me a little more now that I'm not contagious. Except for the cold sores. But I won't kiss you, don't worry.

The Yuck

The Rodeo Run (my version)

Let me just say it was harder than I thought it would be on account of the fact we ran up and over a viaduct. And also because I was congested that whole week and couldn't breathe very well while I was running. Add to that I had been out of town the entire week before taking care of six kids, and been up Thursday night with a poor kid who barfed at least once every hour from 12:30 a.m. on (yes, I didn't blog this, but I did get the all inclusive babysitting package which included barf also). Anyway, so with that being said, I was maybe less than prepared to run this race. But I did it. I had run six miles before in 90 minutes, which is not that great. But my goals were 1, to run all the way, and 2, to run faster than 90 minutes. So, I accomplished both of those, with the exception of stopping at the water tables to get water. That was the only time I stopped running. So, to accomplish my goals, I was happy with that. But it was definitely harder than I thought, and I was glad to have my sister with me the whole way (who probably could have gone a lot faster) and my friend Ashley, who kept me going and encouraged me when I couldn't breathe and felt like I was going to fall over.

I look so pretty in these pictures... but hey, I ran a long way in the hot sun, up a highway onramp, did I mention.




Also, for your viewing pleasure, you get a video of me crossing the finish line. I come up from behind really fast, so don't blink or you might miss me. :)

Truth be told, I wasn't all that pumped up after I was done, I was ready to go lay down and take a nap. But in the days since I have begun to feel that sense of accomplishment of doing something that was hard and accomplishing my goal. But if you ask me if I'd do it again, I'm still a little iffy. :)