Meredith's Baptism

Meredith was baptized on Sunday, March 18--not quite two weeks ago. It was a wonderful day! Grandmommy and Granddaddy Skabelund came from Albuquerque for the special event, and Aunt Cindy and Haley and Megan came down from Olathe as well.

With my girls, I have enjoyed the special time in the dressing room before and after their baptisms. I found it a good opportunity to talk with them about their big day and to gift them small, symbolic gifts. Like with Sophia, I gave Meredith some special white and crystal jewelry to commemorate the day, and a white towel on which I sewed some lace to make it special:


Here is Meredith and her dad just after the baptism.


Aidan wanted to see the water in the font from the backside:


As we towel-dried Meredith's hair in the dressing room, she said to me: "I feel clean and pure!"

Here she is, still clean and pure, in her baptism dress on our front porch:


Among other things, for refreshments, we had cream puffs, BYU-catering-style ham-and-cheese sandwiches, Camie's fruit dip, and Skittles (a remnant from the days when Joe Baird lived near!)

For more shots, including fun at the reception and outside play with cousins, please click on this web album:

2007-03 Meredith's Baptism

Aidan is quite a help around the house

He washes dishes, and he cooks dinner!

Not to be outdone . . .

Meredith has had a birthday, too! She turned 8 on February 11. That means that her baptism is coming up soon! She will be baptized on March 18 after church, and Grandmommy and Granddaddy are coming up from Albuquerque for the big event. Anyone else who'd like to make the trip is welcome, too!

Meredith chose a homemade cheesecake for the big day, and here she is salivating over it (click for a shot also of her chosen dinner: steak and smashed potatoes with jello and fruit cocktail!):

2007-02 Meredith's Birthday

Also, Meredith has been doing some cheerleading lately. She cheered for her last game two Saturdays ago, and the awards ceremony was on the following Monday night. A Ropes Master performed--wow! He was handy with the jumprope and unicycle! I think the whole town of Lamar had a child involved in Upward basketball. The auditorium was packed.

Here she is in cute pigtails, the epitome of a cheerleader:


And in action. She was in the back row, of course, because she is so taaallllll.



And by the way, here is Sophia impressing her dad with her mad flexibility skills:

More on the adornment of Aidan

As Kristy surmised, Aidan did love the attention he got when the girls dressed him up. He ran skipping and hopping all over the house and willingly posed for his picture.

On similar occasions, Jacob has come home to find his little brother all dressed up like that, only to moan in horror, "No! Oh, no! Oh, no!" and begin ripping off the tutu and tearing out the pony tail holders. Aidan is quite bewildered by this display!

The girls have been babysitting.

Sophia Turns 10!

Sophia had a birthday on December 27, 2006. We were in Albuquerque at the time and had a small family party. A bigger extravaganza is still in the works for March!

Click for more shots:

Sophia's Birthday

Mega Christmas Series: New Year's in Topeka

Family members (but few others, I know) may be interested in my overdue tales and pics from New Year's.

On our first day there, December 30, we opened presents (since we Lamar Von Feldts had been away for Christmas proper).

The next day was dedicated to eating and ringing in the new: Lamar Von Feldts did the lunchtime Cottage Cheese Pockets, and the Olathe VonFeldts did the suppertime Bierocks. You should have seen Grandpa quick hop up from the supper table to squirrel away the leftover Bierocks in the freezer for mid-January meals. Doug kept saying, "What happened to the leftovers? What happened to the leftovers?" Oh well; there were plenty of after-dinner snacks--more than we could eat. We played card games until the New Year and the cousins had a screamin' (literally) good time. There was a terrific view of the north Topeka fireworks bringing in the New Year from Grandma and Grandpa's sunroom. Rick, you must join us next year.

We just got back (Feb 18) from our first trip back to Topeka since. Grandma took Sophia and Meredith birthday shopping. And we watched an old tape of one of our (Lamar Von Feldts) visits to Great Grandma's farm. We saw 8-year-old Jacob, 5-year old Sophia, and baby Meredith playing at the Sand Hills, pumping the teeter-totter, and feeding the cows. That perked Great Grandma up to see her old house and farm!

And on the way back to Missouri, we picked up a replacement SNAKE for Jacob! And she made it home alive! More to come on that story!

Just click to see more New Year's memories:

New Year's in Topeka

Winter writing

I think I am past a busy spell and can plan on getting back to blogging.

I was absorbed in writing a review of Did God Have a Wife, by William G. Dever, which I read over Christmas. It is an archeologist's take on the religion of ancient Israel, before the exile to Babylon. You can guess the answer to his question, which of course is rather shocking given the very strict monotheism that theologists have attributed to the religion of Israel for some two thousand years or more. Anyway, I'll post information about the publication of the review when I have it.

We also have had sickness here. Anyone else? We have had flus and are starting on strep. This has given us a chance to meet many more friends here in Lamar, including the emergency room staff and well as the family practice doctor, his wife and office staff. What a nice town we live in. Everyone knows everyone else.

I did hit a PTO meeting and a class Valentine's party, my first since moving, and it was fun. I envision more PTO involvement in the future. No pictures this time around, however.

We Will Have Snow, Snow, and a Side of Snow*

But we will not have school or church.


*Readers of Kristy's blog know where this phrase comes from.

And the Children were Free

Okay, we have just completed our fifth snow day, and today another 3-6 inches are predicted. This is the Ozarks, folks. Not known for harsh weather.

But I just want to say that our family has been in pure bliss. It's like Christmas vacation all over again, without an commitments! The kids have been playing games, watching movies, eating popcorn and hot chocolate, and enjoying hanging out with neighborhood kids and other friends who have come to stay awhile. Matthew and Lauren, who stayed much of the week with their grandparents down the street, got permission to hook up their sled to their granddad's tractor lawn mower. Hoards of children spent innumerable hours this week riding behind that tractor! It does well on the Zambinied ice streets!

Meanwhile, with all the kids occupied elsewhere, I've been reading and writing. Joy.

Mega Christmas Series: Merrill Interlude

Just when we thought we were having more fun in Albuquerque than we could have, our dear friends, the Merrills, stopped by on their way through from Dallas to Utah.

First, they took a tour of my folks' castle. Kristy especially was entranced by my parent's library, which fills walls and walls of bookcases in my parent's basement study complex.

Meanwhile, upstairs, the ever-impish Nate (above) removed a key and its tassle from an early 20th century china cabinet and took off running. My vigilent sister Anhara spotted this mischief, tailed Nate, tackled him, and pried the key out of his white-knuckled fist. All in good fun, of course.

We packed up all of the impish kids and visited a couple of favorite Albuquerque hangouts with the Merrills: first, Frontier (near the UNM campus) for dinner, and second, the old Double Rainbow which is now called the Flying Something or Other (in Albuquerque's artsy Nob Hill district) for dessert. Read more about this at Kristy's blog. Maybe she got the name right.

Here's Kristy and I with Nate and Meredith:

Next shot includes more kids: Sophia, Christopher, and Jacob. Aidan was running loose around the shop. The following photo is the dads Doug and Matt, deep in conversation.

Pet Rescued, Prayer Answered

You may all know that this past weekend we had a very bad ice storm in these parts. We luckily were spared the worst of it and were never without power. We had stocked up on groceries and rented movies. We had a great family weekend. Doug and I got some important projects done (he is studying for his project management certification test, and I cleaned up my extremely, extraordinarily, horrifyingly messy office). But also as a family we played games, cooked, ate, and watched our movies. Church was even cancelled! The kids are having a snow day today, and I wouldn't be surprised if another one or two follows!

We did have a bit of a scare with Lucy. When Doug took Aidan out for a short walk across the top of the snow in the front yard--it's covered with a layer of unyielding ice--Lucy dashed out of the house and across the street to the park. Sophia and a friend were also playing over there, and after a good bit they saw Lucy swimming in the freezing water! That dog is always up for a swim, no matter what the weather! However, she was foiled this time by the ice accumulating on the edges of the pond. The sharp edges made it hard for her to climb out. As Sophia became aware of this, she dashed home to get Doug. It was pouring rain at this point and freezing as it hit the ground. Doug threw on a coat and hat and tried to help call Lucy over to an easier spot to exit the pond, but without success. He ran home to get our canoe, hoping he could think of a way to help her from the canoe.

Things were starting to look desperate. Sophia was worried. She said a short but sincere prayer. Then Lucy suddenly clawed her way over the ice and onto the banks of the pond! By this time, neighbors had come out to help, and they carried her home to us, drenched in icy water and shivering badly. Lucy that is, not the neighbors!

We warmed her up in a bathtub and then with towels that had been heated in the dryer. It took her a long time to stop shivering. She had a little injury as well--her left thumbnail was almost completely torn off and bleeding. After things settled down a bit, Sophia came over and told me quietly about how Heavenly Father had answered her prayer. We are so happy that Sophia had the faith to help Lucy!

Here is Lucy with her rescuers, Sophia and Sydney (Anhara, please notice that Sophia is wearing the "dungarees" that Aunt Joy embroidered for me when we were little girls):



Here she is nursing her hurt toenail:

We won't be letting her play at the pond until it thaws, that's for sure.

By the way, Lucy has found that when the ground is a sheet of ice, going potty is a little . . . splashy:

Mega Christmas Series: An Albuquerque Christmas

I've got loads of Christmas photos and tales to share! We had the most warm, wonderful, spectacular Christmas. I must post many large photos, because there are just so many treasured images, and each one has an important story.

Let's start with pre-Christmas. First, take a look at my swell wrapping job. This shot is Meredith posing with the presents I wrapped for the adults. Aren't they pretty--Meredith as well?

This next foil psychedelic scheme was for the kids. Meredith put the monkey in the shot. She had picked it up as a little gifty for herself when she was Christmas shopping at the dollar store with her dad:

My goal this year was to have everything wrapped before Thanksgiving, and I got about 1/3 of the way there. Not bad! But as the day approached for us to leave for our big trip to my folks' in Albuquerque, I still had a few presents to wrap. Sooooooo . . . I worked the proverbial all-nighter. . . and it was fun! I was having a marvelously great time making the packages really beautiful, which is one of the fun things about wrapping presents for me. Plus, I knew there was a good chance that Good Friend Kristy was up late, too. She's always up late! A quick email proved that I was right! Or did she email me first? I can't remember. Anyway, she was getting Christmas cards out. So we chatted and worked together until about 2:30 am. I hit the sack about 5:30 am, with all the work out of the way so that our trip could be as focused on family as possible. Kristy was up almost as late, and got her cards all done, too!

So as I said, we were in Albuquerque for Christmas. We go every other year. We were so blessed that my sis Anhara and her family were there as well, so it was really a whole-family reunion.

My folks are a bit reluctant to go all out like in the old days, but Anhara and I can't hear of that. We want our kids to experience all the good things that made Christmas so special when we were little. So we are happy to take on many of the jobs that my mom and dad used to do for us in their younger years.

One of the spectacular things about Christmas at our home in Albuquerque is our Christmas tree. My folks have 13 foot ceilings and a big picture window in the living room, so we have always had huge, tall, beautiful trees. Mom and Dad collected marvelous Italian tree lights and gorgeous ornaments through the years--along with many little girl-made construction paper-and-macaroni numbers! Doug and Jeff (my sister's husband) got the tree up, and then all of us helped to decorate it. Actually, somehow I had fallen asleep putting Aidan down for a nap--imagine that--and so I missed out, but it was okay, 'cause my kids set aside a few ornaments for me to hang on the tree so I wouldn't feel left out. Look!

Another extraordinary regional Christmas Eve tradition is that of lighting "luminarias" for the Christ child. These are made by setting a votive candle on a mound of sand in a brown paper sack. Our neighborhood goes all out. The fun starts at dusk, when everyone comes outside to place and light their luminarias.

This is Granddaddy, our family's Master of the Luminarias, pacing out the correct spacing:

Here he is on our front walk, and the next shot is Aunt Annie, coming along after to lift the wicks up straight and prepare them for lighting:

All the neighbors were out doing the same thing. They were gathering to chat. Cars passing by were slowing down to see what was going on, and partygoers were arriving for a fete at the artist's house across the street. It was cold and windy, but exciting! This is a shot up the street:

The kids' favorite way to contribute is to climb up the ladder and help the dads set up the lights on the roof. Here's Doug and Jacob:

In silhouette:

Jacob and Meredith:

Sophia:It's cold up there on the unsheltered roof!!!

Snow had fallen the previous weekend, and the littlest kids made the best of the last of it. Uncle Jeff played with them, too! Here's Aidan:

Ashtyn:

Uncle Jeff in a chase scene:

I wasn't much help at all. I milled around taking photos. But look, Uncle Jeff took a pic of Aidan and me!

Not to be left out of the action, Mr. Farnsworth posted himself as a sort of sentry at the front door. Mr. Farnsworth is my dad's cat, named after Philo T. Farnsworth, the LDS inventor of television. This is a severely pampered cat, believe you me. His only restriction is that he is not allowed to make prey of the birds that my dad devotedly feeds two or three time each day. (He feeds them on the very sidewalk that we lined with luminarias on Christmas Eve!)


As you can see, we line our sidewalks as well as the parapet on the roof. But my dad always reminds us that the most important part of the tradition is to line the walkway up to the front door, because, by tradition, the intent is to light the way so the Christ child can find his way into your home.

The luminarias are lighted as it gets dark. Here's our home after the lighting. The photo after is the same angle taken without flash, hoping you can get some feel for the warm, rustic glow that fills the neighborhood. And you can see our Christmas tree in the window!

It was a little windy this year, and we had some trouble getting the candles to stay lit despite their protected nests inside the paper sacks. In several cases the wind smashed the sack into the candle, and the paper went up in flames. One passerby (many folks get in their cars and drive around to the neighborhoods that put on good luminaria shows) rang our doorbell and warned us that a luminaria on the roof was blazing! But no worries. The house is stuccoed and very unlikely to burn. Otherwise all Albuquerque would be on fire on Christmas Eve!

After dark, Sophia and I took a walk around the neighborhood to enjoy this Christmas tradition. This picture is the big house across the street and up:

Here's a shot also from up the street and facing back toward our house. This view takes in three homes. Notice the pathways up to the three front doors. Perfect!

After all that windy, chilly work on the roof and play on the snow, the kids were coooollllddd. They came in and had warm baths, and Granddaddy and Jeff got a fire going. Here are the kids piled up in front of the fire. Aidan is snacking on a tortilla:

Granddaddy read some Christmas stories:

Then we listened to a favorite old recording of the biblical account of the birth of Christ. When we were little girls, it originally came on a 45" record stuck on a cereal box! Or was it in the mail? Anyway, some years ago my dad transferred it to cassette tape.

At last the kids were off to bed!

That left the grown ups to enjoy the evening and savor the Christmas spirit. Special activities were chosen to focus our minds on Christ and worship him, each in our own way. Here's Uncle Jeff playing internet poker while Aunt Annie looks on. The next shot is Doug reading the latest Dean Koontz book.


I'm teasing, of course. It was a pleasure to indulge in activities that none of us gets to do very often, and sacred classical Christmas music from the stereo poured over us while we did it!

Our beloved Grandmommy and Granddaddy, seated in their royally-appointed front room, enjoying another splendid Christmas Eve:

Next morning, we enjoyed the absolutely most luxurious Christmas we have ever had. There were so many presents for the adults that we gave up opening them after awhile and didn't take it up again until after Christmas dinner!

Here's our family seated for Christmas dinner. Merry Albuquerque Christmas!

Something is just not right

Can you tell what is wrong with this picture?

We hopped in the minivan on Saturday for the much anticipated trip to fetch the snake that Santa promised Jacob. We headed up to Pet World in Lawrence. Last year, Tim Emerson, the owner, helped Jacob and his friend Maddie do a science project on snake breeding for homeschool. The kids loved the project, and Jacob has been after a pet snake ever since.

After a brief--no, make that lengthy--side trip in Kansas City to pick up some speakers that Doug bought off ebay--we snagged cousins Haley and Megan and made our way to Lawrence. We got some excellent help at Pet World making our decision (as always), and pretty soon were back on the road with a beautiful baby girl Super Oketee corn snake tucked safely in a lidded, perforated deli cup. (Tim showed us how to tell if it's a boy or girl. Can you say "hemipenis?" Our girl didn't have one.) We stopped in Olathe at the cousin's house to catch the Chiefs game on the big screen and scare Aunt Cindy with our new pet. Aunt Cindy found that baby girl Super Oketees aren't so bad, after all. But she didn't touch her.

After such a big day, the kids all fell asleep on the way home, but Jacob woke up eagerly to set up the cage and make Baby Girl feel at home. Trouble was, Baby Girl had already gone home--to her Heavenly snake home. She was quite limp. We don't know what we did wrong, but she just didn't make it all the way to Lamar with us. Rest in peace. The kids were all quite resilient, since we hadn't even named our new pet yet. No tears. Just yawns.

I called Pet World the next day to see if they had any more Super Oketees, and the youth who answered told us authoritatively to bring in the snake and they'd take a look at it. Since we live several hours away, I told him we wouldn't be able to make it until next weekend. So he counseled me to just freeze Snakey to save her until we could drive up.

Okay. Sure. So I picked her up with a paper towels and tossed her into a ziploc and set her next to the Blue Bonnet in the freezer. I thought maybe she would be needed for an autopsy of some sort. Then washed my hands really well.

I got an email from my friend Sherrie tonight. Sherrie is Tim's wife--the owners of Pet World. She assured me that the well-meaning youth had led us astray, and there was actually no need to freeze our pet. We could just give him a prompt and proper burial according to our local customs. We laughed and laughed! She and Tim, good people that they are, are FedExing us a new, hand-picked Super Oketee within a few days.

We are obviously novice herpers, and I'm sure we did something wrong that resulted in the loss of the snake. Tim and Sherrie are really generous.

We'll post some pictures of the new guy or gal when she gets here--and survives a day or two!

CRIANTE

I found out, in a brief amount of time, that the first two questions everyone asks you is "what is its name" and "what kind of snake is it". Oh, i forget the most popular one, "does it bite". Well the answer for the second question is a Okatee corn snake, but that’s not what I’m writing this article about. The day after are great trip to KC and LAWRENCE, I looked up fear in a English to French translator, my next snakes name is Crainte, the French name for fear.

P.S. I think momma startin' to like, Crainte. I've got about 5 things as proof. She touched when she put in the freezer, she took a picture of me with it, she recommended that we BURY it, (before I read that part of the post, I thought 'snakey' was halfway to the dump already).Now she posted something about FEDEXING a new snake before telling me! In fact she still hasn't told me (but it is 5 in the morning, no, i didn't wake up just basket ball practice).

For Kristy

Look, I have updated my blog. You can stop holding your breath.

Perhaps there are others of you besides my dedicated friend Kristy who are wondering when I might post something new. She makes me feel so loved, emailing me over and over with hints and nags and kicks in the butt. For for now, I'll just offer a teaser:

1. We just got finished with the holidays. My understanding is that much of the rest of the world is in the same boat. I have lots of pictures to share of beautiful presents, vacations, and more fun, fun, fun. All coming soon.

2. Doug's birthday was yesterday. He turned 44. Since he is watching his youthful figure after a very indulgent holiday season, he requested that we forgo the usual cheesecake. But we did have a nice little celebration. Remember that big bash we had a few years back when he turned 40? That was fun. We got the green couch then so that we would have front room furniture. I'm sitting on that couch right now!

2. Jacob got permission for a snake for Christmas. We are traveling tomorrow to Pet World in Lawrence, Kansas, our beloved former home, to fetch that reptile. We made an exploratory stop there last week on our way to Topeka for New Years. Since then, Jake has been mulling over his five top picks and trying to narrow it down.

Meanwhile, the muse has struck and I have been writing. I wrote a book review and some other stuff. When I write, I try to minimize all distractions and stick with it while the ideas are coming fast and furiously. Otherwise I might never finish anything. I just have a little more editing to do, and then I can let myself get caught up again in that other fun hobby, blogging. It would also be good if I dedicated a little time to folding the laundry.