COUSINS!

What's funner than a visit from the cousins Haley and Megan? Their mom (Cindy) and dad (Jeff, Doug's brother) came along, too!

Aidan has always been especially fond of Uncle Jeff, and Uncle Jeff obligingly read him some stories. There was also card play, snow play (yes, we still had some on the ground last weekend), Java Mule runs, and playground fun. Click for some of these scenes and even more:

Olathe Vonfeldts visit

Young Women at work

Here are the Young Women in our branch. Aren't they beauties? One of them--Chanstin--is missing from the photo, but I'll get her picture up soon, too. The others are Krissy, Abbra, Candice, Zephre, and Gabby. You can't imagine how spectacular each of these girls is.


They have been enjoying Christmas through service. Last Wednesday, we decorated for our branch party:



Tonight, we'll be caroling and delivering gifts at a nearby nursing home. Next week we'll do something for ourselves--we're having a fun gift exchange combined with the Young Men.

Snow Days

Well, it's true that we did just have three snow days--last Thursday, Friday, and then again today, Monday.

We did the usual--snow ice cream, lots of play with the neighbors, hot chocolate and winter punch, and board games. It was fab.

Here's our crowd warming up by the fire after some snow play with our neighbor friends. It's Sydney (sorry I cut off your head, Sydney!), Merida, Sophia, Aidan, Harley, and Merideth:


I also took the opportunity to snap some shots for potential use in our Christmas cards. Sophia and Jacob voted that it was too cold to be outside without coats. Meredith and Aidan, however, were beside themselves with glee. Here are a few we decided not to use--but still worth sharing!

Snow day for a picture

Sophia's Self Portrait

Here is the self-portrait Sophia created recently at school:

And here is Sophia herself (after a recent haircut):


Hmm. What do you think?

What strikes me about her self-portrait is not just how well she has captured her likeness, but how much older she has drawn herself. She looks like a young woman in her twenties, when in fact she is just about to turn 10 years old. I think this is telling about how Sophia understands herself. And in fact, I think Sophia does have a very old, wise spirit. Like she was among the early generations of Father in Heaven's spirit children. Like she has had a little more time than many of us to gain some spiritual insights and maturity.

Good thing we named her Sophia.

One more look:

Aidan capers

Our boy has been at it.

Here's the mighty "Soup-Man!" Deann, do you remember sending these pajamas?


Here's a sheepish boy who has frosted himself with Eucerin and has just called upon me to rescue him from his predicament. Check out the expression on his face! He was sitting there, frozen, apparently fearing that any movement might worsen the situation. (Over 20 shampoos later, his hair is still grossly greasy.)

Mama, I caught another fish!

Oh, bliss. Our whole family took off for a fishing trip in the late afternoon today. Jacob and Noel (who is visiting us from Lawrence) fished from the dock:


Meanwhile, Doug took the girls and I--and Aidan, at times--on a tour of the lake:


Meredith and Aidan and I also spent some time at the lake playground. It was a warm afternoon, and dusk was approaching by the time we were wrapping up our trip, as you can see in the pics.

This was Jacob and Noel's third fishing trip in two days, and they were discouraged when the fish still weren't biting. Sophia threw in a line and caught two fish in a short time! Jacob was consoled, though, because Sophie froze up when the fish bit, so he got to reel in the catch. Aidan was ecstatic. Meredith was ambivalent, but just happy in general:



I must add this was Doug's fourth fishing expedition of the weekend. I think he's making the most of his holiday, don't you? He snuck off early this morning for some daybreak fishing when the rest of us were still sleeping and caught several croppie and a bass. He fried them up for us for dinner in a cornmeal batter and they were deeee-licious.



Here's the whole album, where you can see a few more shots:

Fall fishing

Fall Holiday

What a fine, fine Thanksgiving we had! It was just us Lamar Von Feldts this year, and we had a wonderful time cooking and eating. Meredith played "cooking show" with me to make the praline topping for the pecan pie, and Jacob made the rolls. Sophia and Meredith contributed to making the table look beautiful. We were so proud of our completely homecooked feast that we took pictures of each dish.

Here's our snaps: The top pic is of Aidan going at it with a utensil in each hand! Click for the complete web album.

Thanksgiving 2006

Since we're at it, we might as well belatedly throw in our photos from Halloween.

Meredith was Wife of Dracula (her own creation), Sophia was a veterinarian, and Jacob was a . . . ugly scary guy. We trick or treated with our new friends, the Boises. You can see Austin here with our kids in his hunting costume (I believe he actually uses these duds for real-life hunting) and Olivia in her witch costume. This is a new Web Album, so click below to see more--if Halloween isn't too long ago for you!

Halloween

For Doug, at last

Many of you know that when I met Doug, he was living on a boat. That 25-foot cabin cruiser was with us until we were about to have our first baby, which is when we sold it. Doug loves the water and has been patiently waiting for the kids to get a little bigger and our lives to change just enough to make a boat practical.

That time is here! Upon moving down here so near to the Ozarks, we acquired two boats--new to us. One is an old fishing boat that we got via Ebay, and the other is a ski boat from our good friends Kevin and Sandra Young.

Lamar Lake is just about 5 minutes from our home. The first time we put the fishing boat in as a family was in September. Doug, Jacob, Aidan, and I were aboard. The girls stayed home--they didn't yet get how fun a boat is. The boys enjoyed the fishing and I just enjoyed.

This is a web album. Click to see several more photos, including a snap of Aidan mesmerized by the fish Doug caught:

First boat trip

Our Lamar Branch

We have made ourselves quite at home in our little branch of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, where we were welcomed very warmly. We have a nice church building just three minutes away. There are apple trees on the property out back, free to church members for the pickin'!


This is our Branch President, President Wilson, and his wife. They are the most extraordinary people:

And here's Brother and Sister Bird. Sister Bird was the Primary President when we moved in. She and the other primary workers helped our kids feel so welcome when we were new! She has since been released, and I wish I had a picture of the new President, Sis. Backerman. She is fabulous, too. Brother Bird was recently made the Recorder for the Oklahoma City temple. These are all people that we feel so blessed to know. Loving, hardworking, dedicated to the service of the Lord. They are a tremendous example to our family:


Hey, guess what? This is the new Young Women's president:

Finally!

I know that those of you dutifully checking our blog have been confronted by the lead article "Butt Chamber" for far longer than you would wish. This article has been disconcerting to those amongst us with gentler constitutions. Thank you for persisting and for the suffering that you endured when you had to revisit this article each day. And to the others who gave up, I say, "Come back! Come back!"

We have been here in Lamar over three months now. We still don't have any pictures hung on the wall, but we are feeling completely in the swing of things. I have a few photos I've been wanting to post to show you around the town just a bit more, but then we will close the "We're New Here" chapter in our lives.

Yesterday, Jacob marched with the middle school band in an evening parade that was the prelude to the lighting of the lights downtown. (That's the third parade our town has hosted since we moved here! Are we partiers?) The lights on our town square are really quite festive.

Here's a couple of pics from the square taken in warm weather. First, the courthouse:

And this is what Sophie calls the "pink post office:"


I have mailed letters from that post office! Now, in case you didn't already know, our town is quite famous:


Most notably, it's the birthplace of President Harry S. Truman. Here's the home where he was born:


This is Nicole. She'll give you a tour of President Truman's birthplace if you're of the mind:


For some of our family and friends, you will appreciate Lamar less for its historical significance and more for this, the very hippest joint in town:

This is the Java Mule. It's located just off the square. Check out www. javamule.com. It really brews the finest espresso around, or so I'm told, all while celebrating the heritage of the Missouri mule. The smoothies are terrific and we'll be giving the hot chocolate a try soon. Uncle Rick, this is your kinda place!

Being Negative

According to my mom I'm often negative. Well mom says according to my actions I'm negative. I think people consider the answer to the following saying as being optimistic or negative, but they forget the question, so which answer is it. So as I have found myself very interested in quote-type thingamaabobers lately, I thought it would be intresting to . . . debate or find and answer to the proceding statement. This is a question with a right answer and a wrong answer. Mom,


Is the Glass half full or half empty?

. I looked up the definitions of full and empty. . . Now so that nobody can cheat and say, well how much stuff is in the glass . . . the glass is exactly fempty (full/empty).
Empty: Containing Nothing, being uninhabited
Full :1. containing as much as possible or normal 2.being at the highest or greatest degree.
Not much help, is it.
Well I think about it a certain way thats quite simple. If the substance was put in the glass until it was fempty it is full. Because the substance was becoming full and with out being interferred would of been full. If the stubstance was just taking out of the container, or was just dranken out of it is half empty. The substance would have been empty without interference, and was going in the direction of empty.

That is my opinion, I guess both answers are right.

That was dumb and random article by Jacob, Jake the Great King of Cyberspace

" There are no questions as dumb as the one your younger siblings ask, so be curious, ask questions and thank your younger sibling because without them, your questions would be dumb" JAKE THE GREAT KING OF CYBERSPACE

Butt Chamber

Tonight me and my sisters were... hyperactive..... running around, hitting, screaming, chasing, tickling, scaring and while we were doing this we were laughing. I came up with a new tickling move, a good move, gets everyone (Meredith laughed, seconds before she was hissing, kicking, gnarling, biting, screamin, wiggling, and so forth) Heres how you do the move...

1. Corner somebody (prefferely somebody less aggressive and smaller than you) in a open area.
2. Grab there arms and force them to cross them on their stomach
3. Shove them onto the floor, they now can not use their arms to wiggle away
4. Lie on one side of them, perferrely on the arm
5. Pull down their pants, not underwear just pants (this move can be done with all clothes on, just alot less effective)
6. Very lightly rub your fingers across their rear.
7. In about 10 seconds to 1 minute the person will break down laughing, at about 45 seconds turn your finger so the fingernails are rubbing. Wallah!

Don't ask how I came up with, yes its rude and disturbing, but hey I'm 12 its my job.

Jake the Great Returns

After spending T H R E E L O N G miserable weeks in my tomb, after my horrible death, I have been Ressurected!!!!!! Here is my story..................

Notice that a great ruler never survives to die of old age, but I mean a great ruler, and we all know that cyberspace the fastest growing empire is the biggest thing to rule! Well as king of cyberspace, I jake the Great was killed for three weeks then ressurected. There was a wise and ancient (mom just go with the story, we all know your only ~> years old) lady, she was sometimes called the Moummy. She knew all threw her expierence and knowledge, this lady had special contact with the cyberspace gods, Interneto, Wirelessina, and the great and powerful Imail. She was in contact with Televisionet, and X-cube the wise and wonderful. She even knw soccaroma.2Well one day, I, king of cyberspace, had a hard decision to make. It was called Amendment 2,(the actual amendment and decision has nothing to do with the story) and all the world was talking about it. Men and Women were debating and all houses had signs that said... VOTE NO ON AMENDMENT TO VISIT NOCLONING.ORG... Well through all the chaos I disobeyed the wonderful Moummy. Instantly the wonderful and holy Televisionet was out of my reach. As Moummy still began to talk I did not listen, that cost me much, and when she found out bam, I was shunned from X-cube the wise and wonderful. I refused to follow her advise and found Imail and Interneto leaving me. Yet I continued, the pressure of a new age, the information age, was paining me, but I continued to refuse. Sadly with this Soccaramo left my sight. I made the wrong decision, twice. I voted for Side of Hashbrowns not Relish, then second of I did not listen to the wise Moummy. The gods shunned me so much it was like they tied me to a wall and asked the entire empire to come to a contest, who could get closest to my heart with a poisen dart from 4 feet away, within 8 minutes of disobeying Moummy, I died. But know I have been ressurected.


I hope you liked my story, there are several things I need to point out to make a few things more clear, I'd also like to add a special thanks to Grandma, who was the best doctor in heaven, she healed my wounds and dilluted the poisen, THANK YOU Grandma.

Next thing, Amendment 2 is the big thing in Missouri right now. Stem cell research is the thing, and there are half a million big red signs in Lamar (home of th 2-4 middle school team) that said vote no on amendment 2 and tell you to go to www.nocloning.com

Second thing, we have this thing at school called channel 1. At the beggining of everyday (in homeroom) we get to watch this tv channeld for about 10 minutes. It talks about national things and a lot about the war in Iraq. There are these commercial that have a random item, side of hashbrowns, relish, pile of leaves, other random stuff, running for congress. The commericial have quotes why you should vote for them and other stuff, at the end of the commerical the screen turns black and says Pay attention .org (or com can't remember)


Jake the Great King of Cyberspace (I still have to murder the current king thought)

Texture for a Two-Year Old

During Sacrament Meeting today, I discovered that Aidan was stroking my knees wide-eyed. At first I couldn't figure out what he was thinking, but then I realized-- I wore pantyhose to church today for the first time in his memory. I'm in the habit, good or ill, of going barelegged in the warmer months. So today was the first time this season that I girded up. He was fascinated. The silky smooth texture was enthralling to him. By saying, "I do?" he asked if he could wear some, too. I suggested later.

It was funny.

He went on to feed himself Cheerios by first placing them in the open jaws of his rubber snake, then sucking them from the viper's mouth. This creativity must have been inspired by Sophia. She likes to dispense Cheerios to him at church by threading them onto the tail of his plastic rat. Then he just eats them off the tail. Nice.

A Day for Reflection

As you have noticed, I haven't posted much in a few weeks. I was trying to finish a big writing project, and then we had both sets of grandparents visit. It was fun!

So today is my 40th birthday. This deserves a few minutes of reflection.

I've heard that the question people ask when they turn 40 is, Do I feel satisfied with what I've done with my life? I was thinking about this yesterday, and I am so happy to say that the answer is yes! As I moved about my day, I realized that the explanation for the answer is in the everyday, mundane activities that I do. So I thought I would list them as proof of my happiness. What is extraordinary about these activities is that as a set they are exactly the activities I would chose to do on an everyday basis. In other words, I enjoy them, and they are mine. I don't feel trapped, compelled, or regretful. I do them because they are my choice. I wouldn't do it any other way. Here they are, in no particular order:

• Looked out the window and saw a beautiful park across the street.
• Helped a kid make her sack lunch for school.
• Washed the extensive hardwood floor in my house (okay, this was my least favorite activity. But I got it done by 8:30 am so that it would not hang over my head, admired my technique while I did it, and felt great about my clean floors afterward.)
• Read to The Buddy.
• Took a nap.
• Read a big chunk of The History of Christianity, Volume 1--Beginnings to 1500.
• Cleaned out a closet.
• Snuggled by my slightly feverish 2-year-old while he slept.
• Set up a train track for Aidan to drive his Thomas-the-Trains on.
• Made homemade beans in the slow cooker.
• Sold an old wooden desk on Craigslist.
• Dictated spelling lists to two girls.
• Cleaned out the mudroom/laundry room.
• Admired my 12-year-old's school pictures, realized how handsome he is, realized and confirmed that the girls are really smitten by him at school, and amazed myself that my first little baby is growing up into such a capable, handsome, fine fellow.
• Greeted another very handsome man (my husband) for lunch at home.
• Heard that plans are on for my birthday request--camping at the lake.
• Washed and folded three plus loads of laundry.
• Said my prayers and asked for things I need and want.
• Went to a meeting for middle school parents.
• Pondered the scriptures.
• Talked to my middle-schooler about stuff after the younger ones had gone to bed.
• Went to the store late at night to save the family from the dreaded tragedy of being out of peanut butter.
• Read about the ancient Sumerian and Akkadian civilizations.
• Day-dreamt pleasantly about the educational, intellectual, and professional possibilities for me after Aidan gets a little older.
• Joined my family in an easy-going family home evening.
• Fell asleep reading well before 11:00.

It doesn't get any better than that!

My family made my favorite low-carb breakfast this morning and brought it to me in bed whilst singing "Happy Birthday." The girls had picked flowers from the yard and put them into a beautiful old vase that was once my grandmother's. I was a wonderful way to start the day!

Also, I'd like to thank Borders, my Allstate agent, and Art.com for wishing me a happy birthday.

Armadillo Tuesday

My friend Madison, from Lawrence, had a random obsession for armadillos. When we were doing homeschool together we had science on Tuesday, and Tuesday became armadillo day. I found myself thinking about how I'd never seen a live armadillo, maybe one at the zoo, but I didn't remember one from there. I have now excuse now that we live in southwest Missouri because their are wild armadillo's. Well It had been about 5 weeks and I was yet to see a live armadillo. I'd seen dead ones on the highway, seen them while biking, and driving by them on the local streets.
On a recent trip Saturday evening trip to the oh so close Bass Pro Shop we were riding on a road that had some Ozark forest and hills. We happened to come upon a miracle a LIVE ARMADILLO!!!!!!(I forgot to mention that we all had given up on seeing a live one and they were the family joke) The armadillo was in the middle of the road and we were able to stop about 5 feet before it was another dead one. We all jumped out of our seats and opened the door to stare in wonder. It was small and looked exactly one in a picture, waddling a long with a little tail. Its exoskeleton looked really cool. It had a long nose and pure black eyes. We found out why you never so a long one, that is because they take their time crossing the road. I didn't mind it because it gave us a lot off time to look at the armadillo.
I know my mom will want to post some more about it and she will have another paragraph or two to add about funny things we said or did in reaction.
Lamar is going great and I'm really starting to fit in.

Must dispel . . .

. . . the impression that I took the football shots. Indeed, I did not. They were taken by a local photographer and are posted on the web for purchase. We will be purchasing some of them! If for some reason you would like your own copies, let us know, or visit the lamarmo.com link noted at the side of the page. Choose "Tiger Sports," then "Tiger Action Photos," then "Misc. Photos," then the Sept. 7 game. There were several more of Jacob as well.

Budding football pro--FIxed the links!

Jacob's first football game was last night, September 8! Check out these photos (I have fixed the links that didn't work over the weekend):

Jacob is ready

Jacob up close

Jacob in action

Jacob with tape holding up his leg pads

Budding philosopher

Wednesday night, as I was walking the dog around the park and Meredith was tooling along on her bike behind me, she said:

Mom, is the other side of the world in front of my bike, or behind my bike?

Lipstick. 'Nuf said.