for sale

After two weeks of work, work, work--lots of little repairs, painting, cleaning like crazy, and with a little boost from my dear friends at church yesterday, we are finally up for sale. I'm exhausted. Trevor's exhausted, but the house looks great. Now, no one can touch anything or even breath on anything.

the big news

I just wrote a letter to the Allen Family kindata letter, which summarizes the events now taking place in our family. I'm going to copy it into the blog so I don't have to type the whole things two places. big changes. Much craziness. I'm very, very tired. Here's the letter.

Dear Kin,

We are abominably late in posting our own kindata, mostly because of the utter turmoil our household has been in during the past month. Truthfully, our household is almost always in chaos, but now we could receive an award for major upheaval. Why? Well....long story, but the crux of the matter is that we are moving to Utah and starting our own business. When? May....therein lies the insanity. We started out thinking we would move next year, then later this summer, then after school was out, and finally, when all is said and done, we think we are all coming around the first of May. The reasons are many, and complicated, and I'm too tired to write them all down right now. So, considering the fact that May is only about 7 weeks away, we have been burning a lot of midnight oil taking care of obligations we have for work and church, taking steps to get the business going in Utah, securing financing, legal matters, etc.. The biggest job, of course, is to get our house sold. I have been painting, and painting, and cleaning, and more cleaning, and making ever longer lists of things for Trevor to fix. It's just little stuff, but it all really adds up. We're hoping to have everything ready for the house to go on the market by next Tuesday. Yikes!
The business itself is going to be Teuscher Band Instrument Repair. Cache Valley is missing a full-time professional band instrument repair technician, so it is Trevor's intent to fill that niche. He has been offered a rent-free shop space inside the Book Table in Logan. He will be independent, but it will offer a nice customer base, and hey, you can't beat free. He is also purchasing a trailer from a technician in Indianapolis that is retiring. Basically, it's a little shop on wheels. Trevor will take this shop to the area schools and repair their instruments on site. Not just in Cache Valley, but in Southern Idaho, the Bear River Area, and even possibly over into Evanston. This is all rather terrifying to a non risk taker like myself, but after a lot of prayer, we both feel like this is the right thing for our family right now. I think Trevor will really like being his own boss. He is an excellent technician, so I think the quality of his work will help the business really take off.
Otherwise, our family is fine. Emily and Max are enjoying Upward Basketball at the Baptist Church. It's a very positive program, focusing on sportsmanship, as well as athleticism. They even give a star every week to the kids with best effort, best offense, etc. The best one is for most Christlike. You won't see that in sports programs in the public schools. Sam and Ginny are really learning a lot. They both like school time with me, and love our Monday preschool group. We got to tap maple trees and taste the sap a few weeks ago, and last week we measured things with rulers and measuring cups. They both love art projects and playing outside. Emily has been busy with 4H and church activities. She's really a wonderful young calligrapher. Her grandmother would be proud. Mostly, we find that she's suddenly an adolescent--- manifested by mood swings, too many hours on the phone, and other things that she would not like it if I mentioned. However, she is also a big help to me, and works really hard at school. She continues to have excellent report cards. Max also does well in school, and is responsible with his homework. He loves to play outside with his friends riding bikes, playing baseball, etc. He loves doing archery in 4H, although we are not thrilled about a few arrow holes we've found that were caused by unauthorized usage of the bow. So, the bow is now completely off limits except at 4H meetings. Boys! Honestly, having grown up with all girls, I am continually astounded at how much trouble these boys can find their way into. Of course girls are emotional....okay, so both genders are a lot of work. Good thing we love these children so much!
I think that's all for now. We're excited to be living back so much closer to family. We have made so many good friends out here in the Midwest, that it is truly difficult for us to think about moving away from here. We're trying to exercise faith and trust in the Lord that all will be well. (with a lot of hard work on our part!)
See you all soon!
Love,
Trevor, Karen, and kids

rollerskating

Took the kids to Skaterz this afternoon as a president's day outing. They had a deal where you could get in for a quarter to celebrate president's day. Sam did great....he just kept trying no matter how many times he fell down. he is one determined little boy. Max and Emily zoomed along, and Ginny held my hand while we took half a lap, then exited and removed her skates. she's still a little young, but she still had fun watching the other kids. As for me...I went around wobbily a few times, and had fun, but realized I'm not as young as I used to be. I used to zip around the roller rink. Oh well...
Temps in the 50's today. It felt great. I got the van cleaned inside and out. A lot of work, but worth it. It looks great now.

Stuck!

Last night I went to take the boys to Summit Archery. Max had been begging me to take them for weeks--ever since their last 4H meeting. So I promised him that if he would clean his room, I would take him after dinner. Sam, of course, wanted to come too, so we had a little mother/son evening. The people there were really nice and helped the boys, especially Sam to get the right release technique, etc. We had a great time, but when we left to go home, as I was backing out of the parking lot, I inadvertently almost went into a ditch. When I say almost, I mean that I actually had the right rear tire hanging in midair. When I got out of the van to see why I couldn't go anywhere, and saw our predicament, I told the boys to immediately get out of the van, and we went back inside to ask for help. The owner who had been so nice to us went out to look at the situation, and then came back and enlisted the whole archery club to come out and boost our van out. So all these burly country boys come pouring out of the archery center, put some muscle behind my van, and sure enough, push us out! Angels in archery! I need to write them a thank you note.

We have big things brewing for our family....can't talk about it yet, but my insides are bursting with both excitement and anxiety.

the kids have been out of school the past two days for snow. That makes 6 snow days this year! I think they'll have to extend the school year now, as they only had 5 days built into the schedule. They are back today, which means I have to go to school this afternoon to run Max's class valentine party.

The past two Wednesdays I went to Max's school to tell stories, and help the kids tell some stories of their own. I told a coyote Ute indian story, a couple of humorous stories, our famous newspaper Jack in the Beanstalk, the myth of the Pan flute, and a couple of stories from my childhood. I showed the kids how to make a beanstalk out of newspaper, and we made little pan flutes out of straws. Then the kids took turns telling stories about their own lives to partners. It turned out really well. Maybe someday, I'll try to do this as a business. I had a good time doing it.

Guess that's all for now!

boys!

This morning before church, Max and Sam entertained themselves by making small spoon catapults, and launched a variety of small things. This wouldn't have been so bad, if they hadn't been aiming at their sleeping older sister...then they decided to try a human catapult--not fancy, just a long board up on a block with Sam standing on one end. Max jumps on the other end and.....you get the picture. How much trouble can they possibly get into in one day! ? Then, later, Max and Sam came into the living room with pillows belted around their stomachs, announcing they were going to belly flop off of the top of the couch onto the floor. Luckily, I was there to head that one off before they actually did it. After dinner, Max and Sam were loading the dishwasher, and I went into the kitchen to check on them. They were both wearing plastic lunch bags on their hands...presumably to keep the icky leftover food from getting on their delicate skin. They'll play in the dirt all day, pick up turtles and toads dead and alive, etc. and it doesn't bother them. But if they have to do the dishes, that's just too disgusting! Boys are definitely a different breed. I grew up with just sisters, and we never tried to make a human catapult. Never even crossed my mind....

No time to blog!

Things have been really crazy lately--and it seems like it's been the same old stuff, so I haven't had much to write about. I did want to put up this cute picture of Sam in his superman costume. Part of the reason we've been so busy is because we've had a bunch of things break down in our house. Garage door springs, hot water heater, and our heat pump. We've had to rely on emergency heat, which means our house is always really cold! The repair people came out once, but there is still a problem, so they need to come back but can't make it here until Thursday. So, we're freezing for a few more days. Lots of blankets and sweaters! Why is it that everything seems to break down at the same time?

Max

Tonight Max and I played some old video games--pacman, racing, galaga, etc. Oldies but goodies. He loved the time together. Afterward, I lay down on the floor, and Max came and pounced on top of me for a big hug, and a kiss! Then he said, Mom, I think that's the first time I kissed you in months! Then, he kissed me again, just for good measure. After dinner, I helped him with some scout projects, and then before bed, he kissed me again. I said, Max, I think that was three kisses in one day! Emily heard, and she said, well, I can't be outdone by Max, so she kissed me too! I think Max must have really been appreciating the time I spent with him this afternoon.
Its nice to have connected with my kids.

Tough day

We've been in the house together too long!!!! We've got to get out! My patience is wearing thin, and it shows. Tomorrow we're going on a field trip to the post office with our preschool group, and I hope that will help.

Max

max is always coming up with some way to make money. He frequently tries to sell his old toys to neighbors. He'd probably sell a lot more if he wasn't charging $10 each. His most recent idea is to create a bike and skate park in our backyard. He made a lot of little ramps, slides, etc. He said he would only charge fifty cents at first, but would raise his prices as he added more things. Always out to make a buck. Apparently, he's decided to give his friends a freebee because they've been out playing, and no money has exchanged hands. I hope.

Ginny

The other day, Trevor and I were up late reading and fell asleep in the basement. At about 4:00 a.m. we wakened enough to decide to go upstairs to be where it was warmer and more comfortable. I guess the movement awakened Ginny, because when I arrived upstairs I found a smiling Ginny sitting upright in our bed. I asked her what she was doing, but she must have thought I asked who she was, because she announced with a grin, "Virginia Sharon Teuscher!" It was so funny that I had to laugh even at 4:00 a.m. Then, I got in bed, with Ginny still sleeping next to me. Now Ginny takes up a lot of room in a bed--she sprawls her legs and arms all over the place. So, when Trevor got into bed a minute later, it must have cramped her style. She complained, "Daddy, you're squishing me!" When informed that actually SHE was squishing US, she wisely kept quiet, and soon we were all asleep.

weather

We had another ice storm this weekend, though it wasn't as bad as the last one. Still, 100,000 people were without power, including many people in our ward. The church didn't have power, so meetings were cancelled on Sunday. Our friends the Andrews were without power for 3 days. We had them over one day which was fun for everyone. The Smiths that I visit teach were without water, so we made a few water deliveries. At our house, though, we were lucky. We've still felt the cold snap. I don't like the heat pump system we have for our house. It never heats past 68 degrees, and the basement is at least 10 degrees colder than that. We don't spend a lot of time downstairs when it is this cold. Yesterday I baked bread to heat the place up a bit. Both the warmth and yummy bread were appreciated by all. Trevor raved about my bread, which made me feel good. He commented that store bought bread and homemade bread are not really even the same thing, which is definitely true. Anyway, the family devoured the whole batch in short order.

Barbies

Ginny is in a real Barbie phase right now. A few days or so ago I made the mistake of sitting down to play Barbies with her for about an hour, and now she wants me to play dolls with her every waking hour. I don't mind for a little while, but my adult brain gets tired after a bit and I need to get on with other things. Stories, songs, a puzzle, game, playdough, anything.....but she just wants Barbie, barbie, barbie. It is kind of cute that she is in a great imaginative stage, and even Sam will come join the fun, but I'm feeling a little worn out. Maybe I should set a Barbie timer.....30 minutes and that's it!
Actually, this phase has been reminding me of Emily at a similar age, who also liked me to play Barbies with her. But Emily was very demanding... if you didn't hold the doll a certain way, she would stop and correct you. She would tell me what I was supposed to have the Barbies say and do. We didn't get any creative input at all--it had to be Emily in charge at all times. At least Ginny lets me come up with my own dialog.

Pics of Portland

Visit to Portland

I had a wonderful visit with Sandi and Scott last week with their cute baby Mannix. I was able to overlap my visit with Nancy and have a nice visit with her, too. And let me tell you, Nancy and I wrestled the baby carseat and won! We got that thing in there so tight, that I wouldn't like to be the one to try to remove it. Mannix is a darling boy--very good natured. Attached to his mother. He likes to hear Sandi's voice singing. She's a very calm mother--doesn't seem panicky like I did with my first baby. Scott is very helpful and supportive. She's lucky to have such a sweet husband. We were able to make a large clothing exchange--Nancy bringing me clothes for Ginny, me bringing Nancy clothes for Adam, and both of us bringing baby clothes for Sandi. We had a really great visit with Granddad. He's so fun to visit. He sang several songs for us--including one about a natural base that was quite clever. My favorite was a cute story he told us about when Grandma and he had taken the kids camping. I guess there were several families around a large campfire, and he and grandma got out their recorders to play duets. I loved this, because Trevor and I like to play recorder duets, too. Anyway, he said everyone appreciated their music except for a young Sam and Katie who were terribly embarrassed that their parents would play music in public. This I could also relate to, because Emily and Max are embarrassed when I sing in public, also. We looked at some pictures of grandma, and updated the family bible with Nancy's and Sandi's new babies.
After Nancy left on Friday morning, I got busy and tried to do a few things to help Sandi--some cleaning she wanted done and also I wanted to stock up their fridge and freezer with easy dinners and lunches. I felt helpful, and I think she was glad to have some jobs done. This kept me busy since I wasn't able to hold Mannix very much since I had a cold.
Sandi showed me some guitar chords and I have been really practicing. Guitar is really fun--maybe I should get a better guitar and take some lessons. I'm getting pretty good at "Today" and "Down the Way".
I had a great visit, but was also glad to return home to my own cute family. Trevor and kids really missed me and had prepared a very nice welcome home with signs on the doors that Max had made and a yummy vanilla cake with strawberry sauce that Emily had made. For 30 minutes when I walked in the door there was a barrage of children hugging me, sitting on my lap, and telling me all the stories of things that had happened when I was gone. Whew! My head was spinning as I tried to give everyone enough attention! Anyway, it's good to be home. It's taken me all week to catch up. Plus, our dishwasher broke, so it's hard to keep up on dishes without it. And, I've been trying to catch up on laundry plus take down all of our Christmas decorations. I'm finally starting to feel caught up, though. Also, now that I'm home, I'm commencing a new diet in earnest. Back to counting calories and daily exercise.
Here are some pictures of my visit!

Super Sam

Sam is in a superman phase right now that is really funny. We rented the old Christopher Reeves version of Superman a couple of weeks ago, and ever since then he's become a fanatic. When he watches the movie, he changes his clothes to match the character throughout the whole movie. Clark Kent outfit to Superman outfit. (Clark Kent outfit is his white shirt and jacket from church with Harry Potter glasses. Superman outfit is his fantastic 4 outfit with an S pinned on the front and a red cape. And boots. Boy, when I made that little red riding hood cape for Emily years ago I had no idea so much mileage it would get. ) He must change his clothes 30 times during the course of the movie. It's exhausting just to watch him. When Ginny and I play Barbies , Sam gets his superman doll to come and save the day. He puts on a little black chinese cap so he can have black hair like superman. But today was really the limit when he came to me and asked me to make him some blue eyes. I told him I thought it was okay for superman to have brown eyes, too, but he didn't agree, so soon he was busily engaged at the table coloring some blue eyes. Not sure how he is planning on wearing them.