eat sleep and farm

Tonight the kids were playing cars together. Ethan tends to get very particular about where the cars go and how they are driven. Rachel also has her own ideas and also doesn't like him to tell her what to do anymore. She used to do everything he told her do and she'd say all the stuff he told her to say; his own private puppet. :) He also used to enjoy taking the best toys and leaving the cruddy ones for her to play with... with her not caring at all. Lately, she cares... and tonight, I thought it came out in kind of a cute way. :) "No E-E! I wanna do it. By ALL myself!"

"Betause Jesus say so!" (her answer to everything)

I was chatting with my friend Laura tonight and she directed me to a very awesome website. Mothering.com -- wow. I am addicted to this site! Very informative and very much into mothering, obviously. As Laura pointed out, they are a bit liberal in some of their ideas, but most of the site is so cool! I came across a cool find too! I think I've decided not to get a hooter hider (I love saying that) and getting one (or two) of these belly huggers. I cannot wait to see how this works! I like the idea of more freedom during nursing and I love the fact that I don't have to worry about what's hanging out there for all to see. :) Anyway, wanted to share with you all...

Thought this was a fun post to read on my friend's site, so I'm weighing in also... beware, mine are not super fun to read. I'm also blessed to have a very easy going family when it comes to eating. They love casseroles, meat dishes, soup and sandwiches and salads. Rarely complaining and never really have an opinion. I know off hand, if I call Jason and say "what sounds good for dinner?" he'll say "burritos!" Sometimes it bugs me because I always know I can do away with the super nice dinner and serve grilled cheese and they'd be totally fine with it. But, maybe if I did that every night they would start to complain... :) 1. do you plan your week's (or month's) menu ahead of time so you know what special ingredients to keep on hand? I do this with all canned, frozen or food packaged in a way where it won't spoil within a month's time. We tend to eat more all natural (organic) so I typically shop for 1-2 weeks and not usually over...

Today was a very big and exciting day for us... we got to see our baby for the first time!! We brought both kids with us and the anticipation on their faces was pretty cute to watch. Ethan acted very comfortable in the room and seemed to know exactly what was going on, but Rachel... she wasn't so sure and I think she worried Mommy was being picked on. --Oh, just to clear up any confusion... I am 13 weeks pregnant and no, this was not the ultra sound to find out the gender of the baby. That one happens on May 13th.-- The ultra sound was amazing and hearing that little (but fast!) heart beat... so awesome! Its funny, I do admit I kind of thought this would eventually become "old hat" or just very familiar with every child we had, but every time God amazes me with how incredibly wonderful it all is. And, how new it all feels! I think Jason and I would both agree that the blessing seems even more wonderful each time, because as our kids get older, we get to see how amazing ...

I just read my sister's blog post and immediately felt compelled to write one of my own, on a similar subject. In her post, she talked about not wanting to go to their Good Friday service because the week had already been so stressful and crazy; Friday seemed like the best night to relax. After going, she felt guilty that it was the last place she wanted to be, but God used it all for good. I've had very similar situations to hers, but kind of in reverse; feeling so sorry for myself because I can't seem to get well and for me, life has been on hold for 2 1/2 months. I was sick with morning sickness the end of January, through February and am finally over it, only to be sick with this virus/head cold that I cannot seem to shake. Because of these things, my life has literally come to a halt. I spend my days with the kids, away from people as much as possible, thankfully my Mom lives close and doesn't mind my germs, and trying to rest as much as I can. If any of you know...

As Rachel begins to speak in more complete sentences, I've been journaling all the funny and cute things she says. Yesterday I grabbed my favorites to post here and share with you all. While "helping" Mommy fold the clothes... "Do-do-do-d0... to ovvers! Do to them! Do to them! Gaw says... do to ovvers." the song is called Do to Others and here is the English version of what she was singing is... "Do, do, do, do, do... do to others! Do unto them, do unto them! (with more words in between) God says do to others!" After I cough or sneeze... "you otay Mommy?" During prayer time before bed... (Jason was praying and she's the one interrupting him) "Dear Jesus, we thank You so much for this beautiful day and... "PRINCESS!" ... for the wonderful fun we had and all the blessings You have... "NANA!" ... shhhh, Rachel we're praying now"... "E-E!" ... "Thank You for our princess toys and for Nana an...

"Mommy... is your body just gonna keep getting bigger and bigger?"  "Rachel, we have to help Mommy push her baby out in Octonber, so we will take her on a scary ride that goes really fast."  "When the baby gets to be one years old, she will stop drinking Mommy's milk, because its disgusting if she's 2."  "When my baby comes out of your tummy and cries and cries... I will say "you don't need to cry because I have chicken nuggets!!"  "Will our baby come to church with us?" after I said yes, he followed with... "Oh. So do I tell her about God or will it be just you and Papa Griffith?"  As you can see, Ethan says he knows he's having another sister. He's decided he'd like the rest to be girls because Rachel is fun and cute. 

Some of you have been so kind to send emails and call, asking how we're doing. I'm really impressed... I rarely get on the phone to ask how someone is doing. So, we feel loved and special; thank you! The kids are fine. They got over the virus within a week and have bounced back to life at a rapid pace. I, however, have been very sick. I think its mostly because I can't really stop functioning. I still have to get up bright and early and keep up with these two. Jason doesn't get home until 7pm or later, so I tend to fall apart on the weekends, when I know I have his full time help. :) Saturday I woke up feeling stuffed up, but not horribly so, so I took a Suddafed and Rachel and I headed off to San Jose for my friend Jessi's baby shower. I really didn't want to miss this shower - we've been friends since I was about 4 years old and this is her first baby! Although I had a blast being there, I really think it did me in. I got home, fell into bed and stayed th...

I was online ordering my nursing cover tonight and found a website that I absolutely fell in love with! I love the name too -- Tutus and Turtles -- how cute is that?! The hair clips and beanie toys are so precious too. Some of the toys reminded me of little projects my friend Erin created for her baby Peyton. So, I decided she could totally start an online store and sell them... in all her spare time. I admit we're going to be a bit more green - granola - all natural - what have you - with this child. Poor thing. We're just fed up with all the recalled bottles, pacifiers, toys, etc... There was a day when I would have said this would be over doing it, but this stuff is getting just plain dangerous. We promise we won't be freakishly all natural, but we're going to make more of an effort from here on out. We were way more "all natural" with Rachel and we've noticed only good things come from it. I was noticing you can get organic fabrics on the nursing cov...

"How 'bout if you just stick the tissue up my nose and leave it there!?" (after getting frustrated with having his nose blown every 5 seconds.)

Jenn at www.kozakfamily.blogspot.com I'm tagging Krista, Gina and Laura 1. Link to the person who tagged you. 2.Post the rules. 3. Share six non-important things/habits/quirks about yourself. 4. Tag at least 3 people. 5.Make sure the people you tagged know you tagged them by commenting to them. 1.) I alphabetize my spices. I get very annoyed if one is out of order and when I buy a new one, it must immediately be put in order. 2.) I (like Jenn) cannot drink water first thing in the morning. If I do I feel like my appetite is messed up for the rest of the day. 3.) I hate answering the phone and rarely enjoy talking on it. 4.) I eat the skin on kiwi 5.) I am going to be livid if Tony Almeida ends up being a bad guy in season 7. 6.) I predicted (right away) that he was never dead. And... I am addicted to 24 :)

I've changed the look of my website and I know when you do personal tweaking you can often get some oops problems with other Internet providers, including Internet Explorer. Please let me know if something shows up really wacky on your end and I'll do my best to fix it. :)

The kids are in the bath right now and they're having an interesting conversation... Ethan: Rachel, can I sit where you are and you sit where I am? Say "yes Efan." Rachel: No. Ethan: Rachel, you need to say "Okay, Efan!" Rachel: No, E-E. Ethan: Rachel... in the Bible I think it says to obey me when I tell you these things. Rachel : BIBLE!! Ethan: That's right, Rache... so now you need to obey Jesus and say "Yes, Efan." Rachel: No. Ethan: Rachel, are you trying to make me mad at you? Rachel: Yeah. Ethan: Well, you're making it work. Because I very mad at you now. Rachel: I wanna see Nana. Ethan: I can't spank you, Rache, but Mommy can and if I tell her what you did, she will want to spank you. Rachel: Where Papa go?! Ethan: Mommy?! Rachel's not listening to me!!

Rachel and I had the pleasure of spending some one-on-one time together for the day on Wednesday. We also spent some fabulous time with my long time friend Laura and her daughter Jenna. Laura and I have known each other since she was born, so our history goes way back. It was fun to pick up where we left off more than 10 years ago!

I am shamelessly overdue for a blog post. So sorry... I've been very sick (morning sickness) the past several weeks (since January really) and so we haven't done too terribly much. Jason and I did get away for 3 days this past week/end. We had a wonderful time in Monterey! We got to sleep in, eat out 3 meals a day (and more in between for me!) we went to see TWO movies --both were very good-- and went on the 17 mile drive. I haven't been on that drive since I was probably 10 and Jason even longer. We thoroughly enjoyed it; stopped at a lookout point and Jase read to me from our book. We had fun listening to the waves crashing and all the seagulls chirping... or making whatever noise they make. :) We tried a new restaurant called Lattitudes and it was excellent. We went for drinks and dessert one night after dinner and the view is amazing. Its right on the ocean front, so no matter where you sit, you get an ocean front view! Very cool. We got home Saturday just in time for ...