eat sleep and farm

We've been sick with the stomach flu since Saturday night. Rachel first, then Jason, now me and I assume Ethan will follow suit very soon. We're praying we're all well by Saturday because some of our friends from our church are getting married Saturday night and we'd really like to make it to the wedding. Thankfully it only lasts (at the most) 24 hours and none of us have overlapped and been sick together, which helps in keeping the house running. For better news... check out the new changing table we got! I'm very excited about it and can't wait to start using it. This is the 1st changing table we've bought, so its rather thrilling. Its a corner unit and saves on a lot of space, which we're always looking to do in our not-so-big house. I loved all the shelving space AND it comes with wicker baskets to put on the two bottom long shelves.

My friend Gina had a post on her blog about another blog she had been reading. I clicked on the link out of curiosity (you all know how much I love reading other people's blogs) and began reading. I sat on the couch for a good hour, reading page after page after page of this family's journey through difficult trials and God's mercy and grace to them through it all. I went through an entire box of tissue and found myself in awe of God, first of all, but secondly, in awe of the peace, comfort and hope He has blessed this couple with. I posted the link so that you can take a look yourself, but the short version of the story is that their 4th little girl, born in April, lived only 2 1/2 hours and then went on to be with the Lord. She had several conditions that her parents we told of months before she was born, but that doesn't lessen the grief and sorrow of her passing. I finished reading, took a deep breath and stared down at my stomach. There, living, breathing and grow

For those who have served and are serving our Country... thank you!! Today we celebrate you and thank God for you all.

Our church is hosting its annual Ladies' Retreat this November. I sent an email out several weeks ago, to a bunch of friends that don't go to my church but I thought would be interested and 5 of you are planning to come! Very exciting. I thought I'd post the link here for those of you who want to come and then for any of you who haven't heard but are interested. Here you go! You can fill out a registration form online. If it won't let you submit it online, let me know. You can always mail them to me and I'll turn them in for you. This is going to be the first time we've gone to this retreat center, but I hear its very nice. We'll also be staying in motel like rooms and not the usual camping dorms. **Nursing babies are welcome.

Today we spent the first part of the day with my sister Amber and her husband and kids (visiting from LA). We had lots of fun and the kids enjoyed attention from their big cousins. :)

We've had lots of fun with friends and family this weekend and the fun is only continuing! Friday night we had a gracious invite from our friends the Jerrold's family, to go over for a BBQ - and boy, do they BBQ ! Roy and Heather made the most delicious caramelized onions, roasted asparagus and delicious turkey and regular beef burgers. So yummy! Our kids all get along quite well, which is always nice. Rachel loved baby Will. She got such a kick out of all his baby things - the swing, his little toys, bouncy seat, etc... she was quite taken by it all. I only took a few pictures and nothing really exciting, but we did have a great time! I, of course, had to take a picture showing off Jack's awesome hair cut. :)

I have taken way too long to post these picture -- terribly sorry! Especially to Jess Green who has been so patient. These are pictures of our new furniture in the living room, family room and the kid's new IKEA furniture in their bedroom. The bottom picture is a entry way table that a few of you have asked to see a picture of. Its the one we found shortly after moving in... I knew it would look good in the entry way and we fell in love with the way it looked!

I love feeling our baby kick. Its one of the most amazing feelings to me. I love being reminded that she's really in there, alive and doing well. Sometimes she's more active at night and its so fun to lay in bed, when the house is all quiet and I can talk and know she can actually hear me. :) When I'm pregnant I've always made the habit of reading aloud when I read my Bible or any other book I happen to be reading. With this baby, its forced me to always find a quiet place to do my reading, since otherwise, I'm not sure she'd really hear ME over the kids and all the other noise around here. I can't wait to meet our little daughter; hold her, kiss her and smell her wonderful baby smells, but I'm really trying to enjoy this pregnancy while its here. I usually feel a sense of panic after our kids have been born - not sure I'm ready for them to face the world. I get worried about the pollution outside, people we might walk by who are smoking, possible ac

When Rachel does something naughty or is about to get herself into trouble, I will walk up to her and say "Rachel Kathryn" and give her my "I'm not happy with you" face. The other day, I was in the kitchen making dinner and I dropped an egg on the floor. Of course it splattered all over the place, so I grabbed some paper towels and was down on the floor cleaning it up... Rachel walks up to me, puts her hand on my shoulder and in a very ashamed voice says, "Mommy Kafryn". She's got the right idea, just the wrong middle name. :) Also - I've opened my site once again to the public. I know the private setting is very annoying to those of you who use RSS feeds and such. If I have issues with it (like I did last time) I will set it back to private.

Here are a few pictures from Mother's Day. My sister's kids are also in the pictures - she has four kids ranging from ages 2 years to 8 years old. I have a couple more I wanted to add, but for some reason it wasn't working. I'll try later. We had a beautiful Mother's day. My Dad and our husbands put the day together and did a fabulous job. Dad made us moms a delicious steak lunch, Caleb made an amazing salad and Jason brought dessert and drinks. And... they cleaned up! That was a gift in and of itself. :)

I'm sitting here with two kiddos, after a long, but fun day. They're on either side of me with their blankets, watching a movie. Every once in a while Rachel leans over, lifts my shirt and kisses my tummy, saying "I wuv you, baby". I'm suddenly struck with the huge blessings God has put in my life. My husband, my kids, our home, our families, friends, our church, etc... the list literally could go on and on. Sure I have my hard days, but who doesn't? My Mom also reminded me today that its silly to sit around and go through the business of life, as if mine is so different from any one else's. Its kind of funny the way I do that. I have friends who have much more stress in their lives (real stress, like the worry of losing a child to a sickness at any moment or trials that very few of us ever have to encounter) and they're the ones that God uses to remind me that my life is normal. Nothing out of the norm... but full of His blessings. Ethan was an especi

Our ultra sound went great and our news is posted at our family website. www.jastef.net :)

We went to Marine World on Saturday with Jason's old coworker Scott. The kids had a blast! It was the 1st time this year for us, but will be one of many since we have season passes. The day was very enjoyable and actually relaxing as well. Rachel napped in the stroller 1/2 way through the day, the kids enjoyed playing in the new water park area (getting soaked) and we caught a few of our favorite shows. Of course Thomas Land was very loved and we spent a lot of time there as well. :) I took a picture of Rachel the other night (in Christmas pjs, I know) and posted that here as well. She's 22 months old on Wednesday!

I can't believe this is already my 20th week of pregnancy! Not sure if its just getting used to being pregnant or the fact that we're busy with two kids, but this pregnancy is flying by. I'm sure it also helps that I'm feeling great and sometimes forget I'm even pregnant. Our ultra sound is tomorrow and Jason and I are super excited. We can't wait to SEE the baby, watch it move and make sure everything at least looks okay. We're still up in the air with the whole gender thing, so that's also a possibility. Jason would very much like to know what we're having and as much as I don't mind waiting to be surprised, I'm not understanding the thrill of it all. I'm sure it does work for some couples, but I don't think we're going to like it. I still would like to wait and at least see (so I can have my own opinion on it) but I also want Jason to thoroughly enjoy this pregnancy and not feel like it was the "odd" pregnancy for hi

Rachel surprised us today when she very clearly said the following to my sister's dog.... "Maggie, be quiet and go lay down."

Jason and I were pleasantly surprised a couple weeks ago when a friend of ours offered us her daughter's crib, mattress and bedding set! She emailed me out of the blue, asking if we were in need of a crib and such an we just happened to be! We used Jason's baby furniture with our other two kids and because its going on 30 years old and has been through so many kids, our Dr. recommended that we use something newer. I loved using his stuff; I loved the sentiment behind it, the way it looked and the color. I was starting to think we'd never find something we liked just as much. God provides! I teach this lady's girls piano lessons and she told me last week that her 4 year old daughter's crib set was used for about 2 months and is just sitting in her closet. She brought it all over tonight and we LOVE it! We also really like the bedding set - very gender neutral and we just think the colors and theme is cute. Its all been such a blessing and a huge surprise! Anyway... w

Ethan and I are watching A Baby Story (on TLC), which is one of the kid's favorite shows. I've seen this one before so I allowed him to watch the actual delivery, since its not gory or freaky, like some of them can be. :)  The lady is pushing her baby out and you can see the head... Ethan begins to smile (that cute, dimple smile) and looks at me and says "Mommy! You're going to that, but you're going to be the best at it!" The baby finally comes out (after a little bit of struggle) and Ethan literally begins tearing up... with a huge smile on his face. He keeps telling me -- "I'm going to watch our baby come out and I will say HI BABY! and then I will say Good job Mommy!" I say "look at that cute baby" and he replies with "Yeah, but... our baby's cuter."

Today I decided to start tackling the baby's room. We had emptied all the baby stuff out of the garage and into Ethan's old room, to give our landscaper room to work in the garage (while he unpacks boxes and such for the backyard). I won't tell you how many bins of clothes we have, ranging from newborn to 2T, because its almost embarrassing. After digging through all the precious, tiny boy and girl clothes I've decided we need twins, one of each. :) I haven't seen some of Ethan's newborn clothes since, well... he was newborn. Oh, how I've missed those! I forgot how cute they are. Anyway, I feel so ahead of the game, but I know the next 5 months are going to fly by. I'm trying to stay as organized as possible so that when we bring our little bundle home, life won't be (as) chaotic. Our ultra sound is on Tuesday... we're getting very excited! We're both thrilled to be able to see how big our little one has gotten.

My sister recently tagged me to do a Blog on "Four Things." I am posting my answers and will then tag four friends to do their "Four things" on their blogs. Four things about me that you may or may not have known in no particular order. 1. Four jobs I have had in my life: Expense Rep @ PeopleSoft, Jr. Administrator @ Western Pacific Housing, Nanny for 4 amazing years and a piano teacher, currently :) 2. Four Places I lived: San Jose, Dublin, Brentwood and Oakley 3.Four Shows that I watch: Take Home Chef, House Hunters, Moving Up and Bringing Home Baby 4. Four Places I Have Been: Oahu, Tahoe, Yosemite and Monterey -- all of my favorites 5. Four Blogs I Read Regularly: -- this is so hard because my feed reader checks all the blogs I know about everyday! But... here are some that I usually find updated often and enjoy reading. Heather, Paper Pony, Sauder Travels and Gina's 6. Four of MY Favorite Foods: Mexican, Chinese, Greek and Italian 7. Four Places I'

Ethan lets us know in funny ways that he listens to what we say, even when we're not talking to him. Here are some quotes from this week... "That's because gas prices are SO high, Mommy!" -- after I said we were not going to buy the BIG race car at Target, because it was too much money. "Rachel's gonna have a new world hit her when this baby comes." -- after she threw a fit when I didn't pick her up right away. "I like laptops with apples on them because they're way better than the other kind." -- referring to Apple computers "Shut the door, or the flys will take over our house!" "I think I have a head ache... I'm gonna take some time-en-al" This morning Ethan asked "What does "the President" mean?" I gave him the watered down version :) and he asked me "So... we're gonna get a new one?" When I said yes and then told him I wasn't too thrilled about who it may be, he asked

I try not to whine very often on here, because that's what my journals are for. :) But... such is life and I know all you dear female (and mostly Mommy) friends will relate, so here goes. This has been a tough week! Not necessarily for my family, but just for me. In may ways I feel very much like my friend Heather has felt on her blog... like I'm drowning . Between rushing Rachel to the ER last week, then dealing with Ethan's stomach flu directly after, then getting his Asthma coming in full fledged, due to allergy season and then today, finding out he not only has to have the surgery to remove his adenoids, but ALSO has to have tubes put in both ears. Eek! I'm constantly amazed at how well Jason and the kids handle stress like this so well. They just move on, keep ticking and take life one day at a time. I think I handle it better when I'm not pregnant, but being pregnant I feel like this emotional side of me is taking over, full force. I'm lucky if I can grab