eat sleep and farm

... and I thought I'd take pictures of my sweet kids.  We've had a really good start to Jason's early schedule. He and I were up and out of the house by 6am (the kids stayed here in bed, with my sister here) and we were able to have such nice conversation, just the two of us. Enjoyed Noah's bagels with coffee on the way into the office.  I came home and read my Bible, had a quiet time of prayer, took my shower, got my day started, made breakfast and then went to get the kids up at 8am. It was lovely. The day has gone so smoothly and I can't believe in 2 hours, I'll be leaving to get Jason from work!  I think we're going to love this quicker than we thought :)  Here are some pictures I took of this kids at lunchtime. 

I love being a Mom. I'm sure its fairly obvious to those who know me.  I love my kids. I love keeping my home and taking care of my family.  I love that we've entered this phase where I get to educate and teach my kids about the world, the metric system, how to read and enjoy books, about the solar system, about the government, and to continue sharing my love and hope in Christ with them.  Becoming a wife and then becoming a Mommy have been areas in my life where God has done most of His pruning on me. In some ways I feel like I was a lump of clay before and in the past 6 1/2 years, I'm taking shape and becoming more of "His image" and less of mine.  But, its a hard job. And there are days when I most certainly don't look like I'm enjoying it and days where my home certainly looks like its not being "loved on".  When keeping a meal planning system going is harder than keeping Kara off of high places.  When saying "no-no" feels l...

On the way home from our church picnic {in the post below this one} we passed by Snoqualmie Falls and just had to stop.  Such beautiful scenery!  loved this picture of us, except for the way I'm standing. I was trying to hold on tightly to Rachel,  but also turn my body and face forward. It didn't turn out so great...  we were all completely pooped on the way home, but the day was  amazingly fun! Its been a grand summer. 

On August 20th, we had our church picnic {for just our campus} at an attending family's farm up in Carnation.  We had a great time getting to see LOTS of babies dedicated to the Lord, lots of baptisms in the river, hearing some testimonies, eat yummy food and playing on the bouncy entertainment provided. I learned that day that I am still very much a child inside :) 

I forget that not everyone has Facebook and so not everyone gets those daily glimpses into our lives.  Even family members that we don't get the chance to chat with on a regular basis look here for stuff I often post on Facebook, or only tell to people I see on a daily basis and so then I call the family member, or far away friend and they go "what?! I didn't know about that!"  Sorry guys :(  We have two bits of news/information going on with our family I wanted to share via the website.  1.) After working a 3pm-11pm shift for the past 11 months, Jason switches over to the much anticipated 7am-3pm shift this Tuesday!! We're thrilled. This comes at a perfect time with school starting on September 7th and since we're down to only one car now, it will be easier for the kids and I to get up with him at 6am and take him into work and then easy enough for us to go get him at 3pm, instead of making the trek at 11:30 pm.  He keeps the same days off he has n...

I like the Owl City song, Hello Seattle   I liked it before we moved here, but since moving here, I really like it.  Every time we cross the bridge from Bellevue into Seattle, I think of that song.  We rarely go into Seattle on Mondays, because its Jason's day off and since he's  always going there for work, we usually do something somewhere else  on Dad's day off. But this day happened to be a beauty and we really hadn't been to Seattle  {all five of us} in a long time, so we went.

We heard a great sermon yesterday. One that felt like it was 'perfect timing' for me personally. I loved the conviction that came along with it. I loved the reminder that GOD is first in my life, not anyone or anything else. A dear friend of mine went home to be with Jesus on July 31st. Her name was Margaret Hastings; aka Grandma Margaret. She is a woman who God used in my life in so many ways. She was our neighbor for the first 14 years of my life and looking back, I think God had us there for the very purpose of Grandma Margaret being such an influence in my life. She was 60 years old when I was born and yet had such a zest and charisma about her, I think I've always viewed her as '50 something' :) We've kept in touch throughout the years, but not as much as I would've hoped for. We called each other on our birthdays, wrote snail mail letters to each other and every time we've had a baby, she is sure to call me after she receives the birth announce...

Amazon throws one amazing company picnic.  I had no idea, before going, that we would have so much fun!  Just happens its was on one of the hottest days of the summer,  but they were well prepared with lots of water games and water play.  Aside from the food not only being amazingly delicious and 100% free,  the beer on tap was also to die for  the games were amazing  the rides, super fun:  hayride  horse drawn carriage rides pool bouncy houses jumbo water slide  mini golf jousting knights  rock climbing wall  train rides  and more!  I'm already looking forward to next year's picnic! Such a fun outing with the fam.  And, Jason had the camera almost the whole day, so sadly, there aren't many pictures with him in them. We need to get better with that. 

I was giving Ethan a hair cut tonight and shaved everything but the center. "hey buddy! remember the other day you asked me what a mow-hawk is?"  "yep!"  "do you want me to show you, with your hair?"  "okay... will it hurt?"  "no, I just shave all your hair, except the center piece and then I'll show you in the mirror."  "oh, okay - sure!"  buzzzzzzzzzzzzzz .................................. "take a look! tell me what you think."  ........................" um "................................ "it looks kind of ridiculous."  "seriously? you don't think its goofy in a fun way?"  "No. do you?"  "yes. I think it looks crazy, but fun and you'll probably never have it this way again. Do you want me to shave it off now? I will."  "um... lets leave it just to show Daddy in the morning."  "okay... are you sure? I'll cut it now, its not ...

Thought this video was very informative and well done!

When we realize we need to make a change in our lives, regarding our health and our weight, we put our minds firmly to finding a good work-out schedule and then we do our best to faithfully stick with it.  Searching for what time works best; what time is best for us to give our full , undivided attention to the work-out. Sometimes we do go into it haphazardly, but I think deep down during those times, we expect to fail. And if we're being honest, we're actually okay with failure, since our heart isn't really in it in the first place. We just sort of pretend to put effort into it, so we can say " I tried. "  Yesterday I was thinking about today's culture, {and maybe its always been this way and I'm just now catching on - I am a bit  very slow} thinking about how into our looks we are. Gyms seem to be overflowing with members, even though we constantly hear about how the economy is so poor. Being obsessively in shape seems to be a fad right now. And I...

Things heard during any day, any time around our house, or on the go.  I'm sure most of you will easily relate.  "Kara Joy! Get out of the bathroom sink, before you fall out!"  "Ethan, take your mouth off the railing - people with many different and bad germs have been touching that all day."  "Rachel, go to your bedroom and stay there by yourself, until you stop whining."  and then finding her asleep moments later. 

Our little friend Kaitlynn turned 2 years old and had a party ,  the 1st Sunday in August.   After church we went to her party at the park and had a blast!  Audrey gets a piggy back ride from Mama  Adyson liked the shades from the goodie bag ;-)  these jello cupcakes were so yummy We had a great time celebrating and enjoyed another fun day with our MOMS Club friends! 

And if you chose not to participate, then you can't voice your opinion later, or in private emails to me or on Facebook or any other place. So please, if you do have an opinion on this, speak now or forever hold your peace.  Several months ago, I had one friend mention that I could use a "read more" function on my website. His complaint was that my posts are SO long and it was taking his computer a long time to load my website up, he thought maybe shortening the posts {until the person clicks on the "keep reading" link} would help it load faster and run smoother.  Then about a month ago and in the same week 4 of my readers {but all 4 people who don't know each other} began complaining that my posts can be so long sometimes, its annoying to have to scroll so far down, or have to click on "older posts" to go to different pages of my website to find what they're looking for. So I did some research and found the "keep reading" link to...

My blog friend Nini does something fun every Thursday and I've begun to look forward to it every.single.week. Its called Thursday Recipe Rodeo  and she has posted some amazing recipes that my family loves! I think our all time favorite is the one I'm posting here, the Blueberry Crumble Pie {my mouth waters whenever I think of it} T here are so many more recipes that we've loved, it would take too long to mention them all.  We're going to my friend's house tonight for dinner and I offered to bring dessert, simply because I've been needing an excuse to make and eat this pie again!  **I'm going to do my best to join in the fun and post a recipe every Thursday.  I know this is a repost, but I wanted to share it on my site since we love it so much. So for those of you who read Nini's blog, sorry for the repeat.  Blueberry Crumble Pie * 1 of your favorite homemade pie crusts or ready-made pie crust * 5 Cups fresh blueberries * 1 Tablespoon lemon...

We decided to make August the arts and crafts month!  So far its been great - even Kara has been getting in on the fun!  Today was p a i n t i n g day.  I wanted it to be finger paints,  but neither Ethan or Rachel  wanted to get their fingers that dirty { who's children are these anyway?! }  so we got out the paint brushes and painted away.  I enjoyed seeing what they each decided to paint.  Rachel painted more letters than I thought she would. Ethan did more pictures, which is what I would've pegged Rachel for.  Kara was all about circles and what she told me was "the sun" and "stars".  At one point I think she was trying to paint the moon,  but got frustrated with its outcome and called it a banana :)  

This article has captured my hear tonight. I loved it as soon as I finished the first sentence.  God's grace is a gift I feel can never be out given. Its what I will forever be most thankful for.  What an amazing way to remember God's amazing grace that He bestows freely on those who believe!  Here's just a small example of what I'm talking about... just a small quote from this article.  "Grace will make you finally acknowledge that you cannot earn God's favor, and it will once and for all remove your fear of not measuring up to his standards. Grace will humble you with the fact that you are much less than you thought you were, even as it assures you that you can be far more than you had ever imagined. You can be sure that grace will put you in your place without ever putting you down." Speaking of Amazing Grace, I finally watched the movie,  Amazing Grace and loved it. If you haven't watched it yet, take the time. You won't regret it....

Its been rainy , cold weather the past few days here. Very weird for August, but much anticipated by us. We were kind of tired of the dry, hot weather. Lets just say Washington really shines in the cooler, rainy weather. When you're used to everything being so green and lush, it gets very depressing when a month or longer goes by with no rain.  Its made the kids hyper though. There's a sudden gear switch where we have to become creative about  being indoors. Not spending all day long in front of the b00b tube, for starters. We did a lot of digging through the craft cupboard and sorting through dress-ups and play dough; things we haven't touched in over a month. And then its kind of weird because starting tomorrow, the hot weather is supposed to return. Like, we're talking in the 90's, which for the Pacific Northwest, is HOT. I'm telling you, the suns rays are just a lot closer and brighter here. Its amazing how sun burned I get up here. I never burned when we ...

Our little man of the house is 5 1/2 today! He's really excited to be "almost 6" and even more excited to be starting real school next month. The older our kids get, I have to say it does get more exciting. I like being able to do such big boy things with Ethan; teaching him how to help me with stuff around the house {while he is eager to learn and help!} I love that he can read to ME now. We play board games together, which is new and fun. I get a kick out of watching him enjoy Dad/son time with Jason. I love to hear them have "guy talks". Makes me laugh because when we're here during the day, there's so much Ethan just saves to discuss with Daddy. Sometimes he'll ask me something and I'll answer and then he'll say something like "Yeah... I think I'm gonna talk to Daddy about this, to hear his answer." Its like he knows Daddy's answer will just be more suitable for guy talk. 

we took my Mom to Coulon Beach Park which is about 15 minutes from our house. Its a beach off Lake Washington, with breath taking views of Mercer Island  and miles and miles of the lake. 

My kids have a definite love/hate relationship with pets. Cats and dogs, mostly. They don't seem to mind cats too much, but they still keep their distance. Dogs however, are a different story. They love the idea of a dog, but they do not trust them. They feel like the dog secretly wants to "eat them for dinner" as Rachel says.  My Mom was here for 3 weeks in July and she brought her small puppy, Scooter. Took Ethan only a few days before he was in love with Scooter. Took Rachel about 2 weeks and Kara never came around.  They loved to play with Scooter and they loved when they could tell Scooter was enjoying play-time with them.  Now my sister is living with us and her dog, Napa , is much bigger than Scooter. I am getting the biggest kick out of watching them try to adjust to the bigger sized dog. Napa is a bit crazy, compared to Scooter. She has a ton of energy and she likes to run after things, grab them with her mouth and bring them back to you - catch is her fav...

We're 2 months away from our baby turning 2 years old! How did two years go by that fast?! July didn't bring many new things with it, other than a bigger vocabulary and bit of sassiness. Kara has learned the art of arguing and does it quite well with her sister. You'll hear Rachel say "Yes you did!" and Kara will reply with "No I didn't!" and this goes on and on until I put a stop to it. I can't quite figure them out, because they don't seem to be mad at each other when they do it... they just seem to enjoy the back and forth banter. Who knows. She's become quite the pro with Sunday School these days! She gives us a send of cry, but we've been told it stops moments after we leave. When we go pick her up after church, I get the biggest kick out of seeing her interacting with all the little people her own age. Last Saturday she saw me getting all the "church clothes" out and kept saying "Kawa go to Sumday School!!"...