eat sleep and farm

My sister and her 4 kids came to visit us for about 2 weeks! Our kids hadn't seen each other in a year, so the reunion was quite thrilling to behold ;-)  And we had a lot of fun with them during their stay... there was lots of lego play for the boys.

.... We had some fun amongst all the business that was thrown our way.  We visited a few new 'Christmas' places and enjoyed a lot of holiday fun.  We included some of our typical traditions along the way.  And I'm finally sitting down with time to post about them.  What's that saying? "Better late than never!" - it very much applies here.  First stop, Clam Lights Festival!  this park is down by our Target shopping center, called Coulon Beach Park.  We went here a lot in the summer time, to swim and picnic and  it was fun to come and see the beach park all decorated for Christmas!

The kitchen smelled of baked cinnamon rolls and orange juice, with fruit salad.  The famous breakfast casserole smells up the entire house...  making its way upstairs and luring people out of beds.  You could hear 7 pairs of little feet running into rooms, announcing,  "today is Christmas! today is Christmas!"   stockings were opened.  new things were ooo'd and awwww'd over.  the food was eaten.  the big gifts were opened.  the screams of delight always make me feel like I'm 10 again.  Although this year, I very much felt like one of the older people in the room.  I felt like I was actually living what I remember seeing my parents live, not that long ago.  Actually getting more enjoyment out of seeing the kids open their presents.  Getting thrilled over one small box filled with something special, all the while knowing the real gift is the gift giver, my hubby.  I loved watching my nieces sit and prete...

Since we can't possibly send Christmas cards to everyone we know and love, I thought I'd at least post the pictures from our card on the blog, for everyone to see. Our good friend Heidi took our pictures this year and even though the chaos of having Kara skip a nap, proved to be a big mistake on my part, I still thought the pictures {the few good moments she was able to catch} turned out really well. I loved the individual pictures she captured of the kids, because they were in very spontaneous, natural moments. ~Our family~ pictures courtesy: Heidi Dean Photography taken right in on our backyard lawn :)

... a person who makes new year's resolutions and keeps them.  I kept most of the ones I made for 2010 and its inspired me to make more for 2011.  Do you set New Year's resolutions?  I used to think the idea was so silly .  I thought we should be that way all year round and not making empty promises  to ourselves at the beginning of each year, knowing full well we won't keep them.  So then I decided my goals needed to be more realistic and things I very much desire to see happen.  Not just "if only's".

These are from earlier in the month, when we decorated our tree.  The kids had so much fun this year.  And, they're getting better at scattering the ornaments.  This might be the first year, in a long time,  where our tree doesn't have all the ornaments on one side :) 

December is half way over, Christmas is almost here, the baking hasn't really begun, the house never did get completely decorated, the gifts are going to be pretty few this time around {always a good thing} and yet I feel like I'm right where God wants me.  Things haven't gone at all how I expected. Life this month has been really unpredictable. I laugh as I look at the calendar and see all the well laid out plans we had and fully expected to set into motion, each new day. And then I go back just a couple posts and re-read the post titled ' worry ' - the post about plans. I re-read my own notes taken from the last sermon I heard, since I've not been back to church since then. God knew exactly what was in store for the rest of my month and put that sermon right where I'd need it most. 

There's a lot going on this month! I somehow forget, every year, how busy December really is. I remember the year Kara was born - she got a horrible virus when she was only 10 weeks old and it quickly turned into something potentially dangerous. The Doctor told us to keep her away from outside people, to have her mostly in our room, with tented sheets around her bassinet and a humidifier to create an atmosphere that would be best for her lungs to heal and to avoid getting pneumonia. I remember how slow that month of December went by. I wasn't able to go with Jason and the kids to get a tree or anything. Felt like it was never going to end. And yet, when I look back on that month, I'm now wishing I had enjoyed it more than I did. I did lots of baking, lots of reading, lots of just being around the house, enjoying the cold weather and my family. And best of all, December felt nice and long, instead of... "that thing I saw as I blinked." ;-)  Even so, we're rea...

... is our 2nd born child, but 1st daughter. She's so often the sunlight in our home and the giver of frequent hugs. She believes a good hug and an "I love you" can  will fix just about anything.  People that hang out with us often tell us "Rachel plays so well all by herself!" or we often hear "Rachel is so easily entertained and very quiet!" Both statements are true... even though she is, without a doubt, our loudest speaking child {its the Italian in her, I guess}. She does play well by herself and she is  easily entertained. Rachel is coming on turning 4 1/2 and is very excited about it. She's convinced that eventually she will catch up in age with Ethan.  She turns 4 1/2 in January and will be all excited for one month, until Ethan turns 6. Then she realizes that he's somehow staying ahead of her.  Best words to describe our 1st daughter would be.....  sweet   polite caring affectionate   random chatty   happy deep & emotional...

I wrote this out on Sunday after church and then decided to wait on posting it. Not sure why. I do that sometimes. Then I was on the phone with my sister today and I decided to read it to her and she said "post it!" So I am :)  ------------------------------------------------------------------- Are you the type of person that likes to worry about things?  If you're like me, you won't admit to it very easily.  I'm just now, in my 30th year of life, understanding more  bits and pieces of my own personality. Because I am generally quite laid back and easy going,  I tend to think I'm like that in all areas, until God kindly shows me I'm not.  And, He typically chooses to show me those things in church :)  Today {Sunday} our sermon was excellent. I do say that almost every week, but today was the exception for me, because I felt like it was preached directly for me.   One of our Pastors, Tim Smith, preached on the topic of ' Plans '. He did on...

I wanted to wait to post these, since the giveaway  needed to be the top post until it was over.  We got our tree last week!  Decided not to cut one down... we've decided we like the pre-cut ones much better.  We went to the same farm that we went to last year and had a lot of fun, again!  I put these pictures in Antique color.  No worries... Washington hasn't turned light yellow and brown'ish :) 

........  Carson Sanderson!  comment #6  "This comment comes to you courtesy of Honda  who is generously paying the $13 fee for WiFi on my flight to Seattle again today." Congratulations Carson!  I hope you enjoy the  Thank-You cards.  Since I already have your address, I'll be sure to pass  it on to Third Street Paper Company.  True Random Number Generator Min:   Max:   Result: 6 **I know the picture of the generator says its 1-100, but I assure you  I remembered to do 1-11. For some reason when I transferred the image here,  it put it back to 100. Oh well. 

My childhood friends Katie and Kelly have started their own Etsy shop,   Third Street Paper Co .  with some pretty fabulous creations! With their shop being new{er} I wanted to help them get their name out there and advertise for them on my blog.  Since its December, which is often called "the gift giving month" I thought it was a great month do to another giveaway!  This is the set the winner will receive!  There's really lots  of great stuff to chose from to chose from on their site  and I'm thrilled to announce  that all of you, during the giveaway,  can go here  to receive 15% off your entire purchase!  All you have to do is enter the code: eatsleepandrun  The giveaway begins now and will end on December 4th, 9pm PST on Saturday night.  To win the 'THANKS' set, just leave a comment here. On Saturday night I will use  random.org to pull a winner out of the comments left on here.  Ready, set, GO! :)