eat sleep and farm

I'm in the process of decorating and adding to our master bedroom  and I have a question to ask you ladies.  Don't worry about your answer - this isn't a  "will you side with me or Jason"  because we both have very little opinion and just aren't sure.  We have pale yellow walls in our bedroom, a wall full of windows  with a gorgeous view and because we get so much light and color  from outside, we've gone with mostly black & white pictures for the walls.  I've added bright colored frames and little knick knacks here and there.  My question is, would you do a wall full of pictures of your kids?  Or keep children out of the master bedroom?  And not because we want to get away from them or forget they exist....  but would you keep it completely kid free in the decor and make it more romantic and "get away from it all" feeling?  I keep thinking one wall area with pics of the kids would be cute.  But then I think ...

Because our kids call it the Active tube!  during our New Year's Eve party we played Just Dance on the wii.  Our friends brought the game over, because we don't own it... yet.  The kids LOVED the game. Ever since then, they make up all sorts of  dances and they try to copy each other, memorize the dances and make new ones to teach Kara.  This morning I heard them all laughing and came in the family room to see what was  so funny. They had recorded Super Why and were watching the pre-show,  where the characters teach a little copy cat dance for the viewers to do.  they were so into it.  And what made me laugh the hardest?  They were only interested in doing this work out/dance a few times.  Then when the show started, they turned off the TV.  Oh, also, I have to point out- the adorable knit sweater Rachel is wearing was a Christmas gift made by my Father-in-Law's Aunt Betty.  Is she talented or what?! I love it.  I...

I love sunsets.  You guessed that by now, I'm sure.  Even the ones on gloomy days are typically beautiful.  And I know we do have a great view from how high up our house is, but tonight, the entire sky, no matter where you looked, was completely deep pink with fading sunlight.  It was a-mazing.  and I know its a lot of sunset pictures, but I took them from all different spots in the sky, so you could see just what I'm talking about.  Complete beauty . Just like God. When I see beauty like this  and remember He gives these glimpses to us of what beauty is...  it reminds me of how much more beautiful HE is. The One who painted this sunset for us.  Thank you Jesus.  I had fun with this angle :)  from our family room window...  just before it finally dipped. 

I didn't blog at all this past week, which, as most of you know, is odd for me. We're not sick or anything, just busy and when I have time at night to do posts or upload pictures, I've just not been in the mood. Yeah, it finally happened to me. A lack of desire to blog. Shocking, I know. Life has been busy but mellow, which is always nice. I have a bunch of random pictures to share in this post, so I'm just going to type about life in general and I'll post the random pix I have :)  The sun is setting right now and its absolutely breath taking. Its been a while since we've had such a sun filled, dry day. And we loved it. I wish I could've gone for a quick run, or taken the kids to the park, but my knee is hurting after I twisted it the other day. So Jason is at the park with kidlets and I'm here, getting ready to make dinner. I love sunsets. I love the view we have and the beauty God gives us in each one. Every sunset is different from the last and re...

If you happen to drop in on any given day around here, you rarely find any of our kids in regular clothes.  I think we ought to pack up the regular clothes and give them to charity or something ;-)  I will say, it is frustrating when I get the kids all dressed and ready to head out the door, I run to the bathroom, come out, grab the keys, open the front door and Kara comes down the stairs in  nothing but a tu-tu and undies. I mean, really?!  But on the days when we're just home hanging out, its really quite cute.  I get a kick out of the outfits Rachel especially picks out. She usually looks very 'weather confused'.  The pictures can tell you what I mean.... 

I tend to take quite a bit of out-and-about pictures with my cell phone  and then I forget to download them all.  So I suddenly have like, 80+ pictures on my phone.  No joke.  Tonight it shocked me when it said "downloading 1 of 103 photos. Yikes! 

Great sermon today {Sunday}. Still waiting for a "so-so" one though ;-)  Luke 13:6-8 And He told this parable:  "A man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard, and he came seeking fruit on it and found none. And he said to the vinedresser, 'Look, for three years now I have come seeking fruit on this fig tree, and I find none. Cut it down. Why should it use up the ground?' And He answered him, 'Sir, let it alone this year also, until I dig around it and put on manure. Then if it should bear fruit next year, well and good; but if not, you can cut it down.'"  So many good reminders and, as our Pastor said, so kind of God to land us on this chapter at this point in time. Passages like these are excellent to dig into when you're in a place like starting off a new year. Its good to take personal inventory and reflect on the last 12 months of life, ask those key questions and search out any new direction God might be taking you. But I agree with his ...

Rachel was using scissors the other day {with my permission} and was cutting beautiful shapes and letters for school. We had the long talk about what we do cut and what we don't cut and she agreed that cutting the table cloth, her hair, her clothes, etc... we are very bad things to do. Turns out, in a moment of trying to cut carefully around the edges of a heart, a piece of hair fell in her face. So she reached up with her scissors and shopped it off, out of her face. Then she freaked out. "Oops! I wasn't supposed to do that!" and instead of coming to get me and let me know what happened, she tried to "fix" her hair, which meant chopping more of it off. Yeah... not good. Thankfully her hair was already so long, even after I had to trim off 3-4 inches, you really can't tell. She keeps commenting on how very short it is, but was thrilled today at Marshalls, when the lady next to us said "you have such beautiful long hair!" - Rachel just gri...

My Grandpa passed away on Thursday. It wasn't sudden , but even when you're expecting death, it still feels sudden. Its so final and complete, that when it happens {even after some anticipation of it coming} it grabs you in a way you didn't expect it to. This is the first death in our family that Ethan has been aware of. It actually surprised me how much it hit him. He's been asking me quite a bit about death, since he found out "Great Pop" was very sick. "So, if he dies, we will never see him here again? Even during a holiday like Christmas?"  "Is he afraid to die?"  "will he go to Heaven?" "Do you think he's glad he lived to be so old, or do you think he wishes he could live longer?"  "will it hurt him when he dies?"  "Will I forget him as I get older?"  Great Grandpa meets his new Great Grandson, Ethan 

Ethan lost his very first tooth!! 

My sister took these pictures when she was at the park with the kids.  I loved these two in-particular.  The little cousin, looking up to the big cousin.  Wishing that he could shoot hoops just like him.   Someday.  And I have a feeling, that day will come sooner than I'd like to admit.  I'm sure its never been real clear, so I think I should say...  ;-)  I love this boy. We have daily struggles, yes.  But I think he's pretty top notch.  I'm so proud of his great job in his first year of "real school"{as he calls it} I love the way he loves his sisters.  I love the ways he takes after his Daddy.  I love the tender affection he shows to me, especially when I'm sick.  He's our only boy, so I'm sure he gets made a bigger deal of than he maybe should.  And... I can't believe he's turning 6 next month. Craziness.  Enjoy it ladies. Don't blink for too long or it passes by w/out you knowing it. 

The house is totally quiet and its not even 1am yet.  This is a first for us.  I guess its what happens when the hubby has to work bright and early in the morning :)  If I look around the house though, I can see that it was a pretty amazing night.  I can see soda cans, beer bottles {not too many, don't worry}, juice cups, candy bars, cookies,  brownies, leftover trifle, tons of appetizers - some plates that had appetizers on them,  8 board games stacked on the kitchen table, plates with food still on them; bellies  that couldn't quite finish it off, and a kitchen sink full to the brim with dishes.