eat sleep and farm

Do you like Mondays ?  I haven't always. I used to dread them. Sundays haven't always been refreshing, restful days for us though. Ever since they truly became a day of rest and gladness, Mondays have been one of my favorite days of the week. I love that its a new, clean slate. I love planning out our week on Sunday night and getting things in order. I love waking up Monday morning with rested children and clean home, feeling like the new week is fresh and waiting for us to tackle it.  This is Jason's first Monday back to work. For the past 18 months he has worked a Tuesday-Saturday shift, with Sunday/Monday off. But last week he was told they were switching him back to a "normal" shift. I was bummed, but with all things in life, we'll adjust. I liked him having Mondays off because anytime we went anywhere, the crowds of people didn't show up. However, having Mondays off meant that if often became errand day and we didn't end up going out and doing ...

...they're always with family members. Especially the Grandparents. And today, we said good-bye to Papa and Nana {my parents} after a lovely week with them. Its always hard saying good-bye. For me, the hardest part is watching Ethan just fall apart after giving the good-bye hugs. Tonight he told me "I wish we could move Washington to a place where we could ALL live by each other." I know exactly how he feels and the feeling often feels like torture. Sometimes I tell myself it would've been easier to never have moved here - then we'd never know what we're missing. I know, its a twisted way to think. Sometimes my mind is twisted. But instead of blubber about the sadness of saying good-bye, I will fill your eyes with too many pictures. We really had a great visit. The 7 days went by way too fast, but I think we did a good job filling them up with about all we could've handled :) I got a bit too excited to see my parents and neglected to take pictures...

On Wednesday we borded the ferry boat {with our van} bound for Bremerton Island!  It was a fun day of exploring both Bremerton and Gig Harbor.  We left this trip with a better understanding of what we'd like to do next time we go.  The ferry ride was the highlight, as most of us {maybe all of us?} have never been on one with our car.  The kids loved it and are still going on and on about it :)  inside the ferry. quite comfortable. 

Today the kids and I ventured into Seattle to visit Pike Place Market  and some other fun sights, before sending them back to CA tonight.  riding on 'Rachel the pig'  I think Kara thought 'Rachel' was a real pig :)  the man to the left was going on and on about how horrible Kara was behaving.  I like that I've acquired the gift of ignoring rude people.  Spring is in the air!  my Mom bought me those lovely flowers!  its how we all felt on the way home.  we had a wonderful time, but we were sure pooped afterward! just before saying good-bye. 

.... Comment #9   Jessica :   " I didn't know they were in Northern California too! Fun!  pick me pick me! :)" Congratulations Jessica!! Go ahead and let me know what color tea pot you'd like and what flavor of tea.   I will give your address to Blackflower & Company  Thanks to everyone else for entering and remember from now until Sunday you get 10% your entire order from Blackflower & Company!! Be sure to enter the code blogger10  to get the discount :)  Thanks again! 

I am so excited about this blog giveaway! Some friends of ours in Northern California have started a company called Blackflower & Company   and we're doing a blog giveaway with them here! I received my tea a few days ago and it is, hands down, the best peach ginger tea I've ever had. I wanted to help them get word about their business spread and in the meantime, one of you gets to win pretty cool prizes :)  The prize is 2 (4 oz.) bags of tea {your choice} and one of their very special teapots!  This is an awesome giveaway, valued higher than $30  Here are the rules to follow:   enter a comment in this post  If you'd like to go to their website 1st, you can look around and let us know what flavor tea you'd chose and which color teapot you'd like if you win.   If you have a Facebook account, be sure to 'like' them on FB and then  you get to leave a 2nd comment here, letting me know and it will increase   your chances of win...

These pictures are a few weeks old. I took them, put the camera away and forgot about them. I was looking through the camera last night and came across these and realized I never did post them! This was on a day that we did lots of baking. The girls helped me quite a bit; measuring, stirring and licking spatulas. Then I remembered something I saw on my friends website... she put some flour on baking sheets and then let her kids trace letters and numbers in the flour, with their fingers. Isn't that a fun idea?! I thought it was and so did the girls. They had a ton of fun! Kara shocked us with drawing A,B,C and D really well on her own AND saying them out loud as she traced them. Go Kara! Rachel was so excited to get to make a big flour mess in the kitchen.  I'm learning to lighten up with messes. They can be cleaned up, mostly.  Some of Kara's messes have left behind evidence that can't be cleaned.  Ethan thought the whole thing was ridiculous. He kept coming in th...

Ethan and Rachel often remind me of a little old married couple. They sit at the breakfast table and have these long, drawn out deep conversations and typically end up sending me hiding over in the corner where I can laugh out loud, without them seeing me :) Today's conversation was one of those that got a big laugh out of me.  R: "I did not very much like Mommy's dinner last night."  E: "Oh, I bet if you had it in a tortilla like me, you would've liked it more."  R: "Daddy said he loved it. AND he had seconds!"  E: "yeah, but Rache, when you get married, you're not allowed to say bad things to each other.  Daddy likes everything about Mommy because she's his wife."   ........ R: "Oh dear. Being married would be very hard for us, Efan."  E: "yeah... I know." 

Beware ! its another rambling post from me. No real direction, just me talking. This past week has been lovely. And nothing of real significance - I think we're still pinching ourselves that every single person in our home is 100% healthy. Its a grand feeling after 2 months of battling off a yucky winter virus. I'm still voting to have Christmas in August this year. We're never sick in August. The kids and I have started a new Saturday tradition of going to our favorite cupcake/coffee house. Its called Common Ground Cupcakes and we love it. Someday we'll take Daddy with us, but for now, we go when he's at home working. I like that there's toys and books for the kids, while they eat their treats and then I usually get a mocha and a cupcake and read a book I brought from home. Last Sunday we heard an excellent sermon from Luke 15 {parable of the lost sheep & coin} and had so much fun seeing friends at church! Ever since our Community Group split into 3 ...

Years ago, when I used to babysit quite frequently, I remember getting a kick out of noticing how similar kids were and also how different they were. Each family had their own quirks, traditions, ideas about things and rules. For me, seeing the differences was freeing . It was a fresh reminder, every time, that God has made us each so different from the other. And our differences put together is often what makes us more interesting. I remember I'd sit and watch some of the couples I babysat for and I'd think "He really compliments her intense personality." and "she kind of calms him down and soften him up in a sweet way." But what I always got a kick out of, was seeing the different things each set of kids liked to play and pretend and imagine.  Now that I'm a Mom, I'm getting a huge kick out of doing the same thing with my kids.  Watching them.  Listening to the things they say.  Trying to understand what's going ...