eat sleep and farm

Its always weird the day after a major holiday. I typically feel very tired, because the anticipation builds for so long and then in one day, its over. In a very small way, feels sort of like our wedding prep and then our wedding day. Except not really the same at all. We had a great Christmas this year! I think Christmas is 10 times better being the parent and watching my kids experience it all. I get the biggest kick out of making these memories with them. Ethan and Rachel already knew what to expect from previous years, but this year was different. They were both old enough to enjoy it all, understand completely what was going on and enjoy it together . They've done nothing but play all day today; from remote control cars to dolls with strollers. Brings back so many fun memories of when I was little. I loved seeing Ethan get so overwhelmed by everyone's generosity to him by getting up and running to the gift giver, to give a huge hug and say "thank you and Merry Christm...

Last night at the dinner table, I was singing a few funny songs to the kids; stuff I remember from growing up. You know, the old "Jingle Bells, Batman smells, Robin laid an egg!" song? Yeah... Really mature stuff. So after I was done, Ethan bursts out with... "Frosty the snowman, was a really frozen guy... and he melted in the sun one day and we ate him with stir fry!" I thought it was pretty ingenious of him!

These are some pictures of Rachel, with her friend Caedmon Rippee (he goes to our church). I cannot get over how little they were, or how fast the past 2 years have gone by! Poor boy tried to kiss her and got pushed away. :( This was Memorial Day 2007

Rachel and I were talking about our names tonight; what is a middle name, a last name, etc... Here is how our conversation went... "What's your name?" "Rachel!" "Rachel, what?" "Rachel... Kafryn!" "What's Ethan's name?" "Efan.... Darrel!" "How about Kara... what's her name?" "Kawa Joy!" "What's Daddy's?" "Um... Daddy's is... Jason." "Jason what?" "Um... Jason Daddy." "Daddy's is Jason Darrel." "oh! Just like Efan's name!!" "Do you know what my name is?" "Yep! Mommy!" (she touches my cheek) "But what's my name?" "Uhhhh... Mom?" "What does Daddy call me?" "Sweetheart!" :) (I had to give her a kiss for that one) "Yes, but what is my name? What do people call me?" "Uhhh.... Stefanie" (she says it perfectly) "Stefanie What?...

Its taken a bit longer than we had planned (kind of had a lot going on here the past couple of months) but our jastef.net website will soon be back in action! I will post a link here when we're ready, for those of you who have never been there. Just thought I'd give you all a head's up now... 1.) you will need a username and password to see our pictures. Jason is setting it so that you can use your facebook username and password, so those of you that use facebook, congrats. :) 2.) You will not need a password to enter the blog and read it. You only need the password to see pictures. So adding our blog to your feed readers will still bring you updates. If you link us on your website, others can read our blog, without logging in. We just like having our pictures set to only those we approve seeing them. 3.) Jason is working on an option that will have a caption below each picture, telling you what the picture is, who's in it, etc... At the end of each blog post, it wi...

I don't have enough time to call/email all of you who have so kindly asked how we're doing, so I'm going to post it here, since most of you check the site. We're all definitely on the mend. Ethan is healthy; back to normal, eating great, lots of energy, etc... Jason feels much better and other than a cough here and there, he's back to normal life. Rachel and Kara are both healing fast and for that, we're so thankful. They're both slightly stuffed up still and Kara has a touch of a cough, but no more fevers, no more lethargic bodies and no more crazy all nighters. :) I'm healing the slowest and probably because I got sick only a week ago. I'm very tired, very achy and my sinus issues are taking forever to go away, even though I'm on Antibiotics. Thankfully it looks like we're going to have a healthy Christmas Day and then as long as we all stay healthy, we're planning some of our December outings and trips, following the week after Christm...

Ethan & Rachel - showing off new haircuts today 12/12/08