eat sleep and farm

 Today we met our hairdresser, photographer friend {do you like the way we introduce you, Candice?} in Seattle and visited the Gingerbread Village! It was so neat to see the way all these bakers created these amazing gingerbread houses and more! Every single thing on these displays is edible. To me that was the most amazing part. Because they had to get really creative with some of the things they used. I think there was a large amount of fondant that was used :)      ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~  The Little Mermaid     Aladdin .  Beauty and the Beast   Brother's Grimm.  Narnia .  Alice in Wonderland.   The rainbow tower was made with lifesavers.  It was my favorite.   Anyone have a guess what the tops of this house are made of?  I couldn't figure it out.  ...

I was cleaning up the house tonight and found a bunch of papers that Rachel, my little artist, had drawn on. There were probably 20 pieces; some had notes, some had pictures and some were tracings that she did. I grabbed a bunch of them up in my hand and walked toward the garbage, ready to dump them in the recycling bin. I know this makes me sound horrible, but let me explain - Rachel draws, colors and writes pretty much all day long. She breaks to do school and breaks to occasionally go play something different, but you can pretty much always find her drawing or writing something. We have lots and lots of her papers taped on walls, pinned to the fridge, on our nightstands, etc... As I went to dump these particular ones, I caught myself. I froze over the recycle bin and as I stood there I felt a tear slide down my cheek. I stared down at those pictures and couldn't help but wonder how precious these would be to me if I lost her tomorrow. How I'd probably run out to the gar...

Jason and I decided to put the kids to bed super early Sunday night.  In our home that's around 7:15 since bedtime is usually 8:30 or 9pm.  We told the kids we needed them to be in bed so we could work on a secret treat.  I'm telling you, we might do this more often because it was the smoothest bedtime, ever!  When they were in bed Miles got his bath and hot chocolate was made.  We went in their rooms at 8pm and told them to put their robes on - we were taking them out!  Oh, the excitement :)  I get such a charge seeing them experience these things for the first time.  {Don't worry, Miles had water}    The top one is because we like to appear normal. The bottom one is what we're really like. As they were running out to the car, we heard a bunch of squealing. You could hear Kara, "this the best night!" and Rachel, "thank you SO much Daddy!" I think they were more excited to bring hot cocoa in th...

We had so much fun last year, we decided to make it a winter tradition! After Thanksgiving we ventured to Great Wolf Lodge and had so much fun. Its a place that gets more fun the older your kids get. Ethan is now tall enough to ride ALL the slides and I was thrilled to see him go on all of them. Even the one with a huge drop... in the dark! He blew me away with that one.    As soon as we got there the kids wanted to run to the slides, but Miles needed to sleep.    So I got to sit by the fire and read my book in total silence. Ahhhh, vacation.  fun on the top bunk What I love most about this place is that you get here and would never need to leave.  Unless you're cheap like we are and would rather buy cheaper food outside the resort.  Its also an easy trip to pack for because you wear suits the whole time.  The night before we left I, jokingly, told the kids "go back your suitcase!"  and to my surprise, they all came out...

I love this time of year. Always have, probably always will. I love the scented candles, the amazing food - this time of year everything seems to be chocolate covered, which I'm always a fan of. The beautiful smells outside, the decorations in our home; in everyone's homes. Its like re-tasting bits of my childhood every December and the magic that surrounds this time of year is incredible. I do not love, however, the crowds in every store. How hurried to be first every adult is. How much traffic is on the freeways at all times of the day, or how sick everyone gets this time of year. Its insane. Its enough to make a person dread this time of year. We don't do any "Christmas shopping" in stores, so its possible that's why I get bothered. Because I'm there just to grab every day essentials. And I have to wait in all the crazed holiday lines and weed through the crowds. Since we live 2 states away from our families our shopping is done compliments of A...

Hopefully its clear on our card, but for those of who who didn't get a card, our family Christmas letter can be found under the banner on the far right tab, Family Christmas Letter '12 :)