eat sleep and farm

I'm still not sure how to use my camera properly indoors.  We're buying a new lens for that soon, so hopefully the night time, in door  pics will no longer look so funky with lighting. 

Did you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving? I hope so. Can't believe its officially time for the Christmas prep and hubbub. Seems like November always flies by; Veterans Day, Jason's birthday, Thanksgiving and then the Christmas prep welcomes December. Crazy!  we were that crazy family at Safeway, doing last minute holiday shopping,  the night before. Thankfully, the store was empty :) 

.... try this and you'll never go back :)  Chocolate Mint Coffee   {yum!} 1/2 cup whipping cream  2 Tbsp. powdered sugar  1 tsp. vanilla  1 oz. German sweet chocolate-grated  2 c. strong hot coffee 8 Tbsp. peppermint schnapps chocolate curls  {serves 4} Beat cream with sugar & vanilla until soft peaks form. Fold in grated chocolate.  Pour hot coffee evenly into 4 mugs & add 2 Tbsp. schnapps to each. Spoon on whipped cream. Garnish with chocolate curls & serve immediately. 

Its been quite an interesting 24 hours. And not just for us, but for most of our area!  If any of you think this amount of snow is normal for the  Puget Sound area in Washington...  you guessed wrong! 

With Thanksgiving quickly approaching, it also means Christmas is quickly approaching!  The turkey has been bought, the recipe books are out and the cranberries are ready to be cooked and smashed into sauce. I  love  Thanksgiving.... but I mostly have always loved it because family/friends gather simply to  gather . There are no gifts and no other incentive other than gathering to be together and  give thanks . {this was our sunset on Wednesday night, last week}

We made signs to bring to the airport... 

Its a thought that occurred to me last night. I was having a conversation with my Mother-in-Law and was telling her how I'm in a weird stage in life right now, where I'm no longer the youngest in most groups of people I'm around. In our Bible study group, I'm one of the oldest women {aside from one or two much older ladies} and sometimes at MOMS club outings, I'm either much older than other ladies or have more kids than anyone else there. When I hang out with my sister, she's 8 years younger than me and unmarried.   I'm finding this change in life to be weird. Good for me, sure... but weird nonetheless. 

{numbers drawn courtesy of Random.org} ...... Prize #1 Macrae-Lynn Designs stationary/journal set  6th comment:  Charlotte "Very pretty cards! I really liked the embossed gray one.  And of course I like your blog too, Stef! Thanks for being my bloggy friend. :-)" ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Prize #2 Starbucks $10 gift card 15th comment: Heidi "Love the Birthday Bro" one the most.  Really nicely done, though some are a bit fussy for my taste (I think its all the ribbon).  Overall the attention to detail is noticeable, and the color schemes work well.  The way you've layered some of these is unique, and I think would appeal to a wide range of people.  Beautiful!"  If you would both email me your address, I will make sure the prizes are sent to you asap!   Thanks to all of you who participated and for the feedback you've given to Alyssa and Emi. I'm sure this was encouraging for them to see such go...

I've been super excited about this giveaway for sometime now and I'm thrilled I get to finally post about it and soon, have a winner!!   Jason's cousins' wife Alyssa, who happens to be one of my favorite family members, is a super creative, talented gal and has taken her talent to the blog world! I asked her about doing a giveaway on my blog with some of her products and she gladly said yes! She and her Friend Emi have worked up some amazing treats for our winner.  All you have to do is leave a comment {here on the website, NOT on Facebook or via email} and let us know what you like about the designs and such you see on their website. Or, just leave a comment with anything in it and you'll be entered to win!  Alyssa and Emi's creations can be found at:  Macrae Lynn Designs   Here is a picture of the prize our winner will receive!  The winner will be announced on Saturday at 11am

... what they're thankful for!  Last week we focused on being thankful during our prayer time and so one day I took the opportunity to ask each of the kids what they're most thankful for. I told them to tell me 10 things they're thankful for and I wrote them out exactly how they said them. I think I might do this once a month, because it was good for them to think about.  Ethan :  1.) I'm thankful for God, because He loves me.  2.) I'm thankful for my legos. They're so fun to play with. And my cars. I'd be bored if I couldn't build things.  3.) Well, I love you , Mommy. I'm thankful for you and Daddy, Rachel and Kara.  4.) I'm thankful to have sisters. I even like playing dollhouse with them sometimes. I'm thankful they let me pretend I'm the Dad.  5.) I'm thankful we can go to church and Worship God. I love singing in church and I'm thankful when I see the Dads and Moms worshipping.  6.) I'm thankful for Washington. I'm ...

Right smack in the middle of our move week,  we took a fun break and  ventured out to the pumpkin patch with our friends from the MOMS club.   Ended up being perfect weather, and despite the fact that this crazy Mom  didn't think to put everyone in boots {or just more appropriate shoes for a pumpkin farm}  we all really enjoyed our visit..........