eatsleepandrun

loving bedtime

2012-02-01T09:45:00.000-08:00

You love bedtime, right?

That quiet part of the evening, where the house becomes quiet. The pitter-patter of little feet, the constant question asking, arguing over a toy, chasing each other through the home, asking for another story to be read, etc... it all stops. I can actually hear myself think during these nighttime hours! Its beautiful.

I love my kids. You guys know that. But I also love bedtime.

Kara isn't a 'fan' of bedtime. She never has been.

From infancy, she's been our "I'm going to try and stay awake as long as I can", baby.

She also hates to be alone and hates to be away from Jason and me.

Even when she's awake, she loves being near at least one of us.

I sympathize with her, because I was the same way.

I used to follow my Mom to the bathroom, chatting her ears off about who knows what.

I hated sleepovers until I was a teenager, because come bedtime,

I wanted to be in my home, tucked in my bed, down the hall from my parents.

I'm still a home-body to this day...

although I moved 2 states away from Mom and Dad, so go figure.

I guess I followed the leave and cleave verse pretty well ;-)

Kara has also, thus far, not been our child who's into books.

Ethan and Rachel love books. They always have.

I would sit and read to them when they were babies and they loved it.

Kara? Not so much.

She'd shove the book away and want to crawl off and get into something.

As she got older and more independent, I would get books from the library and try really

hard to get her 'into' them. But to no avail.

If she could watch it in a short movie, she would.

Probably about a year ago, she began to get into books a bit more and then a bit more.

Jason and I would get super thrilled when we'd look over and find her huddled over a book.

We'd hear her telling her own version of the story, complete with fake voices and everything.

yay :)

So I walked into her room the other night and had to get some pictures of this

book 'reading' taking place.

she was lost in this book; had no idea I was even snapping pictures.

She even raised her eyebrows a couple times and said, "oh, wow!" as if whatever she saw

suddenly made sense to her and a story was opening up.

She's almost 3 1/2 and still hates bedtime.

She doesn't stay in bed very well either.

We've tried everything.

We've received lots of good advice for things to try...

none of them work.

She comes into our bedroom pretty much every night, asking if she can lay with us.

We started to think it was because she needed to eat more, sleep less during the day,

sleep more during the day, have a better bedtime routine, etc...

because it seemed odd that she really just wanted to lay with us,

smack in the middle of the night.

So off I went to California a couple weeks ago, leaving the kids with Daddy.

About 3 nights into my trip I asked Jason, "is Kara doing okay at night?"

and he replied with, "Yeah... she's been sleeping in our bed with me and hasn't woken up one

time in the past 3 nights. She's been sleeping in until at least 9am every morning too."

DING!!

Yeah, a light went off. For whatever reason, she really does just want to be with us.

Its been pretty simple all along. I think sometimes I like to complicate things.

At any rate, she's into books, she's getting better with bedtime, and I wanted to

capture it on film, before these days are gone and its too late.

Beautiful Things, music and lyrics

2012-01-29T20:02:00.000-08:00

We sang this song in church tonight. I was completely floored by the simplicity of the words and yet the very deep, beautiful truth in it.
Couldn't keep from crying as I sang. Especially following a sermon on marriage and the fresh reminders that nothing is unfixable or undoable when Christ is at the center of your life.
Found myself singing this out, while praying for a few couples we know who are struggling deeply. Knowing that nothing is impossible with Christ - He makes beautiful things out of the dust and He makes beautiful things out of us. Praise be to God!

{for the next week or so, I'll have this playing as the first song on my playlist... so if you turn your speakers on you can hear it. However, the lyrics are beautiful and you only see those if you watch the video}

Snowpocolypse 2012

2012-01-29T14:08:00.000-08:00

this will give you a view of what happened to our trees

and why they were breaking everywhere.

every branch was covered in thick ice.

kind of weird to lay in bed at night and hear them falling down.

our power was out from Wednesday night till about 10:30 Friday night.

because we have a generator at this house {not a whole house one, but still}

we were able to plug in things like the pellet stove, the fridge and a tv if we wanted to watch something.

but we took advantage of the lack of power or ability to drive anywhere and built every

puzzle we own and played just about every board game we own.

in our jammies, no less.

at night we used a flood light to light up the living area of our house.

Uncle David and Aunt Emily lived with us during the outage.

made it seem more like a campout with family, which was fun.

we love this pellet stove :)

since we had a few nights without real wheel of fortune, Ethan created the game on the chalkboard.

Rachel won the game and a trip to Hawaii.

thanks to the generator, we still got to enjoy yummy breakfasts!

decided to drink the milk out of our coconut.

all 3 of the kids had this reaction :)

kids got a kick out of this :)

gonna take a walk outside today

2012-01-27T14:39:00.000-08:00

I love how excited our kids get over getting the mail.

Today was Ethan's day.

He told me he was most excited because all the snow and black ice is gone and so

he can run as fast as he wants and not worry about "tripping and splitting a body part open."

and then there's the yells of excitement when a package or personal letter has arrived :)

Rachel was so excited to see we have a "creek" right outside

our driveway! I told her its run-off from the snow and she said,

"we'll wait for it to fill even higher and we can swimming in it,

in the summertime!"

so excited to finally be able to go see LadyBug!

they did their school work very diligently today,
all because I promised a trip to LadyBug's stall :)

we brought our own veggies with us this time and also fed her something new:

Beets. She loves them.

I love how she pokes her nose through the fence when she sees us. She knows we have the goods.

believe it or not, Rachel complained the whole time about how much the sun annoys her.

Ethan had such high hopes of clearing out our neighbor's fallen trees.

He moved about 5 branches and then declared it a job way too big for him.

you know me, I love "bottom" shots.

she's always dancing or twirling or singing or laughing :)

I am glad we have the evergreens, because too much of this would drive me nuts.

I have to say though, I'm really learning to love ALL the seasons in the year,

especially since the kids have been studying them in school.

There's something to love and appreciate about each one.

Even the heat.

There. I said it.

I love when moss grows on top of things like fence posts.

Urgent!

2012-01-26T21:14:00.000-08:00

This is an urgent prayer request from our good friends Doug and Brooke Sauder.
The request is for Doug's brother, Derek.

Read Brooke's Facebook note below for details and then for more details on Derek's journey, visit his website.

I've added his website to my blogroll, so as he updates you will find them there as well.

Please pray for my husband's brother, Derek. He just came through surgery on his ear and brain to remove a large, aggressive tumor and weeks of radiation. We just found out that only 6 mos. after surgery, tumors have been found in his spinal fluid and another part of his brain. He has 3 young children and expecting #4 this summer. Please pray for healing and wisdom & skill for the doctors. Thank you! You can follow his blog for updates & details -- http://lrsauder.blogspot.com/

I'm gonna vent a bit...

2012-01-24T10:21:00.000-08:00

... And I'm sure it might be super annoying to click on my blog and feel like, "oh, joy... she's complaining."
But I want to be honest. That's all I'm doing. Just complaining. I know so many of you will totally understand this post and I need that right now; The reminder that all moms go through these days and weeks.

I had such a lovely trip to California. Enjoyed the time with my family, enjoyed seeing some friends in Brentwood {even though the visits were super short} and my friend in SF - enjoyed the random warmer weather {I hear I left some rain with you all!} and enjoyed the rest time away from the busyness of life here.
Came home though to the snow storm, which, at first was awesome. Then lost power for two days - still, not that bad. We actually had some fun pretending to camp for two days.
Then was hit with the stomach flu. Bad. Worst case I've had in my life. When I stopped counting how many trips I was making to the bathroom it was only 4pm and I was on #22. I continued throwing up until 1:30 AM that morning. Yeah. Gross.
Anyway, woke up yesterday feeling strangely stuffed up on one side of my nose, with a weird head ache above my left eyebrow. Drank tons of water and did my best to "vitamin up!", but to no avail. Woke up this morning completely stuffed up and feeling like I'm headed in for another ear infection. I can actually feel the fluid moving around in my ears :(
Lets just say I feel cruddy and like using the word 'poo' just isn' enough.

I also decided this is why I will think twice before ever flying on an airplane while pregnant.
Sure, its possibly the abrupt weather changes got me sick and sure, maybe I happened to be around someone with germs while IN California... but something tells me all my delayed time spent in the airport, plus almost 5 hours total on airplanes, probably did it. Not sure my pregnant body enjoys being in an atmosphere of no fresh air for that long :(

I am thankful {very thankful} for one thing. My family members are totally healthy and going strong!
Hoping to keep it that way... just wanted to ask you ladies, when you read this, please just say a quick prayer. I'd totally appreciate it. I'm starting all my homeopathic tricks now and plan to continue them for several weeks, trying to kick this thing. I'm not going in for more meds unless its something I definitely have to do. I think if I'm careful and diligent, I shouldn't need to.

I'm also struggling a lot lately with one child in-particular, who is having trouble obeying and struggling a very nasty attitude when things don't go their way. I'd appreciate prayer there as well; that I would keep my patience and teach with grace and love.

I have so much to be thankful for.
A bouncy, active baby
no errands that *need* to be run
no where really to go, unless I want to
plenty of food in the house
lots of all natural, safe resources to try since I am pregnant.
since I homeschool, we can even do that at our leisure and enjoy more of a puzzle making, book reading kind of a day.
a husband who takes care of me the moment he walks in the door at night.
sweet "get well" notes slipped under my door from Rachel :)
God's love. Always.

Thanks. Truly just wanted to whine and ask for prayer - one mommy to another.

only one left!

2012-01-23T09:52:00.000-08:00

I'm officially in my 3rd trimester!

First trimester went insanely slow and was pretty miserable for me, health wise. I've never thrown up so many times or felt like it was hard to see the light at the end of the tunnel as much as I did during those 13 weeks. Amazing how it already feels so long ago to me.

Twenty-seven weeks feels like a huge milestone, mostly because it means we're so close to week thirty!

The second trimester went by at lightening speed. So much so that I've decided we need to get the baby stuff out now and start getting ready. This is the first pregnancy where I'm feeling totally unprepared and not ready at all. We're usually all set and ready to go by week 30, at the latest.

We still need to take our hospital tour, since we've never labored at this hospital. A fun fact that Ethan pointed out a few weeks back - this is our first family member to be born out of California and NOT at a Kaiser hospital. Pretty cool, right? We think so.

I'm feeling well these days. My tummy feels lower and bigger than usual, even though I know I don't look huge or anything. My midwives have always reminded me that since my torso is so long, I don't stick out as far as some women will... but that hugely pregnant feeling is still very real, because there's a big baby in there.

I'm always amazed when I see a friend who looks like she's about to deliver a 12 pound baby, by the shape of her big, round tummy and then I find out the baby was born and weighed just under or just over six pounds. What?!

Such a reminder to me that our tummy size doesn't always tell us what size baby will be :)

This is our first baby that, so far, measures ahead of "schedule". Our other 3 have all been slightly below what the typical baby weight and size is and this little guy is always several ounces over. At my last appointment the midwife told me the text book weight should be around 9 ounces and she told me he was definitely already over the 1 pound mark. She said if he stays on that growth rate, he may be our first baby over 8 pounds, which I'm all for. The chubbier the better in my opinion!
He is also quickly turning into our most active baby in-utero. I think football and soccer practice might be taking place in there, pretty much 24/7

I still want to start a work-out video. Jason ordered me an awesome looking prenatal work out from Amazon and its still wrapped up, sitting in our TV stand. One of these days....

Let it snow!

2012-01-21T19:04:00.000-08:00

Finally. That's all I have to say. It finally snowed.

YAY!!!!

{taken on Wednesday}

I couldn't find the regular camera and snapped these with my cell phone.

I think its hilarious to look out and see a swimming pool this time of year :)

the palm trees with snow on them made me LOL

our neighbor got his sled out.

he's a smart guy.

took a break from school for some snow recess

{they have no idea what 'snow days' are and intend to keep it that way}

"which way did Daddy go...."

the recycling pile never looked so pretty!

the driveway....

these were taken on Wednesday and then we woke up Thursday morning
to find we were completely out of power.
Jason plugged in the generator, made it to the store to get gas & oil
and then we plugged the fridge, pellet stove and a tv into the generator.
Kept us quite comfortable for the 36+ hours we were w/out power!

Power came back around 10:30pm on Friday night and we were all quite
overjoyed. Kara seemed more confused than anything.
I love how quickly she had adjusted to our new normal.
I woke up this morning {Saturday} not feeling quite right
and within an hour of being up, realized I've been hit with the
stomach flu :( I've not been anywhere since I was on the plane, so I'm
guessing these are germs I picked up there.
Been throwing up every 25-30 minutes on the dot, since 10am and ready for
this to be OVER. Would appreciate prayers!

a little trip for Mom...

2012-01-19T14:16:00.000-08:00

A few months back a friend of mine in California asked if I could possibly make it out for her baby shower. My first thought was, "not unless it happens to be the weekend of Christmas", since I knew we'd be out then and never thought I'd be able to come again, so soon, just myself.
But it turns out, God wanted me there. I logged on one night in late December to check flights for January 13th and lo and behold, there it was... $40 each way, which made the low grand total of $80 bucks.
I was stunned. Flights have been SO expensive lately and this blew me away.
Jason encouraged me to go and go alone, so I could enjoy the break away, especially before baby arrives.
I'm one week before my 3rd trimester, so my midwife gave me the all clear as well, so I bought the tickets and did a little happy dance.

I had a delayed flight on Friday {the 13th no less} and didn't think I was superstitious until just about everything that could go wrong, started to. The flight itself went just fine and we even had a smooth landing, bringing me into Oakland, California around 1:20AM.
I think I was in bed around 3:30 that morning :-\ Not ideal, but I made it there safely, so not too many complaints here.

The shower was lovely and I wish I had remembered to get my phone out and snap some pictures, but I forgot. Too excited seeing lots of old friends and chatting it up with them.
I gave my first baby shower devotional and was told I'm no longer allowed to say I'm not good at public speaking. I think I'm still sticking with "I don't enjoy public speaking... at all." I think I had a very kind audience :) And, I have a new respect for Pastors and teachers.
I mostly enjoyed the weekend alone with my parents. Being the 3rd child in our family, I can't say I got a lot of alone time with both parents. Usually on my birthday and if I was in trouble, or ran into their room at night, asking for a spot in their bed ;-) but as I've become an adult, I can't think of times when it was just the three of us. My Dad and I watched a couple football games - epic games, btw.
My Mom and I had a couple opportunities to go out just the two of us and spend time together and then on Monday we went to San Francisco together, meeting up with my Dad in the evening for dinner.
I got to see a few friends - not everyone I had hoped to see, but I'm learning to roll with that. There never seems to be enough time in our visits.

Entering the City!

{I was totally lame and only took pics of the day in SF}

The flight home wasn't delayed at all, but ended up being the most terrifying flight of my life. I kid you not. The plane dipped and jolted so bad at one point, several people {including yours truly} screamed out in fear. It was bad. The pilot apologized many times, blaming the control tower idiots in Seattle and admitted it should've been a delayed flight until the snow let up a bit. But again, we landed and we're all alive and thankful.

in the West Portal District, getting ready to meet up with my

friend Laura for lunch.

we had just gotten out of the car and were amazed at how warm it was!

Probably around 52 degrees, which for this Washington girl, is warm :)

taken while riding in the car - sorry for the lopsided look.

We have a picture of Jason and I on this lawn, eating lunch back when we

were about 13 and 14 years old, during a school field trip :)

this is also down the street from where my Dad grew up and where my Grandparents lived.

the gelato wheel at the Italian yogurt shop!

we were trying to capture the bridge behind us...

but after about 10 tries, we gave up :)

Golden Gate bridge picture overload. Its my favorite spot in the whole City.

Alcatraz.

this is a bakery that's been around since 1914 and was where my

Grandparents used to buy their cakes and treats from.

Just walking inside and smelling the place, brought back memories of the

pretty boxes wrapped in twine that my Grandpa would bring to our house on special holidays.

a day out

2012-01-18T18:52:00.000-08:00

For some reason its been a long while since we've made it into

Seattle for the day. The day before I left for my trip to CA, the kids and I decided

to venture out there and enjoy our favorite sights.

our most favorite donut shop was closed down, since they're remodeling

part of the Market, but we enjoyed some vegan donuts at my

favorite coffee spot, Seattle Coffee Works.

best decaf mocha, ever.

we had a little fashion show at the Market.

and stayed until the sun went down, picked Daddy up from work and went home.

If you care, please sign

2012-01-17T23:39:00.001-08:00

https://www.google.com/landing/takeaction/

Guest Post: Snow Day

2012-01-16T10:24:00.000-08:00

[Stef is in California for a few days, so this is Jason. Regularly scheduled programming will resume in a couple days.]

The Seattle area got a good dumping of snow on Sunday. We got a dusting on Saturday night, then after church on Sunday, it started to come down in earnest. Here's a few photos from our afternoon (I've posted the full set to Facebook):

The snow started coming down during church. We had lunch next door at Rock Bottom, and watched the snow come down outside. When we were done eating, we had a brief snowball fight outside.

The drive home was a bit of an adventure, but when we go there, we played out side all afternoon.

who had Mommy's camera?

2012-01-15T16:36:00.000-08:00

I was going through my cell phone pictures the other day and came across a chunk of these.

Always makes me laugh when I realize, when I wasn't looking, someone took my phone.

Looks like we were at Costco, checking out during these pics, which makes sense.

I was busy doing self check-out and she took advantage ;-)

These were taken back in early November.

I guess that tells you how often I clean out my cell phone pix.

Sunday... from last week

2012-01-13T09:52:00.000-08:00

{Last} Sunday was a great day. We usually enjoy them, but this last Sunday was

especially fun & full for our family.

We got home exhausted, but in a good way.

Started off the day with church.

Went to Whole Foods for lunch *yum*

Jason took Rachel on an outdoor ice skating date.

Turns out she's quite the skater!

Jason said she never fell and she came out all smiles,

wanting to sign up for lessons :)

While Daddy and Rachel were ice skating, Ethan, Kara and I hung out and

explored the park we've been wanting to go to since we moved here,

and went to the Mall. We also had fun taking a bunch of pictures, since they were

in rare picture taking mode ;-)

Kara is showing me her "loose" tooth.

Poor thing feels very left out, having not lost any teeth yet.

after ice skating we all played at the playground

before heading back to evening church.

All in all it was a lovely family day and a great way to start the week!
The week has been full and has gone by way too fast.
We've been enjoying a much milder January - complete with lots of sunshine!
This is our 3rd January here and I have to confess, I had written this month off
as the most depressing month in the entire year, weather wise.
What's usually 'socked in, grey sky, no hint of sunshine anywhere' days,
has been one incredibly beautiful (albiet cold) month so far.
Hope you're all enjoying your January as well!

Museum fun!

2012-01-11T12:03:00.000-08:00

The day after New Year's we went to a Children's museum near our house
and got to bring Daddy with us, since he had the day off work.

We went with our friend Sharon {from church} and her 3 kids and had a blast!

Decided at the end of our visit to buy the family pass for the year :)

Ethan and Cameron...

water play

Rachel was at the craft table for a good hour :)

this water feature was really neat -

you get to arrange the logs in the "river" and create your own

log run for the balls and boats to run down.

Its quite exciting when your boats goes all the way through the current and makes

it to the very bottom!

Jason told them to look like pirates...

New Year's Eve... a week late

2012-01-10T17:05:00.000-08:00

Kara "helped" Daddy get all the drinks ready.

My parents bought Ethan a solar system puzzle for Christmas and he broke it out at the party.

Made for great entertainment for the kids!

Miss Haley a.k.a the happiest baby I know.

Do you think Annika enjoyed the dessert?

John and Sheree, with baby Haley

Janel and Sharon-

we teased them and told them they could be a "couple" since they had absent husbands :)

David & Sarah a.k.a Gideon's parents :)

I meant to take pictures of everyone who came,
but ended up not getting my camera out for it until everyone was leaving.
And not everyone stayed until midnight.

So if your picture isn't here, we still love you, just forgot to snap it :)

25 clever ideas

2012-01-09T12:32:00.000-08:00

My friend posted this link on Facebook and I loved looking through it! One of my favorite features in the Real Simple magazine is when they show you neat ways you can use one object, for the purpose of many different things.

{source}

I've tried/use a couple of these already and so it was fun to see them in here.
**I've done the plastic bags in the wet wipes containers. It worked, just not as well as I had hoped and you can't fit too many in one container, which is a bummer.
** I fold my sheet sets and put them inside the pillow cases that match.
**Putting your iPhone in a bowl to amplify the music really does work. I stumbled across that one by accident one day.

Now I'm eager to try the wire in the top of my closet to lay wrapping paper across {not sure if the big, heavy Costco rolls will work though} and anxious to try many more!

Enjoy :)

Lincoln Logs, Star Wars & Saturdays

2012-01-07T16:41:00.000-08:00

Remember Lincoln Logs?

Talk about a throw-back.

The kids and I visited a new consignment store {new to us}

and found a tin full of them for sale.

I think Ethan talked me into the purchase so easily because I'm a sucker for

sentimental items. Totally made me feel like a kid again to see them.

And much like I thought, Rachel is the one who's most fascinated by them.

Once Jason taught the kids how to build with them, she's hooked.

But I was happy to see all 3 of them enjoying it so much.

I have a major soft spot for toys that make no noise, don't have flashy stickers or lights,

and require total imagination.

I like to think these types of toys make us smarter,

or at least encourage us to use parts of our brain that increase intelligence.

Saturdays are awesome days.

Daddy is home,

breakfast is grand,

errands & chores are done as a full team,

and relaxing is enjoyed by all.

We happen to get extra excited on Saturdays because its when our baby

turns to a new week in his development.

Ethan and Rachel have kept track perfectly the entire pregnancy,

whereas Kara seems to think today I am "75 months pregnant" :)

another skill Daddy is pretty good at.

He tends to impress us quite often with his skills.

... and then there's the original Star Wars movies. Can't beat that.

Ethan made Jason and I LOL when he referred to the Clone Troopers as

"Clone Strippers".

I love this age of innocence - when they have no idea they're using words that actually

would make an older person blush.

Wish they could stay this way...

Here's their finished product! Pretty good, eh? I was very impressed.

Happy Saturday!

F.A.Q.

2012-01-06T10:02:00.000-08:00

I kid you not when I tell you some of these are questions I get asked all.the.time.
Seems like its on a weekly basis, now that the tummy is definitely showing. Not all of these are baby related, not all are as annoying (or annoying at all) as some. But I do think its interesting how often I get asked each one of them. Some get asked way less than others, but I seem to hear them over and over again.

1.) "When are you due?" Which usually follows "wow, I thought you were a lot farther along than that!"

2.) "Is this your first?" Followed by huge owl eyes and gasping when I tell them its my 4th.
Lately I've been getting asked if having a 4th is "on purpose" which I confess, a few people have received a rather sarcastic reply from me....

3.) Do you know what you're having? Followed by "oh good! You can tie things off and be done after he's born." - thanks. Glad you do my family planning for me ;-)

4.) "Do you worry that having a 4th is gonna totally put you into shock and send you over the edge?"
-No. This is the one baby I'm actually quite relaxed thinking about. My other kids are so much older than my kids have with previous baby's births. I don't do 'minute-by-minute care of any of them. Kara needs the most care and she's becoming more independent each day. With other births, I had kids that were still very much in the baby phase back at home. So it was a huge deal to add another baby to that. I think the one thing I am 'worried' about is teaching the girls especially that this baby has a Mommy and his Mommy is ME, not them ;-)

5.) "What work-out routine do you do to stay in shape while pregnant?"
-I chase after 3 kids, take care of a 2,400+ square foot home, and run errands daily. I have lofty goals of starting a work out routine... but with only 15 weeks left to this pregnancy, I'm starting to think this will be it.

6.) "Do you homeschool your kids? They seem very smart for their ages."
-Yes, I do and thank you! I don't notice them being any smarter or in any way more ahead of public/private school kids, but I'll admit, the compliment always makes my work feel quite worth while.

7.) "Do you worry that your kids will be mad at you for not telling them Santa is real?"
-No. If they are, I'll remind them they're making issues out of {as their Dad would say} "first world problems."

8.) "are you gonna make your kids wait to have their first kiss on their wedding day, like you guys did?"
{this one typically only gets asked when people hear our story}
-No. We weren't told we had to wait and we won't tell our kids that either. It can be their decision.

9.) "Do you and your husband ever wish you had dated other people before each other?"
-No.

10.) "you must get so mad when you hear all the negative comments about your church and Pastor."
-Not really. It bothers me when things are flat out not true. But in most cases, its a matter of personal preference and opinion, which everyone is entitled to.

11.) "Do you think you'll ever move back to California?"
-No. But I never thought I'd move out of California... and I think I saw a pig fly the other day, so anything's possible :)

12.) "is Rachel just exactly the way you were when you were her age?"
-No. To everyone's surprise, Kara is. As much as I'd love to say I was just like Rachel, my parents let me know {often} that Kara is a little me. Rachel does look like me, but we have very different personalities.

13.) {my absolute favorite} "are these ALL your kids?!"
when I get asked this question I laugh out loud. I have 3. Since when did 3 become an insanely large number?

14.) "you're so outgoing - you must do great with public speaking!"
-correction. I hate public speaking and would be thrilled to never face it again. I do much better one-on-one or in smaller groups of people.

15.) "Don't you hate living where it rains all the time?"
-come spend a year in Washington and we'll talk. I'm done arguing. You have to have experience before you talk like you know what you're talking about ;-)

There you have it! I don't want to tag people because I know it annoys a lot of bloggers, but I would love to hear your F.A.Q. I know you all get asked some as well. I wonder how many of us get the same ones!

setting goals for the new year...

2012-01-02T11:44:00.000-08:00

1.) live out the gospel.

2.) have a baby.

{source}

happy new year, everyone!

2nd stop!

2011-12-31T11:42:00.000-08:00

After leaving Jason's parent's house Saturday afternoon, we headed out to where my parents live, to surprise my Dad. My Mom was supposed to be getting the surprise as well, but due to some scheduling conflicts, I ended up having to tell her we were coming a couple weeks beforehand.
We knew my Dad would be watching the Seahawks/49'er game, so we planned to have Ethan walk in and very casually say "Papa, I wanted to watch this with you." and see how long it took my Dad to get the surprise... or have a heart attack, which we were worried might happen ;-)
His face got white as a ghost and he just stared at Ethan in disbelief. He told us later he thought he either had a stroke or had fallen asleep on the couch and was dreaming Ethan there.

Shortly after the surprise, watching football.

the girls took about 2 minutes to go get the dress-ups on :)

after watching football, you have to play football.

my parents with 2 out of their 5 kids.

my Mom is laughing at me because I didn't realize this was the "funny" picture :)

I love capturing the "before the actual picture" shot.

My brother-in-law Jeremy is quite shy and lacks a sense of humor...

as you can see.

Bettis, Smoaks and Arnold families.

I think my Dad is due before me!

Christmas morning...

My Uncle, Aunt and cousins came from Sacramento to celebrate with us!

They brought waffle mix and my Uncle made the best strawberry waffles, ever.

My Aunt Julie with her baby, Sarah.

My Dad came around the corner with this hat on and the red wax lips and had us

all dying laughing. I think the kids were a bit worried :)

at the park, with blow up rocket balloons...

my Uncle took this one of us.

Merry Christmas 2011!

Time spent with family was so fun and cherished.
The trip went by in a whirl, but it was so worth it.
The drive was long, sure... but sometimes it takes a long drive to see the ones we love.
Oh! We learned how to play Cranium and to my surprise, I loved it!

We left that night and spent the night in Sacramento, to give ourselves a head start.

Ended up leaving Sacramento around 8am and arrived at our home in Washington just

before 10pm. The drives were long, but totally worth the time with family!

I already mentioned this on Facebook, but I have to say it again...

our kids did amazingly well on both drives. Every time we make the long haul we

worry that its going to be too much for them and every time, they totally shock us!

We're talking NO complaining; I think Ethan asked a couple times

"are we almost there?"

They don't have video games or anything, just movies to watch on the DVD player, naps

to take, make believe games to be played, lots of alphabet game playing, and

good ol' fashioned "look out the window at things we're passing by".

We're thankful for 3 very good travelers.

our adventure

2011-12-27T15:00:00.000-08:00

Back in August we began tossing around the idea to go visit our parents for Christmas and it quickly turned into a surprise visit. We thought it would be perfect since we knew none of them would expect us to come, since Jason's work schedule is typically so busy that time of year.

So we took off bright and early Thursday morning {4:30AM} and headed down to California!
The ride down was lovely and uneventful, in a good way. We were shocked at how dry and summery Oregon looked! The state everyone told us was sure to be covered in many inches of snow, had barely a hint of snow anywhere! The water levels in all the lakes were super low, giving evidence of the dry winter we've all been having.

**to answer a popular question about gifts: our moms sent their gifts here, not knowing we'd be going there. So as they arrived I wrapped them and put them back in the boxes they came in and then we brought them back down with us for our visit, so the kids could open them in front of the Grandparents.

We arrived at Jason's parent's house Thursday night around 9pm {after having dinner at In and Out} and lined the kids up on their front porch. Jason called his Dad and told him we had someone drop gifts off for them on their front porch and asked him to go check if they were delivered. So when his Dad opened the door, our 3 kids were smiling up at him and said "Merry Christmas!" SO fun to see Grandpa's shocked reaction and then to see it all coming together on Grandma's face was hilarious. You could totally tell she was trying to figure out what we were doing there, how we got there and how we pulled off the surprise.
Totally worth the months of planning and waiting.
We had a blast with his family. Uncle Jeff and Aunt Jenny arrived the next afternoon and it made for a really nice family Christmas weekend. My in-laws weren't only overjoyed to have us there {with no notice}, they graciously gave up their master bedroom/bathroom for us to use and seemed pretty thrilled to have their home instantly turned kid friendly and probably 5 times the volume.

we went out to breakfast on Friday...

the gumballs made their tongues turn all sorts of colors :)

Ethan loves this picture. He recently discovered Popeye {with Grandpa}

and thinks they all look like Popeye here.

Around the house...

Aunt Jenny is a good improviser :)

the girls chopped zucchini for the lasagna Jenny made.

These coffee mugs are very old - Jason got a kick out of having them in a picture w/Kara.

Impressing Great Grandma with the iPhone games.

Opening gifts...

Uncle Jeff & Aunt Jenny bought Kara her first watch! And... its Hello Kitty!!

Coasters for Mom & Dad, made by Jenny.

my MIL's face makes me LOL here :-)

I think Rachel is pretty much being rude to Kara here, saying something like

"you didn't get one!"

I thought the look on her face was pretty funny though...

I think its safe to say, Ethan loves ping-pong.

opening gifts is a lot of hard work.

Before leaving...

the kids played outside with everyone while Jason and I packed up.

Thank you, Grandpa & Grandma for a great visit!

We miss you already!

~Arnold & Hildenbrand families~

Merry, Merry!

2011-12-24T18:31:00.000-08:00

{source}

Hope you have a beautiful Christmas Day with your loved ones.

We surprised our parents by driving down to California {Thursday}

and arriving on their doorsteps,

totally shocking them with an Arnold Christmas surprise :)

Its been fun to see parents, siblings, cousins, Aunts, Uncles and friends!

Have a blessed day and a Happy New Year!

2011 Christmas Letter

2011-12-14T11:12:00.000-08:00

Since we can't send cards our to ALL our friends and everyone we've ever met, I decided this year, I'd post our actual letter here on the blog, with a few family pictures in it. This post will stay at the top of my posts {even though it won't always be the newest post} so people can figure out where to find the letter when they come here just to read that.

Hopefully my feed reader will still detect newer posts under this one :)

To read our Christmas letter, go to the tabs {first one says 'Home' and so on} and click on the far right tab, '2011 Christmas letter' and it will take you there!

winter glow

2011-12-13T23:16:00.000-08:00

some sort of title goes here.

2011-12-13T17:50:00.000-08:00

I'm far more scatterbrained at times, than I used to be.
Like yesterday, when I called my friend and when she answered, I had to ask HER "who did I call?" because I had a complete brain freeze.

Showering around 3pm is becoming quite normal for me.

"Did I forget deoderent?" is a question I ask myself at least once a day.

finding a ring around the inside of the toilet bowl happens way more these days than it ever used it.

Going out and realizing Rachel's hair was never done and Kara's shoes don't match is pretty much a weekly occurrence. {The fact that it no longer bothers me is the shocking part.}

While doing school with the kids, I often panic, "where did I put the pencil?!" and they will usually reply, "its behind your ear, Mommy." Oh... yeah.

laundry piles up and often doesn't get done until someone comes looking for socks or underwear.
okay, so its not always that bad, but it gets that bad sometimes.

taking Christmas pictures to send out now consists of hopping in the car after church, driving to our friend's house and having her snap a few photos at the park. And then printing them without any editing at all.

In many ways, life has gotten much simpler. Important things are truly important and a big deal is when something monumental happens; we find out we're expecting, a tooth is lost, Bible verses are successfully memorized, prayers are answered, sick friends or family are healed, loved ones come to visit, someone gets baptized at church, or, in our home a few weeks ago, two kids ask Jesus to live in their heart and give their lives to Him. HUGE.

I'm not a person that glorifies being an unorganized mess, so that's not the point of this post at all. Its just interesting to me, when I sit down and look over how I've changed and how we've changed as a family, its interesting to see what God is rooting out of me and what things have stayed.
I'm still a clean person, our house isn't ever in shambles, Jason and I both like to be very organized people, but a lot of the other things I never thought I could live without or let go of, have somehow been let go of.
I often thank my kids for that. They're more important to me than time fillers that seem important but aren't. I care more about Rachel's heart to care if her hair looks good on a trip to Target.
Not that doing her hair before we head out is bad, but its not the important part of life.

This time of year always makes me stop and reflect on what's most important to me. I guess because everything gets turned into such a commercialized mess. Plus its nearing the end of the year and I typically do 'personal inventory' at this time each year. Its a fun to time to go over my journals and see what was on my "to do" list at the beginning of that year.
I'm realizing more and more that if we're going to teach our kids what this time of year is all about, the best way to do that is for us to live it out. If I get all caught up in the 'things' buying, decorating, finding what I think its the perfect card, obsessing over holiday stuff, getting up tight about food prep and what-not, I'm gonna do a horrible job showing my kids what Christmas is all about. And in all honesty, this year I've had a wake up call that this shouldn't only be on my mind in December. Yes, our family celebrates Christ's birth especially this month, but the fact is, we should be celebrating His birth and living out His love in us every single day out of the year.

{source}

When I was living at home, we had a tradition in December we called Special Angels. I loved it; probably looked forward to that more than I did stockings. I'm not sure why we did it in December, other than it was probably my Mom's way of reminding us that gifts of kindness and love are better than anything store bought.
Throughout the month we would have one person who we would do thoughtful, loving, helpful things for. Sometimes it involved a gift: something small but perfect for that person. In my opinion, my sister Trisha was the best at this. And it was something that really helped her already kind, loving, thoughtful nature shine through. If one of the kids struggled with selfishness, you definitely noticed it more during this month :)
You never knew who drew your name and so when things were done for you, like having your bed made while you were in the shower, you didn't get to thank a specific person. But that person got to show love in secret, without praise. I loved that tradition. I loved how it would carry itself out in our home, even throughout the year. Who wants to stop being kind or thoughtful just because December is over?!
You know how it feels when you pay for the person's coffee behind you in drive-thru and then you know you've made their day by such a simple act of kindness? I love that. Its infectious. I love that we get to teach our kids that generous love like that comes from God. We love because HE first loved us. We're generous and selfless because HE first was with us. So beautiful.
So last year we started this in our family and this year the kids decided we need to do it all year long and change names every month. I just about died when I saw a note on Rachel's pillow the other day {obviously from Ethan} that read: "I LOVE YOU, RACHEL. THANKS FOR BEING A GOOD SISTER." with a heart that looked more like a very sad square ;-)

This post could be called thinking out loud or reflections on the holidays. I don't know. I'm not good with titles. Sometimes thoughts come pouring in and these were some I thought would be helpful to write out and post. I hope you're all having a lovely month! This has been the first December in years that we've truly enjoyed and has felt like the most relaxed, calm month out of the year. Only took 7+ years of marriage for us to figure out how to achieve that! But hey, we did.

{source}

what a 3 year old considers "not sleepy" ...

2011-12-12T21:53:00.000-08:00

"behave at the Dr's office!"

2011-12-11T20:43:00.000-08:00

... Those were my words to my 3 kids as we drove to my Dr's appointment this afternoon.
I have had {another} horrible sinus infection for 2 weeks; my head has felt ready to explode at any moment, my nose is so terribly stuffed I can't breath through it, at all.
My eyes often felt like they'd pop out of their sockets and the ear and neck pain was often unbearable. Especially at night. After trying every all natural, home remedy, I caved and scheduled an appointment.
So as we drove there we went over all the do's and don'ts. We discussed what is obedient behavior and what is rude, disobedient behavior. I asked them "who is going to be on their very best behavior at the Dr's office?" and they all cheered in unison, "I AM!!"
So after my long speech I felt great. Confident; sure that my kids would set a good example for other kids and that our visit would be pleasant.

We walked into the office and to my joy, they had a movie playing on the TV.
All 3 parked it at the little table and laughed hysterically as they watched the end of Despicable Me.
Rachel began quoting lines from the movie that make her laugh the most; all of which had something to do with bottoms and the word "poo".
Kara had to dance during the credits. If you've ever heard the music at the end of that movie, you'll understand why she has to dance.
Shortly after they turned on a movie called The Santa Clause. My kids have never seen this movie and I thought it was odd that the receptionist turned it on, since every child in the room was under the age of 7.
Five minutes into the movie, Tim Allan makes a comment at a work party about some guy's secretary getting cozy on his lap. Ethan jumps up... "what! Why on earth is his secretary on his lap?! Doesn't that bother his wife? What kind of movie is this?!" I'm sitting there trying to quiet him down, by talking in a very low, quiet voice myself. I answer his question with, "he's pointing out that she shouldn't be on his lap because he does have a wife." He's not pleased with this and begins telling me how horrible the movie is {and I can't say I disagree - but I think the whole movie is lame, so....}

Thankfully the nurse opens the door and calls my name. YAY - "lets go guys, its our turn now."
They behave quite nicely as she takes my temperature and all are very concerned and holding my hands because they're convinced at any moment she's gonna stick me with a needle, just as I'm not expecting it.
Then she tells me to get on the scale so she can weigh me. Don't you just love digital scales? I miss the old analog types, where it was harder for people around you to actually read the weight.
As my luck would have it, Rachel reads the number... out loud, VERY loud. And then says "Whoa, Mommy! Your body weighs so many numbers! You weigh like FOUR of Daddy's numbers!" And in case everyone couldn't hear the numbers the first time, she loudly tells them to Ethan, again."
I assure her that her statement is not true in the slightest and the nurse tries her hardest not to laugh.
She fails.

We get settled in the room, the nurse asks me {for the 10th time I'm sure} what my symptoms are and why I'm there. She checks me in and tells us the Dr will be in, in a few minutes.
The kids and I pass the time by talking about all sorts of things. Rachel wants to know who the people are on all the magazines. She's confused why we see magazines with 'random' people on them and wonders when we'll be on one. I tell her they're famous people and so we begin discussing what the word 'famous' means. Kara wants to know what every tool in the room is for and while I'm not personally feeling too great, they were at least behaving and learning something educational as we waited for the Dr.

20 minutes later, she walks in.

During my visit with her Kara tears the paper on the bed twice. The Dr and I clean it up, I tell Kara not to tear it again. She does. I tell her she will be punished for that later. She doesn't seem to care and proceeds to lay on the floor and spin around, realizing her coat slides quite nicely on the slippery floor.
I'm grabbing her off the floor and realizing Rachel has rolled the magazine up that she was looking at and is now chewing on it. Its IN her mouth. I place Kara in the chair and tell Rachel to take the magazine out of her mouth. As I'm talking to Rachel, Ethan begins to be annoyed {severely annoyed} that Kara's arm is now touching his arm. So he proceeds to push, shove and eventually slap Kara, to get her arm off of his.
I quickly tell him this is NOT allowed and give him my look that says "Stop being naughty and acting up just because we're in front of a stranger." He doesn't react at all how I hope he'd react.

I begin to remind the kids of the promise they made me in the car... "Remember guys we talked about this on the way here? you all said you would do your very best to obey Mommy during our visit? Are you honoring your promise that you made or are you breaking it?" - they all stare at me like "wow... what on earth are you talking about, crazy lady." And I realize this visit is not gonna end well.
Just after I have this conversation, Rachel shoves Kara and she falls on the floor and begins to scream. I know the fall annoyed her, but she wasn't hurt. If you heard her screaming and crying, you'd think she broke bones.
I tell Rachel to help Kara up and then apologize to her for pushing her. She folds her arms across her chest and refuses to obey. Oh dear.
I tell the kids that I'm going to finish talking to the Dr and then we will visit the bathroom on our way out so I can deal with these issues.
The Dr. is pretending not to hear them up until the point where Kara flips her lid over being shoved off the chair. Now she's visibly annoyed, but she can tell I'm at my wit's end and so she's patiently waiting for the chaos to end.

We finally make it out of there, I get my prescription, we head down to the elevators, go down to the parking garage and Ethan announces, "I forgot my jacket!" I stand there, weighing out in my head how important that jacket is to us and the thing is, its a jacket. It wasn't cheap, its his favorite one and yet part of me wants to spout off something like "you're the one who forgot it, so you're gonna lose it!"
But instead we turn around, march back up to the floor we were on, go retrieve the jacket, I have all 3 kids apologize to the nurses and the Dr. for behaving so poorly and we say our good byes and march back down to the car.

On the way out to the van, the kids are all feeling pretty guilty. I've just told them they will NOT be receiving the treat they hoped to get, due to their very bad behavior. They're all quite subdued and each coming up with their own version of "I'm so sorry Mommy for disobeying" etc....
A man sitting near where we're walking sees us and stops me to tell me how beautiful my kids are.
Me: "Thank you! That's very kind of you to say."
Man: "my goodness, such well behaved children too! Mommy must be so proud to take her 3 small children out and to have them behave like sweet little angels. What a blessing you must be to your Mommy! She probably tells Daddy every night, 'our children are the very best God ever made!' "
And as I smile and thank the man, I glance down at my kid's very guilty, completely shamed looks on their down trodden faces... I can't help but smile.

Thank you, God. You always show up in sometimes the smallest ways, but I appreciate it every time.

Our trip to IKEA that followed the Dr's office trip went swimmingly well ;-)

Christmas came early!

2011-12-11T11:10:00.000-08:00

Jason found a great deal on the Xbox Kinect on Black Friday,

so he bought it for our family for Christmas.

We told the kids to close their eyes and wait for the big surprise...

you can see some people had a hard time NOT peeking :)

its already been lots of fun for our family!

hey, Baby.

2011-12-09T10:10:00.000-08:00

{wrote this a few days before our ultrasound, obviously}

You're quite a wonder to us, sweet Baby.
Your little life is talked about and prayed for so much.
You're an every day reminder of the evidence of God's grace and mercy in our lives.

Whoever said beyond the 2nd child gets less attention or less preparation, is crazy.
At least not in our family. You have 5 people in this home so eager and full of happy anticipation ready to meet you, its probably nauseating to outsiders.

My belly gets talked to quite frequently. You apparently tell Kara that you and she should have ice cream, before dinner, on a daily basis. Oh, and donuts first thing in the morning.

Every time I feel you kick and squirm I get so excited and usually stop what I'm doing, so I can make sure to soak it all in while its there. Your activity inside me reminds me that you're there and you're growing. Its an awesome reality; God is forming a new life inside me each day.
You're active at night for the most part. Typically when I stop moving and sit down to relax, I get to feel you bounce around in there. A lot like Ethan did, actually. You react to Daddy's voice quite well and its pretty cute to see/feel. He says "hi sweet Baby!" and you begin to wiggle around, as if to say "hi Daddy!"
Rachel got to actually feel you kick and her eyes filled with a new look of wonder I've never quite seen on her face before. She was stunned and amazed. "There IS a baby in there! I think the baby really likes me and knows I'm its sister!" She was thrilled; sat there staring and smiling and talking to you for a good 10 minutes. She told you all about the world, our family, our church, what she's afraid of, what she loves most, our family far away in California, how you'll be the first Arnold baby born outside of California, etc... you two had a great talk.

You like meat. I should say, you love meat. It had me a bit worried the other day, when I drove by some cows and had the sudden urge to hit one of them with my car, skin it, cook it and eat it right there.
I'm sure animal rights activists will be outraged by that sentence, but so be it.
You're finally allowing me to fulfill my chocolate cravings and so far, Hershey's Kisses are okay with you. Otherwise I'm craving more salty or hearty foods than sweet foods. I do love fruit. Oranges especially.

On Monday we get to see you on the ultrasound screen! We'll also {hopefully} get to find out if you're a boy or a girl. Your sisters have decided you're a girl. So if you pop out a boy, please forgive all the pink.
Kara has named you 'Seattle', which is very fitting since its her favorite place to go. And Rachel has named you 'Olivia', because she says "its the most beautiful name in all of creation."
She's trying really hard to persuade Daddy and I into liking it :)
Ethan would love it if you're a boy, but he says he loves having sisters, so one more would be cool.
He says he just wants to actually see you and hold you and tell you he loves you. He refers to you as 'My Baby' and tells you about football a lot.

We're half way done with this pregnancy journey and in about 20 weeks, give or take, we get to meet you! Today the kids talked about how they want to bring things like the crib in and set it up, so we might do that soon. I keep thinking we can wait longer, but maybe its better to get this all done sooner rather than at the last minute.

We love you, sweet baby and are overjoyed that God has blessed our family with you.
When you're born and are met with lots of camera flashes, cheering and squeals, rest assured its not the paparazzi...

its just to this family, you're already famous.

and...
here is our son's picture at 20 weeks!

the "smokey" looking thing floating up is the umbilical cord and then the
"ball" up by his eye is his hand. He did a lot of thumb sucking and playing
with the cord during the ultrsound :)

Weekend Getaway

2011-12-07T13:00:00.000-08:00

Last weekend we drove down to Southern Washington and stayed the weekend at a super fun place called Great Wolf Lodge. Our kids ended up being the perfect ages for this park and so the weekend was a total blast! My favorite part was being able to re-live part of my childhood and zoom down waterslides, feeling totally carefree and crazy :)
The weekend was totally fun and relaxing and just a great time away as a family.
This was our Christmas gift to our kids and they've already requested it for next year :)

Ethan isn't flipping me off... he was holding his cookie with his middle finger :)

this was the window cut-out in the kid's cabin they slept in.

Kara was most excited to be in a bathing suit in DECEMBER!

we went "off sight" for food, since the food there was way over priced.

Thankfully just down the road we found yummy places to eat.

And we threw health out the window and junked it up good this weekend ;-)

Dear, whoever invented having restaurants give crayons and activity pages to kids...

THANK YOU!!

playing with placemats kills time too.

Great Wolf Lodge is basically a wilderness themed hotel,
with a huge water park in the center.
Its indoor and they keep it at 85 degrees, so it felt like summer, even though its not.
I wasn't able to carry the camera around inside because its quite wet,
so I took a few pictures on Saturday morning, before heading down for some fun.

These pictures really don't do it justice at all... but you get the point.

we rode those high up slides!

we promised the kids dinner and desert at Dairy Queen
if they went on some of the BIG slides...

... and they did!

this face pretty much sums up how I feel about meat :)

I love this picture... he has about 4 loose teeth right now and you can see a
few of them here :)

Kara's first chili dog!

tada!
The much earned banana split!

1/2 way

2011-12-05T15:45:00.000-08:00

I should probably be a pro at this "self pregnant portrait taking" by now, so my apologies since I'm not.
Did my best taking a shot of my tummy all by myself. Next time I'll just cave and have Jason take one for me, so you can see my face and everything :)
But for those of you who've been asking {and asking and asking} and being quite patient, here you go!

20 weeks pregnant {half way!!}

7 pounds gained

energy swings

starting to get back into a workout routine

can't handle gore in movies anymore

{which has been rough on a couple of our TV shows}

feeling strong baby kicks and getting reactions to our voices {bliss}

actually thrilled to live in a cold climate while pregnant!

first time we've been totally clueless when it comes to names for our baby.

Sorry little one.

finally able to eat and enjoy chocolate! {that was a good day}

suffering from heartburn for the first time

{is it the chocolate? I hope not.}

But the best news of all .....

ITS A BOY!!
{picture taken at 19 weeks}

**For those of you who are wondering, the at home gender test was wrong!
The Dr. said "if you're having a girl, she has a penis and NO uterus" :)

Christmas card preview...

2011-12-04T16:09:00.001-08:00

We went to a park by our friend's house today and she took some pictures for us

to use in our Christmas card {thank you, Lexi!!}

here is a preview....

keeping the sickies away

2011-12-01T14:39:00.001-08:00

Probably like most of you Moms, I've been sick of being sick throughout the winter. Its such a fun, holiday time of year and totally stinks when you're stuck inside, with illnesses. And, if you're not a fan of getting a vaccine for every little bug that goes around, you end up realizing you have to do your research to learn how to build up the immune systems and keep your brood healthy.

I'm also learning that when it comes to sickness {we're talking sickness that won't cause death}, its actually good for our bodies to learn to fight things off naturally and not constantly running to get shots or drugs to cure us from ever getting sick again {which those shots don't do anyway}.

I'm no pro and my oldest child isn't even 7 yet, so I'm definitely not posting this to teach you ladies anything. And, for those of you with older kids, feel free to leave tips for how you keep your family healthy or natural ways to fight off colds and viruses.

Ethan and I are prone to getting sinus infections almost every time we get a bad head cold. It totally stinks, especially when pregnant. Either way, I hate having to go to the Dr and be put on Antibiotics, again. Especially after I've learned how bad antibiotics are for the rest of our bodies! They might get rid of the infection, but they're definitely not good for you :(

So for Ethan, I've learned that he is prone to getting sinus issues {for some reason only in the winter months} when he drinks regular milk. So we've switched him to coconut milk and thankfully he loves it.

My all time favorite website for health and nutriton is this one. I could be there all day...

Upping their water intake helps quite a bit as well as staying away from sugary drinks. Our kids don't do soda or juice barely at all, so its normal for them to only have milk or water. I imagine for some kids, having juice and soda taken away during the winter would be awful. Maybe lemon, cucumber or lime flavored water would be a happy medium?
Our kids take liquid vitamin D3 in the winter months as well.
When I know we've been around sick people or I feel a cold is coming on, I usually give them water with airborne in it and then I do the nasal spray 3 times a day, to help keep the mucus from forming in their noses. We also use a humidifier at the onset of a cold. We don't wait until its full blown and horrible.
Kara definitely still needs a nap, quite often. I notice on weeks that we're busy running around and she misses too many naps, she inevitably gets sick.
Don't shut your house up and then blast the heater. You're just ensuring that those germs have no way of getting out and you're constantly living in a germ infested home. It gets very cold here in Washington {like today its 35 degrees out} but we still leave windows cracked. Not open too much, but cracked enough that fresh air is filtering in the house. And we resist the temptation to have the heat on too high. I'm never cold in my own home, but I definitely can't run around in a tank top or short sleeved shirt on a 35 degree day :) Our heater is usually at 67 degrees, if that helps.
Don't overly sanitize your children! I learned this from my pediatrician in CA. He told me that Moms these days are obsessed with spraying their kids after every public event they're at and he said you end up killing off good bacteria and good oils. We use sanitizer after visiting public restrooms and if they've touched something totally gross, but otherwise I'm learning to accept that germs getting on them is mostly okay :)
I recently learned that trying allergy meds before running to heavier drugs, is a good way of trying to get rid of things like sinus infections or just bad congestion in your head. You take way less and even though it doesn't work as fast as Antibiotics would, it still does the trick.
When we get sore throats, we start drinking honey and cinnamon water, which is just as yummy as it sounds. Sometimes when the kids aren't looking, I add cayenne pepper to it as well :)
Putting your head over a once boiling pot of water mixed with aloe and menthol helps a lot too. People have told me to use other things such as lavender, but those never work. I have to spring for oil of oregano, or aloe with menthol.
Be sure to eat dark leafy greens, fresh food and as little processed or sugar filled foods as possible. Add garlic to everything you eat and stay away from mucus producing dairy foods while sick with a cold. Yogurt is not one of them, so feel free to yogurt up! Especially if its filled with probiotics.
We take probiotics as well, but this is somewhat new for us, so I'm still learning what forms I like it in. Kiefer is probably one of my favorites, thus far.
Getting on a good, consistent schedule helps too. I'm not very good with this one. Trying to get better. Our kids are on a pretty consistent one, but I'm not :-\

I'm sure I'm leaving stuff out and that's where you come into play! I'm super eager to learn other tricks people try, so please share if you have any.

Its the most wonderful time of the year... but would be the BEST time of the year if we could all enjoy it, while healthy :)

this cough syrup works like magic for us.

A few people have told me that their kids won't drink it, but

my kids actually like it. Kara made a weird face the first time, but I'm mean

and told her to deal with it :)

One of my friend's puts it in her son's oatmeal and I've heard of people

just mixing into the honey water as well.

I buy it at Safeway, in the all natural section and its 100% all natural ingredients!

{source}

I've read that Elderberry syrup is a good cure!

{source}

learned about this tea the other day and then

found this picture on Pinterest!

{source}

thought this was interesting!

we love visitors... especially family

2011-11-27T21:04:00.000-08:00

Jason's family came up for a visit! His parents had planned on coming up on the 10th and then at the last minute his sister and her husband decided to come as well! It was SO fun having everyone together - which doesn't happen often since we moved :(
Jeff and Jenny surprised our kids and Jason's parents with their visit, which was pulled off quite well and everyone was shocked. They stayed until Sunday and Jason's parents flew back to CA on Monday night.
We celebrated Jason's 30th birthday with them, which isn't really until the 19th, but we pretended.
Grandpa and Grandma also brought a few gifts for the kids.

Auntie Jenny & Rachel

everyone agrees, he's growing up way too fast.

we gave Daddy 3 candles instead of 30

< > < > < > < > < > < > < > < > < > < > < > < > < > < > < > < > < > < >

Along with their visit, they gifted Jason {for his 30th birthday} and I with a 2 day getaway to Seattle and beyond! We haven't gone away over night just the two of us since before Kara was born, so this was a pretty exciting trip for us. We ate dinner our first night at the Crab Pot. A place in Seattle I've been aching to go to and crack the crab legs and eat them :) It lived up to everything I thought it would be! We mostly just enjoyed being together, with no distractions. Lots of walking Downtown and just relaxing together.
Bliss.

they had these yummy treats waiting for us!

we thought this cauliflower was SO cool!

dinner at The Crab Pot - so delicious and fun

The second night we had another fabulous dinner at Ruth's Chris Steakhouse, which was another first for us. We were pleasantly surprised that even though the menu was more pricey than what we'd normally spend, they do have some awesome dinner deals. We got a deal that included a starter, main course, side dishes and dessert for $40 - when the food is that amazing, I'd pay any price :)

Thanks to my in-laws for an amazing time away together and for taking such great care of our kids for us!

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Sunday was spent relaxing together, attending church and relaxing together some more. Grandma brought lots of fun projects for the kids and the girls loved their bead/necklace set!

with the necklaces they made.

reading to Grandpa.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

On Monday we took Grandpa and Grandma to the Museum of Flight {Boeing} and had a blast! We ended up buying a family pass for 18 months because I know we'll go back and it ends up being a great deal to the passes instead of paying each time. So if any of you have an interest in going while you're here, let us know!

We love you, Grandpa & Grandma!

Thank you for coming to visit us!

Our Thanksgiving

2011-11-25T11:39:00.000-08:00

We have created quite a few traditions over the past few years, especially since moving far away from family and having some holidays where its just the 5 of us.
Thanksgiving happens to be my all time favorite holiday {with Easter as a close second} and I think the reason I love Thanksgiving so much is, its truly all about family, with no other distractions.

We start the morning off {always staying in our pj's} with the Thanksgiving Day Parade and the make ahead breakfast casserole I make, passed down from my Grandma and my Mom. This year I added cinnamon rolls to the casserole and fruit salad, which was a perfect addition. We go around the table and talk about what we're thankful for - always fun to hear the differences that range from, thankful for family members, Sunday School teachers, food, Daddy's job and then things like Hello Kitty and Target ;-)

her favorite part of the parade :)

skyping with the Bettis & Smoak's

This year we had our Thanksgiving feast with our extended family up here, the Bliss & Haidle gang.
Jason and Katie hosted a wonderful Thanksgiving! I can't say it enough, its so nice having family up here.

the kids got their own table this year!

Grandma Bonnie with youngest Grandchild, Elliott

I love this picture! Jason Bliss took this picture from the side, while I'm shooting it from the front with
my cell phone.

There's Katie!

Jason taught me a new game called "Captain's Mistress" - connect four with marbles - SO fun!

I'll post the recipe to this spice cake, because it was super easy to make and was SO yummy!

Happy Thanksgiving, from the 6 of us!

Give Thanks

2011-11-24T19:51:00.000-08:00

Happy Thanksgiving, friends!

Colossians 3:16

"and let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing

one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs,

with thankfulness in your hearts to God."

He's thirty...

2011-11-23T10:32:00.000-08:00

... and I know to some of you that doesn't sound or seem old, but to us, we feel like we're finally adults. Both in our thirties and pregnant with our 4th child. Crazy!
When did your teens and twenties go by so quickly? Oh, yeah, when life started going by so quickly.
Jason and I met when he was just about to turn 13 and I was 14. We weren't best friends right off the bat, but we never disliked each other. I remember having a lot of respect for him, even before I got to know him on a very personal level. I appreciated the way he treated me, as a girl. His manners were out of this world, his love and care for his family greatly impressed me and his desire to learn and grown in God's grace was what got my attention the most.
Fast forward 17 years and its all of that, mix in some romantic feelings, years of love and life together and here we are.... in our thirties. Amazing.

When Jason's parents were here {last week - I promise a blog post for their visit is coming!} we went away for the weekend, just the two of us. So that was the big celebration for his 30th birthday. On his actual birthday we went out to breakfast as a family, came home and I surprised him with our brother-in-law David and set up with a couple hours of Halo game play, just the two of them. We came home from breakfast and Jason walked into the house with David sitting in the living room, all set up to play :)
In the evening we had family and friends over, lasagna dinner with our favorite new cake, Orange Raspberry cake {yum!} and played games and had a fun evening.

dinner with family....

2011-11-21T21:55:00.001-08:00

just hours before Kara chopped her bangs :(

later that night, when the girls were supposed to be sleeping,

Kara snuck the scissors from a high shelf and cut Rachel's bangs.

Pregnancy Q&A

2011-11-21T21:22:00.001-08:00

Last year my pregnant friend did a Q&A on her blog and I loved it and thought it was a great idea. She used some of the most common questions she gets asked, and while several of ours matched, I have a few different ones. So this one is tailored for me :)

I filled this out a few weeks ago, saved it and forgot about it... so finally, here goes!

Q: When did you find out?
We found out on August 14th {for those of you who read my blog, it was the day of the Amazon picnic}.

This was the one time in our marriage where neither one of us was expecting me to be pregnant. I miscarried in both April and July and about 5 weeks post my July miscarriage I began to worry because I hadn't started my cycle - and for me, that's odd. So before I freaked out about me dying or anything ;-) I took a pregnancy test to rule that out. And to my surprise {shock} two very dark lines popped up!

Q: When are you due?

April 21st -though I hold very loosely to the term "due dates. I think they're mostly silly, because baby will come when baby wants to come and is ready to come. I like to just say I'm due near the end of April.

Q:How did you tell Jason and your kids? Jason knew I was taking the test, so when I came out of the bathroom, he was right there, eager to see the results :)

We always think we're going to wait to tell our kids {to avoid having them deal with the disappointment of a loss} but we talked about and it and decided that we felt its healthy and normal for even children to experience disappointments, even death, in life.

We told Ethan first and he said he already knew because he saw me laying on the couch a lot :-) He was very excited and told me right away "I'm mostly excited because this time you're having TWO babies!" - this boy wants to kill me, I think.

Rachel's reaction was cute and sad. She hugged me and said she was excited and then she said "I hope we get to keep this baby longer before it dies." So I had to explain to her that not all babies meet death and some, like her, are born healthy and live a long life.

Kara was very excited and began running around the house, stuffing her stomach with blankets, telling everyone she was pregnant too.

Q: after 3 miscarriages since Kara, how did you feel when you found out? Its the news of a new life, so no matter how much loss I suffer, I will always be instantly thrilled when I see two lines. After miscarriages though, the excitement does come with some worry and anxiety.

I wasn't terribly anxious, but I did worry. I'm afraid my first thought was "If this baby doesn't make it, I hope I miscarry early on. I don't think I can handle another late miscarriage." I feel horrible for even thinking we could lose the baby... but I'm afraid its what happens when its been back-to-back for 2 1/2 years.

The first 4 weeks were rough. Making it to the 8 week point felt good, but making it to the 12 week point, plus hearing the strong heart beat at 9 weeks and then SEEING the active, healthy baby on the ultrasound at 12 weeks, definitely helped :)

Every new day felt like icing on the cake and a major miracle.

Our families, our church friends and several close friends knew early on and so we had a lot of prayer going up for this little one, which was comforting.

Q: When you passed up milestones you never made it past with previous babies... was that hard?

Yes. Much harder and way more emotional than I thought it would be. Very bitter-sweet. My due date with Micah was a hard day to get through. It wasn't God's plan for those babies to be in our earthly family and His plans are best, so I'm learning to truly be content with that - no matter how hard it can be for my little mind to understand.

I'm so thankful He's given us this child and I'm praying that healing will continue as we ge to know this little one and he/she joins our family.

Q: How are you feeling?

I'm feeling great now! The first trimester was very, very hard on me. Call it a depleted body or not, being my 3rd pregnancy in 9 months, I had a hard time.

The morning sickness was bad, the stomach flu that followed didn't help either.

The fact that the morning sickness hit hard and heavy the day we started moving, didn't help either. It was just rough... but this seems to be pregnancy for me. No matter what I do, what I eat or don't eat, etc... I just have a rough first trimester. In the grand scheme of things, 12 weeks of yuckiness isn't too horrible.

Q: Notice any differences yet?I have compared this pregnancy to Rachel's many times, because it really reminds me of hers. But then sometimes it strongly reminds me of Ethan's.

I imagine with each child we have, the similarities will being to blend quite a bit.

I've said it on Facebook, we're having a very ethnic child. I crave pretty much ALL types of food. I just like food and so does our baby :)

But no, no real major difference from my other pregnancies.

Q: Are you going to find out the gender?Yes. We hope to. Our kids very badly want to know and I think this time around especially, we are all very eager to know what our baby is. We've always felt like the bonding part becomes so much easier when we know and we can actually refer to our baby as something besides "baby" or "it". Plus its always made name choosing much easier.

Q: Gender Predictions?This is where we're more stumped this time around. I lean mostly towards girl and I'm not really sure why. I even dream its a girl, so who knows.

Jason & Ethan think its a boy and our girls want it to be a girl, so they've decided it is :)

We're all just thrilled he or she is healthy :)

**since writing this post I actually took one of those gender prediction tests {came highly recommended on Amazon} and so we have our result from that test, but we're waiting on the ultrasound, which will be December 5th, before we make any real announcements. I'll be sure to let you mommies know if the test was accurate. A few of you have told me you're dying to know how accurate they are :)

Q: And...will you be going drug free again?If I can, of course!

Nothing ever went "wrong" during my epidural labors, but any time I can bypass drugs and intervention, I'd love to try.

Kara's Story

2011-11-20T22:01:00.001-08:00

"Once upon of time, in a long, long galaxy, there was a girl named Hello Kitty!
And she lived in a place where there was Princess Leia and she went to church with her Bible.
In her Sunday School room was a picture just like that one on your wall, Mommy.... even though IKEA wasn't a real store in her world - some of her things looked like they comed from IKEA.
Now back to my story.
She was a queen, Hello Kitty was and she made rules that were fun and some rules that were not fun.
And her Grandma had a pool at her house and a puppy dog and she was afraid of the dog. But she loved the pool.
When one day Hello Kitty met a friend named Olivia. And they were both girls. Because they were and because they were born as girls with pink bows.
Oh, also. I comed out of your tummy on October 3rd. And I was crying and I was like, 'oh! you're my Mommy. Okay.' and then I stopped crying and probably drank milk from you.
Oh, back to my story.
Hello Kitty was only afraid of dogs who barked.
And princess Leia was in a star place and she looked like a star. She was full of shine.

{If you're wondering, yes, I'm typing this while she's talking - and LOL the whole time}

So, they went to the beach one day. It was windy and sunny. Then it rained, because it was summertime.
Oh! Christmas was coming! They don't go to see Santa because he's a stranger and they will NOT sit on his lap. Do you even know he's a different man in every store? He is.
So they went and made cookies and ate the frosting a little bit. Just with their fingers, not on the spoon. Don't worry, they washed their hands!
Their Mommy said 'slow down before you crack bones.' and they didn't crack bones. But, they needed bandaids because they got blood on their knees.
Oh! and they shopped at Trader Joe's, where they have hot dogs that are good for you, without everything filled with junk. And they have Scottie dog candies that look gross, but they're really actually good.

This is the end of my story.
Hello Kitty got to be very old. She was still cute and she still looked little, but she was old.
And she became a Grandma when she had a wedding. She looked very good at her wedding and she loved her man too.
But, when Christmas came she learned about God who sent Jesus to the ranger {manger} and then after Easter they all lived happily ever here after."

"The end."

more from the barn

2011-11-16T14:04:00.000-08:00

I forgot I brought the Nikon with me on our visit to the barn.

for those of you who've asked, I will get a recent tummy shot on the blog for you.

Sorry its delayed.

I think I was about 12 or 13 weeks when this was taken.

our neighbors across the street have these trees lining their yard.

Its beautiful, but I wish they wouldn't block out view of the sky....

playing before the snow

2011-11-15T15:11:00.001-08:00

So apparently snow is on the weekend forecast. Normally I'd say I don't believe it, but I'm learning anything is possible! Today we had an absolutely gorgeous day, complete with deep blue skies, bright sun, freezing cold temps and beautiful fall colors all around. I love it!

The kids went outside to play while I organized a few closets in the house. I do love having a fully fenced, big yard to send them out it. Makes all of us quite happy :)

Ethan decided to teach Kara how to play baseball.

Rachel has very little interest in sports right now and so Ethan is becoming

desperate. Thankfully Kara took to it quite well and even hit the ball a few times!

the cheering and training made me LOL.

Its fun to see these two playing well together. They have a hot/cold relationship:

neither one wants to be the peacemaker and both want to control every situation.

So it makes me so glad when I see them playing - I feel like Ethan is growing in patience

and kindness these days; understanding Kara is much younger than he is.

Funny how sometimes it feels like they'll never learn or grow and then when they do,

it feels sudden. Like it happened over night.

rolling and jumping in the leaves is an Autumn time must.

Rachel is a very content, usually cheerful and sweet girl. I love that she usually has a great solution
to a tricky problem and is willing to try pretty much anything {unless it involves touching bugs}.

So who knows if the snow will really come, but we're kind of hoping it does. What better thing to have than snow on Daddy's birthday?!

Monday

2011-11-14T22:35:00.001-08:00

What I'm thinking: Found out tonight that my friend's Mom is in her last stages of cancer and will very likely soon be going home to spend Eternity with Jesus. Its news that brings very, very mixed feelings. Total sadness and total happiness {for her}.

She and her husband have been on my mind all night and I praise God for bringing them into our lives.

What I'm/we're reading: Mom and Loving It, A Purpose Driven Life and my Bible.

What I'm listening to: Jason and I just sat down to finish the LOTR movie we're on. After I do this survey my attention will be 100% on the film, no worries ;-)

What we're learning: we went to the Flight Museum today and so we learned a lot about planes, WWI and WWII and tomorrow we'll be doing a science experiment where the kids learn more about gravity.

What I'm watching: Oh, yeah... LOTR.

What's cooking: Over the weekend I made chicken enchiladas with green sauce for the very first time! They turned out very yummy and I'm definitely keeping the recipe around.

What I'm buying: I ordered one of those baby gender predictor tests off Amazon {for fun} should be arriving tomorrow.

What I'm thankful for: for family... near and far.

Weird thing I realized about myself this week: I have a sudden strange obsession with hershey kisses.

What I'm praying: for our friend, for our baby, for our Pastors and for our nation.

What I'm planning: to relax! We have had guests coming and going since September and though I LOVE our friends and family and am thankful they come to see us, its going to be nice being just the 5 of us for a bit :)

What we did this last weekend: oh my goodness, this was a full, FUN weekend!
Jason's parents arrived on Thursday morning and his sister and her husband drove up {surprising his parents} and arrived Thursday afternoon. On Friday his parents gifted us with an amazing night away to a gorgeous hotel in Seattle and the gift of two dinners out and a 2 day date away together. Fabulous time!

We came home Saturday night and then Sunday was spent with them, church {seeing lots of baby dedications at church!} and then relaxing at home with the Grandparents.

Today we took them to the Flight Museum and then said our good byes at the airport this evening :(

What I'm looking forward to: Thursday is the kid's book club {I host it once a month} and I'm excited about the book we'll be reading and the craft we'll do.

Saturday

2011-11-10T15:00:00.000-08:00

We took my sister to Pike Place Market

where Kara fell head over heals in love with these beautiful crowns.

my sister and brother-in-law

this is how Rachel captured the Market

silly girls at the coffee shop :)

I'm the perfect mom...

2011-11-09T12:47:00.000-08:00

Or at least, I once upon a time thought I would be! And in the interest of being totally honest, I'll just say right up front, my title is purely meant to be eye catching. I didn't ever really think I'd be 'perfection' when it came to Motherhood ;-)
But I do remember baby sitting lots of kids and watching families around me at church and thinking I would have this "parenting" thing all figured out by the time I became one.
HA!
With every child we have, God shows me just how little I actually know... and its been quite humbling. I never thought I'd have the smartest or cutest kids {I'm not that delusional} but I definitely thought I wouldn't struggle with motherhood the way I heard some women say they did.
My kids would certainly never get me in a tiff, or try my patience so far I actually have to go lock myself in the bathroom to pray through my building anger. I never thought I'd have a hard time adjusting to an added family member, and figured my kids would always be thrilled to have me as their Mom.

I love being a Mom. I'll put that out there now. Its amazing. I can't imagine life without my kids, or my relationship with Jason since God made us parents. The older my kids get, the more fun they get. Baby stages are pure joy, but I'm continuously telling people how much more fun they get as they learn to communicate and can enjoy life with you, on more of a big kid level. I'm loving it.

Last week at Target, Ethan and I bought Battleship! Remember that game? I loved it when I was younger and it seems right up his ally. Every so often we like to go to the board game aisle and grab one to add to our collection. Its making family game nights way more exciting and challenging.
And I've said it so many times on this blog, so I'll say it again - I tend to be more of a kid than my kids are most of the time. I loved being a kid, so I attribute it to that. I can't help but join them in their fun :)
I asked Ethan what his least favorite thing about me having morning sickness was and he said, "you didn't play with us very much and you laid on the couch a lot. I felt like we had a different Mommy during that year." - so clearly 2 months feels like a year to him.

Last week I had a day where I really battled all these "I love being a Mommy" feelings. I woke up not feeling well {nothing pregnancy related, just getting a head cold} and so I wanted to stay in bed.
The last thing I felt like doing was getting right to school work, then housework, then running errands. And so sadly, I tried the route of ignoring my kids. I begrudgingly did their school with them, I cleaned up the house, complaining and huffing the whole time. Even telling the kids if they wouldn't make messes, I wouldn't have to clean up so much :(
We went to run errands {this actually went quite well} but I was totally worn out by the time we were done. And again, that was apparently my kid's fault.
I don't know about your kids, but when mine see me getting grumpy, they begin to act up. So the naughtiness set in as soon as we got home. Rachel took a pen and colored all over her body and bedroom, Kara found some candy and hid in a corner and chowed down. Ethan opened a game I told him not to touch, took the whole thing apart and lost a few pieces.
I discovered all the naughtiness and lost it. First I cried. This is usually what I do when I'm completely overwhelmed and don't know where to begin. Plus, it really crushed me that they were all being super sneaky and naughty. Then, when I should've prayed, I began fuming. Sent them all to their rooms, cleaned up the messes {why did I do this and not have them help me? I have no idea...} I began feeling angry with Jason, who was still at work. For some reason Satan likes to try and convince me that the chaos that happens at home during the day is somehow Jason's fault. But all in all, I blew it. Had to go to each child and say I'm sorry, ask for their forgiveness, remind them about why we obey and how we obey and ways we can help Mommy, etc...

But then for the next couple of hours, I faced so much guilt. "Why do I do this and why do I have 'woe is me!' days?! Why can't I always display perfection and godliness to my children? Why must they see Mommy blow it?!"
It was during me asking all these questions that God quickly showed me, through Ethan, that Mommy blowing it is something God uses for good. About 3 hours after I said the I'm sorry's and we prayed together and hugged it out, Ethan came to me and thanked me for setting a good example. He thanked me for "mostly" being a great Mom and for understanding that even though I'm big, I still need to obey God and I still need to set a good example, even when it comes to apologizing.

I realized in that moment, there's a reason these things happen. No, its not ideal to have grumpy, discontent attitudes - but it amazes me how God uses those times to help us display His grace. Even in my bad days I can reflect Jesus to my kids. I can show them how to make a wrong, right.
I certainly won't ever be a perfect Mom. I'm going to mess up on a daily basis. But the real nugget is this, I can turn that around and show them what it looks like to be daily sanctified in Christ.
How much worse would this whole day had been, had I just gotten over myself and moved on?! Imagine the example we set for our kids when we're too prideful to say "I'm sorry" and to acknowledge {to our kids} that we blew it and yet God in His mercy has already forgiven those sins of ours.

I'm amazed how much God is changing me through this journey of Motherhood.
Some days are great.
And yet I drudge my way through some.
But God is always present in them and His grace and perfect example are what remind me to press on with joy.
Having to admit our faults to our kids is never a bad thing. Its a great way we can show them that a life in Christ isn't roses and lilies; Its a daily battle of dying to ourselves and living for Christ.

the one we didn't post.

2011-11-08T13:58:00.001-08:00

picture recap

2011-11-07T17:31:00.000-08:00

I've had picture phobia lately. I don't even know if that's the right way to describe it, but its generally a lack of desire to carry the camera around, feeling thankful later on for my cell phone camera, or else we'd have very little pictures to document the past few months. Instead of doing a blog post for each outing or picture on here, I thought I'd just stick them all in one post.
Basically cell phone pictures from September til now. And yes, if you're on Facebook, some of these will be repeats. Apologies.

I love fall in Washington.

we go at least once a week to feed the horse.

and we check on the baby cow that has just been born.

Rachel named her "Olivia"

spotting caterpillars on the way home!

the baby bump {this was taken around week 13}

painting Ethan's room

Kara discovers a love for the piano

Jason took me into Seattle for the Lord of the Rings, in concert show!

our view on the walk back to the car

my very good friend Sharon gets baptized!!

we discover we'd rather play on the computers

than read books at the library.

my sister Trisha comes for a visit!

we added a new surface in our kitchen :)

About Me.

2011-11-04T16:19:00.000-07:00

Because I know you're all dying to know more about me. Right? Okay, probably not. But its here anyway.

I'm organized, but...
I'm also scatter brained

I love my husband
I love my kids

I make a huge mess in the kitchen when I cook {just ask Jason or my Mom}

I love people, but I also don't get attached too quickly or easily.

I am not creative, but I like to try.

I used to be such a judgmental person; a ready, pushy opinion always there.
Blame it on maturity or being too busy with kids, I no longer find myself ready with opinions....
and usually don't trust many of the ones I have :)
And I've learned assumptions just get you into trouble.

I like scary movies, but since having kids, I have a hard time with gore and suspense.
Long, drawn out, lots of talking but good thinking courtroom dramas are still my favorite.
Have you ever seen 12 Angry Men? I like. And yes, don't be surprised if you rent it only to find out there are 12 angry men in it. The title isn't supposed to be funny.

When I get sick, I like to pretend I'm fine. My husband makes me lay down and BE sick.

I love doing laundry, I love folding the laundry, but I detest putting it away and hanging it all up.

Music about fictitious characters {like Santa} gives me the creeps.

In my personal Bible time, I have to pray with my eyes open, because if I close them, weird things happen; grocery lists begin to take form, forgotten information pops into my head, etc...

I hate doing my hair. I often think twice about showering, because if I do, then I have to do my hair. Or, I can just go with yesterday's style and move on.

I like to talk. But listening is far more interesting. And its the best way to learn about another person.

I like to cook and bake. Is this because I'm scatterbrained? I don't know.

the talking trees in LOTR made me mad in the movie. They were so much better in the book.

When a child {not my own} in the store calls "mommy?!" I find myself, out of habit answering, "yes?" and then when I realize what I've done, I often pretend one of my kids was really calling me. It helps me not to feel too lame. But now, admitting this to you all makes me feel super lame, so....

Jason and I still talk each other's ears off like we did when we were teenagers. Sometimes we laugh out loud at how we still act like we did back then.

Oh! I still don't know how to properly apply eye make up. So you'll rarely {if ever?} see me wearing it. If you get married I might attempt some... but I have to really like you.

I hate going to the movie theater. I know, GASP! I'm too old to have such opinions, but I'd much, much rather be at my cozy home, on my cozy couch with a blanket. Why don't people take blankets to movie theaters???

I really don't want to admit this, but, I like the rain. Fine Jase, you win ;-)

I don't like being pregnant {contrary to popular belief} but I'm learning to like and enjoy every step and I definitely adore the final outcome.

certain food smells often make me tear up, because they remind me of my Grandparents and traditions gone since they've passed.

Christmas is the one holiday that makes me feel the most like a little girl again.
But Thanksgiving is my most favorite holiday.
Easter feels like the most important.

I never thought I'd enjoy home schooling as much as I do. It shocks me on a daily basis.

I'm saving this post after every line written, because my laptop warned me its about to go dead.

I am not a phone talker and yet there are a few people I could talk to for hours on the phone.
I love you, dear people.
I call my Mom way too much and yet she always picks up the phone, even with caller ID ;-)

I've never told Ethan his birth story. In all fairness, he's never asked... but I also won't bring it up because I promised him, when we was 1 day old, that I'd never tell him the story unless he asked :)

John 3:16 is probably the most familiar, common verse to most people. And yet for me, its always held so much doctrine, grace, love and mercy... it will always be a favorite and almost always makes me cry when I read it out loud.

when I read the one year Bible, I always fall behind at the book of Leviticus. Its a hard one to get through.

when my hair is long, I wish it was short. When its short, I wish it was long.
So I'm fickle too, apparently.

I have a hard time with secular music. The beat is often so catchy easy to memorize and such... but I find myself wanting to yell at the radio the whole time; at the person's confused logic and the huge God shaped hole in their words.

oh! no, I do not count every single one of my blog posts, to know when I hit milestones. I'm far too lazy and really don't care that much. Blogger has this cool way of keeping track and letting me know :)

the end.

Thankful hearts are good medicine

2011-11-01T09:36:00.000-07:00

As much as I love the month of October, November is even better, in my opinion. Here in Washington you won't get the amazing fall weather {necessarily} but we still have Thanksgiving Day all around us and the month is generally a month for everyone to think about what they're most thankful for.
This is our 3rd November here and in our short experience, November can be the stormiest, winteriest month out of them all. January is the most gloomy {with those awful gray clouds all the time} but November usually brings with it crazy amounts of storms and cold weather.
Remember last year we got all that snow? That was in November :)

I wish we could display this attitude of thankfulness every month out of the year, but I guess you can't have it all. That's what Heaven is for.

I want my first November post to be about giving thanks, to set the tone for the month here.
I sometimes sit down and write out "thankful" lists, especially when I'm having difficult, self centered, complaining days. Seems to help get my heart and mind in the right spot; focused back on God and His goodness.

These are things I'm thankful for... but pray to become increasingly more thankful for. This list would be titled my more 'sober' list. I plan to do plenty more throughout the month.

1.) God's love and mercy and grace. All of His amazing attributes that make Him who He is.
I'm thankful that I am able to go to Him anytime, any place, with any matter. I'm thankful that He loves ME and died for ME and helps me to daily battle the sins that plague me. His grace overwhelms me in ways that leave me completely thankful.

2.) For my husband. This topic always brings me to tears because I am daily thankful for the man God created for me. God knew exactly what I would need in a husband and gave me that in Jason.

3.) For my kids. Even the ones I won't meet in this life. I'm thankful how God has used and is using each one of them to teach me more about my indwelling sin, but more importantly, about how great God is. I love the way God created family and designed it to be such a blessing for us. And I most especially love the way He shows through parent/child relationships what His relationship with us is like.

4.) For faithful, Christ focused, hard working Pastors, teachers and church leaders. Not just in my church, but in churches all over. I'm so thankful for these men who take on a job that in today's world is not an easy one to take on. I'm thankful for how they pour their lives out for the lost and who show such good examples of what a life of ongoing repentance and grace looks like.

5.) For family. I'm thankful for both our families and the way God uses each person in our lives.
This time of year is especially hard to be away from family, but its also a great time of year to write down ways we're thankful for each individual family member. Maybe send a note and let them know... even if they live close by :)

6.) For friends. One thing about moving more than one time in your life and moving to different areas is, you get to meet lots of great people! I have friends that go way back to my early childhood, in the home I was born and raised in for 14 years. Then friends, like Jason, who I met in my early teens and then friends I've met since becoming an adult. Then we moved to a whole new state, so its a whole new state full of friends! God is so good to bless us with not just family, but friends.
I have a handfull {so to speak} of pretty amazing friends all over the US and am blessed to know these people.

7.) My freedom. And the gift of living in a free country. Its not as "free" as I'd sometimes like, but I know compared to so many places around the world, we are such blessed people we don't even know it. I think the word "spoiled" fits better here.

8.) Ongoing sanctification. Thank you, Lord, for not stopping at salvation!
I find myself telling some of my friends here, "if only you knew me back then!"
Areas where I've grown in grace and ways that God has changed me, are steady reminders that I am His work in progress. I'm so thankful that God is a God who sanctifies and purifies. Really glad He didn't stop the day I asked him into my heart.

9.) Did I mention my husband? Oh, yes... doubly thankful for him ;-)

10.) My health. I have prayer lists that I go over through the week; praying for certain topics on certains days. On Tuesdays I am overwhelmed with my "pray for those with health issues" list. It seems to grow by the day :(

I don't want to end this on a sad note, so I'll just say here that I hope you all have a wonderful first week of November - the month where we especially remember to give thanks!

Random facts about {and quotes from} our kids...

2011-10-30T09:06:00.000-07:00

These are not quotes or facts that all happened today. I have a journal for each child that I write in and so when these funny conversations/comments take place, I jot them down.

*Rachel and Kara tend to speak like they're from England. We've been asked {from strangers} if we're new to this country.

*Ethan's labor began on a Thursday and he was born very late Sunday night.
*With Rachel I had on and off contractions for 2 weeks, but she came on her due date with only 5 hours of real labor.
*Kara's labor began on her due date as well and she was born 10 hours later, sunny-side-up.
-this reminds me that every baby is very different, even in utero and upon delivery.

*Ethan hated pacifiers, but {still} adores his finger.
*Rachel loved pacifiers, but when the habit was taken away, she didn't resort to sucking her thumb or finger. And she gave up the paci habit quite well.
*Kara loved pacifiers, did not give up the habit very well, but when she did, she also didn't resort to her thumb or finger.

*Our kids love watching Wheel of Fortune with me, pretty much every night. We watch after dinner.
Best part is hearing Ethan solve some of the words!

*Ethan is our best eater. Rachel eats well, but takes forever and Kara is our worst eater.

*when Kara gets weighed at the Doctor's office, she cheers when she sees her number and then tells the nurse she's pretending she's on Biggest Loser.

Every night before bed the kids pray. Ethan is always sure to ask God to help him obey and he prays for a friend of his, Mrs Cap. He prays for his Grandparents and cousins and has his own list of things he asks God to help him with.
Rachel always always prays for our baby. She thanks God for Daddy's job and usually prays for one of her friends.
Kara thanks God for gum, for cookies and for her favorite Barbie movie :)

Rachel: "does a pastor get paid for preaching to people?"
Me: "yes, he usually does."
Rachel: "Does God pay him?"
Me: "No. Usually the people in his church pay him."
Rachel: "Oh. I thought God would pay him, for getting the word out about Him."
Me: "God's 'payment' for faithful obedience is Heaven."
Rachel: "Oh! what's your payment for faithful obedience, Mommy?"
;-)

Ethan: "Rache, how would you know America's Funniest Home Videos is filmed in America?"
Rachel: "because the man on the show speaks in English."
Ethan: "Yes, but what else tells you its filmed in America?"
Rachel: "I don't know... its on American TV?"
what's obvious to some, is completely lost on others :)

Rachel: "Kara, what's your favorite thing about God and what's your favorite thing about Daddy?"
Kara: "Umm... they put babies in Mommy's tummy."

Me: "Rachel, what's your favorite thing about school?"
R: "I love the way it makes my brain turn on like a vacuum cleaner."

Me: "Kara, wash your bottom and then wipe your hands."
Ethan to Kara "oops. Mommy is speaking backwards. Her day has been too long I think."

after explaining to the kids what "getting drunk" means, Rachel gets all excited and says "Ethan! Some adults grow big and then drink a weird drink to act like kids!"

Rachel eating a doughnut: "I see how the dough was used... but where are the NUTS?!" :)

R: "Ethan, do you use bigger words to confuse me?"
E: "Sometimes. Does it work?"
R: "No, it just makes you sound ridiculous."

Upon hearing some major valley girl talk going on behind us in Target, Rachel announces to Kara, "Some girls grow up and then they talk like 2 year olds!" - yes, very true.

Ethan saw me looking at Amazon's home page and said "its pretty great of Daddy to go to work every day and put things up there for you to look at."
Me: "That's not what Daddy does at Amazon, buddy."
E: "WHAT?! you just squashed every dream I ever had."

Rachel: "Mommy, when you were little did you know Mommy's did so much work?"
Me: "Probably not."
R: "that's what I thought. Girls never know how much work it is to be a Mommy until they become one! That's why all girls think they want to be Mommies. Its almost like a trick."
Me: "do you want to be a Mommy someday?"
R: "Yes. But I will probably have a maid or something." :-)

On Thursday at Seahurst Park

and the winner is.....

2011-10-29T21:04:00.000-07:00

....Comment #28 - Megan Knight!

"I love your blog Stef! Happy 1000!!!!! Would love amazon :)"

Yay, Megan!! I will email you to let you know you won and make sure you'd like the
full $50 on an Amazon card.

Thank you everyone for playing! It was fun to throw a big event for my one thousandth post :)

One Thousandth blog post + GIVEAWAY!!

2011-10-22T08:51:00.000-07:00

This marks the one thousandth blog post for me!
If you added the blogging over at Jastef.net, I'm sure it would be far more, but I haven't blogged over there since Kara was a baby.
For my simple mind, Blogger worked out much better for me. Sorry, husband.

I've been at this blogging thing for almost 8 years and I'm still not sick of it! I like to write {never thought I'd say that} and I really enjoy interacting with people; friends and then strangers who become friends.

Its great and its been a great way for us to share our day-to-day life with our families, since we moved.

Jason and I have been mulling around what I should do for a 1,000 blog post giveaway, just for fun. Not because I think my 1,000 post is as special to all of you as it is to me.
We tossed around the idea of a Kindle, since Amazon dropped the price, but it was still... too much for me. We settled on a fun idea. You get to pick the final result, so read on and then be sure to leave a comment.

The prize winner will receive their choice of one of these things in a $50 gift card or both things, split down the middle.
1. Amazon gift card {either $25 or $50 in value}
2. Starbucks gift card {either $25 or $50 in value}
3. if Starbucks isn't your "cup of tea" let me know what coffee place is and if possible, I will get the gift card to that place.

I know this isn't the most creative or artsy giveaway, but I wanted to play fair for my male readers {yeah, I know you guys are out there -you can't hide} and I had a feeling both men and women would appreciate this one. Also, if you're married, you AND your spouse may leave comments as a way to get two in there... its not cheating.
When you leave your comment, feel free to let me know what you'd pick, but don't feel obligated. If you win, I will still ask your preference :)
Also, if you feel so inclined, let me know what your favorite blog post/posts have been over the past 1,000 - what things do you most like seeing/reading about on here, etc... but again, if you don't, it won't impact your winning.
Please don't be shy... even if you've never commented on here before, you're welcome to do so now. You won't be judged :)

The giveaway will be closed at 8PM PST on October 30th and I will announce a winner around 9pm PST on the same night.

Enter away!

Monday's survey... on Thursday

2011-10-20T09:16:00.000-07:00

What I'm thinking: How very blessed I am.
A nearby Shelter had 2,000 pounds of food stolen from them and our Pastors put out a notice, asking us to donate whatever we can, to build their supply back up. I read the email and realized we have a pantry filled with food that can be donated. Blessed.

What I'm/we're reading: Still reading Sarah Plain and Tall to the kids and for myself, reading my Bible and then a book called Mom and Loving It.
Two mommy friends from church join me once a week so we can go over chapter discussion questions.
What I'm listening to: Jason is reading the Bible story to the kids before bed.

What we're learning: about obeying quickly AND cheerfully and being faithful in all things.

What I'm watching: Biggest Loser is on tonight. I might watch... if there's time.

What's cooking: today I made our favorite tortilla soup. I'm in a soup mood still, even if this warmer weather doesn't want to cooperate with my cozy, winter feelings :)
Tomorrow I will make Spaghetti sauce and chilis.
What I'm buying: I started our baby registry today. As I think of things we will need, I'm adding them, so we won't forget. Kara loves doing this with me.

What I'm thankful for: today I was very thankful for our microwave.

Weird thing I realized about myself this week: when I use the laptop, I do things in a very specific order. Email check, Facebook check, websites check, news site check.
Its always in that order. I just realized this a few days ago :)

What I'm praying: just praying a lot lately for our baby. Other things too, but I find myself praying for our baby a lot. The 20th of this month marks my original due date with Micah. Its been a month of remembering to thank God for all His blessings. Even the ones that are difficult to understand, but you know they're a blessing because you can see how God is using it in your life, for His glory.

What I'm planning: some CA friends are coming to visit this weekend and so we're planning a fun time with them :)

What we did this last weekend: Saturday we had a family morning/afternoon here at home, then we went to a birthday party for this cutie pie. She goes to church with us and we've loved watching her grow this past year!
Sunday was our last day at our church... saying good bye was bitter sweet, because its the only church we've gone to since moving. The sweet part is, we're just moving to a new, bigger location :) So even though its sad to be leaving our building, its just a building.

What I'm looking forward to: first Sunday at the new building {we've been praying for, saving for and hoping for this new location for 2 years now!} and excited the day is finally here.

the firehouse

2011-10-18T12:00:00.000-07:00

Several weeks ago we went on a firehouse tour. We did this last year as well, but I'm learning its kind of good to go on these tours once a year, as they grow. I was shocked with how much more stuff they learned and understood, just one year later! Needless to say, we had a blast.

One of the neatest things about this tour was having our tour guides suddenly getting a call and we got to watch them gear up and take the truck out, with sirens and all! They had the kids line up outside behind the white line and then we watched them 'do their thing' and drive off to their call.
We thought it meant our tour was just over -- because they told us previously that they were the only guys there and so they warned us, "if we get called out, you'll have to leave." Lucky for us, some firemen had just returned back from putting out a fire {yes, these guys are amazing} and they jumped out of their gear and finished the tour. Doing a fabulous, detailed job, I might add.

this fireman was so nice. He kept trying to give us

"photo opportunities" with our kids :)

Rachel was really bummed when they said most of the time

women aren't strong enough to past the test to become fire women...

so she went out of her way to hold all the heavy equipment to prove her strength :)

this ladder was HUGE!!

he showed the kids every last detail on the truck!

I gave these guys major kudos for such a great tour.

this picture made me laugh and I knew my parents would

get a big kick out of it. I have very sensitive ears and when I was

younger, louder noises really hurt my ears/head when they would go off.

So we have tons of pictures of me, in this same position as Rachel...

plugging my ears while watching something loud happen :)

Station 74, thanks for a great tour!

the punkin patch

2011-10-13T09:22:00.000-07:00

Each one of our kids has had a phase where they say "punkin" instead of "pumpkin". Kara has officially left that stage, but I'm apparently hanging onto it. Ethan corrected me several times when I said "punkin" and they all 3 acted completely put out that I'd be saying a word wrong on purpose.
Its so cute though! Like when they say "Balentimes Day" instead of Valentines Day?! I love it.

Anyway, we went to the puMPkin patch on Saturday and had a lot of fun! It was a new patch {to us}, right by our house and the weather couldn't have been better. Or as Rachel says, "more perfecter."

the girls had fun in the general store, looking through Halloween, Thanksgiving

AND Christmas decorations. I think its funny when Kara sees Halloween decor,

she calls it "evil decorations." Don't worry - we didn't tell her to call them that.

She just thinks they're all freaky looking {since they're meant to be} and

calls them that. It makes me laugh every time.

the wheel barrles were a huge hit!

We decided we'd like to get one for the backyard.

Ethan loved picking out our pumpkins.

The girls were confused because I said "I'm gonna pick the one with my name on it"

and they both thought certain pumpkins actually have our names on them.

I could hear Kara telling Rachel, "none of them start with K." ;-)

I probably took 10-15 pictures, trying to capture them all smiling.

None of them turned out.

taken by Ethan :)

Jason and I celebrated 17 years of being best friends, last Sunday!

We are praising God for His goodness and mercy to us.

my husband's creative side always impresses me :)

a little pumpkin for our little punkin ;-)

the girls got the train ride all to themselves!

this is actually a tree farm. They don't grow the pumpkins there, they import them.

So we found the flyer for their Christmas festivities and are hoping to go back in December.

Kara said "lets take a picture by the house and pretend we live there!"

being silly and eating kettle corn, hand popped!

on the hay ride before heading home.

our boy :)

Kara has exciting news...

2011-10-10T10:28:00.000-07:00

... coming April 2012!

yard work with Daddy

2011-10-09T15:00:00.000-07:00

I posted a few of these on Facebook a while back, but forgot to post them here. Since not all of you have Facebook, I wanted to share with you :)

I looked out the kitchen window and saw Ethan following closely behind Jason

with his little lawn mower and fake head phones on and died laughing.

Such a cute moment!

Kara's birthday present from Jason's parents. She often tells me, "I'm just goin' outside to mow the lawn. I'll be in for dinner." :) I think she thinks this lawn mower really cuts the grass because she comes in and has all of us go outside and check her work when she's done.

Not hard to believe. I used to think I was REALLY driving the boats at Disneyland :)

amazes me how dead the lawn was just a few weeks ago!

We had a week with off and on rain last week and its all lush green.

if you look up through the trees you can see my brother-in-law David.

He often helps Jason with the lawns and even though he doesn't want his picture

taken, I had to sneak one to give him credit for his hard work :)

Birthday pics I forgot!

2011-10-08T21:15:00.000-07:00

I didn't realize Jason grabbed our actual camera {as apposed to the cell} on Kara's birthday! I found a bunch of fun pics from her party to share....

we started singing to her and she got this huge smile on her face!

She's been waiting all year for the Happy Birthday song to be for her :)

Ash and Ethan

Juliet and Kara.

Poor Juliet ended up in the hospital this week with Pneumonia!

She got to come home today though and is doing much better.

We're thanking God for keeping her safe!

Mr. Elliot, who is 6 months this month :)

her first one!

2011-10-07T22:17:00.000-07:00

Rachel lost her 1st tooth!! The night of Kara's birthday,
I was in the kitchen making dinner and she walked in crying and told me "Mommy, my mouth hurts very bad." I noticed some blood and realized right away, her once loose tooth was ready to come out!
Rachel has been "teething" for the past few weeks and its been rough. On her and on us.
We realized about 2 weeks ago, she has an adult tooth already growing in behind her baby teeth.
So I was glad to see the baby tooth ready to come out.
I brought her into the living room and tried to act as casual about it as possible. Not sure she even knew I was gonna pull it, but I know Rachel and if you can keep the drama down, its better for everyone.
So I put the napkin in her mouth and grabbed it a few times and out it came!
Now I'm hoping her big tooth moved forward a bit.
We're going to the dentist next week to have them checked.

She woke up to $1.00 under her pillow and was SO thrilled about it. She kept saying, "I hope all my other teeth fall out because at $1.00 each, I'll be rich!"
I love when a dollar has value to little people :)

just when I needed it...

2011-10-06T18:58:00.000-07:00

It broke. My crock pot broke :(
I decided to dig out my Fix it and Forget it cook book for the month of October, making lots of new soups, chilis, breads and oatmeals. Oh, and lets not forget the pot roast. We love those.
When I married into the Arnold family, they passed on a grand tradition of making a big pot roast and then shredding the meat for burritos. Then you use a bunch of odds and ends from the fridge and make the most delicious burritos. My mouth just watered thinking of it.

Anyway, just as I got all ready to make a slave out of my crock pot, it broke!
I wasn't fond of this crock pot, so I'm wondering, if any of you LOVE yours, will you let me know the brand? I'd like to get a better, more reliable and sturdy one. Mine was from Costco... I think I bought it 3-4 years ago.
The lid on mine was always very loose and not secure, the timer didn't ever work accurately and I felt like stuff easily burns to the bottom while cooking. The one in the picture isn't mine, but it looks nice and sturdy, right?!
So let me know if you have one you love! If you can send a link that would be awesome. Thanks!

we made pretzels!

2011-10-06T11:30:00.000-07:00

The kids got to go on a Auntie Anne's pretzel tour!
We had a lot of fun and the kids especially enjoyed themselves.

I thought the tour itself was awesome. The lady who gave the tour did

a fabulous job and I even came away learning a lot of pretzel history I never knew!

After we did the tour the kids learned how to shape the pretzels with the dough.

After pretzels came out of the oven, we got to eat them - with lemonade :)

I was really impressed with Kara's!

She did this one by herself.

I love how Ethan decides whatever we're doing is going to be

his future occupation :) I'm guessing its an age thing... its cute and silly.

and they sat still to listen during the story time!

eatsleepandrun

loving bedtime

Beautiful Things, music and lyrics

Snowpocolypse 2012

gonna take a walk outside today

Urgent!

I'm gonna vent a bit...

only one left!

Let it snow!

a little trip for Mom...

a day out

If you care, *please* sign

Guest Post: Snow Day

who had Mommy's camera?

Sunday... from last week

Museum fun!

New Year's Eve... a week late

25 clever ideas

Lincoln Logs, Star Wars & Saturdays

F.A.Q.

setting goals for the new year...

2nd stop!

our adventure

Merry, Merry!

2011 Christmas Letter

winter glow

some sort of title goes here.

what a 3 year old considers "not sleepy" ...

"behave at the Dr's office!"

Christmas came early!

hey, Baby.

Weekend Getaway

1/2 way

Christmas card preview...

keeping the sickies away

Popular blog question, answered

we love visitors... especially family

Our Thanksgiving

Give Thanks

He's thirty...

dinner with family....

Pregnancy Q&A

Kara's Story

more from the barn

playing before the snow

Monday

Saturday

I'm the perfect mom...

the one we didn't post.

picture recap

About Me.

Thankful hearts are good medicine

Random facts about {and quotes from} our kids...

and the winner is.....

One Thousandth blog post + GIVEAWAY!!

Monday's survey... on Thursday

the firehouse

the punkin patch

Kara has exciting news...

yard work with Daddy

Birthday pics I forgot!

her first one!

just when I needed it...

we made pretzels!

If you care, please sign