More swimming pics...

These pictures are a continuation of the the ones I posted of Noah a while back. Again, I am having a hard time narrowing them down, b/c they all crack me up!

I was trying to get one of all 3 of them jumping at the same time....Leah said in this picture they were pulling her in with them. She is always the reluctant one!

My little froggies!

Leah really wants to be able to dive...I can't teach her b/c I never could dive! Right now, she is doing belly busters. She always says it doesn't hurt, and she thinks she is doing it right.

More from the beach......

Yes, I know this is an excessive amount of pictures, but I just have a hard time narrowing them down. I have been struggling lately with enjoying photography...now that it is a job, it is just work to me, and I hate that feeling. But when I am taking pictures of my kids playing, swimming....I enjoy it again. I have an obscene amount of photos of my kids, but that is just me. I got an order in the mail Saturday for 1,000 pictures, and that is just photos from this year! I have been horrible about printing pics since going digital, so that has been my goal for this year to get that all caught up. I ordered the pics from www.photoworks.com. This is where I get all my photos I take for myself. If you order 1,000 at a time, they are only 9 cents each. It took me forever to get my order together....and then they were offering free shipping the weekend I ordered them, so that saved me $25. Now I gotta get to scrapbooking. This should keep me busy for awhile. So, I am caught up with photos for this year, now I just need to get 2004-2006 caught up. There are over 4,000 pics from last year alone to sort out! That is why I gotta get caught up now and stay that way!

So, I guess this post really isn't much about the beach anymore, just sill rambling about pictures.

Oh, and today I have declared Lazy Monday.....I am not doing anything important at all today!! Leah is sick, and tomorrow is her birthday.....and we are going to watch movies all day and play. I never let myself just sit back and enjoy my kids b/c I am too uptight worrying about what all I need to do, and I hate that!

Noah's new favorite thing to do is play golf.

It is amazing that these umbrella's even stayed in place. We had them blocking the sand that was literally blowing in our eyes b/c the wind was so bad....cool waves, NOT fun getting sand in our eyes and mouth!

Notice how her hair is blowing?? I think she was literally about to blow away!

So, I get bored so easily, and when we are waiting on food at a restaurant, guess what I do.....get out the camera!! It actually is a good way to get pics of the kids, b/c they can't run away!! Then, Noah always helps me out to get pics of Clay and me together. As always, Rachel is being herself!

My new Bible

Thank you so much to Jeff Noble for my new Bible! It arrived yesterday, so I have started reading it right now, but stopped for a minute to blog. He has challenged me to read this everyday for a week, and then share something I have learned with someone.

So, I opened the Bible up and read the first page I opened to, and it was perfect for me. It was talking about being content with what you have, and not wishing for more. I struggle with this daily, and have always had problems with this! It reminded me of a scripture that I have recited to myself over and over again, but I think it falls on my deaf ears! Phillipians 11-13....I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances......It also talked about starting a blessings journal, which I have been reading on Becky's G.'s blog that she has started one, and I was thinking about it. I think this is something I REALLY need to do, b/c I am EXTREMELY blessed, and won't let myself be grateful for it b/c I am do busy wishing for more! I have never allowed myself to just be happy, and this is a constant internal struggle. It is like I take it as a personal failure b/c I do not have all of what I THINK I need. It is crazy....and odd how one part of my brain knows how dumb I am for feeling and thinking the way I do, while the other part of my brain won't shut off constantly being discontent!

So, it is late, my battery is almost dead, and I am just rambling! You get the jest of it.....I like my new Bible, and I am really going to take my studying seriously! So, the page just flipped to finding the right church.....another struggle I have been having lately. So, I am off to read.

THANK YOU, JEFF!!!

A quick trip......

Down to the Beach! So, on a weekly basis, Clay or I will say, "let's just go to the beach this week!" and we always have something going on that we need to do. Yes, we are crazy, and spur of the moment, but that's us! Anyway, last Monday I said....hey, let's go to the beach, and Clay said, o.k.....go pack! And, that is pretty much what I did. We left about 4 a.m Tuesday and drove down to Orange Beach. We checked into our condo, walked down to go to the beach, and saw Shelley first thing! I knew she was going, but never imagined we would end up at the same condo, and see her first thing! Anyway, that was cool. The next day, after our family photo session Shelley and I talked and offered to take pics for each other. It was good to hear that I am not the only one that gets frustrated when I try to get the kids to take pictures. So, Shelley, the next time we happen to get to the beach at the same time and place, let's do it! LOL

So, I think unplanned trips are the way to go. We had more fun I think on this trip than we did when we went to Orlando. Like I said before, I am not a traveler, so only one day in the car instead of 2 was MUCH better! Here are a few pics we took in our planned photos....I will post just our fun pics tomorrow.....my battery on my laptop is dying.

I was a good mom BEFORE I had kids.....

My brain is so boggled, I can't even remember how I heard about this book....but I think every mom should read it! I will say, it is kinda early for me to be recommending this book....I am still reading the forward, but I just KNOW this book is exactly what we all need to read. Just on the first page There is a Quiz....Sound like you??

1. You secretly wish you had your OWN apartment.
2. If you have to play GO Fish one more time, you will definately poke your eyes out.
3. You lie to your friends about how much babysitting you have. (Or let me add...how much you WISH you had!)
4. Next time your husband goes to Home Depot to "help" you, you think he should just stay there.
5. You fill guilty that you like going to work so much....(again I will add...or you wish you Could go to work!)
6. You consider a trip to the dentist your "alone time" (I remember that feeling as I went for my weekly checkups when I was pregnant with my 3rd child as I went on my husband's lunch break)
7. You plan to get control over your life.....next week.
8. You find that slowly strolling the aisles of Target, by yourself, is better than therapy.

My favorite so far, is their description of moms.....it is so true!

"We love being mothers, we love our children, (especially when they are sleeping..) BUT.....

We are overwhelmed
We feel guilty for EVERYTHING that we don't do, or should have done better
WE feel stretched beyond belief
We judge ourself for being unable to accomplish everything we set out to do
WE compare ourselves to others we think have it all together
We feel out of control
We hav emore "bad mom" days than we care to admit
We are struggling to find balance (if it even exists)
We've lost sight of our identity
We feel alone b/c no one talks honestly about how they really feel


Now, I must say, I fit everyone one of these!

So, I want ALL of you that ever reads my blog to leave me a comment this week about this, and I have a surprise for you!

I know Suzanne, and others talk about this on their blog a lot, and I love to read it. It is encouraging to see I am not alone.

Please pray

Today when we went down to the pool, I found out one of the girls the kids play with, her mother was hit by a car and killed last night. The girl is 10 yrs old, and I think an only child. Her dad works out of state and isn't home much, so I don't know what will happen to her now. She actually at the pool b/c her dad was busy making arrangements, and she would go from playing to crying. So, when you are praying, just send one up for this little girl that now tragically has to learn what life is like without a mom.

Noah again.....

I like these.....he looks like he can walk on water! I will post some cute ones of the girls later.