Random iPhone pictures

So I've had my iPhone for over a year now, and just barely took all the pictures off of it. I was forced to because there was no room. Well, YAY for that! I had so much fun going through them all and looking at  all the pictures and watching all the videos. I took ALOT of videos. So, this may all seem super boring, but here's a years worth of traveling pictures from my phone!

This was Halli's second grade hoe down at her old school. That feels like it was forever ago!

Kevin and I had a birthday dinner with his family last year, don't ya just love what they did to our faces? I was supposed to take his mom back for her birthday this year, but luckily for her I totally forgot till I saw this. She might get lucky and I'll forget again, but one day....:)

We were at my parent's house for easter last year, and this guy was just out walking along the road. They have so much wildlife right by their house, it's crazy! The kids love it though.

Me and my crazy hubby on our way to a weekend at the lake. No wonder he's smiling like a fool, he loves it there!

This was that same weekend at the lake. I can't wait to go back!

Also at the lake, just inside, look how little mr. JJ was!! He's gotten so big now, time just goes by way too fast!

This big guy was just hanging outside our front door one day last summer. It's kinda weird to see turtles everywhere, but I'm so glad that it was a turtle and not a snake!

We went to a fall festival last year where the girls got to try out these bubble things. Lexie was a little scared, but the older two sure did have a blast! I'd love to try that too, looks like fun!

Our poor kitty. That's really all there is to say about that. She's great with the kids though, but she needs to be saved a lot cause she's so mellow with them.

I made these jars from a bridal shower...I should really do it to my own someday, I kinda like it!

Kevin right after his surgery in January. That seems like it was quite awhile ago, luckily he's healed really well and is back at playing ball all. the. time. 

I just love this photo of JJ sleeping, he looks so sweet and relaxed and content. I am beyond in love with this kid!

This picture was taken while we were shampooing the kids hair after finding lice in all three of the girls hair. That was quite the ordeal, SOO much laundry to do. I hope we never have that again. It was more a pain than anything else.

This was at Halli's hoedown this year at her new elementary school. Lexie and JJ had so much fun trying to dance with the older kids.

We took a little family trip up to austin in the spring and Kevin found a fun park that had a train we got to ride on. The kids loved it and I decided we fit in pretty well in austin. Seems  like there's a pretty strong german population there, and that means quite a few blondes. there were lots of blonds in the park, kinda different from here!

JJ loves his apples, funny boy!

Here's our big guy in the shirt I made him to announce to my parents and to send to my great grandparents and family that doesn't live here. He's looking so old lately!

Apparently he thinks he is old, and he loves to do what the boys do. He's starting to be more of a daddies boy lately, and Kevin and I are both loving it!

So, this was all very random, but there ya have it. Someday I'll have to do one of these for all the videos. That may get long though. But some of those videos are hilarious!

Easter Weekend at the beach

The friday before Easter, Kevin came home from work, and out of the blue asked if we should go camping in galveston that night. We've never really taken the kids to the beach here, maybe once before Lexie was born, but I felt like it was time to take them on down. Plus, Halli made a list of places she wanted to go, you know, Hawaii, Florida and obviously Galveston should be on the list.:) At a minimum we could do that last one!

I didn't take any pictures of us all crammed in the tent and I'm kicking myself now. Imagine a four person tent, with a pack-n-play taking up the majority of the room, and the rest of us all crammed together around that. JJ thought it was AWESOME to have everyone right by him, and he was pretty wound up for quite awhile before I had to pull him out to lay with us so he could actually go to sleep.

We were close to the beach, and could hear the waves crashing all night long, the moon was full and we almost didn't even need a flashlight. The weather was absolutely perfect. Aside from the fact that our air mattress went flat and my back was KILLING me from laying on the ground, it was an unforgettable night with our little family.

The next day we were up bright and early, headed to breakfast and then the beach. 

The kids were in absolute heaven. Yay for warm weather in April in houston. That'll be the only time I say that though.

JJ was fascinated with the water, but also kind frightened and cold. It took him awhile to warm up to the whole thing.

For christmas, Kevin's parents had gotten him a nice kite and the wind was awesome that day and the kids loved helping him fly that bird almost the whole time we were there. 

I wasn't loving it half the time cause he was more focused on the kite than the kids, but it was pretty cool and we should fly kites more often, it was kinda fun.

Halli wasn't in a bunch of pictures, I think for the first hour at least she just hung out in the waves, too far away to actually get a good shot, but close enough that I could see her at least.

Yes, the kite is actually a bird. I think all the seagulls were kinda freaked out by it! Most of them disappeared for awhile while it was flying.

After awhile of splashing in the waves, the kids settled down on the beach to play in the sand. I got a little camera happy when I could actually take pictures of them without worrying about dropping my camera in the water. Sorry for the excessive amount of pictures!

Jaden just had fun running up and down the beach and into other peoples set ups looking for food or dogs to pet. Kevin and I spent a bunch of time just chasing him down.

Boys and their toys, He loved his kite!

Its mornings like this, where everyone gets along, and your kids are actually being best friends, that you just want to soak it all in and never let it end. I don't think we heard a single whine that whole morning, it was blissful.

I don't really know what the kids were doing in the sand and seaweed most of the time, building things, looking for shells, I don't know, but it's fun to see them just use their imaginations! I think Peyton was pretending to be a mermaid right here.

These are my two favorite boys ever. Checking out all the seagulls. JJ was fascinated with them!

Does that seaweed not look awesome? Yeah, that takes a little getting used to, it was EVERYWHERE as you can see!

We had such a great time together. I am beyond blessed to have these four little munchkins in my life and an amazing husband to top it all off.  How grateful I am that I get to spend eternity with some of the most amazing people I've ever met. If it's anything like this little trip was, then I have a lot to look forward to!

Mercer Arboretum

Before easter this year, a big playgroup from church headed over to the mercer arboretum to play, take pictures, and then have an easter egg hunt. I'd never been before, but it's so pretty, with lots of flowers and fountains everywhere. The kids were in heaven!

Especially the little man.  He could run and play and splash in the water, it was awesome!

We pretty much kept lining the kids up to take pictures. Good thing they're all good sports, and cooperate as much as can be expected for little kids.

Thank goodness they do, cause they're so stinking cute, I'd hate to not have pictures of these great kids! Can ya tell they're best friends?

This is Sophie, I begged her to smile, but she just told me no...good thing she's still cute while being deep in thought!:) 

I am slightly biased, I know, but I do believe these may be some of the cutest kids I've ever seen. They have some super cute older siblings too, whom we missed cause they had to be at school.

The grounds here are just gorgeous, I'm going to have to head back sometime for a photo session, so many options!

Braden's such a protective guy, I love these two and the fact that they're such great friends!

The lighting was just perfect and I had to get a beauty shot of Lexie...see what I mean, she's a doll I tell ya!!

Izzy was of course right by Lexie's side, so she was next, these girls have the most gorgeous blue eyes!

Unfortunately while I was snapping that picture of a breathtaking Izzy, Jaden either fell into, or jumped into  a little pond we were standing by. I turned around and noticed a kid swimming in the water...only to realize it was my kid, and he wasn't swimming. 

I made sure to scream so that everyone could see me jump in to grab him. Luckily he wasn't even coughing when I pulled him out, but what a scary moment! He was pretty shaken up and was clingy for a few minutes, before running off and trying to play with more fountains on the grounds. I'm scared for this summer, this kid is in love with water!!

Besides being a very scary moment, the worst part of that whole ordeal with the fact that JJ and I were soaking wet for another 2 hours, for lunch and the easter egg hunt at the park. I've never been happier to get home to change into dry clothes!

The easter egg hunt was the moment they'd all been waiting for, and they all had so much fun, I mean, how could you not have fun hunting for eggs filled with sweets? 

Extreme close-up, of mr braden and his gorgeous blue eyes! I'm actually shocked that picture was even in focus! 

All-in-all we had a ton of fun, and survived to tell the tale. That alone makes for a happy day! Add chocolate on top of it, and what more could you ask for?

Photoshop class?

Okay, I've been asked about doing one of these for quite some time.  I really don't have any problems with doing it, just can't seem to set a date and actually plan it. I'm more of a procrastinator that needs a deadline type of person...so here goes.

Anyone interested?

I was thinking of doing it on thursday, march 29th in the evening. I just need to know just what it is that y'all wanna learn?

basics, digital scrapbooking, photo editing, party planning stuff? I'm game for anything, but just beware, I am totally self taught, so you may know more than me...just sayin!!

Just comment if you're interested, what you wanna learn, and what version of photoshop you have, if you have it at all! Thanks!

Addicted

He's only 19 months old, and He's addicted.

This boy knows how to work the iPhone, and he gets VERY upset if you try to take it away from him! 

Usually, I don't mind, it's actually quite the lifesaver when we're shopping.

I think it's funny how many people comment on a baby knowing how to use a phone...I'm sure there are plenty that do these days!

He only likes the best...a $200 toy. Gotta love it!

A new Niece & Family

Alright, apparently my dad wasn't too appreciative of a post without pictures of his grandkids. 

He should just move out here and see them whenever you want. 

I don't think that's gonna happen though, so this one's for you dad! 

In early January we welcomed a new niece to our family. She is gorgeous, and I was able to go take some newborn pictures of her....my favorite thing!

She wasn't too interested in sleeping though, and I only got a handful of pics. I feel bad that we didn't get many, but the ones we did get were great, not hard to do with a beautiful baby girl!

So here she is: Zoelle Jackson

And here's her baby announcement, kinda fun, and I love the colors!

The week after the pictures, my mom headed out to help with baby Zoe and we headed up and joined them for the day. We got to spend some time playing at the park, and nothing makes kids happier than that!

If you look at LaNea, you'll see that her sisters beauty comes naturally. Eric and Jill make some super cute girls! 

Maybe someday they'll be like us and make a super cute boy too!:)

Oh yeah, Kevin and I make super cute girls too! I may be biased, but I don't care!

LaNea and Lexie are the best of friends and they absolutely love being able to play together. We wish they lived even closer so we could do it more often!

See what I mean? What could be more fun than playing at the park with cousins and grandma! She was there, I'm just better at taking pictures of the kids I guess! We love any reason we can find to get together with family, but a new baby is one of the best there is!

Procrastination

I'm a big procrastinator. I'm not proud of it, just being honest. I NEED a deadline to accomplish anything. Really, I do. I've been meaning to teach Peyton to read, and she REALLY wants to do it, but I'm not consistent at all with lessons. We maybe do one a week. It's gonna take a long time to teach her at that rate.

Also, don't come to my house on a Monday. That's laundry day, and there's bound to be lots of it unfolded on my bed...I absolutely stink at doing laundry. I can wash it, it's the folding part that holds me up!:)

Really though, it's the things that I want done around the house that just don't happen. We've been meaning to get a piano for over a year now. Granted, we're trying to find one on craigslist, and we almost got one, but the guy sold it to someone else. I really need to finish JJ's room, he's been in it for quite some time now, and we went to all the trouble of painting it, but it still looks the same as it did over a year ago, in desperate need of some molding.

I'm also anxious to build one of these...

A laundry pedestal, I love the look of it, and the function would be so great to have!! Of course, I've been anxious to build it for quite some time. Not sure it's actually going to happen. Plus, once we build it, we'll have to move out the washer and dryer and it all sounds exhausting. :) Maybe someday.

I've had plans for things I want to do around the house, even little things, and I'm just not motivated enough to do them right now, and there's absolutely no deadline for anything around the house. Just a desire to do it. 

Kevin is begging me to make a simple key hook to hang our keys on. I have everything I need to do it, and it'll be kinda cute when it's done. All the supplies I need are sitting on the counter in my kitchen....and it's been there since christmas. Seriously. Is there some kind of therapy for my problem? 

I don't know if I use the four kids as a reason procrastinate, it's hard to get anything done with little ones following you around all the time, and honestly things around the house are usually not things you want the kids getting into. Thats me making excuses for being a procrastinator. I'm good at that!:)

My other excuse is that Kevin is so dang busy all the time that I don't have any help to get anything done! high adventure is amazing for these boys, but man is it a beast to plan and get everything arranged for! That boy is on his phone ALL. THE. TIME. these days. scheduling, and fundraising, and rescheduling, and researching. and they still have to finish all the fundraising and training before they go. 

Alright, enough complaining, that was just to distract you from my procrastination. Anyway, there's no real reason for this post, other than to admit to myself and everyone else who I really am. Someday maybe it'll get better, but seeing as how I've been like this for life, I'm not to optimistic. At least I'm aware of it right? If I ever do actually finish any of these things, I'll be sure to brag about my accomplishments, but we'll see if that ever even happens!!