SNOW DAY

We have finally made it home from visiting family in Oklahoma for the holidays and we had a great time.  The day we were scheduled to head home however, we did get an unfortunate call that my cousin was in the hospital and we needed to get there immediately.  He is still in the hospital and is in an up and down roller coaster, he improves then gets worse.  So, we are continuing to pray for him and my Aunt Val.  She has not left the hospital since he was admitted and then later transferred to Oklahoma City.

 On another note, since we got home to North Carolina, we have been so busy getting back into our routine, its been a struggle but we are getting there.  The boys were a little upset that the whole trip we did not see any snow and while were gone, it snowed here in NC.  Last night, the news said we were gonna get a "wintery" mix but when we woke up this morning it was snowing, alot! The boys were still sleeping at 9am, so I just couldn't resist and woke them up.  They were so excited to see all the snow. 

They have been asking all morning to go out and play but its still coming down hard.  

Before I woke them up I took these photos, I just love this weather, other then my toes feeling like they will never warm up! Im so not used to this weather.  We are gonna enjoy our day off and play in the snow and drink hot chocolate :)

  

SANTA'S COMING!

Yes, that's right! This lil guy is super excited!!! When we talk about Santa, this is his face, hehe! Last night, Santa drove through the neighborhood with the firetrucks and the Military Police on a decorated float! It was totally unexpected, we had no idea it was going on. Jeremy was out in the garage putting together his weight/gym set and heard the sirens and came in to tell Jake to go outside and check it out. When we went outside, his lil face lit up!!! He was so excited to see Santa, again. It was so cool, he drove right in front of our house, and I'm sad I didnt have my camera with me, like I said we were not expecting this. At one point, Santa pointed right at Jake and said "don't forget to bake me some yummy cookies", he was one happy lil boy. As we were going back inside, Jake says "we gotta go bake Santa cookies". He thought Santa was coming last night to bring him presents! Yikes, how do you explain to a 4 year old that he has to wait 2 more weeks. I told him Santa has to go make the toys and will be back when he gets done. Stuff like that just makes me and Jeremy smile, our older two boys are getting too "old" for Santa.

Last Saturday, we took Jake to the mall so he could tell Santa what he wanted for Christmas. We stood in line for 30+ mins waiting on crying kids, stressed out moms, and annoyed Elves, just to get up there and have our picture taken and done in less then 5 minutes! Really! Ok, it was for the kids, I know but by the time we were done, I was done and needed a Frappuccino! Jake did so good, he didn't act too shy, AND even Markus and Kaleb wanted to sit on Santa's lap! They all told him what they wanted and took a super cute picture, sorry I haven't scanned it yet.

Hope you all have a Merry Christmas and enjoy every minute of it, I know we will! We leave for Oklahoma in a few days. Ill try to update while we are there, but don't count on it :)

~becky~

Boys play dress up too!

Jake loves to dress up in his old Halloween costumes or his big brothers clothes/shoes/hats/etc. This is what he was wearing last week.

Its a Marine Pilot Jumpsuit. He's so cute! He will even wear this out, like he did last week when we went to lunch then out to the Dollar Store. I say it builds character and imagination!!!! Have a good weekend!

~becky~

I heart Faces-Shades

This is a picture of my husband, Jeremy and his sister Rachael the day we visited Pioneertown, Ca. We were walking through the little town and I stopped them both where they were and snapped this picture. I loved how it turned out, shades and all!!!

~becky~

i heart teens!

This week at i heart faces, its all about teens!  I was happy about this because I just got home from Oklahoma and while I was there I got to take some photos of my cousin who just graduated from High School! Her name is Rachel, she is 18, and a super smart girl!  This is just one of my many favorite ones of her...

For more great teen photos head over to i heart faces.  

~becky~

Trying to get back in my routine/A challenge

First, I hope everyone had a great weekend, yeah I know its already Wednesday but Im a lil slow right now.  We had a nice long relaxing weekend ourselves.  Since I have been home for a lil over a week now, I've been having such a hard time getting back into my own routine!  For starters, Jeremy was off for 4 days, so that threw things off with him being home.  Also, Jake is out of preschool for the summer and I also have my nephew here spending the summer.  So, Im trying to get things in order and get myself back in my groove!  

We have had so many other things going on in our life right now that I feel like we were in a rut and struggling to see the light at the end of the tunnel.  I know God is here watching over us and this is just something he has challenged us with.  Jeremy thinks that when we go thru things like this, God is testing our Faith, I however do not believe this!  I feel that its God way of telling us to show his Love to someone in need and to show our Faith in God.  That is exactly the outcome that Iam seeing right now.  Our situation started off with us totally stressed out and me feeling like "why is this happening to us?" however, as time went on, I realized its not about us at all!  Its about us helping someone else out!  I seriously wanted to knock myself upside the head!  I really do not want to tell anyone what is going on exactly but I wanted to tell you all how things are changing in our lives right now and how God is working thru us to help others out.  Its something small to some but its a great reward for us to know that in the end I may of changed someones life.  

With that being said, Im keeping my Faith in God and living for him as I have been in the past.  

"God is pleased when we do small things for Him out of Loving Obedience.  They may be unnoticed by others, but God notices them and considers them acts of worship."

Here are some more photos from my trip home!!! 

Me and my new sweet nephew, Hayden

My sister Melanie and her new baby

The Raasch Family

Jake and his Papa Frank picking strawberries out of the garden

Me and my dad, Mark Sr.

~becky~

Andrea out and about 29 Palms

A few weeks ago, I asked my friend Andrea if I could take a few pictures of her just so I could play around with my camera and photograph someone other then my own kids.  She said yes, and so we headed out on a Saturday evening around our lovely town of 29 Palms, Ca.  It was fun for me, but for her, she was a bit nervous being the "subject".  I tried to crack jokes but mostly I was too busy concentrating on doing the best job I could.  I wanted her to have finished pictures that she could "show off".  So, here are just a few of my favorite ones.....

I was telling her something funny....

Im still learning how to edit, lighting, angles, and all that fun stuff.  

~becky~

Atlanta Braves in 29 Palms, CA!!!

As a little league team that is!  Kaleb, 7, began playing in a little league this year, we are super excited, since baseball is my favorite sport to watch.  He is actually supposed to be playing in "coach pitch" but when he went to the evaluations before the season started they wanted him to be moved up a league and of course we were all for it.  So, here are a few pics from his game on Saturday.  

This is my "mini me"

warming up, playing second base

catching a grounder

batting, with some serious determination, see the lips! 

Dont you just love a man in uniform! I sure do!  I love them baseball uniforms, they are all just sooo cute!  They didnt win that first game but they had fun and so did the parents!

~Becky~

There's no crying in baseball, only smiles...

Literally!  Last night Markus pitched an awesome game!  Towards the end of the game he was literally smiling thru every pitch!  He had that much confidence in himself!  He knew he had that game in the bag.  We were all just so thrilled for him.  However, I did not get to capture that smile, due to me sitting in the bleachers, making sure Jake did not fall off of them.  I did get a few of him warming up before the game started.....

Nice posture!

His nervous lip chewing, he gets that from me.

He is a natural!

More photos later from Kaleb's game, he did awesome as well and I just think they look so stinkin cute in their uniforms!

~Becky~

Ella...

This is my niece Ella, she is an adorable little girl, I just love her so much.  I took these photos last October but I still enjoy playing around with them.  

~becky~

Monochrome Weekend~windmills

The windmills of Palms Springs, CA 

Undecided, color or b&w???

Meet Abby!  She is an adorable, fun, sweet lil 5 year old who is so photogenic.  She came over Monday to play with Jake and of course I had to pull out my camera.  Now, the thing is Im a huge fan of black and white and her mom is not, so Im in need of advice.  Which picture looks better, color or black and white???? 

and then there is this one.......

they are best buds!

~becky~

Monochrome Weekend~waves

~Becky~

San Diego, CA 2010

A few weeks ago we went to San Diego to have a mini weekend vacation with our friends the Romkowske family.  Im just now posting the pics from that weekend because when we got home I was sick for a few days then with the hustle of moving this weekend, well, I just been kinda busy.  We had so much fun that weekend though, even though Saturday it rained all day loooong!  We managed to make the best of it and have some fun.  

We started off by going to the Childrens Museum in downtown San Diego.  It was a super cute museum but really for the younger ones, so Markus, 11, really did not enjoy it too much.  He just helped his lil brother Jake with stuff, hehehe!

Here are the boys on the chariots.

Playing with clay.

Jeremy making "Randall" from Monsters, Inc. 

Me and the boys goofing around.

After the museum we walked to the Hard Rock Cafe! 

After dinner, we walked to the Horton Plaza Mall to do some shopping for us girls!  This is what the boys did while we shopped, played chess.

The next day, it was absolutely beautiful outside! So, we headed to Coronado Island and had lunch and of course did some more shopping! Then we hit up the beach! This is the bridge we had to drive over to get to the island, I was freaking out driving over the bridge! 

Tom and Elyse checking out the beach! 

Jeremy and Jake taking a stroll to the water.

He is just taking in the whole view! It was beautiful!!!

Me and Jeremy.

The Romkowske family, it was impossible to get the girls to look at the camera...HA!

The Shea family 

Me and my good friend Andrea!  

The kids, well we tried to get a good pic but it was not happening, look at each of their faces!  That was not planned either! Im serious, we kept telling them to look and smile, nope they did not want to! HAHA!!!

It was a fun weekend and we cant wait to go back when the weather warms up a bit so we can actually get in the ocean!  

~Becky~

Monochrome Weekend~Bird Watching

This was taken at Coronado Island. 

~Becky~