Friday quicky
I’m thinking about having a weekly Friday quicky post. What do y’all think?
Today’s quicky is brought you to by the word camera.
Remind you of someone? It’s like looking in the mirror.
She’s been walking around with that camera going “SAY CHEESE!” and yet fights me to take her picture.
Figures.
Another week of the pool, a couple days of work, a trip to the movies to see Madagascar 3 today and that sums up our week! It was good. It went quick.
Instagram block:
I’m @TheBecksB if you want to follow me.
We have a weekend planned of swimming and family at The Man’s dad’s house. We are so excited!
Happy Friday!
Friday quicky
I went to the pool more this week than I ever have in a week before in my life.
I loved it.
I was there 4 days, the girls for 5, and the smell of sunscreen and chlorine have become regular to us.
I’ve spent a lot of time this week thinking about the past. A friend of mine texted me asking if I remembered a few funny things that happened to us in the winter in Ohio and I laughed while reading the texts. Another friend of mine sparked memories of fun church activities and a trip to an amusement park that I’ll never forget. I love remembering where I’ve been and it makes me excited to see where I’ll be. I’m all about living in the moment, God knows. But it’s also good to remember the past, good times and bad, to remind you of what you’ve been through and good times you had. That’s why I take so many pictures. Pictures bring back such vivid memories and spark awesome conversations. When my friend texted me asking me if I remembered when she parked her car on my lawn I laughed and replied “YES! I have a picture of that too!” Even when I was 16 I knew the value of documenting funny or exciting things with photos. And so while a trip to the pool is a very regular, every day thing for us in the summer I still document it because we have fun and I know we’ll want to remember it in the future when maybe things aren’t so fun. Kind of like last week when I needed some reminding and then this week came in and said “Becks…chill out. Remember this?”
Yes God, I remember. Thank you for reminding me.
And when sister decides she needs a break, a break she shall have. I love it. We all coddle her and ask her if she needs a drink or a towel and she lies there so quiet for 15 minutes or so until she gets her second, third, or fourth wind.
Our friends joined us yesterday. I love bringing my friends to the pool. I love sharing our fun with them and it makes me happy when they leave and say “Thanks SO much. We had a blast.” You’re welcome.
Instagram block:
I’m @TheBecksB if you want to follow me.
Happy weekend!
Preoccupied
For the past few weeks I’ve been preoccupied with doing more with the girls and doing less photography wise and housework wise. This week is the last week of summer vacation so I don’t see this week being any different. I did get a few cute shots this week though with my phone and 1 with my actual camera. Posting will continue to be light as we get ready for Hannah to start a new school and go into 3rd grade which I hear is a tough grade.
Hooray! #sarcasm
So, have a fantastic week and I’ll see you next week!
Summer Summer Summertime
As I edited the pictures from this weekend and today that’s the song that was going through my head. You remember that Fresh Prince/DJ Jazzy Jeff song. I know you do. When I think about my days right now I get teary eyed. I love them so much. I truly treasure this time. I told The Man last night that I had a life plan of things I wanted to accomplish by the time I was 30 and I’m one of the blessed people that actually got to get everything on the magical to do list of life. When I think about all the things I’ve been through growing up and even just 5 or 6 years ago…and then I think about where I am now? It’s overwhelming.
And I’m not just talking about not working anymore. It’s more than that. I’m blessed to have amazing family to invite us to pretty lake houses for a weekend which is exactly what we’re doing this weekend coming up. I’m blessed to have amazing friends who love their kids as much as I love mine and put a ton of effort into a bad ass swim party complete with an Angry Birds cake and cupcake display for the big 1-0.
But of course yes, still so grateful to be home and spend our days at the beach or pool instead of sitting at a job that I hated.
And you know, going to the beach isn’t as glamorous as the pictures make it. Yes we have fun but there is also a lot of whining from Livie because sand got on her paci and there’s a lot of me yelling at the kids because they’ve gone out too far in the water and I’m dry and yeah, I don’t really feel like a water rescue this morning so move it on in.
My nephew came with us today and Hannah was loving having her cousin to play with and not just her baby sister. The amount of yelling at the kids though about being out too far or throwing sand too close to us or getting our towels wet? Escalates when the number of big kids doubles.
But then in the middle of all that chaos someone walks by and sets up shop to fly a kite. Like oh hi not only is the weather perfect for the beach…let’s make it even MORE perfect and fly a kite in the breeze.
I’m pretty sure somone wrote that in a book somewhere as one of “those” moments, right?
Thank God for my camera though because with that I notice things I wouldn’t like the way the kids stop doing what they’re doing for a second to watch the waves come in. Or the way the sand sticks to little kid feet just perfectly after they raced back to the blankets from the water.
Watching them build a castle together? Priceless.
Yup, at the end of the day it’s all kind of overwhelming. The long days at work I had. The many days I sat in traffic hating everything and everyone. Right back to when I was a kid and I wondered why Dad drank so much or why Mom had to be in a wheelchair. All of those things bring me right back to where I am right now. Appreciative. Grateful. Blessed with 2 beautiful, healthy girls and now I have all the time in the world with them.
Enjoy your week 
And so it begins…
The beginning of my week looked a lot like this…
Where I realized that my baby isn’t really a baby anymore and that there is a hint of a tween happening now. It makes me smile and want to cry all at the same time.
I thought that the age gap would be a barrier between my girls, as I’ve said before. Instead, it’s been anything but. I thought they’d fight all day during summer break and so far this week they’ve played more than ever before. Livie talks a lot and LOVES being around Hannah and so instead of hearing the bickering I’m hearing giggles and “Come on Nimmie. Let’s play a game.”
So this morning we woke up and headed to the beach where I knew my girls would play with each other and The Man’s sister and I could get some much needed S-U-N. And that we did…all 4 of us under the hot Texas sun while the shallow waves hit the shore and my babies ran and laughed and played.
And I swear I don’t pose these kids because it’s impossible so when I get gems like this, I take it and run.
And this time I made sure to get some with my babies too.
Gotta throw in a non rainbow/unicorn moment for good measure, of course.
One day Livie will be older and will smile pretty for her pictures with Hannah but for now, not quite.
We are happy today. We are actually happy most days and I’m so very grateful for this. I’m so happy to be home this summer and spending time with my girls. Lots, lots more to come.
It has begun…and we love it.
Typical, every day life
This is my 8th week off work. Hard for me to believe sometimes still that not only am I FINALLY not working but that it’s been 2 months already. It’s flown by probably because it’s been awesome. Hannah’s last day of school is tomorrow and after that our typical days will change a lot…but for the better. No more schedules. No more alarms being set to get up for school. No more packing lunches. Lots more swimming. Lots more sunshine. Lots more pictures.
We’re all super excited.
So we enjoyed our last, typical week and it’s slow pace. Today Livie decided to play instead of nap. So as I type this now instead of doing it during her nap per usual I’m doing it with her playing behind me.
She’s taken up her sister’s love for horses, by the way.
And some other randoms because I can never get tired of relaxing, nap time pictures:
Or babies in tutu pictures:
Or best friend pictures…Hannah got to bring her friend home Monday after school to play for a bit and you would think I told her she just won the lotto. Of course to her, she DID strike gold with her bff.
Two peas in a pod.
Tomorrow we’ll start our weekend early and do something different than the usual Friday night. We have Memorial Day parties all weekend and lots of barbeque and shrimp and crawfish to eat.
SUMMER HAS ARRIVED!
Tuesday randomness
I had a lot of ideas for today’s post…maybe talk about how summer is here temperature wise but really, for us, summer isn’t here til school is out. Maybe talk about how my planned lazy day has turned into a spontaneous clean random things day. Instead though, I just decided to make it a random day here at Life out of Focus with one quick sidenote: new blog theme for summer and new tagline. I decided to lighten things up here as far as theme goes because life DOES get out of focus BUT the tagline which used to say “where it’s not always rainbows and unicorns” didn’t seem to fit anymore. I like this new one much more. Thank you Jenn!
So yes, summer IS here.
The Man’s dad and step mom got her these shoes for her birthday LAST year. They just now fit her. And while usually she takes off her shoes the second she gets into anyone’s house or in the car, she wears these and says they’re “beautiful”.
She’s still playing lots with her doll houses.
The pets DID decide to take a lazy day…just like every day, for them.
And I got this fantastic new coffee cup today.
Totally puts me in the summer kind of mood. I love summer, even if I hate the heat. I like the casualness of it all. I like that it’s not crazy to see kids running around in their front yards with bathing suits and flip flops. I love that the smell of sunblock becomes common and that the backseat of my car has sand in it until Halloween. And I’m especially excited because this summer, these won’t be weekend occurances for me like summers in the past. This summer it’ll be every day. I plan to be at the pool or the beach most days of the week. I plan to surround my days with my girls’ giggles and take awesome mid-splash pictures of the girls and their cousins in the pool on hot days. So yes, randomness post BUT just the same, summer is here. I suspect blogging will be lighter as our days get busier but that’s ok. It’ll be a good, good summer.
Next week is the last week of school. We are jumping for joy.
