This week’s  iheartfaces photo challenge theme is “Jump For Joy!” My photo for this week is far from a perfect shot, but I love the fun and spontaneity of it.  I wish it was more in focus and that I had been standing back a bit further so her head wouldn’t have been cropped off, but I guess that’s what happens when you get an unexpected shot.  I was trying so hard to get some fun shots and Evie just wasn’t in the mood that day.  Finally her Daddy stepped in and cheered her up a bit.  Even with it’s imperfections, I love this shot because it truly shows my girl’s personality.

Head over to iheartfaces and check out some of the other Jump For Joy Photos!

Apologies ahead of time for the all photos post, but I wanted to share some more of these from last weekend. I’m pretty happy with most of them, but I also see a lot of room for improvement so I’ve been studying up all week trying to figure out what I did wrong.

The boys

My handsome little man

My goofy nephew, Ryan

Best Friends Forever

My Girl

My mind races with things that need to be released.  I write post after post in my head, yet lack the time to sit and type them out.  My life, it is chaotic.  As I whine and complain about how busy and crazy things always are, I also know that this is the life I chose.  My choices got me to this place of constant activity, stress, and very little rest.  The weekends and evenings go too fast, the weekdays too slow.

There are ups and downs and so many things in between.  Some days I sit back amazed at how blessed I am in my life.  Other days I wonder just how much longer I can keep it all together.  At times I feel like I’m just going through the motions, just to get through one more day.  Those times make me feel like I am missing out on so much.  I wonder how I’ll ever make it when the kids are older and involved in school and activities and play dates and birthday parties.

This last week was particularly hard.  I was still trying to catch up on life as February went and got all crazy on me. My car was in the shop.  Grocery shopping got delayed due to the snow and ice the weekend before and we were out of food.  Zach had a music program at preschool Wednesday night.  I had to get our taxes done because we needed the refund to pay for the car repairs.  Zach had to go to the doctor due to some stomach problems he’s been having.  I couldn’t find time to work on web site updates that were long past due.  I was worried about not having time to get the bills paid before the end of the seemingly very short month.  Plus, on top of that, I was trying to fight off a cold.  Things just kept piling up and by Friday night I was spent.

Saturday I got up with my own agenda in mind while everyone else in the house had a different one.  As much as I’d like to deny it, Evie will be turning 2 in a couple of weeks and I wanted to set up my makeshift photography studio, experiment with some lighting, and attempt to get some good photos of her.  I thought this would relax me, but I found myself getting angry at my not quite 2-year-old for wiggling when I wanted her to sit still.  I kept getting interrupted by Zach and Hubby kept asking me questions until the point that I lashed out at him.

I finally decided to give up on the pictures because I was getting too frustrated (and so was Evie).  Hubby left to pick something up at the store.  I took Evie back to her room for a nap where we snuggled for a few minutes and I apologized to her for yelling.  Then she asked if we could go take more pictures.  If she’s willing, I’m game.  I took her back to the playroom where everything was set up and we tried again.  This time, instead of getting frustrated, I tried to make it fun.  We sang songs, we laughed, and we had a good time until I could tell she was tired of it.  I got some great photos of her smiling and laughing.

Sometimes I just have to hit the edge before I can see a situation clearly.  The rest of the weekend was better.  I still had to do things like pay bills, stress over money, feed my children, bathe them, and all the rest of the mundane daily tasks, but I tried to keep myself in a better frame of mind.  I didn’t find the time to finish editing photos, to dig into the photography books I’ve been dying to read, to browse around on the Clickin’ Moms forum like I wanted to.  But those things will still be there tomorrow, and the many days after that.

Besides, I did manage to get some gorgeous photos of my little girl and even a few of my boys too.

Rest assured, I’ll be sharing more of these once I have a chance to do some editing. My lighting and exposure wasn’t quite right, but I’m learning.

And, for those of you interested, here’s a small piece of Zach’s music program performance. He was so excited for this and did such a good job. This proud mama was beaming.

I had this great idea for a blog post today, but it would require some thinking and concentrating and I no longer have that in me.  That’s the problem with blogging – by the time I finally sit down to write I’m out of energy.  So, instead of my tired brain, I’m posting more pictures.  You guys don’t mind, do you?

After nearly two months straight of cloudy, snowy weather, we had a bright sunny day today.  It warmed up just a little bit too, at least enough to let the kids get out and get some fresh air anyway.

Zach had been waiting since just before Christmas to try out the bike that Granny and Papa brought up for him.  Tonight he finally got a chance to try it out and he was so excited!  Luckily, since he can now ride on the big bike, his sister gets to use his old tricycle.

I am beginning to discover that there is a very direct correlation between how hectic my weekends are and how well the following week starts out.  When we have a nice quiet weekend, Monday morning don’t seem quite as bad.  When we have a very busy weekend, and particularly a very busy Sunday, I feel like I’m running to catch up all week long.  That’s the kind of weekend we had this week and I’m still feeling the effects on Tuesday morning.

We spent most of the day Saturday cleaning and getting the house ready for the big Super Bowl/Birthday Party on Sunday.  I don’t think it has had a good cleaning since mid-December so it was time.  Hubby didn’t understand why it needed to be cleaned, but it most definitely did.

Sunday morning we had to be up earlier than usual as our church was having a big Super Bowl celebration.  I had to get up extra early because I had a surprise for Hubby and needed to get the kids up and dressed without his help.  As part of the Soul Bowl celebration at our church we were all supposed to wear our favorite team jerseys/gear.  Since the kids didn’t have any, I secretly ordered them both a Saints outfit to wear as a surprise.  Yes, the surprise went over well!

Hubby was thrilled with the kids’ outfits and I even gave in and put on one of his Saints shirts too. I was glad I also had a few extra minutes to set the camera up and snap a few photos before we headed out the door. I got one good shot of the four of us together and it will definitely be remembered.

Daddy taught the kids to sing, “Who Dat?” and then we finally headed out the door for church. We had a yummy pancake breakfast, played lots of games with the kids, and then enjoyed a great worship service. Zach even got to try out his first real “hoop-a-loop” (hula hoop). It was lots of fun, but I was exhausted by the time we got home.

There wasn’t time to rest though, because it was time to start cooking up the Jambalaya for dinner. I put the meat on the stove, settled the kids down for a nap and movie, made a quick run to the grocery store, folded laundry, and finished up a few last minute things around the house. Then I finally sat down to rest for a few minutes just before everyone started arriving for the party.

Since my Mom’s birthday was on Saturday, and mine is coming up on Wednesday, our Super Bowl party got turned into a Super Bowl/Birthday party. My sister made us a yummy cake and even decorated it in my favorite color. With the Saints in the big game, the birthday part got a little overshadowed this year, but that’s ok.

During the game things got a little tense. I laughed all week as Hubby told me that it didn’t matter if the Saints lost; He just was happy they were playing in the Super Bowl. Just as I expected, he wasn’t too happy when the Colts were ahead. He wouldn’t even eat until the game finally turned around but after that things got a little more exciting.

For the rest of the game, Hubby was jumping up and down, screaming, and scaring poor Evie to death. She had no idea what was going on, but Daddy sure does yell loud! When the game finally ended and the Saints had won, I think there may have even been a tear or two from Hubby.

Then Zach came in to see what all the ruckus was about and got swept up by Daddy.

It was quite the celebration at our house! I’m so happy the Saints won and that Hubby will always have that memory of his team finally winning. It was a very fun day, but as I said, I’m still exhausted from all of the chaos. I think from now on the Monday after the Super Bowl should be a required day off of work.

Valentine’s Day is coming up and to celebrate, the iheartfaces photo challenge theme this week is “We Heart Kisses”.  The photo I picked this week happened a bit by accident.  We had a little more snow than expected last Friday and when I picked the kids up they were begging to play in the snow.  We played outside for over and hour and had fun making a snowman.  When I stopped to take some pictures of the kids with the snowman, Zach leaned over and gave the snowman a kiss.

Head over to iheartfaces and check out some of the other We Heart Kisses Photos!

A few little reminders that were sent my way this weekend:

• Praise for a job well done will encourage you to work harder.
• Exercise is good for the heart and soul.
• Cranking up the music and clearing your mind of all stress, even for a few minutes, is freeing.
• When you go to the grocery store in sweats and a hat to cover the rat’s nest on your head, you will run into someone you know.
• Letting down friends is heartbreaking, and will weigh on you until you make amends.
• Watching old videos of your kids as babies will bring about four things – tears, laughter, desire for a new video camera, and an overwhelming urge to have more babies.

This weekend, as usual, we were on the go.  Friday and Saturday we spent shopping, errand running, and doing just general household stuff.  Sunday, we headed up North for church, then spent the rest of the day at my sister’s house hanging out and watching football.  I took advantage of the downtime and played around with my camera a bit.  My nephews seem to be getting a bit tired of me always having a camera in their faces, but they did allow me to get a few good shots.

This little guy is so photogenic! He tries to play shy, but he really loves the camera.

Ryan is Zachary’s best friend and a total goofball.

Dylan is 10 years old now, which totally blows my mind. I rarely get a good shot of him because he’s always hiding from the camera, but I love this one!

When bath time rolled around, Evie insisted that she get in the tub with Brayden. They had so much fun playing together! I love these photos because you can see on their faces just how much they were enjoying it.