I know I closed the bathroom door?!

I guess she needed to blow her nose?!
This, my family and friends, is why I need a vacation!
They may be cute but they are driving me INSANE!!!

I need some sunshine

I took this photo of the sunshine peeking out from over the roof of our house.
I need some sunshine. I need some inspiration. This weather has me in a funk. I want to be creative but I can't seem to pull it out of me. I haven't even taken pictures of my children, which is so very unlike me. I can't even think of what to write. The words are there but it's all a big jumble in my funked out brain...UGGGGH! Spring time hurry up!

I heart faces...especially this one!

I love upclose photos. I take them all the time, my poor kids. I also love blogs. I have become somewhat of a blog junkie. When reading one of the blogs i follow i came across this blog that i think is so cute!

They have weekly contests and you can upload your face picture and get a chance to win. Win what, i have no clue, but...i decided to enter this photo I took of Bekah this week. She is missing her daddy while he's away at training and I snapped this cute photo of her wearing his hat sitting in the window. Aint she beautiful!? Well i sure think so!!

Ordinary life

SORRY!!! My mom yelled at me for not updating my blog, so...here I am. It comes to show you're never too old to get scolded by your mother. (Ok, ok. So I've always been a bit on the sarcastic and dramatic side. She didn't yell or scold, she just *reminded* me that I should update).

I haven't done much blogging lately, obviously, because quite frankly there is nothing to blog about. Life in the Beaty household is nothing short of ordinary. My days could be planned out MONTHS in advance, that's how predictable of a life that we lead. My days consist of the same mundane tasks that occur at the same exact time, every single day of every...single...week. See, aren't you bored just reading about it?? But I guess there's something to be said of being ordinary. God keeps blessing me day in and day out with these "boring" days. Days that consist of health and happiness, laughter and precious time together. Russel has an awesome job, and you gotta give props to God for that, especially in these economic times. I have two beautiful little girls who keep me on my toes, but ironically enough I wouldn't have it any other way. We are happy, healthy, secure and alive...I guess i'll take having an "ordinary life" any day!

Speaking of Russel's job, he's gone for another week for mooorrre training in sunny California. These weeks he's gone for training are always so hard for me and, in short, I HATE THEM! But, I have to keep reminding myself that it could be worse, this too shall pass, and one day soon I will be glad that we sacrificed. BLAH!

The girls are doing great. Rebekah is your typical 3 year old. I'm sure my mother gets much pleasure out of the day to day torture that this child puts me through. Payback's a biotch, and I guess this is my payback! But aside from the sass and selective hearing that she possesses she's pretty cool. She's so smart and so sweet and I'm one lucky mama! She amazes me how smart she is, shes so ready for pre-school. We are going to try to enroll her soon. She knows her ABC'S, 123's, she is learning how to spell her name, she knows her shapes and we are working on her colors. She loves to read, she loves to draw and color and she loves anything princess and baby's. Madelyn is almost 15 months old, I can't believe it! She's walking now, working up to a run and trying real hard to climb. Lord help me! She loves her big sister and taking her toys! LOL. I guess it starts at an early age, boy am I in for it! She's talking a little bit, but more than anything she rambles in a language that mostly resembles chinese/russian.

I will leave you with that and hopefully something exciting will happen soon. The weather has warmed up a bit, and thankfully it hasn't been raining lately. I'm sure it will be back though. ((sighs)) This winter has left me in a bit of a funk, the girls too I think. We cannot wait for spring!! We are missing the warmth and sunshine something serious! I haven't even been taking as many pictures which shocks me more than it probably shocks you. I will try to get some of the girls soon so I can share. And..until next blog!!

Merry Christmas

It's over...phew! And I hate saying that, I used to loooove Christmas time. And it's not that I don't still love it, because I do! I don't know, it's just more stressful now. And it's always been different ever since my dad died. We even already took our tree down. CHRISTMAS NIGHT! Can you believe that? What scrooges. lol. The tree just seemed more of a pain in the butt then anything else, pine needles anywhere, ornaments getting broken. Just one more thing to have to keep up with, and I feel like I have enough on my plate already. So down it came.

I just remember Christmas always being so "magical". I can remember the excitement, giggling in bed listening for Santa, and swearing I heard bells outside. Not being able to sleep because we just couldn't wait until morning! I miss that feeling. And I want that so badly for my girls. I know it will come in time, as they get older. They are still just learning what Christmas is all about. And this year was harder for us, well for me, being away from my family. I miss them all so much. And Christmas has always been such a family thing for us. But the girls had a blast. Maddie's still too young to really care or know the difference, but Bekah was excited and wanted to know if Santa was coming again the following morning. God I miss being a kid.

Here are a few pictures I snapped in the maddness of the day. I hope your families had a blessed and Merry Christmas as well. = )













And the picture we got of the girls in front of the tree this year....HAHA


That just about sums it up!

Jack Frost

Jack Frost came to visit us yesterday, EVERYTHING was covered in ice. It was so beautiful. Even though I'm definitely a sunshine and beach kind of girl, there is just something so beautiful about winter, ice and snow. Maybe it's just because I've not grown up seeing much of it, I don't know. But I'm enjoying it, sitting inside my warm house. lol. Russel's been able to work from home, since the roads are so yucky. So that's been nice too. An extra special treat having Daddy around so much.

Rebekah loves this weather, she is constantly going out to play in it. Yesterday, while Maddie was napping, we went out to check it out and I got some really pretty pictures of some of the ice in our yard. I got to play with my new lens I got this past birthday, that I've only used a couple times. I forgot how much I love it! And I love how all these pictures came out.

Doesn't she look like a lil' eskimo? haha










There's only 3 more days until Christmas, I can't believe it's already here. I braved the ice and snow to get wrapping paper and a couple last minute gifts yesterday, so we are ready. Bekah's so excited, this year is going to be so much fun. I hope everyone has a very Merry Christmas and I will post again after Santa comes = )

...still snowing...

Yes, it's still snowing. Well, it took a couple day break, but the snow did not melt, it stayed on the ground and the roads turned to ice skating rinks. HA! Well hopefully not that bad, I guess everyone broke out the salt and the chains (which we totally obviously need on our cars) so they could get around. Funny story..the other day I was shooting a small shot gun wedding for a girl I had met a few weeks ago's brother in law..anyways. I had to get out in the ice and snow, bleck. By the time I got home it had gotten worse and I go to pull in our driveway, which is on an incline, and I got nothing but a lot of spinning tires. It wasn't happening. I tried to park the jeep as far up in the driveway as i could get it, but when I put the car in park and put the emergency break on it started sliding backwards down the driveway, into the road. ((shocked face)) After a little bit of car shuffle Russel eventually got the jeep into the garage and pulled his car back into the driveway. About 30 minutes later I was looking out the kitchen window and I said "um...Russel...is your car supposed to be sitting in the middle of the road! HAHA! oops. Thank God no one was driving down the street. Maybe not such a funny story after all, it was funny to us though!

It started snowing again today, and it's calling for snow every single day until (and including) Christmas. Looks like we might have our first "white Christmas" EVER!! That's exciting. The news, which I don't really watch, but by passed quickly while looking for Rebekah's cartoons, are calling it an Arctic Blast. Apparently it doesn't snow like this in Oregon, ever. And Salem is getting the worst of it. I just don't want to be stuck in my house until Christmas because i haven't gotten any shopping done yet and..we need groceries. EEEEK! Russel is stopping for a few things on his way home from work tonight, but man oh man. I guess we're gonna be building a lot of snow "women" for the next week or so. haha. Is it summer time yet????