Time is like a handful of sand-

the tighter you grasp it, the faster it runs through your fingers---oh how true this quote is and if only the sand would never run through my fingers...I feel like I can't close my eyes because I might miss something. Ok...on to why you are really here more beach pictures!

We enjoyed another wonderful day at the beach. The sand was so soft and white and probably Jake's favorite thing. Or that could have been the over 20 trips he took to the water to fill his bucket and bring it back to where we were sitting. But he really loved the sand from the first night we were just at the beach to watch fire works until the last minute we were at the beach Jake loved the sand.


Fill the bucket


Empty the bucket..repeat all day
Jake made a new friend little Lucy while we were at the beach one day...too cute
Chasing a bird...he really like the birds too

Beach Bums

Ahh...the sand, the water, smell of salt, & the ocean breeze could there really be anything better then that. The ocean is such an amazing creation it really makes me take a step back in wonder & the miraculous things God has created for us. The only thing better then these natural things of the beach is the sound of our sweet boy laughing, splashing, & having the time of his life. Jake truly loved being at the beach. He kept calling it the pool and then when we would say it is the beach he would start calling it the "wawa"(water). Either way he loved playing in the sand and water. I thought for sure he would be at least a little scared of the water, but not at all. He wanted to be in the water as much as he wanted to play in the sand. He did think the water tasted yucky so he wasn't to fond of it splashing in his face, but after rubbing his tongue he was back splashing in the water. Enjoy these pictures of a day at the beach.
Sweet toes through the clear water

Wiping his tongue after water splashed his face
Running through the water with Daddy
Jumping the waves with Daddy

Sand, Fireworks, & Date Night

Thursday was our day to kick off vacation...although a couple hours were spent in the car Jake was a great car rider. He did his fair share of sleeping, but then he mostly played with some toys and colored and was very talkative. He loves to point stuff out now while we drive down the road.

After we arrived safely to our wonderful Sandestin Resort community we took off to do a little grocery shopping and of course check out the beach. Later that evening we went and played in the sand while we waited for some amazing over the beach fireworks. Jake loved the sand from the minute he touched it. Picking it up, digging, & kicking all the sand that was around. He wasn't afraid of the loud boom from the fireworks and sat with Daddy pointing at them and oooing & ahhing all the ones he saw. Too cute! After the beach fire works it was off to bed for Jake. Nana & Pawpaw were staying in that night so Jason & I were able to enjoy a great night out in the Baytowne Warf where they had cute shops, little bars with live music & fun little things to walk around and look at. We really enjoyed getting some time together while Jake slept back at the condo.

We had a great 1st night of our beach vacation. Stay tooned over the next couple of days for more updates of our beach vacation. Most pictures will go by the day, but my parents friend took some of the best pics of Jake & Jason and I am waiting on her to send those to me so I can put those up too.

Watching the fire works can you see Jason & Jake?
Jason & I waiting on the fire works to start
Some of the fireworks over the water
Jake playing in the sand (haven't edited the pics so pardon the trash on the sand)
Such a good boy in the car coloring in his color wonder book

Home Again, Home Again

Our wonderful beach vacation has come to an end. I have tons of stuff to catch up on so this will be short on words with a few of my favorite pictures and then over the next few days I will update with more pics and commentary on our great family trip.

Here is the run down...we had the best time, Jake LOVED the beach, the water & the sand, he wasn't afraid of anything and would have kept going farther out into the water if we let him, we relaxed, the weather was great, saw some amazing fireworks over the beach, ate yummy food, walked around this cute village, and spent some much needed time together.

Destin Florida

Here we come...no rain, tropical storm, or hurricane will keep us from enjoying a beach get away. This will be the 1st time Jake will be at the beach and I am so excited for him to play in the sand and water. Please pray for no rain for us...so far it looks like we will be ok with some time for beach between the 50% chance of rain. Either way we are getting away our little family of 3. And best of all Jason is turning off his cell phone and leaving work in Georgia. So there will be no updates from us until Monday. At which point I am sure I will have close to 200 or more pictures to share of our little man at the beach for the 1st time.

I may send a few tweets from my phone you can see my twitter updates on the right side of the blog if you scroll down. I will probably have a few pics there too, but you might have to join twitter to see the pics not sure.

Hope you all have a great rest of the week and weekend...Be back in touch with technology on Monday!

Dancing Brobee

Jason loves the show Yo Gabba Gabba. I think it just might be the most retarded show ever. It does catch Jake's attention, but I try to limit tv and the show doesn't really come on at a time when he could watch it. Occasionally when we are at my mom's Jason will find it on Demand and put in on for Jake. Because Jason loves the show so much for Christmas we got Jake a dancing Brobee and he loves to dance with it. Here is a short video of Tyler & Jake dancing to with Brobee.

Sleep Over

I had 2 of my nephews for the last 3 days. We had a busy, but fun time together. Jake of course loves them being here and wakes up in the morning asking for them. Here are a few pictures from our time together



Guitar Hero with Uncle Jason is always fun
Serious concentration to hit the right notes on guitar
He couldn't really do the colors so he just did the foot pedal
Jake & Austin hanging out on the couch
The night ended like this...totally exhausted

I interrupt your regularly scheduled program...

To say I am featured on this blog ...it is an awesome online book club. If you love to read then you will love this site. The girls who do it are hilarious and fun!! Plus you get to read good books and discuss them weekly with your "girl friends." But just wanted to share that I feel totally semi-famous...hello I am on another blog with a picture and everything. Not just my own little blog right here. You can even read all about the books I like and my reading quirks. You should really join the book club too...psst they have give aways every week...can you say awesome!

Oh by the way more with Jake to be continued tomorrow. Austin & Tyler spent the night last night so I will have some new pics with Jake and his cousins up tomorrow!

Just had to share the excitement of being a semi-celebrity...even if it is for being a total book nerd and by the way that is an excellent thing to be :)

To compare

You may remember this picture from last year.

Caleb (12 months) Jake (9 months) Tyler(3) Austin (6)

We took another this week. And WOW how all 4 boys have grown. I can't believe how tiny my sweet boy was in this picture a year ago. Last year the picture just happened with all 4 boys staring out the doors, but this year we set it up...still just as cute. The only difference this time is we switched Caleb & Jake's position so it goes youngest to oldest.

Jake (21 months) Caleb (2) Tyler (4) Austin (7)

To spank or not to spank

When I was pregnant...well really before I was pregnant...I knew without a shadow of doubt I would breast feed my baby, we knew Jacob's name before we even knew he was a boy, I knew I would make baby food and that it would be organic, I knew I would be a stay at home mom...but I never really knew about discipline. Or should I really say never really put that much thought into it. I had worked in child care so I knew all about redirection and not using the word no, if you listen to super nanny she says don't spank or yell it isn't good for your children, and then if you follow the Bible (which really can be a parent handbook) it says spare the rod spoil the child. I have done 2 Bible studies through Motherwise Denise Glen " Wisdom for Mothers" and "Freedom for Mothers." Both books go into depth about the Bible guide of discipline. Including things like spank your child, but never use your hands your hands are for loving, use a spanking stick or spoon. Of course I still didn't think much of this when I was doing the study as my sweet little Jake was still a tiny baby and of course was perfect in every way...at least to me!!

Which brings me to my now 21 month old son. The other day we were getting ready to run some errands. We walked out to the garage and I opened the door. I let go of Jake's hand to open the car door and he took off running down the drive way. I knew that if I chased him he would laugh even harder and keep running. This is a newish game he plays and loves it. All day long he takes off running and wants me to chase after him and of course he is belly laughing the whole time. Yelling at him to stop running was not working and as the 1st car went speeding down our street not even pausing for a second (we live in a neighborhood, but some how these people don't understand the term slow). I decided I had better run after him Thank God I got to him before he got to the street and our very sweet neighbor was driving down the road at the same time and stopped before he came to our driveway. The whole time I was running to get Jake he was as suspected running more and cracking up laughing. I was so mad, but also relieved that he didn't make it to the street and that said neighbor had stopped. But I still grabbed Jake by the arm and marched him into the garage where I proceeded to spank his butt, while screaming "don't ever run down the drive way again," "you could be hit by a car." Keep in mind he is still wearing a diaper, but this was the hardest I had ever spanked him a few times in the past I have swatted his diaper( I am sure he didn't even notice then). But this time was different I was totally freaking out that my sweet boy was going to get run over. Let me just tell you Jake didn't really care he thought the whole charade was hilarious. Including the spanking that I gave him. But then I felt terrible for spanking him so I gave him a hug and calmly told him he can't run down the drive way. Oh and just to give you an idea this whole thing played out in about 3 minutes. But I felt terrible about it for umm...the whole day!

So this whole thing got me thinking about spanking and discipline. What do you do? What is appropriate for an almost 2 year old...who on some days has certainly started with his independent 2 year old stuff. I really want to be a woman of the Word, but what does this mean when I am disciplining my 21 month old. We've tried time out once or twice, but he never sits there for the whole 1 minute and if I tried to keep him sitting there it would take forever to finally get him sitting for 1 minute.

So the question of the day is spanking, time out, redirection, combination of them all...what is the best method? What is most appropriate for a 21 month old...obvious some reasoning could work, but he really doesn't understand "if you run in the street you can get ran over." Some days this parenting stuff is much more difficult then others, but I wouldn't trade any minute of it for the world. I would love to hear your thoughts!