two more random pictures.

My doodle bug hunters. This picture...it's my boys. Grant always squats like that. Mason is always within an arm's length of his bubba. Grant does what Mason does. Mason catches doodle bugs. So Grant does too. They're just ...boys. My boys.

I taught mason how to draw the owl. He loves them. I feel quite artistic when i can show him a sleepy owl or sad owl, or his favorite, an owl with a black eye. He can make a pretty cute little owl...

his many faces.

mason.

cheetos.

I very much wish I had a picture of what I'm about to describe because I know that it will not be near as cute in words as it was in actuality.

Grant LOVES cheetos. Loves might be an understatement.
So today I was working at my computer...really...and i had a bag of cheetos on my desk. (yes, we're all about healthy eating here at the wildes...) Grant comes in and does his "give me that" dance with his litte chubby fingers pointing at the cheetos.
"you want a cheeto, grant?" I ask.
Big nods and grins.
"Here you go!"
I hand him one cheeto. He takes it, puts it in his mouth and turns to leave.
"Grant. Want more?"
Cheesy grin with sounds that in toddler-ese certainly mean yes.
I hand him two cheetos. One goes in each hand as he is still chewing the first one.
He turns again to leave.
"Hey grant, wanna another one?"
As I hold out two more cheetos.
This is where it starts getting cute. He's got a cheeto in his mouth and one in each hand, but he's not leaving any cheetos behind. So, with the fine motor skills of a chubby handed 18 month old he lifts one finger from each hand as he tries to squirm the cheetos into his fists.
He grins when he has all four cheetos in his possession, turns to go, but then...
"Grant...here you go." I say as I hold out three little cheetos.
Without hesitation, one fistful of cheetos gets shoved in with the first half eaten cheeto.
But I didn't stop there.
"here you go buddy..." and I hand him more.
and more...
I wish you could have seen the dexterity of his little fists. Tiny stubby fingers were curled around cheetos with such determination! Cheetos were protruding from his powdered cheese coated mouth. The cuteness of seeing his little mind try to figure out how to hold all these cheetos in this rare act of his momma's generosity was adorably cute.

It was on about handful six that I think he got the joke and started giggling at me.

It's fun being a mom.

I heart aperture.

uh...wow. click on these to see them bigger. the detail...crazy. I love my new lens.

i'm home alone with a sleeping grant for several hours a day...that leaves me.

Okay, so I know that this may be boring and stupid for non- camera people but look at my eyes - the eye in the foreground is super crisp. The eye in the background, just a few inches back is super blurry. That, my friend, is amazing stuff right there. And yes, "super crisp" and "super blurry" are totally legitimate photography terms. : )

passing the time.

this is what I do when I'm waiting for my computer to apply certain actions to pictures.
I doodle.
Tonight's theme was owls.
I know.
I'm a total nerd.
And clearly I should stick to photography.

procrastination. part 2.

I couldn't help it...look at these cute boys.

and my eyelashes here....

but, see, I am working now...really...I am. this cute couple is almost done... really. I swear... and, no I did not watch Hannah Montana as a means of procrastination as well. That's just flat out ridiculous talk right there.

procrastination.

This is me playing with a new lens instead of editing hundreds of pictures. Don't tell my clients, please.

I know it's not a great picture, but the news here - this was taken inside, hand held, and without having to hike up the ISO. And you can see my eyelashes. That's what I like to see - the eyelashes.

okay...back to work.

Easter Pictures Part 3: Easter Day

The best smile I could get out of the kid... it's just sad really.

My niece Ariel in her Easter dress.

I like flower pictures...

Grant loved the easter egg hunting.

And this little face was made immediately after inserting a whopper into his mouth. It was like he was thinking, "oh. I get it! There's candy in there...nice. Very nice."
A most rare find - a family picture.

Easter Pictures Part 2: Scenes from the farm

There's that grin again...

Pop-pop is building quite possibly the fanciest greenhouse I've ever seen. I don't know all the details but there are fish that are kept inside the greenhouse and the water from their tanks is pumped throughout the plants beds so that they are fertilized with rich fish water. It's quite elaborate. Mason got to help Pop-pop quite a bit with the project which involved some mud (above) and a delivery of fish (below). Grant wasn't quite sure what to make of the fish...

Hayden and Grant - also known as the future Mr Trouble and Mr. More Trouble. Grant has no fear. Mason never would have climbed a fence like this. Grant did it in like 2.3 seconds.

Grant watched this baby goat very carefully as it climbed into the feeding trough. It was only a matter of minutes before...

...grant tried it out too. Don't worry. I rescued him before he fell on his head.

Me and mom

Mason loves, and I mean LOVES, gathering eggs for gema. He's a little scared of a few of the hens who aren't so fond of having their eggs swiped from their nests, but he gets so excited when he finds a really big egg or a really little egg or the green eggs or, really, just any egg.

Easter Pictures Part 1: The strawberry farm

Sweet Berry Farms is about two miles from my mom's house. They grow fields and fields of the best tasting strawberries and after getting your pickin' basket from Brother Max, the pastor of my childhood church, you head out to the field, row and strawberry plant of your choice. And start pickin'! And I'll just tell you right now- if you think a little dust on a bright red strawberry is enough to keep you from trying a few as you're picking...well, you're wrong. You simply can't resist. They're just too good.

Aunt Bekah with her hands full of the sweet strawberry goodness..

I realize that Mason looks very much like a ragamuffin in this picture. there was no changing him out of those clothes. or shoes. And he's a six year old boy - isn't ragamuffin just part of the deal?

Grant liked the goats that were accidentally set free while we were there. Every time they got close to him he laughed the most adorable little nervous giggle.

He was so excited to be picking strawberries...

...until I had the audacity to yank away an overly ripe strawberry that was about to be in his mouth.

He was so terribly heartbroken.

This smile is part of the reason you don't see many pictures of mase lately. That and him running from me and the camera...

We had to practically drag Mason and Bekah off the fields...

Mason LOVES his aunt bekah... and I do to! :) She drove to MF with us and man, having a grown up to talk to sure does make the drive so much better!

I love pictures of Grant walking away. You can't tell in the pictures but he has recently started walking with a very swingy left arm. It's so cute. He looks like he's trying to go so fast, but his little legs just won't keep up with his swingin' arms.

So, after picking like 6 pounds of strawberries we went home and had Strawberries on top of Falling Down Cake (the worlds best cake) with whip cream. I have no pictures of that because...well, i was busy. : )
Hopefully, more easter pics to come!

It's been ELEVEN days??!!

How have I not posted in 11 days?!
And how annoying is the title of my last post. Good grief.

I'm crazy busy. Like psychotic busy. Like nearly losing my mind. Like seriously. Like...I'll stop.

I keep thinking of that phrase, "If you pray for rain, be prepared to deal with some mud."
I was praying for a green pretty world and better weather so people would start calling me for pics again. And they are. In great abundance. And it's great. It really truly is.

But I have so many pictures to edit. And rep cards to make. And prints to order. and transactions to record. and...I'll stop.

I've got me a big ol' mud puddle over here. But I'm lovin' splashin' around in it. Today.
Yesterday, in the midst of a terrible headache with a to do list that made my eyes go blurry and the very weight of the world resting on my shoulders, I hated the mud. I was throwing an all out fit.

But today, I like the mud. And the rain bringing on the mud.

And my new tutoring schedule is starting to feel like more hours than it is.
And there's still laundry.
And dishes.
And for some reason, my kids still think they need to be fed.
And, if you can believe it, my house is still getting very cluttery and I believe dust bunnies have taken up permanent residence and started reproducing as bunnies tend to do in every crack and crevice of my home.

So, I'm just busy. And, really, I don't have much to say. Nothing too exciting is happening. Grant's still a cute lil stinker. Mason is still a smart sensitive six year old. And Troy's working all the time.

Maybe I'll post Easter pics later...? maybe.

Run for Cover!!!

bullets. Get it. Run for cover? Yeah, i know - I'm hysterical.

• i've started tutoring four days a week now. It's only from 9am to 1:15. Grant goes to Joy School Monday -Thursday now while I tutor. He loves it and I love my new schedule and I even get 2 more hours a week which adds up. It's so very nice when things work out, you know?
  
• Sprinkle is picking up! Warm weather and a greener world are definitely working in my favor. I do wish the wind wouldn't be quite so blustery...
• I have all these friends on facebook and I swear they must be so totally bummed when they get confirmed and see my page. It has not a thing on it. It's just sad, really. But I just don't get it. I just don't. I like my blog...
  
• My new running goal to keep me motivated for a while is to place in a San Angelo race. I'll keep ya posted.
  
• Grant has managed to shove 4 dvds and who knows what else into troy's playstation 3. Troy was not happy. It's a good thing grant is so cute...
• Grant needs a haircut. Bad.
  
• I am in love with the show West Wing. It comes on Bravo in the morning and I'm like ridiculously obsessed with the show. It's smart and funny and about presidents. What's not to like?
  
• "so totally bummed" might be a bit of an overstatement. people are probably more annoyed than bummed by my boring facebook page. Or maybe they don't really care? I just don't get it.
• Mason has been having nightmares about fires the last few nights. And he has a hard time getting to sleep too. I don't know where the fear really came from. We've prayed about it and that helps, but it's just so out of nowhere. Poor little guy.
• I came in 2,743rd out of 6,644 timed runners of the capitol 10k. And I was 175th in my division of about 570. I thought that was pretty cool.
  
• I took some senior pictures today that turned out AMAZING. It really has little to do with me and so much more to do with the girl's perfect smile and amazing choice of wardrobe - sundress and boots. Prom dress. Jeans with a layered top. I just had to point and click and I got perfection.
• and I guess that's all I got...