Me with my d-90

There are very few times I have a picture made that I even remotely like it. On April 2, our school had 'spring pictures' made. The students could have a prop...which was a new thing. As I was keeping the kids in line, the photographer asked me if I was having my picture made. I told him no... then a few minutes later, I realized I wouldn't get a class photo if I didn't get my photo made (they come in packages). As I was watching the kids with their props, I thought, "My d-90...I should take my picture with my camera!"

I ran back to the classroom to get it... and this was the only shot they took...and I like it! Anyone that knows me, knows how much I love to take pictures...and how many pictures I take! This IS me!

Let's take a picture

After church, we walked in, looked at the fire burning in the wood stove (in April!), and my guy said, "Let's take a picture! Where's the tripod?"So out came the tripod and we took a photo or two. I played around with cropping them, changing to black and white, or sepia and white... and that was the end of that!
My guy has been gone for the past week. He flew to Texas to see his mom and do some work around the farm. Larry, his older brother, came up both weekends to see his brother and together they tackled the many chores of a farm and an older farmhouse. He loved it...loved being with his mom and brother...

and it's so nice to have him back home!

Little Biker

Guess who?

Guess who this little biker is......You may have been able to tell from his eyes....

It's Benjamin...with his new biking helmet. His sweet mama was telling him what a big boy he was...riding a bike...with his new helmet...
His daddy was getting him all strapped in...
Benjamin was very excited....
He just loves the strap on his bike seat....actually, he loves any strap...he and his cousin, Emerson, even had a strap chewing session down at their Uncle Joshua's... they had lots of fun!
Benjamin listened intently to his Daddy's instructions...
"YOU be careful, Daddy!"


He thought about taking off his helmet...
temporarily forgetting his Daddy's instructions...


But then he remembered...and all was well...and Benjamin was ready to go!"YEE-HAW," he yelled from the back!
His Mama and Daddy asked him if he enjoyed his bike ride...
"What kind of silly question is that?" Benjamin wondered. (He didn't say it out loud.)
"Parents, you can't help but love them," he secretly told his Mimi a little later.

Little Biking Benjamin!

Benjamin and Mimi

Benjamin and Mimi....

This little man melts my heart...
"Melt? Is that a good thing, Mimi?" Benjamin asked when I told him this.

"Oh, Benjamin...YES it's a good thing...that means your Mimi loves you...adores you...is so thankful for you!"
"HIGH FIVE, Mimi!" my little man squealed.
I high-fived him back...but he was already interested in something else...
We did a lot of High-fiving last weekend after our trip to southern California. We had a lot of time to practice sitting in the back seat for 10 hours...stopped for 2 different hours in LA traffic.
"Benjamin, your Mimi is so proud of you!"
That made Benjamin happy...

I told him I was also proud of his Mama for taking so many pictures. I told him she might be a "chip off the old block" seeing as her Mama (that's me) loves to snap a few pictures, too.
I asked Benjamin if he knew what 'high five' meant....
He looked up...I asked him what he was looking at...

" 'HIGH' Mimi...I'm looking high up!"
I had to give him a kiss for that one! I might have given him several kisses...
"Mimi, that's enough..."
I tried to explain how Mimi's just love to kiss their little guys...
Ahhhh....

"Thank you, Benjamin..."
Benjamin...

My sweet little man...one of my two sweet little men...

I'm a Mimi with a melted heart...

Easter in Southern California

My little men spent their first Easter at their cousin Thalia, Uncle Joshua, and Aunt Erica's house in Southern California. On Easter Sunday morning, they decked out in their overalls for church.
It was so much fun having the family together. I was one happy Mimi!

Emerson has a few new tricks! Here he's drinking out of the cup...not new... but after he took a sip...
"Ahhh"... well, he makes a sound like he's satisfied with his drink...like it was so refreshing!
I think Donnie may have been making the same noise! (just kidding)
Emerson
Benjamin
Papa was only too happy to be holding his little men...
When their Mimi (that's me) saw this little photo op, she jumped into the photo...


Benjamin and Mimi
Emerson and Papa
It was a beautiful day on Easter Sunday...and I love this picture of my baby boy, Joshua!
and so as not to hurt Blu's feelings...I took a photo of him!
The plan was to get a group shot after church...and my models were Emily and Gabe. Unfortunately, the sun was just too bright to take it outside. I decided to wait until dusk... but I do love picture!
When outside didn't work, I tried using my timer on my guy and I... to maybe take a group shot inside...before everyone changed clothes...which, as I now see, my guy had already done!
Benjamin wanted to make a call...not sure who he was going to call... Saddie? He had been watching his cousin, Thalia, on her cell phone, so he was trying his hand at texting....
Unfortunately, Saddie doesn't text..
He got so mad at his Saddie for not answering his text!
His papa asked if he wanted to ride a horse.... well, Blu was the closest thing we had to a horse!
Benjamin absolutely LOVED Blu! Blu would bark, Benjamin would laugh. Blu would startle Benjamin with a loud, deep bark, and Benjamin would laugh even harder!
Emerson wanted to know if Benjamin wanted to play...
He was showing what a great cousin he is...by giving Benjamin the first toy out of the bag...
In return, Benjamin gave a toy to Emerson...
Benjamin was happy....
We told him we loved how he and Emerson were sharing....
He wasn't sure what we were talking about...
Emerson, (thank goodness he's insured by State Farm) had a number of crashes as he raced along with his walker. He asked his cousin to repair the damage Benjamin was only too happy to check under the hood...
Emerson...well, he was... well, I don't know what he was doing... but he was cocking his head for some reason... probably just because he's so cute!
Benjamin repaired the damage, and had Emerson try it out.
"How do you turn this thing around?" Emerson wanted to know.
"Um????" was his cousin's answser.
Emerson decided to take a break from the walker. He and Benjamin had other things in mind...
"Let's chew on strings and straps!" both of the cousins decided.

After a while, this little man fell asleep in his mama's arms....


Thalia was texting away to some of her buddies... texting on this sweet, sweet phone!

Erica, sweet Erica, was busy in the kitchen. Their home had been all peaceful and quiet until the tornado hit... the tornado called 'family'....
Gabe decided to relax a bit...
Erica and Lindsey had some quality sister-in-law time discussing wheat grass...or something like that...
Joshua spent some quality time with the Pub Mix...
Thalia told her Daddy to get out of the pub mix...
She was doing a little clean up...
Her Uncle Donnie is proud of her...we're all proud of her...for lots of reasons...mainly because she's such an absolute sweetheart...

and did I tell you she won an award for her art? Yep, an award and a cash award. One of her drawings won 1st place out of all the 5th grades in all the schools in her town! WOW!!!
Benjamin decided to play a while....
Erica and Thalia...
Looks like Thalia was busy on her phone again.... she wasn't texting her Mimi...since I was there ... but she does text me a lot ...sometimes just to tell me she loves me...or to tell me good-night!
Joshua was a master chef while we there...he and his sweet wife both! Joshua barbequed chicken... and one night we had "Josh-burgers"... not to be confused with "Ron-burgers" which we have when the kids are at our house.
"How big is Emerson????"
THIS BIG!
Thalia... she told me to stop taking so many pictures of her.

I didn't listen...

Me and my camera...kind of like the song, "Me and my shadow".....
Ahhh, I love these pictures!!!
Well, circumstances happened...and we never got our outside photo...so we went to plan B... taking a group photo inside. Joshua was ready...

My guy was being his usual hammy-self.... a little 'rabbit ear' action on Joshua....
Here we are... on April 5th... the day after Easter....
I needed to get another shot of my awesome granddaughter....
Emerson was making his noises... he and Benjamin both do that where they move their finger or hand in front of their mouth while they make sounds...it's so cute!
Ahhh... Papa, Benjamin, and Donnie.... some of my men...
On Tuesday, Gabe, Emily, and Emerson left early...like 4 a.m. early...to beat the LA traffic. We hung around until about 11 a.m. Thalia and Benjamin decided to put on a concert...
I think it was Bach...(just kidding!)
It was beautiful! (just kidding again...)
Thalia and Joshua...relaxing after we left...after peace and quiet was once again restored to their home...

Of course, this is not true since I'm taking the picture....

What a great time we had... have I said how happy it makes me to have all my kids and families together?