will's favorite things

this one's for you daddy:

will has a few new favorite things since you left. everyday we have a little "school" time when anna is napping. i was nervous he wouldn't like doing this, but he loves it! we've been working on number/letter recognition and writing...and how to correctly hold a pencil. clearly, you can see he concentrates pretty darn hard. he usually does three worksheets and then gets to choose his favorite to display on the fridge. he can already write his name! it's al straight lines, so that's pretty easy. ;) 

it amazes me how much his little brain absorbs. 

this train:

he carries it allllll over the house with him, and demands that it go with us in the car, too. alrighty, bud. 

i don't know why he loves it so much, but he does...it went outside with him yesterday, in the bath last night, under his pillow at bedtime, and even traveled with us to church today. 

and if i looked over at him right now, he's probably holding onto it while he watches george. 

train obsessed.

the watergun. 

you can imagine how much he loves this! he sprayed the crap out of me after church today. is this not the biggest water gun you've ever seen?! there's a huge laser thing on the top, too. 

you know, incase he's scoping out a victim to shoot at night. ;) 

this is going to be his favorite summer toy, for sure.

that sums up will's favorite things...for now.  :)

{snapshop} photog workshop

last weekend i got to go to oklahoma with some girlfriends to attend a little photography workshop. oh boy, i was excited. the workshop is put on by the lovely and oh, so talented ashley of ashley ann photography. her blog is wonderful and her photography skills are cramazing. she's a busy mom of four who still finds time to teach beginners the basics of shooting in manual. if you've got an slr and need guidance, check out one of her snapshops. you will not be disappointed!

four mommas from nebraska road tripping down to oklahoma for a day of photog insanity....ohhhh yeahh. i was so nervous...i'm not really sure why, but i was nervous like it was the first day of school. apparently i was worried i wouldn't get to sit with the "cool kids" at lunch. ;)  but honestly, my brain hurt from all the things we learned. it was intense.

the morning was full of learning, looking at photos and taking photos. the first thing we were trying to do was tell a story... telling a story with the pics we took while keeping everything we learned in mind. that was hard. but we had really adorable subjects to photograph...her kiddos. these kids were a-flipping-dorable. here my favs of this little session:

after this we learned more...ate lunch...took more pictures...learned more....took even more pictures.

in the late afternoon we learned all the good stuff...aperture, iso, shutter speed...you know, how to shoot in manual. that was my favorite, finally learning what i had been trying so hard to teach myself. it feels so good to understand it! (well mostly understand it.) ;) i loooooove it. seriously, just don't get me started on all this stuff, cause i'll talk your ear off! 

our big shooting session was in the evening with some girls- three sisters, who just happened to be gorgeous and taking a bad picture of them would be pretty much impossible. this was my favorite shoot. and here are some of my best shots: 

the oldest sister (she reminds me of winnie from wonder years)  :)

the middle sister

the youngest sister

best group shots

oh, that was so. much. fun. i'm so excited to get better and better. who knows, maybe this will become my little business someday.  :) that would be sweet. 

the hard stuff {deployments}

ryan has been gone since march 10th. it hasn't really been to difficult until now. because yesterday he flew to iraq...well they are still probably traveling there now. but it wasn't too hard having him gone...we could text freely, talk on the phone daily, video chat regularly, facebook...all that good stuff. but now that he's off U.S. soil, he doesn't have his phone, his internet usage won't be as constant, and the phone calls and video chats will be happening weekly.

i didn't realize he was leaving yesterday, i guess i was confused and thought his unit was leaving next week...not that it really matters. but yesterday it did. when i texted him and asked how his day was going, his response was: we're getting ready to go. uuughhhh, go? go where? i was so confused. i should have been weaning myself from the constant text/picture messaging because now i can't do that. and that sucks.

deployments are a part of military life...you have no choice but to go along with them, so you may as well make the best of it....what does that mean exactly? i have no idea. what "they" say to do is keep busy, stick to a routine, you know...basically become a human robot so that you don't have to deal with the emotions you're fighting on the inside. i'm not good at being a robot. especially a pregnant, hormonal robot. blahhhh.

i know i can't dwell on the fact that ryan's deployed because i'd go crazy if i did. keeping busy is easier said than done...same goes for a routine. we have kind of fallen off that horse, but we'll get back on. it does make the time go faster...

i love you, baby. and i'm so proud of you...let's time travel to 2012 so we can all be together again.  :)

anna grace: yogurt face

little anna banana has been dying for me to let her feed herself with utensils. 

lil' stinker grabs the spoon/fork with every bite i give her...and refuses to let go.

this morning i surrendered the spoon (and any hope of cleanliness) over to her.

at first i was trying to clean her with every bite...i mean really, i should know better.

once she threw the spoon down and dug in with her hands, i gave up...

and delighted in documenting her ginormous mess.

cutest. mess. ever.

this is the way our garden {grows}

didn't know i gardened, huh? welllllll, that's probably because i don't. :) 

but with the help of some close friends (and sisters) russtanna and taffnee, i will learn. 

taffnee knows a lot about gardening and planting and watering and all that good stuff. 

russtanna is related to taffnee and therefore knows more than me. :) 

i know nothing...like seriously, nothing...but i have a yard, so the little sprouts will live at our house. 

going in on a garden with two friends is a good way to learn, split costs and share the bounty. 

r&t planted the little seeds a couple weeks ago and now the seedlings are out of their infancy and approaching adolescence, so they need to be transplanted. we got a few transplanted on sunday...and i believe this is only like a quarter of our garden...so more transplanting will come. 

if all goes according to plan, we will have lots of veggies, herbs and fruit to enjoy all summer. 

mmmm...nothing better than that!