portraits of roman.

roman, august 2013.

happy thoughts.

well, it's a new week!

things are changing slowly around here... we've still been busy doing a whole lot of nothing, but also hiking a ton in the mountains which has been absolutely won.der.ful. in every way. :)

we're getting ready to head to my grandparents' house for another couple days of yard work. aaron will probably be starting his new job this week or next. i have a photo shoot coming up this weekend. i have been busy scouring homeschool curriculums and trying to put some plans in place for roman's kindergarten this fall.

.

 amidst all of that, i wanted to stop in and share some miscellaneous photos from recently and some of the little "happy thoughts" in our lives right now :)

.

two little faces and four little hands with chubby fingers to adore.

also, it kills me that roman love to wear my t-shirts to bed right now. ;)

 ( yes, i know they have mullets. this was pre-haircuts! )

.

these crazy curls, and this soft, smooth, cuddly little baby boy of mine.

i always hate to trim his hair, but as you can see it gets a little out of control. ;)

.

asher's spider obsession. 

he literally LOVES this little collection of "piders" as he calls them. he has all these little games he plays with them and i love when he says, "where pider?" or "he nice!" while petting the big tarantula. it kills me that asher is getting big enough for these things. i still think of him as the little baby padding around, but here is now-  packing up roman's hand-me-down backpack with his favorite toys.
.

summer beauty.
now that i really think about it, i am definitely not ready for fall.. and surely not winter. how will i be able to survive without all the sunflowers and sunshine?

.

asher eating a quesadilla on the counter,

colorful bowls + great natural light.

.

that's it for now ;) what are your happy things?

.

would you take a minute and vote for me?

happy things.

i feel like i have much to write about and many pictures to sort through and share.

not to mention lots of things to do; like organize my house + figure things out for the fall.

.

for now i just want to share a few of the happy things in my life right now:

witnessing my baby discover two. i have never actually felt happy about either of my boys turning a year older, but i am genuinely so pleased and proud to watch asher become two :)

watching this brother relationship grow.

it's still rough waters over here between these two a lot of the time. but with all the change in our family and with asher getting just a little bit older, i have seen so much goodness + closeness between these two lately :)

i have to remind myself during the frustrating moments, that being able to see love unfold between my children is wonderful and worth it.

finishing up this session on my photography blog.

because i absolutely adore these portraits + because finally seeing the finished product of a photo shoot does an artist's soul good.

(photo from our trip to the smokey mountains before the move)
when asher sleeps in the car! with all the traveling + driving that we've done lately - you can only imagine how wonderful it is when this wild and spunky little boy is fast asleep in the backseat.
bliss.
 asher sleeping, roman playing quietly, starbucks in hand + the radio turned up: these have been some of the best moments in my life lately.
worst moment you ask? driving to find something on a craigslist ad, getting lost, asher screaming bloodly murder because he wants "out", roman screaming because asher is screaming... and basically many variations on that theme that have played themselves out in our car over the past month ;)

all the new beauty out here. mountains, wildflowers, rainbows, and big skies. i love being able to live right by the foothills of the mountains ;)

this husband of mine - who always works hard to make our lives cushy and comfortable.

i can always depend on him :)

i have known aaron for thirteen years now, and it's just plain crazy.
here's to many more years + many more adventures + many more happy things to have
and cherish together. :)
what are your happy things right now?

friday!

just a couple quick photos of my little boys,

with the aspen tress

on their great-grandparents' back porch.

.

happy friday everyone!
this weekend we will be traveling back to my grandparents' house again for a night of visiting/playing/doing yard work and ... watching HGTV when the boys are asleep of course!

.

we are still hunting for jobs.
and spending lots of time on the free section of craigslist!

man, i think we have hit the jackpot of all cities when it comes to the free stuff people are giving away here!

other than that, it's still days full of park + library visits and little boys playing in laundry baskets with toys strewn all over the living room floor!

.

man i feel like a little kid in the midst of summer. i know that work and school will bring good things like more structure and productivity to our days (oh, and money.) but i'm just not ready to give up the good life yet!
.
vote for me today??
 

brothers.

during the turmoil that was today - aaron reminded me that,

"nothing lasts forever."

it's true that someday soon, asher and roman will be able to play together more nicely. i have no doubt that these two boys will be partners in their imagination and will have all sorts of joyful play together for a stretch of many years. 

but today? today, i am happy to have a 5 year old and an almost 2 year old.

i love that i can still plop them up on the cement blocks at the end of our driveway and take pictures of them.

i feel lucky that they are still so small and so cute,

and i know that by having each other, they are learning lots and lots about love.

my five year old right now.

this photo kills me because roman fabulously struck this pose in a split second, mid-sentence, when i said "smile!" and then he just went along his way. ;)
 roman is growing, growing, growing, and when i look at him sometimes lately, i cannot believe how big he is. i'm trying to tell myself that my children growing is a blessing and not a curse. and it is. the world is just turning and turning all the while these boys are changing and growing and blooming more and more into who they are as people. and i am lucky and blessed to be right there watching them unfold in my hands.
.
roman right now:
inquisitive, curious and thoughtful as ever, spending lots of time thinking and asking questions and saying things like, "i have a hypothesis."
he is very deliberate and puts much thought into his words. he has an ever expanding vocabulary and an interest in words and i love when he says things like, "i admit it." then thinks and says, "what does admit mean?"
he is very creative and always inventing games. he focuses on a certain game or certain "thing" and plays it to no end and then moves on.
he loves organizing and putting his "things" into ziploc bags.
last night, we drove home from visiting my family and roman spent over an hour thinking about things like hello kitty, and why there is a hole at the park and then he would chatter away about how, "maybe miners made the hole, but there isn't a mine there but maybe there used to be." and aaron loved how he kept saying, "and daddy, daddy..."
is sweet, sweet, sweet as ever and does things like yesterday when he took a picture of my feet and then said, "i took a picture of your feet so you could see how beautiful they are."
he sings to his little brother, calls him "ashey" and says that he is "lovely."
.
oh, roman.
so much love for this five year old of mine who told me, appropriately,
"mom, you better enjoy every minute of me being five, because next year i think i am going to be six!"
.

brothers.

man, it's been a while since i've had a good "brothers" post. and i feel that one is in order. 

 .

this is a ridiculous picture - asher's goofy goofy smile cracks me up, and he is loving on his brother hard core, while roman looks slightly miserable and simply tolerates it so that i can take a picture.

.

in the day to day, dealing with these brothers feels a little hectic right now. asher has grown up watching roman play with his toy swords and fight imaginary bad guys, so now asher LOVES to "fight" with roman and with us. what he doesn't understand is that not everyone wants to fight all the time. so basically asher just ends up tackling roman half the day. or hitting him with pretty much anything and everything. asher also puts a damper on any and all plans that roman makes; roman can't color or play a game or really do anything without asher getting his little destructive paws into it.

.

so yeah, asher makes things interesting. and lately i've been getting so frustrated by the constant fighting.

.

but i love little moments like in this photo, when the boys are enjoying the simple things in life together; playing with plastic storage bins, spraying each other with the hose in the yard, or cuddling on the couch watching a show.

.

i love when roman says things like, "asher would LOVE beavers" or "asher is the KING of all babies". i love when asher's whole tiny being lights up and he yells, "momo!" 

 .

i loved when we were at the hospital without ash, and roman was so worried that asher would be sad without us. that's when i really realized how much these boys feel like they belong together. they spend everyday, all day, together. it isn't always nice and fun and perfect and lovely. 

.

but it is pretty dang wonderful :)

.

other brother post that i love:
here, here, here, + here.

broken arm #3.

just a couple quick darling photos of roman with his new cast, and proof of how BIG he is getting!

oh roman, you are too sweet for words!

roman's words.

roman broke his arm again on sunday, falling from a tree in our back yard. ( i know, i know we can NOT believe that he has broken it for the third time.) i rode in the backseat with him on the 30 minute drive to the hospital while we took pictures of ourselves with my ipod, and then i was the one to go into the er at the first hospital (we were later transferred to a specialist) and during those 3 hours we read a book together and playing the "don't you smile game" and joked around. roman kept saying "this is the best worst day, it's the worst because i broke my arm but its the best because we get to spend SO much time together!" of course, roman and i spend everyday, almost all day together, but we really don't get that one on one time that we had on sunday. it was special and good, and i just love that during the pain and fear that roman was experiencing, he was still his usual positive and perceptive self, finding the good things to hold on to.
.
aaron and i are always saving texts between each other of things roman says or conversations he has with asher. i keep meaning to write them down in my journal but i keep forgetting. i wanted to jot a few things down just to remember the sweet  soul our roman is at five years old.
he is constantly reminding us of the good things, of the important things. his viewpoints and his feelings are so wonderfully pure and real.
.
roman's words:
.
"you're different than just any old girl; you're my mommy"
.
"there has to be God. or else the world wouldn't feel like joy!"
.
"the more love, the more happy."
.
"i was MADE for hug and kisses"
.
"i was made for everything love."

 ...

be sure to visit out my store! i added a few new things today :)

spring.

spring things:

new growth, babe in the bushes, boys picking flowers, soft evening light + hair in a bun.

 .

i always get this high when spring comes and it seems like life will take this drastic turn for the better in every way. and it always does at first. i turn into crazy productive mode and spend hours outside as the sunshine warms me inside and out. the flowers are intoxicating and i'm wearing flip flops again and feel like a million bucks. 

of course, the crazy always dies down a little, and i realize that spring is just another season. 

with it, there will be good days and bad.

we'll still have days where mama has been up all night with her little screetch owl baby boy, and we'll watch countless movies all day until daddy gets home.

and that's okay.

no season in life is perfect, but with the bad there is always good and man, these days of  spring.
 these days of family hikes in the woods,
holding hands with my husband and looking at our two little boys wearing baseball caps and running ahead - they are good ;)

my birthday.

(may 5, 2013)

roman and i in our dandelion field on my birthday. 

dandelions are my favorite flower. i love them and will never understand america and our perfectly manicured lawns + chemicals and such. roman and i saw a yard near our house filled with dandelions and he decided that it was our dream.
so we spend time out in our own little "dandelion field" and we blow all the "wishing flowers" while sending up prayers to heaven and hoping every morning that new weeds will be born. 

i'd say that our wish is coming along nicely. 

and when i asked roman what he prayed for, he told me that he prayed he would go to heaven and see jesus.

so i reckon that boy is coming along right nicely as well ;)

.

i can't say that i've grown much wiser in this past year, but these are the wonderful moments that i am thankful for;

a refuge full of dandelions for me to lay in, and four tiny hands to pick them for me :)

    

i adore this photo that aaron got of ash ;)