happy friday!

    i feel like i have so many new photos to share here on my blog but i just haven't had the desire to  prepare them into posts! it doesn't help that my editing process feels a bit strained lately since i no longer have lightroom (horrors!) and am exclusively using photoshop to edit my photos. which is just not what i'm used to. the laptop that i had been using for years finally bit the dust. probably prematurely because i'm kind of the least responsible person on the planet. so yeah, i am now using maybe, just maybe, the worst laptop of all time. and editing photos is a slight nightmare due to it's color issues. but alas i must go on because i mean really what would i do if i couldn't produce photos of these two sweetest-boys in my life? also, i'm pretty sure the theme of my blog is just complaining when i have the worst luck with technology... everyone needs a niche, right?

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     so today i'm throwing together some random photos that haven't made the cut into my blog posts lately, but that i still love!

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 happy friday everyone!

would you vote for me today?? just click on the link above! thanks!

portraits of roman.

((  portraits of roman, march 2014  ))
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treasure.

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     last week was stressful and i was preparing for an "outside of my box" photography job that i had scheduled this past saturday. and if any of you out there are photographers, you may know that it is less than easy to coax your littlest family members into playing model for you, especially when you really need it. this particular evening, i took roman and asher outside to practice with some new equipment and even though i had used a lollipop during asher's nap to bribe roman into standing still for me, he just about melted in drama for the camera. but asher! asher miraculously just kept saying, "ok!" and plopping down in front of me beaming with absolutely ridiculous toothy grins every time. it was just perfect. we've always said that asher's temperament is extreme in every way. when he is wild, he is wild, wild, wild as can be. but when he is sweet, he is the sugariest sweetest candy of them all. i was just about to put my camera away when i noticed that the sun was starting to set at just the perfect angle over the condo building across from ours. you know, that perfectly magical sunshiney/shimmery/golden light that i love best. so i asked asher to sit down one more time and these next photos are what followed. they are filled to the brim with so much sugary sweet candy-boy goodness. the littlest, wildest, treasure of my heart.

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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.
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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."
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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!"
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puddles, rocks + other adventures.

i attempted to get some good twenty-two month photos of asher the other night.

however, it turned into more of a splashing through puddles, rock throwing, bird chasing adventure, which happens a lot around here.

maybe another day i'll get those more "perfect" photos, but i love these as well and they definitely capture asher's true personality and zest for life. :)

bath time beauty.

our little bath time beauty :)

i love when i get a chance to spend a quiet moment alone with ash. 

like this night; asher played in the bath - quietly pouring a cup of water, splashing it down his face and then carefully rubbing his eyes with the towel i gave him. 

and all the while, i just tried to save the moment, taking photos and taking in all the little wonderful details that make up my teeny boy:

soft, soft creamy baby skin, tulip lips, wet curls + curious eyes.

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the photos below are a little flashback to an august bath in our old farm house.

i've decided by the way, that editing photos months later is much more fun and rewarding. :)

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other favorite bath moments: here + here.

happy friday!

( little hands always on my lens cap )

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it's friday! and aaron is actually off work today!

so, it has been a pretty good/slightly hectic/slightly lazy day.

a doctor's appointment that didn't happen ... don't ask.

a trip to target to stock up on diapers and wipes.

mcdonalds coffee, then starbucks coffee ... don't judge.

working out for mom + dad.

an ever messy house not getting cleaned and an ever lengthening to-do list never getting done.

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and now, roman is running full speed through the house chasing dragons and asher is sitting on the table eating strawberries and cheese with toothpicks. 

so, i'd say it's a pretty successful day overall :)
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what does your friday look like?

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p.s. i'm trying this out, so would you click below to vote for me? thanks!

brothers.

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

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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.

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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.

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

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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.

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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!" 

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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. 

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but it is pretty dang wonderful :)

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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!

happy friday!

happy friday everyone!

i just got my little asher to sleep and am pretty tired myself and avoiding going back downstairs. he is so sweet, laying next to me with his little hands wrapped around my arm.

today we had our first moving sale! we are hoping to have 3 more days total of moving sales before we leave. we were only open for about 4 hours today and made only 90 dollars, but i'm happy with it. i love having garage sales. seriously, it is so fun to sit out in the sunshine and wait for people to buy your old stuff. and man, do we have a lot of stuff that needs buying...

roman also got his cast put on today. he decided on black + glow in the dark but changed his mind and ended up with orange + glow in the dark ;) 

goodness he's looking big to me right now.

whenever i buy the boys new clothes and they start wearing the size up - they look HUGE to me. and i don't like it! stay little little ones, will you?

have a good weekend everyone!

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p.s.  i don't think i ever shared my last spearmint baby post about some of my favorite boy shoes for summer.

 

lessons in motherhood.

i always hear that saying about new moms "coming out of the newborn fog." i never felt too bad adjusting to my newborns. i mean yeah sure birth is exhausting but breastfeeding and being up all night and changing diapers feels natural to me and everything newborn is just intoxicating and wonderful and gives me a sort of newborn high. but there is this other fog that i always feel myself trying to pull out of and it is related to my littlest: asher. 

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asher who is full, full, full of energy and passion and love. who was the happiest little birdy of a newborn who just smiled away in his little rocking bed while i homeschooled roman or sucked cheerfully on my arm in the sling. and then as he became more baby and less newborn, he became more and more work. fussy fussy fussy for many hours. and yet also a happy, jolly, chubby elf of a boy with the roundest face and goofiest little smile i ever saw. and now, he is that same happy happy baby - tearing off after birds in the yard, reciting his family's names all in a row ( mama, dada, mono - yaaaay!) and hopping in the stroller full of excitement for a chance to sit back while we walk and point out all the things he knows and loves in the world. This boy is so, so full of passion. he loves with this passion as well and gives us the deepest most sincere hugs complete with gentle pats on the back and cooing. he sings and kisses and loves with reckless abandon.

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and he is also wild as can be. i cannot even describe the amount of energy he pulls from me in the day to day. he is a tiny destroyer, a fighter and a wild animal all wrapped into one. it has been such a learning process and a huge life lesson to me. roman was so calm. i'm not saying that I've never had struggles or issues with roman,  but it was on a much calmer scale. roman painted this picture of my expectation of motherhood for me - taking my boys to target while they sat happily in the cart looking at a toy together while i shopped, going to panera and sipping my caramel coffee across from two polite brothers calmly eating their macaroni and cheese. relaxing outside on a blanket while the boys meandered the yard while staying within view.  this was the way i mothered roman and i expected it to repeat with asher. 

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one thing that i'm learning is that motherhood isn't about me. it isn't something that is always easy or always what we expect. it is about sacrifice and self giving and it is about growth and lessons and love. i am so blessed to have ash. he is so totally unique and sometimes i wonder if there is anyone on earth quite like him. of course there isn't. every baby is new and wonderful and uniquely themselves. it is so fun to see these two beautiful souls that God gave me. i still have so much to learn. i still have so much of myself that needs to be shaken and rocked and adjusted. i still need so much more God and so much less me in my heart and mind. one challenge for me right now is mustering up the constant energy to handle asher's wild wild and crazy side. 

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but sometimes, moments happens like tonight - when we went to kroger, and the boys pushed the little kids cart together and helped pick out and load up tea and fruit and snacks, and roman stacked things up on the self checkout for me while i scanned, balancing ash on my hip, and we all pushed the cart to the car together, and it's moments like that that i feel the fog lifting, if only for a moment. :)

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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.
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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.
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roman's words:
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"you're different than just any old girl; you're my mommy"
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"there has to be God. or else the world wouldn't feel like joy!"
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"the more love, the more happy."
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"i was MADE for hug and kisses"
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"i was made for everything love."

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