Letting some things go for a bit so other things can fill their place. It's called progress.

The past couple of weeks have been so full that I've had to just let some things go. I've said to myself over and over "do what you can, don't stress over what you can't." I had swung pretty out of balance with beginning to obsess over keeping my house "just so." Not that it was ever perfect, but I was just thinking and caring about it too much. Like, it would make me grumpy if things were out of order. So it's not that I no longer care about my house, I just don't want it to affect my attitude or mood if things get a little crazy sometimes. Last week I had a huge photo session to edit, we had plans almost every night, and for some reason I could wait no longer to paint the living room and dove straight into that project in the midst of an already full plate. While painting the living room I had to let go of keeping the kitchen clean, doing laundry, sweeping, etc. It took me five days to finish the living room and I'm pretty sure the only thing that got washed in the kitchen sink were paint brushes during that time. And it was ok. We all made it. The boys were happy. The sofas in the middle of the living room were ships on the sea, and puppy cages, and towers and bridges and pews in a church and all manner of other imaginary things to them. I think that the chaos was actually really fun for them. And although my counters were cluttered and things were a mess, I had fun too. 

After painting all week and finally getting the living room back together by friday, saturday morning we went to a greenhouse and came home with all kinds of vegetables, herbs and flowers. I LOVE this time of year, and was so excited to plant what we came home with and spend time outside. But it meant my house needed to wait just a bit longer. I spent saturday and monday afternoon outside gardening and pushed all thoughts of what it looked like inside from my mind. Now it's tuesday, and I wrapped up the big photo session and mailed it off, I got all the vegetables and flowers that I could plant now in the ground, and finally today I cleaned bathrooms, did laundry, washed dishes... Our house feels like it has been reassembled, and after a week of disorganization we've come out so much further than where we were when it started. We have a freshly painted living room, a growing vegetable garden, flowers in the front, ferns hanging on the porches... And I was able to let go of stress and actually enjoy the process. I went around this morning and took some pictures of the things that came to be through letting some of the other daily chores go, and it was definitely worth it. Here's our living room this morning:

I wanted the paint color to read white when you first glance, but then feel a bit warmer and have a bit of a grayish, beige-ish undertone to it. This color was seriously perfect. It's called Pearl Ash by Olympic (via Lowes) and I love it. If you want to see what the living room looked like before you can view this post (it was awfully yellow-y before). And if you want to see my inspiration/vision for what the living room will someday look like, you can view this one. Phase two will be adding planked walls on one wall wrapping around into the hallway and kitchen. Someday :) It helps to realize that since writing the "inspiration post" I have gotten that beautiful white mirror on the mantle, the giant basket for blankets, and painted the whole space. Sometimes it's good to look back and take stock before you start looking forward again. ;)

I love bringing in little touches of what's growing outside... right now it's grape hyacinth and mint :) 

Above you can see the giant basket for blankets, only $19.99 at homegoods.

And below is a big beautiful mirror, $39.99 from homegoods. It was originally intended to hang above the sofa, but the mantle liked it so much it stole it from the sofa. Don't feel too bad for the sofa, it will someday be consoled by a piece of art yet to be created/found.

One big thing I wanted to do was make the living room kid friendly. This is where we live, after all, and the boys spend hours of the day playing in here. Under the end table is a basket of their toys, and some of our favorite kids books are left out on the table all the time. We read with them a lot, whether it's random times of the day or after dinner, or just if they're needing snuggles and we all climb on the sofa together.

The tv cabinet is great storage for bigger toys, puzzles, all our games and kids dvds too. And the kids chalkboard and chair and adorable besides being fun for them to use :)

I would have loved to rearrange furniture after painting, but we're pretty limited with where we can put the tv cabinet. So this layout is staying for now :) 

After taking pictures of the living room I went outside and took a few too :) 

There is something so peaceful, breezy, and cottagey about ferns hanging on the porch.

And the vegetable garden:)

All of that lettuce was coming up from what we let go to seed last year. I just transplanted it into rows. :) 

Tomatoes, cucumbers, bell peppers, jalapenos, garlic chive, rosemary, stevia, basil, cilantro, sage and oregano make up the rest of the garden. It's amazing what you can grow in a small space. Hoping our blueberries and strawberries will give us a little fruit this year too :) 

So here's to being on the other side of a crazy week and having no regrets, living it up in the midst of the mess, and sitting down and smiling now that things are coming back into order again :) 

Mother's Day: Extended Family Session

Just a little over a week ago I had the privilege of taking photos of a whole extended family together. I took Shaun along as my second shoot since it was the most people I've worked with at one time, and we had a blast. 

Zach was the one who pulled the whole thing together, and when he first contacted me a few months ago we came up with this totally customized package for them. This shoot was to be a mother's day gift  for all the mom's represented in the four generations we have together in these images. We met at Zach's 1860's farm house and took photos under these huge old pines, on the side lawn, and on the porch of the old stone house. 

What I love most about this is seeing how it all began with his grandma and her three daughters. Add in spouses and then seven grandchildren, their significant others, and five great grand children and you have quite a legacy. Family is such a beautiful thing, it was so fun to see them all laughing, interacting, busting on each other and smiling together. 

We started with a photo of all of them together.

Then we broke it down and took family photos for each daughter, and eventually each of the grandkids. We started with Zandra's family, her two daughters Jessica and Morgan and her four grandbabies, Skyy, Makalie, Ella and Christopher. 

We took some of Morgan, Mike and Christopher next. Her son is only two months old and he did fabulous through the whole time we were there taking pictures. 

Next we took some of Jessica, Josh, Skyy, Makalie and Ella.

Her daughters are just beautiful.

Most of my shots from the day were more formal/posed photos, but I couldn't resist sharing this more candid image of Ella. Love how she's holding onto her big sister's necklace. Such sweet innocence.

Next up was Karen's family. Her three daughters Mandy, Alyssa and Autumn and her grandson Gavin (plus grandbaby to be; Alyssa's expecting) 

Just love the one below of Karen & Gavin.

Three sisters + baby on the way. :)

Alyssa, Eric and baby to be.

Mandy, Juan and Gavin.

Autumn & her boyfriend.

And last but not least, the Workman family, Rhonda, Goldy, Zach and Josh. 

The boys and their mama.

Rhonda wanted to take some less posed more candid photos too :)

Josh and his girlfriend Jamie.

Their puppy Jingo joined us for some :)

And we got a few of Zach and his yorkie, Titan, too :)

Then we took some of all the grandkids and great grandkids with their granny. 

Then just the grandkids.

Then just the great grandkids.

And then a few of just the great grandkids together.

Christopher started giving his mama the sweetest little smiles, so I had to share that too :)

We finished up with Zandra, Karen and Rhonda and their mama together. 

Three sisters. 

I can't thank you all enough for trusting me with these photos, I had so much fun meeting all of you. I hope these are treasured memories for you all for years to come. Thank you again for asking me to be your photographer, and a big thanks to Zach for setting this all up. 

To everyone else reading this, Vintage Rd. Photography will now be offering this "extended family" package in addition to our standard package for those of you interested. Stay posted for the details coming on our facebook page later this week :)

The Daily Files

Those moments that we hold so dear to our hearts are sometimes sandwiched between chaos, drenched in exhaustion, splattered with frustration, lost in the mess.... But I refuse to let them stay there. It is my mission to search for them, air them out, pour my attention over them and relive them over and over.

I always lay down with my boys til they fall asleep at nap time each day. Today I went through my usual requests for quiet and laying still etc. etc. With me and all three boys in a double bed settling down is sometimes a difficult task. Everyone was finally quieted down and Drew was rubbing my side..... he whispered quietly to me and asked why my skin was bumpy. I told him I was cold and they were called goosebumps... He very quietly sat up and reached for a blanket from the foot of the bed and pulled it over me, tucking me in just like I do for him. Then he laid down next to me and put his arm around me and smiled this sweet, brown eyed bashful smile at me as he could apparently tell I had melted into a puddle of mush over his actions....

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I wrote the above a few nights ago. I could hardly continue writing for all the emotions crashing around in my heart. Sometimes you have writer's block for not having the words to say. Sometimes you have writer's block for having too many of them and not knowing which to let find their way out first. The latter is my case lately. Beyond this post I have about five others started from the last few days and not one of them yet finished. But I keep returning to this one.

As I thumb through the pages of words/thoughts/emotions that make up my day when I climb into bed each night, which do I pause on? It's easy to pause on the difficult parts, pull out those pages and read them top to bottom. But I think I'd like to let them stay in the file unread. Instead I'll pull out that moment when Isaiah came into my room this morning and his eyes lit up and he told me I looked beautiful for church. I'll read that page over, the way my sweet boy number two is so observant, that he notices clothes and has opinions and likes it when I get dressed up, the way he shakes his blonde hair out of his eyes, the way he calls me mommy... I think I'd like to pause on that page, too, when I nursed Jaden to sleep tonight and he rested so peacefully in my arms, little puffs of air coming out through his open baby lips. His peaceful eyelashes, his smooth chubby baby cheeks. When I got Drew out of the bathtub the other night he asked me to hold and rock him wrapped in his towel to warm him up. He hasn't asked me to do this the past few weeks, and it almost slipped away without me knowing it. I wrapped him up, pulled him onto my lap, rocked him, and unbeknownst to him, cried into the little hoodie part of his shark towel as I warmed him up. So it's decided. I'll pause on the daily files that bring joy, that make me love what I do. I'm pretty sure most moms wish someday that they could have back the days when their babies were little. And I'm living and breathing that season right now. I want every piece of happiness it has to offer. No dwelling on the difficulties or frustrations. Just reliving the beauty.