The Long family strikes again!!

On Saturday night I had the pleasure of once again shooting some pics for the Long Family.  Quincy is now ten months and this is the 3rd time I've taken his pics.  It will be really funny to collage his growth.  I've still barely scratched the surface of the pics I took, but there were lots of cute ones with Quincy now able to sit up and interact.  We took them at a small park near my house and I stalked the light all week to try and gauge the perfect soft dusk time.  In Denver we have a unique challenge with the mountains in that we never get light coming from very low on the horizon like my friends in KS or NE.  Also sunset happens VERY fast here.  With those things in mind I probably erred about 15 minutes on the early side and surely only I noticed the even more amazing light as we were packing up and heading to dinner.  If Quincy had been an older or younger kiddo, I might have begged for more but he was all done at the point and we were all thankful to head to a delicious and relaxing dinner.  Thank you Longs for dinner and for helping me learn so much once again!!! I might just have this down in time for Quincy's senior pics. :)

Here are a few I've sorted and edited so far.......

tiny little star

One of the most amazing parts of being a parent or even just being around little people is witnessing the wonder and innocence with which they see the world.  The other night Ben ran upstairs and things got quiet quickly.  Too quiet.  I followed him and found him outside on the deck as I had just let Luke out and not locked the door.  As I scooped him up asking what he was up to and telling him it was too late and too dark to be outside, he said, "one teeny tiny star mama!" as he pointed skyward.
He was so right! There in the black sky was one teeny tiny bright star.  A wishing star indeed.  My wish was that I remember to see the world a little more like he does and slow down a bit to imagine what he's taking in lots of wonderful moments I probably take for granted.

Star light, star bright,
The first star I see tonight;
I wish I may, I wish I might,
Have the wish I wish tonight.

THE peacoat debuts

So I think I've touched on it a few times in the three years of this blog, but I collected lots of kiddo and baby clothes during my 6 + years with Gap Inc.  Good or bad, lots of it was given away as gifts before Ben came along, but there has always been one last item waiting for my own kiddo to wear.  I brought home this navy wool peacoat from work to a house FULL of Christmas guests during my freshman year of college and boy did I get a ration of grief!! It has never been forgotten by many in that group and the ribbing and grief has gone on for nearly 15 years.  
Thankfully I think no one can argue that it was well worth the wait and the moves to MT, CO, NC, CO, KS and finally back to CO.  Yes, that is one well-traveled piece of wool.  
We headed out to the park last night to continue our light testing for the Long family shoot and Ben was not happy.  Even the continuous M & M's did little turn his frown upside down but did well for his forlorn-toddler-model poses. :)

love this one in b&w

 

And....the crankiest of the cranky ;(

eager beaver

This morning as we were getting into the car to head to preschool (which Ben desperately misses over the weekend and asks to go to, ) Ben started telling me "good-bye" and "go away mama," before he was even in the car.  I told him he might just NEED me to make it to school but that I would promptly depart upon entering his classroom.  I tried to sit with him and make some connections in the science area between his favorite bottle of black liquid and other black things and he chanted, "bye-bye mommy," the whole time.  It makes me overwhelmingly happy that he loves school so much and what a perfect giggle-filled way to start the week!

test shoot

I'm hoping mother nature will cooperate and we'll get to snap a few pics of the Long family this weekend at a tiny little nearby park.  I also hope to make it to the park for some actual test shots with Ben this week but we did take some time to test the light on Saturday afternoon/early evening.  It was good light testing for me but even the promise of M&M's didn't work to entice my little man to look at the camera and smile-humpfffff!!

handsome Luke was a more willing subject

love the light and shadow here

"I really want an M, but I WILL NOT look at that camera!"

biggest smile of the attempt

great light near the bottom of the slide but he would only hang and refused to sit-humpffff!

campfire fairytales

Thanks to the kind suggestion from a great mom I've had the pleasure of meeting at Tante's work, The Lineberry's joined us Friday night for some Campfire Tales at the Denver Botanic Gardens.  
The fun began at 5:30 pm when we were ushered through the gates of the Mordecai Children's garden and countless adventures were laid out before us.  There was take-home ivy planting, scientific owl discovery, painting, and two sessions of African story-telling and songs followed by s'mores over the campfire.  We were able to take in a picnic including adult beverages and the early fall weather was perfect.  The standard garden activities were an added bonus and I think Grace, Sara and Ben would have been happy to dig in the dirt pit all night.  For the adults it seemed a perfect way to end the week and begin the weekend.  I know Ben will get more out of these activities as he ages and I can't stop giggling at his loudly proclaiming, "be VERY quiet," over and over during the thankfully raucous story-telling.   Cole and I commented on how hard it is to tell him to be quiet when we've been encouraging his language development for so long.  Sadly, Ryan was at work and missed this fun but I was super thankful to have the Lineberry's to enjoy the adult parts of the evening with.  These Gardens are very close to our house and it was a great reminder to stay on top of their calendar and take more advantage of activities like these and their summer concert series.

typical

 lots of opportunities for energy release!

love these two :)

indeed I am!

Ben was quite distracting for me but the gist of the stories sounded neat.

more single parenthood

While Ryan's work schedule has been less than ideal since we moved home, his current project has been quite a doozy! Many projects are 2-3 months total but this one has been going on since last winter with long-ish hours most of that time.  As many projects are, this one has been delayed several times and the original end date of last July in now promised to happen in the next week or two. 
I don't like referring to myself as a single-parent in these times because I know I have it WAY easier than true single-parents and that the financial support all of Ryan's hard work provides are just an added burden for those really going it alone.  That said, life's still tough right now-for all of us.  I have always been happy to take on lots of the tasks on the home-front as I think that's part of the contribution of  a stay at home partner (man or woman.)  I will say bike repair, tree cutting, and advanced lawn care were areas I was always happy to save for Ryan that I've had to tackle in the last week. It is nice to feel independent and to know I can handle just about anything on my own with Ben in tow, but it's also nice to experience life with the partner that I chose and love.  
It has been eye-opening how much the 20 minutes of solitude I get when Ryan puts Ben to bed effects my attitude and energy levels, not to mention the difference 30 minutes of post-dinner Dad play-time has on our whole life.  Having those 30 minutes each day to do dishes and pick up the house before another day begins are priceless and allow me to exercise and do other tasks without guilt while Ben is at preschool. 
It's also really hard not to be mad at a company that lets their employees work 20 hours a day for days on end after months of 60-80 hour weeks.  I am envious of those able to find a work/life balance while still advancing their careers but when I look around at friends and neighbors, I see proof that it's possible.  
Right now we are focused on the light at the end of the tunnel that is the end of this project and after that we will actively work on finding a better balance for all of us.  
The deeper point of this soap-box rant is that I know I have it SO great compared to parents really going it alone.  That doesn't mean the tough days and struggles aren't justified but at the end of those challenging days I think about Ben's birth mom and her day-to-day life on her own with two kiddos.  And then I think about Ben and all that is BEN being added to that mix and I am overwhelmingly grateful for the way life has worked out for all of us!

Swimlabs

Ben's latest swimming venture is turning out to be successful.  Swimlabs is turning out to be a great choice and has also been successful for a few different family friends of ours. 
After the first week, Ben's new teacher, John, questioned whether he would be successful in the beginner 2 class but when I assured him Ben's cries of "mommy, mommy!," only came when it wasn't his turn and that he'd been spoiled by private lessons for most of the last year, he agreed to let him try another few weeks.  As I suspected, he was quite successful in the second week and although the 3 other boys in his group are all 5 and a little more advanced, John thought Ben would catch up quickly.   The location is a bit of a trek and the 5 pm drive home in rush hour is less than fun but I think it will all pay off.  We are also hoping to make a regular date of meeting Ryan for an early dinner on these nights when his current project wraps up. I'm also working to clear our Saturday mornings to add an additional day.  While there is truly no-one better than Megan who taught Ben this summer, I'm hopeful that John and Swimlabs will be a great replacement in the winter months.

feast, flood, and fun

Wichita friends Brian and Angela came for a visit over the last weekend to see the band The Lumineers at Red Rocks.  Thanks to Angela's fan club membership we were able to get tickets to one of two sold out shows.  Despite many many hours spent in different degrees of downpour, our night at the concert was definitely the better one because the band was backed by the entire Colorado Symphony Orchestra for most of their show.
Brian and Angela arrived Saturday afternoon and we headed home to play and prep dinner.  Brian's suggestion of heading to the playground was a perfect activity for Ben and a great walk for Luke but continued storms made our park visit short. Many parts of Colorado have been flooding over the last week in what has been called a "thousand year flood," and "flooding of biblical proportions." Boulder and Aurora have been hardest hit with lots of other areas suffering lots of damage.  A few lives have been lost and I'm sure the clean-up will take years.  Thanks to the rain, we couldn't enjoy dinner on the deck but it was delicious and simple none-the-less.
We all tried to sleep in a little Sunday but Ben missed the memo. :) The iPad kept him quiet while Ryan and I prepared breakfast and started packing for the day.  According to Angela, Brian's second helping of breakfast potatoes was as rare as the flood and we all got well-fueled for the day ahead. We dropped Ben at MeeMee's to spend the night and grabbed a bite to eat (yes, more food,) and headed to Red Rocks to let the fun begin.  This day also happened to be mine and Ryan's sixth anniversary and except for less rain, we wouldn't have changed a thing about the day.

these aren't even THE stairs :)

cute! and so dry!

proof we are soul-mates:)

buddies

 

the trek in begins

waiting patiently and wet

what rain?

Said rain began about 30 minutes after we lined up on the stairs to get in and did.not.stop. for nearly 7 hours. I think we all stayed pretty warm and a little dry and our 3rd row seats and amazing musicians meant that at least for me, the rain was soon the furthest thing from my mind.  Ryan has said over and over how much fun he had! 
Monday morning came WAY too early and off we went back to the airport to bid our friends adieu.  Visits with good friends are never long enough but we are overwhelmingly thankful to these friends for making the quick trip to help us celebrate.

Red Rocks is special for us because Ryan first professed his love here one starry and concert-free night while we looked out at the city lights.  Just the fact that he picked a special place and time to do what's often a quick and simple mention is telling of the person he is.  Six years before on this day we were married at a little chapel down the hill that looks up at the amazing rocks that form the amphitheater.  Red Rocks is a really amazing place with a crazy ability to create some amazing experiences where nature's glory and lots of happy energy come together to create experiences that for me are nothing short of spiritual.  This day was no exception and I know that for both Ryan and me it was the perfect reminder of the depth of our love and the importance of taking time to honor it.

-Thanks to both Brian and Ang for several of the above pics and for joining the modern world and getting smart phones so they could take and share the pics with ease!