The Puzzle

a little mental unraveling…

so here it goes….

I see LIFE as a giant puzzle,

and there are many little pieces to that puzzle.

Among all those pieces, there are:

HAPPY

FUN

LOOKS LIKE A PERFECT FAMILY

sort of pieces

 

and these "perfect moment" pieces are shared in photos, and in stories.

BUT....On the flip side

there are moments, even days (as with everyone else)

that the pieces to life's puzzle illustrate the "messy moments"

– an absolute disarray, turmoil, mayhem,

a wreck!!!

But it’s a beautiful wreck,

because we learn so much from those days

if we allow ourselves to!

But for the record, I’ll probably stick to blogging about what makes me happy!

Just so you know...

we have those chaotic, frustrating, and super complicated moments, sometimes days!

Real quick.

One more tidbit of frustration in our home on this "glorious day"…

so......my Bucket List

(trying to accomplish everything on it before the summer is history,

yet attempting and longing not to get uptight if we don’t fulfill everything,

or if it goes completely "NOT how I imagined!")

So my idea today....its raining, can't go outside

....lets build a fort!!!

Cross it off our Bucket List!

The boys were super excited, and we got a really cool fort built

(but everything unraveled before I got a photo!)

They started fighting about what goes inside the fort, and it just got ugly from there! We (Josh & I) both just observed them, and we both must have been thinking the same thing...

"surely one of them will give in,

and they'll stop fighting & work it out"

however,

the screaming got louder,

the punches got harder,

and one of us had to step in,

as they were both very determined. So I said it....

I had had ENOUGH!!!!

"STOP!!!! we're done!!!! the fort is coming down!"

Ohhhh my....

there were tears,

and more tears,

and yelling,

and more yelling....

you get the picture,

TOTAL CHAOS!!!

So behind our "perfect" photos and our stories,

sometimes there are ugly times,

There are hard talks, tears and all the stuff that makes a family real.

We have those times,

and we always will have those times.

Just because I don't write about them,

doesn't mean that they don't exist.
those times are real,

those times are memories too

I'll look back at all the times,

(good and not-so-good)

and appreciate both!

Family is hard work, but ever so rewarding.

And every memory,

every smiling moment,

every season,

every road trip,

every trial that ends with triumph,

every blog post is hard-earned.

But sometimes, the best things in life are hard-earned also!

This is life.

This is real life.

And there will be more chaos.

And there will be more frustration....

But there will also be

more joy.

more laughter.

more smiles.

more moments.

And there will be lots more Love.

And it is ALL worth it.

All of it.

So Bring on Life.

This is our life.

And I Love it!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

What is this blog for?

My reasons have changed over the last 2 years.

Initially, it was to promote my Photography work; however, I have laid that dream aside for now (in a sense)I was trying to juggle too many things:

striving to be a Godly wife

giving my all to be a nurturing mom (a new mom at that!)

keeping my house in order (did I mention I'm an organizing freak!?)

trying to grow both my Real Estate business as a Realtor for Kaufman Realty & Auctions, and my small photography business

and living what we call "Life"

 It was WAY too much!
 

I still love photography, and I still photograph my family, and try to capture the memories that are being made!
Seeing life happen through my lens excites me!

Crayons are a necessity around here these days! I love the masterpieces he creates, and I love hearing him sing as he colors! That's the best part!

 

A milestone has been reached at the Crilow house!

I'm not sure if its a milestone for me (the "helicopter mom" side of me) or Trevan!.....eating grapes WHOLE and not cut in half!!!

(its the little things, right?)

 

And this is just a sliver of our life...

what has been going on @ the Crilow House

so far this SUMMER!

Where have I been??

I have been spending time with some great families!!!

So much LoVe surrounding these photo sessions....

I know I've said it before....

but I just love seeing families interact with each other!

And the kids....

Just LoVe them!

They make LiFe so interesting!

For this first session, I was the one making LiFe interesting!

While I was on the ground photographing this CuTe family,

I smelled something TERRIBLE!!

I commented to them,

"someone must be hauling manure somewhere close by!"

But to my surprise, I was part of the stench!!

I had my elbow in a big pile of Dog POOP!!!

And I tell you what, it was a HUGE pile!!!

DISGUSTING!!!!

And it was not only on the sleave of my elbow, but all over my jeans!!!

Yuck!!!!

Well we continued on with the session....

Dog Poop and all! :)

And we got some really great shots of Little Miss Caoilainn and her Mommy & Daddy!

The Yoder Family

This next family could handle at least 3 more kids!!

They both stayed so calm and collected through our whole time together!

They have a beautiful family and I LoVe their kids' personalities!

Meet my good friend, Dr. Spitler and her family!

Her medical diagnoses (sp?) are always 'right on'

Too bad she can't prescribe antibiotics!!

These little munchkins are just Hilarious and so Cute!

Their expressions in this photo are just great!!

Never a dull moment at the Spitler House!

The Persingers

I love how this photo says

"Classy"

but then the barefeet say

"Carefree"

Such a Sweet Family!

Oh, and these beautiful little girls!

They are just the sweetest little things!

Little Jorjia is so funny - she likes to see how far I'll go to get her to smile!

But her 'serious' look is too cute!!

The Barkman Family
Surprisingly, with this many people (and a 2 yr old) - Love you, Hudson!!

....this session was easy!

Everyone cooperated very well, and we got a bunch of different combinations!

VERY nice lookin' family!!

LoVe this photo of these adorable kids in Action!!!!

My Dear Friend...

The weather was PerFeCt, the scenery was GrEaT, and the family was absolutely BeAuTiFuL!

Aside from photographing Family,

close Friends are the next best thing!

My dear friend, means so much to me, and she has helped me tremendously since I made the move to Ohio!

From planning my wedding,

to helping me adjust to motherhood

(she is such a great Mom, and I have learned so much from her, probably without our her even knowing!)

She always has time to listen, and offer her honest advice!

I truly treasure my friend, and I value our friendship more than words can say!

I admire her in SO many ways!

She is ALWAYS thinking of others,

with Christ's love shining right through her,

she is so giving,

thoughtful,

caring,

sincere,

and I am so fortunate to have her in my life and call her My Friend!

An All American Family

Complete with a Family Dog, named Cassie!

(Which did not want to cooperate for the family photo!)

This family is such a sweet bunch - great friends of ours!

And we have truly enjoyed getting to know them better the past couple years!

Our son, Lane just adores Kyle and Megan....

what a great pair to 'look up to!'

And its no wonder the kids are so great,

because their parents are just as wonderful!

They both have hearts of gold!

When we first started going to MCMC (church) this couple always made it a point to say "Hello" and talk with us!

Always so warm and caring!

They made us feel so welcome (Thank you!)

We are so fortunate to have them in our lives,

and call them our friends!

And once again, here's another family,

that I simply got carried away with!

I took entirely too many photos, but I just couldn't resist!

What an extraordinary family....

An All American Family!

New Love

I absolutely LoVe spending time with New Parents....

and their New Love!

I LoVe it because it takes me back to those first 6 months of my husband and I experiencing our New Love with our firstborn!

I LoVeD all the "newness" of our New Life together as a Family!

New Emotions

New Schedules

New Sleeping Patterns

New "Busyness"

New Stress

A New Life to Love

And a New Life for Mommy & Daddy!

My time spent with these two New Families was just wonderful~

I enjoyed every minute of it!!

Thank you for giving me the opportunity to have a sneak peak into your New Life with your New Love!

Our New Love....Our New Life!