Happy Birthday, babe!

 Happy birthday, Daniel!! We'll have to postpone our celebrations for a weekend when we're NOT packing everything we own into a giant UHaul. But I just wanted to say you are the best one. For real. The BEST. ONE. I'd be lame without you. You are a rockstar of a husband, friend, son, and dad. And I'm so grateful to be on your team.

(Our wedding day and the long wig my mom "double dog dared" our friend, Dan, to wear during the wedding....which he did.)

(I don't know what is happening in this picture--I wasn't there. This is what happens when I'm not around to keep people in line. Mayhem.)

Love you!!
Arian : )

Just Around the Corner

Sometimes making art is more restful than sleep for me. So I traded in a couple hours or so of sleep and ignored the packing boxes tonight for the chance to do a little "just for fun" sketching. It's just a little scene from our busy day.... a moment when we stopped to smell the newly blossomed flowers.

I came across this video about a month ago (I'm probably the LAST person to see it, it's been around for awhile!)  But it reminded me to take heart! I love winter but this one has been a particularly hard one. My heart is ready for a new season, new growth, fresh air!

Well I guess it's finally time to crawl in bed with sleeping beauty back there ; ) Shhhh...

Good night!

Arian : )

Welcome Spring!!

 Oh man, I am so pumped for spring!! The trees know it's here. All these flowers popped out over the weekend.

 We went for a walk yesterday evening to enjoy the early spring flowers, the warm(er) air, and the sunset over the spring rain-filled river.

 Our future new house (5 days til moving day!) has a deck and yard and lots of windows so I am excited to soak. it. in.!

 Hope you had a great weekend! Ours was filled with packing and family time.

Thanks, Nana and Pappy, for hanging with the boys!

 Mom, aunt, cousins, grandpa...

Happy spring!!
Arian : )

Instagraming!

I too am smitten with the instragram iphone app. We've been busy prepping for our move next weekend and spending time with family and friends. But there's always time to snap a few fun instagram photos! This week we...

...welcomed mom/Grammy home! She had tons of adventures in South Africa, Egypt, and Paris but is glad to be home. Yay! Did you hear the clip of her and my sis singing?

...worshiped and prayed with good friend four great nights in a row...

...played in the mud and looked forward to having our own yard soon. (own yard = big BIG mud pies)

... and double dated with Daniel's parents downtown at one of Cincinnati's best restaurants

So yeah, what a week!!!  Hope yours was great too!

Arian : )

Museum Bench

I have a cool opportunity to have my artwork in a museum. Granted, it's a childrens' museum and my art will be on this bench, not hanging up on the wall. But that still counts, right? : )

The museum staff wanted something that fits with the "my neighborhood" theme of this section of the museum so this is the illustration I came up with---colorful and sweet : ) It was a lot of fun to work on. And in a few weeks I'll paint the real thing. Fun stuff!!

I hope you had a good weekend! We went to our first ever roller rink wedding reception. It was pretty awesome. The boys had such a great time! Hudson's determination to learn to roller skate was astounding. He'd fall and cry and get back up, fall and cry and get back up. He was so sweaty and bruised but would not take his skates off til the last possible minute.

My little roller studs : )

We're knee deep in boxes and still have so much to do. It's hard to believe that, two weeks from now, this won't be our home any more!

And keep praying for the hearts and lives in Japan. I've spent 3 years of my life there and have a deep love and respect for the Japanese people. They are incredibly hard-working, loyal, and generous. Seriously...they are amazing people and the images we're seeing on the news are heart breaking to say the least. Our first apartment as a married couple was a tiny one-room apt near Osaka with a two-burner stove and a twin bed.  Love that place.

Arian : )

In Progress!

Hey! Looks like we found our new home! And I am pumped!! Our good friend and real estate/landlord extraordinaire just bought a sweet little home one town over from us. He's ripping out all the old carpet, wallpaper, cabinets, appliances, fixtures, etc and making it all pretty and new to rent out! And it should be done just in time for us to move in a few weeks. Yay!

It will be the first time in our married lives that we've had a house all to ourselves...our own yard, own laundry, our own garden!

I snapped a few quick in-progress pics. I'm excited to share the moving, decorating, home making journey with you all as we move into this place and make it our own!

In Progress: Living Room...

In Progress: Dining Room...

In Progress: Kitchen...

In Progress: Master Bedroom...

In Progress: Bathroom...

(I'm no plumber but that does not look right.)

In Progress: Sleeping Nooks...
The house only has 2 bedrooms but it has giant closets. So we're going to get creative with the closet spaces. One closet will have the boys' bunk bed in it. I'll make it cute and cozy....like a fun hide out!

And another closet (below) will be the mother-in-law/mom/Grammy sleeping nook for when my mom comes to stay.  I'm thinking shabby-chic cottage feel?

And another (not picture) will be a tiny, tiny studio for me : )

And here's the backyard! It's pre-removal of giant dead tree and pre-planting of flourishing vegetable garden ; )

That's your little "in-progress" home tour. It's amazing how much of a transformation this place will have over the next two weeks!  Our friend is a rehabbing machine!

Well, I've got to get back to our giant packing list!

Arian : )

EnterTRAINing Weekend

Daniel's wonderful parents took us all to EnterTRAINment Junction over the weekend to celebrate Jude's 3rd bday. It's a wonderland of model trains and fun house amusement. I knew Jude would LOVE it but I think we ALL had more fun than expected.

Jude was mesmerized by all the trains.

But my favorite was the fun house full of optical illusion rooms, mazes, etc.

The tilted room was soooo funny.

And this spinning tunnel totally messed with my mind. The walkway wasn't moving but the tunnel wall was spinning and I could NOT stand up straight. 

Mirror maze...craziness.

It was almost too much fun for sweet Jude to handle. He was out and drooling before we got back on the highway.

Thanks for such a fun Saturday, Nana and Pappy!!

Arian : )