As a mom, I struggle with being consistent. I have seriously good intentions, but I’m terrible with the follow through. Chore charts, behavior charts, meal planning, cooking, folding laundry, enforcing screen time limits, summer reading…I could go on. The struggle is real folks.
I can only think of 2 things I’ve been consistently consistent with, in the last 10 years of being a mom: bedtime, and family pictures.
Yikes. My poor children. I hope they can function as adults one day.
I did say I have good intentions…and I even have my moments when I’ve followed through for a solid amount of time. Like one time I made a months worth of freezer meals, and we ate a lot less pancakes and cold cereal that month. Or the 4th version of chore charts that actually worked for like half a school year. My kids even ALMOST finished the library’s summer reading program once.
But, you better believe that my kids are in bed at the same time every night. Sometimes that means other things get sacrificed, like bathing, or reading, or eating (don’t worry, they had the chance to eat at dinner, they just chose to wait until 1 minute before bedtime to claim utter starvation). Bedtime is gold. And momma is DONE at bedtime-o-clock.
You also better believe that we have at least 2 family pictures from every year. Even before I knew what I was doing behind a camera, someone would take our family picture. And I love every single one of those pictures. And my kids love looking at them. And every single picture sparks a memory. Usually of which child wasn’t cooperating, or how excited my husband was for that particular picture (insert sarcasm).
I was meant to be a photographer. I’ve always loved pictures. Even before I knew I loved taking them. It’s probably because I’m a very visual person, and I have a terrible memory, so I need those pictures to help me remember.
I usually try and do pictures in the spring and fall. Mostly because of the more pleasant weather, and it feels a lot less like torture if you aren’t freezing or sweating, which means the odds are more in our favor for happy people and smiles. But this year it just didn’t happen until 2 weeks ago. But I’m ok with it, because THIS IS MY FAVORITE ONE. Ever.
Everything about our family pictures makes me smile. If it’s been awhile since you’ve had a family picture, don’t wait a second longer. They are ALWAYS worth it.
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