Take That Picture!

Do you take your own pictures of your kids? Family pictures? A few years ago I bought a really nice and expensive camera because I wanted to take professional pictures of my kids. We were in college and getting pictures taken was not an expense I wanted to have, but I still wanted to have some great pictures of my kids. And, as you would have it, pictures are still out of my price range and so taking my own pictures still makes the most sense.

School pictures were this week and to be completely honest, I never buy the pictures for a few reasons.

1- I find them pricey and we are a one income family.
2- I only really want the 8x10 picture but it is only offered as a bonus package.
3- The kids are wearing their uniforms.
4- I prefer pictures taken outside with scenery and cute clothes that portray my children's personalities.
5- I own a very nice camera and take my own pictures.

Now all this being said, I am not dissing school pictures-- I think school pictures are great-- I do purchase the class pictures and yearbooks for my kids. In a perfect world, I would probably have one of those picture frames with a large slot in the middle for the current picture, and then the 12 slots all around with pictures taken from Kindergarten all the way up to 12th grade. I love those! I really do! But it's just not how I roll. Instead, I have thousands of pictures of my family and kids on sd cards, on my camera and my phone, and many more saved on our external hard drives. There are so many in fact, that sometimes when my husband and go through them, we have forgotten that we had even taken the pictures in the first place. I do miss the day and age when we didn't have the option of saving our pictures and had to have them printed to be placed in photo albums and/or scrap books. We took less pictures then, but in a way that made them that more special.

One of the things that I struggle with about taking my own pictures is that I am constantly putting off going to get them printed. It's one of those lies I tell myself, "I'll do that tomorrow," or "..."next week," and "...next month for sure!" For some reason, making it down to my local Walgreens, with my sd card in hand (because I actually do go to Walgreens often, but forget to bring my sd card) just doesn't happen. Maybe it has something to do with 'mom brain' or the fact that in my head I have a checklist in the order of things I need to do, and getting the pictures printed always seems to be at the very tail end. Now, you're probably thinking-- this alone is a good reason to pay for school pictures. That is definitely a good argument, but for me the offset savings is still a big perk. I just really need to do a better job and actually get the pictures printed.

Most of the pictures I take are completely on the spot, not planned and because we are doing something great and fun and I just need to capture this moment. However, I actually do take my kids out for photo shoots and take them to scenic places to take their pictures. It's a half a day affair and I'm not sure that the kids completely love it, but I string them along anyways with promises of a prize of some sort at the very end. And the pictures at the end are darling!! It captures who they are, with genuine smiles and completely in their element. Also, it fills my heart to look back on those pictures after some time has passed, not only to reflect how young my children look, but to remember the memory of that day and how we came to have those pictures. Even though it may not be the best way to spend a Saturday morning according to my kids, I do hope that someday they will look back and appreciate yet one of the things we did together as a family and the memories that follow.

Today, Facebook is huge when it comes to sharing pictures! And so is Instagram, Snapchat, etc. But I really ever just use Facebook and don't have Instagram, so I can only really talk about Facebook. So, back to Facebook... that is where the majority of the pictures that I take on my phone end up. We have family all over the country and even the world and so sharing on Facebook is the easiest way to stay connected and share a glimpse of what we are doing in our lives. When I notice that I have a lot of pictures on my phone, I will start to load them onto Facebook and then delete them off of my phone. I guess I am using Facebook as a storage for my pictures; it's fast, easy and limitless when it comes to space. The downside to using Facebook however, is making sure that not just anyone can view your pictures. I have my setting so that only my Friends can see the pictures and no one else. I also make sure that 'location,' is turned off on my phone so that when I post the pictures, our location can't be tracked. It was something I read in an article a few years ago that I found helpful.

Hopefully after this post, I will take my children out for another photo shoot. I am taking pictures for my son's soccer team since my husband is coaching his team and they will be for FREE. ;) So I might as well take my kids out for a photo shoot too. For now, enjoy this picture I took a few years ago from a previous phot shoot and a few I took this summer while we were at the lake! And tune in for some current pictures coming soon.

A Purposeful Blog

Why do I feel the need to blog?

Well, the other day my husband and I ventured into the Mother-in-Law suite (where we are currently housing our storage and holiday decorations) in search of his old school Nintendo. Our children, L age 10, and K age 8 have recently gotten into Mario Brothers 3 and so my husband thought they might enjoy his old Nintendo with other Mario games along with other old school games. Anyhow, to make long story short, I came across a large storage container full of... wait for it..... journals! Back in the day, when I was a youth I wrote in my journal daily! Now, most of it is probably super embarrassing and not really worth a read unless you want a good laugh, but regardless, it was a record of my daily life and all that I deemed important. Fast forward a good 17 years later, I have a 10 year old and an 8 year old, married for 10+ years and I have no record of any sort!? I came to the conclusion that it wasn't enough that I have attempted to blog a handful of times in the last 10 years-- I actually need to blog. Let's face it, Facebook alone won't really leave my children and family a good representation of who I am and the things that matter to me. And, in this technology world, I have come to appreciate using a computer and keyboard and prefer it over a hand held journal and my messy penmanship. I mean spell check for crying out loud!!! That alone is a miracle. So, in a nutshell, I hope to- no plan to blog more often about family, faith, holidays, cats even, recipes, favorite books and authors, home, kids, mom advice-- etc. Everything under the umbrella of who I am and what is important to me. Follow me along on this adventure and I promise it won't be dull! Next month is November and that alone will give you and I reasons to salivate over recipes and then take a nap after we enjoy some turkey! But, that's next month still. Now, just a little info about me and my family!

Job Title:

Wife, mother of two- a girl and a boy, cat mom, substitute teacher at two elementary schools.

Hobbies:

Cooking, reading, baking, crafting, napping (hope that's a hobby), traveling and decorating

About Me:

I love Fall and cool weather. My favorite month is October-- I have seriously been in heaven this month! I also love Christmas and Easter holidays. My favorite food varies-- it really depends on my mood. I love to teach and subbing at schools is perfect for me. I love the ability to travel around and be able to be in different grade levels and I love the schools that I go to and getting to know the kids! I love being a mom. It is a job that I take very seriously and my children come first no matter what. My family and I moved to Louisiana four years ago, but we are originally from Utah/Idaho. We have come to love living in the south but still struggle with the heat and humidity at times-- but so do all the locals! My husband is a high school Math teacher, football coach and track coach. He's a great guy and I'm a very lucky girl and my kids are blessed to have him for a father. Hope to see you visiting my blog! It's going to be fun! Or at the very least interesting. ;)