Years ago I remember reading a blog that a mom wrote about not being in her family's pictures. And while it was an amazing blog...that is not what my blog is about today.
Mine is much simpler and it's about an age old problem I think many moms have and a solution that is so simple!
Let's just start off with the statement that 2013 is not going down in the books as the "best year ever" for my family. It's a been a rough one with lots of challenges and hurdles- to say the least. The biggest challenge was that my sister and her family relocated to another state. This was heartbreaking for me as I grew up away from all my extended family. I was so happy when I had my children, and both my sisters and my parents with in the same metro-area. That meant my kids would have the joys of getting to know their cousins, aunts, uncles, and grandparents well! And while we still have family in town, the hole from the missing family members has been felt very deep.
So, I had the idea of planning a last family outing somewhere here in town, a weekend "stay-cation" if you would, right before they had to move. It was a great celebration! We went to a resort that had a water park. Our whole family (14 of us total, ranging from 2 yrs to 65 yrs) of us hung out all day, pigged out on pizza and junk food (my kids were delighted with the constant flow os "yes"s from me), stayed up late, and basically just enjoyed each other's company to the fullest! It was a wonderful experience. My kids are still talking about it months later!
However, when we got home, I was looking through my things, and I found my camera still packed in my overnight bag. Really? Not a single picture taken?! Of course, I took a few on my phone, but not many. I called my family, and everyone else was in the same boat. A couple pictures from cell phones (most were blurry or out of focus, but not a single one with the whole family or all the kids, or all the sisters....NOTHING!
Now this really upset me. My sister and her family were moving in 2 short weeks, we had this great experience, but no picture to really remember it. How sad! And I thought about it. This happens to me all the TIME! My kids birthday parties? Lot of action shots of the kids, but you'd never know that I was there or my husband. Why? Because we were always the ones taking pictures! Or we have a family get together, and there are no pictures at all because we were so wrapped up in the joys of each other's company...no one thought to snap some pictures. Now maybe I am being old-fashioned, but I feel that pictures are a great way to reflect back on our life. Especially as we get older. It's a way to bring yourself back to that moment in time, that gets lost in everything else going on in our mind as life goes on. But when you look at that picture, for a moment, all the feelings from that event come rushing back! You remember laughing, crying, you remember how you thought that "trendy" haircut looked "oh so good"!
If you have read any of my other blogs, you can tell that I am a planner..Type A to some extent. So I now saw a problem I had to fix, but without "Time Travel" listed on my resume under my skills....I had to come up with another solution.
And BAM! It came to me!
We had one more little "quality time" event planned: A Cousin Sleepover! My whole family would be there again, for one night at one house. So I asked a talent photographer friend of mine to come over for a little bit and snap some pictures while we were hanging out! No worries that anyone would be left out of this visual record of our time together, and nothing but enjoying each other's company! It worked wonderfully!
This is defiantly going to be a must from now on for us! I have never done it before because we had looked into booking a photographer for our massive family (14 is a LOT to us) pictures, but they were so expensive. But I found that finding the right photographer, and only using them for a short stint, was super affordable!
These are ours from Amber Carl Photography. She actually works in several states (Arizona, Alaska, Texas, and Washington) at different times of the year! And....she even offers a DISCOUNT to anyone who is a paid subscriber to our Membership Services online at www.BabyBasics4U.com!
As you can see from the pictures below, we had laughs and tears that day. And we will always remember it now! That last little day together...
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