Family Pictures

One of our family's traditions is our annual photo shoot. My mom always made it a priority to document our family's growth, and she passed that on to me, so every year I dress up my family in coordinating outfits and we drive out to a scenic spot.

In my minds eye, I expected our family photos would go something like this: 

Of course, my life (and I suspect yours) isn't reflective of a pinterest board, so our family photo shoot looks a lot like this:

 2011 was the first year I had two children. I spent lots of time and money choosing outfits, hair styles, planning nap time and feedings, finding a location and researching poses. Not a single member of my family cooperated.

After fighting with my two year old to be cooperative, trying to get my newborn to do something other than cry and want to eat, and becoming exasperated with my husband, I was sure the photo session was a bust. I went home and cried and cried and cried (and then I cried some more). Fortunately, our photographer happens to be my good friend Chelsea, who is extremely talented, and she knew what she was doing. Though we had several terrible photos, we managed to get a couple that have been my very favorite pictures of my daughters and my little family.

So I've learned to let it go and embrace the crazy. It's not so stressful to me anymore. So, readers, I'm inviting you to my home to see the pictures on my walls because I'm proud of my valiant efforts. Just know for every one of these:

There are just as many of these...

*Note: I am so grateful to my friend Chelsea, and I'm grateful that she is willing to include the crazy pictures in with the beautiful ones. A) They keep me humble and B) they keep me smiling. These are my kids and I'm so happy that they have giant spirits inside their little bodies and I wouldn't have them any other way.