Get in the picture.

   Sometimes I'm a little late to my New Year's Resolutions.  As in, making them in February.  But January is still so hectic with the dust settling from Christmas, and New Year's parties and so on, and there's all this pressure to quickhurryupfastrightnow choose your resolutions and start them, and sometimes I need to let my head stop spinning and clear up a bit, and then a new one comes to me.

Like this one.....GET IN THE PICTURES WITH YOUR KIDS.

   We all like taking a ba-jillion pictures of our kids, and with good reason.  They change/grow so quickly and we need to capture these moments while we can, and they are going to cherish them later.  But I remember as a child just LOVING looking through old photo albums that had pictures of our parents.  The ones of us kids were fun to look at too, but whenever I saw one of Dad and Mom, I just sort of stopped, and stared.  I loved taking it all in....the ebony waves of her hair, the sandy brown waves of his, the dark, doe-brown eyes of Mom, Dad's striking green, the dress she was wearing, the muscle tee on him, the dishes she was washing, the way he carried my sister and I around on his shoulders....whatever it was, it captured them in that moment, and that is something that otherwise I would never really get to witness.  Because when our parents are young, well, we're babies.  So we don't get to experience that part of them unless it is through pictures.  So preserve those moments for yourself, but also for your children who will one day be so glad you did.

End rant.

   Yesterday we had an unseasonably beautiful day, and the girls and I went outside for some fresh air.  And yes, the grass truly is that green, folks.  I didn't even touch the saturation on most of these! Just a gorgeous, breathtaking January day.  We even went for a little bike ride.  O.k. I'll stop making you all jealous.

    Jocelyn's been doing this strange, bizarro thing lately where when you go to kiss her, she tries to lick you.  Odd, and quite surprising, I will say.  Little stinker.

    "Just give mommy a normal kiss, please?"

    Charlotte didn't do much but lay on her blanket looking cute.  Which I must say she did quite well.

    What?!  One of the three of us together?  Unheard of!  Impossible!  Miracle of miracles!  And....a little fuzzy.  Can't win 'em all.

    One thing I do love about our place is the gorgeous trees.   Call me picky, but that is always one of my "must-haves" when looking at places to live.  O.k. so it's not a deal-breaker, but I'd always prefer for it to have old, stately-looking trees, if at all possible. 

    Look who's standing up!  This little muncher is sooo strong.  Jocelyn at this age would barely even lift her head much when you laid her on her tummy.  I am preparing myself for an early walker.

And one with Uncle Shelby, who was the photographer for a lot of these.

   So, that being said, I know first hand how HARD it is to get pictures of yourself with the kids.  You have a million opportunities to snap ones of them, but not so much ones of you all together.  It's hard to get them to hold still for one thing, much less prop up a camera on some rickety contraption and set the timer and manage to miraculously get everyone looking for one moment in time.

   Obviously, the easiest/best solution is to have a professional photographer at your beck and call.  But since most of us don't (with the exception of a few that are married to one, lucky ducks) we have to come up with something else.  Like a friend, spouse, or brother to take the pictures for you.  In this instance, I used the latter and we had a marvelous time.  Shelby was so kind to indulge me in a mini photoshoot and I finally got some pictures of me and the girls.  It had been TOO long.  And you don't have to travel far at all!  These were just taken in our back yard.

  So  that is my inspiration for all you mommies today....get IN the picture.  And aren't you glad times have changed from this, when the mother didn't want to be in the picture?  Those poor kids....I'd bet they'd love to look back and see what their moms looked like then.  So bizarre.  P.S., that is a really interesting post, but I'm not personally endorsing that blog because of her EXTREME liberal views.  In fact, it makes me so steaming mad sometimes when she talks about abortion or politics that I can hardly see straight, but then I figured it's actually good to read something out of my little personal bubble of beliefs, so that I can know how to address/ respond to issues with non-believers.  Another bunny trail....

With that, I will sign off.  It's the weekend everyone!!! Hope you have a great one.