Another year in the memory books. Did you capture those everyday moments last year?
Those toddlers are teenagers now and the cute chubby-faced photos don’t fill the camera {or camera phone} as much.
It’s the “Teen Factor”.
I’ve got two teens in my house with one college bound. It makes me cringe and tear up every time I think about her adventures to come.
You betcha it’s exciting!
But I’d be lying if I didn’t admit that the closer WE get, the more anxiety it causes me.
Big changes have always been hard for me, and my photography brings calm to those anxious feelings I get when something BIG is coming our way.
It might sound silly, but the year Thing 2 started kindergarten I was A MESS!
A big-red-eye-mascara-running-MESS! I didn’t want to lose him all day to school + he wasn’t real excited about going. If you picture a screaming, crying and flailing 5-year-old you’ll come close to what our morning drop-offs resembled the first few weeks.
TORTURE!
That same year I did a 365-project to record our everyday moments. Having all of those photos to look back on now brings back moments I had forgotten about. Yes, there were a few gap days because life happens, and then sometimes I’d take two or three photos in the same day.
BALANCE is huge with kids and taking the lead from them + not forcing things all the time.
You can start a 365 or 52-week photo story at any stage. Record your everyday moments in any of these life phases {there’s no rules}::
- Pregnancy
- Babies first year
- Toddler phase
- The terrible two phase
- Remember that Covid-19 thing? {yep, I’ve got a photo story of that}
- High school years
ARE YOU WITH ME?
Most moms take on a 365 Photo Challenge when their kiddos are younger, mainly because they are around their kids a lot more + their kids still like them ALL THE TIME.
I do think my teens are pretty great, but life ain’t perfect and we have our days that I want to hide in my closet with a box of caramels {and maybe a box of kleenex}. I STILL WANT memories of these years in photos + some videos. Our memory books shouldn’t end once the teen years start. The annual Christmas card doesn’t a year-long-memory-make.
I return to a photo project often and it’s a new family autobiography.
If you need a list to follow for your 365-project or week-52 photo journal google those words and oddles & doodles of lists will come up to guide you.
I share my weekly photo journal from time-to-unscheduled-time. You’ll find them on my social media::
- SMP SHINE facebook group {Closed group you can request access}
- Instagram {both business + personal}
- SMP Facebook {public group}
Capture your everyday memories.
For me, as we inch closer to the next phase in our family, I want – actually, I NEED – to have these memories. If the quiet school days of the kindergarten years were hard, I’m a little scared about how tough letting go of my first-born to her college adventure will be {yep, my eyes are welling even as I type}.
Cheers & Sparkle to your everyday moments captured!
💖-Andrea | Memory Keeper
