You may be thinking "Hmm, this sounds serious!
Well you're on the right track my friend!
A few weeks back I had a friend over for a coffee and some long overdue chit chat. It was so nice to be reunited again - but there were a few things she said that caught my attention. Our conversation carried on with the comments like "It's been so long! How have you been???" and the "Oh I just love all of the pictures you post of the boys they're so sweet and adorable" .... and the last one really stood out to me. "You have it all! Perfect family and a perfect life." This last comment caught me completely by surprise. When I asked what on earth she would make her think that she replied "The pictures that you post on Facebook - everything in them just looks so perfect!"
This comment has been stuck with me for awhile now...and I'm SO happy that she brought it to my attention. I'm usually famous for bringing the camera everywhere we go. I go overboard taking pictures of the kids and it's almost a challenge for me to see how many cute ones I can get. I love sending them to Ben's family in Germany, and of course sharing tons with my family and friends through Facebook. Out of habit I grabbed the camera on our way out of the house tonight. We planned to go for a walk on one of the nearby trails here in Burlington - so of course I couldn't forget it!
During our walk I ended up posting these pictures to social media...
Awww! So sweet! How "perfect" do they look! I mean come on...so priceless! I'll admit I love both of these pictures and the adorable vibes they give off.
But...yes I had to throw a "but" in there...
These 2 pictures do NOT define our walk tonight! I know, right? Shocked aren't you???
After starting our walk tonight it quickly came to mind what my friend mentioned to me. Of course it's completely normal for only wanting people to see the "nice" pictures of us/our families online. But I thought it would be good to take some pictures of the good and the not so good. The things that happen that we don't always exactly plan - but we just need to go with it. I think it's important to share with you the full extent of our walk. To show the Real Deal! It will be like you're on a "photo walk" with us...just without the sound affects of 2 whiny children for most of the time.
It wasn't all crazy of course! Like any day there's a mixture of both. Let's just say we'll add the hectic parts for some extra character.
We left the house later than anticipated. So our children ended up having crackers and chips for dinner. Which they were totally fine with.
Puddles are always a love/hate thing. Rain puddles you don't mind your children jumping and splashing in...but deep mud puddles? No thank you - As Landon would put it. Especially not when your almost 3 year old is wearing running shoes instead of rubber boots.
Let me see if I can get this right...
Ben: Landon, stay away from the mud puddle please. Landon, no mud. I SAID NO...WHAT DID PAPA SAY???
Landon: (Splash splash splash in the mud puddle) Sowee I didn't mean to...but I LIKE the mud.
I'm guessing this picture was taken before the mud puddle incident;)
(Mama, my pants are all wet! It's yucky!)
It was so nice to have some time outside today and to enjoy this blue sky and sunshine. Our oldest spent the entire walk looking for "dinosaurs" and was pretty disappointed when we didn't come across any. Ben was saying next time we'll bring along some toy dinosaurs and place them around the trail for Landon to find.
Mama, I want to hold your hand!
"Aww sure hunny!.........Why is your hand all wet, bud?"
L. I wipe my nose on it.
I managed to get some pretty adorable pics of Jeremy and that darling little smile.
But if we're being real here...he looked like THIS almost the entire time we were out.
I think others on the trail started to feel a bit sorry for us after awhile.
We reminded ourselves that the view from the observation deck was worth the distressed walk out there.
Since Jeremy was being impossible in the stroller and was screaming for long enough - I thought it would help him to have some sort of change. Why not a shoulder ride!
Well Landon was freaking out that Jeremy was on Ben's shoulders and not him.
"I want a Turn! I want up!!!!! Take Jaymee OFF! (whaling and crying)
I think Ben was starting to loose it. Smile for the camera hunny!
Yay! It's Landon's turn so all is well with the world! Oh wait...Jeremy is screaming again...
Let's speed walk to the car!
Hold up. Landon lost his shoe. He found that pretty amusing of course. Should we try to stop and get it back on? I can hardly think with the sound of baby screams in my head! Let's just grab it and just get back to the car asap!
My point here is to show that there is a much bigger story behind every "perfect" picture shown on Facebook. I often envy those "perfect in my opinion" pictures posted from others too - but talking to those people in person and hearing their struggles and experiences they've had throughout their day, gives me sort of this comfort knowing that they're actually not perfect either. This is how real life goes some days. We shouldn't always be trying to achieve that perfect picture...these are just fine too. We'll be imperfect along there with you - no shame in that!
I have to share this last one with you because this is hands down my favorite picture from the day. Giving Papa a hug while he was tying his shoe for him.
The good definitely outweighs the bad in a day. There's always a story behind every picture. This was ours. I'd also like to mention that the kids had something extra for dinner before bed. They didn't just have chips. But I wouldn't judge you if yours did.
Have a great weekend everyone!
S
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