Strategy Readjusting - The Art of Being a Mom & Documenting it Along the Way

"Dear Mom,

You sometimes get frustrated at us for not acting our age, and then start crying because we're growing up too fast.

Sincerely,

Pick One!"

I feel like this quote pretty much sums up everything in my life right now with these three chicks. As I mentioned before, this Summer was a bit hard. Don't get me wrong, it was really fun too!... but also hard. My girls are 7, 7 and 5; going on 17, 17 and 15.

We receive compliments almost daily about how polite, independent and well-behaved our kids are, but I wonder at times if all of those "social awareness" talks - ex: "Don't run around in stores/others homes", "Whisper observations about others you want to know/talk about into Mommy or Daddy's ears, instead of blurting them out loud", "Don't whine if you can't have your way", "Keep your hands to yourself" and learned skills we've taught them - Making their own breakfast, picking their own clothes cleaning up messes, walking the dog and practicing piano daily - have made my girls grow up too quickly (?)

I noticed this year especially, that my kids were MORE than ready to head off for their first day of school. No tears, no hesitation, just smiles, kisses & hugs, waves and joyful goodbyes!

:(

Isn't this how I WANT it to be? What lots of parents dream of for their child's first day in an unfamiliar situation?

The easy answer... Yes!

The more complicated, emotional one... Not really. ha!

I can't believe how MUCH I miss these little people during the day. How much I've struggled with being away from THEM, more than they have with being away from ME. I fear that they are growing up too fast, and I just want to freeze time, so that I can capture and cherish every funny conversation and happy memory that comes my way!

That being said, it's no surprise that I'm a picture-takin' fool. Between Instagram and the blog, something is always being documented around here... and I love it.

Truth be told, I have the worst memory. Short term stuff is easy for me, but trying to remember little moments and the way I felt years and even months ago, is a totally different story. For this reason, I rely heavily on blogging, journaling and most of all, picture taking.

"THE BAG" of pictures that are awaiting journaling

Last year I started an InstaLife album with Project Life, and it fueled the fire within me to get going on photo journaling, and actually PRINTING the memories that I have stored on my computer and in my phone, so that me AND my family can enjoy them. Since then, I've been keeping my cute friend Chari at Persnickety Prints busier than ever. I especially love being able to assemble photos on my PicFrame iPhone app, email them to myself and then upload them to Persnickety to get them blown up into a big 12x12 size. Can you say Insta-collage!?

The BEST Smartphone Photo Editing App - Rhonna Designs is Here!

So MANY of you have asked me about how I edit my Instagram photos, and while I touched on a few very important, useful and life-changing iPhone photo editing apps here in this post, when it comes to adding fun elements to my photos, Rhonna Designs is where it's at!

Up until now you've had to purchase Rhonna's individual design elements from her shop, upload them to your phone and then use them... but, not anymore! I've been helping beta test the new Rhonna Designs app, and I'm happy to report that it's FINALLY ready to go in the AppStore!

Our Instagram feed is like a mini blog post in ONE photo, so being able to add elements to my pictures, to enhance the beauty and story behind it, is a HUGE bonus!

Here are a few ways that I've used Rhonna's app.

How to Print your Instagram Photos - Persnickety Prints

I'm answering the burning question today of :

"How and WHERE do you print your Instagram photos!?"

This is a question we get asked on a weekly basis, so I thought it was definitely time to address it properly. Let's get down to business...

First of all, for those of you who don't know... YES! You CAN print your Instagram feed into actual, hold-able photographs! Here are a couple of important things to note though:

1. A camera phone picture, is a camera phone picture.

What does that mean? Well... basically, for the most part, even though sometimes close, Instagram photos rarely, if ever, are going to have the same, crisp quality of a photo that you would have shot with a high-end digital camera. This is the truth no matter WHERE you print your images from. Your Instagram photos, especially if you add cool photo effects to them, will probably turn out a bit grainy... and THAT'S OKAY!

I feel like semi-grainy, Instagram photos that I have printed out are just, if not MORE exciting to me than perfectly pixelated professional ones. My Instagram photos tell stories, help me relive that quick, special memory and for me, there's something really fun about the fact that my kids can look back at them one day and say... "Oh my gosh, remember when people printed photos from Instagram and they looked like this?"

2. Having your Instagram photos IN HAND is more thrilling than you might think.

I've been known to shed a happy tear or two when my Instagram prints come in the mail. Even though I'm the one taking the photo and editing it, the feeling of actually holding that moment in your hands is something that can completely brighten my day. It's tangible. It's something that I can look at anytime I want, without holding an iPhone to my face. It's a memory OUT of my device and in front of me to enjoy.