Christmas Day we took a walk down to the unfrozen lake to catch a beautiful, peaceful and serene sunset.
At least, it looks that way after my efforts in Photoshop.
In actuality that moment, like the rest of our Christmas break, was full of kids (our three plus my two year old nephew), numerous dogs and not quite enough tired adults to field all the whining, barking, “Look at me!”‘s ,rolling in dead fish, crying and bouncing off the walls that was going on.
There has been a huge amount of material written about how we skew our internet presence to make our lives look better than they are. And to that I say, of course! I’m not taking a selfie in the clothes I’m wearing. Nobody wants to see the jeans I’ve been wearing for three days, combined with the top I worked out in, while I sport my “hairstyle” created through the subtle use of pony tails, sweat, and winter hats. Including me.
Including me.
I blog because I’m trying hard not to become one of the ferrets that eats it’s own young.
I blog because, if I look at this picture and squint just right, I can see all the fun, giggles, snuggling cousins and laughter that was mixed in the chaos.
I blog because sometimes, in the midst of the snot and the tears and the stinky dogs and the whining, it’s hard to remember that those happy moments are existing right along side. But if I share a moment like the one above, I’m sure to remember that life with kids is more than just accidents on the floor, snot on my shirt and sleepless nights.
I don’t need any help remembering what sort of mess I look like today, all that takes is a mirror.
Behind the Willows 
This is so true! We blog the moments because who wants to see the mess, right? All in all I think it’s been a great year of moments, don’t you? 🙂
I do think it’s been a great year of moments! I’ve been glad to see yours too!
🙂
Love it….yes my mirror could tell many stories, too! But capturing those moments is like distilling honey…worth all the effort for a drop of pure sweetness.
Yes! 🙂
Love it! So honest. Seriously, I am sick of looking at Facebook and seeing endless photos and gushing statements of how perfect family life is – no mess, no screaming, just perfectly groomed children in clean clothes. I ain’t real – just like the photoshopped photos of myself I put up there 😀. Love your posts Jessie. Keep writing (and reading).
Thanks Natalie! 🙂
I am all for a little bit of polish, no one really wants to see reality, do they?
We know what hides behind the gloss…and thats fine…
(I need to learn about photoshop!)
Photoshop is fun. So much fun I can spend hours messing with pictures if not interrupted. It’s a bit of a problem! 😉
tell me if it’s too complicated? or expensive?
Yesish…. It can be terrible complicated, (I don’t know how to use it to it’s full potential) but with a few online tutorials or articles you can get the hang of the basics pretty quick if you are willing to mess about with it. I started with that and then will look up how to do something special when I need to use it. Someday I’m going to take an online class… someday. As for price, for Christmas John just got me the newest version of Photoshop Elements for about 80$. So yes. pricey, but good and I used my old version for the last 5 years. Worth it in my book!
Reblogged this on Anita Dawes & Jaye Marie.
Lovely! I like the frankness of this. And that photograph is beautiful! I wouldn’t have a clue how to edit that myself.
Thanks, I’m no Photoshop expert, I just keep messing with stuff until I like it. One of these days I’ll take a course… one of these days… 🙂
Still cool! I don’t even know where I can get a version of it for my Mac that won’t update automatically. I don’t want to have to pay monthly.
I just bough a disc of photo shop elements through amazon and I’m pretty sure it was PC or Mac just a one time buy I wouldn’t pay monthly either!
Oh cool – I didn’t think of Amazon at all! I’ll definitely look into that, thanks so much!
Every. Single. Word.
That’s what I love about this.
I was looking back at some old photos (pre-blog days!) And it struck me how happy everyone looks. Including me. My actual memories of those days are a blur of four kids and pets and jobs and never enough sleep and doctors and (frequent) barfing–me in the mornings, on me at any time. But I think the camera didn’t lie. It just isolated little moments of truth out of the general chaos and turned them into the truths we took forward.
This was so nice to read, I’m not even sure how to respond. I just keep re-reading it.
Just, thank you.
I especially like the sound of the rolling-in-dead-fish activity!
The sound isn’t bad, it’s the smell… 😛
If there is a little mess on the surface, remember it’s what is below the surface that is showing through. You and John are wonderful, loving parents so who cares about anything else. Your girls are delightful and that is a reflection on the parenting they have had
Thank you Sharon. That means a lot coming from someone who sees us, mess and all, when we are out and about!
I love this post Jessie – telling it like it is but showing us the beauty of the moment – we have less rolling in fish but more rolling in fox s**t over here, I imagine it gives much the same result 😉
Baths, baths and more baths! 🙂
This is so true. I’m always amazed at how often you post. We only have one six year old and I can barely manage to post a couple times a month.
Well if start out with the theory that sleep is optional it’s amazing how much time you have! 😉 Now it’s turned into such a habit and bit of personal therapy for me that I’m not sure I can stop! 🙂