A little while ago I shot for myself.  It's rare during the busy season that I pick up my big camera and take pictures of my own kids, so I decided one day to do exactly that.  My personal project was to document an average day in my home-- to ignore all the imperfections and just capture our life--- which is in fact, perfectly imperfect.  My boys were home from school, so there was more done than in a normal weekday, but that just meant more for me to capture.  During the school week it can get a little lonely around here with these three rug rats gone at school all day. As we head into winter break in the next few weeks I look forward to shooting more of my kids and our everyday life. 

Every morning my two older boys wake and head downstairs to catch some of their favorite morning shows.  They also only get to use their ipad on days off school or on the weekends, so they are usually excited to play with those, too.  My littlest guy wakes up and normally climbs into my bed for some snuggle time fore joining his brothers in front of the tv.  

One thing I need to overcome when shooting my kids is the idea that they should be dressed nicely.  This really is so dumb and I hate that I want to like what they are wearing in their pictures.  The clothes they choose are how they want to identify and show what is important to them right now.  And if I I want to capture them, who they are, their interests and as they are then their outfit choice can really share alot about them. My older boys are drawn to comfortable clothes, which also happen to be athletic clothes and I'm just not a fan of that look, but again, for this project I wanted to document and that means catching everying as it is and this is who they are.

Anyway, after getting dressed and brushing teeth, we headed over to a local park to do some location scouting to a future session.  The boys rolled down the hills and ran, racing each other.  Though they may fight, these three really are the best of friends and love each other through and through --and that makes my heart so happy!

Of course my littlest guy, Emmett, was upset always coming in last during the running races, but when his brothers let him have a head start, he was all smiles again!

Next stop was a trip to the grocery store.  E was mesmerized by the claw game and desperately wanted to get a ball with the claw. No dice.

Making it through the grocery store with these three is next to impossible. They are all over the place and I find myself tearing open bags and boxes of food just to feed them, keep them happy and buy myself a little more time.  They had fun weighing produce and lifting squash like hand weights.  These boys almost made it through a whole bag of Cheetos before we left the store. Between the three of them they will eat me out of house and home! 

A quick trip to Five Below was next on the agenda, so my boys could spend their earned allowance.  It is rare that I let them spend their money, but they had worked really hard and each had a $5.00 bill burning a hole in their pocket.  Carter chose sunglasses, Owen picked a soccer ball, and Emmett played with everything, couldn't decide what he wanted and so he walked out with nothing.

And of course, moments later in the car on the way home, he regretted his decision to not choose anything.  He was angry with me for not turning around.  Love his Cheeto covered pout here.

Lunch.  Because the food they consumed at the grocery store was not enough.  Side note- It killed me not to remove the kids backpacks from the bench before shooting this picture and not to "clean up the floors" while editing.... again, I had to let go of the imperfections and document.

Naptime. A break for me.

While Emmett napped, Carter read and Owen made Apple pie with me.

Then it was homework, dinner, bath and bed.  This is what a day in our family looks like.