Let's Get Real | Longview, Tyler, East Texas Photography

It's that busy time of year again!  My house is filled with pumpkins, cozy blankets, and the smell of Fall baking!  I really love this time of year in case you couldn't tell.  With kids from ages 6 to almost 18, each week finds us cheering at Football games, running to gymnastics, working in the concession stand, doing Algebra into the wee hours, and struggling to find time to still nurture our marriage relationship.

And I wouldn't change it for the world.  I love our family.  If you stop by, chances are our house won't be the cleanest on the block.  The laundry is almost never done.  I feel like I deserve a gold star if I throw some beans in a crock pot (which I did yesterday - aren't beans and cornbread THE BEST?).  There are half finished projects that show promise - temporarily abandoned because kids needed to be picked up from band practice.  But it's times like these when I think we have the best opportunity to rise to the occasion.  Show what we are made of.  When I overlook the crumbs on the floor in lieu of a few minutes of real and honest conversation with one of our kids - I'm choosing the greater good.

I also think it's times like these that we should choose to be real and authentic.  What we see of each other's lives on Facebook, websites, and blogs.  That's not real.  People don't post unflattering pictures of themselves with oily hair and baby vomit on their sleeves.  And it's so easy to get caught up in this idea of motherly perfection.  I REFUSE.

So in the name of full disclosure (and because a few people commented on how awesome my life seems) I'm going to be real.

1.  I got mad at my husband this week because I wanted him to hang some pictures.  Now.  Yep - we are talking full on pouty pants people.  The poor guy just. wanted. to. watch. the. Cowboys.  So what do I do?  Decide to do it MYSELF.  Whereby the wall falls down and I flip a breaker and eloctrocute myself so badly my arm muscles were sore the next day.  It certainly gave me a new respect for the electric chair.  I kept having flash backs to the movie "The Green Mile" where the guard didn't wet the sponge.  HE DIDN'T WET THE SPONGE.

2.  I made my kid cry because I told him/her last Monday morning his/her head was so oily I could fry an egg on it and "DON'T TELL ME YOU USED SHAMPOO."  Does anyone else's kids claim to take showers that you know there is no way in the Lord's blessed name could have happened because they stink to high heaven?  No?  Just my kids?  Don't worry - we washed that head in the sink and they got donuts on the way to school because I felt bad for making them cry.

3.  After I made my kid cry, grabbed a healthy breakfast of Mommy Guilt and Shame (see donuts), I get into a fender bender.  In the High School parking lot.  Even though it wasn't my fault I got to feel the intense humiliation that is HIGH SCHOOL as kids smirked and laughed and pointed.  The only thing worse for a kid than his mom WRECKING HER CAR in front of his friends would probably be if she yelled "have a good day sugar britches" out the window at drop off.  This may have happened.  OK - it totally happened and I laughed about it for weeks.

I could go on and on.  You see - our life is full.  It's full of wonderful, and it's full of the mundane.  And sometimes it's full of the messy.  But I embrace it.  I refuse to pretend to be some perfect parent that I'm not.  One of my favorite bloggers, Sarah Bessey wrote:

"My joy in mothering these small souls was restored to me when I was released from the prison of comparison. That yearning to measure up, to be The Perfect Mother, masquerades as selflessness but really, it’s approval addiction, it’s people pleasing and you won’t be the only victim of its poison and its bitter need for control. "

So that's what I'm doing this month, letting go.  Letting go of some other-worldy mother that is always calm, patient, crafty, baking, and scrap-booking every  moment.  That's not real folks. There may be days I accomplish some of those things, but I hope every day I accomplish this: I hope I teach my kids what real looks like.  What love walking around in skin looks like.

Now - on to the good stuff!  Here is just a teeny little taste of what's been going down this month.  I hope to feature each of these sessions in a full blog post, but for now I hope you enjoys these peeks.

Plus a few everyday pictures around our home: (and yes - I moved crap and clutter out of the way for these pictures.)  I'm thinking next week I'll post the REAL pictures.  :)