In the name of ART.

More cabin fever photos. Although, I’m feeling better now… So, NO, I did NOT let my boy eat 8 billion oreos, but it did make for a good photo op. Obviously, I’ll do anything for a good shot! If only pictures had sounds, you’d hear many WOAHs from JoJo as I dumped out the box. Oh wait, they do. It’s called video.

Anyway, my children are my muses. These are the only people that I can boss around and photograph at will without it being weird. Also, they are down for most things I want to do, and OH YEA, they look good in every picture.

Plus it’s fun. I actually have another family blog that just has photos of my kids. It’s private, but what is great about it, is that my entire extended family checks it regularly so they can see updates on our little lives without me emailing ten photos a day. It’s like a time capsule/journal/online scrapbook of cuteness, and over the past 6 months that I’ve been doing it, its come to be my favorite thing in the world to do. I’ve painted this little picture of the idyllic carefree and romantic childhood that I’ve always imagined should exist. And visualizing it through the family blog makes it in-real-time nostalgic (that’s part of the pain of having children, knife in the heart nostalgia for things that still exist), and beautiful. I’ve made it so that life with these kids is literally picturesque.

Some people comment on blogs and online forums about parents photographing their kids all the time, and how annoying it must be for the kids and even how they cant be good parents if they are always taking pictures of them and not “watching them.” Clearly, these people have no kids. Because A. as joyful as having children is, it can also be profoundly boring and stressful at times. Partaking in the visual delight of our children is one of parentings greatest pleasures! (I mean, we are genetically wired to find our children cute, and they are wired to BE cute. Otherwise…well, who knows if the human race would have survived!) And B. As someone who is a Professional Parent (I tell my husband he is still a hobbyist) things can get boring, but by making things artistic and creative FOR ME, I’m invigorated at the idea of going to the park AGAIN, the zoo AGAIN. It’s not that I don’t enjoy these things for their own sake, but the fact that I can also do something artistic WHILE being with them keeps me a little sane.  (Same goes for art projects with Cookie.) And obviously, I want to teach my children to be creative, and explore their creativity daily. Both my kids love taking photos, and we bought Cookie a children’s digital camera for Hanukkah. So I guess like all things, its selfish, but also worthwhile.

Anyway… My two cents. As usual. Would love to hear your thoughts!

Happy Weekend!