Our Daily Life: Ringing in the 20's | July 2020

July was a month full of playing in the sunshine, gardening, entertaining the kids at home, and celebrating our daughter’s second birthday. A lot of these photos felt mundane when I took them. If I am being honest, I was in survival mode just trying to get through a pandemic while keeping our family happy and healthy. It was a tough time and a lot of days I felt so depleted. Looking back on these photos, I am so glad I kept clicking the shutter even when I didn’t feel like it. Despite the struggles I was feeling, I can still see the joy on my kids faces and remember the fun that we had. I can hear their little giggles and feel the sunshine. I am so grateful I did not give up on this daily photo project.

Our Daily Life: Ringing in the 20's | June 2020

Our June last year was filled with lots of time in the backyard, a new found love for bugs by our son, crafts to keep the kids busy, a growing garden, and a kids’ tent that lived in the middle of our living room.

We also had our first visit in 6 months with my parents. The hardest part of 2020 was not seeing our family often. I used to take the kids to see my parents every month so to not see them for so long was heartbreaking and one of the hardest things I think I’ve ever been through. I will never forget this day in June when they came! We wore masks most of the time and stayed outdoors. It was a day filled with joy and relief.

Here are our snapshots from June 2020.

Our Daily Life: Ringing in the 20's | May 2020

May 2020..

I remember this was when what felt like “survival mode” at home with the pandemic began. The reality set in that COVID-19 was going to be around for a while and I was beginning to grow weary.. missing my friends and family, overwhelmed with trying to work from home while homeschooling.. The pictures I took this month were mostly very quick snapshots because even though I was exhausted, I wanted to keep clicking. I knew I would regret stopping.

Like a lot of people, I started to plan a larger garden last year.. I knew it would give me something to do at home (outside of being a mom :)) and it would also provide more fresh homegrown food, which was nice to look forward to. We enjoyed many delicious tomato sandwiches and strawberries last summer!

Sometimes I don’t know why I am sharing these private photos with you all.. they are probably only really special to me. Most of them are very mundane day to day photos of the kids. However, I continue to share them because I hope that they will inspire you to take mundane, candid photos of your family. Looking back, they’re always my favorite and only get better with time.

Here is our May 2020.

Our Daily Life: Ringing in the 20's | April 2020

April 2020.

I took a LOT of pictures last April. There were even a couple of days where I attempted one photo per hour for a “day in the life” project. Well, I couldn’t pick just one photo per day this month so here are my top 62 that I loved haha.

Editing these pictures over the past week has made me really long for Spring.. it is ALMOST here! I am starting some of the seedlings for our garden and staying busy with our garden plans. I absolutely love gardening vegetables and flowers. I am trying a few new things this year.. one of them is starting alpine strawberries from seed. I have heard they taste like candy and cannot wait to try them. These seedlings are microscopic-ly tiny (image how tiny a strawberry seed is!) and so delicate. I am praying that they thrive. I also LOVE growing flowers. We have huge orange double tulips every year and one is featured this month as one of my favorite photos. The petals and color are dreamy!

April 2020, you weren’t too bad ;)

Oh, and yes our house is a beautiful kid-filled mess.. and you know what? When I look back at these pictures, I couldn't love them more.

Our Daily Life: Ringing in the 20's | March 2020

Little did I know when I started last year’s 366 project that the world would fall under a pandemic. I continued to document and photograph each day but never could muster up the mental or physical energy to edit the photos. Being home 24/7 with every single person in your family is an amazing blessing but also very challenging. Trying to run a business and homeschool our 5 year old and take care of our 2 year old burnt me out. Badly.

Not seeing my friends or family or being able to take adequate “me time” breaks also did not help. I know I am not the only person feeling this way. This pandemic has been challenging for so many in so many different ways. Some people are lonely, some people are overwhelmed with little kids, some with older kids, some on the front lines of this whole thing.

What I am trying to say is that 2020 was NOT an easy year for anyone. This year will hopefully bring relief from the grip of this horrible virus. I am slowly and steadily gaining my mental health and strength back and will start attempting to edit the thousands (ha) of photos I took last year for our family. Like I have said before, they are my love letters to them.. and they deserve to see the light of day..

Here is to a new and better year this year. This was our March 2020.

Our Daily Life: Ringing in the 20's | February 2020

Cups of cheerios, crayons, legos, and holding you tight.

Don’t grow up too fast, baby.

Dimpled hands holding mine and squeezing my legs when I walk through the door.

These are the days that are sometimes wished away when they are hard.. but surely it will be harder and more painful to be missing them.. when you’re grown.

So I just keep clicking and hoping it’s enough to preserve these details. Your giggles, your laughter, your smallness.

These photos are my love letters to you.

Our Daily Life: Ringing in the 20's | January 2020

A new decade

Another little one in tow

I want to capture this special time

With my lens and watch them grow

This time is fleeting

Escaping me

Disappearing

It’s loud and it’s chaos and beautiful and sweet

I can’t wait to see how time changes these little feet

Month after month we start again, a little bit older but we don’t know how or when.

When did they change from a baby to toddler?

From toddler to kid?

We don’t see it happen.

Although it’s right before our eyes. ..Surprise.

I tackled a 365 project a few years ago documenting our daily life with our son. Although it was challenging, i was so happy that I stuck with it in the end. I want to attempt another 365 (366 this leap year!) project this year.. and this time, there are two kiddos in the mix. Interestingly, my kiddo’s birthdays are exactly one month apart so my daughter is almost the same age that my son was for my last project. I love comparing some of the photos already in the same parts of the house, her in his hand-me-down outfits.. I am so happy that I started this project. In art, it’s so important to do creative projects for yourself.. and this project will definitely keep inspiring me throughout the year!

Here is our January: