Saturday morning, January 14th, 2011. A late breakfast has been served and although it’s almost 10:30am, our entire family is still in their pajama’s. Toys are strewn all over the livingroom. The kitchen is a mess and I’m cleaning up from breakfast. I’m also getting ready to head to the Soles for Jesus warehouse to sort shoes for the mission trip to Ethiopia (our team leaves Jan 25th!). As I walk down the hallway, I catch my two boys – Nicholas, 2 days from turning 5 years old, and Aaron, 2.5 years old, reading together on my bed.

These are the moments that are easy to smile at, hope I remember them and continue on the day. I know because I do it too often. But, this morning, even though I have yet to shower, clean the house and head out the door in a little over an hour, I run downstairs to grab my camera. You see, even though I am a professional photographer, I’m sadly poor about taking time to catch these moments. Amidst the general busyness of a home with 3 small children (we are blessed with an almost 5 year old daughter, Celia – Nicholas’ twin), homeschooling my children, running a photography business, grocery shopping, cleaning the house, playing with the kids, preparing to leave for Ethiopia in under 2 weeks, errands, etc…. it is all too easy to pass a moment by with a smile and the hope that I’ll remember the moment long enough to tell my husband about it when he gets home from work. Sadly, as my twins turn 5 years old this monday, I am realizing how quickly the days, weeks, months and years have passed. All with the hope that ‘tomorrow’ I’ll be better about making sure I take time to photograph or videotape them. And now it’s 5 years later and the photos and video gets more and more scarce.

So, this morning, I took the time to put aside the work that had to be done. Grabbed my camera and captured 10 minutes from their day. A day I’ll have to remember. A day I can print out and pull out some day in the future and thank myself for taking the time to cherish their childhood.

Okay, now that I’ve made myself teary eyed, here are the photos of my boys reading together. Aaron snacking on an apple slice, Nicholas’ mis-matched pajamas, our un-fancy bed, and remnants of breakfast still on their faces. And no, I won’t edit out those crumbs off their faces. This is life  – and in this house… you might have crumbs on your face for an hour or more before mommy gets time to wipe it off.  Only being honest. My family is everything to me. And for 2012, I pray I’m better at taking time to enjoy these moments. 😉 Thanks for peeking into our busy saturday morning . . .

Jill is a professional photographer specializing in birth, maternity, newborn, baby, child and family photography in the Greater Milwaukee area.