I’ve been a family photographer for almost 20 years. I don’t do too many shoots a week because blogging and mom life is all-encompassing these days, but I still am averaging a few shoots a month. Which means I still get the panicked emails from clients who want to know what to expect going into … Read more
You may have noticed how my girls and I almost always wear our Salt Water Sandals throughout the spring, summer, and fall. My oldest has gone through so many pairs of these throughout the years and we just keep buying her the next size up, but this spring the little one and I decided we … Read more
Did you watch the solar eclipse today? We didn’t go out of our way to see it, but we did step out onto the porch to watch it. We were only 93% eclipsed here, but it was still pretty cool and I’m glad we got to see it with our neighbors. It was the first of my lifetime in the Pacific Northwest and I wasn’t exactly sure what the expect. It didn’t get nearly as dark as I thought it would get, but it was still pretty spectacular.
I know play time for children is vital as it helps them learn about the world around them in ways I can’t teach them in a book, so I always make play time a priority. From unstructured playtime to working together to create a talent show, a fairy garden, or a circus, we fill our days with as much play as we possibly can. 
So, I was a little taken aback the other day when I told my kids I wanted them to wear play clothes if they were going to be out digging in our backyard and they both looked at me like I was crazy. “Do you mean dress up clothes?” my daughter asked. Clearly, they aren’t of my generation where we had two categories of clothing: play clothes and fancy. 
To my kids, everything is play clothes, even if they really shouldn’t be. We’re talking fancy holiday dresses year-round at the beach and white button-up shirts and dresses while gardening. After looking through their closets it became really clear that they could both use some new “play clothes” for summer that would allow them to swing on monkey bars, skip rope, and do all the other things kids should be doing all day without worrying about restrictive clothing getting in the way.
