From the Camera Roll

I was flipping through my phone yesterday and couldn't help but giggle at the 'snapshot' of our life represented in my camera roll. The photos are so random, but they provide a pretty accurate account of the life in our days. 

I snapped this one a couple of weeks ago after R informed me that he had thrown a frisbee onto the roof...but he had a plan how to get it down. It was quite entertaining watching he and his siblings attempt to execute their plan. I am glad I am not alone in my lack of spatial abilities! He moved the step stool three times before he accepted that it wasn't going to work.

This was my attempt to capture the blessing and the curse of same aged children and homework. P had to bring home a map that he did not finish in school. Because it was color coded and I was not privy to the key, I was thankful for his siblings' eagerness to help.

This picture cracks me up because it was not taken on Halloween--just an average early November afternoon of playing dress up. Do those expressions capture 5 years old or what?

This is R's Christmas wish. He has enjoyed playing with the same set at a friend's house for several months. I had it in the back of my mind as an ideal gift. Last month he spotted it in a toy catalog and cut it out. Two weeks ago we spotted it in the window of a gift store in town and he went bonkers. He begged me to take a picture of it with my phone so he could show it to Santa. He has also been careful to point out what store it was available in when writing to or talking with Santa.

Last week the shopping center where this store is located changed their sign to say: "Santa shops at STORE NAME." As we drove past it on the way to school R started shouting, "Mom! Mom! Did you see that?!?! Santa shops at STORE NAME!!!"

Then K added, "I hope he shops at Kroger!"

The reason? This elephant in the middle. K has her heart completely set on him...and he is available only at the grocery store! This picture does not accurately convey the size of this guy. I would make a very educated guess that he fills the front of a grocery cart--and causes lots of stares. 

And this one...This is courtesy of our silly elf, Otto.

I was thinking as I flipped through these pictures about what an accurate depiction it is of the scrapbooks many of us have in our minds. As I think about what I remember from my childhood...it certainly is not posed photography sessions. My memories are the random moments like laying under a soaking wet towel as the sprinkler tick-tick-ticks over head,

playing hide-and-seek outdoors in the dark for hours on end,

the sound of the cars going up and down the street outside my bedroom window or the creak of our back screen door,

the smell of the grease my Mom used to make country fried steak,

how my green shag carpet felt under my feet--especially the sharp parts where Elmer's glue had dried,

spreading out on the orange carpet in my living room to read the Sunday comics with my sister every weekend while my Dad made bacon and eggs,

how the fireplace quickly warmed the back of my pajamas after a bath--even as my hair was still dripping wet,

the Christmas morning when I got my Sesame Street weeble wobbles and a cassette tape recorder that Santa had tried out and left me a recorded message...

I have no idea which snapshots my children's hearts and minds will choose to hold onto.

It is thrilling, grounding and terrifying all at the same time.