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The Highlight Reels vs Real Life

The highlight reels. It’s typically what we share. Look at these pictures. Looks like pure fun. The enjoyment on their faces. All 3 girls quietly and happily painting. Focused on their art project. But this picturesque scene lasted maybe 3 minutes.


Rocks are a big deal around here. I don’t get it but every load of laundry I do I find a rock in someone’s pocket. They refer to them as “the collection.” Painting them is one of their favorite warm weather activities. They are intent on creating a rock garden.

Since the weather has improved, painting them has been of high priority. But with the chaos of last week, it just wasn’t going to happen. So, I promised them we would this week and today seemed like the perfect day. I set everything up outside. I even brought out washable finger paints for Addy so she could participate. And as everyone started painting I took some quick pictures of their fun.

But here is what you don’t see:

It was windy. Elly spilled the water cup multiple times. Addy knocked the entire cup of paint brushes into the paint. The colors got mixed together. Addy painted her body and with every stroke said “oh no, what happened?” Addy decided to water the plants with our water cup and the bucket we were using to wash rocks. She tried to drink the dirty water. And then it started to rain. We frantically moved everything inside the garage. Emmy cried because she couldn’t paint rocks.

This was not the fun experience I had imagined to start off our day.

But this is REAL life. This is REAL parenting. Things don’t go as planned. We need to regroup, change courses, and continue drinking our lukewarm coffee. And this afternoon…try again.

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