How a snow day can steal your Joy

Yesterday we woke up to 8 inches of fresh white snow.  It was a beautiful sight to see.  The kids were very excited to look outside as this was our first big snow of the year.

I started my day by selfishly thinking, "I must get pictures of the kids playing in the snow so I can post them on Facebook."  Say what?  I was all consumed with how I would get pictures of them most of the day. When my husband came in for lunch, I came out of my office and asked him how we would accomplish this feat.  He would rather have eaten his sandwich in peace then listen to me ramble about how we would create the perfect sledding experience for our kids that day.  We had a few small problems though:

1.  No snow gear
2.  No sleds
3.  No kids - daycare was still open
4.  No parents - Dan was busy moving snow, checking cows, and working in his machine shop and I was working on my computer
5.  No daylight - we usually get home with the kids about 6 PM, right when it gets dark here

So I was stuck, how could I get the perfect sledding picture of the girls?  Don't get me wrong, I love seeing all the fun snow pictures with all of the kids!  I just realized my motivation for taking the girls sledding was to get good pictures to post on social media.  My motivation should be to have fun with the girls and not try to create the "perfect picture" of what life is like for us.

I think a lot of us fall into the trap of creating perfect experiences for our kids.  My obsession with taking the perfect picture yesterday stole some of my joy.  Would I be a bad mom if I didn't get pictures of them making snow angels?  Would the girls feel left out if I didn't take them sledding?  Ida (20 months) and Lorena (3 1/2 years) could care less if we went sledding down the biggest hill in the county.  They had just as much kicking the snow, chasing their dog Jasper, and throwing snowballs at their Daddy in the moonlight when they got home from daycare.

I want to do what is best for Lorena and Ida.  Yes, I will probably go buy some sleds today and round up some snow pants.  We do have big plans to go sledding at the farm South of Barnes, KS this weekend.  I will probably take tons of pictures too.  But this time, I will make sure we go sledding so we can have fun as a family, not so Mommy can get good Facebook pictures.

On another note, I did get a good picture of our cows after I dropped the kids off at daycare.  It truly was a beautiful day.  Blessings ~ Lydia