Kingman Arizona Photographer | Getting in the Frame

As a Kingman Arizona Photographer and mom, I haven’t always been very good at making sure that I am getting in the frame with my kids, but I do realize its importance.

Aside from running my photography business, I went back to teaching this year, after taking 5 years off to stay home with my youngest of four. Up until then, the longest I’ve ever stayed home with any of my babies was the average amount of maternity leave that anyone would take if they were a school teacher and didn’t have many days saved up, or didn’t have the luck of having her baby in the summer time…LOL. Basically, 3-4 weeks.

When my husband and I were pregnant with our fourth, we knew that it would be more beneficial, financially, for me to stay home with our newborn, as well as our third child, who was only 2.5 years old at the time. So, that’s what I did….and, I loved it!

As her last year at home with me before kindergarten started to dwindle down, I became panicked that I would somehow forget it all, and instantly went on a quest to document our day to day routine.

Our trips to the library for story time, play time at home, perusing at the grocery store (because we had all the time in the world!), weekly volunteering at the elementary school, driving around to scout new locations for my photography business, road trips, and if you were ever at Chili’s on a Wednesday around lunch time, you could be sure to catch a glimpse of us sitting together (we picked the same table every time, too), reading a book, or coloring together while we waited for our lunch.

Wednesday’s lunches were always followed by a nap, and this was the one day when I would turn my computer off, put the work for my business aside, and lay down with her. She was the best snuggler, and I know that she looked forward to that nap each Wednesday just as much as I did!

Now that she’s in kindergarten, and I’m back to a normal full time job, I find myself daydreaming about those days, whenever I see her walking to recess or lunch, because she’s no longer a baby. And then I think to myself about how I don’t, for a single second, regret leaving the housework to do for later, and just spending time with her.

I am also equally glad that I decided to capture some memories of that last year home with her, on my camera.