Things I Can't Say

Tips and Tales from an Introverted Mom

Memories Captured

Our kids grow up so quickly.

It’s not just physically that they change: the things they love, the things they say: what is so a part of everyday life today will soon disappear. It will somehow be so subtle and so quickly at the same time that we won’t remember.

We’ll forget how one child was so in love with Buzz Lightyear or how one used to say “chicken” like it was a cuss word or how one couldn’t possibly sleep without “Hoppy,” who is a Care Bear with bunny ears.

It all changes as they grow.

So, I’m taking a moment for “Memories Caputured,” to show what is important to each of my kids right now. It may be different tomorrow. But for now, I’ll remember what they are like in this moment.

child on computer

Most of it is sweet… bittersweet as it changes.

And some of it is hard as hell… but they are always changing.

Comments

  2. I saw this link up and must do it. Is it bad that I am already getting all mushy and teary eyed just thinking about what I want to write on their picture.

    Your boys are so cute and are so perfectly little boyish.

  10. Oh yes, this.

    This love, this little boyhood, and oh my girl- this photography! All stunning!

    {I smiled at “Can I get a treat? Hee! So very cute!}

    xo

  11. My kids growing up is mostly bittersweet. Then I have weekends, like this past one, where I can be nothing but proud of how my child has grown.

    • Awwww! 7 months old seems like so long ago for my boys. I remember my oldest loved sweet potatoes, cheerios, and his bunny.

  13. Every once and awhile, we pull out the old movie tapes. The girls’ baby voices, their sweet little, pudgy faces move me to big sobbing tears every time. It goes by like the wind. Enjoy those gorgeous boys, they are beautiful.

    • It feels like time is flying. I swear I was just waddling around pregnant with my oldest… and he turns 7 this week.

  19. I’m going to go out on a limb and guess that Peanut Butter Jelly time is your favorite things here. By far. That song is awesome and never gets old.

    Right?

  20. Those boys are just so adorable, Shell. Those little things are just so hard to remember later, but in the moment you don’t know how you would ever be able to forget it. Then you do. I really to video my kids more.

    • I was thinking that, too. I’m awful at videoing, unless it’s something like a school program.

    • I wonder where they got it from? It drives me insane. Though it’s better than my middle son who is now saying “What the hell?” all the time.

  24. Love this! So, so true. Love your tribute to the NOW and what life is for them at this age. These would be wonderful framed!

  25. Great photos Shell!

    Since those memories escape our memories so fast, I started writing birthday letters to my kids each year. Highlighting those special moments, things they like (at the time) and, quotes and phrases.

    My kids LOVE looking at back and laugh as they try to remember why they loved ‘Barney’ when they were two or, when ‘beaches’ was a bad word. LoL

    It’s a great way to recapture time. 🙂

  26. I just love this idea! the pics are great ( I have many “tongue out” ones myself – I wish I could say it was just the boy, argh!) You want a piece of me? LOL too cute. I really need to get going and do some of these in my scrapbooking program.

    • It’s hard to find a pic of my two youngest boys where they aren’t sticking their tongues out. They do get that from me, so I guess I can’t really complain!

  27. It is easy to forget their little quirks over time. Sometimes Bree does something that reminds me of something she did when she was a baby, and I hafta giggle because I had forgotten about it. Your boys are adorable 🙂

  28. Oh my gosh Shell! I didn’t realize your boys were that close in age! Geez! You really are SuperWoman! They look so much alike! (Yes, that was a lot of exclamation points)

    • Oh yes- from oldest to youngest, there is slightly less than 3.5 years. We were insane. They look so much alike- just different sizes. LOL

  29. You have the cutest kids!! They are so good looking! Capturing those favorite things is so important. I agree. It’s so hard to watch them change and grow.

  30. So true, Shell. Seeing them grow and change, so bittersweet and at times hard as hell.

    Love, love your photos. My heart’s melting. You boys are so stinking adorable, I can’t take it.

    Sweet stuff!

  32. Oh my God, you’re first paragraph says it all. The things they love and say really are always changing in such subtly shifting ways. Sometimes I’ll think to myself, “I need to write a post about that!” regarding the most mundane thing that my daughter says or does. Because as mundane as it is, I know I’m going to want to remember it. And yet, I know I won’t.

    I just wrote a post in which I tried to capture her 2-year-old essence in words, in a way that photos can’t. I didn’t do that last year when she turned one. And I realized that if I tried today, I wouldn’t be able to do it. Because while I remember her in general terms at the age of one, I don’t remember her specific personality quirks at the time – and it was only a year ago.

    That makes me a little sad.

    It also makes me want to write an essence-capturing letter to her every year on her birthday.

  35. Love the pictures, your boys have such personality and energy! Love it!! 😀 It’s funny how we want them to grow into amazing people, yet stay little and sweet forever.

  38. Love this idea! So cute that your three-year-old is such a tough guy, “You want a piece of me?” but loves Strawberry Shortcake. My three-year-old guy is fond of Strawberry too. 🙂

    • I blame Toy Story for the “piece of me” thing. I forget if it’s Woody or Buzz who says it.

      We’re watching Strawberry Shortcake this morning. It’s so cute how much he loves that show. Kinda wish they still had Huckleberry Pie around so that I could get him a Strawberry Shortcake toy w/o Hubs freaking.

  40. It’s always hard as he’ll but I’ve decided that anything that’s worth it is typically hard to do!

  41. Awwww, I love it!! What a sweet way to capture exactly how they look right now, along with the things that they love or they enjoy! A couple years ago, I began writing in a notebook for each child, once a month, with the things they liked, quotes they loved to repeat, stuff like that. But I haven’t done it in so long…this reminds me that I really need to get back to it because I’ve forgotten a lot of those things!

  42. I like what you did with those pictures! That is so cool. And you are right. It changes real subtle. And before you know it you have a teenager who wants to drive your car. *sigh*

    PS Your boys are adorable!

  44. It is all so bittersweet.
    And remembering the small milestones is key. I used to smile when my daughter would have to wear every single necklace she owned and wear hair elastics as bracelets. Now she doesn’t, and I miss it.

    • And it’s like those sorts of things stop and we don’t really even notice at first. Just looking back, we realize they changed.

  45. this just made my heart smile…you’re so right, I have forgotten the “stuff” that made those babies mine so many times…you never when that will all change and you’ll miss it. I’m so glad you have this now to go back to, to remember and remind.

    these picutres just made me giggle. 🙂

    • The little details get lost sometimes.

      Thanks- the pics had me smiling, too. My little characters.

  49. So awesome. I feel like our boys would be fast friends. It’s amazing the they are infatuated with one day that are in fact gone the next. I think you might have just inspired me to be a little better at the capturing of the every day for each of my kids.

    Thanks for sharing. It’s fun to see your boy’s photos, names, ages, and likes all together…feels like we know them through your blog!

  50. Aw I love it Shell. I’ve been thinking about getting PJ on the computer to play games, but I’m not sure he’ll quite get it yet…he’ll be 3 in March…

    • Have you tried Fooz Kids? That’s what really helps mine, since they have to stay in the program. My boys LOVE the computer. Just wish Santa could bring them one so I could stop having to share mine!

  51. They change so fast. It breaks my heart. It seems like just yesterday my girls were newborns and now they are in preschool and elementary and every day seems to pass faster than the previous:(

    • Thank you. It’s funny- the things I think I’ll never forget… change so quickly and I do forget.

  54. I love it!! It is special to be able to look back and remember all the little things in this moment exactly the way they were.

  57. I may or may not be singing peanut butter jelly time now. Very cool. I love how you captured your boys at this moment in time(they rock, obviously) it’s what I tried to do too. This linky has made me think on how fast these moments do change, it’s crazy! I really hope that I can keep making these every year. I think they’d be awesome to look back on when they are older.

    • Peanut butter jelly, peanut butter jelly. Peanut butter jelly with a baseball bat…

      I still don’t get the baseball bat thing. LOL

  58. You have such a good looking family mama. Love the pic in front of the laptop he he

    visiting from “memories captured”

    p.s. I just follow you through FB too 🙂

    • My little man loves to steal my laptop and play his games!

      Thanks- will be by to visit you, too!

  60. I’ve got to get this done! I hope my laziness doesn’t get in the way…I need to figure out how..
    your boys are adorable…and I’m going to be singing peanut butter jelly time all night now…

    • He drives me totally nuts with it. And then I call him on it and he says “What? I’m only saying ‘chicken.'”

  66. What a bunch of good looking boys. Handsome little devils. You have your hands full there when they grow up for sure. Memories are so precious. It’s what we have when they’re grown and gone. Changes are great, yet, sometimes we wish they’d stay the same. Bittersweet as you have said. Thanks you for that great post.

  70. Very cute idea! I love it! And it is so true they change so much every day. I almost have a 10 year old and it’s freaking me out how fast she is changing. Love it and your boys are adorable!

  72. I hate how fast kids grow. I still miss my baby even though I love all of the big girl things she can do now that she’s 5.

  73. These are beautiful pictures, Shell. I love them. Your boys are growing like weeds and capturing these moments is perfect and precious. 🙂

  74. What cute growing boys! I think we all need to remember to do this every once in a while to remember how our kids were, captured at specific points in time.

  75. You have such gorgeous boys!! And I love that you did a photo for each of them so that you WILL remember.

    “You want piece of me” is making me laugh…. 😉

    • He uses this deep voice we call his “demon voice” to say it, too. And then he laughs and his dimples show… and we just think he’s cute.

  76. I LOVE these pics with the words on them. Great way to capture the moment. And, of course, it’s always good to remember that the bad moments fly by just as fast as the delightful ones. They just feel slower:)

  77. Hang on. Hang on. You switched to WordPress. Nice. And how did I never put it together how close in age your boys are!?! Holy mackerel, mama. They are, of course, beautiful. And ‘you want a piece of me?’ CLASSIC.

    • Yup- just switched last week. Well, Ashley from My Front Porch Swing switched me.

      Less than 3.5 years from oldest to youngest. Which is why I want to hurt someone when they ask me if we’re going to try for a girl. Um, no- we’re done.

  78. You have so many comments here, I know mine would simply restate what everyone else has said.

    So let me simply tell you of the smile this put on my face this morning.

    And how much I wish I had my little Buzz Lightyear back.

    XO

  81. Wow! 152 comments!!! It’s because these boys are so darn handsome!! They truly are. It’s funny that I don’t even know them but I adore them through your eyes. No need to reply…you are one busy lady!!

    • Well, half of them are me- since I’m replying to everyone. 😉

      They look so sweet here, don’t they? Well, my oldest was sort of being a punk in that pic- but captured in a moment, it’s still sweet.

  82. The fleeting nature of their interests and behaviors are why I try not to get too irritated by kids’ repeated expressions or grating, silly voices. I know in a week or two they will disappear forever, only to be replaced by something else equally bothersome.

  83. It’s funny how each photo truly seemed to capture the essence of each boy. While I don’t “know” them IRL, those words only complimented the print.
    Love it Shell!

    • I figure my oldest will start to protest the Monkey label soon. My middle used to be “Little Bear” and now he’s just Bear.

  87. sweet heaven above. You got me all teary, I swear. My lil men used to do some of the silliest things, and I’ll think about them once in a while and just sigh. Or smile. Memories…

  91. I love your collage! Your children are sweet. It does suck that they are going to grow up and forget some of the most wonderful moments that we cherish!! Thank goodness for vidoes!!

    Lynn