Last year I decided that it would be nice to have a yearly album of printed pictures of our family’s annual doings. I wish the thought had occurred to me sometime early in 2016 instead of December, because I remembered how time-consuming it ended up being rounding up all the pictures from our phones and camera, editing them, and uploading them to a printing service. I spent hours and hours on the task hating myself for the decision, and let’s just say that I still have a stack of over 400 printed pictures waiting to be put in an album.So for 2017, I decided that I would be more organized and do a monthly editing and upload session to make sure come December I am not overwhelmed and cursing myself again!
But every month, what should be a 30-minute job at the most, ends up taking a couple of hours because again I get caught up in admiring the pictures and thinking back to that moment and just feeling so happy and lucky! Meanwhile, my real jobs await and languishes…
Anyway, it’s all worth it and at the end of the day since that’s what pictures are supposed to do, right!? Without wasting anymore of your time though, here are a few selective pictures of how things has been going on lately. Happy Monday!
***Both of them are now old enough to play with colors without killing each other. But it’s always funny how I can’t get away with a messy aftermath since painting ends up becoming finger painting, or markers and crayons end up on walls, windows, and floors. But of course I wouldn’t trade those pictures they make for anything … okay may be a maid.
*** I have been working hard on my Hindi children’s books’ illustrations and the process of drawing and creating what’s in my head has been so difficult. I realized while coloring with Asha and seeing her pictures, that adulthood really does kill creativity. For instance, here’s my elephant trying so hard to be whimsical…and then here is a cat that Asha made. She nailed it without any effort. Damn adulthood…arghhh!
***Lately, I’ve been taking the kids to eat dinner at a park near our home. It works wonderfully 50% of the time, and the other 50% is me chasing after them with a plate trying to get them to eat instead of doing monkey-bars! It’s still worth it to enjoy all this fresh air before it gets too humid and buggy! On nights when Devang is home, we usually go out for a walk to get some ice cream or something.
***I finally made it to Art in Bloom at NCMA this year with my friend Dottie and her one-year old daughter Chrissy. It was a really nice exhibit and makes one think outside the box about flower arrangements inspired by paintings!
***Lastly, I leave you with this bit where as a mother, I know I should immediately stop my kids from jumping on beds and on each other, but the kid in me sees how much fun they are having and I cross my fingers and pray that no one gets hurt. It’s basically a homemade bounce house where they make a pile of blankets and pillows and launch from the toddler bed. Inevitable the pile keeps getting thinner and still they don’t stop! Nerve-wrecking and exciting!
Hope you have a great week ahead! Thanks for reading as always!
Chika I admire your zeal to set up a tangible album now a days when most people have digital copies of pictures and never look at it. Know that your time will not go unrewarded. Many will benefit from the picture albums you are making.
I miss those days, feel like getting back to my scrapbooking!!!
Scrapbooking seems like a whole different beast! But you are right, the end product does make the efforts seem worth it!