Today’s Post: First Day of School Free Printables, Photos Tips you can use, and News about new additions to our family! If your kids are anything like mine, they are probably ready for school to start again. And you might be counting down the days yourself! : ) I asked my boys to help me…
I was looking for some activities to do with my boys, and while browsing online I was reminded of this classic Soda + Mentos experiment. My boys had done it once before, but needed no convincing to agree to do it again! : ) I had never done it before, so we started with the…
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I’d completely forgotten about this trick! Must introduce my kids to it before school starts.
Love it!! I don’t have kids, but this brings me back to my elementary school teaching days. And to your question about mixing photography/non-photography content, I say, it’s all YOU, and the more opportunities you give people for connecting with you, the better. 
such a fun project. I love the drawings!
Awesome! I have never actually done this, and I think I must do this with my kids this weekend! My 4 year old is going to freak out! What a fun thing to do. I love when moms get messy with their kids, great memories! Ok, off to comment on your sons’ page too
Megan, thanks so much for the comments on my boys’ blog. They are going to be so excited to see a comment from someone they don’t know! 
And, have fun with it with your own boys! Be sure to show them those last two videos on the post after you do yours!
I know a few boys you and old who’d love this. Excellent idea thank you xe.
Isn’t Mythbusters great? I haven’t seen the Mentos episode, but I watch it all the time great show. I can only imniage how they went at the Mentos challenge. Did it involve a dead pig somehow?
Mom Guilt. If you’re a mom, you know what I’m talking about. It can make you feel like the worst mom in the world – even if you are far from it. It makes you feel like you just aren’t living up to some image of a “good mom” that you have in…
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Don’t let us guys kid you. We have Dad Guilt often too! Ours may be a little different and revolve around working too much, etc., but your comments on capturing life’s moments when we can resonate with us as well.
Wow, I have to say that this definitely hit home. I try to take photos of EVERYTHING and even when my husband says, “you have a million photos of XYZ,” I’m never discouraged to take more Thank you for justifying that and I loved your article!
Thanks for sharing your dad’s story. I’m sorry for your loss. Thank you for the reminder to capture more moments. I know that as my children have grown we’ve taken less photos.
Fun post! Very true… people never regret takig pictures and looking back on Happy Times! How wonderful that you were able to get some beautiful photos of your dad and your family!
(Please forgive me. This is a personal post, and I got a bit long, but I do think it’s very much worth reading, and I would very much appreciate it if you did. I have a challenge and free gift for you at the end! Close friends and family; the video we played at my…
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What a beautiful post! I adore the idea of written letters. I save every card, letter and scrap notebook paper that my husband and I write to each other. I will write a note to each of my kids in our family gratitude journal, as soon as I finish this post. Thank you for your open heart, and for sharing your Dad with us.
Very touching and a wonderful reminder of what life should be about… those little moments!!
Since I also lost my dad to brain cancer (started as throat cancer) it’s been a little to emotional for me to watch the video but I promise to come back later to watch
I always cherished those little moments but after losing my dad they became even more valuable. I wish we had more pictures and videos of him… he was the one always taking the photos. I do have a hand written note that he gave me when I went off to camp when I was a kid and I am so glad now that I kept that.
A few of my friends and family threw me a 40th surprise birthday party a few weeks ago so I think it’s a perfect time to send them all a hand written thank you note and to let them all know how much they mean to me!
Thanks for sharing this personal post and reminding us all of how we should value those around us.
Your beautiful article touched my heart , My dad passed away 3 months after migrating to my new country – a sad time of my life as I never got to say the goodbyes that I thought were worthy at the time. I love your idea of writing letters to my loved one’s and will be writing to my darling mom, who is currently undergoing an operation to remove cancer in a few hours, my children, and my most supportive fan – my husband.
This has also challenged me to share my experience with the world, I have a blog post waiting to be shared, thank you for sharing your experience and touching my life.
Brenda
Sara, that’s awesome that you’re keep all those handwritten notes, and I know your kids will love to read/or listen to you read their letters to them tomorrow! : )
Jennifer, my dad died of brain cancer too. 
What an awful, awful disease that is, isn’t it? That is AWESOME that you have a hand written note from him from when you were a kid! I wish I had something like that from my dad. I think writing notes to your friends and family with some sincere words of love to show your gratitude for being in your life, would be a great thing to do! : )
Brenda, I’m so sorry to hear about you losing your dad as well. I know how you feel about the good byes. By the time I tried to talk to my dad about serious feelings stuff (he wasn’t the kind of guy who talked much about that stuff, but I never doubted his love for me), his brain tumors had already taken too much of who he really was for him to have that kind of conversation with me. It was extremely hard for me to deal with that at the time. Now, I’ve just come to realize that he KNEW that I loved him, just as I KNEW that he loved me. : )
My thoughts go out to you and your mom! I hope that you get wonderful news after her operation – I know how difficult this time is for you. I think it’s great that you are going to write her, and your children, and husband letters!
And, I’m thrilled that I inspired you to share your own story on your blog! Let me know when it’s posted!
Oh my gosh what an amazing post. My dad just died a few months ago but I am so grateful that I had the last three years with him – we reconnected after a 45 year hiatus. My experience taught me several things – first of all the power of FORGIVENESS and secondly unconditional love. When my dad died, I was eternally grateful that we had connected and were both at peace for the past, and I had no regrets. I did a blog piece on No regrets. Unfortunately it’s not online at the moment.
Blessings on your journey forward,
What a lovely idea and a great way to honor your father on the anniversary of his death. He has surely been a great influence in your life, and your love and sharing are a tribute to his legacy.
You continue to be, well, amazing! Your post is a message to our hearts. I am constantly thankful for knowing you.
Dear Lisa,
Loved your post and it was good to see your video again. I know what a loss you have suffered-and I hope that you and your Mom shared some special memories last evening. Brain cancer took two wonderful men last year-but it was also the beginning of a friendship for us. I am so happy I was able to get to know you and your Mom this past year. Take care and I hope to see you soon. Kathy
Hi Lisa,
Don’t know if you remember me or not, we met at the Zack Arias workshop in Atlanta a little over 2 years ago. I just read your blog post and I have to say that it’s an absolutely wonderful idea! My mom died of cancer when I was only 16, on April 6, 1990. I have a few photos of her that I cherish, but I would love to be able to hear her voice just one more time. I can’t go back in time of course, but I can try to preserve a memory for my kids, who are 13 and 11 now, so that in the future they’ll have a (hopefully) cherished memory of me. Thanks for the great idea!
Kathy, thank you for the nice comments. I too am glad that we met last year. I hope you will find some time today to write some letters. I know you know the value they will be to your children or grandchildren to have one day!
Kevin, I do remember you! I have photos of you on my hard drive somewhere. : ) I am SO happy that you read my post and are going to write letters (and video??) yourself telling your kids how much you love them and they mean to you. That is AWESOME! I just finished writing my letters this morning and plan to video me reading them as soon as I do my hair and put some make-up on. : ) You are so right; our kids be SO glad to have these letters/videos of us some day! (even if they don’t totally get it yet. smile. )
Lisa, thank you for your genuine words and pure spirit. I will take your advice to heart and put those very important words on paper and let those people know how much they truly mean to me. Time doesn’t heal all wounds but I hope and pray you and your family are able to find strength today. Hugs.
what a lovely post and idea,, working with seniors is probably a very healing experience for you, well done x.
I lost my dad three years ago today, October 11th, 2009. I have been searching online for “depression help” as that has taken over my life not only since Dad died, but also after I had an accident at work 10 years ago that has left me disabled and in pain, physically and emotionally. I took a break from googling “depression” and wanted to find a way to honor my dad today so I typed inside the search box “I lost my Dad three years ago today” hoping that someone has written those exact words and I’d find something.
I hit the jackpot and here you are! So when I wake up later today I’ll be finding some pretty paper and one of my favorite pens, firing up the Keurig for a hot cup of tea, and sitting in my recliner while I write letters to my mom, my brother and sister-in-law, and other family members still with us. I’m also going to make videos of those. I’ll also be writing a letter to my dad, and one to my grandpa who just passed away a few weeks ago.
Writing and recording the ones to those that are still living will be wonderful. What a terriffic idea!! And writing to Dad (and others that have passed) will be so wonderful and will help me immensely as I continue to grieve.
Thank you a thousand times for your blog post! I’m so happy I came across it!
Kris
Thank you a million times over for the fabulous idea. My dad passed a year ago on October 28, 2011. Your words touched my heart and tears fell as I read. Your dad would feel so honored and so very proud of you!
I love your creative thoughtfulness in honoring your dad! Great idea and thanks for sharing.
Kristen, I just saw your comment today. I am so happy that my post resonated with you! And it makes my heart sing to know that you (hopefully!) took some time to write those letter because of my post. I hope they were received with lots of love by those who you wrote to!
beautiful I love this.
The true eternal GOD Our Lord Jesus Christ is our eternal father… and we meet with your dad in heaven … Lord bless you in you deeds
Thanks, Lisa… Tomorrow will be the one year anniversary of my dad’s passing. I started sending more hand-written cards and letters this year, but the videos are a very nice touch. I have a few of my dad with my niece and I love watching them… Have a wonderful and blessed day!
Today is the one year anniversary of my dad’s passing. So many changes in my life since it happened, yet it still feels like it just happened. I think what you’ve done is beautiful and was nice for me to see on this sad day.
Thanksgiving in my family has never been a huge affair. For my entire childhood it involved heading over to Grandma’s on the next street over and having dinner with my grandparents and my dad’s two brothers’ families. I was the youngest of the five cousins and most of the time was just really bored. Grandma…
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OMG Lisa, this is beautiful. Thank you so much for sharing such personal feelings on what must be a pretty tough holiday without your Dad.
[...] today, when I checked in with my Facebook account, I noticed a link to a blog post about giving thanks by my friend, Lisa, who is a fabulous family photographer in Milwaukee, I took a couple of minutes [...]
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Cute photos. I have a dog and I remember when we were trying to potty train her – it took a while, but we did crate training and I took her out every couple of hours at first and then eventually started taking her out less and less (like every 2 hours, then 3 hours, then four). I think part of having puppies is knowing that they are going to have a little mischievousness in them. Good luck! they’ll get it eventually.
Great blog – love all the helpful photo hints. Now I wonder – will my 15 yr olds let me take some BTS pictures?
And BTW – what a beautiful page, so clear and easy to read and the photos show up so well.
awwe cute doggy so adorable!
Your 15 yr olds may not LOVE it, but you should be able to get them to stand still for a few shots. I’d suggest letting them show their attitude; good or bad… it’s part of who they are right now and something you will want to remember when you, and they, look back at the photos for years to come! : )
Love the tips and the beautiful photos. Thank you!
I’ll give it a whirl – at this age – it is all about the attitude. And my acceptance