Letting go of Perfect - The Not So Perfect Family Portrait

Our Not So Perfect Mother's Day Family Portrait

Happy Mother's Day!

I decided a few days before Mother's Day that a family portrait would be a perfect present not only for me but also my mom, mom-in-law, and other mothers in the family (as most of our family still lives in CA and don't get to see us often enough). I envisioned this cute picture of my husband, me, the two cats and the pup. Let me just start by saying the animals were not cooperating with this idea!

I admit, I struggle with being a perfectionist and am trying to let go of the idea of doing things "perfectly" and instead to enjoy the moment/experience.  Taking this picture helped me with this. The picture you see above is the best of the batch (can you tell by my smile the cat was clawing me?). Right after we took it my husband declared it "Perfect for us!" and probably the best we would get anyway. It turns out after more tries he was right. In reality this is a good snapshot of our lil family.

Allow me to introduce us now:

•  My husband and I are both Chris... otherwise known as Chris squared, the Chris' etc. We've been together for 11 years now and married 5 of those years (our double anniversary is next week!).

• The white cat on my husband's lap is Bahamut (if you know the Final Fantasy video game series you just might recognize the name). He's our oldest at 6ish years old. He was found as a kitten in pretty rough shape by a friend of the family and we were lucky enough to get to add him to our lil family (at the time consisting of us and my cat Koko who we lost a couple years ago to cancer). He's a total daddy's boy.

• The Grey, Black & White guy on my lap is Motor Mouth (Called Moto most of the time). He's about 4 (we think). He was found by my boss at the time when he tried to hide in the guys engine while the car was running!. He is our most skittish but also the most loveable boy. He's a total mama's boy.

• The pup is Ladvarian (named after a character in Anne Bishop's Black Jewels series of books, a series that means alot to my beloved and I) - Lad or Laddie for short. His B-day is Nov. 7, 2011 making him about 6 months now. He's a mix of Border Collie, Australian Shepherd, & Jack Russel. He started life as a farm pup who loved to herd the geese to bed and is now adjusting pretty well to city living. He is almost always by my side.

As time goes by you will have a chance to get to know us a bit better. I am very proud of my lil family! I love creating a home for us and doing the best I can to provide the love and care they deserve. Many things I plan to tryout in my adventures in creating a homemade life will be for crazy bunch I call my family.

I am happy to say my mom was so excited by the picture she printed out and took it to the family's mother's day get together to show off! Everyone else who received it also loved it. Apparently it really was the perfect family portrait.