2014-- All The Love

Happy 2015!

Before I jump into the new year with new ideas and new goals, I want to look back at all the love in 2014.  Here are some of my favorite pictures and check out our video montage of last year.


2014 Year in Review from Jumping With My Fingers Crossed on Vimeo.

Taking Pictures (A Special Pinterest Poser Challenge)

I am not a professional photographer.  I don't even own or have access to a fancy camera anymore. I don't have enough money to hire professional photographers or the wall space to display that many photos.  BUT I love to take pictures and I don't suck at it.

For this week's Pinterest Poser Challenge,* I'm sharing a favorite Picture Project and some picture taking tips.  Not because I copied it from Pinterest, more like Pinterest inspired me to do it.  

*In an attempt at not being a Pinterest Poser,** every week I detail a new project/idea/recipe inspired by Pinterest.
**My definition of a Pinterest Poser is someone who is all pins and no substance.

Even though I take a thousand pictures of my family every week, I started a pretty cool picture tradition a few years ago.  When Wade turned one, I decided to take a picture of all the kids in front of the cool barn in our town. The barn is a store that sells rock salt for driveways, propane for grills and a lot of other things.  In fact, it is the same store/barn that Tim used to come to as a kid to buy feed for his family's chickens.  Yo, this barn goes way back with our family.  And now, every year we go back and take a picture there.  

It seemed like a cutesy idea five years ago.   It has grown to be so meaningful to me.  Looking back at how much my kids have changed in the past five years makes my heart explode with love and gratitude and holy shit where does the time go I can't believe they were babies just a few years ago and now at least two of them look like mini adults thoughts.  

Youngbloods at the barn in 2014

Youngbloods at the barn in 2012.

Youngbloods at the barn in 2011.

Youngbloods at the Barn in 2010.

I recently saw a story in The New York Times about a group of sisters that have been photographed every year since 1975.  Click here to look at the pictures, they are so moving.  I hope my kids let me photograph them every year for forever.  

My pictures are not taken with a fancy camera, I probably get the lighting all wrong, but I don't care.  I captured the wobbly knees of baby Wade back in 2010 and JT's curls!, Lucy laughing with wild abandon in 2011 and Peyton looking comfortable in his own skin in 2014.  

The whole photo shoot has gotten a little easier over the years mostly because we aren't worried about Wade crawling or wandering off or crying.  The kids know the quicker they smile, the quicker it will be done.  This year, we went to the barn in between the kids' basketball games and they changed in the minivan.

Tim is my trusty assistant every year.

Here are some of my very impressive kid photo shoot tips that I have learned over the last five years:

If you are wondering what happened to 2013, we didn't go to the barn. What?  How could I have done that?  Ugh.  Never again.  But we did still take pictures and they were still awesome.

Youngbloods and their dog 2013.

Tim was there helping for that one too of course.

Have you made anything inspired by Pinterest lately?  Let me know in the comments or over on my Facebook page. 

Come follow me on Pinterest (click here).

Here are some of the Pinterest projects I've done/made/attempted.

Gluten Free Pretzels- click here

Cinnamon Sugar Doughballs- click here

Painted Lockers- click here

Melted Beads- DIY Suncatcher- click here

Tissue Paper Pom Pom Garland-- click here

A Delightfully Simple Birthday Party--click here
Make An Awesome Omelet--click here
Outdoor Lights Inspired by the show Parenthood- click here
Herb Garden with Chalkboard Pots- click here
Backyard Graffiti Art with kids- click here

Happiness Notecards- click here

Gluten Free Rainbow Cake- click here

Fruit Roll-Up Fortune Cookies- click here

Make Your Own Magnets- click here

DIY Painted Clay Necklace- click here

Dixie Cup Lights- click here

DIY Ornaments-click here

Gluten Free Clay- click here

Make Your Own Stamps- click here
Birthday Shirt- click here

Gluten Free Pop Tarts- click here
Front Porch Kid Art Display- click here
Door turned into Table- click here

Summer Wish List Chalkboard-click here

Peanut Butter Nutella Cookie Sandwiches-click here

Painted Mason Jar Vases-click here

Cinco de Mayo Paper Flowers- click here

Earth Day Cupcakes- Click here
Nail Art-click here

Homemade Photo Booth Fun- click here

Fake Bangs- click here

DIY Subway Art- click here

Furniture Painting and Bench/Chest Makeover- click here

Thanksgiving-y Project/Gratitude/Holiday Countdown- click here
The Smoothie-click here

The Free Printable Turned Artwork in a Boring Hallway- click here

The chalk board-click here
Seven Layer Dip in Individual Cups (my favorite so far!)-click here
The pumpkin address-click hereThe Kitchen Dancing Sign--click here

In Defense of Imperfect Family Pictures

Even though everyone says they don't, they do it.  They try to look perfect in pictures. Right now you know all those everyones are gathering their families together and posing their kids in front of the Christmas tree for the perfect picture.  THE Christmas card picture that will show the world how cute, fantastic and beautiful and amazing their family is.   

And while I'm sure those families are indeed cute, fantastic, beautiful and amazing, I am also sure they are not perfect.  Not perfect is what my family does really well.  Even though I know this and embrace this, I still try for that perfect shot.

And I fail miserably.  But every year, our family picture tells a story.  A real story.  A story that is messy, loud, full of wrestling and bickering and laughing.  A story of a family that is cute, fantastic, beautiful, amazing and totally, completely not perfect.

It was bold to think that my husband and I could get in the picture and it would work out well.  Bold and wrong.

This shot is a bit over Instagrammed and filtered, but it tells the story of a distracted tween and fidgety toddler

This shot is as close to "perfect" as we might get.  It tells the story of mismatched PJ's and socks.  Wade having to be restrained by big brother Peyton.  Lucy working her smile and JT seconds away from doing a crazy dance. 

But here's the rest of the story from that night:

These pictures make me smile and make me love my kids more.  I'm so glad I got all these so far from perfect pictures.  Sure, I might like the shots better if they were all in matching PJ's, but someday down the road I might remember that I was waaaay too tired to coordinate that.  It's all a part of the our story.

I hope more people send out the real pictures of their families.  Not only will I feel better about my unruly brood, I will also feel like I'm getting to truly know their stories.

Here's a great article from Babble on how to take better (not perfect, but better) pictures, click here .

It's not just pictures that we do imperfectly.  Check out this short video on how we decorate for Christmas.

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This is so yesterday, but I was one of those nerds that thought recognizing 12/12/12 was fun. After school, I had the kids write down 12 things that make them happy.

It was a fun after school project that didn't take long. Barbies still make Lucy happy, which makes me happy.  Peyton included YouTube on his list which is funny.  JT wrote down Keith Baboo, our makeshift elf on the shelf, which I love.  Then it was my turn.  It was fun.  Rarely do I think about what I like.  Do you?  Try it.  List 12 things right now, do it, have fun.

Here's 12 things that make me happy:
1. My kiddos (I really kind of had to write that becuase they were sitting right next to me.)
2. Dancing
3. Twitter
4. Family (most of them anyway)
5. Avocados
6. Taking Pictures
7. Madonna
8. Friday Nights
9. Monday Mornings (weird but true, I love getting back to a routine)
10. Chipotle
11. Going to the Movies
12. Running

Two Weeks in Two Days

It was a very busy weekend around here.  We crammed two week's worth of fun into two days.  We went on tractor rides, picked pumpkins, carved pumpkins, celebrated a birthday, sang, danced, read, taught, listened, laughed, ate (a lot), visited, hosted, watched movies, read books, ate some more and took a million pictures.  Not to sound like I'm a high teenager, but it needs to be said,  it was epic.

We crammed in all of our Fall celebrations and traditions into one weekend because my husband, Tim, is having shoulder surgery today.  It's not major surgery, but in a house with a lot of kids and a lot of action, having one parent down an arm and doped up on painkillers can really put a damper on things.  Hence the cramming of all things Autumn this past weekend.

One tradition we had to take care of was our annual Youngblood Kid Photo Shoot.  Every Fall, I force gather the kids together for a picture at the same red barn in our town. We started this tradition three years ago.  I love to compare the pictures year to year and see how the kids have grown. Yesterday, we had exactly 15 minutes to get some good shots.  Here is what we were able to get:

Here's some of the mayhem that happened in those 15 minutes:

Lucy jumping with her fingers crossed.  Love it.

Epic.