We’re slowly crawling our way back into a routine over here — if you count having a mountain of laundry that still needs to be folded and a few too many empty shelves in the fridge as a “win” 😅
That re-entry reality after vacation hit us hard this week.
(Hi, Jordan vacuuming a million tiny pieces of sand and snack crumbs out of the carseats 👋)
But there’s also something pretty nice about getting back into a rhythm and routine too.
As much as we’re embracing the return to normal life…
We’re still riding the high of a little something we pulled off on our very last night of vacation.
We took our own family photos 🥹📸
Even though we do this for a living, we’ve never actually done this for ourselves.
We were a little skeptical our own crew would cooperate.
Because let’s be real, summer golden hour is after bedtime 😅
But on the last night of the trip, we let the kids in on the vision:
Lifelong memories they’d treasure forever.
Just kidding. We told they they’d get ice cream 🍦
And somehow… it worked!
The photos we got are some of my new favorites ever.
Because I never want to forget…
🦷 The summer Becks lost his big front tooth at the beach
🩰 The way Emily dances, sings and twirls everywhere she goes
👧 And how Ellie’s tiny pigtails bounce when she walks
Photog friends, we know how easy it is to always be behind the lens.
Let this be your gentle nudge to get in the frame this year.
You won’t regret it 💛
Wanna know the gear we used?
Here’s our exact setup:
Canon R6 Mark II
Canon 50mm 1.2
Canon Bluetooth Remote (if you look closely below, you can see it in Jordan’s hand!)
We used a tripod we already had, but if we were buying one just for travel, we’d go for this lightweight carbon fiber tripod.
🏠 Back to Reality
As soon as we walked in the door, reality hit:
The fridge = empty
The laundry = overflowing
The car = basically a deconstructed sand castle
But even though coming home from a trip with kids always feels like re-entry from outer space, it was more than worth it.
📚 Year Three of Homeschool Starts Now
It’s hard to believe we’re already kicking off our third year of homeschool!
We’ve always said we’ll take it one year at a time… but, so far, we really love it more than words can express.
Slow mornings in jammies.
Snuggling close for read-alouds.
The unhurried pace, the sibling friendships, the deep conversations, the flexibility to travel (hello, zoo on a Tuesday!)
We’ve loved the way we can individualize their education, lean into their interests and get so many opportunities to help shape their hearts, minds and souls.
Homeschooling these last two years has been one of the greatest joys of our lives — and a gift we’ll never take for granted.
We know every family situation is different (and you know your own family best!) but if homeschooling is something you keep feeling a gentle nudge towards, we can tell you wholeheartedly it’s been one of the biggest blessings of our lives.
🎉 Emily’s a Kindergartener!
On that same note, we’re celebrating two big milestones for our girl:
She finished the entire Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons book…
And she’s officially a kindergartener!
She started begging to read at age four (second child energy 😆), and we leaned into it — and now she’s proudly reading on her own.
Here are the reading tools we’ve loved using:
– 100 Easy Lessons
– The Good and the Beautiful Language Arts
– Secret Stories Phonics Cards
