My mom stopped by for coffee this morning, bringing a big bowl of freshly picked blueberries. Each of my kids had been up for awhile working on the legos they got with their allowance money last night, and the house was (mostly) quiet.

Confession: I’m not so great at legos. I love them, and I love that my kids love them, and I just haven’t gotten good at my spacial reasoning skills yet.

My mother, however, is awesome at stuff like this.  So it was Granny to the rescue when my youngest was trying to figure out what went wrong with his lego truck building. As they worked on the truck together, I sat and watched. My mom carefully put the stickers on the truck, and I was reminded of all the times she put the stickers on my toys when I was a kid, because she liked to do it and because I just couldn’t seem to get them on straight enough!

I didn’t have my phone near me, so I tried to take a mental picture of the two of them working together, my 4 year old and my mom.  Mental Pictures.  I try to stop and appreciate a lot of small moments in my life. There are so many tiny precious times with my kids and with my parents and with my friends. I’m so grateful for each moment. But my recall of these mental pictures is horrible.

People like to complain about all the picture taking parents these days do. We carry cameras or iPhones around and snap away. Sometimes I worry that I might be missing a moment because I am taking a picture. I make fun of myself because of how often I have to take my pictures off of my phone because there’s no space left. But maybe it’s nothing to complain about. I’m not escaping the moment by trying to snap a quick picture. I am trying to preserve the moment, because maybe if I have enough pictures I won’t forget all these times.

My kids are growing up, and there are no babies left in this house. Even though my youngest is only 4, I already have a hard time recalling that feeling of picking up and snuggling a baby. I know I took mental pictures and soaked up that feeling. So where did my mental pictures go? Did I forget to make a snapfish album of my mental pictures? (I guess I should hire a professional, like Jim & Pam…)

Until I figure it out, I’ll carry my phone around (or go grab it when I need it) and I will take pictures of those small moments that I want to remember.

What about you? Do you stop and appreciate the small moments? Take mental pictures? Take so many real pictures your phone gets full too quickly?