I have a confession to make.

I took a family picture when we were camping in Door County a few weeks ago. Let me tell you, this picture is … well, picturesque. Here, I will share it with you.

I also need to tell you, I did not share this picture on social media. It looks great! We look like a happy family starting off a wonderful vacation.
But I was miserable! We spent the morning running errands and packing up and plopped the kids in front of the TV. (Mind you, I know we always pay for this in the long run.) I felt terrible for rushing like a crazy person while the kids zoned out.
When we finally got to the campsite it was late, kids were hungry and the mosquitoes were eating us alive. We struggled to get everything set up, get food in tummies, all while fighting the mosquitoes.
Eventually, we decided to drive around a find a beach. We did find a beach, and that went well until J fell in and soaked his only pair of shoes.
Moving forward, we found a lovely overlook and the sun was just starting to set. The sunset was the kind that reminds me how amazingly beautiful God's creation really is. The view was handcrafted by Him and it shows.
We enjoyed the view and took a lovely picture. In that moment, everyone smiled and looked happy. Approximately 5 seconds later I stubbed my toe HARD on a rock as I chased after the 2 littles plotting to run down the dangerously steep slope.
But the goodness does that picture look good.
But at that moment, it wasn't the full truth.

It felt like a lie.

And I decided to not share it because of that. Other moms don't need that pressure on social media. The truth is that we are all human. We all have our struggles and triumphs. We all have good times and not-so-pleasant parenting moments.
I believe that we need more real-life shares. We should normalize the hard times and the good times.
The truth is that we did have really good times on our camping trip in Door County. Something about sharing the one picture that felt like a lie felt like it would lessen that reality.
So now I would like to share the pictures that are the truth.

I feel good about these pictures because they show the truth about my kids' personalities. Sometimes they are a joy and get along lovely. And sometimes there is attitude (as you can see). I love them both ways!