5 Tips to Taking Better Pictures of Your Kids

Holly and I (Heather) used to talk about starting our own photography business together. We really enjoy taking pictures and both find a lot of joy in capturing special moments of our friends and family. We have learned a lot about photography and wanted to share a few simple ways to improve the quality of the pictures you take of your kids.

1. Use natural light

Turn off the lights in your house and open the blinds. If you use natural light you will notice your pictures look less yellow and your kids look more like themselves. This will also help with a lot of the problems you may get with shadows in your photos.

FLUORESCENT LIGHT (light on in room, blinds closed) VS. NATURAL LIGHT (light off in room, blinds open)

2. Don't force a pose

All to often we pull out the camera with the perfect shot envision in our mind, we try so hard to capture the shot we've envisioned that we miss the real one.  If your kids don't want to pose how you envisioned them don't force it.  Let them laugh, move, be themselves and have fun capturing them as they are.

3. Get on their level

Get on your kids level, this will help you interact with them and help you capture a better looking photo of their faces rather then a birds eye view of them. 

4. Focus

Its so easy to grab the camera and take a quick shot and not even realize its blurry and unusable until months later when it's posted online or printed. Take an extra moment to focus in on your child's eyes. 

5. Watch your background 

Watch for clutter or distractions in the background, you want the child you are photographing to be your focus. Sometimes the background you create can be the distraction, keep it simple. 

I really like my adjustable photography background, it has helped me create a professional looking backdrop.  It folds up and fits into a small bag, I like this because I don't have to dedicate a large portion of space to photography but can set it up when and where I choose. I ordered my stand through YESCOMUSA and was pleased with the fast delivery time and quality product. 

November and December

It is already half way through November and we are excited to share some of the fun ways we preserve memories in our home...we will continue to share some of these ideas next year as we have both come to really enjoy this area of motherhood!

Back in January we started a series to help us focus on the many different roles we have as mothers, if you are interested we have included a little recap below:

In January our focus was on getting organized.  We shared some simple things that we have done to organize our homes and also some fun ideas we have organized like mommy and me field trip groups and busy bag swaps.

In February our focus was on ways that we can show love to those we care about.  We shared our basket of sunshine post, a few of our favorite Valentines' Recipes, and Valentines Printables and had a great Giveaway for a nights stay at Anniversary Inn. 

In March we focused on our roles as nurse and physical trainer.  Heather announced her pregnancy and shared some pregnancy posts including Gender Revel Ideas, Fun Ways to Document Pregnancy, and Announce Pregnancy along with some things to remember when Eating for Two, and some Pregnancy Stretches. We also shared some tips and tricks that have helped us in our journey as mothers including: Teething Tips, Ways to Drink More Water, and Hygiene Day.

In April we focused on party planning. We shared some Party Planning Tips,  Birthday Party Theme Ideas and some of our Birthday Traditions. We also shared a tutorial on how to make Cake Pops and one of our new favorite recipes Cake Batter Rice Krispie Treats.

In May our focus was on our role as entertainers.  We shared our theme day If you give a Moose a Muffin.  Some of our other favorite posts are: Fun with Play Dough, 10 home made play dough recipes, and Make a volcano!

In June our focus was on our roles as chauffeur. We shared 5 tips to minimize the scramble when trying to get out the door with children.

In July our focus was on our roles as maid...we focused on cleaning our homes and ways to help our children embrace household responsibilities.  We shared age appropriate jobs for children, a trick we do- how to refill used swifter wet jet bottles. We also shared a responsibility chart printable.

In August we shared some posts on ways to prepare ourselves and family for an emergency. We prepared our 72 Hour kits.

In September we focused on making our house a home.  We shared our rain gutter bookshelves.

In October we focused on our role as cook/chef. We  shared how we plan our meals and a dinner menu printable! We also shared some of our favorite recipes.

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Printable Dinner Menu

I wrote a whole separate post on how I meal plan here, it might help you understand why I created the dinner menu board the way I did. 

When it comes to meal planning I would encourage you to do what works for you!  We all have our own way of doing things and so please tweak your board to fit your family. I have included a full sheet of blank meal cards in the printable for this very purpose. 

Alright enough talk...lets get going. Here is my Dinner Menu Board:

Printable Dinner Menu

How to Assemble Your Board!

Supplies:

Dinner Menu Printables

Cookie Sheet (Mine measures 11" X 17")

Sticky Note Pad

2 Strips of Magnetic tape

7 Circular Magnets

7 Pop Bottle Lids (found in scrappin section of craft store)

Ribbon/String

Clothespin (optional)

Rings/clips (to categorize menu cards)

Picture Hanging Strips (bought mine at wal-mart)

Hole punch

Scissors
Glue

Directions:

1-Print off dinner menu, trim edges and place in cookie sheet.

2-Cut out menu item tag, pocket and menu cards. Fold pocket on dotted line as pictured below.

3-Glue ribbon and pocket onto Menu and magnets to pop bottle tops. Also, stick magnetic tape to the back of sticky note pad. (I used my glue gun!)

4-Categorize menu cards, hole punch and place on rings.

5-Hang menu on wall using picture hanging strips.

Don't feel like doing all the work?

I first created this as a two sheet spread that could be printed off and laminated. I used a dry erase marker to write on it. If you are interested in printing one for yourself, here it is!

Meal Planning

It seems like the hardest part of meal planning is getting started… deciding what’s for dinner.

How do I meal plan?

First, I have found that I do better when I plan one week at a time as opposed to two weeks or a full month. I think a big part of this is because I go grocery shopping weekly and I like to plan our meals around sales and what is in season. I also have a better idea of our families schedule, I know when we are going to be home, if the kids have games/lessons, what our work schedule is, etc.   

Second, I like to categorize our meals and then pick only one meal each week from each category.  I categorized our meals into 7 different categories, one for each day of the week. I don’t assign categories to specific days but pick what works best for that specific week.  

Third, I like to display our weekly menu.  Displaying the menu helps me stick with it and lets my family know what we are having for dinner.

How Do I Categorize Our Meals?

Below is an example of how I categorize our meals.  I used to categorize by meat/protein (one night we would have something with beef another night something with chicken, etc.) This worked great but many of our recipes can be used with different kinds of meat or don't have meat in them at all.  

I really like the way we categorize our meals now because they’re catered to what our family likes and are categorized in such a way that scheduling is easy.

Soup/Salad/ Sandwich
We have a lot of soup in the fall/winter and lots of salads and sandwiches in the spring/summer.  

Favorites Include: Chicken Noodle Soup, Tortilla Soup, White Chicken Chili, Taco Salad, BBQ Chicken Salad, BLT's, and Tuna Cheese Melts.

Italian
This is by far our families’ favorite so it’s categorized all on its own.

Favorites Include: Fettuccine Alfredo, Chicken Parmesan, Lasagne, Spaghetti, Pizza and Calzones.

Mexican/Asian/Hawaiian
We try to do one of each at least once within the month.

Favorites Include: Navajo Tacos, Fajitas, Enchiladas, Stuffed Peppers, Tiny Spicy, Sweet and Sour, Stir Fry, Kahoona Burger and Hawaiian Haystacks.

Meat as Main Menu Item/Crock-Pot
Once a week we have meat as our main dinner item with some kind of side like rice, potato or corn on the cob. Most of my favorite main dishes with meat are also crock-pot meals so that's why I categorized these together. 

Favorites Include: Pot Roast, BBQ Ribs/Chicken, Swedish Meatballs, Grilled 7-Up Chicken, Wingers Sticky Fingers, Italian Chicken and Steak.

Casserole/Freezer Meal
This meal is usually reserved for the night I need something fast! I can easily thaw out a prepared meal from the freezer or make a casserole and pop it in the oven.

This category also includes a From the Pantry or Garden Meal which helps me use ingredients I need to use before they go bad…like when I have an overload of Zucchini from the garden.  It also helps me use those ingredients that get pushed to the back of the pantry. 

Favorites Include: Shepherds Pie, Chicken Pot Pie and Chicken n' rice.

Try a New Recipe 

I have hundreds of recipes (bookmarked on my computer, saved to my pintrest boards, stashed in old cookbooks and piled up in my cupboard) this gives me a chance to try them!

Leftovers/Eat Out/Breakfast

We eat a lot of leftovers for lunch but still tend to have excess most weeks...when we do we eat them for dinner too. Other nights we go out to eat.  If we don't have leftovers and don't go out we have breakfast for dinner. I like to call this the no planning night. Whatever we decide to do it is easy!

Favorites Include: French Toast, Waffles, and of course eating out!

How do I Display Our Menu?

I originally displayed our menu on a piece of paper clipped to the fridge but quickly decided I wanted something more permanent so I designed a sheet in Photoshop, laminated it and used a dry erase marker to write on it. 

This worked great for a while but after a few months of fighting my kiddos to leave it on the fridge and getting mad at them for coloring on it I decided I wanted something even more permanent. I wanted a shopping list I could easily take with me when shopping and something more crafty. This is what I came up with:

We have used this for over 8 months now and I am loving it!!

How Do I Use the Dinner Menu?

 Their are 7 spots on the menu, one for each day of the week. Each spot has a magnet that holds the meal card in place. 

Their is a little pocket for menu items/meal cards. I keep all my meal cards in this pocket and keep them categorized on a clip so that they are easy to go through...this makes it so easy!!

Their is a shopping list...I love this because I can restock it with new sticky pads as I use it up. I also love that my shopping list is part of the menu...it's always there when I need to add to it.

 For a free printable and instructions to make your own Dinner Menu check back tomorrow!