Whoa.  Big topic.  

My kids are grown.  I have been incredibly blessed with four boys and they have all graduated high school.  

And I won't get deep.....but...if I could turn back time and raise my kids again....first of all...oh, what I wouldn't give to be able to do that!  I know I can't but if I could....I would do a few things differently.  Not everything would be different, though.  Some things I would do exactly the same.

I'd still play on the ground with them doing puzzles or playing army men instead of worrying about the dirty carpet and feeling like I needed to get up and vacuum.  I'd still sit and read with them book after book (even after they knew how to read) instead of rushing them off to bed so I could go and read my own books.  I'd still lay in their beds at night as they shared about their days instead of scurrying off to wash the dinner dishes.  I'd still attend all their sporting events (even though I probably should have walked a few laps during some of their practices to improve my own physical health)!  Wink, wink.  

These things and many others I wouldn't change.  I knew the day would come that I'd have plenty of time on my hands to vacuum carpets, read books and walk around the block as many times as I wanted without a "little one" back at home needing my help.

What I WOULD do differently is get some of the pictures we took in frames and up on the walls.  Back in the day, I took a lot of pictures of my kids.  On film.  It was excruciating waiting the three or four days it took Costco to develop my rolls of film so I could see what sweet memories we may have captured!  And, of course, I always paid a little extra for two sets of pictures to be developed in case one was so precious that I might want to share it with the grandparents!  Well, I always got my pictures, took them home, oohed and ahhed at the memories we had captured and then added them to my ever-growing pile of 4 x 6 prints.  In fact, to this day, my pictures are STILL in giant Honey Nut Cheerios boxes (the kind you can buy at Costco).  We have lots and lots of Cheerios boxes filled with pictures.  None of the pictures are in albums and none of them got framed and put up on the walls.  The problem was not a surprise to me; I remember when my kids were little and I began developing the film wondering "what am I going to do with all the pictures?  Which do I frame?  Which do I put in albums?"  It's a blessing, for sure!!  It's a blessing to have my healthy children and have all the many "developed rolls of film" which recorded the passing of years.  Now that they are grown (and I have plenty of time on my hands) one of the activities I will do is organize those pictures, put some in albums, frame some, put some up on the walls, and maybe even share a few with the grandparents.  Wink, wink.

I have one other regret from over the years of raising my kids.  I do wish we had taken professional pictures.  Yes, we have a few of the JCPenney milestone pictures from when they were really young.  But we don't have the outside, family pictures taken by a professional photographer.  At the time, I didn't want to spend the money and I knew it would be difficult to figure out what each child and their dad would wear.....let alone figure out what "I" would wear!  That's a whole 'nother level!  (and another blog post for another day! Haha!)  Now I wish we had done those family photography sessions!  The very first professional family photographer we hired was here in Raleigh, NC when my kids were 21, 19, 17 and 15.  Being a photographer, I, of course, did their senior portrait sessions but hiring that photographer provided us with the first professional family pictures we ever had taken.  What I wouldn't give to go back and hire someone every couple years to document the sweet growth of our family!  And ya know what I'd do with them?  .....I'd print out, frame and put those images up on my walls so we could enjoy them for years and years to come.....