The Smile Quota

As a mother, I am constantly trying to capture the perfect picture. I long for the shot when all three of my children are smiling, their hair is combed and their faces are mostly free of dirt or whatever else seems to linger on them.

I will admit that I occasionally get a little frustrated at the lack of cooperation when it comes to me trying to take pictures of my family. I have to go through a little checklist with each child:

Hair. CHECK.

Face clean. CHECK.

Clothes properly adjusted. CHECK.

Natural smiles. Well there is where we have a problem.

I am pretty certain that my son is close to hitting his lifetime quota of natural smiles. For the past year, he has been unable to smile for pictures or at least he tries but it almost always comes out looking like he is just bearing his teeth.

Enter the photobombers. Since I am always telling him to smile, he mostly now does the opposite. So now I tell him to do whatever feels natural. Half of the time I get this from all three children:

But I no longer mind because in the course of these silly photos, I tend to get at least one photo like this:

And this is the kind of picture that is a keeper. This picture helps me remember the moment perfectly and just shares a moment of pure joy.

Those photobomb pictures above just remind of how silly my kids can be and they also remind me that I need to let them be kids. That kids don’t always smile and pose.

I love these moments and I love that I now let myself enjoy them all, smiles or not.

Visit the Capri Sun Facebook page and upload a picture of your kids seizing the day for a chance to win up to $2,500.

This post is sponsored by Capri Sun. My kids have loved Capri Sun since I can remember. Their current favorite is Capri Super V and that is the only juice drink they drink. They love the taste and I love that they get a combined serving of fruits and vegetables plus a good source of antioxidants, vitamins A, C and E.