I don’t know how many times I hear that phrase each day. I hear it so often that, like a coworkers hideous playlist, I’ve learned to tune it out over time. I’m quite certain I don’t make all these promises my kids conveniently remember, but I’m outnumbered and sometimes it’s just easier to do what I allegedly promised than fight it.
That’s what happened today when Luca, Lincoln and Anna ran downstairs to assemble behind me. Two of them yelled, "Dad, you promised to print pictures for our pictures books!!" And if that didn’t get my attention, one kid rocked my chair back and forth making it impossible to use my mouse. This is one of those times when it’s best to assess the time it would take me to do whatever was promised versus the time it would take to worm my way out of the task.
I ran the numbers and decided to rescue my eardrums from the high decibel yelling. I mean, how long can it take to print a few pictures and divvy them out to three kids?
That question was answered when I asked each of them to pick a number between 1 and 100 to determine the order of selecting pictures. Anna chose 5, Lincoln went with 9 and Luca bravely chose 7. So we’re off to a rousing start!
Kim and I have taken thousands of pictures from which the kids could choose from. A pattern quickly emerged, and the overwhelming favorite picture each of them demanded I print? One of Elka, our dog. Santa will remember this.
It took several bribes of Cherry Passion Tic Tacs to coerce them into selecting a few pictures of each other along with one or two of mom and dad. But we finally had enough pictures to fill three books worth.
The kids had a blast watching the pictures emerge from the printer. They took turns selecting their 12 favorites. Luca ended up with a good cross section of the family as did Lincoln. Anna was left with a less diverse album having selected pictures of herself with the first six picks. Kim felt like the last kid chosen on the playground as it took several rounds before her picture was selected.
But the albums are now filled. My eardrums have stopped ringing and the mob has dispersed and gone to bed with full sippy cups.
Here’s a picture the small albums upon completion. Anna ripped the spine off hers so I had to improvise with a Macgyver worthy repair utilizing a couple paperclips.
Nordquist Blog 
HA! We have gotten to the point of being VERY mindful of the word “promise” because it haunts us so much. There was a time when we actually used to make a promise, then time would get away from us or something would happen and we would let the kids down. So now we just don’t promise unless we can follow through within a very short amount of time…like, within the hour. Even still, just like you, we somehow promise to do things nearly every day without remembering it….
LikeLike
if you were a mom, you would know better than to promise. the only promise moms make is…i promise i will do my best to (insert bribe here). that is the kind that won’t bite you in the butt later. 🙂
LikeLike
Oh Brett! I’m sorry and not sorry that I sent those albums! I didn’t think how long it would take to select and print the pictures but I’m glad you “promised” and did it for them. It looks like they turned out cute.
LikeLike