Chelsea Day

Family portrait tips

10 Family Portrait Tips for Stress-Free Photos that Rock

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We recently had family portraits taken by a professional photographer for the first time EVER. We’ve been in a few brand photoshoots, we’ve done the self-timer thing plenty of times, and we’ve enlisted other photographers in our family to snap all of us together for Christmas cards. Never before, though, have we done pictures just for us, taken by someone we didn’t know, for no reason other than posterity. It was a nice change of pace, and I picked up some helpful new family portrait tips from the other side of the camera.

Pizza date

A Super-Simple Romantic Tailgate Pizza Date

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There are few things that my husband loves more than pizza. I’m pretty sure I’m one of them, and I’m fairly positive his truck is up there on the list as well.

Delegate the holidays

How to Choose things to Delegate during the Holidays

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I’m a BIG proponent of delegation, to the point that several conferences have invited me to speak on the subject. I’m even writing a course about it! My lovely assistant comes to my house to help with studio tasks in-person each week while remote consultants wrap up the digital stuff I need done. It’s wonderful. In business, however, there are fairly clear-cut lines between what a manager should do and what someone else should take care of. Delegating domestic stuff is a whole other ball game, especially during this festive season of crafts and gifts and baubles and bows!

Amazon FreeTime Unlimited Holiday

32 Festive Holiday Titles on Amazon FreeTime Unlimited

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People often ask how we keep the kids occupied on plane trips or infinite-seeming stretches of road. I do have a magic trick up my sleeve, but it isn’t any big secret or surprise. Tablets. We hand the kids tablets. These long travel stretches are the one time they’re given total, unbridled (parental pre-screened) access to all the apps and videos their little hearts could desire.

Let the kids decorate for the holidays

Let the Kids Decorate for the Holidays

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When I was a kid, my mom was so OCD about Christmas decorations that she’d actually re-decorate the tree after we got done decorating it as a family. We’d go to bed with a Charlie Brown-esque tree situation and magically wake up to a Martha Stewart magazine-worthy layout.

How I Say No

How I Say No to Pretty Much Everything like a Total Boss

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I’ve been trying to read this Year of Yes book, and I just can’t get on board with it at all. I was chatting with a friend over coffee the other day, talking about how it’s easy to get bombarded with life, become completely overwhelmed and burn out. Like many parents, my phone is a persistent nightmare zone of requests from school, church, our community groups and work. If I said yes to everything, I would lose my dang mind!

Sensory Tubes for Story Time

DIY Sensory Tubes for Story Time

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This kid. He loves story time, but his version isn’t quite as subdued as I’d like. When he asks for a bedtime story, I have visions of us snuggling up together, pointing out the characters and discussing the objects on the pages. In reality, he dances circles around the room and acts out the various scenes while I run a loud monologue over the various sound effects created by him and his three brothers.

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