I don’t want to forget all the little moments, and I like comparing how much they’ve changed and grown over the years.”
DIANNE LISETTE PHOTOGRAPHY; PROVIDED BY SARAH ROBERTS; PROVIDED BY NATALIE THURMOND
— KRISTIN TAYLOR, mother of three
Kristin Taylor of Murray, Ky., wishes that her parents had documented her childhood more, so she’s vowed to do that for her kids. “I want to remember the moments that seem ordinary but end up being the stories we retell as our kids grow up,” says Taylor, mother to Cate, 13; Ben, 10; and Rachel, 4. Each year, she photographs her children in their school uniforms. “I don’t want to forget all the little moments, and I like comparing how much they’ve changed and grown over the years,” she says. The book The Kissing Hand, by Audrey Penn, has meant a lot to Marie Karns and her daughter, Lil. In the heartwarming story, a baby raccoon cries to his mom
that he doesn’t want to go to school and wants to stay home with her. The mom passes down a tradition from her mom to her little boy. She kisses the inside of his palm so he can take her love to school with him. “We read the book every year and then I kissed the palm of her hand and folded her fingers over it so she could take it to school with her,” says Karns of Oregon City, Ore. For some, tradition is about celebrating the first day when the kids get home. Sarah Roberts’ children, Ethan, 8, and Anna Kate, 5, choose a special treat. “We might get ice cream or bake cookies,” Roberts says. Madison, Ala., mom LeAnne McGee makes a school bus-
shaped cake and puts headshots of her kids — Alia, 16; Max, 14; Zac, 12; and Zoe, 9 — in the windows. “We have a little party after school,” she says. For Natalie Thurmond’s family, the tradition starts the evening before. “We have a big homecooked meal the night before to ease back-to-school jitters,” says Thurmond, also of Murray, Ky. Mom to Claire, 18, and Ella, 10, Thurmond also photographs her children on their home’s porch every year. “I plan on giving them a book of those photos when they graduate,” she says. Traditions create memories and one day, when the kids are older, it will be a great way to look back and remember those new beginnings.
Left to right, mothers Kristin Taylor, Sarah Roberts and Natalie Thurmond show off their families.
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