Couple Celebrates Sending Last Kid to College With Hilarious "Empty Nest" Photo Shoot

Parents today do a lot of things differently than those of previous generations, and no one can deny that millennial moms take a lot more photos of their kids.

So, when Vicky and Jeff Piper's second and youngest child headed off to college this month, they decided to get in on a parenting milestone they missed out on – with a professional photo shoot celebrating their new "empty nest" lifestyle.

"Twenty years ago, we didn't have gender reveal parties, portraits in beautiful fields with baby shoes to announce a pregnancy," Vicky said in a sweet Facebook post. "Nor did we have baby photos on a blanket with a circle around a number showing how old they were."

Back when she was a new mom, she recalls that "we drove our babies to Sears or Olan Mills to get their photo!"

In honor of their next chapter, the clever photos feature the couple holding a chalkboard reading "Empty Nest 2018" and an actual bird's nest.

For not having experience with elaborate photo shoots, they certainly aced their first try. The post received 171,000 likes and 30,000 shares.

Her underlying message is as inspiring as her execution.

"People celebrate so many things in the beginning, and then we forget to celebrate things later on," she told Today, adding that people don't realize that graduations and changes in the lives of children affect the parents' lives as well. "Let's capture the moment not just for the kid that's leaving the home, but for Mom and Dad, too."