Family pictures

It's a time-honored ritual, a societal rite of passage, or an instrument of torture if you are a 10-year old boy. It's The Family Photo Session. Each year my attempts to corral the herd and snap a decent pic are met with sighs, groans, and agony over shirt color and hairstyle. 

Every year we park ourselves on the quaint "gentlemen caller's bench" by the front door and smile. This year we were able to snap a respectable family shot with just a few attempts. I was thrilled.

Not to be outdone, our presence was requested at the queen mother of family photo sessions by the Queen Mother herself, my mom. No self-timer-scramble picture on her watch! She hired a professional to capture our likenesses for posterity. 

Surprisingly the kids were OK with Grandma calling the shots instead of mom (OK, not surprising). Dressed in semi-coordinating fabrics, hair neatly combed and smiles at the ready. Snap! Flash! Rearrange. Repeat. Thirty minutes later, no blood had been shed, no major drama ensued, and no spirits were crushed. 

Can't wait to see the proofs! Bunny ears can be PhotoShopped out, can't they? :)

It's Picture Day!

School Picture Day was always one of the most traumatizing, dreaded, stress-inducing events of my school years. My shirt never seemed quite right, my smile always turned out goofy, and it was a major challenge to keep from bumping my feathered and Spritzed bangs before the photo session. And heaven forbid it would rain!

Well, the "new" hasn't yet worn off of the kids' haircuts, and here it is Picture Day again. So, last night I spent an hour coordinating shirts (making sure that each was wearing a favorite, of course). Then I realized that we have 5-6 background colors from which to choose. Do I need this much choice? Gray has always worked well, but who can turn a cold shoulder to the opportunity to have a purple background on their school picture? We just got a new couch, so now I'm thinking the background has to coordinate with the new couch, so purple is out. What about the red? Sassy and vibrant...but it would clash with one of the shirts. Scratch red. Maybe if we put the pictures in the dining room this year instead of the living room, we could do the blue....or maybe the hall since the green would set off the background chair cushion....

We went with gray.