Picture Day

It's been almost two years since I have taken my crew in to get somewhat formal pictures taken. And by somewhat formal, I just mean anyone but my husband or I taking pictures of all four of them together in outfits that are somewhat coordinated.

So today we went to our local Target Portrait Studio with four cute, smiley kids in very darling coordinating orange and white outfits. I have been so excited ever since I booked the appointment. I've never had four children in a photo shoot before! I was actually giddy as I walked into target and saw all of my babies looking so clean and neat and all wearing similar clothes. No one had a jammie shirt on. Not one holey knee. Everyone had recently trimmed hair and they were fairly clean and mostly brushed. I had picked all the boys' jeans out so they were all the right size and no one had hand picked any nice plaid button up shirts to go with their red workout pants and clip-on tie (that would be Finny's favorite NICE outfit. Real nice, huh?). All four of my kids looked absolutely darling.

It was perfect.

So of course it could only go downhill from there, right? I mean, I do have four children, after all. I think it is physically impossible for all four of them to be happy, cooperative and STILL at the same time.

So first there was Little Miss Girly Pie. She was the one I was really excited to get pictures of. For one thing I've never taken her in to get any pictures done before, so firsts are always fun. Plus it's nearing her birthday so I thought these could count as some one year photos. And add to all that I've never gotten to pick a dress or decide on hair accessories for pictures before. That's just a whole new world to a Momma of three boys! So I was just so excited to see my cute, happy baby girl smile for the camera and get some absolutely adorable shots to frame and hang up. I had planned the pictures to be smack between her two naps so she'd be in a great mood. And she was... in the waiting room.

But then we got into the picture-taking room - and the happy, smiley girl was gone. Girly Pie half smiled, barely, for the first two or three shots (group shots as she immediately cried when I tried to put her down alone for the individuals), and proceeded to cry the whole rest of the time if I even tried to peel her an inch or two off of my body. No cute, happy girl standing there beaming. Nope. In fact, it's a good thing I thought to wear a white shirt, because I ended up holding her for most of the pictures. But at least I did get a couple of sweet solemn faces - which look fine in sepia where you can't see the red eyes from her crying.

Sigh.

And then there's Goose, who apparently had to poop, as he was running circles around everyone. Literally. Circles. It was like I had just given the kid a Coke and a candy bar or something. It was pretty great.

And Punky, the first born ham that he is, was being the biggest show off and camera hog I have ever seen! At one point, the lady was just trying to get some candid shots of the kids all looking at Girly Pie (she gave up on trying to get smiles, since GP cried every time she tried to make her look towards the camera! – I even had to sit there with her in my lap because I couldn’t put her down anywhere near the camera lady. Girly Pie was obviously terrified of her.) and there was Punky in the background of everyone, literally standing on one leg and craning all his limbs out and making a super fakey cheesy “Look at me, I’m smiling!” sort of face. It was such an obvious center-of-attention sort of ploy it was almost funny. Almost.

Then there’s Finny. I had to remind him so many times not to scratch his nose (He doesn’t pick it, he just sticks his first two fingers in both nostrils and sort of scratches the whole area there constantly. I’m not sure if it’s a nervous habit or if he really is itchy. Either way – it looks REALLY bad in pictures!) or touch his face or cover anyone else’s face with his hands or the little flower prop we used in an attempt to keep Girly Pie's interest. Really he was the best one. At least he kept a somewhat natural smile on his face, didn’t try to steal the show, and mostly stayed in the same place.

So there you go. My first experience of getting pictures done with four children.

I'll post some of the pictures here when I pick them up in a couple weeks. When all was said and done - though they did not turn out as I had imagined they would - we did end up with some sweet shots of my kiddos.

So really, I guess I can't complain.

Though - I guess it’s no wonder I only take them once every two years. ;o)