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)

Silly Goose

Well Goose has been at it again. That little man is about the funniest thing on the planet right now.

Two year olds. Ya gotta love 'em.

Last night at dinner he was super tired from a busy week and several skipped naps and/or late nights. But instead of being his usual I-missed-my-nap-so-I'll-be-loud-and-miserable tired self, he was in an uncharacteristically subdued mood.

So as Hubby and I quizzed Punky and Finny with math facts (a common dinner practice for us... not sure why, just the way we work) Goose sat quietly at his place eating his dinner.

It made us all giggle when we looked over and noticed he had taken two pieces of crust from his homemade bread slice and had crossed them to make an airplane... and he was zooming his crust-plane all through the air around him making little airplane zooming noises. It was pretty cute.

A couple of minutes later, he delighted us all again with yet another creative use of bread crusts.

With one crust scrap in his right hand and one in his left, we all looked over just in time to hear, "Marks. Get set. GO!!!" And they were off, those two crust pieces, racing for the all their worth.

I think I can safely say that is the first time I have ever watched a bread-crust race across a dinner plate.

So there is your two year old moment for the day. That kid just cracks me up.

Silly Goose...

Have you ever seen a two year old try to cross his eyes? It's pretty darn hilarious. Goose, just a bit shy of two and a half, has been doing it quite a bit for the past week or two - just to be plain old silly. We got a shot of him recently and I couldn't resist posting it. He's just so darn CUTE!!

Goose is in one of those delightful toddler stages where you just can't get enough of him. He's happy as can be about 95% of the time. When you ask him to do something, or gently correct him if he's done something wrong, he mimics what he hears the big brothers say with a completely pleasant demeanor... "Yes Ma'am." But somehow it's just a little bit cuter coming out of a two year old's mouth with that little lisp and the slight toddler accent that he still has. He recently started praying, which is also precious. "Deaw Foddow. Tink oo uh Piglet. Tink oo uh Pooh. Tink oo uh Mommy. Tink oo uhhhh, Piglet. Tink oo uh hot dogs. (etc...)" And he'll go on and on and on until you add in your own "Amen." at which point he happily shouts "AMEN!" and prayer is done. He's also shown a renewed interest in Girly Pie, which is so sweet. He's always so excited to see her and kiss her and make her laugh with Peek-a-boo or silly faces. And if someone is hurt he is so concerned... "You OK, Mommy? I kiss it. You better now?" It's especially sweet when he's the one inflicting the pain. He'll step on my toe with all 35 pounds of muscular chunky toddler strength and I'll say something along the lines of, "Ouch. Careful Honey, that was Mommy's toe." It's said gently and I don't think much of it, until he's checking in on my well being and bending down to kiss my foot and asking me if I feel better now. It's just so funny.

And the eye crossing. It seems as though he often does it when he's eating something, and he really wants to see what's going in his mouth as he takes his bites. It's just so hard not to laugh when you look over during dinner and he's sitting there all cross-eyed and staring hard at his apple slice. He's just such a goof.

And the little sense of imagination kicking in is just a riot right now. He likes to play trains on the train table, and more than the bigger boys ever were he is infatuated with Thomas and friends. It's so fun to look over during my morning kitchen cleaning time and hear him chatting away with his trains. "No Thomas. You no do dat. Wook Percy. I Thomas. I Drivin'. Wook out, Percy." Or when he's running around mostly naked, but with a backwards plastic knight's shield draped over his shoulder and a hard hat on his head. And maybe a pair of cowboy boots, depending on his mood.

So anyway. Each age has it's own special magic. Goose is just in one of those particularly magical phases where my husband and I could just eat him up. Considering the fits the kid can throw when he's not in a "Happy Place," we'll gladly soak up the cuteness now. Maybe we can bottle some of it to open up on a rainy day sometime in the next few months when he's pushing three and working hard to reassert his toddler independence. ;o)