Picture Day

School picture days sneak up on me every year. I imagine most moms out there have their children’s outfits picked out and ready weeks in advance. I don’t. I scramble around the night before running to a couple of stores trying to find those perfect picture day outfits…at the last-minute. Nope, not stressful at all!

Then the morning of the pictures never seems to run as smoothly as I imagine it going in my head. I typically get the kids all ready easy enough…and then something will happen. When Caleb was 3 months old, he had his first picture at school (daycare). Back then I did have the outfit all picked out and laying out ready for him. No stress back then! No sirree!! But on the way to school, that precious little boy started coughing. I had fed him right before we left the house, and the coughing triggered his gag reflex. And he threw up his milk all over his sweet little outfit, his car seat and the car. I was in the middle of driving when this happened and completely freaked out! I yanked the car over and looked at the disastrous mess. It was horrible. I had to turn the car around, go home and forget picture day. Luckily, his school was still having pictures taken the next day, so we got in on the action then.

Really, I haven’t had any good picture day stories about the twins…until this year. I dressed them in coordinating outfits like all good twin mothers do and got their adorable selves to school. The night before, I had lovingly put foam rollers in Sadie’s hair and the morning of the pictures she looked lovely! I had fixed Luke’s hair before we left the house, but he does this thing in the car where he likes to whip his head around. Really not sure why, but he seems to enjoy it! So of course there was lots of head whipping that morning. Luckily, I was smart! I had brought a comb with me just in case! So we went to the water fountain and tamed the mess! While I was working intently on his hair, I was distracted for a second by Sadie who was also at the water fountain…putting water ALL over her hair too! I immediately started screaming “No! No! No! No! No!” like all good mothers do in these situations. She explained to me that she was fixing her curls…that did not need fixing!! Thank goodness she had only managed to put water on part of the back of her hair. The front part still looked decent. So off we marched to the room where the photos were being taken before more damage could be done!

When it was Sadie’s turn, she marched up there, posed and smiled like a girl who knows what she’s doing! After my sister-in-law taught her to pose for pictures this summer at the beach, she’s been a photo taking machine! Put her in front of a camera, and she’s ready! So she was easy!

Then it was Luke’s turn. I had to carry him over to sit on the stool where he was supposed to go. And though we had practiced hard on our smiles at home, no smiles were coming from this stubborn boy! When Caleb was young, we had this same problem. And honestly, at this point, I’m happy to get a non-smiling picture if it means that there was at least no crying or screaming…though those tend to be fun too! We quickly decided that maybe Luke needed to try later when I wasn’t around.

So when we got in the hall, I tried sitting them on a couch to see if they’d smile for me, and I got this. Not too bad. Not quite what I was going for, but not bad.

And then today, I got the proofs for the pictures, and they are too good not to share!

Here’s my darling little girl!

And here’s my not smiling, but cute anyway boy.

And then, there was this one! I LOVE this one! It screams of their personalities! It is totally perfect! And it will be purchased and brought out for years to come!