Most people that visit my home point out the abundance of Rachel (and lack of Sarah and Miriam) pictures. Hahaha – yes the younger ones are always left out – hahaha. The lack of Sarah and Miriam pictures really gets to me, but the thought of trying to find someone to take pictures feels overwhelming. We had family pictures taken before Miriam was born and a few were really nice, but recently I just have been too distracted to even attempt booking a photo session.
For some reason, I decided that Easter-time would be the perfect time to take some really nice pictures of the girls. Three weeks ago, Rachel and I went to the mall and rounded out the Easter wardrobe for the kids. Sarah already had a very pretty white dress from Nana that matched her Easter hat from last year. I helped Rachel choose a dress that would coordinate with her sister’s hats/dresses. (That process was a lot of fun, and I could write an entire blog entry describing how that went down. I had to explain that not all dresses are reverent enough for church. I thought that she understood this, but I guess some lessons require reteaching.)
Last weekend, I decided that we were going to get the “Easter” pictures out of the way so Easter weekend could be relaxed and focused on other things – like the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Here is a snapshot of how it went down.
- It was rainy/cold – like 55/60 F cold, which isn’t really cold but our kids are wimps. Also, it was windy and the girls hats kept blowing off their pretty little heads. Sarah’s hat almost went into an alligator infested water-way.
- We chose a scenic part of the neighborhood, which was a little too scenic. Sarah wanted to look at the water the entire time. This was a problem.
- Miriam had a massive ‘blow-out’, and Rachel and Sarah were afraid to hold her.
- Rachel is in a weird preteen phase and hates smiling for the camera. Her once pretty smile is now goofy and sometimes creepy.
After about 15 minutes, we packed up and went home. I was optimistic though. I thought, it’s ok, next weekend. Yes, next Saturday will be perfect! Wrong. This morning the typical screamfest that is standard operating procedure in our house was louder than usual. Not even the promise of a fun Easter egg hunt at the church rallied the girls. I threatened to put them up for adoption…. But, later they perked-up and all was well until we returned home. I wanted to give Easter pictures one more try. I was too irritated to even bother with a nice location, so I put up a chair in the yard. Easter pictures part two happened as follows.
- Miriam was squirmy.
- Sarah wanted to pick flowers.
- Sarah wanted to see all of the pictures that we were taking and then wanted to take pictures herself.
- Sarah didn’t want to stand close to her sisters, because Miriam was pulling her hair.
- Bugs – followed by lots of screaming.
- I screamed at the girls.
- I threatened to take away Easter candy if they didn’t stand still and smile.
- I threatened to cancel Easter.
I felt like a looser for getting so mad about the picture fiasco, but I think there are a few decent pictures. Afterward, the babies took a nap while Rachel and I went running. My standards for Easter egg coloring are pretty low, so as long as they don’t break the eggs on each others faces, it will be fine.
Happy Easter everyone – “He arose!” and our hope is eternal!
Love these pics! The one with Sarah grunting is gold! That’ll give you guys laughs for years to come!
LOL! Thanks Sarah – that face said it all 🙂