A Family Affair

The time has come. Elaina is almost 3 1/2 and Lincoln is 18 months old today. I was determined to finally get a family picture.

We've always had good luck at the JCPenney studio and didn't hesitate to book our family appointment there. I made sure to steer clear of the kids' nap times, I secretly packed Lincoln's favorite musical toy for the photographer to lure his attention and we didn't even have to wait when we arrived. Things were looking good.

As we piled into the room, I instantly felt warm. Like their thermostat was set inexplicably high, even for a cold-blooded gal like myself. I knew that while we were all dressed for outside temperatures, our photographer was going to be have to snap some pictures quick before my wild bandits decided not to sit a moment longer dressed in their pressed shirts and layers.

We started with a family pose since that was our ultimate goal and immediately after the first click of the camera, things only went down hill. For the little one especially. Lincoln had made up his mind to get his little self right out of that room. Elaina was great except for her most gigantic, pretend camera-ham smile from ear to ear. Nothing says "natural" like wide, transfixed eyes and an overly- clenched mouth that seems to be screaming GIGGLE! Funny though she is. Most of hers turned out rather good.

Even after Eric pulled Lincoln to the side for a thumb-suckin' break, he made it clear to us one more time that he was finished. F-I-N-I-S-H-E-D! At this point, the photographer had only gotten a few pictures of the 4 of us and we had plenty of time left. I suggested that she just go ahead and take pictures of Elaina then. She was most definitely cooperating to say the least.
Once she had posed by herself for a few shots, I asked that Eric and I both get an individual picture with her pretty, little self too. Lincoln on the other hand, well... Eric had to put him into his stroller, wheel him out and buy him a soft fleecy blanket for him to snuggle against since that is the one thing I did not count on needing to take pictures. So Lincoln Todd, if you ever complain that you don't have have an "official" one year old picture taken closer to your 1st birthday, now you know why. By no means are you a delight to pose in a formal picture setting. In fact, I already find myself beginning to dread his 2 year picture. Lincoln has 6 months to practice sitting and smiling. Got it Kiddo?

Without further ado, let me present to you our first family pictures!

Cute and fun, but I passed because I found the next one to be just a little more cute and a little more fun.
This one was the keeper.

I loved everything about this pose except that my handsome husband's eyes look all wonky and Elaina's smile is just about verging on goofy. I probably should have ordered this one because the more I look at it, the more charm I'm seeing. This didn't make it on the purchase list either.

Instead, I chose this one. And now that I find myself in super-critic-analyzer mode here, I see that each of their smiles look a little less intense without as much personality as the other. Still good, but better in actual print.

I could have loved this picture. Oh, but darn you little StinkBug Lincoln! No one told you to get out of the smooshed-face line-up. I just couldn't get myself past the breaking- stride-leaning-forward bit in the front row.

It is THIS ONE which was the very first picture taken and proved to be the very best of all of us. I find myself being rather pleased with the colors and shades I chose without being too matchy-matchy. Every one of us had just enough detail in our clothes for interest without clashing and most importantly, I didn't want our picture to scream "Seasonal!" I just wanted a classic, warm-but-casual feel to our picture in an effort to match our warm-but-casual kind of family.

How do you think we all fared in our first-ever-family-of-four portrait?

(Could the photographer not have made mention for me to tuck my giant leg and SHOE behind me while I posed?) ("Warm and casual," I never mentioned perfect.) (As noted and obvious thankyouverymuch.)