Say Cheese...please!

Last week I wrote about my kids’ portraits that I scheduled for this Tuesday. I know some of you were wondering how they went.

Well, let me start with Monday. I spent most of that day going from store to store, looking for the perfect clothes and accessories for the photos. The kids were going to wear 2 outfits, one would be for very formal photos, wearing the clothes I bought them for my mother-in-law’s wedding. The other photo would be casual Christmasy ones to send out with our cards. My shopping adventure was mainly for red turtlenecks and elf hats. Seems like simple items to obtain, right? Wrong. I went to Gymboree, two Party Americas, Walmart, JCPenny, Sam’s Club and Dollar Tree. I finally found the boys’ shirts that I needed at Kohls, and Elf hats at Party Card Outlet; plus I picked up some deer antlers and candy cane head bands as well…more to chose from. My last stop of the day was to be at the cleaners, to pick up the kids’ outfits from the wedding.

However, as I was shopping, my husband had called to see how I was feeling, because I physically had a bad morning the day before. I told him that I was fine, and I was about to pick up the dry cleaning. He then told me that I couldn’t do that because it was all still sitting in his car. He never brought it to the cleaners the prior week….he was busy. He claimed I never told him that I needed the stuff, however, he also has told me on numerous occasions that he only listens to about half of what I tell him. And believe me, I had been talking about these pictures and the clothes ever since I made the appointment.

Needless to say, I was not happy. Quite pissed actually, but at this point, there really was nothing I could do, and no reason to stay angry. I went to two local dry cleaners and the best they could do for me was have the clothes back the next day (Tuesday), sometime AFTER 5:00. The portraits were at 5:30, and with a half hour drive, there was no guarantee I’d have the clothes.

I had no choice but to call and reschedule…for Wednesday.

But the drama doesn’t end there.

The next evening (Tuesday) I went to the dry cleaners to pick up the kids’ clothes. They only had Ella’s dress. They wrote the wrong day for the boys’ suit jackets to be delivered. But they promised me they’d be there the next day before noon (and free of charge).

But the drama doesn’t end there.

The next day (the day of the portraits), just before picking up the boys’ suit jackets, I was getting Ella’s outfits together. I took the dress out of the dry cleaning bag only to discover “water” like stains on the front of the dress, and an orange tag explaining that all attempts at removing the stain had failed. Ugh! I only had an hour before I had to be at Cameron’s school to volunteer, and I had no energy to go from store to store looking for a blue dress! As much as I hated doing it, I went to Macy’s in search of the exact same dress, and thankfully they still had two left in her size.

Completely exhausted, I , along with Sara and my mom, dressed the kids in what Max called their “handsome clothes,” and we headed off for pictures.

I took a few photos myself right before we left, just in case the professional photo session was a total bust.

They obviously weren't cooperating for me, so I was a bit worried about what was to come.

Fortunately, with many punishment threats and bribes put in place, our session at Flash! Digital Portraits went fairly well. Cameron and Max were fabulous. As I figured, Ella was the challenge. Sara and the photographer would work at getting them set up, and my mom and I were in the back trying to get Ella to look at the camera and not down or at her brothers. She did fairly well with the formal photos.

But by the time they switched outfits, she was just done, and only interested in the mall’s merry-go-round that she could see through the studio’s window. We couldn't even coax her to stay in the store, let alone stand in the line of the camera.

But if you recall, my only request was to get one shot of all them looking at the camera, smiling. And I got more than one. So I’m happy. Tired. And glad it’s all done.

You can actually see the photos here.
Click “Go to my portraits”
Then type in my last name and the password “Cameron”