Family Pictures

I love pictures. I take pictures of the kids almost everyday so that I can capture as many moments as possible and have them to look back on. They are all growing so fast! I also try to get everyone together at least once a year for professional pictures of the family and the kids. This has obviously become increasingly difficult since the arrival of Nicholas and now Avery. Yet, each time I arrange to have our pictures taken, before we go, I imagine how it will play out. I think about the poses I want and I think about all of my darling children peacefully sitting in their assigned position and smiling when the photographer says "say cheese." I think about all of the fabulous pictures I'll have to share with family and friends. Yeah... much like my plan for the cider mill, our trip to the portrait studio didn't work out like I'd envisioned.

A few weeks ago I decided I wanted to get pictures of the four kids and a few baby pictures of Avery. I planned our appointment so that everyone should have been rested and happy and ready to cooperate. Of course, things didn't go as smoothly as I'd hoped. Nicholas only wanted to run around the studio and play with all of the props and Avery only wanted to cry. The poor photographer would position the girls, and then Nicholas, but by the time we'd get Avery situated, Nicholas would move. While we were repositioning Nicholas, Avery would start crying again. It was a disaster! By the time we left, I was so dissappointed and about ready to be committed! However, despite our issues we got a few decent pictures. Nothing super great like I'd hoped for, but good enough for now, I suppose. Here they are (the color in these pictures is a little off because I had to scan them in--the color in the actual pictures is much better).

Since I didn't get the individual pictures of Avery that I wanted for her baby book, I decided that I'd try again, but this time, just with Avery. I left Nicholas home with Daddy and Avery and I ventured off to a different portrait studio (I won't go back to the place where I had the first pictures taken) this past Wednesday. This experience was much better and we got some really good pictures (despite Avery's best efforts--she tried her best to be fussy and give me a hard time). Our photographer was great. The down side of this studio is that they only sell their pictures in packages and if you don't want one of their packages, you have to buy individual sheets and they are crazy expensive!!! The cost factor is definitely an issue for us because we have so much family that we always need to order a ton of pictures. Oh well. I'm done with professional pictures for now and will worry about where to have them taken again in another 6 months or so. Until then, I'm not thinking about it! This studio does post their pictures online at http://www.holdmymemories.com/ The username is allencly and the password is avery. If you double click on the picture after you login, it will bring up the gallery for viewing.