Those were the words muttered by my niece as I stood her among the the peeling paint, the broken glass and the snow covered trees for our seasonal photo shoot, the first of the year! Charis just wanted me to hurry, Cyli just kept telling her to snuggle in and Ashton just wanted to kick up the snow and play! My nieces and nephew have come to the realization that once the weather turns from cold to warm, from warm to hot, back to warm, and eventually freezing again, that we brave the elements outside for some photo time. We started this little tradition several years ago with my first major film camera when I was in college, and there were only 2 kids at the time. Charis wasn't born yet, and the photos were quite different back then. Several included props like any number of cats that they or I had, watermelon, the famous "blankie" that a little toddler can't let go of, the easter baskets, or the christmas presents, or even the first birthday cake. They once were clad in matching Old Navy July 4th t-shirts, and now I plan carefully the outfits that they get to wear. I fix hair, I throw them into un-natural for brother and sister posing, like hugging, and getting close! I make ridiculous jokes to get the expressions and then they all just laugh at me and we get the shots! These kids have all learned to bring it when it's photo time, and I swear to them all that one day, these efforts will pay off! It's histerical and so much fun, and I really really really think that they have come to love the seasonal photo shoot. Even when it's absolutely freezing cold on one of the last snow falls of the winter, with the sun peeking through the branches of the trees, and no one, including me, can feel their toes, or their fingers. Who said you can't do a spectacular photo shoot in 10 minutes or less?!
With that said, Ashton, who is having a birthday tomorrow (Wednesday), asked my sister yesterday with such honesty in his voice, "Mommy, I love my birthday week, but does this mean that Darci is going to make me do a birthday photo shoot?!" It was literally all I could do to keep a straight face! He REALLY REALLY REALLY DOES love my photo shoots!!! He really does!
