After some searching, we scheduled a photographer to come to our house (we wanted pictures of the kids playing naturally in their own environment) on a Saturday (so everyone would be home), in the morning (between morning and afternoon naps), and at the end of our Ski Week holiday (so we'd have lots of time at home to prepare the house!).
We booked the cleaning lady to come and she rearranged her other work schedule to be able to come on the Friday just before the photo shoot, so it would be at its cleanest. I worked my butt off all week decluttering and organizing, so the house would look perfect. I redecorated the girls' room, and made sure it was all cleaned up and beautiful in time for Saturday.
I went to the salon and got my hair cut and had a manicure and pedicure, so I could be picture-ready myself. I even took Princess Pea to get her hair cut, her first significant haircut of her life! Mr Pea doesn't have any hair, but he made sure that he shaved his head the exact number of days ahead so that it would be just the right 'length' on the day of the photo shoot.
I carefully made sure that all the laundry was washed, dried, and ironed so that each of us would have every piece of the outfit ready (outfits, in the case of the girls) that I had picked out, right down to the appropriate socks and underwear.
Then, the day before the photographer was to arrive - Sweet Pea woke up with a huge scratch across her face! (Needless to say, she hadn't gotten a manicure, though she needed one!)
I quickly emailed the photographer to ask if it would be possible to photoshop it out. She said she wasn't sure, since it was quite big. So we rescheduled for a month later (that was the earliest we could get).
So last week we went through the whole rigamarole all over again. A few days before, Sweet Pea bumped her head and gave herself a small bruise, but I figured it was small enough to photoshop away. All was fine.
Then, at the salon on Friday afternoon, I got an email....the photographer was ill and had to cancel. Ahh! All that preparation, again, for nothing!
I was already getting my nails done when I got the message, but I quickly cancelled my hair appointment. Then I called my friend, Maribeth, who used to also do photography, and cheekily asked if she could do it instead. She said yes - woohoo! Back on track....
Then later that afternoon I picked up Princess Pea from preschool and .... she had an enormous bruise and bump on her forehead! Perfect timing!!
"Ah well, what can you do. I'm NOT going through all this preparation again!", I thought.
So on Saturday morning, Maribeth came. She went straight to work taking pictures of the girls playing. Very cute!
Then we decided to go outside for the family shots. My allergies were acting up, but it was just such a lovely day out.
Maribeth worked so hard and did a wonderful job! But I now know why we never have any really good pictures of the four of us together - what an uncooperative bunch of subjects we are!! How do other families ever manage to get those lovely, perfect, smiling, family portraits with small children in them?!?!
{Photos by Maribeth}
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