Photo Session Success with 4 Kids!

For some reason, I always dread "portrait" photo day and the day we took ALL FOUR kids in to a studio was no exception. I am always fretting over their hair and their clothes and about whether they all will "act right"...whatever that means??

Anyway, for this occasion, I tried to plan things out the best that I could. Since we were not planning to travel during spring break, this was the "perfect" time. I made hair appointments for them so they would look their best. Hannah ended up getting about SIX inches of her beautiful locks cut off. I was standing there covering my eyes as the first snip was made...and of course, Hannah was just glowing, a beautiful smile spread across her face. I have to admit though that she looked much better and a little older with the new cut. If she was happy, so was I. What a contrast on the floor of the salon with Hannah's long blond hair and Joshua's dark black hair mingling together!

We already had the clothes that had been waiting for this moment since last spring. The only thing we had to get new was Hannah's pink shirt. Yes, the children have grown, but I always buy nicer clothes a little too big...so it worked out that they were a perfect fit for the photos this spring. (I had wanted to do this photo session last summer, but just couldn't squeeze it in with all the transitions and the surgery for Esther Marie.)

So photo day morning, we were up early so we would be there on time. Hurry hurry everyone! The girls were fixing their hair and I was fixing Joshua's. We decided for a more natural look and went without bows this time, although I did carry them to the studio...just in case. The photographer agreed it would be nice without them. I also pressed the clothes just one last time. We took two outfits for them to the studio...one more casual (as seen above) and one dressier outfit. Two outfits with four children are MORE than enough! We left the house in a hurry with clothes on hangers and shoes and accessories in bags and made it in time...only to find that the studio was CRAMMED with people. I had thought we would just breeze in and have the photos taken right away. Oh no! How would the kids act if they had to wait and wait and wait...especially MaryAlyce and Esther Marie? Luckily, there were some toys and I had brought some snacks! (Patting myself on the back for remembering those snacks!) We had to wait about 30 minutes for our turn because it seemed that plenty of others had our same idea to do this during the break. We ended up meeting another couple at the studio who had two adopted children from China. They were actually visiting Birmingham and decided to do this during their vacation. I was amazed because I wouldn't do that if you paid me!

We ended up having the studio manager take the photos and she was very good with the kids. She put up with me fixing the kid's hair during the whole session too! Esther Marie wanted to "do her own thing" so it was hard to get a good photo of all of the kids together, but the photographer managed to make it work. She took so many that it worked out fine and we ended up very pleased. One of the nice things about this studio is that we got a CD with all of the shots on it, along with the prints that we ordered...even the funny ones, so we have some great memories and great expressions! They are "read only" files so I can't edit or crop them, but I am allowed to share them on my blog, which I will be doing in the coming days.

In spite of my stress, this photo session worked out great, so we'll be doing it again sometime. Hope you enjoy seeing the pictures.