Sunny Side Up: Picture Day

Do family picture days ever go as planned?!

Well, ours sure didn't! And, depending on who you ask, it went both better than and worse than expected...I guess Daniel anticipated it being MISERABLE and I anticipated it going BLISSFULLY. We were both a tad off, and we met somewhere in the middle at PRETTY DARN WELL.

We all got up early Saturday morning (which is no different than every single Saturday since Selah was born four years ago!) and got showered, dressed, and picture perfect. Then, we drove about 40 minutes to pick up our photographer for the day, Mark Rocha (or Uncle Marky Rocha as Selah likes to call him, OR honorary Uncle Marky Rocha because Selah was confused as to why he is considered her uncle but not really Daniel's "brother", that is confusing...) and then drove about 15 minutes more to the Dallas Arboretum...a beautiful spot in Dallas with lovely flowers, trees, shrubbery and such. The kids actually did fantastic on this long drive, but I bet it played a small factor in the crankiness/antsiness level later that morning.

We quickly realized there would be a few hurdles to jump in order to capture some heart-warming, candid shots of joyous children frolicking in the beauty of nature with their parents looking on, bursting with love and gratefulness (see what I mean by "blissfully"?). It was only 10:00 and it was sooooo hot and sooooo humid, gross. They also must have watered that morning because all the grass was soaked. And since we didn't bring a blanket of any sort, my plans for sweet ground shots of us all playing in the grass were looking unrealistic...sad. Annnnd, the beautiful crape myrtle trees that line a path were not in full bloom anymore, bummer.

Somewhere in the middle hunger crept in and could not be ignored, and the heat, o my, did I mention the heat, and the humidity that brings tiny hovering bugs out in droves!! We vowed to never take outside pictures during the summertime again, well, in Texas anyway. Along the way I also stepped in a patch of super slippery mud as I was carrying Owen...thank goodness I didn't fall down completely, but I sure did slide (gracefully, no doubt) covering my sandals and feet (with their newly polished nails) in brown goo... awesome.

Selah was also not too pleased that I kept running up to her and pulling up her way-too-baggie-for-her skirt I bought in a 4T...I know better, she still wears PJs that are size 24 months!! She also just recently got new glasses (like 3 days before these pictures) and I think they affected her smile. This is only her second pair of glasses, and she had her other ones since she was 18 months old, so I don't think she is used to how they sit on her face she kinna had this scrunched up smile thing goin' on, dont' get me wrong, it's cute, she's cute, adorable actually, but it's just not her usual huge, uninhibited smile I've grown accustomed to...Oh, and Owen's shoes kept falling off, also too big, but this time not my fault, WalMart's fault, because apparently their size 4 isnt' really a size 4 because all his shoes are 4s and they fit fine. Anyway,

it really wasn't all bad, and mostly, I'm a bit dramatic (as I think I've admitted to you before), and mostly it was all good. We captured some fun moments, I don't know how, but oh-so-patient Mark got quite a few beautiful (and quite funny!) shots, take a look, blooper reel first:

Way to be the only one ready Miss Selah Renae!!
You go girl!

This is Daniel's "I'm telling you what to do,
and you need to obey", stern look

Antsy...

yet happy and smiley

Love her!

Remember that hunger that couldn't be denied?!

The calm before the storm...

If you ever wanted to know what it looks like to take
away this little boy's snack cup, well,
there ya go, pure devastation...
and there's a rockstar sister right there,
she was being so patient.

Not! Happy!

Needless to say, the cup remained with us the rest of
the picture taking adventure... as least he's generous,
Daddy looked like he could use some Cheerios too.