Family Photos 2017

There is almost nothing that is as big of a pain-in-the-you-know-what as an impending family photo shoot. Inevitably, your kid will fall and have a scab on his face, or you'll be in desperate need of haircut, or you'll spend so much time worrying about what everyone else is going to wear that you are literally standing in front of your closet two minutes after you planned to leave, staring blankly while your husband honks from the car (you can't wear the top you wanted to because it's navy blue, and then three of the four of you would be wearing the same color and that would create a total imbalance! Doesn't he know that?!).

And so it's pretty bad. You get in the front seat, flushed and feeling a little bloated and the sweater you have on, well, you hate it. Obviously you hate it because it's one of those "adds ten pounds" sweaters but you were in a hurry and out of time to try things on. This portrait that you are about to have etched in time, professionally and not at all uncheaply I might add, is going to be a bust. The kids are already whining from the backseat, which is making your husband snap at them, and then you look down and realize your jeans could use a wash. Fab. We are sooo going to look like a happy, smiling family unit! 

But, if you're lucky, your photographer is amazing. She assures you that even though it feels like each shot is coming out terribly, like all the boys are doing is grimacing, the pictures will be beautiful. And in the end, they are. 

We used this photographer two years ago and our favorite one from that shoot we had mounted on a canvas and put it above our fireplace.

We asked her to get another "tree shot" this year:

And had this one was framed for our bedroom:

I love the trees in these because they are art in and of themselves, but adding our tiny family figures into the photos makes them so personal. They are a couple of my favorite things in the house.

Anyway, cut to all the usual feelings afterwards like "Oh I'm so glad we did that" blah blah. You can't go back in time and retake pictures like this, nor do I have the skill set to capture the boys so perfectly myself, so in the end, it was worth it. After all, I have Christmas cards to think about ;)