Say Cheese (Family Photos 2016)

Well it was that lovely fall time of year when the colors are all out and every family including us wants to capture happy faces amongst pretty leaves. So capture we did. Well, our photographer did (at Wellesley College). Don't get me wrong, I'm always happy that we have these photos in the end, but getting there is such a pain in the you-know-what. You want your outfits to be complementary, but not match exactly. Natural smiles, not forced. Candid, but not staged. And you'll promise your kids just about anything (A.N.Y.T.H.I.N.G.) if they don't scowl for the next 30 minutes.

So you get through it, the coaxing and the bribing and the cold fingers and constantly smoothing your hair from the wind. And then...you get the photos back a few weeks later (after they have been professionally edited, mind you). There is simply no hiding from the number of lines around your eyes and the realization that your teeth are not as white as you thought. And you don't know what you were thinking when you chose that jacket to wear (frump alert).

Luckily, you don't need that many good ones. Our photographer gave us more than 150 images and after weeding through the closed eyes, the frowns and the bad angles, here are my favorites.

First the boys. They are the main reason I drag everyone out to do this each year. I simply can't capture anything like these photos and cherish them.

A few family shots:

I kind of felt like most of our pictures were the four of us looking straight at the camera (see above note about candids), but I was easily able to build my Christmas card and since that's the most important thing ever in life, it's fine. Jason and I each got a few headshots taken (see above note about learning what you really look like) and that was it for the session! CariAnne Kreml was lovely too. Now, off to order my personalized pillowcases and coffee mugs...or maybe just some prints ;)