One of the things we did over Thanksgiving break was have some long overdue family pictures taken. You know the ones...mom shops and obsesses over what everyone will wear, careful attention is paid to where each person is in the haircut cycle, and many warnings are given on avoiding bodily harm until after the pictures are finished.
If you decide to take family pictures, know that one or more of these things might happen...
1. Changing weather will make you pick and choose outfits more times than you want to admit.
1. Changing weather will make you pick and choose outfits more times than you want to admit.
2. The thought of pictures will elicit a collective groan from every male in the family.
3. You will unwittingly schedule the session during a must see football game and your sons will beg you all week to change it.
4. Your college age daughter will text you that she dyed her hair the day before you told her about them.
4. Your college age daughter will text you that she dyed her hair the day before you told her about them.
5. You'll threaten, cajole, beg, bribe, and give your children "the look" all in an attempt to achieve the dream.
6. After finishing pictures, your middle school son will have his shirt and sweater stripped off before you even leave the parking lot.
7. In the end, you'll breathe a big sigh of relief and revel in the fact that for better or worse, the pictures are done and there's nothing left to do but wait and see how they turn out.
Fortunately, our friend, Angie Helton, did a fantastic job and no retakes will be required.
Here are a few of my favorites...
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| There may or may not have been a little behind the scenes bribery to get my husband to pose for this picture! :) |
Family pictures...they capture a moment, tell a story, and have the ability to transport us back to those special days. They can also drive us nuts and fill us with joy at the same time. Sounds a lot like the families they're meant to capture!
How about you? Is your family all on board and enthusiastic about pictures? Do you put them off as long as possible like I do? Time to confess what really goes on behind the camera!
My boys aren't old enough to groan about pictures yet but you're right on with all of those points! We just did our family pictures to and boy am I glad that pictures are digital these days. I think our photographer took over 200 pictures during our shoot and we ended up with 25 great prints. Our rule for family photos: the one that smiles gets the skittle (I always bribe with candy!).
ReplyDeleteRegardless of the stress, you have a beautiful family!
Amber at OurCharmedLife.net
Thank you! No shame in bribing for pictures. Glad you ended up with lots of good ones! :)
DeleteWhat great pictures! Our little family hasn't gotten any taken yet. It's only been on my to-do list since my daughter was born...2 years ago! I should probably try to make that happen before the year is out!
ReplyDeleteI can relate! It had been over 3 years since we'd done something like this. Maybe it can be your New Year's resolution? :)
DeleteWelcome back!
ReplyDeleteSuch great photos!! I have been thinking that we should have a family photo taken ... but I probably won't get it set up for the short time my daughter is home. Yours are making me feel inspired to try though!
Thanks, Susan! I saw a neat photo that a family had taken in the snow last year. It sounds like your weather would be perfect for something like that! :)
DeleteWow. What a beautiful family. All of your pictures turned out fabulous! We recently had pictures done and it went pretty well. Trying to get a toddler to cooperate isn't always easy ;) But my husband is usually game for pictures. Thanks for sharing.
ReplyDeleteLauren
Thanks, Lauren! I'm glad yours turned out well too. Getting pictures with little ones is a victory! :)
DeleteSuch a beautiful family! We've done professional photos twice, but my kids are still little. But my mom likes to get our whole family to do pictures every Thanksgiving (four of us kids and 13 grandkids) and it is a mess. We all joke around about the "obsessive" planning, but it needs to be done. I had to laugh at the sports reference because that is my family!
ReplyDeleteThanks, Erin! I'm sure the pictures at Thanksgiving are so neat to compare over the years. What a great tradition! :)
DeleteYou have such a gorgeous family Marie.
ReplyDeleteThe picture of you and your hubby nose to nose is remarkable! Love it.
Your points about family pictures made me chuckle. My hubby groaned big time with our photos. Plus our photo shoot was cancelled and rescheduled so many times he was miserable by the time the big day rolled around.
Welcome back from your blog break. It's so good to see you. I missed your sunshiny presence!
xoxo
Thanks so much, Jennifer! It's good to post again! I'm glad your photo shoot went well. I'm sure photographers are very familiar with unenthusiastic male subjects! :)
DeleteYour pictures turned out great! We had a bunch taken about 3 years ago, but the boys have changed so much, I think it's time again. I'm sure there will be lots of complaining!
ReplyDeleteDefinitely! Complaints come with the territory, but bribery works at any age. :)
DeleteGosh these pictures are so beautiful! What a gorgeous family you have. As you said, it's tricky to get everyone enthusiastic about a family photograph isn't it? But it means so much. A lovely keepsake :)
ReplyDeleteThanks, Suzanne! It's tricky for sure. I'm glad there was just some groaning this time and no tears like when they were little! :)
DeleteMarie!
ReplyDeleteYou're back! I've missed you :0)
Ok . . . where do I begin? Your family photos are stunning. Every. Single. One of them!
And the one of you and your husband is just darling!! What a great idea . . . I might need to steal that one.
So happy to have you back!
Sending warm wishes,
Suzanne
Thanks, Suzanne! I appreciate your kind words. Good to be back! :)
DeleteSo happy to see you back... I've missed Normal Everyday Life so very much. Loving the family photos... the family look as though they're all happy to be there and all the photos look very natural. There is no way I'd ever get any of mine to agree to this... so well done to you x
ReplyDeleteThanks, Izzie! I appreciate the warm welcome! I have no doubt you would take a beautiful family picture, too. Maybe they'll agree to it as a Christmas present? :)
DeleteAwesome post, and beautiful family. Truly gorgeous pictures.
ReplyDeleteThank you! :)
DeleteYour pictures came out beautiful! Such a lovely family. Ha! It's nice to know that at least when they get a little older they will look at the direction of the camera. Once our cards are out I am doing a post on our photo shoot as well and it's nothing as glamorous as yours came out, but we did have fun. Thank you for sharing.
ReplyDeleteThanks! I look forward to reading your post. I like seeing "real life"! :)
DeleteYour family is adorable! I love these pictures and can totally relate. We had pictures last week and no matter how hard I try it always seems like disaster is just looming as we prepare for these events. Like the shiner the baby had that was covered with makeup or the cut my husband gave himself while shaving that morning. Never fails!
ReplyDeleteThose are the things that make pictures memorable...and stressful! :)
DeleteYour family pictures are gorgeous Marie! The photographer really did a good job. I love the lighting and the softness. Perfect setting! I chuckled thinking about what was going on with your kids during the photoshoot. I love kid's reactions. So priceless. But we wouldn't have known that weren't down for it because they turned out great! We are in desparate need of a new family photo! Our son was 10 months old the last time we had them professionally done. He's now 8!
ReplyDeleteThanks for the advice!
Thanks, Leslie! I'm glad you like them. I definitely think you should make that appointment! :)
DeleteWhat a beautiful family!! Lovely photos!!
ReplyDeleteWow what gorgeous pictures!!! x
ReplyDelete#sharewithme
Totally beautiful! We had some done recently and I kinda wish I had seen this before hand!! Natalie xxx
ReplyDeleteYou have an absolutely gorgeous family! The pictures are perfect, thanks for the laugh. www.momscript.com
ReplyDeleteI loved your behind the scenes confessions and was glad to a new post of yours!! :) Your kids are gorgeous and the pictures turned out fantastic. When we had our family pictures taken by my sister, we originally were going to have them done on a Friday night. When we got the place to take them, her camera battery died. We blame it on my 2 year old nephew unplugging it from the charger without her knowing. :) So our family picture outfits were on "day 2." Thanks for sharing these - they turned out great!
ReplyDeleteThanks, Chelsea! I'm glad you were able to have a do over!
DeleteWhat beautiful photos, I find it impossible these days to get all 6 kids and myself and Nick in the same place at the same time, there's always one at a club or not back from one of the 3 schools they go to. Popping over from Share with Me.
ReplyDeleteWelcome back , lovely to see you! You have a beautiful family, these photos are gorgeous. We have started to get photos done once a year, with all of us in them; we'd always had a proper photo of the boys each year, but never with my husband and I in the photos. So when the wee girl arrived we decided it was time to get photos of us all together! It's hard work, and thank heavens for digital cameras :) But, it is so worth it x
ReplyDeleteThanks, Sara! Pictures with parents in them do seem to be more work. I'm always glad in the end though!
DeleteBoy ... can I relate! LOL Love the results.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Dana! It definitely is easier to get smiles as they get older. They might be complaining behind camera, but they want to look good at this point too! :)
ReplyDeleteWhat wonderful memories :) I love family pictures-- capturing a moment in time <3 I love your honesty!
ReplyDeleteWOW What a stunning family you have hunny. I love all of these. So fabulous. I have always wanted a big family as I am one of eight and it's amazing to see the bonding and dynamics here too. I wish I could get amazing cooperative photos of my family my kids run and so does the hubster. lol Thanks for linking up to Share With Me Happy Holidays! #sharewithme
ReplyDeleteLovely pictures! I have little ones, so keeping them still is quite a challenge. Our outtakes are usually something we like to laugh about afterwards.
ReplyDelete