Beautiful Life





Hey child up and go; A big world is out there waiting for us to live in every day. Outside you will find, there is love all around you; Takes you, makes you wanna' say; That it's a beautiful life and it's a beautiful world and it's a beautiful time to be here, to be here, to be here. -Fisher

Friday, May 1, 2009

Picture This!

Enjoy that new family picture up there. It was hard to come by! I made the appointment for last Saturday, just in the nick of time. This was Lizzie's last week at school and soon she will be gone back to Lexington for the summer. I'm sure we'll see her some, but we don't know when or for how long. That's what happens when your kids grow up.

So, when Claire realized that she wasn't in the picture over the piano and wanted to know where she was, I decided we'd better do something about it. Before Lizzie took off for the summer. We talked about it for a week leading up to the big day. She wanted to be in the middle! In mommy's lap. She was very specific. She would smile. She showed me how. We practiced. And practiced! She woke up Saturday wanting to know when we were taking the picture! Language, it's amazing!

We went to the studio bright and early Saturday morning. And, by bright and early, I mean 11 o'clock, because that is bright and early for Lizzie! Claire played while we waited our turn. When the photographer was ready, we moved into the staging area and began to get situated. That was the minute that Claire chose to burst into tears for no apparent reason. Okay, so much for language development helping us out.

I got her calmed down, but I could see in her eyes that she was shutting down. Yvette knows what I'm saying here! But, the show must go on and I hoped she would snap out of it at some point. Hello, you wanted this picture, remember? So, she sat in my lap. Where she wanted to be. We were all posed and smiling, the camera was clicking away and then.........flop. She just flopped over in my arms like a rag doll. I pushed her back up. Flop. Again. I pushed her back up and............slide. She slid right off my leg! Good grief. I see you are laughing now. It wasn't funny then. Okay, maybe a little. But, she really had shut down. So, we decided to halt for a costume change. I don't know? Sometimes different clothes can make a girl happy. Maybe?

side trip- Claire thinks it is hilarious now when we talk about it. She will tell you how she acted like a rag doll, complete with the floppy head motions, and giggle about it. Almost as if she's proud of that moment.....hmmmmm.

At this point the photographer decided to pull out all the stops. He got his stuffed kitty and threw that around. She glared at him. Apparently not a fan of cat trauma play! Feather Boa? Nada. Funny faces? Yeah, right. But, then someone tossed a ball at her and that shattered the ice. We didn't get a true smile, but a hint....for a minute. Hey, we were on to something. Throw the ball, people! A few more times and it accidentally....hit her in the face! Oh no! Oh yes! We got a laugh! Who knew? So, we threw it at her head a few more times......gee, I hope the social worker isn't reading this. We got a few smiles....what more could we ask!




Please note the cupped hands. Yeah. She is not praying, as one friend thought. SHE IS WAITING TO CATCH THE BALL! Of course! After this, we chanced another family photo op and managed to get the one you see up there. She wasn't as crazy about the photographer throwing a ball at her head as she was when I threw it at her. What can I say? She's picky about who tosses things at her face!

*update: Lizzie pointed out that I failed to mention that part way through the 145 shots the photographer took of our family, Isabel decided it was no longer important for her to smile so much. So she didn't. And no one noticed. Until we looked at the pictures on the computer after the shoot. Too late to fix it. I guess we need an extra set of eyes next time....to make sure everybody remembers to smile! So, out of 145 I got one okay family shot and one of Claire. None of just the children or just the girls. Maybe next time*

11 comments:

Brianna said...

Very funny. I wish that's all it took to make Christian laugh. I tryed once, and he got even more angry.... who'da thought he wouldn't think that was funny? :)

Maeve O'Rieley said...

You left out the part where about half way through Is stoped smiling and subsaquently made the second half of a 135 pics useless.

Ohilda said...

Funny!! I think I've sweated more during a family portrait photo shoot than at an afternoon at a ball game. But..memories are made and your picture turned out perfect!

Your family is beautiful!

Ohilda

Hezra said...

heee heee, so sorry to lagh sister, ut I feel your pain. We have 5 kids and it is near impossible to get them all looking the same direction with even a DECENT look on their face. The photo shoots usually end with me screaming "I JUST NEED ONE GOOD SHOT!!!" then the hubby looks at the startled kids and tear streaked mom and intervenes. lol

wingepr said...

Oh Thank you for the early morning laugh. I had noticed the picture and loved it!!!!!! We're (the hubby) is not big on doing family pics, hince the reason we dont have any. But the picture is beautiful and the story is priceless.

Mama S said...

The picture of Claire is adorable and surprizing when you consider what you went through to get one like this. In my opinion though, no picture of your family or grandchildren is ever useless, smiling or not - especially when you get them all together in one picture.

The Source said...

Uh...well, one outta 145 ain't bad! LOL Claire cracks me up. The portrait turned out great, by the way, I hope you have a huge one over the piano?? We were supposed to have ours done last weekend for the church directory but Oldest had to work and DD had a triathalon and well...it's HARD getting everyone in the same place at the same time. Ugh.

Ask Brianna if she wants to "follow" DD's blog...she will follow Brianna's back if she wants. She's desperate for readers...and maybe she'll actually write something.

Anonymous said...

145 shots!!! I read that twice, can't imagine being that persistent. The picture is gorgeous. The boys look so handsome with those haircuts. What a funny story.
Jo

Anonymous said...

Holy guacamole! I had no idea y'all have the "shut down" bug at your house too! We tried our first family photo back in August-tears and tears until the ball throwing. I figured Isabelle was done-she'd probably been a saint for a loooonnnnnggg time. Doesn't she have a birthday coming up soon?
PS-What is up with the shut down stuff? It's like a switch flicks. Eyes looking off in the distance, limp chicken child, nothing can touch you now.
Your family photo is a MIRACLE.

Michelle said...

social worker reaqding this here!! hitting the child in the head with the ball is not abuse!! remember i am the one with the pic of casey in a cage with 2 rabbits?? 145 pics, that is about how many we get. i am there with you hezra, that is all i said yesterday, did you get 1 good shot??? we were trying to do pics with 10 people who wanted to see what casey was doing instead of looking at the camera.

where is my pic?? it is beautiful!

Doug and Terrye said...

I remember the day we hung our little one's picture on the wall! She was napping, and when she came out and saw herself on the "family wall" she was overjoyed :)

Terrye in FL