Valentine's Day Card 2014

Once upon a time, there was a stay-at-home mom who owned a nice camera and took a photography class.  She decided that, although she would still leave the family and special occasion pictures to the professionals, she was qualified to take pictures of her kids throughout the year.  The following is a look into one such photo session.

One mostly sunny day, I decided to put the kids in their freshly decorated Valentine's Day shirts and take some pictures so I could make cards to send to family members.  I decided to take them in Sarah's room since it is decorated in grey, pink, and white, has a window that lets in a nice amount of light, and has a crib that I could use to contain the kids.  Since her room doesn't get direct sunlight in the morning, I decided this was the optimal time for me to take pictures in there.  My kids didn't agree.

Sarah drooled all over her outfit as soon as I put it on her.  Being a determined mom, I wiped it all off, but you could still see a wet spot on her shirt.

Then, after being placed in Sarah's crib, Joseph became upset that I wanted him to sit still instead of running back and forth in there like he wanted to. 

I managed to calm Joseph down, but by then Sarah was in no mood to take pictures.  Not to worry, I wanted some individual shots of the kids, so I would just work with Joseph while Sarah relaxed and got happy.

This is the look of a little boy who is about to do something ornery. 

When the tongue comes out, things get dangerous.

Oh, that's what he was plotting... he wanted to stand up.

Since he didn't want to cooperate and sit in Sarah's crib, I removed him (since her mattress is on the highest level, I didn't feel comfortable with him standing in there).  He quickly crawled under Sarah's bed (one of his new favorite hiding spots) and began playing "oh no" (his version of peek-a-boo).  Oh no, where's Joseph?

There he is!

This ended up being my favorite individual shot of him from the day.

He received a much needed haircut a few days later.

Since Joseph wasn't cooperating and Sarah still wasn't in a mood for pictures, I decided to abort the mission and attempt again after lunch and naps. 

Both children woke up from nap in great moods, so I went ahead and took some more pictures even though the lighting had become less than desirable. *Warning, this is where the post gets very picture heavy!*

I put both kids back in Sarah's crib and gave Joseph a couple of Valentine-ish props to hopefully help with the picture taking.

Joseph wasn't too sure about the book.

Sarah wasn't too sure about having Joseph in her crib.

I finally got both kids to look at me at the same time.

Then Joseph started messing with Sarah.

This is probably the best picture of both of them from the entire day.

And this is where Joseph's true personality comes through.  I seriously just sat back and snapped pictures as he cracked himself up (pictures are shown in order without any removed).

And this is what Sarah thought about Joseph's performance.

Thinking that I had surely captured a card worthy picture of the two of them, I released Joseph from picture taking responsibilities and snapped a few of just Sarah.

Oh how I love this sweet smile!

And here is the final product.  I considered retaking the pictures when the lighting was better, but ultimately decided it wasn't worth it (happy kids in not so great lighting trumps unhappy kids in excellent lighting).  Overall, I'm happy with how the card turned out and I guess our families were too since I haven't heard anyone complain.  On a side note, I think I found the secret to making a Valentine's Day shirt a little boy actually wants to wear, put a truck on it. 

And, just for fun, here's a flashback of last year's card.  I can't believe how much Joseph has changed in a year (although he still has the same over the top personality).