Something I will never do again

I love taking pictures of my girls. The walls of our home are covered with their framed faces, mostly snapshots. I like pictures of real life; spontaneous, natural smiles, fly-away hair and smudged faces. I like to look at a photo and hear my daughter's giggle in my mind. When I look at their posed studio pictures, I hear a strangers voice in my mind saying, "Say Cheese!" That said, every once in a while I dress them up, take them in & get some canned studio shots with the good lighting & white background. It's just one of those things I felt like I had to do as a mom, trim their nails, make them cupcakes on birthdays and get their pictures taken once a year.

I'm over that. Our experience Saturday at the studio was very mediocre. (Can something be very mediocre?) It wasn't bad, the girls were well behaved and they looked as cute as can be. The photographer was pleasant, but not engaging or enthusiastic like a photographer of children should be. I wanted to push her aside (nicely) and get behind the camera myself. Can't you zoom in a little more? I kept asking. Say cheese, she kept saying, capturing painful forced smiles from my girls. I butted in with, Hey girls, think of Cate blowing bubbles in the tub this morning! They erupted in a fit of giggles (she wasn't blowing bubbles with her mouth). TAKE IT NOW! I wanted to scream, but the camera girl just looked at me, waited until my girls calmed down and said, Say cheese. I sighed, let her finish the session and chose a few poses. As soon as we got home, I grabbed my camera, went outside with them and got these:

and this:

and decided that in my next life (the one that starts when all my kids are in school), I'm going to be a professional photographer. But not too professional to make kids laugh by talking about bodily functions.

& one more thing, since when am I the mom of kids, not babies?