Disclaimer: This is an extremely long post for me, due to the extreme measures it took to get these photographs. No kids or husbands were hurt or strangled or even yelled at during these sessions (I totally kept my cool). I hope you enjoy the story and the pictures, as I think they may have taken a year off my life.
I can't believe my little boy is already four years old. Where does the time go. I'm so proud of him and how kind he is. Don't get me wrong, he's still quite the comedic whirling dervish he has been since he could talk and move, but it definitely keeps us on our toes and laughing around here.
As with every year, his four year portraits have been on my To-Do list. I didn't expect to be quite so busy this year after starting my photography business (but am so glad I am & LOVE all my clients!), so I've had some issues getting him in. As with most things, though, my best ideas come on the fly.
A couple of days after his party, I noticed his balloons still floating in the kitchen. I threw some clean clothes on him, shoved the balloons and kids in the car, and away we went. At the time I didn't think much about his unkept hair that needed to be cut, or the impending thunderstorm heading our way (it was only sprinkling outside...). And this is the result. :)
A few days and a hair cut later, knowing I still wanted to do a part 2 to his portraits- something with kept hair and more outdoorsy, since that's where he always wants to be, we were driving home late afternoon and I was thinking how pretty the day was. When we got home, I decided that was it! We needed to get those pictures! Sunset was only in an hour. I changed his clothes, grabbed a few supplies and jumped in the car with kids. This time didn't go so well, though...
There's a great little place at the end of our street that has a creek and a meadow, and that's where I wanted to be. I had walked over there before, but we were in a time crunch, and I had two kiddos with me this time. I was in a Jeep, after all. What's the problem? So, we off roaded on over the creek into the meadow, no problem. Doin' good. I get the tent all set up, pull Trenton out of the car, and that's where it started to go down hill.
I first realized I didn't fix his hair. It's cut, but still unkept. I went to grab a water bottle out of the car in hopes of doing a small miracle with his kind of curly hair, and that's when I heard the scream. He got his hand in the mud on my tires, freaked out and wiped it all over his pants! (Don't get angry- he needs to be happy in the pictures...) No big deal... Breathe. I open my camera bag to grab my camera- It's not there. Ugh. Ugh. Ugh.
We jumped back in the car, left all of our things there- I could make it. We still had 40 minutes or so. Out of the meadow, down into the creek, and we get stuck. Not kind of stuck- really stuck. After all this, I was determined- these pictures would happen.
I threw the little one on my back, helped the portrait child stay out of the mud (because he WAS going to have his picture taken that day), and hoofed it through the field, up the street to the house, where I forgot the garage door opener. Argh! Now it's just getting comical.
Thankfully, the neighbor had our key. Grabbed my camera (still forgot to fix his hair), and ran back to the meadow with the portrait child on my back. 15 minutes til' sundown! And this is the final result... We ended the day, Trenton laughing in the front passenger seat as I sprayed mud all over my car while daddy towed us out. It was all worth it. Including the lecture I got about my "Barbie Jeep". Thanks honey for pulling us out. Don't you love the pictures? I think he looks just like you. Oh, how I love both of my boys.
