Pictures, Before and After, 8-10-12

The evening light was perfect and we were prepared for the unexpected as we arrived at Humiston Park for our first big photoshoot as a family of five (seven if you count Grammy and Grandpa).  I've done a lot of thinking lately on the difference between realism and pessimism.  When you have so many little ones, it's really hard to get good pictures with everyone smiling, or even looking in the same direction.  If I aim for perfection, I end up frustrated in this and many other things in this season of my life.  It's okay to want things, but I also have to remember that stress is the difference between the reality and my expectations.  If my expectations are optimistic and yet flexible enough to leave room for a few hiccups, it seems to be a happy medium.

Our photographer, Kristin Schultz, is a mom and also a fellow blogger:

http://loveteachplay.blogspot.com/2012/08/floridas-sense-of-humor.html?spref=fb
 

Just as I expected, I had to be flexible and spend the first ten minutes changing a dirty diaper instead of getting started immediately and taking full advantage of the perfect weather. It's amazing how flexibility and sense of humor can turn a small hiccup into serendipity.  If Craig and Devon hadn't wandered up to the boardwalk early to tell Kristin that we were on our way we wouldn't have gotten these perfect shots of Devon and Daddy.  Craig is smiling his Daddy smile, the one I first saw when he was holding newborn Devon in the chair at the hospital and looking up at me just over two years ago. 

Craig looks happy in our engagement photos and happy in our wedding shots but I didn't think they did justice to the joy he is capable of expressing like pictures of Daddy with his little boy.  I love everything about this picture.

Here are the pictures of two-year-old Devon.  There's the tiny chip missing from his front tooth from a collision with the edge of the bathtub when he was horsing around a month ago.

Those are the dark eyes he got from Mommy.

Those are the lashes he gets from Daddy.  Strangers still stop us in the grocery store so Devon can bat his eyes at them.

Here he is doing what he always loves to do at the beach.

There we are!  I could wish for a shot with all three kids smiling, but that's okay.  I've never looked skinnier (Body by ThreeToddlers, Inc.) and Craig and I have never been happier.

We have many more years ahead.  Soon they'll be old enough that I can bribe them with quarters to smile in pictures like my mom used to do.

Speaking of happy....

The miracle is not that Devon is smiling and looking so interested.  That's the way he always looks at the beach.  The miracle is that he is walking slowly and holding on to Grammy and Grandpa's hands.

At this point, Carrie was really into smiling for the camera, Devon was trying to figure out why we were all sitting so still, and Melina was contemplating the sand on her foot.

We sat the kids on the sand next to each other, took a few hasty steps back, and then ran to snatch them up again.  First, an unexpected wave splashed right up to them and almost drenched the kids.  Just when we thought we were safe and dry, a raindrop splashed onto Carrie's nose.  Then two more.  Then thousands.  We ran for our discarded shoes and the stairs back up to the boardwalk as Kristin stowed her camera with our precious pictures inside it.

I wish we had been able to take a few more shots of the ensuing hilarity, but it just wasn't possible.  Florida downpours are sudden, warm, and relentless.  Craig made it to the car in record time and had Melina in her car seat and the stroller stowed before I even made it up the slippery wooden stairs with Carrie.  Grammy and Grandpa tossed the picnic blanket over their heads with Devon between them and ran to the car in an absurd six-legged-race.  Three long minutes later I grabbed my dry iPhone out of the cup holder and tried to document the experience.

Craig' wet shirt...

My waterproof (hah!) mascara...

The sneaky smile on Devon's face.  In the commotion he made off with two of the toys that Kristin brought to make the kids smile: Ringing Bug and and Giggly Elmo.  All the way home Devon talked about "his new toys" as Elmo laughed maniacally in the background.  We didn't think we should tell him right then that he hadn't gained ownership of the toys like spoils to the victor and Kristin would be coming over tomorrow to finish taking pictures and get her toys back.

The hardest California rainstorm is still a light spritz compared to Florida rain.  It earns the term downpour because when it's over you feel like someone's just dumped a pitcher of warm water over your head.  When we got home we were still soaked.  Craig set up the tripod to capture an "after" photo so we'd always remember the day.  That's the one we're sending out with our Christmas card this year.

Just kidding.