A Day at the Beach

I'm so good about getting professional pictures done for my kids. I go to JC Penny's, and for Miranda--who loves to get her picture taken, and pose, and smile, and show some drama--it was perfect. Spent tons of money on their $3.99 portraits.

But for little Brad, it's a different story. His 12 month pictures, I bought two 8X10's, although I don't know why I did, because he's bawling in both. For 18 months, we tried it again. Even hauled a cool, vintage Red Flyer tricycle through the whole store, so he'd have a fun distraction during the portrait session and brought Grandma along for help.

Nope. Still bawling, clinging to me, whatever. Geesh--you'd think it was pure torture. So I scheduled family photos with a cute friend from my sorority days--Jen Tate--because we needed to document his cute smile in pictures! And here you go:As easy as that, I guess. Jen also got tons of smiles from her, of course! And lots of candids, my absolute favorites...Want to see more? Check out some of her other pictures and PLEASE leave a comment (we get a free print if we get 20 comments!)

Also, this was a fun, fun family activity! The kids were exhausted after playing in the sand/sun/water/salt :) for 2 1/2 hours! We are wondering if we can plan one more trip back while the weather is still nice before the bugs get too bad...If you go: take a change of clothes for the kids on the ride home, a couple gallons of water to wash all the dried up salt off your skin, lots of drinks in a cooler in the car, and a few buckets for the kids to play with in the sand.