School Picture Day

Aah! Just the mention of school pictures brings back fond memories for everyone!! I'm sure we have all looked back at our school photos at some point and wondered, "What was I thinking?" or if it was before we were responsible for our own selves maybe, "What was my mother thinking?!" (As a side note: The picture above is not mine, so quit trying to find me! I got it off the Internet and it made me laugh!)

So here I am now, a mommy, and I am now responsible for Libby's school pictures! I take pride in knowing I send Libby to school for picture day clean, well groomed, in a stylish, yet timeless outfit, so as not to embarrass her further down the road when she looks back at her old school photos! Of course, you can do all this and still have no control over the facial expression forever captured on your child's face when the camera goes "click" or the dorky backgrounds they always manage to put your child in front of! Honestly, they could make Miss America look bad!

So last year, Libby's first year at preschool, she had picture day. Of course I dressed her up so cute, had her hair done and everything. But I had no faith in the photographer, so I only ordered a group class photo and two little 4x5 pics of Libby, assuming they would be awful. I was so surprised when I got them back. They were so good! Libby was of course looking cute, but more surprisingly the background and props were nice too! Libby was sitting at a little desk with little wooden blocks on the desktop spelling out her name! Oh, I should have ordered more pics! Oh well!

Fast forward to this years school picture day, which is today! Last night I was filling out her order form and couldn't decide which package to get, remembering last years episode. Deciding the good pics last year were a fluke, I went with the small economical package...One group photo and 8 wallets. Of course Libby is looking so cute again in her little outfit for picture day, she's having a decent hair day and I'm excited about her picture day! Until I walked in to the school and saw the set up...It had giant crayons and giant ABC blocks. I was skeptical! Libby had said she wanted me to stay at school for a bit while she got her picture taken. Luckily, she got to go first. So she takes her cute self over to get her picture taken and after a few takes the photographer shows me what he has to see if I approve of the pics he has gotten. OMG..so cute!!

This starts me thinking...I've never thought Libby has taken a bad picture! Does any mother ever think their child takes a bad picture?? Don't you think my mom thought I looked cute for my pictures?? Maybe, maybe not, I don't know! I do know, every time we got our pictures back, my mom took us to get our haircuts because our hair was always in our faces! I'm thinking, maybe she didn't like them! I've had people show pictures before and I thought to myself, "Eew!" but saying something clever to the mom like, "Cute shoes!" so as not to offend! You all know what I'm talking about! But anyway...isn't it our jobs as mothers to be totally biased when it comes to our kids!? If we don't love them unconditionally and think they are the most beautiful thing we've ever seen, even when looking at their school picture, then how will they ever know how beautiful they are!?

That's just my thoughts for today!! And to all the little kids getting their pictures taken this week....have a great hair day!!