Family Photos: Behind the Scenes

Think of this as the "Pop-up Video" approach to your behind-the-scenes glimpse into our annual family photo shoot...

• Ethan is wearing the same shirt as he wore in LAST year's picture {after rejecting a different navy blue plaid button down}.

• And yes, it is a bit too small.

• The rolled up sleeves served dual purposes -- they disguised the fact that the sleeves were too short and they changed up the "look" from last year's photo {which was a more formal affair}.

• The color scheme for this year's pictures was based around me {and more specifically my top}.  :)  

• The berry tones are very "me" colors.  

• Probably because I'm a Soft Summer.  ;)

• 
  

•  All of the boys' costuming choices came straight from their closets. 

• I bought Sophie and Jane's outfits not knowing for sure who would want to wear what.

• They both wanted to wear Jane's outfit.

• Jane's outfit was simply too small for Sophie to wear and didn't look like a "her" outfit to me when she tried it on, so I had to pull off a switcheroo and make fetch happen for the photo.  ;)

  

• It took lots of pleading and threats and ultimately pulling out the big guns in the form of having Granny Nanny doing the convincing to get Sophie to wear her ensemble. 

• Her resistance arose mostly because the shirt and skirt WERE a little big on her, and Sophie has major issues with the fit of her clothes.  

• Not to mention, NONE of my girls have inherited my love for peter pan collars.  {sad face, single tear emoji}

• Granny saved the day by convincing Sophie that she could pin the skirt to make it fit better and I sweetened the deal by promising to curl her hair for the picture.

•  Along with Sophie, Alex was the most vociferous about not wanting to wear his outfit.

  

• Alex refused to smile for the majority of the pictures, and in fact was scowling or crying in most.

• BUT -- he smiled in enough of them that I was able to photo shop his face into the family photo I've chosen for our Christmas card this year.  :)  

 

• Grace was easily the most agreeable about going along with her outfit and the photo shoot -- because she's our ever-surprising surprise like that.  ;)  {And it didn't hurt that she was essentially wearing a pair of leggings and a t-shirt, along with my teal scarf.} 

• Our photo shoot location is the exact same place as TWO years ago --i.e. someone's long, private driveway, a little up the road from our neighborhood.  {Whoopsie!}

• When I got home and looked at the pictures, I thought it was hilarious to note that we're all in almost the EXACT same set-up as the last picture we took here -- only Alex is in a different spot (the middle) and of course, we have an additional family member.  :)

• Jane kept running away at the beginning of the shoot and was ultra emotional throughout.  

• After taking a couple of mother-daughter shots she calmed down a bit and we were able to finish things up.

• Even though it's not even noticeable/visible, I couldn't help but wear my necklace with the word "LOVE" on it to match Jane's sweater.  :)

• After getting all the camera settings configured, I handed it over to my mom, who snapped all the family shots.   

• Fighting over which kid got to hold the baby was the last big issue to get through, but thankfully -- once they all got a "turn" -- we managed to move on.

And there you have it!  Don't you wish you were there??? Hahahaha.