Willpower

One of my favorite pictures of H. is him in a metal washtub, complete with rubber ducky. He was about 8 months old. His shirt is off and he's sitting in the washtub, smiling his sweet smile. I took him to the Sears portrait studio, and promised, PROMISED myself and J. that I would buy the 'basic' package. I don't remember the exact cost - but I was trying to keep it down to whatever the 'minimum' package was. We were trying so hard to save money. Only the darn photographer took that washtub photo, and a couple others....and the next thing I knew, I'd left the shop with a lot of pictures...spending far more than I intended. I felt a bit mad at myself for doing that - but one look at that picture, and I quickly forgave myself. I mean, the grandparents needed it. We needed it. Aunts, uncles, cousins, friends, strangers on the street needed it. I couldn't help myself. I bought the full package....all sizes, various poses. They were incredibly cute pictures.

That's sort of what happened today - B.'s Senior pictures came out wonderfully - and we picked 3 poses. 2 with cap and gown and one without. Bought lots of the year book pose (in a tux) and then couldn't decide between two of the cap and gowns - one smiley, one serious - so I bought a small package of one and a medium package of the other. I bought the 'deluxe' package of the yearbook pose, including plenty of wallets to include in the graduation announcements we'll send out in the Spring. I just couldn't help it...and the prices weren't outrageous. It's not that it's expensive by pose - it's just that there are so many darn poses to choose from...and it's hard to narrow it down.

The photo shoot was tons of fun and I'm sure we got some good pictures. The photographer was nice and fun - and we took poses of me and the kids, J. and the kids, all of us together, me and J. together, the two boys together, and the boys separately. Yikes. Can you see how many possible 'packages' will result from this session? It's going to be hard....and expensive. We also got a shot outside of H. from his orthodontist - they will post it in their office for awhile and then we'll get to keep it - it was a gift from the ortho. And we also took one family shot outside, which will be nice.
I'm so glad we did it - it was fun and the kids were in good spirits. I thanked the boys profusely for humoring me and agreeing to do this - and I know we're going to end up spending a fortune. But I'm fine with that.

We went out to brunch after - there's no place downtown that serves breakfast so we settled for a lunch place that opened right at 11, just when we'd finished (that was a full hour of photo taking). Then J. quickly got H. to the soccer field where he was able to ref one game. B. left for work at 12:40.

We have the picture selection appointment next Saturday at 4PM. My goal is to get out of there for under $300.