Birthday month

It's birthday month at our house, and that means it's time for the kids Annual Portraits. This is at once both one of my favourite times of year, and most frustrating.

Today I was home alone with Mallory, because Liam's school calendar has flipped so that his Fridays off no longer line up with mine. At least for a bit. So we planned to do Mallory's pictures today. She was just as excited about this as I was up until about 9:30 a.m. this morning. I had a couple of outfit changes planned, some hair accessories, a few props... a list of ideas to work through. Mallory had a list of her own and kept lobbing in more ponytail holders, more shirts she wanted to wear, more dolls she wanted to pose with. I was thinking we were really going to get somewhere. (I was also thrilled with last year's photos, thinking things could only get better.)

Then, of course, we actually started taking photos, and she turned into a total clown, striking insane poses and insisting that she was only going to do it once and then my chance to take the picture would be up. "Look into the camera," I would say. "I AM," she insisted, even though her entire head was turned toward the far corner of the room.

What can I say? We made it through a teeny tiny fraction of what had been planned. Not a single hair accessory used and most of the props were untouched as well. I have many, many photos shot over a very short time frame, and about 95% of them are currently in my trash folder. A couple of outtakes are funny but not even worth editing. A few of them show her sassiness, which I suppose is very typical of Mallory at this point in her life:After the frustration of the 'formal' setting, I took her upstairs and let her jump on her bed to try to capture a few candids. At least some of these make me smile:I also really like this one I caught of her reading to some of her dolls and stuffed animals after the jumping wore her out:
Anyway, I think this is the Official Portrait of a Four Year Old Mallory. This is as good as it got. Not what I had in mind starting out, but it'll do:And, I clearly remember a four-year-old Liam acting like a turkey, too. It must be the age. Here's hoping that next year's session runs much more smoothly.