My kids’ favorite part of Halloween, like every holiday, is posing for pictures.
I can only assume that my children are such willing photograph subjects because I’m a better mom than mine was. After all, some of the most important parts of parenting are analyzing the ways we were parented, finding them terribly lacking, making corrections, and ultimately deeming ourselves superior parents in every way.
So, despite the fact that she’s more selfless than I will ever be, I remember that it was always so irritating when my mom wanted to take pictures of me for every dumb thing. Holidays, school events, vacations. Annoying. Totally unnecessary. And a waste of my valuable time. I, after all, had important things to do, like talk to my boyfriend, read books, and be so, SO perpetually bored.
But things are completely different with my kids.
It makes them feel happy to do something nice for their mommy. Something they know I really want.
Something that will let us capture forever the fun the of day so we can someday show their kids the joy of their youth.
I never have to bribe, cajole, beg or threaten.
And I never have to say things like, “Come on, guys. Pretty PLEASE?”
Or, hypothetically, “Seriously? I just spent two hours helping you carve your pumpkins, and you can’t smile for one nice photo for me?”
Yeah, well. In the words of my esteemed mother, “I’ll take what I can get.” (She might’ve gotten more right about this parenting gig than I initially thought.)
From my punkins to yours,
Happy Halloween!
And, um, may you hold your candy better than we do.
……….
P.S. If you used one of Rachel’s AMAZING Halloween costume ideas, pretty please send me pictures! You can email ’em to me at fivekidsisalotofkids [at] gmail [dot] com.
10 responses to “From My Punkins to Yours: Happy Halloween!”
The picture of Ian looks just like this: http://cdn.thegloss.com/files/2011/01/zoolanderbluesteel.jpg. Now if we can just figure out if he’s doing ‘Magnum’ or ‘Blue Steel’.
I sooooo get this! I have three little rug rats and I gave up trying to get a smile for one picture! Last time I wanted to send a nice picture to Gramma, I ended up sending 30 semi good ones where at least one kid was smiling in each picture. 🙂 God bless your family, your blog is a joy to read!!
Love it! What we can’t get in quality, we’ll make up for in quantity. Amen, sister!
I loved the “puekin” pumpkin the best!!!
I loved the “puekin pumpkin the best!!!
That was an Abby original! She’s one funny kid. I sure love being her mom. She has me in stitches all the time… even when I’m supposed to be getting her in trouble.
C’mon, really? That wasn’t just a set up for your blog? They’re that stubborn about photos? lol
Bahaha! If you ever see ’em all *smiling*, that’ll be the picture that’s a set-up! 😉 After the first two pouty pics, I just told them to go ahead and show how they really felt about mama’s photo shoot.
As a mom/step-mom of a small rugby team (5 kids as well!), I can attest to the difficulty of getting pictures as well. I bribed my then 14 yo step son into sitting for the camera last Christmas by promising his own batch of Peanut butter balls – for him…no one else. After bartering for 20 minutes over the number of pb balls in a batch, he finally agreed to sit for the picture…albeit with a straight face, leaning away from everyone else. Like you said, I’ll take what I can get. 🙂
Hooray for bribing! We bribers don’t get enough credit, I say.
I once bribed my children with jelly beans to smile for our Christmas photo. I had an 80% success rate. That’s a B grade in most schools. 😉
Approved.