Yin Yang

As a professional photographer, you'd think taking pictures of your own children would be easy, right? WRONG. Around this time every year I need to take my boys' yearly pictures. I look forward to hanging new prints on my walls, but dread the actual session. After numerous pep talks, bribes, threats, and making them raise their right hands and solemnly swear to behave, we began the session. Just thinking about it makes me need to take a deep breath.

inhale

exhale

(look at pretty picture)

There. Ok, here are my two sweet yet devious and crazy boys. Yes, they are brothers, yes, they are from the same two parents, and no, they are nothing alike. :)

(side note: Ever since the dawning of their relationship as brothers, Ethan has always hugged/choked his brother this way for pictures. Maybe some day I will put together a timeline of this pose through the years. It would be pretty humorous.)

Another pretty picture.

This one I love. These are their true, totally natural smiles. It was, of course, right after a butt joke. Those never get old.

The location we were at was so beautiful, and it really does my soul good to be surrounded by beauty. It calms me and helps me refocus.

Now, there were about 5 million outtakes from this dear session, including Ethan mooning the camera. There were rock band pictures with them playing air guitar, whistling, being Superman, and jumping from rocks. Those are just for me. Those make me smile (after my patience has been refueled, of course.) Oh, and now Ethan has entered the awkward, self-aware stage where more than 80% of his smiles were this horrible, top lip tucked in, new over-sized teeth jutting out, painful smile.

It's a good thing I can always count on butt jokes to get his real smile to come out.