Last year I started the tradition of taking "end of summer" pictures with the kids with watermelons. I saw another photographer do it with a family for one of her sessions and I just fell in love with the idea. It's such an amazing way to get your kids to actually stay in one place for a picture lol Plus it's super cute.
The last week of August I headed out to one of our favorite parks to take the kids pictures. Now I have to say that I should have planned this session out better. I was totally unprepared. I knew I wanted to do these pictures but on a whim one afternoon decided that was the day. I knew if I didn't just go do it...summer would come and go and I'd be regretting not taking them. It was a really nice day and the rest of the week was calling for rain. So as soon as Jude and Alanna woke up, I got everyone ready and we headed out. I didn't have any watermelon so we went to Target to get one since I needed something at Target anyways. Target didn't have any watermelon so then we had to go to Walmart. Walmart only had two left! I was hoping to get some precut so I didn't have to go back home but no luck. So off home we went. I had to go in and cut up the whole watermelon and then head back out. At that point you can probably guess I was thinking to myself "what am I thinking!!!" but I knew once it was done, I'd be so happy I did it.
The park we went to is about 30 minutes from our house. It was around 5:30 when we arrived. The kids had had a small snack but I knew they'd be hungry soon. Everyone had to go potty so we had to stop at the bathroom, nurse Jude, and then reload up and go to the spot where i wanted to take pictures. We parked and then got up to the little spot I like to shot at.
There are sheep and turkeys there so the kids were having fun watching them. They weren't really excited about pictures but they know how much it means to me. They were all so good and while some moments I felt like a crazy person trying to find ways to get them all to look at me lol, I'm happy with how they turned out.
Ruy's gotten so big. Looking at these pictures makes my mommy heart proud and scared all at the same time. He's 9 years old but I feel like I blinked and all that time was gone. Which scares me because in just 9 more years he'll be an adult and my brain can't really handle that. But I'm so proud of him and how smart, sweet, funny, and loving he is.
I will never forget how much Liam loves these suspenders or "spurspenders" as he likes to call them.
Alanna was not wanting to take pictures at all this night. I can't really blame her. It was dinner time but she still did a great job considering all the craziness that went on right before we got there. :)
Jude is always on the move. It was so hard to keep him still. I had to give him a piece of hay and then try to keep him from eating the hay ... it didn't work very well but I was able to get a few shots of him .
It's pretty much a miracle if you can get all four of my kids to look at you and smile at you at the same time for pictures...I know better than to try this but I tried...and failed lol.
But once I told them all to love on Jude or smile at each other...they were great with that!
They were all really really excited about the watermelon. My kids LOVE watermelon. It was nice to end the session with giving them something they love...it was kind of like a little treat for being so good and dealing with taking pictures :)
His eyes...
Jude was basically in heaven with his watermelon. He was so so upset when I had to take it from him.
I was so happy with how they turned out so we cleaned up and headed back to the car. I had packed dinner for everyone so we headed to the van and drove over to the little playground to play for a bit and have dinner.....
....our plans were majorly changed when as I got out of the van, Alanna decided to play with the locks and lock the van. I didn't realize that's what she had done so I shut my door with the keys inside...locking Jude in!!!
I was so upset and started freaking out. I ran over to a man standing beside his van and asked him if I could use his phone. I called 911 and they asked if Jude was ok. They told me to call Pop a Lock since Jude was ok. I was so upset that they told me that. I had to go find a piece of paper to write Pop a Lock's number on. I called PAL and they said it would be 45 minutes before they got there. Now I was REALLY upset. 80 degrees and my baby is screaming locked in my van! I called 911 back and told them how long PAL was going to be. They were like "do you need us to send a truck out?" What really! Yes! Get my baby out! I was so upset and I don't handle decisions and stress very well when one of my kids are hurt or in this case locked in my van. I think I was mostly confused and stressed because 911 didn't tell me what to do. I just wanted them to get him out asap.
So they sent a fire truck and a police unit out. The fire truck was there within 5 minutes and he was out within ten minutes of them getting there. He was in the van screaming for about 30 minutes. Pop a Lock called about 20 minutes after the fire fighters were able to break into my car. Thank goodness I didn't wait for him. Jude was so upset and SO sweaty but he was ok which I was so thankful for.
The kids didn't want dinner at that point and I can't blame them. It was so late about 8pm at that point and we were all hot and tired. They had been playing happily at the park while I was trying to get Jude out...which was a good thing because at least they weren't stressed and worried about Jude the whole time.
It was such a scary experience and I've been super careful to watch and make sure I have my keys since then. Liam and Ruy actually ask me all the time now if I have my keys. My boys :) Love them.
So the whole afternoon was a little crazy...between going to the different stores, to going back home to cut the watermelon, to the drive out there, to taking all the pictures, to getting Jude locked in the van....but I did get sweet pictures :)
#photogmomlife
