Every year we have a wonderful photographer friend take pictures for a holiday card for us, and I look forward so much to the picture day. Picking the clothes and a fun setting around town is something I really enjoy. This year, we used a connection with a friend to get us up onto the awesome terrace of a new hotel downtown before the bar opened so we had free reign of the place with great views of Durham. Things didn't go quite as smoothly as I had hoped, though. Max, for starters, was not about to pose for any pictures with the rest of us. He wriggled and cried every time we picked him up to pose with us. And mostly he ran away laughing hysterically. Which is cute in person but hard to capture in a photo what with the rapid movement and all. And then just a few minutes into the photo shoot, Ella came barreling at me to give me a hug, and pulled away crying and bleeding from her mouth. She'd run right into my ribs and knocked a quite loose tooth down to literally "hanging by a thread" status. I give her huge credit for pulling herself together and smiling beautifully in all the pictures despite the discomfort. And about 30 minutes later, she quietly worked that tooth all the way out, so the last photos of the day show her showing off her new gap.
Somehow, our pal worked miracles, and the photos of the day are just beautiful. I can't pick my favorites, not even close, so we might have to send a holiday book instead of a card. Or at least make a book for ourselves. Here are a few faves:
Max's interest in posed family shots was.... none.
He is a handsome devil, though
Bull city, baby!
Tooth gone!
Oh, and on the way back down from the terrace, Max managed to press the emergency button in the elevator so we finished our adventure with a quick chat with the fire dispatchers who fortunately seemed very unphased by a one-year old calling them from an elevator. Whew.
