McGrath family photos are here and I love love love them so much! These posts are always picture heavy because I can never pick just a few favorites. But, I can share two stories about picture day prep that'll make you laugh - but about sweet Hazel Fran.
A day or two before pictures I told the kids that I wanted to get a few pictures of them with their favorite lovies. I don't know that Abby will keep her dear Owies much longer and these animals have been a part of our lives for 9 years, I couldn't resist getting a few pictures to document how important they are two us. So, for Abby, it was clear that she'd bring her two favorite Owies. She actually has 4 total, all the exact same, but two were the originals and those are the most loved and cherished.
Hazel though, in true Hazel fashion wanted to bring her entire toy box of stuffed animals. She's my little magpie. My little collector...she hoards things that appear, at first glance, to be garbage, but to her, they are her special things (it makes me crazy, but I love her for it). When I told them we'd do pictures with their stuffed animals Hazel immediately went into listing "I'm going to bring Dolly and Stripes and Zoe and....". I explained that she could pick 2, only two of her most favorite and we went on with our day.
Well, the evening before pictures, Erin was over and Hazel asked for Auntie to put her to bed. When Erin came down she told me everything she and Fran had talked about up there, and that Hazel was distraught about which two animals she was going to bring because she loved them all and how could she pick?!
It was clear to me that I was going to have to give on this point, and, as you can see, she had her four (not two) favorite dolls along for the pictures. But, the original Dolly, missing an ear and with her tail bit off from the dog, had to be featured solo. Because, she is in fact, the most Real of all the animals. If you've read the Velveteen Rabbit, you know....
The second story I'd like to share is about Hazel's dress for the day. Of course I'd planned these outfits weeks in advance and when it was time to get dressed for the day, Hazel lost her mind. At some point, she'd decided that she wanted to wear a long dress Grandma had given her for Easter. It's adorable, and she loves it (and so do I), but it didn't fit the look we were going for, and 6 year olds don't understand that. So, as soon as she saw the dress I'd picked out for her (the one in the pictures...I won), she told me it was too small for her. There was NO WAY she could fit into it...too short, it showed her knees and that, Mom, was just NOT acceptable.
She cried, she threw a tantrum, we distracted...we pivoted...we recovered, until it was time to go and she lost her mind a second time. I relented and picked two other options that were similar to this rainbow dress, thinking it was less about the actual dress and more about having control. So, I showed her three dress options, none of them were reasonable in her mind. It was quite the drama! Luckily, Ryan took the kids in his car (we had to drive separately because he flew out that evening), and I have no idea what he promised them or how he did it, but, when we arrived at pictures, Hazel's grump mood was (mostly) gone and my preferred dress made it into the pictures.
The moral of the story? It's that while these pictures look perfect and beautiful, there's a hot mess express behind them. And well, that's just life! And someday, these memories won't be so fresh in my mind and I know I'll be thankful I've got them in writing to look back on.
