School Pictures

September and October are standard school portrait months.  This year, Ben and Tessa had different photographers at their schools which is kind of annoying since then you don't have the cohesive look hanging on the wall or sitting in a frame (or languishing in the envelope in a box or pinned to a bulletin board and buried under months of other projects and pictures...not talking about us...just some people who might have that problem...)

So, first up was Ben's picture day.  We ended up having a funeral that day so retake day it would be.  Well, retake day landed during "Red Ribbon Week" which is a standard week of themed dress up days tied in with daily events about positive behavior.  The day of the week that was also retake day was pajama day.  Ugh, seriously.  No kid wants to miss pajama day at school.  It's a great day for all involved.  I was worried about the picture so I emailed the teacher, send a nice shirt for him to put on over his pajama shirt for the picture and chose a pose that was only a head shot (they have an option where you can see their pants).

When Ben came bounding off the bus that afternoon I causally asked if he took his picture.  "Yes!"  Then I asked if he put his blue striped shirt on.  "NO!"  What? Why not?  "We were going to the gym and it took too long!"  Facepalm.  Huge facepalm from me.

So here it is for posterity...in the class composite group photo and in the yearbook if they have one.

A very nice portrait with a kid wearing Lightening McQueen pajamas.  At least it's not his Christmas ones he loves to wear or a pair of zippered foot pajamas.  

So to go next to pajama boy we have Tessa, a girl who should by all indications be very photogenic.  I know she is capable of very cute photos like this:

Well, look what came home a few weeks after picture day:

Oh, Lord help me.  Where do I start.  First, I had chosen a grey background but she forgot to give the teacher the card with the selection on it so her teacher helped her pick what she wanted and of course she picked the girly pink background which would have been fine except I chose that shirt to match the grey background.  It doesn't have any pink in it. 

Slighly better...

Ben was at the same preschool last year and I felt the same way last year as I do this year about that black box...leave it in the 90's.  I think they crop most of it out in the final product but still...

So, I had her hair fixed with a barrette which I hoped could survive the short morning of school but nope.  It's haphazardly stuck on top of her head.  You can kind of see it.  

Now you all can look forward to receiving these to hang on your fridges!  Poor Tessa...she is in a kind of awkward hair phase right now.  I think she needs some shaping but she says she wants a ponytail and the only way to get there is to let it grow.  I think a trim is in her future though.  When the baby comes we will probably get their pictures taken somewhere that doesn't use a black velvet prop and pink tapestry backgrounds.