Mother's Day Photo Shoot (out-takes)

One of my very very least favorite things about being a missionary is being away from my family on special days.  Days like birthdays, Christmas, Father's Day and Mother's Day are killers for me.  I want to be there.  I want to give a gift in person along with a hug and spend time together.

Every year on Mother's Day I worry about what in the world I am going to do.  Not that my mother or my mother-in-law expect anything extraordinary.  This is not about them putting on pressure.  It's about me putting pressure on myself.  Anyway, the mail system in Brazil is veeerrrry slow and also unreliable.  The shopping choices here are also limited.

This year I decided to do a photo-type gift.  (And that is all I'm going to say about it because I don't want to ruin the surprise.)  I forced coerced asked the kids to go to our nearby park so I could take some new pictures of them for their grandmothers.  I ended up with some great pictures, but here are some funnies that happened along the way.....

I had the brilliant idea of encouraging the park visit (aka photo session) with a picnic.  Look at these beautiful apples.  They must have been just for looks though because everyone only wanted to eat...

chocolate chip cookies.....

and drink grape juice (a very non-staining, safe choice for photo shoots).  Carys packed our snack.

Of course the juice had to spill all over someone's shorts.  At least we had the tablecloth for wiping up the spilled juice and messy cookie mouth.

There was plenty of tree climbing...

and way too many blurry shots.

Someone got very angry about how many pictures I was taking....

and started walking away when I tried to take another one.

When I didn't give up, he just took off running.

This guy was also a little tired of picture taking.

Ansley had gone to the dentist a little earlier to get a filling redone.  The right side of her mouth was numb, but she recovered just in time.

But, don't worry grandmothers, even with all these crazies, we ended up with some great pictures.  I just wanted you to know the depths of suffering I had to go to for your gift.  Hope you like it!