Written by So, tomorrow is Spring picture day at school. Stevie and I don’t get it. Growing up, we only remember being tortured with school photos once a year, usually in the Fall, and then it was over until the next year. But for some reason, our kids have school photos both in the Fall and Spring.
We’re usually okay when it comes to the Fall pics. It’s the start of a fresh school year, and even if we’re busy with a gajillion other things, we somehow manage to get the kids to school semi-prepared to take a decent yearly photo.
Notice I said “decent.”
Look, I’m gonna be honest. We’re not going to win any glamour awards here. We’ve got two very stubborn children who have a very…uh…unique sense of style. And, quite frankly, when you’ve got a Mom who hates being in photos as much I do, and who has questionable fashion sense herself, you’re going to get a helluva lot more leeway than most of the other kids whose Mom’s spend hours picking out a perfecting matched outfit and cementing their hair in place.
I mean, come one, it’s just a photo. And I’d honestly much rather it actually captures my kids’ goofy personalities than to look like some perfectly-arranged museum piece.
Here are the last couple years of Fall photos so you get an idea of what we’re dealing with…
And then, the Spring photos. Ah, this is where all hell breaks loose (and honestly Stevie and I are at the point we’re sort of embracing it and seeing just how crazy it gets). We affectionately named last year’s Spring photo extravaganza “Stickergate 2018” because somehow, Cadence managed to not only plaster herself and her brother with stickers in the car on the way to school, she somehow managed to get her photo taken WITH A STICKER STILL ATTACHED TO HER FACE!
It’s like the school photographers aren’t even trying anymore. I mean, we thought it was pretty hilarious when we got the packet of photos back and saw Cadence with the giant grin on her face and sticker clearly planted on her cheek.
She looks pretty satisfied with herself, doesn’t she?
And then we opened Henry’s picture packet and nearly fell to the floor laughing because not only is he rocking his old favorite (and damn near too small) U R2 Cool Valentine’s Day shirt with stickers, he also sort of looks like he’s drunk and just stumbled out of bed in time to run to class and get in a fistfight on the way (notice the busted bottom lip from falling off a tricycle at recess the day before). He was also about a month overdue for a haircut and his cowlick had broken free from the smoothing Stevie attempted on the way to school.
Look up the definition of “hot mess” in the dictionary and that just might be the photo you find.
Gotta say, I’m kind of excited to see what sort of Spring photo craziness tomorrow brings.
Stay tuned.
Lori Romano 