1 Yr Pictures

A couple of weeks ago at church several women came up to me and said they had coupons for me for photo shoots. I was confused why so many people were offering picture coupons and then I was informed that I'm supposed to get professional pictures of Alison for her first birthday. Apparently everyone's doing it...I guess peer pressure never ends. I debated the issue for awhile. Most of the time I think professional pictures are a rip. They entice you into the store saying they have a great deal and then you're sucked into spending hundreds of dollars on sheets of pictures you don't know what to do with. I liked what we did at Christmas, having a family picture and then some of just Alison. We still spent far more than I wanted to (remember I'm also the cheap one of the family) but I can also recognize the need for an occasional good picture. I figure we take so many pictures of Alison ourselves and family can see them anytime they want, do we really need professional pictures every 6 months? So I concluded this afternoon that I would save the money for a Christmas family picture and take Alison's 1 year pictures myself. I quickly learned why we pay so much money for someone else to take pictures of our kids and I take back all my ill feelings toward overpriced professional picture takers.






















I tried to set up a backdrop but Alison thought it was more fun pulling it on top of her than posing for a picture.















There's actually a cat under there.



































Being pretty is such hard work









"Um Mom, I really don't like grass...or the neighbors dog that's barking."
































I realized after taking all these pictures that there's no way I could have ever decided on just one pose if we had gotten them professionally taken. Even looking through the terrible ones I took with her goofy faces and mishap poses, I still loved all of them. I also realized that it probably would have been more efficient to just put all the pictures in a slide show, but I'm not that techno savvy and Ben's at work, so this will just have to do. I'm planning on printing some, so if anyone has a particular one they want please let me know.