Before the Bluebonnet Goodbye

We've lived in south Texas for three springs now. The first spring we were settling in, and I thought: next year we should definitely get family pictures taken with bluebonnets, because have you really lived in TX if you haven't taken bluebonnet pictures? The second spring our family was adjusting to the joy and chaos of our bonus baby. Then this spring we were getting ready to move. And I had an unexpected minor surgery that left me with a less cool version of Harry Potter's scar. And the Man had some last minute trips to squeeze in. And we had a fun round of hand-foot-and-mouth. And the girls kept ending up with bumps and bruises on their face because they insisted on playing Swamp People with the boys and face planting off the curb into the road. But I really felt strongly about the necessity to embrace meaningful cliches because "have you really lived in TX if you haven't taken bluebonnet pictures?" is the spiritual equivalent of "have you really lived in OK if you haven't eaten at Braums?"

Thankfully, we were able to find a photographer brave enough to photograph the seven of us and flexible enough to reschedule us multiple times, and behold: bluebonnet pictures...and our first official family photos since the twins were ten months old. We'll take it. Here's to military spouse photographers, unexpectedly cold Texas mornings, kids who hide beneath borrowed blankets in between pictures, and husbands who buy you coffee on the way to the shoot and cheerfully smile the entire 30 minutes--even though they hate family pictures and possibly smiling.

{All photographs by Lilly Love Photography.}

PS Next set of family pictures, we will explore the cliche of "Have you really lived in FL if you haven't swum with the sharks?" Kidding! But maybe we'll let Bruiser dress up in a shark costume for them... msf