Annie's birthday shoot

Every year I say that I'm going to do a photo session of each kid around their birthday. Then I overwhelm myself with how "perfect" I want it to be. I want to find a new location, and buy the most adorable outfit. The expectations in my head get to be so high, that all I end up doing is procrastinating until it's too late. This year, I put her "appointment" on my calendar, and treated it just like any other session. There was no extraordinary planning, and it was wonderful. As my amazing cousin (who is way too wise to just be 25 years old) would say, "just enough is plenty". I LOVE that. 

And I love my sweet bean.

 

This one is my favorite because ever since she was little, she always holds her hair back like this. It's a sweet mannerism that I associate with just her.
We went to ice cream later. She'd been talking about it for a week. We stood in line for 45 minutes, waiting for her "sundae that she could eat all by herself". Then she ate about 5 bites. Isn't it funny, how sometimes the anticipation is just as (if not more) fun than reality?

And it's also funny how you can set out to do something, only to be surprised that the best parts of your day were unplanned and unexpected. The most fun we had was because Jason left the top down on the car. And I'm not going to lie. I'm usually a total buzz-kill when it comes to convertibles, whining about how it dries out my contacts, and messes up my hair. But I busted out of my Granny shell. I wanted to listen to Aretha. But all she wanted to hear was Sister Sledge...(NINETY TWO TIMES, I might add). We blasted "WEE are FAM-AH-LEE!" And that's what families do, I think. We make plans. And then we roll with the beautiful, imperfect reality that pops up instead. 

Comments

[DeAnna]

I can't believe how grown up little Annie is.... Before you know it she will be the one driving the car. UGH!!! I'm not ready..

[Brandi]

Sooo precious!