It all started with too much time on our hands

September 2001 - Steve took me to the Oakdale Arboretum. Neither of us had ever been. I think it was on our list of places to take pictures during our wedding but we never made it here. We had a really nice time - little did I know then that he was killing time before my baby shower he threw for me later that same day when I was pregnant with Samantha. Anyway, if you ask him about any of his favorites pictures of me he says this one. Really?!?! I think it's a horrible picture and I could think of 1000 others but he says that it's not just the picture but the reminder of that day and how nice it was for us. I know he's a real sweetheart :) He keeps it in his office.

So I recently thought of recreating it. I asked my sister-in-law Lori to come and take pictures of me and the kids and to help me with recreating this picture.

So this is the original one 8 yrs ago - ughhh



August 2009 - 8 yrs and almost 5 kids later and lots of pure craziness here we - well really just me - now. I am in the same area just 1 aisle of Dahlia's up because the row I stood in in the first picture had too many dead flowers in it...lol




Bella and Samantha taking the pose - Sophia said no




I wanted some shots with me and the kids - it turned out to be way to hot and we were getting eaten alive from the bugs. The kids were troopers and did their best.








I can only imagine what she is telling Aunt Lori in this picture....



A year later we went back and had Samantha with us. She was just standing and I have a picture of her standing next to this bird bath - so we made her stand there now. If I get the original scanned in I'll add it later:


Then we have Sam playing in the bird bath many yrs ago - so Lori made Sophia do it this time around:




OK so remember the movie The Family Stone....the one with Sarah Jessica Parker??? Great movie - go rent it if you haven't seen it. At the end Sarah has framed a picture of the mother in the movie when she was pregnant and she gives them to the adult children. It was really sweet but I always loved the concept of the picture. I don't have a lot of pictures of me through my pregnancies so I wanted to make sure to take something similar to the picture in the movie this time. If the kids look at the picture and remember they will be able to figure out who I am pregnant with because of the background or they can just pretend it is any one of them. We tried a few different poses but these 2 were the keepers and the last one has already been enlarged and framed and is awaiting a spot on a wall somewhere in the house.



Lori - Thanks for taking the pictures and for the alterations you did to this one - I really like it the best and had it printed exactly how you sent it!




I had them framed and gave them to Steve for his office. He loved them!