It's That Time Again

It's that time again...time for family portraits! Well, almost. Bruce and I decided to have family portraits made before we leave Biloxi and we want to take these pictures on the beach. I'm sure not going to do that in June - everyone would be miserable in that heat. We're planning to take them in April so it's warm, but not hot. This will be our first family portrait since Sullivan's birth and I am so excited! I'm hoping it will be easier since Owen and Kathryn will be almost two and a half and Sullivan will be 14 months old. We'll see. I've already started looking at outfits for everyone. I want us to coordinate (not match!) and I want a little color in there and not just all white. Here's what I've come up with so far.

For the girls I like this dress,

or this one.

For Owen, I know he'll want to look like Daddy so I'm thinking this shirt (sleeves rolled up of course for a more casual look)

And these white linen shorts (sorry the picture is so small)

I want to wear something flowy and beachy and I love the color of this dress


I don't have an outfit picked out for Bruce on here, but if he wants me to pick him out something I'm happy to do it. I just figured he's more than capable of finding something that works with all of these outfits. We have an awesome photographer in Huntsville (Alyson Clemons - Eternal Reflections Photography), but we aren't planning on going home for any extended period of time between now and the time we move, so we're going to use Sean Smith for these pictures - his studio is in Gulfport. He did a fabulous job with the kids' pictures in December and I think he'll do a wonderful job with these as well. His families and beach portfolios are amazing!

Having Owen, Kathryn, and Sullivan's pictures made is without a doubt one of my favorite things to do. Even just a few months after having their pictures made, they change and grow, but I have this perfect memory to look at for the rest of my life. I forget about how hard I worked to get a smile from Kathryn, how I tried to get Owen to sit still and not run off, or how I tried to keep Sullivan from spitting up all over her new dress for an entire morning. All of the challenges of picture day fade and all I remember is how little and precious my babies were on that day and during that stage. Family pictures mean everything to me and this feels like the right time to take some new ones. The last two years in Mississippi have been wonderful...and challenging and exciting and tiring, you get the idea. I want to capture that and the family we've become over the last two years. Our family looks much different now than it did the day we arrived in Biloxi that's for sure! We're closing one chapter this summer and opening another and I want to celebrate everything that has been and everything that is to come. Having our pictures made just seems to be the perfect way to do that.