School Pictures

Today was picture day at the girls' elementary school.  Last night, we carefully picked out each girl's outfit and, this morning, we gave their hair a little extra attention.  (In Rachel's case, A LOT of extra attention because she wanted it straight for the picture.  That involved a process that began last night with a shampoo, straightening product, and blow drying.  This morning we finished with a flat iron.)

In general, I don't like school pictures.  They are prescribed, predictable, and unnaturally posed.  However, every year, I dutifully order at least a small package of pictures for each girl.  This morning after dropping the girls off at school, I decided to look back through some of their old school pictures and I discovered something I actually do like - the consistency of them.  This consistency - the same pose, similar backgrounds, etc. - really puts the emphasis on the child which, in turn, makes the changes exceptionally observable.

Let's take a little stroll down memory lane, shall we??

This, of course, is Rachel, beginning with her kindergarten picture and going through last year's 4th grade portrait.  Look at the Kindergarten picture - she looks so childlike.  And those curls - sigh.  In second grade, she had (finally) lost some teeth.  Fast forward to 4th grade when she kept her mouth closed to conceal her braces, had her hair super long and as straight as it could get without serious assistance.  Also, when I used to pick her picture day clothes with little to no input from her, there was color!!  Now, just gray.  (She wore a gray shirt again today, in fact.)  What a change.  Some days I enjoy the young lady she is becoming and some days I want my little curly girl back!!!

Here's my Megan.  The first one is from her 4 year old preschool year.  Then, kindergarten and last year's 1st grade photo.  To me, there's a huge difference in her 4 year old to 1st grade pictures.  (Besides the hair!)  She just looks so much older.  Unlike Rachel, Megan is always colorful and has a big smile!

Last but not least, my sweet Emily.  Of course, she is in kindergarten this year, so these are all from her preschool.  In the first one, she was only 2 - look at how little hair she had!  In the middle one, she was 3 and the last one was last year when she was 4.  It will certainly be interesting to compare her kindergarten pictures to these pictures of the "Littlest Spoon!"