Say Cheese!

So Tuesday was picture day at Chloe and Emma's school. Now growing up, I remember totally looking forward to picture day. I would spend days picking out my outfit, my favorite 'Holly Hobbie' skirt, just the right peter pan collard blouse, and my Mom always helping me fix my Dorothy Hamill haircut just right. Those days are over, at least at our house.

In anticipation of the big day, I had the girls pick out their clothes the night before, so I could iron them, or at least make sure the stains wouldn't show. Because the girls are so very different, I swear it was like I was going through two totally different events. Chloe went downstairs and came back with a tee shirt with horses on it (big surprise) and jeans. At least she picked jeans without holes in the knees. Clearly Chloe was NOT excited about picture day. In the spirit of free-thinking and avoiding an argument, I let it go. I mean, they really only shoot the photos from the chest up, right? Her tee shirt was red, she looks nice in red, I'm sure the picture will turn out great. Chloe's set, on to Emma.

Emma, oh Emma. What can I say? The girl loves clothes, likes to dress up, this should be a piece of cake right? WRONG! I can't even say for sure how many alternate outfit ideas were presented. It's all a big blur of dresses, shorts, capris, tank tops, shirts and shoes. Yes, even shoes. Apparently Emma doesn't realize the photo is mostly of her face. So after several hours (okay it was probably only a few minutes, but it sure seemed longer) we narrowed it down to a cute brown button up sweater with a tank top under it and jeans, I think. All I can say for sure is that by the time we had an outfit picked out I had said more than my fair share of words no parent should ever say to their child. I guess I ran out of the whole free-thinking, no argument thing about 7 outfits in.

We finally make it to picture day, or "the morning from HELL" as I prefer to think of it. Chloe was up at about 6am, which irritates me just on principle. The child can function on way too little sleep. It's really not fair. Anyhow, back to picture day, so Chloe is up and seems to be in a pretty good mood, she has made herself breakfast and is watching T.V. I get myself ready, because even though it is such a special occasion like picture day, I still have to go to work. Now here is where the whole thing goes horribly, horribly wrong. Emma had decided the night before that she wanted to take a shower in the morning, seems safe enough right? The problem with this is that Emma likes to lounge in the shower, so by the time I realize she is still in there, a good 20 minutes has passed and we are quickly running out of time. Add to this that Lili is now up and let me tell you, she's not really a morning person.

I am now in freak out mode, which basically translates into a lot of yelling on my part and a lot of crying on the girls part. I am the first to admit that this is neither pleasant nor very effective, but that was where we were. As the minutes tick by, I realize that Chloe is dressed and ready to go, all I have to do is fix her hair. No, wait, she has done that herself. What the heck is in her hair? Of course, she has taken some hair product that is only to be used on wet hair and greased her hair down with it. Fabulous. So now I get to not only blow dry Emma's dripping wet hair and curl it, get Lili ready for school, finish getting myself ready, but I get to try and reverse the greaser look Chloe is currently sporting. Have I said how much I love picture day?

We now have about five minutes to accomplish all of the above listed tasks, and I am really close to having a nervous breakdown. We make it through Emma's hair without too many tears, Lili is semi-ready to go, and let's face it, I'll take her in P.J's if I have to, it's not picture day at her school. I move on to Chloe's hair. I feel like I should call someone at Exxon to get de-greasing tips. This is bad. For those of you who don't know, Chloe has very thin hair. Thin hair and greasy hair product don't mix well. So I do the best I can, a few curls, a pony tail, she's good to go. Until Emma makes the fatal mistake of complimenting Chloe on her 'do. Why wouldn't she take a compliment from her super girly little sister in the spirit with which it is intended? We have all the time in the world right? Like 30 seconds to get everyone done and out the door. Sure, we can re-do her hair. Some more curling, take out the ponytail, there, NOW she's done.
A few blanket threats that no one is to touch their hair, a sweet reminder to smile pretty, and a quick kiss on the cheek as I shove them out the door. Luckily, we will have photos to remember this day forever. You just have to love picture day!