A Perfect Fall Day

Fall days don't really get too much more beautiful than this.  A few clouds, a lot of leaves in desperate need of collection, a lovely little princess in desperate need of a nap, and a closing-up-shop sale at Pumpkin Patch in the mall...

Nap issue aside, and still not convinced that I have the right photos yet for our Christmas cards this year, I strong-armed the little princess into some new clothes and boots, loosened her frizzy, slept-on braids to let her hair fall free, and tried to use my magic mommy powers to brainwash her into thinking that going outside to play in the leaves while Daddy was blowing them into big piles was a good idea.

And really, it was a good idea (even if I am omitting the photos where she's crying...).

I'm well aware of the fact that young children occasionally need naps.  Especially when they wake up before the crack of dawn, and even more especially when they have the oh-so-joyful addition of a head cold.  And when you tell a young child that they're going to get a nap, the telltale sign of just how much they need one is by the vast volume of tears they shed upon hearing that suddenly-shocking statement of fact.  

So!  Back to the beautiful fall day...  We really did have a good time, and even though she rarely looked at me when I had the camera up (think she's trying to tell me something?  Yes, yes, yes she did say, "No camera!", but does "no means no" actually apply in this situation?  Am I scarring my child for life?), I think I got some Christmas-card worthy shots from the 170-something images in the group.   

For those of you who wanted an after shot of the tresses minus 3"...  I'm really not sure if it's particularly even, but I must say, those clean ends really do look nice!

I'm not sure how I feel about this photo.  I think I like it, but she just looks kind of vapid and startled.  I like the composition more than anything else, and the fact that you can actually see her eyes (oh, hooray!).

Hide and seek.  Oh, how I love stripey tights!!  Anyone know why cute, multi-color, stripey tights are next-to-impossible to find without spending a small fortune, or jumping on a plane to some random Western-European country (any one!  you pick!)?  Sometimes I think that here in America, we just don't get childhood like they do in Holland or Germany or Italy.  We try to dress our kids up like little grown-ups (not slamming Janie and Jack or anything ((okay, I am)), but you get my drift...), completely missing the point of kids being kids.  I recently found this blog, and while I can't read a word of it (my sincere apologies to the year I spent in Germany and to my high school German teacher, Mr. Freimanis), it's a veritable feast for the eyes, summing up exactly what my (unfortunately cash-poor, empty-pocketed) vision is for children's clothes. If you visit my Pinterest page, you'll find a board of just such amazing items.  Okay, gotta get off my Oilily soap box now.

My absolute favorite from the session, and a shoe-in for the card if I decide to use these pics.  Woohoo!  I can see her eyes!!

My sensitive girl actually got upset when Daddy said he was going to put all of the leaves in bags.  Until, that is, he asked her to help.  He's really so much better at re-direction than I am.  I don't think I'm quite patient enough to re-direct and see it through to fruition.  It's not always a magical, on-the-spot process, and sometimes takes a few approaches before she warms up and comes around.  In this case, the process was quick, and she actually helped a lot.  She and I bagged for about 15 minutes before she'd had enough and started heading for the door.

Stay tuned for some possible card options.  I may be polling the audience...