With a Face Like This...

... and all these options ...

 ... how could a mother choose?

That's right, folks - I couldn't.  I am the complete schmuck that Lifetouch Photography has in mind when they create these photo packages for parents.  Who could reject that precious little smile?  Who could look at a page of wallets or 5x7's and think, "Hmm, no- we don't need you."  Ahh!  I couldn't do it.  Every time I would try to narrow down which pictures I really wanted or truly needed, those tiny little Katie Anne faces would call out to me from over in the "no" pile, saying, "We're going to be shredded if you don't buy us!"  Oh, the guilt was intense, but finally I narrowed it down after 3 days of thinking ... I was buying 7 of the 10 sheets. 

Then, I looked at the pricing sheet and realized... 7 sheets cost $60.95, but 10 sheets only cost $68.95.  Weird?  I know.  Saunders (who did a short stint as a Lifetouch photographer when we first got married) tells me they price them this way on purpose to try to get you to just buy the whole package.  Okay, Lifetouch, you got me.  One check for $68.95 coming your way!  Saunders said, "Please don't tell me you fell for it and are buying every single picture."  Um, yes... yes, I did.

But, who could resist buying every single picture of this precious person?  After picture day, Katie Anne told me, "Mommy, I tried so hard to smile nice in my pictures today.  You are going to be so happy!"  Her teachers said she really did.  She listened to everything the photographer said, all the way down to the little head tilt.  How sweet is that?  I wish you could see (and maybe you can if you blow it up) how hard she is trying in this one.  Her little hands are white at the knuckles where she's pressing them together so tightly. 

It reminds me of a picture of me when I was little where my knuckles are doing the same thing... I loved getting my pictures made professionally (surprise, surprise, right?) as a kid.  Greg and I even played "Olan Mills", where we would pose and pretend to take pictures of each other with an imaginary camera.

In this one, she's got a little bit of a closed eye on one side, but so does Saunders.  That's the first thing he said when he saw it - "Wow, that looks just like me! Even the eye!"  So, how would I turn this one down?  I wouldn't!

And, the funny thing is that I thought I would have lots and lots of pictures left over, but really I don't.  By the time I gave away pictures to KA's grandparents, aunts and uncles, and I sent one to work for Saunders's desk and two for my frames at work, we're down to very few pictures left!  So, buying the whole package worked out just fine.  :)