5 Easy Steps to Get Great Family Photos!

We recently had family photos taken. People gave me compliment after compliment about how great the kids looked and how they couldn't believe how we got them all to cooperate in a picture. I always laugh at these comments. They don't see the behind the scenes! So I thought I'd share with you, my 5 easy steps to get your kids to behave in family pictures!

1. Don't tell them where you're going. It's a surprise! When in doubt, I always find white lies to my kids are helpful. I think I have an age limit where this will stop working but 4 and under I'm still smarter than them! We're going somewhere fun guys! Get in the car and you'll see!

2. Keep smiling, even when you're reaching behind 1 child to grab another to keep him sitting still and trying not to drop the infant in your lap. Cheese!

3. If lying and smiling don't work, hanging out on the back of a truck doesn't work for your boys, hope your photographer is quick when you get the .2 second moment of good behavior. Also, wear appropriate footwear for chasing children who are refusing to cooperate. Tom said I picked the wrong shoes for him that day. Whoops. My bad.

4. Hope they forget your actually taking pictures. "Who wants to go for a walk through this field? Yay! Let's go and keep looking at that guy down there...good job!"

5. Bribe. Always bribe. This particular photo shoo was at 6:30am. There was much talk of donuts for good behavior. They would have gotten the donuts regardless of behavior, only because mommy needed to stop for coffee on the way home.

And of course, special thanks to Nate and Captured Memories Photography  by Nathan Weist for managing to catch the few precious seconds between the chaos so we have pictures of my kids faces instead of the blurs I usually manage to capture.

Sweet Memories

We were lucky enough to have the chance a few days after baby E was born to get some professional pictures of her.

We did this with all the other kids, so it was kind of a no brainer to get Eloise's pictures taken as well, but it wasn't even on my radar when we had the twins. Luckily, we have been very lucky with photographer friends and one in my hometown offered to take pictures of the twins when they came home from the hospital. It was such a sweet memory and I'm so glad we had them done!

 

When Ben was born, we also had a good friend photographer who not only offered to take pictures of Ben when he came home, but spent countless hours in her garage trying to get good shots of him.

 

We have been on the hunt for a photographer since we moved to Ohio, for the first time ever we don't live next door or down the street from a friend who is also a photographer.

 Luckily, I stumbled across Sarah of Living Joy Photography and she was looking for adorable newborns to photograph. I am also very lucky that all of my newborns are incredibly adorable...I'm not biased at all. Obviously.

I can't believe these pictures were taken in our living room! Amazing what she can do with natural light.

 

Notice the beautiful floors Tom put down in our house last summer ;) They matched great with her basket.

All of the pictures came out so beautiful!

 

Sarah also is a crafty one. She made the headbands and jumpers seen in all of the pictures! You can find them here at her Etsy shop, Inspiring Joy Studios.

 

 

Sweet little baby!

 



This is my absolute favorite picture out of all of them. The way you can see every detail of her sweet little face and her cute little lips. It's just perfect. And definitely a face I want to remember as she grows up. Have I mentioned I just put a 6 month dress on her. 6 month. On my not even 1 month old. Excuse me while I go cry....Why do they have to keep growing up on me??

 

 

 

Back on track, the point of all of this, is if you are having a new baby and you haven't considered newborn pictures yet. Do it! It doesn't have to be anything as formal as these. You don't need all the fancy headbands (ok, but seriously, how cute??). You just need to make sure you are capturing the moments when they are so new. Darn babies grow up so fast and you think you will remember, but it's so amazing to look back on these picture. It's also an amazing baby gift for a friend who is expecting their 1st (or 4th) little one. I especially like having a professional photograph take the pictures who has the props and knows how to pose and capture their sweet little baby hands and feed and lips. I'm so happy with how these pictures turned out and can't wait to have Sarah take more pictures for us!

 

If you are in the Dayton area and would like to use Living Joy Photography, Sarah has been kind enough to offer 20% off to Up To Your Toes readers! Just mention you were referred from my blog and she'll apply the discount to your session.

 

You can find pictures of all of her work on her Facebook or website.

 

Also, all of the headbands are from her Etsy shop! You can check it out HERE and on Facebook!