Clair Davis: Supermodel

A friend of mine Janelle is the fashion editor of Baltimore magazine. Their staff had the brilliant idea to do a first-ever Kids Guide to Baltimore and Janelle asked me if she could borrow Clair for a photo shoot!

(Janelle has her own very interesting story about finding out she was pregnant with twins. Read it here and crack up laughing.)

We went yesterday to a fancy studio in Clipper Mill and had an absolute blast. It was awesome! Even the waiting was fun because there were a ton of kid-friendly snacks and toys and we got to watch them photograph a bunch of other cute kids in all manner of adorable settings.

Waiting...

Waiting...

Her outfit! (Sucking on the spray bottle was the only thing that kept her happy.)

I need to pause here to point out that this outfit, from a boutique called Pied Piper, was soooo ridiculously cute on her. It had a gigantic, fantastic bow in the back and it billowed out like a fluffy pillow. It was so adorably great.

 

I glanced at the tag and saw the price $11 and thought, "Hey, maybe they'll let me buy this from them!" When I mentioned this to Janelle, she looked at the tag more carefully and let me know that my eyes are failing me. The price was $71. Seventy. One. Dollars.

Needless to say, we left that adorable outfit right there.

When it was time for her close-up (hahaha!), I was really nervous because Clair is in a major stranger anxiety phase, she was really tired (we had been there since 10:30 and it was noon when they called her) and the whole thing was sorta freaking her out a little bit, unless I was holding her on my lap.

We sat her on the prop and I silently prayed. 

This is what she looked like when I walked away:

And then it got worse:

But I started acting like a pure crazy woman, jumping up and down and playing peek-a-boo and screeching like a banshee -- and something about me making a fool of myself in front of all these stylish women CRACKED Clair up, and she smiled, again and again and again. (You can't see it here in this video because it came from Janelle, who thought it was hysterical to get down on film the way I was jumping up and down like a lunatic.)

 After a few clicks and a lot of laughing, the photographer called out, "We got it!"

And just like that, it was over. We had a lot of fun and everyone said Clair did GREAT! I was actually really proud of her. When those cameras started clicking, she turned on the charm. That's my girl!

The May issue of Baltimore magazine will be out in late April and I WILL be buying up the newstands! You should too!

School photo failure

When the school sent home a note saying picture day was coming up, I scoffed.

I doubted my boys would sufficiently ham it up for school pics. I can never get them to sit still or even look at the camera when I want to take a picture of them. I imagined them looking goofy or irritated or with closed eyes or something.

So I opted to get a a tiny, tiny package of the two of them together and one individual photo/class picture combo.

FAIL!

Look at how great my boys did:

Look at those smiles and happy eyes! Aren't they the handsomest?? And so grown up. Ugh! I can't stand it. Now, I'm annoyed that I didn't get photos of them individually. As a twins Mom, this is an epic, epic fail. Booooo to me.

Who knew school pics could be actually cute?? Oh well. Live and learn.

And just for their sake -- for years from now when they're grown up and want to stroll down memory lane -- here's their class picture, with the names of their friends and teachers.

         Miss Christina, Jeffery, Miles, Avery, Isla, Marcus, Mrs. Toni
 Mackenzie, Dean, Penelope, Onyekachukwu, Esko, Graziella, Autumn, Cary, Janiyah
(Missing: Yusef, Olivia )

P.S. Today, on my way out, Mrs. Toni said "You have some really sweet boys. You really do. You're doing a good job, Mom."

And I decided then and there, I like Mrs. Toni after all. :-)

So I said: "And so are you, Mrs. Toni. So are you."

PicFrame fun

A while back LauraC. introduced me to PicFrame.

Now why'd she go and do a thing like that? I must admit to being a little obsessed with it. I'm pretty sure my parents and sisters have had quite enough of me putting pictures of Clair and/or the boys in various settings into little side-by-side blocks and emailing or texting them, with little captions like, "Look how cute!"

But I can't stop. It's like I have a disease.

One night over the long weekend I spent an hour or more, doing this:

The many expressions of Clair.

The many expressions of Dean.

The same-ish expressions of Cary.

Twin love.

Twin love, Part 2.

Now, c'mon. After seeing those photos put together that way, can you begrudge me my obsession?
I mean, seriously, look how cute!!

:-)

Yeah, I need a hobby.