School Picture Time!

I am sooo nervous for Timmy. Tomorrow is school picture day. I hope he smiles. He can be good about that if he is in the right mood.

I am debating on his shirt. See, he has strawberry blonde hair that sometimes has the red really standing out, but because Dad decided to try and cut his hair last week... well, he now has a shaved head.

So, my dilemma is... which color shirt. I have a nice burgandy shirt that he looks really sharp in, that I love to put on him. But I just found a nice green striped (think Steve from Blues Clues) shirt when pulling out his winter clothes. Green looks really good on him too.

I will have to take a picture with my camera or camera phone and show you ladies after I have decided... but this will be his first school pictures!

How sweet! I realized it was picture day about 3 hours after the pics were taken. I still haven't seen them, but Caly said she remembered and made sure Zoe was dressed nicely. I really am in a haze in the mornings.

Ahh I remember the first pic day with my daughter Sarah when she was in pre school I spent hours picking out her clothes.. Now she is 12 with a Blue stripe in her hair and wears clothes with skulls all over them.. I never like how school pic come out-- they rush the kids in and out so quick. One year my son had peanut butter around his mouth --no fooling!!! You would have thought they would have noticed that (LOL) Now I just make sure they are dressed it what they like for that year-- My son has lime green bangs that glow in the dark (can you tell I am a hairdresser) and he wore a green Hawiian shirt -- My son's natural hair color is lite blonde almost white -like my husbands --so I know he is going to stay blonde. My kids school pic's were taken the 1st week of school so I am just waiting to get them back. Here they do fall and spring pic's through school.

I must be the bad mom, lol. Tomorrow is picture day but I'm not buying any. I about fell over and died when I saw the prices. I can get the next 5 years worth at JCPenney for BOTH kids for what they want for a package with 20 pictures (10 of which are wallets).

Tara, I couldn't agree more. The prices just keep zooming. My baby is getting senior pictures taken this weekend and I'd rather pay for those than deal with the company that works the schools to get every last bit of change out of the parents' pockets. What a racket.

Missy, about worrying about Timmy smiling - it's ok if he doesn't. I remember when my youngest was in preschool, the kids were walked over to the elementary school so they could get their photos taken, too. I walked over with the class. When it was my kid's turn he would not smile. Out came the squeaky frog that the photographer was using to try to get even a tiny smile out of him. No go! I was just cracking up. Now, I treasure those pictures. When I look at them he looks so sad that I always say it looks like he has the haunted eyes of an abused child. If I wasn't there myself I'd wonder what actually happened that day!

awww how cute Lori! Too bad they don't stay that size huh? I'm not smiling in my kindergarten pictures, hubby isn;t even looking at the camera in his.... not only because he is cross-eyed but his whole head is turned, he was in the ER for a broken bone on retake day so that's what they got, lol. Do you have any idea how pissed off I would be if I sent her off with 60 bucks for a packet that isn't even big enough to pass around to family and they came back of the side of her head? I would totally hit the roof.

I buy the preschool pics, but then don't buy any more for anything. I take tons of pics of my kids and can print them dirt cheap.

I paid $22 for a package that I think is worth it. My family has grown apart over the years, and in this day and age of scanners and email.. well, I can get off cheap if I want more. I get 2 -5x7's; 2 -3x5's; 12 - wallets and 1 Class Picture. When I send my mom hers, she will most likely scan it for me so that I can post it on myspace and e-mail it.

We ended up choosing the shirt he wore for his birthday party, and a red background. I think it will be nice. One of his "girlfriends" said she will make sure he smiles. lol

I smiled in all my pictures, but I used to love love love having my picture taken. My youngest brother (just turned 21 yesterday, my goodness!!) never smiled. He would get the corners of his mouth up, just a tad bit. lol

Your son looks cute Lori! I see a little emotion in the face, a little happiness... but it seems more, like "Take that picture, I want to get out of here!!" lol

And Sharon, you sound like a cool mom. My Mom would have killed me to have a streak of blue in my hair. She about murdered me when I.. shaved the back of my head. Yes, I did that about 10 years ago.. an act of rebellion. Went away for a weekend.. called my Mom to tell her I was getting a haircut.. I "failed" to tell her how. I was not allowed to wear my hair up around her. I finally started to grow it out about 2-3 years later. When I was done with school and had to get a real job, and wanted to look more like a girl than a punk (which is how I looked). lol

I encourage my kids to be creative with their hair. It grows out, after all. Zaven has had mohawks and Caly has dyed it bright red. But they're kind of over it already. He wants a basic boring bzz cut, or maybe a little longer on top but nothing that would even require him to use a comb. She's growing hers out so doesn't want to dye it or treat it at all. They're both on the swim team so dyes don't work well anyway. The chlorine in the pool bleaches it out, and the hair gets like Barbie hair in texture.

I would totally use the Stve from Blues Clues shirt if he is into Blues Clues. I did it with Dalton when he was 3 or 4 and still look back on it today and get to tease him a bit about 'remember when you thought you could Ski-doo over the baby gate' ?

We went with a blue and white plaid shirt with a white t-shirt underneath. If he didn't want to be a jedi, I would dress him as Steve for Halloween. He has a cool blue doll that plays the song. He was Blue for Halloween when he was 2. He barked at people instead of saying Trick or Treat. lol

The reason school pics are so expensive is because the school gets half of the money. or at least it does here.

They use the money to go into the fund for feild trips (its costs over 10,000.00 to take a class of 300 kids to the theatre for a play, and around 6,000.00 for the zoo, they have to pay to rent the school busses if they use them. If not, charter busses are high as a cats back)

The money also goes into the general fund sometimes. to buy copy paper, ink, pens, prizes, books, folders, fund any activities at the school, (the snack tickets for A and AB honor roll cost .50 cnets a kid at our school but the PTA pays for that every 6 weeks. .)

ANyway, thats why the prices are SOOOO high. 1/2 goes to the school. And I am with y'all. I dont pay that either. I just cant do it.. LOL Way too much money, and I have too many kids..

Well, I would pay if that were the case, and if it is they made it known. I have no problem donating to the school. I would rather give a few bucks without the way over priced item (be it pictures or candles form a fundraiser) as a distraction, it's kinda insulting. I am 100 times more likely to give 20 bucks for a field trip or library fund or whatever than I am to buy a 20 dollar, tiny candle that doesn't smell good.

tara wrote:Well, I would pay if that were the case, and if it is they made it known. I have no problem donating to the school. I would rather give a few bucks without the way over priced item (be it pictures or candles form a fundraiser) as a distraction, it's kinda insulting. I am 100 times more likely to give 20 bucks for a field trip or library fund or whatever than I am to buy a 20 dollar, tiny candle that doesn't smell good.

Amen to that, too! When my kids bring home fund raising stuff, I toss it and write a check directly to the program that was trying to raise funds, or I donate materials for their projects that I can buy on sale or with rebates or at yard sales. I'm a much better shopper than the average teacher has time to be.

If some of the money goes to the school, the parents who bought pictures should get a receipt for their taxes showing that they made a contribution. It just makes the photo company look greedy for having such high prices.

I used to work for a small business photography company( which wasn't that small) and not every school got a cut of the proceeds. If they did the very highest they would give them was 30 % but it was typically only 10%. they always kept the commission check for months behind until they were being hounded everyday. One of the many reasons I left. Oh well.