5.22.2013

graduation and reality



This past weekend was Torri's high school graduation [she's like my little sister, for those of you who don't know]. 
Believe it or not, I kept it together [somewhat]. 
I reserved [some] of my tears for the privacy of my own home. 


It was also a great weekend, in part, because Kali and fam were back [she is my for real older sister]. 
So we used the occasion to snap some pictures.  

Nana and Papa with their girls
Blythe with Torri [after T has sweat and chased kids around all day :) ] 
Torri's older sister, Paige, and bro-in-law, Dan. Ummm, Paige isn't supposed to be in college or this pretty. She's supposed to be about 7 years old. Mmmmkay? 
All the "sisters" [and my first baby nephew! ]

Paige and her "boyfriend" Brent [yes, Paige, I will always leave that in parenthesis]

Two beautiful girls, inside and out 



A spontaneous game of hide and seek ensued

One of my favorite families [who color coordinate quite well]


My daughter missed the memo to throw her hands in the air in celebration



Strike a pose! 


 And here comes the "reality" portion of this post. We really wanted to get a shot of Torri with the three girls. Torri planted herself and grabbed Blythe, Caroline [age 3.5] was trying her hardest to cooperate, and Ellie [age almost two] was trying her hardest not to. I just kept clicking pictures to document this valiant attempt by a lot of people. Poor Torri was wallered by the end of it: 

"Ellie, go over here…it will be fine"

"No, Caroline, you need to turn this way."
"really, Ellie, it's okay" 

"Just keep looking over here,  Torri, we'll get something"

Ugh, we're missing one? 


"See, Blythe, this is how you do it."

"But I don't WANT you to TOUCH me!" 

"Okay, Okay…I won't touch you, Blythe."
"Maybe if I move over here…"
Oh hey, is that Ellie's hair? We're getting closer. 
"Just work with them, Torri." 
"Caroline, that's a great pose…I mean, the one legged look is REALLY working for ya,… but there is one problem."
"And WHERE IS ELLIE?!" 
"Are you not having fun anymore, Torri?" 
"Caroline, just stop touching the rest of them, okay?" 
"Stand right here…"
"Umm, Torri, my daughter's dress is riding up." 
"But I just want to HUG Blythe in the picture!"
"Oh, hey! There's Ellie!"  
"Keep smiling, Torri…"
Blythe: "Let me outta here!"
"Ellie, we're trying to take a picture, not do somersaults." 
"Okay, you're all in the picture! Quick, everyone look this way!! Dan get out of the way! Caroline, smile! Look at me!!" 

"Umm…Caroline? I see your foot. Where did you go? And Dan, you're still in the picture. "
"Okay, we're getting closer. I think we may actually get this. Caroline, I  can't see you! Dan…. " 

"Alright… this is gonna happen…"
"Ellie, just turn around and we'll count it."
"BUT WE WERE SO CLOSE!!" 
"Torri, not you too!" 

Yep, that's pretty accurate. 
And here are some other "outtakes" from the day:

"Oh hey, let's all look at Kali and laugh cause she's pregnant!" 
It's amazing we got what we did 
Because it is seriously next to impossible. 
Although Blythe and Ellie stick pretty close to their Papa


Everyone is looking, some semi-smiles happening…we'll count this one as working. 

Caroline and Ellie are working, but Blythe just isn't so sure about her cousins
This picture is so near perfect-- if only it didn't look like Blythe were in pain from being nearly choked out. 

"But see, I'm not choking her, I'm just hugging her." 

And even in the imperfection of this picture, I LOVE IT-- Caroline is just being her sweet self, Blythe and Ellie are giving each other a look like, "this is MY papa, you got that?", and Dad's just along for the ride. Oh and Blythe is holding a leave in her hand, because whenever she is with Papa, she is carrying some sort of something she collected from the outside. 

"Hey man, I'm done with pictures! Got it?" 
 And then we all got a bright idea: Let's just try and get a picture of the three girls! 
Well that went a little something like this: 

More choking




Oh…so close! Come on, Blythe! Get your head in the game. 




And we're done with that attempt. Maybe next year? 
Oh wait, there will be another baby to add to the mix. Sheesh! 


We will take what we got! And who cares about the pictures when you're surrounded by these cuties anyway?! As Caroline would say, "For realzies!" 

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4 comments:

MW Photo said...

oh my gosh. I laughed so much at that sequence with Torri. actually, I'm still laughing. that was too much.


oh, and your daughter is perfect.

shoot, all THREE girls are perfect.
your parents are ridiculously spoiled with such beautiful granddaughters. and daughters, for that matter. I can't wait to see that little boy - the cuteness oozes from these kids. he will certainly be no exception.

Momiss said...

That was straight up hilarious and I love, love LOVE seeing all these pictures! It's important to keep an accurate record, and I give you an A+, Mrs. I. ;)

Kali said...

Dan & I laughed so hard at all of these! They might have outdone the sequence of our family pictures with newborn Caroline (the ones where I was sitting between Dan's legs - oh my). Thanks for taking the time to post all of these!

*carrie* said...

Um, English teacher, aren't they called quotation marks?! =) "boyfriend"

Can't believe you took and posted all those outtakes. We've had many similar scenes and I delete them as fast I can!