Just Being Candid

I have spent most of the day in Boise at Kiddie Kandids, a photography studio for children. Lori received a gift certificate to the mall and decided she wanted new pictures of Trey and Kassady. So, I found myself shouting out phrases intended to inspire an attitude of restraint in my children as they cavorted around the waiting area with the other rug rats:

"Don't touch that!"
"Kassady, don't hit that nice boy!"
"No! Get out from behind the counter!"
"Trey! Stop! You're going to hurt him!"
"Stop running...aw, man! I knew that was going to happen."
"Kassady! You're not supposed to climb up there."
"Kassady! I said don't hit that boy!"
"That's not made for eating...put it back on the floor."
"Awwww, Kass...what are you doing? What has got into you?"
"Stop hitting that boy!"
...and so forth.

I don't know what it is about waiting for pictures that brings out the worst in children. I like to believe that my kids are well-behaved. They're not angels, I admit, but they aren't raging maniacs; you know the kind of kids who scream, whine, and blatantly disobey. They are usually well-mannered and proper. But, for some reason, every time we enter a photography studio their energy level quadruples and they start climbing the walls. This is when I am so thrilled to be married to calm, cool, collected Lori. My blood pressure is rising, my temples throbbing, minutes away from a meltdown, when Lori gently reminds me that I shouldn't be so upset, since obviously the children have inherited their energetic (read: bad) traits from their Daddy. That really calms me down...yep, works everytime. Actually, Lori has a knack for defusing those tense situations and she put it to use. By the time we got back to the studio, the kids were ready to cheese and pose. As you can see, we ended up with some good shots: