Tuesday, April 21, 2009

Bluebonnet Pictures



The bluebonnet is the Texas state flower. It is a wildflower that can typically be seen along Texas highways in late March/early April. The plenitude of flowers depends largely on the amount of rainfall during February and March. It is the tradition of many who live here to take annual pictures with the bluebonnets. Since we have lived here, we have had a good showing of bluebonnets about every other year. Here are a few pictures from previous years:

2003: Jayson, Rachelle, Riley and Kaiya


2005: Kaiya


2005: Kaiya and Riley


2005: Riley


2007: Riley and Kaiya---I took this picture the week before I flew to Arizona to be on bedrest with the quints


Last year I wanted desperately to take pictures of all the kids in the bluebonnets, but the drought-like conditions meant there were none to be found! This year has also been on the dry side until recently so I was really excited when my friend, Cassaundra, told me about a decent patch of Bluebonnets near her house. The day before Easter we piled everybody into "The Beast" and headed out to take pictures. We brought along several helpers and cracker "bribes" to help with the photo shoot. Unfortunately, not everyone was as excited about taking bluebonnet pictures as I was!


The Boys: Ryder, Riley and Rustin


The Girls: Rachelle, Kaiya, Kyndall, Kaydence and Kassidy


Ellis brings out the crackers to try to cheer everybody up.


Not even chocolate chip bunny shaped crackers could work their magic today!


Riley and Kaiya--thank goodness for a couple willing subjects!


Riley and Kaiya


Riley


Kaiya


Kassidy--She actually enjoyed the photo shoot and kept trying to get in every picture (which is unusual for her)

Kaydence with Holly


Rustin---true to his nature, Rustin did not want to sit still long enough to have his picture taken!


Kyndall with Rachelle---Kyndall, who is normally the star when it comes to pictures, started crying the moment we got there and didn't stop till we left.


Ryder


Since the babies were NOT happy about sitting in the flowers, we decided to try sitting them on this giant rock, but they didn't like that any better. This shot is a good depiction of what was going on for most of the photo shoot---all the helpers would hurry and set the babies in position and then try to move out of the way so I could take the picture. The babies hated the rock and tried to get off the second they were put on it, so then the helpers would all rush back in!


Helpers: Shelby, Ellis, Holly, Troy, Jayson, Kids: Kaydence, Rustin, Kaiya, Riley, Kassidy and Ryder


The BEST group shot: Jayson, Kassidy, Kaydence, Kaiya, Rustin, Riley, Kyndall and Ryder



I loved this shot of Kaiya trying to cheer Kyndall up by giving her a flower!




Maybe we will have better luck next year!






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17 comments:

Grandma Honey said...

This is like watching reality photography. Your children are darling no matter what they are doing!

Stephanie said...

I like what Jill said..."reality photography!!" THat is too funny!
You still got some cute shots though!!
I love Texas and the bluebonnets! We took ours a couple weeks ago! (posted on out blog if you want to see!)
Take care..the kids are just adorable!!

Bloggy Mama said...

Yep, I pretty much love it.

Mother of the Wild Boys said...

Oh, I miss the bluebonnets. I have to give you some praise for your efforts...as some of the other gals said, the kiddos look cute even when they don't cooperate. :)
PS-In one of the pics I spotted a water tower in the background. Between that and the bluebonnets, I'm pretty much homesick for my Texas now.

Capturing Joy with Kristen Duke said...

glad you found a patch! I love photo shoots with you guys--so much fun. Thanks for including the bloopers.

Rickie said...

Those pictures are all so cute, even though the kiddos didn't cooperate. I loved all the pictures from years past. I miss those blue bonnets...gorgeous!!

Alisa said...

They came out so cute. My daughter wasn't thrilled about sitting in the flowers either LOL.

ShEiLa said...

Beautiful
Blue Bonnets
and photos with the beautiful flowers... I love that you have lots of photos old and new.

Your children are all beautiful.

ToOdLeS.ShEiLa

Janet said...

I love these pictures... so true to life! ;) riley and kaiya are adorable!

The Carlsons said...

Beautiful pictures of your family! Those bluebonnets are amazing! Now, you've made me think of finding some flower field and taking pictures of our kids in them :D

Thanks for sharing!
-quad mom of 1yo GGGG and a 5yo boy

Apis Melliflora said...

Great pics of the kids. I always love seeing all the "helpers" in the shots too.

Hannah said...

your kids are so adorable!! i bet you have so much fun with them...even if all they do is cry sometimes!! ha ha. i hope next year goes a lot better, even thought some of those shots were georgeous!!

Spence Ohana said...

I wish I could find a patch like that, I want to take pics of my kids and our pup in the blue bonnetts but I don't know of any local spots, we're south of Austin in Kyle. Anyhow, your kids are adorable. I think you got some great shots!

The Queen Vee said...

Love those Texas Bluebonnets, but love all of you more.

Schauers Hours said...

That picture of Kyndall just breaks my heart! But it is really cute of you Rachelle.

lindsay Roscoe said...

Oh my you guys really have your work cut out for you every where you go. My twins have decided recently that they love to ride around on there bikes. Getting them to come in is a joke and they are now getting heavy enough that it is hard to wrangle them around on my own.

Drewmeister said...

I love that you work so hard at getting good pictures. These are adorable :)

Just wanted to let you know that you're all pretty famous out here in Boston. Someone came up to me today who heard that I knew the both of you, especially Rachelle, from school and they were impressed.