Dandelion Photos

Mom asked if I was going to get photos of my kids in the dandelions this year, and I definitely wanted to.  This year was harder than normal because the girls are going through a bad attitude stage and they made picture taking very challenging.

I took Nathaniel for a bike ride while the girls were in school two weeks ago, and we stopped at this patch of dandelions near the girls' school to get a few photos.  Nathaniel liked picking the flowers, but then he got mad that we couldn't play at the school park where the first graders were having recess.

I got these two photos of Megan after school one day, but then she ran off to talk to a teacher who was walking to his car, and she flat out refused to come back to take any more pictures.  The second photo pretty accurately reflects Megan's general attitude nowadays.

And Amelia was crying because she didn't want to take pictures either.  I completely snapped and sent them outside to play when we got home, telling them I didn't want to see them until dinner time.  Amelia wrote me this apology note in chalk on the driveway:

We tried to go to the park the next day, but Megan had a crying temper tantrum about riding her scooter, so we turned around and went home instead.  The two girls had a few fairly major consequences, and because of all these behavior issues, Megan is going to bed at 7pm every night for the rest of the school year, while Amelia gets to stay up later for quiet reading time.  It has made a positive difference in her morning routine (plus, I bribe her with ipad time once she has done all her morning jobs) and her general attitude throughout the day has been better this week.
I managed to get a few photos of Amelia during Megan's soccer practice last week; we talked about it in advance and I explained to her why these photos were important to me, and she cooperated nicely.  Once she decided to cooperate, I took a whole bunch of photos in under two minutes, and then I let her go play at the park. 

I don't ask my kids to pose for photos very often (anymore), and I wish they would realize that it's much easier to just smile nicely for one minute and then run off and play.  Here are some outtakes:

This is the fifth year I've taken dandelion photos in Wisconsin, and it's fun to look back and see how the kids have grown up.   Here's May 4, 2015,  May 21, 2014, May 13, 2013, and April 14, 2012.  This year, I'd say peak dandelion season was April 24th through May 1st, so spring is definitely earlier than normal.