The Braddock Bunch: Birthday Pictures

Somehow, I always drop the ball on scheduling the kids' birthday pictures by the time their birthday is already over. And this year was no different. It wouldn't be that big of a deal if we didn't live in Texas and the their birthday's fall right about the time it really starts to heat up around here. It was the first part of June when I talked to my photographer about booking an appointment. We were able to get an appointment set until after our vacation to Mexico, but it was set for the last week of June.

Our picture time was at 10:30 a.m. and on the day of our appointment, Caleb was off and helping me get the kids showered and dressed. The kids had just gotten out of the shower when I got a phone call from Mike, the owner of the studio we use. He was calling to let me know that our picture appointment was being cancelled. His son, Jason {one of his photographers} was in a motorcycle accident and had been flown to a Dallas hospital. Jason wasn't suppose to be the one taking our pictures today, but I figured they were just shutting things down to make sure Jason was going to be okay. But that's when he continued to tell me that Audrie {our photographer of the day} was on the back of the motorcycle and was taken to a nearby hospital.

Long story short, a pick-up truck turned in front of the motorcycle, so Jason and Audrie slammed into the side of the truck. Thankfully, Jason and Audrie were both wearing helmets. Audrie chipped a couple of teeth and was bruised up, but was able to leave the hospital the same day. Jason stayed in the hospital for nearly a week with a broken neck (but no spinal cord damage), broken cheek bone, broken hand, a big gash in his thigh and road rash all over. They will both make a full recovery and it's by the grace of God {and helmets} that they are alive and not more seriously injured. That accident caused our picture session to be pushed back a month.

It was late July before we got to take these pictures and even more hot than it would have been at the end of June. Savannah was being difficult and Hudson was just busy doing his own thing. Getting these pictures of them being still and smiling took skill. I had worked up a sweat chasing Hudson and doing crazy things trying to get a real smile out of Savannah. But we did it. And I'm thankful for every single one of these sweet pictures.

I wanted pictures of the kids with their favorite stuffed animal. Savannah's doll was given to her by my grandma on her first birthday. Savannah has named her Ariel. Hudson's giraffe is his favorite thing since he was an infant. Savannah sleeps with Ariel and Hudson with his giraffe. Since I'm not sure how long they will be attached to these toys, I wanted to have pictures of them together to remember how special they were at this time.