First Day of School

My little baby started school this week.  Big girl, real school.  Daddy & I had a little cry about it the night before.  Daddy was emotional b/c his job keeps him from ever taking, picking up, or even seeing her school.  He also couldn't believe his first born is old enough for big girl school.  I get emotional from pride!  I'm just so darn proud of this girl.  She's already made tons of friends in just 3 days (I've received emails, been stopped in the school, etc from parents saying "my kid won't stop talking about your daughter!").  She's a social butterfly and loving her big girl school environment. 

To celebrate her first day, I had a few ideas in mind but decided to K.I.S.S.  (keep it simple stupid for those that don't remember that being incredibly popular). 

I just propped her up against a brick wall before we left and then asked her questions on the way to school.  The answers, I'm sure, would change from day to day, but the idea is the same.  Every year until she screams back "mom, this is so lame!" I'll ask these questions and take a photo.  Seeing her grow, her dreams, her food desires, and all in between, will be so neat!

You don't have to do much to ahcieve this look!  Some tips --

(1) take photos outside!  It was raining when I took this.  But natural light beats just about anything.

(2) don't bombard them with perfection.  I took 2 quick pics and was done.  If neither was "picture perfect" who cared?  I wanted the real reaction!  Her eyes are big and excited in this picture because she was so excited to have her neon shoes on and start school (she chose these shoes herself b/c they would make her the fastest kid on the playground)

(3) make sure the background is SIMPLE.  A garage door can work too, but those lines are more distracting than you might like.  A front door would work, but you need something wide enough to fit the words on the left or right side.

(4) choose two fonts and just write on top of the photo!  I did mine in photoshop, of course, but picasa (a free google art program) would do the trick just as well!

Back to school time, it's fun! :)  But this waking up early again thing is for the birds!  Here's to sleeping in on Saturday ...