School Pictures

Is it funny that for all the pictures I take of the kids, these school pictures are some of my favorites ever?  They're so posed, a little artificial, and those backgrounds seem to get cheesier every year, but they are such a rite of passage for these school years that add up so quickly.  And I know I'll blink and they will fill those cardboard oval cutouts that sit on graduation tables.  Do they still make those?
  
I remember each of my school pictures, some more fondly than others.  But there's something about that kindergarten year that sticks out as so special.  I have stared at Cruz's sweet face in his picture so often, and my heart melts through his big eyes and baby teeth smile.  If only I could keep him little, innocent, and unaffected by this big messy world...  

   
And then there's Mila.  Our daycare has been taking school pictures of our kids since they could sit up and they are hilariously sweet.  I was predicting a defiant or upset Mila in this year's picture, because, well, Mila spends a large percentage of her days either defiant or upset, but was once again sweetly surprised by her big girl smile.