A picture is worth...

Renee and I had planned to take part in Help Portrait this year. We were so excited about it and had this great plan to partake in the DC event. Of course, being such a close family and sharing so much...we shared germs! Joey shared the germs with Jason, who shared them with me. Then, this Auntie shared germs with the rest of the crew. The worst part is that I got my sweet baby nephew sick too. Talk about the germs that keep on giving. Just as we were all getting well, there was another round of germs to share. Ugh! Hellllllooooo Winter! Long story short, we never made the event. Instead we snuggled up with dayquil and kleenex! The Help Portrait event is an event based on giving someone a photograph. Not to build your portfolio but to give someone that wouldn't otherwise be able to have a professional photograph taken a gift of photography. The slogans of the event are "A Picture is Worth..." & "A Picture is hope." This got me thinking. What is a picture worth to me? It's my income. So that alone is worth something. It's worth braving the cold or the heat to get a great shot. It's worth...a lot. But really, what if the last photograph I had of my son was the one that the hospital takes when babies are born? Or what if our last family photograph was 10 years ago and we couldn't afford to capture the day to day or holiday or milestone? For me, I would be heartbroken. Yes, I know there are more important things in life than pictures but they are easily taken for granted. {Last year when our neighbors had a house fire and the fire chief knocked on my door and said, "get the three most important things and get out" I practically kicked my son out the door and went for my camera, Joey's baby book and a box of old prints.} This holiday season, I know I will take hundreds of photographs but they all mean something to me. In the spirit of Help Portrait I decided to take a look at my family photographs for the next week and really dissect what they mean to me. Focus on what they are worth. So after a quick 30 minute{yes, that's quick. I could drag our sessions out for hours!} holiday family session with my boys, Joey was a bit restless from all the cheesin. Knowing that he would be a ball of crazy energy after this I decided to have a game plan for when we got home. So we set up this canvas aka white flat sheet and laid a drop cloth. We grabbed containers of {WASHABLE} paint and went to work. Of course there was more to this plan than to paint a little greeting and clean it up. Jason and I had aplan of AtTaCk!! We were going to surprise Joey with a giant paint fight!! After we painted and had our greeting complete, Jason and I started the countdown. 3, 2, 1!! Attack! We got Joey so good! We each slapped one of his cheeks with our paint brushes and the look on his face...priceless. I really don't have words to describe it! He was so totally shocked and completely dumbfounded that his ol' parents would do something like this at 8pm. His face said so much! After a giant paint fight that ended with an amazing family memory and paint in our eyes and ears we had a really cool mural hanging in the basement. Best part of the plan? Having my little sister around to photograph the entire thing! :) Capturing the look on Joey's face-- well I guess I don't need words to describe it because this picture is worth a thousand words! It's worth so much to me! I might not have the words to describe the event to my Grandmother in California but she will know exactly how it felt to be there from the series of photographs. What is your family photograph worth to you?

 Sneaky parents! 

 Here's the LOOK! 

 Oopps... paint in Joey's ear!

 Finished product!

 Bu Bu even wanted in on it!!!