4-yr-old Portraits

So little by little I've been trying to get each of my kids out for a little photo shoot. Hayden's just happened to be a couple of weeks ago. I decided to take him out while the others were at school. I think it was the second day of school, in fact. It was fun to have just "mommy and Hayden" time. I'm not sure he felt quite the same way, since he's 4 and doesn't really like my camera much. I offered a small bribe, and he agreed. The first spot we stopped at, he was walking down the hill and slipped in some mud and landed right on his bottom (getting the backs of his legs and shorts muddy). Guess what? No big deal! I stayed nice and calm and made sure he was ok (which he was, of course) and remembered that we had a package of baby wipes in the car! The mud came right off his legs, but not so much the shorts. Good thing we take pictures from the front most of the time! He cooperated for a very short time... and the last place we decided to shoot, he was really tired of it, and decided that he really didn't need what I had bribed him with. "I don't care, mom. I already have one of those." So we stopped. I really didn't think I had gotten anything good, because he kept blinking his eyes, and half the shots were of them closed, but when I downloaded them to the computer, I was pleasantly surprised. I love my little crazy guy! Next (and last) on the photo shoot list is Bryson. Hopefully in the next couple of weeks... then we'll have to go out for our fall family pics. My poor kids. I think the sometimes wish my camera would somehow get lost.