Photo Session in PA Giveaway!!!

When Camber lost her first tooth a month ago and the boys starting tugging and pulling at all of theirs, it hit me like a ton of bricks: we are fast approaching the age when I will ask my children to please NOT smile for pictures. Before the era of buck teeth and braces is fully upon us, I decided (against my entire family's wishes) to get our picture taken. Not counting the experienced teenagers employed by the J.C. Penney Portrait Studio in the mall, we've never worked with a professional photographer. Needless to say, we were all were a little anxious.

"I'm not wearing the shirt you picked out for me," announced my husband as we got into the car to leave.

That would have been nice to know, say, a day earlier, but I held my tongue. For even the most minimal of requests, there is always a price to pay.

"I'm getting hot and sweaty already," Cortlen warned, yanking at his collar.
"I'm not going to smile in any of the pictures," promised Kellen.
"I'm going to rip this disgusting flower out of my hair!" screamed Camber.

Cameron just sat peacefully in his car seat, smiling at all the crying babies around him. Then he choked up a handful of curdled milk onto his shirt.

When we arrived at the location of our photo session, half of my family members refused to get out of the car. The other half asked if they could inspect Bonnie's (the photographer) huge and expensive camera. Bonnie ignored my crazy dance and furious head shakes and agreed. She sat on the ground and let the kids take several pictures of her (and a colony of ants) before turning the camera on them. Click. Click. Click. For the next two hours, Bonnie played (and I mean this quite literally) with my kids, snapping pictures the whole time. At the end of our ridiculously painless "playdate," I said something to the effect of "There's no way you got anything good out of that." With a wry smile, Bonnie replied, "I'll bet you I did."

As you can see for yourself, I would do poorly in Vegas.



I am beyond thrilled with the results and am kicking myself for not doing this earlier in my kids' lives. Even my good-natured husband, who was so supportive over getting our family's picture taken in the first place, has been humbled into complete and total adoration for Bonnie and her camera. The pictures here represent only a small sampling of what we received. To see more of pictures of my family, check out Bonnie's photography website and her accompanying blog.

Ask and Ye Shall Receive
Me: "Bonnie, will you please please do a giveaway on my blog? It's called the Meanest Mom."
Bonnie: "That sounds kind of scary."

Fortunately for all, Bonnie walks on the wild side!

Here's what Bonnie from Bonnie Loves Pictures Photography is offering to one lucky family:

* 1-3 hour photo session in York, PA
* Online gallery with all the enhanced images from the session
* CD with copies of ALL of the enhanced images from the session, including copyright release for personal use (printing for home, family, or using images for blog).


Normally Bonnie would travel to you, but for this giveaway, you have to come to HER. She lives in central Pennsylvania (1 hour from Baltimore; 2 hours from Philadelphia & Washington D.C.) in a gorgeous little town called York. Sadly, there is nothing cool to do or see anywhere close to where she lives.




In other words, if you don't live in central Pennsylvania, there is no way that you could work this photo session into a fun family vacation. It would just be impossible.

All you have to do in order to get yourself entered in this awesome (and very last giveaway) of the season is to post a comment! Contest ends THIS SUNDAY, May 17 at midnight. The lucky winner will be announced shortly thereafter.

Good Luck!