the power of CANDY

This post doesn't do this shoot justice, in the sense that Jordan looks happy for the most part. But rest assurred it was really this way, at least not for the first hour and a half. There's just something about two-year-olds and cameras. They all seem to hate them.

We tried hard to get this little one to smile. We threw rocks at the wall, played ring-around-the-rosie, went to the park, jumped on the tramp, played with trucks, went down the slide... No luck. I knew I'd grabbed a few cute candid moments through out that all, but I wasn't even sure I'd really got "one" great family shot. Luckily this little guys mom is smart! She suggested a stop at the gas station to grab some candy. So we split up, I grabbed Jordan and Ella to make funny faces behind me, and we met up at this cute red barn. And like magic, everything was okay. I didn't even need my recruits.

Jordan (the little one) had his candy in his pocket and would pull out a piece everytime he got too sad and we needed a smile. Alicia & Luke gave him a pep talk on the way to the barn about smiling for Liz and the rewards if he did. Worked like a charm. I love some of these barn shots. Jordan loved the background pig and goat noises the setting provided, and I loved his smile! So I count this as a lesson learned. No more two-year-olds without candy at an arms reach. And a big thanks to Alicia and Luke for being patient with the picture process. They came all the way from Chicago, so we wanted to make this one work! Here's to toddlers and whatever it is that makes them tick...